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Trump Steals Spotlight at Iowa State Fair; Russian Shelling Kills 7; Former Mississippi Officers Face State Charges for Assault. Aired 9:30-10a ET
Aired August 14, 2023 - 09:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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[09:33:06]
KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: Donald Trump went to the fair this weekend. Not just any fair. The Iowa State Fair. He arrived to crowds of cheering supporters. And staying true to form, he skipped the traditional meet and greet fair events that Republican candidates always take part in. Instead, he clearly wanted to send at least one message to at least one of his competitors by showing up with a slew of Florida Republicans supporting him, not supporting the Florida governor.
CNN's Jeff Zeleny following this for us. He's joining us now.
Jeff, Donald Trump flipping the script on the traditional Iowa State Fair visit once again.
JEFF ZELENY, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Kate.
Being in Iowa over the weekend, as I was watching all of this unfold, it was clear that the main mission for former President Donald Trump was trolling Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, coming with all of those Florida members of Congress. I'm not sure many Iowa voters, at least the ones I was standing around, had any idea who these Florida members of Congress were, but certainly they were eager to see the former president.
But really what we saw unfolding was the split screen that we are going to see likely for the next several months or longer. The fact that the legal challenges that were following the former president there are now central to what he is talking about. He's trying to use them to rally support.
But voters are not necessarily as focused on these indictments. And voters also that I talked to have an open mind about this race ahead of them.
Take a listen to some of our conversations.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) ZELENY: Is there anything that could happen between now and January that might change your mind? I mean are you open to seeing how the events unfold?
GLENN LIVINGSTON, IOWA REPUBLICAN VOTER: Right now, as long as Trump can run, I'm - I'm for him. You know, I'm -- my mind is open. Of course, you've got -- you know, we've got to do something different.
DAVE WIELAND, IOWA REPUBLICAN VOTER: I've kind of decided that I'm not voting for Trump, even though I voted for him twice. There's too much baggage. I think we need somebody new.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[09:35:02]
ZELENY: So, very much mixed messages there.
And that first voter, Glenn Livingston, said, as long as Trump can run, I'm with him. And I said, well, what do you mean by that? He said, you know, all these charges going on. He wasn't sure that he'll actually be able to run. So, the reality here is that's what other candidates are trying to seize upon and essentially be waiting in the wings or on the debate stage to be there if something falters with the Trump campaign.
So, there's no question, he is the front runner at this point. But, Kate, I was talking to the Iowa governor, Kim Reynolds, the Republican, who's at the center of all of this, she said, surprises often happens. Most voters are not where the polls are necessarily. She thinks its far too early. So, we have to wait and see how this campaign plays out. Five months from tomorrow, the Iowa caucuses.
Kate.
BOLDUAN: A lot to happen in five months to be sure.
ZELENY: That's right.
BOLDUAN: Good to see you, Jeff.
John.
JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: All right, with us now, senior editor for "The Atlantic" and CNN's senior political analyst, Ron Brownstein.
Ron, I know you were glued to your TV screen all weekend watching what was taking place in Iowa.
RON BROWNSTEIN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Yes.
BERMAN: And regardless of what the voters took from it, I mean Donald Trump descended on the state fair with his entourage. You know, blew in, blew out. What happened, do you think?
BROWNSTEIN: Well, it was - John, good morning, first of all. It was a physical manifestation I thought of where we are in the race,
you know, with Donald Trump dominating the attention. He has a passionate following in the Republican Party, including a share that, you know, views really any challenge to him as fundamentally illegitimate. Not only, you know, believing that Joe Biden was illegitimately elected, but, you know, even someone challenging him for the Republican nomination is illegitimate. And we saw the kind of heckling and harassment that DeSantis faced.
But, you know, the words that Jeff used, and Kate used before, blew in, blew out, quick, I mean, that is the challenge for Trump in Iowa. You know, whether that historic Iowa model that you have to burrow in on the ground, do the full Grassley, they call it, visiting all 99 counties, whether that still applies, because certainly Ron DeSantis, probably Tim Scott, maybe Nikki Haley, they're all going to do a lot more of that than Donald Trump. And we'll see whether his more nationally focused campaign ultimately can hold them off in Iowa, which does have a tradition in its recent elections of going against the frontrunner but then picking a candidate who ultimately can't win the nomination.
BERMAN: And that gets to one of my favorite jeopardy questions, which are, who are the last three winners of the Republican Iowa caucuses with no incumbent on the ballot.
BROWNSTEIN: Yes. Exactly right.
BERMAN: And we can put it up on the screen for our viewers here. And they can see - well, I'll tell them anyway, it's Mike Huckabee, right, in 2008.
BROWNSTEIN: Right.
BERMAN: 2012 was Rick Santorum. And in 2016, it was Ted Cruz.
BROWNSTEIN: And -
BERMAN: There we go. Look at that. That's even better when you can see it. It's remarkable.
BROWNSTEIN: And none of them -- yes, so none of them ultimately won more than a dozen states, John, you know, in the -- in the Republican contest.
You know, you have to go back to 2000 and 1996 when George W. Bush and Bob Dole won to find an Iowa winner who actually won the nomination. And a big part of that is because you can win Iowa in a way that sets you on a path that makes it hard to win the nomination. It is possible to win Iowa by consolidating and dominating among one group, evangelical Christians, home schoolers, culturally conservative Christian voters are the dominant block in an Iowa Republican caucus. But if that's all that you can pull together, it becomes very hard to win the nomination.
And, again, Iowa also, you know, historically at least, has rewarded that kind of shoe leather, sweat equity, you know, putting in the time in every state -- in every county. We'll see.
I mean Trump might have won Iowa even in 2016 if he had not, in a fit of pique, skipped the Iowa Fox debate at the very end there, which is, you know, why I personally think that even though he may skip some of the early national debates, he's likely this time to participate in the debates in the early stage themselves because judge -- you know, skipping those can be seen as a slight not only on the sponsors but on the voters.
This will be a test as -- not only of the Republican Party and kind of its ideological leanings and how damaged they think Trump is, but whether that historic model of how you win this caucus state still applies. As someone said to me over the weekend, you know, this is not Jimmy Carter's Iowa anymore, referring back all the way to 1976, but they -- obviously the other candidates still believe that model applies, at least somewhat.
BERMAN: And if we -- I don't know if we have that graphic to put back up on the screen, but to what extent can Ron DeSantis follow the path of former presidents Mike Huckabee, Rick Santorum and Ted Cruz to win the Iowa caucus?
BROWNSTEIN: Totally. Totally.
BERMAN: Does he have the same overlap?
BROWNSTEIN: Yes, totally. I mean, he is - I - you know, look, he has chosen to run at Trump primarily from the right. And, you know, that decision -- you saw -- I think - I think you saw on Saturday the difficulty of that decision. I mean the most conservative onus of the Republican Party are pretty passionately in Trump's corner, which is different from 2016 when he - when he appealed more broadly ideologically across the party.
[09:40:06]
But, absolutely, Ron DeSantis can win Iowa in the same way that Huckabee, Santorum and Cruz did, by really focusing on organizing and really centering that organizing on the very powerful networks of culturally conservative evangelical Christians in the state. If that's all that he can do, those precedents say it becomes very hard to win the nomination. And, in fact, as I said, none of those candidates won more than a dozen states.
BERMAN: Right.
BROWNSTEIN: Even in Iowa, DeSantis will have to demonstrate a broader appeal if an Iowa win is really going to lift him anywhere beyond that. Don't forget, all three of those candidates absolutely cratered a week later in New Hampshire. Usually it's something like 12 percent of the vote or less.
BERMAN: Yes.
BROWNSTEIN: So you've got to - you've got to -- even if you win Iowa, if you do it too narrowly, it probably foreshadows a difficult pathway ahead.
BERMAN: What Iowa giveth, New Hampshire taketh away.
BROWNSTEIN: (INAUDIBLE).
BERMAN: Ron Brownstein, great to see you this morning. Thank you.
BROWNSTEIN: Thanks, John.
BERMAN: Sara.
SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: John, still the poet.
And still to come, Russia unleashes new attacks overnight, Ukraine says seven people were killed, including a newborn baby. Details on that ahead.
Two pilots avoid tragedy. Both eject from a vintage fighter jet at a Michigan air show. The harrowing ordeal all caught on video.
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[09:45:46]
SIDNER: New this morning, Ukraine says it repelled a barrage of Russian air strikes on the southern port city of Odessa overnight. But Odessa did get hit. Once again, three people were injured.
Firefighters have been working to put out blazes at several buildings. And Ukraine's president is vowing to respond after Russian shelling killed seven people in Kherson. The dead include an entire family, a 23-day old baby, her 12-year-old brother and their mother and father.
CNN's Nick Paton Walsh joins us now from Dnipro in Ukraine.
Can you bring us up to speed on what's happening there in Ukraine and where you are as well?
NICK PATON WALSH, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Yes, these incidents overnight in Odessa, another example of Russia's bid to try and cause significant trouble towards that important southern coastal city. It appears that 15 of the Shahid drones didn't manage to get intercepted, some caliber missiles may have managed to get through, but it's the weekend's toll on civilians that have proven particularly shocking.
You mentioned there in Kherson region, down towards the Black Sea, a village there where a family were hit as part of shelling that claimed seven lives in total, a 23-day-old baby, Sophia, her 12-year-old brother, Atium (ph), and their mother and father were part of the dead there as well.
And so as pressure continues to mount on Ukraine, on its southern front, it does appear Russia is perpetually trying to get some sort of retaliation against civilian populations. The strikes in Odessa causing an enormous conflagration and some wounded. But, with this point, no loss of life. The weekend strikes, though, in that Kherson village, quite shocking, Sara.
SIDNER: Really shocking, really upsetting.
Nick Paton Walsh, thank you so much for you and your crew being there. Stay out of danger, if you can.
Kate.
BOLDUAN: Also on our radar this hour, officials say that they've recovered the remains of a fifth victim from the site of this massive home explosion. Just look at this. This is outside of Pittsburgh. Three homes were destroyed, 12 more homes were damaged. A teenager was among the victims here. They're clearly investigating to find out what led to this.
The moment of the blast, it was caught on a doorbell camera of a neighboring house. It's remarkable. Authorities are working to determine what led to this.
In Los Angeles, it was a wild, coordinated act of looting at a Nordstrom's store. Police say the flash mob of about 30 people were all dressed in black when they ran into a mall on Saturday, overwhelming the staff there. They grabbed an estimated $100,000 worth of merchandise. All of it caught on camera, as you can see, and the chaos that ensued. A similar crime happened earlier in the week in near Glendale.
There's also more incredible video that we want to show you. The moment two people, you can see, were ejected from a vintage fighter jet. It happened during the thunder over a Michigan air show on Sunday. The jet later crashed into a parking lot of a nearby apartment complex. Officials say the two people who ejected, they did not suffer any serious injuries. They actually landed in a lake. Remarkably no one on the ground was hurt either. The FAA and the NTSB are investigating.
John.
BERMAN: Quite a show.
All right, six Mississippi police officers who admitted to federal charges related to the torture of two black men are back in court today. This time they face state charges.
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[09:53:13]
BERMAN: This morning, six former Mississippi police officers, who have already pleaded guilty to federal charges for torturing two black men, are back in court, this time for state charges. Prosecutors say the suspects, all of whom are white, call themselves the Goon Squad because of the excessive force tactics that they used.
CNN's Ryan Young is following developments for us this morning.
What's the expectation today, Ryan?
RYAN YOUNG, CNN CORRESPONDENT: John, this is a story we've been waiting to see how it was going to play out for quite some time. This is scary for all the reasons that you sort of laid out. For two hours the men were tortured inside their own home when the Goon Squad members showed up. There was six of them who came to a home and then for hours, not only did they use a Taser, but pour oil, throw eggs, used the n-word over and over to these men.
And we sat down with the men and their family members as they were so upset. They've been trying to get attention about this for months. This happened back in January. And it took some time. But these members call themselves the Goon Squad.
In fact, take a listen to two of the victims just talk about the horrifying circumstances that they had to endure.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
EDDIE PARKER: I crawled here to this spot, and then they started beating me here. And tasing me. And you can see, you know, blood spots and all my blood spots there.
MICHAEL JENKINS: it hurts. And I'm embarrassed.
YOUNG: Has anyone from the department ever reached out to you and apologized? Have they ever asked for anything at all?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
YOUNG: Yes, that was Eddie Parker and Michael Jenkins. And, look, they, obviously, are upset. At one point one of the Goon Squad members took a gun and stuck it in the mouth of one of these men and pulled the trigger. And the gun went off, lacerating his tongue. That's part of the reason why we had to use those subtitles because it's hard for him to talk.
[09:55:03]
Right now these men have pled guilty to federal charges. Today those state charges will be charged against these men. They could spend the rest of their lives in jail.
Now, the sheriff, Bryan Bailey, who's the head of the Rankin County Sheriff's Department, says he doesn't plan to step down. He's even calling this one of the worst things he's ever seen. But at this point we've been asking to see what happens in terms of this - the rest of this department and whether or not more charges could be coming.
John, this is a terrible case. Most people in law enforcement say they've never seen anything like this before.
BERMAN: All right, Ryan Young, keep us posted over the next couple days. Thank you for this reporting. A horrific story.
Kate. BOLDUAN: Coming up for us, a grand jury is back at it today in Atlanta, Georgia, and CNN has just learned that a former Georgia state senator is inside the courthouse right now to offer her grand jury testimony in the Trump election subversion case. The new reporting coming in. We have that for you.
And the death toll on Maui is still climbing. The number of people still missing is really not clear. Extra crews are heading in today to help out.
We'll be right back.
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