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Tonight, Biden and Trump Square Off in Historic CNN Debate; Biden Campaign Launching Media Blitz Ahead of Historic Debate; Bank of America Says, Housing Market Stuck Until at Least 2026. Aired 7-7:30a ET

Aired June 27, 2024 - 07:00   ET

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

[07:00:00]

JONAH GOLDBERG, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: The downside is Trump can get all the benefits from interrupting Biden without any of the detriments by not being seen interrupting Biden.

KASIE HUNT, CNN ANCHOR: Yes. Shermichael?

SHERMICHAEL SINGLETON, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Like no audience benefits Trump because he lives and breathes off of the audience reaction. I think this is going to be a good night for him.

HUNT: Yes, the audience, we haven't actually dug in too much to the fact that there is not going to be an audience tonight. Really going to change -- I mean it's the first time in years, decades.

MARK PRESTON, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Yes. Though I will say, the CPD debates, they had an audience, but they were just potted plants. I mean, so not like they actually participated in the debate. No disrespect to the CPD, just telling the truth.

KATE BEDINGFIELD, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, and, ultimately, your audience is the television audience.

PRESTON: Yes, exactly.

HUNT: It's really the only one that matters. I mean, you're in the hall, your perception of actually how it plays. It's really muted.

All right, thank you very much to our panel. Thanks to all of you for joining us on this incredibly consequential day. I'm Kasie Hunt.

Don't go anywhere. CNN News Central starts right now.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Say the words.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: It's debate day in America.

BERMAN: This is special coverage of CNN's historic presidential debate, so special we are in Atlanta, so special even we have to sit down. The first ever debate between a current president and a former president, the earliest general election debate ever. BOLDUAN: Which also means this is the first time a general election debate is being held with neither candidate officially nominated yet by their parties. But I digress. The stakes, even the campaigns are admitting they are sky high.

And there's new reporting this morning on the last minute preps for both candidates and last minute details on how they plan to take each other on.

We are standing by for President Biden and Donald Trump to arrive in Atlanta. When they do, they'll get a walkthrough of the stage before the big show, which is exactly where our Sarah Sidner is right now.

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: That is right. I am standing on the debate stage where President Biden and former President Trump will face off in the historic debate. Now, we got to tell you, we're going to give you a behind the scenes look at how the candidates will see the debate and how you will see the debate and all the new rules they'll have to wrangle with.

A new hour, CNN News Central starts right now as we prepare for this historic debate.

All right, I am standing here on the debate. This is a historic moment on several levels. First of all, we've never seen a president and vice president debate each other to become the president again. Second of all, this is a very different stage. They have a lot of different rules. And so I want to give you a look at exactly what they will be experiencing and what you will be experiencing.

So, here we are. The candidates will be standing here on the stage. President Biden will be coming from your screen left. President Trump will be coming -- sorry, President Biden will come for your screen right. President Trump will be coming from your screen left. Each of the candidates will have two minutes to answer the moderators' questions. They will have one minute for rebuttal after that. And then if the moderators decide they need to clarify something, they will get another minute.

But I want to give you an idea of what they're going to see. So, my photographer, Tony (ph), is going to come around here to show you their view of this large room. You will see there is where the moderators will sit. Our Dana Bash and Jake Tapper will sit in those two chairs and be speaking directly to the president and former president, asking the questions. We also are giving you a look at what they have. They are not allowed to have notes during this debate, but they are allowed to have a notepad and a pen already set up here for both of them.

Let me give you some sense of just how close they will be because this is unusual as well. They're basically within reach of one another, about eight feet apart. And then they're going to see exactly when they are actually on camera and actually speaking and the audience can hear them and when they're not, because they're going to be looking at lights on cameras far over there and they will see when it is flashing yellow, they have 15 seconds to finish up their answer. When it is flashing red, they have five seconds left. And when it is still and it's just red, the mic will be turned off.

And how will they know if they're not looking up at that moment? There are two little lights here that will be green when they are speaking to let them know that their microphone is on and it will be turned off when the mics are muted. You know that that is one of the things that is a bit different now, but the really big difference that could have an impact on these candidates is that if you look around the room here, and I'll give you sort of a 360 view, what do you notice? No chairs, no audience. We'll see who that affects more. Kate and John?

BERMAN: Yes.

[07:05:00]

It really is remarkable how close they are on the stage there. I was standing there last night, and you can touch both of the lecterns. These are two guys who haven't been in the same room since 2020. And before that, it's not like they spent a lot of time together. All of a sudden, the most important 90 minutes maybe of their political lives, they can hear each other breathe, I mean, practically feel it.

SIDNER: They're within touching distance, yes.

BERMAN: And I'm not sure they like each other very much. You can imagine how uncomfortable it might be.

BOLDUAN: Look, handshake, no handshake, that's like the least of the worries. But that's always a question when they walk on stage. And now they're going to be, you know, reach out and touch someone. They're definitely going to be able to do that tonight.

BERMAN: All right, we will get back to the debate room very shortly.

In the meantime, how are the candidates spending the day? CNN's Alayna Treene who covers the Trump campaign, she is in the spin room. That's a good looking room behind you there, Alayna. Let's talk about Donald Trump. What's he doing right now?

ALAYNA TREENE, CNN REPORTER: Well, look, I mean, Donald Trump and his team have been preparing over the last several days behind closed doors at Mar-a-Lago, and a lot of the conversation has been trying to steer Donald Trump towards staying on message. That is something that has been very hard for the former president to do in the past. We see him often on the campaign trail go on long rants and talking about his personal grievances. That is something Donald Trump's campaign does not want him to do.

Another thing I'm told that his team are really advising him on as he heads into today is to stay away from personal attacks on Joe Biden. Remember in 2020, Donald Trump leveled a series of personal attacks on Biden, including bringing up his son, Hunter Biden. There are questions today over whether he will go into the recent conviction for Hunter Biden and his gun case. All of that are things that Donald Trump's team does not want him to talk about. They want him to stay focused on three key issues, including the economy, the border crime, all areas where he is polling better than Joe Biden. Now, I'm also told behind the scenes, just to get into a little bit of what Sara was walking you all through with this debate, it's been really interesting in my conversations. There's been a bit of a change in how Trump's team views the debate rules, one, with the microphones being shut off. Initially, they didn't like that. They wanted him to be able to continue speaking, to interrupt if he needed to. However, I'm told in recent days, they really changed their thought on that. They actually think, you know what, this might be better to keep him from coming off as aggressive as he did back in 2020 in that first debate with Biden.

The other thing about the audience, they also are starting to believe that's more of a positive as well. Donald Trump likes to feed off a crowd. He often gets his energy and takes cues from people in the audience. With there being no audience tonight on that debate stage and in that room, Donald Trump, they think we'll be able to more easily stay on message.

BERMAN: So, Alayna, you are in the spin room, which is a remarkable magical place. Because it is a room where after the debate, people will come and tell you that both candidates won. You will hear from both campaigns, no matter what happens on that stage, that their candidate won. What do you think it's going to be like at roughly, you know, 10:33 P.M. tonight?

TREENE: I mean, well, first of all, you can see that it's quite empty behind me. It's very early in the morning here. In about 12 hours, that'll be an entirely different case. There's going to be roughly a thousand journalists here, we're told, from 35 different countries, 173, excuse me, different networks. This room is going to be packed. It's going to be standing room only.

If you see this stage area behind me, that's where the spinning will actually be happening. You're going to have surrogates from the Trump campaign, from the Biden campaign, all of them touting their candidates' performance like you said, John, regardless of what happens, claiming that their candidate one.

And so we're going to see a lot of that spin, it's why it's called the spin room, here tonight shortly after that debate. John?

BERMAN: Embargoed until delivery. This is from both campaigns, we won. Alayna Treene, great to see you this morning. Thanks so much for being here. Kate?

BOLDUAN: Exactly. We won, we won, and let me think about that again. I think we won.

President Biden has been at Camp David for days in prep sessions for tonight's debate. CNN has learned among the things he's preparing for is to defend not only his policies, but also his family, specifically his son, Hunter, from Trump's insults and attacks.

CNN's Kayla Tausche is with us here in Atlanta. Great to see you, Kayla.

KAYLA TAUSCHE, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Good to see you.

BOLDUAN: So, Biden will be arriving later this afternoon. He'll be heading to Georgia a little later this morning. What are you hearing about last minute today preps? Where are they setting expectations?

TAUSCHE: Well, President Biden, by his nature, is a night owl. And I spoke to some sources late last night. They had long working days at Camp David. And when I asked about whether they had finished mock debates, they said the schedule is still fluid and there was room in the schedule for a potential last mock date today.

BOLDUAN: Even today?

TAUSCHE: If the president woke up and felt like that was something he wanted to do to get some last minute preparation in.

So, they'll head down to Atlanta. And they've been refining all sorts of attacks, counterattacks on both foreign and domestic policy, as well as things of a personal nature.

[07:10:00]

Alayna just reported that President Trump's team does not want him to level those personal attacks, but they came before, and the president's team has wanted to prepare him for them.

One advisor that I spoke to used a Mike Tyson quote to describe the nature of these preparations, saying, everybody has a plan until they get punched in the face. And I wanted President Biden to be able to absorb those first punches to really reel from the potential for very, very personal attacks in private, so that he could compose himself and then craft a comeback from there.

As far as the opening protocol goes, this has been an area of fascination for a lot of people. Will they shake hands? Will there be a gentleman between the two of them, given how close their podiums are? And while I'm told that the Biden camp doesn't expect the president to extend a hand for a handshake, they can't possibly anticipate what Donald Trump will do.

And so they don't want to premeditate what could potentially happen on stage. But they do expect him to call the former president, Donald, as he did in 2020, except in instances where there might be some utility in tying him to the presidency, specifically where January 6th is concerned, to say that he was the president then, he had the keys to the castle, he could have done something about it, and he didn't, to put him in that role and show in the Biden camp's view how he failed in that role. So, that's something to watch for tonight.

As far as what is I'm not sure what eating your Wheaties looks like if you're President Biden, he loves pasta with red sauce. He loves Coke Zero and orange Gatorade. I asked an adviser what he would be eating before the debate, they said. We don't know if we'll be eating before or after. We'll just have to see how the schedule plays out.

BOLDUAN: All so many unknowns. TAUSCHE: So many unknowns.

BOLDUAN: But so many talk about setting an expectation of Mike Tyson quote on how you're approaching this.

BERMAN: It's the best Mike Tyson quote. I knew that was coming. The video said that.

TAUSCHE: And I have to say, yes, both candidates will say we won, but I hate to inform you that you will have to suffer through at least a thousand rapid response press releases in your inbox before we all get to that.

BOLDUAN: We'll take it, already done. We'll take it for this huge moment in presidential history. It's good to see you, Kayla.

TAUSCHE: Good to see you.

BERMAN: All right, great detail there. This is the first time, as we said, that Donald Trump and President Biden will be in the same room since 2020. They're going to be like this close to each other.

BOLDUAN: I mean, this is three --

BERMAN: Almost this close, just as awkward as it is for us right now, it will be for them later on. We've got some new reporting on an ad campaign that the Biden campaign has on the way.

And then a draft opinion, one of the most critical Supreme Court cases of the term, was accidentally leaked online. What it can mean for abortion access around the country?

And CNN gets access to the Boeing production floor. See what has changed as the company tries to recover from major safety lapses.

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[07:15:00]

BOLDUAN: Just ahead of one of the most important moments of the presidential election so far, the Biden campaign is looking to capitalize, launching a media blitz of sorts across digital and print outlets targeting voters of all demographics, really trying to push their message, the dangers they see of a second Donald Trump presidency. It's a multimillion rollout, which highlights also the fact that the Biden campaign is well aware of what is on the line tonight when the president and Donald Trump take the stage.

And joining us right now is the communications director for the Biden campaign, Michael Tyler. It's good to see you this morning, very early morning for a very long night. You guys are all -- we will all be watching together.

What is the president doing today? What's the ritual? What's the plan for today? MICHAEL TYLER, COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR, BIDEN 2024 CAMPAIGN: Yes. Well, thank you so much for having me. Happy debate day. Listen, the president is just making final preparations to present his clear vision for where he wants to take the country over the course of the next four years and making sure that the American people understand the fundamental choice in this election.

He's going to talk about the work that he wants to continue to do to build an economy that grows in the middle out in the bottom up, that he wants to do to protect Americans' fundamental rights and freedoms and fundamentally protect our democracy. And he's going to contrast that against his opponent in Donald Trump, who's now running a campaign as a convicted felon based upon revenge, based upon retribution in service of himself. And so he's making the final preparations to present that fundamental choice to the American people.

BOLDUAN: The way that Donald Trump and allies have described or set expectations, if you will, has evolved in recent weeks in terms of what they think they're coming up against in Joe Biden. Trump saying that thinking he's one of the worst debaters of all -- saying Biden's one of the worst debaters of all time, that he can't put two sentences together, to now more recently saying -- hearing people say that, no, Joe Biden is an experienced debater, a formidable opponent. Where are you willing to set expectations for tonight?

TYLER: Listen, I think that the Trump team is playing games that we've always seen them do, right? They like to use debates as entertainment process. They like to complain about debates. Sometimes they skip out on debates. The president will be there tonight. We still assume that Donald Trump will be there as well.

But, listen, the fact of the matter is they play these games because they know on the issues that matter most to the American people, Donald Trump is a loser, right? When you talk about the things that the president said he wants to talk to Donald Trump about, the role that Donald Trump played in overturning Roe v. Wade, the American people fundamentally disagree with that. Donald Trump still thinks that the extreme state level abortion bans that he's responsible for are playing out brilliantly. When you talk about the type of economy that Donald Trump wants to return us to where he's out on the stump talking about more tax breaks for the ultra wealthy, more give outs, giveaways for corporations, the American people fundamentally disagree with that.

And, of course, when you talk about the threat that Donald Trump poses to our democracy, most evidently seen on January 6th, but every day, again, out on the stump at his MAGA rallies where he's promising to pardon the insurrectionists of January 6th, the vast majority of the American people, again, disagree with that.

[07:20:00]

So he doesn't want to talk about the issues going into the debate, but the problem for him is that he's going to have to answer for all of those things on the debate stage tonight. BOLDUAN: Also proving Michael Tyler has done debate prep as well. Does President Biden need to win tonight?

TYLER: Listen, I think all the president has to do is lay out the fundamental choice in this election, right, between the president who is fighting relentlessly for the American people --

BOLDUAN: If he's seen as not winning, if he's seen as needing to kick the rust off, like we've seen with incumbent debates and when they come out with incumbent presidents in first debates, if he's seen as that, how, is that fatal for your campaign?

TYLER: No. Listen, the president is ready. The president is excited. The president knows that all he has to do is present the fundamental choice in this election to the American people between himself, who's fighting for the American people every day, and Donald Trump, who's going to be on that debate stage fighting for himself. That's going to be what the American people see tonight on the stage.

BOLDUAN: Do you think Donald Trump is a strong debater?

TYLER: Listen, I think Donald Trump likes to play games, he likes to rant, he likes to rave. But, frankly, this debate is not going to hinge on Donald Trump's demeanor. The problem for Donald Trump is going to be everything that comes out of his mouth. The MAGA extremism that he is spewing, that he's been spewing at MAGA rallies since he first launched this campaign, talking about being a dictator on day one, talking about a bloodbath if he doesn't win this election, talking about, again, the extreme state level abortion bans that he's responsible for playing out brilliantly. That's all stuff that the American people have not seen, by and large.

And so, regardless of if he's crazy Donald Trump that we've seen in 2016 or 2020, or if he tries to act presidential, the problem is going to be his MAGA agenda that the American people are going to see in prime time tonight.

BOLDUAN: Michael, a Georgia voter told John King this. I don't feel comfortable with Biden's age and I don't feel comfortable with Trump's mouth. How is President Biden going to address the age question tonight?

TYLER: Well, listen, I think, first and foremost, the president said it's fair for the American people to consider age. They should watch him and watch his performance. But what you're going to see tonight is not going to be a contrast of age, right? Joe Biden's 81 years old. Donald Trump is 78 years old. What the debate will be is a contrast in the age of their ideas. Everything that Joe Biden is going to talk about is how we take this country forward, how we continue to bring people together to find solutions to improve people's lives.

Everything Donald Trump is going to be talking about is about how we take this country backwards. He wants extreme state level abortion bans that take us back in time. He wants an economy that takes us back to the type of mess that he left us with when he left office as the president with the worst jobs record since Herbert Hoover. And, of course, he wants to fundamentally tear down our democracy, something that's been fundamental to this nation since its founding in 1776.

So, everything Donald Trump is talking about is about taking us backwards, everything the president is talking about is about taking us forwards. That's the contrast the age of the ideas that the American people see.

BOLDUAN: You mentioned the economy, it still stands as the most important issue for voters. And still, in all the polling, just one on Tuesday from Reuters, which of the two candidates had a better approach for the economy, registered voters picked Donald Trump, 43, to Biden's 47. I've asked this of all the president's economic advisers who come on the show. I will ask it now of the campaign. If the president's economic policies are working so well, why aren't people feeling it? Why aren't people giving credit to him? How is he going to answer that?

TYLER: Yes. Well, that's exactly what a campaign is for. That's exactly what nights like tonight are for. This campaign's job is to remind the American people of the historic record of economic accomplishment.

BOLDUAN: You just think they're not listening?

TYLER: That -- no, we live in an incredibly fractured and fragmented media environment. I think everybody understands that. We have to relentlessly communicate and reach the voters that are going to decide this election. And that's exactly what we're doing. So, we have to work across all of our channels, A, to remind people of the 15 million jobs created since this president took office, the 800,000 manufacturing jobs created since this president took office, the work that the president has done to lower costs for Americans, capping the cost of insulin at $35 a month for our seniors, the $2,000 out of pocket prescription drug caps for seniors, the work that he wants to do to continue to expand those caps for everybody in a second term.

And, of course, contrast that against Donald Trump, because we know every single thing he's talking about would only worsen the gap between the ultra wealthy and the rest of us, more corporate giveaways, more tax handouts. Moody's just put out a report saying that Donald Trump's economic policies would lead to another recession by 2025 would only explode inflation. And so that's the fundamental contrast that we have to present for the duration of this campaign that the president is going to present tonight on the debate stage.

And when the American people hear that, they're going to fundamentally understand who is fighting for them, an economy that works for them and who is fighting for an economy that works for himself. That's what Donald Trump is doing.

BOLDUAN: Everyone very much looking forward to seeing how this plays out tonight, and I know you're looking forward to it as well. Great to see you, thanks for coming.

TYLER: Thank you for having me.

BOLDUAN: Thank you so much for your time. SIDNER: All right. Coming up, new data shows Americans are facing the most unfavorable housing market since the 80s. Just how long economists say it will be before things improve?

And we are taking you to the capital of Kenya, as a 1 million people march is getting underway. Earlier this week, we saw violent clashes, protesters against police, police ended up killing almost two dozen people.

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[07:25:00]

BERMAN: This morning, economists at Bank of America say the housing market will be, in their words, stuck until 2026 or later, and they expect already sky high rates and home prices to keep on climbing.

CNN's Matt Egan is here with the latest. Matt?

MATT EGAN, CNN REPORTER: Well, John, unfortunately, Bank of America does expect this housing market to remain stuck until 2026 or even later. It's a sobering forecast because we know a lot of Americans would like to buy right now, but they can't, right, not at these prices and these mortgage rates.

Three reasons why Bank of America is saying that this is going to stay this way for years to come, one, they're saying that prices are going to go even higher this year and next. They say that even if the Fed cuts interest rates, there's probably not going to be much relief when it comes to mortgages.

[07:30:01]

And that's a big problem because it means we're probably stuck with what's known as the lock-in effect. If you move right.