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Trump Skipping First Debate; Trump Holds Iowa Lead; Mudslides in California; Airlines Suffer from Storm Related Cancelations; Russian Spacecraft Plows into Moon. Aired 9:30-10a ET

Aired August 21, 2023 - 09:30   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[09:30:00]

KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Debate. And they point to the fact that they believe that the risk of him attending the debate is actually more than him skipping the debate.

And you talk about his poll numbers. It's something we know that Trump has talked about himself. This commanding lead that the former president has when it comes to the Republican primary. And they say that while there might be a breakout star, there might be a star that has a moment during this debate, they look at that lead and they don't believe that it would be enough to close that gap that Trump is leading by.

They also talk about the fact that Trump himself, if he's on the stage, automatically, they believe, will become the punching bag, which they think makes it harder if he's actually not on that stage. Now, I spoke to a lot of Republican operatives who said that they hoped that he would still attend. They were holding out hope, even though there was this reporting that he was not going to attend. And even hours before he posted, we heard from the RNC chairwoman. Take a listen to what she said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RONNA MCDANIEL, RNC CHAIR: Well, I'm still holding out hope that President Trump will come. I think it's so important that the American people hear from all the candidates.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: Now, it doesn't seem like that's going to happen, but we do know there are going to be several other candidates up on that stage, Chris Christie, Tim Scott, Mike Pence. And we have talked to a number of these political advisers for these campaigns who said that they were really preparing for both scenarios, Trump on stage and Trump not on stage.

And as you said, Sara, a lot of this is how to seize some of the spotlight back in this race. How to try and get traction. How to differentiate themselves from the former president.

It will be interesting to see how they do that. It will also be interesting to see how much Trump is still a focus of this debate, even if he is not there, Sara.

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: Yes, it's really interesting. I'm going to tell the truth and shame the devil. Fox has also been asking for Trump to come on because he's good for ratings.

HOLMES: Yes.

SIDNER: It makes for a very fiery debate.

We will see what happens. But, at this point, it looks like everyone else is playing for second at this point.

Thank you so much, Kristen Holmes. Appreciate it.

John.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: So, Sara, a brand-new poll out of Iowa. The poll considered the gold standard in polling in the first caucus state. This comes from "The Des Moines Register." And it shows Donald Trump with the largest lead at this stage since the 2000 contest won by George W. Bush. You can see 42 percent say Trump is their top choice, Ron DeSantis down at 19, everyone else behind that.

I'm joined now by former White House senior policy adviser Ashley Allison, and CNN political commentator S.E. Cupp. It is great to see both of you this morning.

S.E., I want to start with you because when you look at that poll, what's interesting is that Trump's numbers actually got better -- actually got better after the Georgia indictment. He was at 38 percent before the indictment. He went up to 43 after. DeSantis went down after the indictment. So, if you're DeSantis or any of the others looking up at Trump this morning in Iowa, what are you thinking?

S.E. CUPP, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: You're thinking it might be time to change your campaign strategy of not hitting Donald Trump. The light touches have not worked. The light criticism without naming him haven't worked. They're not differentiating themselves from one another and they're not taking on the front runner, which is how you win. So, as long as they want to keep sort of whiffing and pretending Trump isn't maybe going to go to prison at some point soon, I think they're all going to be living in the basement for the next few months.

BERMAN: Ashley, one other number for your viewing pleasure I want to put up this morning. This comes from a CBS News poll. They asked Trump voters, who do you feel what they tell you is true? In other words, who do you trust the most when they tell you something? Trump leads with 71 percent. He's beating your friends and family who are at 63 percent, religious leaders down to 42 percent. Trump voters believe Donald Trump more than they believe mom and dad or their local minister. What does that tell you?

ASHLEY ALLISON, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, I think there was a point when you would want your president of the United States to be in the top three of someone that you trusted and believed, but what Donald Trump did before he was even elected president is he started to sow doubt in systems and people and now he is really reaping the benefits of those efforts. He did it in debates against Hillary Clinton, he did it while he was actually president and he continues to do it now that he has lost an election and won't even acknowledge it.

I think for all the other candidates, though, you have to really think about not just beating Donald Trump, but how you are going to start communicating with the American public. And this actually includes Joe Biden, about how they're going to get their information, how they want to receive their information, how you start to deprogram folks who are continuously being lied to by someone like Donald Trump but won't accept that it's not truth, because if we don't actually starting to go a layer deeper beneath Donald Trump, we are going to find ourselves in a whole election that is rooted in myths and disinformation and flat-out lies.

[09:35:19]

BERMAN: So, how do you address that, S.E., on the debate stage Wednesday night? I guess for - I want to differentiate because I - well, is this debate Ron DeSantis and everyone else, or are they all in one pack here, S.E.?

CUPP: No, I think they're, for the most part, in a pack. For most Americans this will be the first time they ever get to see Nikki Haley, Tim Scott debate. I think that's really important. And both of those two figures have unique backgrounds and opportunities to differentiate themselves.

All eyes will definitely be on Ron DeSantis because the hype was so high for his candidacy and he has underperformed. So, to see him answering tough questions and against other competitors will be important for his campaign. I think a turning point potentially for his campaign.

And, yes, I think everyone's going to get an equal opportunity on that debate stage to make their case. But they have to do just that. And what I've been saying is, you don't even have to fully attack Donald Trump to do it. You have to say, I know you like Donald Trump. I like him, too. But he might be going to prison. Let's elect someone who won't be going to prison. That's - that's a real simple thing to say and not, you know, tick off a bunch of Trump voters in the process by just being honest and stating the obvious. I hope at least one person on that stage will do that.

BERMAN: Ashley, if you're on that stage and you're not Ron DeSantis, should your number one target be, you know, a, Ron DeSantis, b, Donald Trump, you know, c, Joe Biden? Rank them in order of who you should be talking about besides yourself if you're one of the other candidates.

ALLISON: Well, I think you should go after Donald Trump and then I think you should look at the rest of the field. Ron DeSantis leading the pack, but the rest of the field as one. And then, obviously, go and attack Joe Biden because you actually have to beat Joe Biden to be the president of the United States. It means nothing if you're at the top of the ticket for the Republican Party but then you lose on general election day. You have fought a good fight, but you have not won the actual battle. So, you need to actually attack Donald Trump to just unseat him and his lead, but then really look at the whole pack and start to tick away folks one by one.

BERMAN: S.E., the Joe Biden campaign, and the Democrats, they're going to start basically going after Donald Trump now-ish. They're going to start spending money now. Do you think that's a good idea? What do they get out of that?

CUPP: Yes, I mean, they're basically pivoting to a general election, which is smart. You know, Joe Biden is the presumed nominee, but Cornel West and RFJ, Jr., are presenting some issues potentially. So, I would clear them out of the way and start acting like the general election has begun. And if that's the case, you're taking on the front runner, and that is unequivocally Donald Trump. I think it's money well spent.

BERMAN: Ashley and S.E., thank you both very much. Look forward to speaking with you in the coming days.

Kate.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: Coming up for us, the remnants of Hilary still having a major impact on southern California. The storm also now causing a ripple effect on air travel. We've got an update for you next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:43:09]

BOLDUAN: It's now a post-tropical cyclone. Hilary is leaving behind major flooding across parts of southern California. And 25 million people, they still remain under flood warnings. Palm Springs is getting especially hit hard. Roads washed out. Access blocked. Golf courses, as you see, turned into lakes.

The mayor there tells CNN that 911 lines are still down this morning and she says there's no way in and out of the city right now.

North of Los Angeles, this road broke away with vehicles passing by just feet away. The rainfall also sparked massive mudslides in San Bernardino -- in the San Bernardino Mountains, forcing even firefighters to run.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Stop. Stop. Stop the car.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mike (ph), the fire lines.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Come here. Come here. Come here.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: Oh, geez. CNN's Mike Valerio, he's in San Diego for us and he's joining us now.

Mike, what are you seeing and hearing there this morning as it's passing through?

MIKE VALERIO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Kate, good morning to you. You know, I think that we're seeing and experiencing a lot of muscle memory from the disaster response that we had from all the atmospheric rivers in January, February and March. And to that end, specifically to San Diego, where we are, we had no fewer than ten search and rescue water teams from San Diego Fire Department spread up and down the San Diego River from the coastline, Mission Bay, all the way up to the five, and they rescued no fewer than nine, Kate, nine people overnight who were in harm's way from the raging flood water of the San Diego River.

So, it's been all about preparation, really minimizing the catastrophe here along the coast. And the picture utterly different in the desert communities, as you're seeing on the screen right there and as you mentioned at the intro to our segment.

[09:45:02]

But, in terms of preparation, something very unusual as we push in a couple hundred yards through the bay here, just on the other side of the bay, you see the number 72 through the fog. That is the USS Abraham Lincoln, one of the nuclear-powered aircraft carriers here of the third fleet. It is one of the ships, Kate, that remained here in San Diego Bay. Ten other U.S. Navy ships, in a first ever for the Navy, have left these waters, the safety of the bay, and have made their way to the Channel Islands off the coast of Santa Barbara just in an abundance of caution for the choppy waters here. Wind gusts up to 60 miles an hour. This is not a great place to be for crowded Navy ships. And they made the preparations yesterday to avoid just that.

BOLDUAN: Absolutely. And also the first day of school was canceled for the kids in San Diego. What are you hearing about when they're going to be able to get back to class?

VALERIO: So, this was supposed to be the first day of school for 120,000 students across San Diego. School is canceled, though, Kate, because, you know, this is a weird thing for all of us to go through in southern California, to have a tropical storm warnings up and down the coast for the first time.

What they are doing today is making sure that all of the school buildings throughout the city of more than a million people are OK. That, God forbid, there's nothing wrong with the roofs or ceilings and everybody will be back to school tomorrow like nothing ever happened, Kate.

BOLDUAN: It's good to see you, Mike. Thanks for being there.

Sara.

SIDNER: This morning, airlines are working to recover after more than 1,000 flights were canceled due to, then, Hurricane Hilary.

CNN aviation correspondent Pete Muntean is following all of this for us.

What's it looking like now? How are things going at the airport as people try to make their way back?

PETE MUNTEAN, CNN AVIATION CORRESPONDENT: Well, Sara, we're over the big hump of the cancellation numbers that we saw yesterday. You mentioned the more than 1,000 cancellations. The real story, though, is the delays. Fifty-five hundred flights nationwide delayed yesterday. Largely a result of this now post-tropical cyclone.

But today we are still seeing some pretty big numbers. Just checked Flight Aware, 268 delays in the U.S., 790 cancellations -- 790 delays, 286 cancellations. Those numbers are going up a little bit.

The worst airplanes, and we're not really out of the woods yet, San Diego, Harry Reid in Las Vegas, Ontario in the L.A. basin, also John Wayne, Santa Ana, Bob Hope, those airports in Burbank are really getting hit hard. We've seen about 14 percent of flights canceled out of San Diego, about 23 percent of flights canceled today out of Ontario.

This is why Southwest Airlines is getting hit especially hard. True to the name, they've canceled about 17 percent of their flights yesterday. We're talking about 714 flights in total. So, they will still have to play catch up today. And the airline on its website is warning of diverts, delays, cancellations as the day goes on.

Also why airlines have offered these travel waivers, allowing you to change your flights free of charge, especially if your plans change because of this storm. American, United, Southwest, Alaska have all put into place these travel waivers. So, you can rechange your flights without much penalty.

Although we're not totally out of the woods yet here, Sara. The FAA warning of ground stops today as the day goes on in the wake of this storm. Big winds expected in Las Vegas. Also low cloud ceilings in San Francisco. And that could cause some flights inbound to be delayed.

Sara.

SIDNER: Yes, and it remains to be seen. You know, Santa Ana, John Wayne and Burbank, Bob Hope, those are all regional airlines. A lot of people go through those airlines to get to and from places that are pretty close.

MUNTEAN: Yes. No doubt.

SIDNER: But they're all in the area where there's flooding. So, people need to just make sure they call the airlines, like you always tell us, right, Pete?

MUNTEAN: So true, Sara. I'm glad that somebody's listening.

SIDNER: Check online. Check.

All right, thank you so much, Pete. Appreciate it.

MUNTEAN: Yes. Thanks.

SIDNER: John.

BERMAN: So, one trip that was canceled mid-flight was the Russian mission to the moon. This was supposed to be their first moon landing in nearly half a century, but this morning it failed. So, what went wrong?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:53:16]

BERMAN: It was supposed to be a triumph for Russia's space program and for Vladimir Putin. It turned out to be anything but. A Russian spacecraft that was trying to make the country's first lunar landing in decades, it crashed into the moon's surface.

With us now, CNN's senior international correspondent Frederik Pleitgen.

Fred, I'm thrilled to be able to cover a space moment with you because, as our audience well knows, you were instrumental in covering Matt Damon's trip back from Mars in "The Martian." For people who've seen that film, Fred was a star of that film.

So, talk to me, Fred, with - your background is changing. Talk to me about what went on for the Russians as this lunar lander crashed into the moon.

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, it seems as through it was really in the final stages that this lunar landing went badly. Of course, an unmanned lunar vehicle that the Russians were trying to send to the moon. The first one, by the way, as you mentioned, in decades. It was 47 years, in 1976, that the Russians last managed to put an unmanned lunar vehicle on the moon's surface. So, they managed to launch this and then they actually managed to bring the lunar lander into the moon's orbit.

So, they were circling around the moon. They then had to put it into an elliptical orbit to try and land on the moon. And that's where things seemed to have gone badly. It was either, they believe, something possibly with some of the booster rockets or some sort of miscalculation. But the trajectory was such that it actually crashed into the moon.

If you read the Russian press release, it's pretty dry. They said that the - the lunar lander ceased to exist, as they put it, after hitting the moon's surface. So, obviously, a setback for the Russians. They were also kind of in a race with the Indians to try and land on that part of the moon.

And, of course, you're absolutely right, them also trying to recapture some of that glory of the Soviet Union. So certainly a setback for their lunar plans. A big setback for Vladimir Putin as well, John.

[09:55:03]

BERMAN: Yes, a setback if the lunar lander ceased to exist.

All right, Fred Pleitgen, great to see you. Thanks so much.

Sara.

SIDNER: All right, this is a live look, right there, of the Fulton County Jail where any day now Donald Trump or any one of his 18 accused co-conspirators could surrender for criminal charges in Georgia. What we are learning now about the potential timing of all of his.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BERMAN: Twenty-five million people are under flood warnings this morning as much of the western United States reels from heavy rains and severe winds. So, where is this historic storm headed next.

SIDNER: We are watching this Fulton County Jail closely as former President Donald Trump and the 18 alleged co-conspirators charged in Georgia must surrender by the end of this week.

[10:00:08]

BOLDUAN: President Biden is headed to Maui