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Harris Fires Back at Trump's False Claim She Happened to Turn Black; Thousands Gather for Memorial Service for Hamas Political Leader; 9/11 Families Upset Over Plea Deal With Terror Attack Suspects. Aired 7-7:30a ET

Aired August 01, 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]

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: Kamala Harris calls it the same old show. Donald Trump is leaning into it and what some are labeling Trump's new birtherism and what this means for how this race is taking shape.

OMAR JIMENEZ, CNN ANCHOR: And a breaking overnight new video of the moment Israel says one of the masterminds behind the October 7th attack was killed in a strike with military and political leaders of Hamas now eliminated. The U.S. is warning the region is on a path to even more violence and conflict.

And terrifying moments for one family after a toddler falls more than ten feet into an underground pipe. The dramatic rescue caught on camera.

I'm Omar Jimenez with Kate Bolduan. John Berman is out in Sarah Sidner's in Chicago for us. This is CNN News Central.

BOLDUAN: What's old is new again, deja vu, a familiar refrain. However you want to characterize it, 2024 is quickly feeling a lot like 2016 and 2020, Axios labeling Donald Trump's comments that Kamala Harris just turned black as Trump's new birtherism.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT, 2024 PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: I've known her a long time indirectly, not directly very much. And she was always of Indian heritage and she was only promoting Indian heritage. I didn't know she was black until a number of years ago when she happened to turn black and now she wants to be known as black. So, I don't know. Is she Indian or is she black?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: Here's how Kamala Harris is responding, so far, not really taking the bait.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KAMALA HARRIS, U.S. VICE PRESIDENT, PRESUMPTIVE DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: Donald Trump spoke at the annual meeting of the National Association of Black Journalists. And it was the same old show, the divisiveness and the disrespect. And let me just say, the American people deserve better.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: Here is the thing. It is hard to call it a one-off when in the hours after Trump went after Harris' race and identity, Trump then followed up with a social media post of her discussing her Indian heritage previously and calling her, as you can see here, a stone cold phony, that according to Donald Trump. And then there is more, then later at a rally, still hours later, what equates to essentially a billboard Business Insider headline seen at a Trump rally recognizing Harris Indian heritage again. And still, there's more. J.D. Vance then pushed the now new phony attack line at his own rally.

You can be sure that there are more twists ahead with this Trump campaign attempt to define their opponent, though there is no question, she is a black woman and will likely become the first black woman and first Indian-American woman to top a major party's presidential ticket in a matter of days. Today, the DNC's virtual roll call begins, which will officially and formally make her the party's nominee.

CNN's Priscilla Alvarez, starting us off this hour. What is the latest that you're hearing on this, Priscilla?

PRISCILLA ALVAREZ, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Well, the vice president's response yesterday gave us a glimpse of how she plans to handle this in the weeks and months to come, and that is going back to her argument that Americans deserve better and highlighting what she called the divisiveness and disrespect in the former president's remarks.

Now, that is the approach that she took when she addressed a historically black sorority in Houston yesterday.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HARRIS: The American people deserve a leader who tells the truth. A leader who does not respond with hostility and anger when confronted with the facts. We deserve a leader who understands that our differences do not divide us.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ALVAREZ: Now, of course, since the vice president was tapped to lead the party's ticket with the endorsement of President Biden and Democrats, Republicans have used the line of attack that she is a DEI hire.

Now, the vice president is the daughter of a Jamaican father and an Indian mother, both of whom are immigrants. As a senator, she was part of the Congressional Black Caucus. So, this is something that she has leaned on multiple times, her black heritage during her political career.

[07:05:05]

And you could see there how she took the response directly back to former President Trump.

But if anything, Kate, this also really highlights the extraordinary nature of the moment. If she were elected, it would be -- well, she already has a historic candidacy, but her election would also be historic.

Now, she will today in Houston also be delivering a eulogy for the late Sheila Jackson Lee.

BOLDUAN: Priscilla, talk to me about the DNC and what's going to happen today. This virtual roll call, it's set to begin. What are we going to see? What's going to happen?

ALVAREZ: Well, they're getting one step closer to officially nominating her as the Democratic nominee. What that looks like is a virtual roll call. That kicks off today. It ends on August 5th. So, over the course of the next few days, Democratic delegates will be able to make their vote. She is expected to surpass the numbers that she needs for her nomination. And in this sense, perhaps the truncated timeline we've been talking about so much since she was tapped to lead the party's ticket may be beneficial.

Of course, she secured those endorsements so quickly early on, and there was a serious challenge to her bid. So, we'll start to see all of that come together in the next few days before the Democratic National Convention later this month.

BOLDUAN: And then the next announcement, the next thing to watch, of course, is when she will announce a running mate and on we go.

It's great to see you, Priscilla. Thank you so much. Omar?

JIMENEZ: As was mentioned, former President Trump is doubling down on those divisive and false claims about Kamala Harris' heritage. At a rally last night in Pennsylvania, he attacked her on the border and called her a radical liberal compared to President Biden.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: She is actually worse than he is because she's a real radical left. He's a phony radical left. He didn't believe this stuff. He didn't believe in open borders and she does. She wants to open your borders.

He is the most extreme liberal candidate in the history of our country by far. She's an extreme radical left lunatic.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JIMENEZ: CNN's Alayna Treene has the latest. Alayna, it seems even right there, he's trying to, in his method, delineate between President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, attacking individual, I guess states of mind, if you can call it that. What else did he have to say at the rally?

ALAYNA TREENE, CNN REPORTER: It's very clear, Omar, that he's still trying to figure out the best way to define Harris. And you're seeing him lob a series of different attacks in all of these rallies in an effort to do so. But, look, I think if there was any question of whether or not Donald Trump was going to stick by those very controversial comments he made during that NABJ conference this week, the answer is yes. In fact, he doubled down. You had noted this earlier.

But there was a Jumbotron circulating headlines at that rally in the hours after he was leaving Chicago until he arrived in Harrisburg that had the headline that said, quote, Kamala Harris elected first Indian- American senator, just kind of further emphasizing the points and the false claims he was making about her heritage at that conference.

But he also in his speech went on to attack her as a radical liberal, as a phony, as the architect of the border invasion. And he also indicated that he does want to debate her. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: Kamala Harris bragged that, quote, I will proudly put my record against Donald Trump's any day of the week. I will put it against Donald Trump. Well, this has got one of the worst records in anywhere. Well, Kamala, let's go. Challenge accepted. Are you ready? Let's compare our records point by point.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TREENE: Now, Omar, they still have not, and they, the Trump campaign, has still not agreed to a certain debate just yet. We're still waiting to see when or what those details might look like, but he continues to say he does want to debate her.

Now, he further doubled down on those NABJ controversial comments, questioning her heritage on Truth Social later, again, thrusting this further into the mainstream. This is what he wrote. He wrote, quote, Crazy Kamala is saying she's Indian, not black. This is a big deal, stone cold phony. She uses everybody, including her racial identity.

I know we don't have to continue to emphasize this, Kamala Harris is the first black vice president, the first Indian-American vice president, and what she has done is historical, I just want to leave that there. But, look, I do want to add some context here as well. When we talked to Donald Trump's senior advisors leading up to the NABJ panel, they had said that more than any other media appearance that Donald Trump has done in the last several months, this had the opportunity to go sideways. It's very clear, I think we can all agree, that this did go sideways, especially when he is still very committed to trying to siphon off many of these more minority votes, particularly black voters and Hispanic voters.

[07:10:04]

And I think his comments yesterday, trying to push him on very legitimate questions about why black voters should vote for him, he instead went on the attack. Omar? JIMENEZ: And again, that was how this whole panel even started, that question essentially asking that central point, why should black voters vote for him? And that's when all this ensued.

Alayna Treene, I really appreciate the reporting and perspective.

We're also following other news breaking overnight. Israel says it has killed the military leader of Hamas. Details on how it happened.

And disgusted and disappointed, family members and survivors of the 9/11 terror attacks reacting after the accused terror mastermind cuts a deal to avoid the death penalty.

Plus, if you've ever felt like you're getting ripped off when you buy concert tickets, well, now in a new lawsuit, prosecutors are alleging StubHub tricks customers into overpaying. We'll explain, coming up?

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[07:15:00]

BOLDUAN: Some of the breaking news overnight, Israel is now confirming that it's killed the head of Hamas' military wing, Mohammed Deif. The IDF released, we're going to show you this video, that shows the moment, that huge blast, the moment he was killed in a strike in Khan Younis. This was back in mid-July. That strike also killed at least 90 Palestinians.

This comes as the same time as memorial services are being held for the political leader of Hamas, who was killed in that strike in Tehran. The military and political leaders now of Hamas both eliminated.

CNN's Ivan Watson is in Beirut, Lebanon with much more. Ivan, can you talk more about what's happening in Iran today honoring memorial services for the political leader now assassinated and what this now means for the region?

IVAN WATSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: He's been granted the highest honors with a procession from the University of Tehran to Tehran's Azadi Square, prayers led by the supreme leader of Iran, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. And we've seen images of several of his surviving sons, two of his surviving sons kissing his coffin.

He will be transported to Doha, the capital of Qatar. That's where he had been based in recent years as the political leader of Hamas for burial there.

The Iranian government continues to vow that it will carry out vengeance against Israel, which it accuses of this assassination. Israel has not denied or claimed responsibility for this, but all the fingers in the region are pointing towards Israel here.

An important point is you've got senior Iranian officials that are also casting blame at the U.S., saying that the U.S. is the primary sponsor, the primary funder and supplier of weapons to Israel and arguing, claiming that there's no way Israel could have carried out this assassination without the U.S. support.

Senior American officials have said that the U.S. was unaware of this assassination plan and had nothing to do with it. The U.S. secretary of state, Antony Blinken, instead is saying that, hey, the region is heading towards conflict, wider conflict, and now you need a ceasefire more than ever.

But those appeals are ringing hollow right now. As the prime minister of Qatar has pointed out in a statement after Ismail Haniyeh's assassination, what's the point of mediation when one party assassinates the negotiator on the other side of the negotiating table? Ismail Haniyeh was a key interlocutor that Israel was indirectly negotiating with, and now he's been murdered.

Back to you.

BOLDUAN: Ivan, great reporting. Thank you so much for being there. Check back in.

Coming up still for us, there are new details coming in about the plea deal for the accused mastermind behind the 9/11 terror attacks, a plea deal that keeps him in prison for life, but avoids a possible death sentence. How the families of 9/11 victims are reacting to all of this today.

And anytime now, Vice President Kamala Harris, she could be announcing and will be announcing her running mate. There's new reporting at the very same time that not all Democrats are happy with the options that are so far discussed.

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[07:20:00]

JIMENEZ: All right. Breaking overnight, the alleged 9/11 mastermind, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the man accused of plotting the 2001 terror attacks that killed thousands of Americans, reaches a plea deal to avoid the death penalty. That's according to the Pentagon.

Now, Mohammed. And two of his co-defendants have now agreed to plead guilty to all charges, a deal that's sure to be met with mixed reactions from thousands of family members who lost loved ones that day.

CNN's Natasha Bertrand joins us now from the Pentagon. You've been following all of these details and reporting them out. Natasha, what are the details here? How did this come together?

NATASHA BERTRAND, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Omar. So after more than 20 years of detention for Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and these other defendants, as well as over 24 months, over two years of negotiations over this plea deal, they finally have reached a deal whereby Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and these two other defendants will plead guilty and thereby avoid the death penalty. This basically avoids a very lengthy and complicated trial that would have been required for a death penalty case like this. And so according to prosecutors, they sent a letter to the families just before this press release was issued by the defense department saying that the decision to enter into a pretrial agreement here was not reached lightly. However, it is our collective reasoned and good faith judgment. This resolution is the best path to finality and justice in this case.

Now, KSM, as he is known, he was charged in 2008, roughly five years after he was captured in Pakistan with conspiracy, murder, in violation of the law of war and other charges, including, of course, terrorism. But the trial for these charges was significantly delayed. He was first charged, as I said, in 2008 and the trial did not begin or was not supposed to begin until 2021.

[07:25:01]

But then it was further delayed because of the resignation of some judges as well as questions, really key questions about what kind of evidence would be allowed to be submitted in this case because of the CIA's use of torture to elicit confessions in the early 2000s. And so this was a very difficult, complicated and convoluted process finally resulting in these plea agreements.

Now, the families, as you said, they have had mixed reactions to this. Primarily, they're concerned that this is going to close the door on eliciting more information from these defendants about what actually happened prior to 9/11 and particularly Saudi Arabia's role in this. Brett Eagleson, who is the president of 9/11 justice, said, quote, we urge the administration to ensure that these deals do not close the door on obtaining critical information that can shed light on Saudi Arabia's role in the 9/11 attacks. So, they are, of course, still seeking out all the information they can to get justice for their loved ones, Omar.

JIMENEZ: Some important details there. Natasha Bertrand, I really appreciate the reporting. Kate?

BOLDUAN: Grab the popcorn for this one. What started out as an idea to earn some money to buy more Legos has turned into a serious business. Nine-year-old Kai Walker, is what we're talking about, founded Kai Bear's Popcorn last year. And here is where the idea came from. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We had to think, I don't know, how are we going to afford to be buying every single Lego? Then we had to figure out, how can we possibly do that? And then that's when I mentioned to him, the best way would be for him to earn it.

KAI WALKER, FOUNDER AND CEO, KAI BEAR'S POPCORN: The name was from something my grandma used to call me as a nickname.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're feeling proud of him. It's amazing to see how far we've come.

WALKER: It's incredible. It feels wow, really people enjoy the popcorn.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: And it really took off. This mini entrepreneur serving up fun flavors of popcorn, like cinnamon bun and pizza and now serving it nationwide, selling online, business doing so well that the family now has a contract to supply popcorn for the University of Richmond sporting events.

Kai has clearly earned more than enough to purchase those Legos that he was hoping for, but he now has his eyes set on much more. Kai says his new goal is to teach other kids to grow their own businesses. Omar?

JIMENEZ: All right. So, it sounds like I'm going to the University of Richmond sporting events to get some of that popcorn.

BOLDUAN: cinnamon bun and pizza sound like amazing popcorn flavors.

JIMENEZ: And popcorn. You can't beat it. Kai, shout out to Kai.

All right, look, we're following a lot of news this morning, including the Harris campaign responding to Donald Trump after he falsely questioned her identity as a black woman.

To what extent is it really mind over matter as well? We have new reporting on the mental strength it takes to be an Olympic athlete.

Stay with us.

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