kevin liptak. thank you so much. sara all right. >> today, donald trump also on the trail heading to battleground, north carolina, and wisconsin as he says, he's running a quote, campaign of positive solutions and still trying to fend off the backlash over a comedians racist comments about puerto rico cnn, steve contorno is on the trail in north carolina. what can we expect from donald trump today? >> sara donald trump as two stops today with two very different goals in north carolina, where he will be speaking right behind me in just a few hours. he is trying to defend a state. he narrowly won just four years ago, meanwhile, and wisconsin, he is trying to win a state that he narrowly lost and it's interesting if you look at the advertising spending in these two different battlegrounds, you can see the different approaches in north carolina democrats are outspending donald trump by nearly 20 million, trying to flip this state, but look at the spending in wisconsin, it's nearly even both sides spending about 45 millio

supporter at the former president's controversial madison square garden rally on sunday cnn's kevin liptak joins us now live. >> kevin, you actually had reporting just yesterday that the harris campaign was weary of injecting too much of president biden because of potential well gaffes because of his unfavorability rating at the moment. and not a few hours later, we get this. and this is part of the reason why biden has been such a limited presence on the campaign trail this year. certainly, the political imperatives harris is trying to put some distance between herself and the current administration. but at the end of the day, so many democrats are wary of president biden because they think he's a liability, because he does have a tendency to to say these things on the campaign trail that can be misconstrued, that can be turned by republicans into an attack line on vice president harris. and that is exactly what's taking place today. and certainly i don't think it's unreasonable. the explanation that president biden has put out that he was talking about that single comedian, but that does

kevin liptak, i'm not surprised that the president is making this change. i suspect we might see some other officials, top officials, and candidates, perhaps doing the same thing, alright, coming up. kevin, thanks so much coming up. officials in asheville, north carolina say it could be weeks before water is restored. there keep in mind, folks are still feeling from the aftermath of hurricane helene. i'll speak to the mayor of asheville on the storm recovery efforts there. that's next saturday at nine on cnn. >> i brought in a jew or max protein with 30 grams of protein. >> those who tried me felt more energy in just two weeks here, i'll take that. sure. max broke 30 protein one gram sugar and a protein blend feed muscles up to seven hours i use sure. >> you attend to exaggerate go ahead call them yourself. thank you for calling out. now, this is an how can i help you? >> didn't you really have medicare plans that cover dental vision and hearing? >> can yes. all three plus we have plans that include a monthly allowance for certain over-the-counter products r

cnn's senior white house reporter, kevin liptak is joining us now, and kevin, the president, is increasing in federal disaster funding tell us about what he promised both residents and officials there as he was looking at this just enormous amount of damage yeah. >> the president announcing that the federal government will cover 100% of the cleanup costs, not only in georgia, but across a number of states who have been impacted by the storm. and you know, it's pretty rare for a president to spend two days in a row touring storm damage from the same disaster. and i think it gives you a sense it's not only of the magnitude of this massive storm, but also a window into how president biden and vice president harris are looking to blunt any criticism that there's somehow absent from this crisis. and so that started yesterday, the president getting a very clear view from the air of the destruction in western north carolina that was kind of the 10,000 foot view today. he's really zooming in, getting onto the ground in florida in georgia, the places visiting and florida is where this storm actuall

kevin liptak. thank you so much for your reporting this morning. >> sara sidner, i and back and happy to be here with you. john berman. all right. new this morning, israel's army chiefs visiting the military base that was targeted in a deadly drone attack. what we now know about the investigation into how has blocked got past israel's defenses plus more than 400,000 people are still without power in florida this morning as president biden announces, hundreds of millions of dollars more in a and cnn gets an exclusive look as china prepares to send to new pandas to the united states and asked questions like, what does a comedy show doing on cnn that's too much but i want donald now, can you why is that well, i got news for you saturday at nine on cnn team sensitivity is so common immediately feels like somebody's poking directly onto air. >> i recommend sensitive since it in toothpaste goes inside the tooth and calm center of down and my facial stay, you know, docket really works call later chest con

at the very top and hurt everyone else i offer a different path and i ask for your vote cnn's kevin liptak is tracing harris, tracking harris today. >> kevin give us some sense of what this final stretch thread dg is on her part and her campaign yeah. >> and i think it's clear that she was trying to check a lot of boxes in that speech? yes, it was that fiery broadside against donald trump. she called him consumed with grievance, but it was also something of an introductory speech trying to lay out the vision that she has for the presidency for so long, there's been this debate within the democratic party they. should focus their messaging on the threat to democracy, or whether they should focus on economic issues try and meet voters at the kitchen table. and i think this speech really tried to bridge that gap. it's essentially a distillation of the harris campaign's theory of the case that voters can hold these two issues in their mind at this same time and in fact but there inexplicably linked in every part of that speech last night was meant to drive home that message from the rhetoric a

cnn's kevin liptak is here with all the details. good morning, kevin yeah. >> and it's a pretty sweeping economic plan and taken together with her campaign travel this week, you really do get a sense of how urgently the harris campaign is trying to shore corrupt support. specifically among black men. and this economic plan at its core is designed to help black men build wealth, start businesses, protect their assets, includes a proposing new loans for small businesses and for entrepreneurs creating apprenticeship programs, creating a health program specifically looking at ailments that affect black men. she's also reiterating her support for legalizing recreational marijuana and helping black men get involved in leadership positions in the nationwide cannabis industry. and it all sort of lends this sense that the harris campaign is very much focusing on this on this group that democrats have been warning could be slipping away during this election in harris's own advisers acknowledged that some black men have felt marginalized by the

>> kevin liptak. thank you so much for that. >> so very soon donald trump will be holding a press conference at mar-a-lago, and that is before heading to battleground, pennsylvania at once again the final campaign stretch comes as his campaign is also trying to clean up the mess created from his madison square garden rally and the racist jokes told by his warm-up acts. what does this mean for trump's closing argument here at least in part, is part of it. his closing argument, what they're trying for turning his anger back on kamala harris but she's a fascist. okay. she's a fascist she and her group of very bad people are truly a threat cnn's alayna treene live from mar-a-lago. >> ahead of this press conference today alayna, what do you expecting from trump here? >> oh, okay. that's the big i think the big question is whether or not he's going to address some of those sexist and racist remarks that were on sunday specifically, that comment from the comedian tony hinchcliffe, who called puerto rico a fl

let's start with kevin liptak, who's at the ellipse for us this morning. kevin, what are you hearing from the harris campaign about? what's going to happen there today >> the words that they're using to describe this speech are hopeful optimistic not necessarily the words that we were expecting the vice president to use in this speech from the ellipse, i think when we first heard that she was going to deliver her closing arguments speech from here outside the white house on the ellipse, the first image that came to mind was january 6, that dark speech that donald trump delivered on that day before his supporters went to the capitol. but this is not going to be a treaties on democracy. this is not going to be a dissertation necessarily about the threats that donald trump poses to the american republic. certainly, that will be an aspect of what the vice president speaks about tonight from the ellipse. but aides are envisioning a much broader message from the vice president. they say they want her to contrast the presidency that she would uphold if she were el

it's certainly an argument that shall we continue continuing to make right up until election day kevin liptak. >> good to see you. thank you so much, sara. >> all right thank you, kate, defense secretary lloyd austin, making a surprise visit to ukraine this morning as a show of support let's weeks before the us election, what we know about his agenda next and new this morning, a house task force just released a first report about the security failures the day of the assassination attempt against donald trump in pennsylvania also, elon musk's saying he is giving $1 each day two lucky voter from a battleground state. >> the only problem is his plan. just might be legal those stories and more ahead a cnn special event two weeks before election day. vice president harris faces voters and takes to pressing questions, lie anderson cooper moderates a cnn presidential townhall. kamala harris wednesday at nine eastern on cnn. the edge and rash of moderate to severe eczema disrupts my skin night and day despite treatment, it's still not under control. >> but now i have run voc a once-daily pill that re

that's according to a person familiar with the matter, talking to cnn's kevin liptak, he's reportingt a much more news coming up on all of this as israeli officials continue to look at whether or not the hamas leader yahya sinwar has been killed, will be back after a short break like that before election day. vice president harris faces voters and takes the pressing questions, lie anderson cooper moderates a cnn presidential town hall. >> kamala harris, wednesday at nine eastern on cnn i'm out here telling people how they can save money with experience, really like someone who has a lot of subscriptions, i have a lot to many i'd say you can see yours inscriptions, all they want place. it cancel the ones you don't like do that so easily. >> we need that gets started now with the experian app the medicare advantage and prescription drug plan annual enrollment period is now open every year. i have to listen to all these commercials. >> we're sorry, karen, and we know it's annoying, but we want to make sure everyone on medicare knows it's time to check i can see if they can enroll in a p

but now, a person familiar with the matter qatar is telling our colleague kevin kevin liptak that indeed israel has conveyed to the united states that it will not strike oil or nuclear targets inside of iran, but will rather focus its fire on military targets as it prepares for its retaliation. and that is notable, of course, because the united states has brought heavy pressure to bear on israel not to attack the nuclear facilities. in particular of iran, but also the oil facilities because it could be viewed as so escalatory. now, israeli officials haven't officially confirmed this. and in fact, these really prime minister's office in the wake of this report said that we quote, listen to the opinions of the united states, but that we will make our final decisions based on our national interests. so certainly not singing from the same songbook, at least not publicly but privately, it appears that those assurances have been conveyed and it comes of course, as the united states has offered to send israel he significant anti air missile defense system, the thad system. and in fact component

position they're according to a person familiar with the matter, speaking with our colleague, kevin liptak, the israelis have actually told us that they will not strike nuclear or oil facilities. instead, focusing on military targets that will of course be welcomed to us officials who have been advising against striking those two other targets. the question now is whether or not that will happen so far the israeli government hasn't publicly confirmed that that's their position. but with the arrival of a new sophisticated aerial defense system from the united states, arriving in israel, we could be getting close to when that response may actually be carried out. pam alright, thanks so much, jeremy diamond and joining us now to discuss is former trump down security advisor john bolton, who also served as us ambassador to the un during the george w bush administration. ambassador, i want to start with that reporting. we just heard from jeremy, the biden administration's letter to israeli officials on the dire situation in gaza, if the u.s. does let's follow through on its threat of limiting m

expected to take an aerial tour of north carolina and meet with first responders there as cnn's kevin liptak is at the white house with more on this story. the devastation is just it's hard to understand. an aerial tour though will give him some sense of just how bad things are yeah. >> and i think that's why presidents go on these trips to really get a first-hand sense of the extent of the destruction that you really can't get from photos and the president will certainly be able to get that from the air when he tours around the asheville area today and it was interesting, we heard from the asheville fair earlier this week who said that three out of the four highways into her town have been closed down. they didn't want to close the one remaining highway down to a motorcade. and for that reason, president biden will be viewing this destruction from the air and the destruction is extensive. people still trying to dig out from knee deep mud. people searching for bodies, looking for survivors. many people still without power, without cell service, without water. and that gets to the other point