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One Day Away: Biden and Trump Face Off Tomorrow Night in CNN Debate; Severe Flooding Swamps Midwest, Hundreds of Homes Submerged; Espionage Trial for Detained U.S. Journalist Begins in Russia. Aired 9:30-10a ET

Aired June 26, 2024 - 09:30   ET

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

[09:30:00]

SCOTT JENNINGS, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Which of these two guys is a more plausible commander-in-chief for a four-year period? So if you're Biden, you're trying to beat back concerns about your -- you know, age and your mental acuity. And if you're Trump, you've got to show up and I think look under control, measured, and plausible to retake the office that when you left last time, it wasn't a good day.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Jamal?

JAMAL SIMMONS, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Yeah, remember what's going to be important here is the first 30 minutes of this debate, I think is going to be incredibly important, because most people may not make it past, I know CNN is a great place for people to watch, but they may not make it all the way through 90 minutes in this particular debate.

And if we think about the first debate last time, the one where Trump had COVID and didn't tell people that he had COVID, the first debate last time, that was when Joe Biden said, shut up, man, right? When we had that moment for him, that was in the first 20 minutes of that debate.

In the second debate, Joe Biden made the point about COVID, where he said, Donald Trump turned COVID from a tragedy -- from a crisis into a tragedy. And I think getting the contrast out in that first 20 or 30 minutes is probably what both of those campaigns are going to be aiming for.

BERMAN: So we are in this period now, as great as tomorrow night is, we're in this sort of 48, 36-hour period here, which is a little silly. And when surrogates or the campaigns come out and say something, to me, it's only for two possible reasons. One is to set expectations.

The other is to send a message to the candidate, you know, whether or not you work for the campaign or work tangential to the campaign. And so Vivek Ramaswamy, one of the things he said is he says, you know, I think Donald Trump's going to come out as a unifier because that's the side of him that America doesn't see. And of course, I said, they don't see it because he never does anything to, you know, indicate that he's a unifier if you read a social media account. But why would Ramaswamy be saying he wants America to see Trump as a unifier?

SIMMONS: You know, one thing I think they know is there's so many Americans may not actually tune into this debate. So having these clips that are out there and influencing, not just the refs, but trying to influence the audience and as you mentioned, influence the candidates can be important.

Remember, there are two big things here when you're in a debate. They're the verbal things that president and the candidates do. And they're the nonverbal things that they do, right? I worked for Al Gore back in 2000 that those size were killers, right? For him --

JENNINGS: As a Bush guy, Cheney 2000 staffer. We appreciate the sign.

SIMMONS: But then there's the George -- there's George Bush senior moment where he looked at his watch in the middle of the debate. That's one of the nonverbal things you don't want to do. So you got to figure out what's going to make, work for your candidate.

JENNINGS: I think the unifier message, I think they may be setting up a contrast with Biden. He ran on this. Biden ran as -- I'm going to solo the nation unifier and he ran on Charlottesville.

I mean, that was the stated reason he got into the race. And I'm wondering if they're setting up a situation where Trump and the rest of the surrogate team are going to go out and say, Biden ran to unify. He ran on Charlottesville. And look at what's happening in L.A., on college campuses. This is the opposite of what he ran on.

BERMAN: There's also, I think, maybe an element of wishcasting with what you've said before. You want to see him come out as measured.

JENNINGS: Yeah.

BERMAN: Ramaswamy saying he wants to come out and see Trump as unifying there, that you do think is important for Trump. He's got to keep it real.

JENNINGS: There were two debates in 2020. One was a disaster. And number two, which everyone is memory old. He was great. He -- and by the way, they had muted microphones. People forgotten that. We have that on this debate Thursday night. I think this sets up for Trump to do what Ramaswamy said, show up, look like he's he could be the commander-in-chief, somebody who could bring people together to solve problems.

But he's got to do it around the issues, though. He really has to master the pivot back to inflation, back to economy, back to immigration. If we spend 90 minutes on things that aren't that, it's a loss for Trump.

BERMAN: So if Trump's going to pivot, how does Biden deal with that?

SIMMONS: Well, Biden, I think, is going to go hard on the contrast, right? And the contrast here for the Biden team is, look, MAGA is so much less popular now than it is today. In fact, some people would say MAGA is toxic. And if you look at these last elections, that's what's happened. The question for the Biden team that I'm hearing is, are you going to -- do you want to release relinquish control of your life to Donald Trump and the MAGA forces that want to have power over your freedom and choices? Or do you want to let somebody like Joe Biden, who you generally trust, kind of help you have the choices for your own life? That contrast is going to be incredibly important.

BERMAN: I want to ask one process thing here before we go, which is the Trump team works so hard to spin. He's not doing traditional debate prep. You know, Trump goes on interviews and I'm not doing debate prep.

He's got a cleared schedule at Mar-a-Lago for two days. You know, color me skeptical that he's not doing debate prep for these two days. So why are they out there telling people this?

JENNINGS: I think they they're maintaining the image of Donald Trump as not a traditional politician. That's part of the appeal of him, that he is not someone who's sitting in a conference room with 100 people showing him briefing memos. That's not the way he does it.

My guess is, too, he doesn't process information the same way that a 50-year politician like Joe Biden would. Well, I'm not surprised at the prep for either. I think they're doing what's best for the style of the candidate they have.

BERMAN: It's prep. He's prepping. I agree.

JENNINGS: But it's not traditional prep. It's not here, read this 100- page memo and then let's debate it. It's -- it's him riffing with people, thinking through. I mean, he's something of an entertainer. And, you know, I don't think they write all the jokes. I think some of it's a little bit more organic than that.

[09:35:07]

BERMAN: Scott Jennings, Jamal Simmons, great to see you here. The hardest working men in news business here. We'll see you here. We'll see you in Atlanta.

SIMMONS: We'll see you in the heat.

BERMAN: We'll see you.

SIMMONS: Everybody bring their whammy clock. You're going to need it.

BERMAN: So the most important debate maybe in history is tomorrow night right here on CNN. It is certainly historic. We've never seen anything like this. Moderated by Jake Tapper and Dana Bash, 9 p.m. Eastern on CNN and Max.

Sara.

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: All right, ahead -- thank you, John -- stunning new video out of Minnesota, a house falling into the river amidst catastrophic flooding there. There is an imminent risk of a dam collapse. We will bring you that story.

And the world sees wrongfully detained American journalist Evan Gershkovich for the first time in months. Russia's trial against him for alleged espionage now underway.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:40:45]

SIDNER: This morning, catastrophic flooding ravaging part of the Midwest and now incredible new video. Take a look at this, showing us the moment a home teetering there on the edge near a dam that is about to fail falls into the raging river below. An 11-year-old captured it all as the house that had been evacuated for a few days, luckily, began to crash down. There you see it going, almost the entire house with all the contents in it.

Now, more than 20 river gauges in that region have reached major flood stage. CNN meteorologist Allison Chinchar is monitoring all of this.

Oh, that video, devastating for those homeowners to see all of that going into that dam there, which I understand is very close to potentially failing completely.

ALLISON CHINCHAR, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Right. You've got some of these areas here that are looking at levels they haven't seen in 20 years. And you think of all of the areas that have kind of built up in those last 20 years.

Look at this video here that you can see from South Dakota. Again, just all of these areas underwater that normally would not be. And it's pretty widespread, too, because it's not just one or two rivers, creeks and streams that are dealing with excessive amounts of rain. It's a lot of them. You have 21 river gauges at major flood stage, 24 at moderate and over 60 at minor flood stage.

Now, most of them, again, are focused around that Minnesota, Iowa, South Dakota area. That's why you still have some of these flood warnings, in effect, focused right around a lot of those rivers, creeks and streams. But the water has to flow somewhere. So in the short term, most of the concern is a little bit farther north.

But all of that water is eventually going to flow southward down towards the Gulf of Mexico, meaning that a lot of these other river gauges are going to start to see their levels begin to increase this weekend and even into next week, because many of these have not yet crested.

Take, for example, the Mississippi River at St. Paul, still on the rise and not really expected to crest until we get into this weekend. And if it does reach those levels, this is what we're talking about. Could be the first time in 20 years they've seen levels this high. So, again, you're talking about an excessive amount of water. Now, in the short-term, we are finally going to get some drier

conditions. That cold front is now starting to slide farther south and east, taking with it the chance of severe thunderstorms. So you have got some areas across the northeast, the mid-Atlantic, back down into the south that are looking at the potential for hail, damaging winds and even tornadoes today. That strong line of thunderstorms right there sliding from Missouri southward, but at least allowing areas farther north to get a little bit of a break.

SIDNER: All right, Allison Chinchar, thank you so much for taking a look at that for us.

Kate.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: There was no evidence. That is the message today from U.S. officials in Moscow as the sham trial against American journalist Evan Gershkovich gets underway. He was seen in court this morning, the first time that he has been seen publicly in months. You're seeing the video here. He's been falsely accused and wrongfully detained in Russia for more than a year now.

CNN's Hadas Gold has much more on this. Hadas, no reporters in the room, no U.S. embassy officials allowed in, no transparency. What are you hearing about what happened today and what's ahead for Evan?

HADAS GOLD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, Kate, this -- this is going to be a secret trial. Today was the first time that we saw Evan since March, and he looks a little bit different. His hair has been shaved. That is typical of Russian prisoners. And his trial is finally going to be set to get underway after more than 15 months of pretrial detention. Think about that.

He has been imprisoned for more than a year before a trial has even begun. He was arrested while on a reporting trip, while doing his job as a reporter for "The Wall Street Journal," and the Russians are accusing him of espionage. This is the first time that American journalist has been put on trial for espionage in Russia since the Cold War. That goes to show you how serious this is.

Now, no evidence has been unveiled, although the Russians claim that Evan was working for the CIA and was trying to collect information for the CIA on a military factory. Again, they have not shown any evidence.

This trial will be held behind closed doors. None of Evan's family or friends or reporters or even officials from the U.S. embassy will be allowed into this trial. So we will have no idea what's going on. Of course, there will be no cameras in the trial as well.

[09:45:01]

Now, Evan, of course, and his family, "The Wall Street Journal," the American government, all vehemently deny these charges. They call them absurd. They say he was a journalist. He is a journalist just doing his job. The U.S. has even accused Moscow of holding him just for the purposes

of what they call hostage diplomacy, essentially as a pawn for a future prisoner swap. But this trial is going to get underway. We do have new statements from "The Wall Street Journal," who every day has been sending updates on the many, many days that he has been wrongfully imprisoned.

I'll read you some of this statement from their CEO and their Editor- in-Chief, saying, "It's jarring to see him in yet another courtroom for a sham trial held in secret and based on fabricated accusations. While we are told he's doing well, given the circumstances, Evan's wrongful detention continues to be a devastating assault on his freedom and his work and an unfathomable attack on the free press."

Of course, his family, who has been enduring months of anguish while they see the member of their family imprisoned in Russia, also issued a statement saying, "These past 15 months have been extraordinarily painful for Evan and for our family. We miss our son, and we just want him home."

This trial is expected to take several months, and it will resume on August 13th.

Kate.

BOLDUAN: All right, Hadas, thank you.

John.

BERMAN: A dangerous wildfire tripling in size overnight this morning, thousands forced to evacuate their homes and businesses.

And the NBA Draft just hours away. This one is wide open. No idea who's going to go first.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:51:05]

SIDNER: Today, President Biden is pardoning almost 2,000 veterans who were convicted of violating the military's now-repealed ban on consensual gay sex. That ban had been in effect since 1951 until it was rewritten in 2013.

Here's what the pardon's going to do. It's going to allow anyone convicted under that provision to apply for a certificate that will finally help them receive any benefits that had been withheld.

In Central Oregon, a fast-growing wildfire has forced more than 1,000 homes and businesses to evacuate. This morning, the picture's jaw- dropping. The Darlene 3 fire, about 190 miles south of Portland, tripled in size overnight, fueled by gusty winds there. 1,700 acres have burned so far in the fire. Zero percent contained.

Now to Olympics swimming legend Michael Phelps saying the Olympics could be in jeopardy because the World Anti-Doping Agency is failing too often to enforce its own rules and being inconsistent when it does. Here's what he told lawmakers.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MICHAEL PHELPS, 23-TIME OLYMPIC GOLD MEDALIST: We need to hold them responsible. As athletes, our faith can no longer be blindly placed in the world of anti-doping agency, an organization that continues to prove that it is either incapable or unwilling to enforce its policies consistently around the world.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SIDNER: Phelps' testimony follows accusations that top Chinese swimmers who won medals at the 2021 Tokyo Olympics had tested positive before those games for a banned performance-enhancing drug.

And Tesla issuing two new recalls for its cyber trucks yet again. One is for a potential windshield wiper malfunction that may reduce visibility and affects nearly 12,000 of those wild looking trucks. The other recall is for a piece of plastic trim that can come off while driving. Federal highway safety regulators say both issues can increase the risk of a crash. There's plastic on that car. OK. Wow.

John.

BERMAN: Stuff falling off.

SIDNER: Stuff falling off. Problematic.

BERMAN: All right. We're hours away from the NBA Draft in Brooklyn, New York. The Atlanta Hawks get the top pick. But who will they choose? Or who should I say will be the premier choix? CNN's Andy Scholes is with us now.

comment ca va, my friend Andy?

ANDY SCHOLES, CNN SPORTS ANCHOR: I think you're saying all that, John, because a guy from France is likely going to end up being the number one overall pick.

BERMAN: May we.

SCHOLES: Yeah. But this year, no clear-cut number one pick like many years before. Not like Victor Wembanyama, who's from France as well. Last year, Zion Williamson. But, you know, not knowing who's going number one, you know, making this draft very intriguing. And for the first time since 1975, the Atlanta Hawks have the first overall pick. They're going to be followed by the Wizards. Then you got the Rockets, Spurs and Pistons. So the Hawks have given no indication who they will be taking number one.

Zacch Risacher, a sharpshooting forward out of France, is the betting favorite to be that first pick. Super athletic defensive center Alex Sarr, also out of France. He could be the first or second pick. Two Frenchmen have never gone one, two in the NBA Draft. UConn Center Donovan Clingan, also expected to be a top pick. And all eyes are also going to be on Bronny James. Will LeBron's son

go in the first round? The Lakers have the 17th pick tonight. The draft gets started at 8:00 Eastern.

And Berman, something happened in the NBA for the first time in my lifetime last night. The Knicks and Nets made a trade. According to ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski, Brooklyn is sending Mikal Bridges to New York, reuniting the Villanova star with his former Wildcats teammates Jalen Brunson, Josh Hart, and Donte DiVincenzo.

And the Knicks paid a huge price to get this done. They sent four unprotected first round picks, a protected first rounder via the Bucs, and a pick swap in 2028. So New York going all in on the Nova Knicks.

And like I mentioned, this is the first trade between the Knicks and Nets since 1983. They don't ever want to help each other out. But I guess in this instance, the Knicks kind of overwhelmed them with that offer, John.

[09:55:08]

BERMAN: You know, the Knicks never make bad management decisions. So I'm sure this will go very well.

SIDNER: Wow.

(CROSSTALK)

BOLDUAN: All New Yorks --

SIDNER: Wow.

BERMAN: That's a statement of fact. That's just objectively true.

Andy Scholes, thank you very much.

SIDNER: Stick around, Andy. By the way, his email address for anyone who wants to complain. I'll give it to you in a minute. I just wanted to let you guys know. I may mess this up. So I need some tips from you, Andy. You know this game all too well. The women's congressional softball game started by or co-founded by Debbie Wasserman Schultz after cancer has invited me to throw out the first pitch. I instead am bringing a bat. So I need some -- thank you, HD, for this -- this incredible bat.

BOLDUAN: Are you throwing out the bat or are you throwing out the ball?

SIDNER: I was confused because I feel like maybe throwing the bat would be a little bit more exciting.

BOLDUAN: Definitely more exciting.

SIDNER: Just before this entanglement between Donald Trump and Joe Biden, I could start the rage, the crazy. What do you think? BERMAN: I think it's awesome that you're doing it. I can't think of a better person to do it. I think it's a huge honor. I wish I could be there to see it.

SIDNER: You've done it before. Not -- not that one.

(CROSSTALK)

BOLDUAN: Throwing bats at people you've done often. And it's such a great -- it's such a great game, such a great cause. Go bad news, babes. And go Sara Sidner.

SIDNER: Thank you.

BOLDUAN: Thank you so much for joining us. This is CNN News Central. CNN Newsroom with Jim Acosta is up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:00:00]