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Donald Trump Makes Controversial Remarks at Event for National Association of Black Journalists; Donald Trump Continues to Claim that Presumptive Democratic Presidential Candidate Kamala Harris Identified as Indian Before Identifying as Black; Iran Vows Retaliation for Assassination of Hamas Political Leader; Massive Russia and US Prisoner Swap Underway. Aired 8-8:30a ET

Aired August 01, 2024 - 08:00   ET

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

[08:00:00]

MATT EGAN, CNN REPORTER: And if it's true, as a New York Jets fan I've been pretty offended, because it's been bad enough to sit through the games. The last thing that I want to hear is that I overpaid for the tickets.

(LAUGHTER)

OMAR JIMENEZ, CNN ANCHOR: Sorry, Jets fans.

EGAN: But there are the allegations in this lawsuit. They're saying that StubHub uses pricing tactics that trick customers, specifically a classic bait and switch scheme. Then there's that countdown clock where the lawsuit says it creates this false sense of urgency. As an example, they looked at a recent Usher concert, actually an upcoming one, where each ticket is selling for $178 as the advertised price. But after you click through, you realize the actual total with fees is almost $250, nearly a 40 percent increase. Again, that's the allegations here.

StubHub pushing back. They're alleging that they've been unfairly targeted for tactics that their competitors use and that are consistent with the law. More to come on this front, Omar.

JIMENEZ: I hate when that happens, advertised price and what you pay.

EGAN: We've all been there.

JIMENEZ: Exactly. Matt Egan, really appreciate it.

EGAN: Thank you, Omar.

JIMENEZ: We've got a whole lot of news that we're following. Another hour of CNN NEWS CENTRAL starts right now.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: The so-called new Donald Trump after the attempted assassination looking a lot like the old, throwing out false claims about Kamala Harris's heritage during a combative interview in front of a room full of black journalists. What impact could this have on the race for the White House today, and much more tomorrow?

Breaking overnight, Israel confirming the death of Hamas's military leader in an attack that happened last month. The IDF releasing video now of the moment that they say right there that the alleged mastermind of the October 7th terrorist attack was killed.

And a warning for two generations, Gen X and millennials have a higher risk of 17 types of cancer. Details from a new study that you'll want to hear.

I'm Kate Bolduan with Omar Jimenez. Sara is in Chicago. John Berman is out today. This is CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

Donald Trump taking us back to 2016 and 2020 for sure with his remarks about race and identity. Kamala Harris calling it the same old show after he questioned her racial identity during an interview with black journalists.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Now that you are asking black supporters to vote for you, why should black voters trust you after you have used language like that?

DONALD TRUMP, (R) U.S. PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Well, first of all, I don't think I've ever been asked a question so -- in such a horrible manner, first question.

I think it's very nasty question. I have answered the questions. I have been the best president for the black population since Abraham Lincoln.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: And things really only devolve further with his more remarks at the annual conference of the National Association of Black Journalists. Here is how two Democrats, considered a potential running mates of Kamala Harris, responded.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. MARK KELLY (D-AZ): This is the reaction of a desperate and scared old man. So of course he's going to continue to do it. That's all he can do. This is all he has in his playbook. And to be honest, it's sad.

GOV. J.B. PRITZKER, (D) ILLINOIS: This guy is a homophobe, a xenophobe. He's a racist and misogynist. And he shows it every day, but here was just a perfect example. I start to wonder whether he's got the stamina to actually get up on a debate stage with Kamala Harris for 90 minutes.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: We are definitely in the thick and the heat of this presidential race. Now, Sara is in Chicago. You were at the conference. You were in the

room when this was happening, and you can hear the -- you could hear the other journalists in the audience reacting, honestly, some gasping at what was being said, what the president was saying to the journalists on stage yes.

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: Yes. I mean, if Donald Trump came here to try to attract more black voters, I'm not sure what that is exactly what he did. He likely did the opposite, and part of it is because of how he answered the question about Kamala Harris. He attacked to her racial identity in front of the crowd, trying to sort the divide people and make them think that she only identifies as Indian when, indeed, for much of her life, she can identify any which way she wants, but she has identified as a black woman.

Let's listen to how he answered the question about whether or not he thinks she was only put in place as vice president by Joe Biden because she was black.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Do you believe that Vice President Kamala Harris is only on the ticket because she's a black woman?

[08:05:01]

TRUMP: Well, I can say no. I think it's maybe a little bit different. So 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?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She has always identified as a black woman. She went to a historically black college.

TRUMP: I respect either one. I respect either one, but she obviously doesn't, because she was Indian all the way, and then all of a sudden she made a turn and she went -- she became a black person.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Just to be clear, sir, do you believe --

TRUMP: I think somebody should look into that, too.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SIDNER: To be clear, in any community, people can be both. But Kamala Harris went to a historically black university. She pledged the first black sorority. It is pretty clear who she thinks -- how she thinks of herself, and she thinks of herself as a black American. She did respond to this, that she was in Houston, Texas, at one of her rallies where she brought this up, and the crowd responded with almost the same sort of sigh that you heard inside of the NABJ conference.

And she said, look, it was the same old show from Donald Trump, the divisiveness and the disrespect. And she says, let me just say the American people deserve better. The American people deserve a leader who tells the truth and a leader who doesn't respond with hostility and anger when confronted with the facts. He's simply trying to divide us.

So that's where she stands on this issue. She has been very clearly identifying with her Jamaican father, but her mother is Indian. And so she can identify with both and still consider herself a black American. It was perhaps the one answer that really riled up those who are were in the room. And it speaks to a long history of people in this country who have dual backgrounds, who are mixed race being able to say and be who they say they are and not have someone question it, especially not another white American.

This was a very, very divisive show, if you will, on Donald Trump's part. I'm not sure if he was able to do his homework as well. He was asked me a question about Sonya Massey, the Illinois woman from this state who was shot and killed by a police officer while she was in her kitchen and she had called police for help. He didn't seem to know much about the case. He knew a little bit. It just did not go well by any stretch of the imagination. His answers to the questions were often very, very divisive, very pointed, and also he didn't often answer the question. People left the room feeling pretty disturbed by what they heard from Donald Trump, hoping that he was going to be able to have a robust conversation about some of the issues that affect the black community. Kate?

BOLDUAN: Sara, so lucky you were in the room to bring that perspective, and we'll talk to a little bit later about at all. It's good to see you.

SIDNER: Sure.

BOLDUAN: Omar?

JIMENEZ: Well, Donald Trump isn't backing off those false claims about Kamala Harris's heritage at all. At a rally in Pennsylvania, he lobbed a multitude of attacks at her, including claiming that Democrats are trying to turn Harris into a completely different person.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, (R) U.S. PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Kamala is now being given a personality make-over. Don't forget, four weeks ago she was like considered the worst, not smart, terrible, the worst vice president in history. He's the worst president we've ever had. But they were considered terrible. And all of a sudden she's the new Margaret Thatcher. That happened, right?

(LAUGHTER)

TRUMP: The great Margaret Thatcher. No, I don't think so.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JIMENEZ: CNN's Alayna Treene is with me now. Alayna, the attacks clearly kept coming over the course of that rally. What else did he say, and do we have a sense that this is just going to continue?

ALAYNA TREENE, CNN POLITICAL REPORTER: Well, I think it's clear that Donald Trump is not running away from these remarks. As you noted, the attacks continued at that rally in Harrisburg, but also specifically about the false claims over her heritage. In the hours after that panel with the NABJ, there was a jumbotron that was circulating headlines lines of when Harris had become a senator. The headline had read, quote, "Kamala Harris elected first Indian American senator."

Later Donald Trump also posted on Truth Social, again questioning her heritage, making false claims about it, and calling her a phony. So Donald Trump is not running away from this.

Now I do, Omar, want to address some of what Sara was saying and her great reporting there, because I've been talking to Donald Trump's advisers and really trying to question why did you have him go to this event? And there's a couple of reasons. One is that they saw an opportunity with this. One is that Donald Trump has not been the star of the show in recent days, particularly with the enthusiasm and media attention that Kamala Harris has been getting.

[08:10:01]

He wanted to reclaim some of that narrative, and whether or not he did that, I think it's clear he reclaimed the narrative. But the question is whether he did it in a way that his team had wanted him to. But the other part of this is that a huge goal of the Trump campaign this cycle has been to try and siphon then away key voters, particularly minority voters as they call them, with a specific focus on black and Hispanic voters. And he had the opportunity to really address some hard and legitimate questions from those great journalists on stage, people like Rachel Scott, Kadia Goba, all of them questioning Donald Trump, asking him serious questions about why should black voters choose you? And instead of answering them in a serious way, he attacked the journalists. And I think you're going to continue to hear a lot of controversy in the fallout of this, but also Donald Trump is sticking to these remarks and doubling down on them. So I don't think you will see him run away from them either. Omar?

JIMENEZ: And this comes as many Republicans have urged others to stay away from these types of character attacks and focus more on the policy issues. We'll see if this continues. Alayna Treene, really appreciate it. Kate?

BOLDUAN: There are new details this morning on the IDF strike that killed the top Hamas military leader in mid-July, and now with the assassination of Hamas's top political leader, what this means for the region already teetering on the brink of all-out war.

And a wildfire growing so fast, the state of Colorado is now calling in the National Guard for the first time in decades to help fight the flames.

Plus, a new move by the Biden administration that they say will save families hundreds of dollars when flying with young children. We have those details. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:16:19]

JIMENEZ: Breaking overnight. The Israeli military confirms it killed Hamas' military chief, Mohammed Deif in a strike in Gaza in mid-July. Now the IDF releasing this video of the moment they say the strike killed the alleged architect of the October 7th terror attack. That July 13th strike also killed at least 90 Palestinians.

Now, this is as Iran is vowing to avenge the assassination of Hamas' political leader, Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran. Israel has not confirmed or denied involvement in his killing.

CNN Jerusalem correspondent, Jeremy Diamond is in Haifa, Israel with more.

Jeremy, what are we learning?

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN JERUSALEM CORRESPONDENT: Well, Omar, what we are witnessing today is really a split-screen moment that is showcasing what the Israeli military and its intelligence services have accomplished over the course of just the last few weeks and extent to which it is putting this region increasingly on edge, increasingly on the brink of all-out war.

We are watching this morning as the Israeli military has now confirmed that it has killed Mohammed Deif, Hamas' military commander in Gaza. He is the senior most Hamas official to be killed in Gaza since the start of this war.

Hamas for its part, neither confirming nor denying the accuracy of that. But in addition to that, we're also watching today a memorial service in the Iranian capital for a Ismail Haniyeh, Hamas' political leader, who Iran and Hamas say was assassinated by Israel in Tehran as well as a funeral for Hamas' senior most or excuse me, Hezbollah's senior-most military commander in the Lebanese capital of Beirut.

And if you put all three of those together, it just shows you in just the last three weeks, the blows that the Israeli military and its intelligence services have delivered to their enemies in recent weeks. And that is exactly how the Israeli prime minister sought to frame things last night, even as Israel did not explicitly take responsibility for the assassination of Ismail Haniyeh.

We heard the Israeli prime minister talk about what he called crushing blows that have been delivered to Israel's enemies. And with that, also an acknowledgment that with those blows also comes increasing tension and increasing risk for Israel itself. As he said, these are challenging days, noting the fact that there are threats from Beirut and from other places saying that Israel and its military are prepared for any scenario going forward.

Now, there have been no changes yet and Israel to the home front command guidelines which are issued to civilians to tell them whether or not they need to be more alert, more prepared for the possibility of war, for the possibility of strikes on Israeli territory.

But make no mistake, the Israeli military itself is certainly at a heightened state of alertness right now. And there is, of course, a very real tension in the air, in particular, where we are in Northern Israel, which could potentially be the target for any retaliation either from Hezbollah to the north of Israel or from Iran to the east -- Omar.

JIMENEZ: A lot of factors to keep an eye on. Jeremy Diamond, really appreciate you putting in perspective for us.

We are also following lots of news, disturbing new research included that shows members of Gen-X or millennials are more at risk for several cancers. We are going to take a look at the lifestyle choice that may be to blame.

And new rules to help families fly together without penalties on your ticket price. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:19:02]

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN Breaking News.

BOLDUAN: And we have major breaking news that is just coming in to CNN, having to do with Russia and a potential prisoner swap.

I want to get straight over to CNNs chief national security correspondent, Alex Marquardt, with much more.

What are you learning, Alex?

ALEX MARQUARDT, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Well, Kate, there's still a lot of details that remain unanswered, but what we are learning, this is from a senior administration official just moments ago is that, parties without specifying whom have agreed to a prisoner transfer and they are now in a position where they are soon expected to be in US custody.

So, this senior administration official is saying that a prisoner transfer is underway and that these presumably American prisoners are expected to soon be in US custody.

Now, this senior administration official is not naming who they are. But of course we know that at the very top of the list after months and months, if not years of negotiations, in fact, the US has been trying to get back former Marine, Paul Whelan and "Wall Street Journal" reporter, Evan Gershkovich. Both of them had been convicted by Russian courts for espionage. Each had received 16-year sentences.

[08:20:14]

Paul Whelan has been serving that sentence since 2020. He was arrested six years ago back in 2018. Evan Gershkovich was arrested in March of last year and was just convicted last month. There's also Russian American journalist, Alsu Kurmasheva, who the Americans have been trying to get back.

I would just want to emphasize again, we do not have a list of names from the American side or from the Russian side for that matter. But according to this senior administration official an exchange is underway and they believe that they are in a position where these prisoners could soon be in US custody.

So, certainly there is an expectation that those names that I just mentioned would be part of that exchange. This is something that we have been following and reporting on for years. Another big name that has been in the mix is Volodymyr Krasikov. He is a Russian FSB assassin. FSB was the successor to the KGB and he has been held by Germany for several years after carrying out an assassination in the German capital, Berlin.

And so, the expectation for this trade, which now appears to be underway is that it is a multi-party trade that would involve at the very least, the United States, Russia, and Germany. But it is expected that there would be other countries involved as well.

Kate, we are still waiting for the parameters of this exchange, which could include a large number of prisoners. Well more than the names that I just mentioned, because you do have all of these countries involved.

You remember that when Brittney Griner, the WNBA star was exchanged for Viktor Boot, the Russian arms dealer. Boot was essentially the biggest name that the US has had in captivity. And so, there are no more boldface names in the US prison system. And so, in order to get these Americans out, the US has had to go out to partners and allies to try to find valuable Russians that those countries would be willing to exchange.

So, what we believe we are seeing is the beginning of what could potentially be a historic day of a massive prisoner exchange between at the very least, Germany, Russia, and the United States. But likely involving other countries as well, and what we would expect to see before those prisoners arrived back in US custody is a transfer in another country, it has happened in the United Arab Emirates before. It has happened in Qatar before.

There are other countries where that could happen and we would see this historic exchange of prisoners, some going back to Russia. Some coming from Russia on a tarmac before everyone makes their way home -- Kate.

BOLDUAN: Alex, this is just huge. It gives you chills when you think of how historic this day could be for so many families, for the United States, for other nations as well. I mean, Paul Whelan has been held, he was first arrested. What was it? It is 2018, I'm looking back at some of my notes.

MARQUARDT: It's 2018

BOLDUAN: I mean, think how long he has been fighting. His family has been fighting to get him out. Huge, huge questions still remain on the details. So we will obviously, as you said, Alex, need to be careful just to read the bulletin and headline from our Jenny Hansler.

There is expected to be a large scale prisoner swap between the US and Russia, including a number of Americans, is how Jenny is putting it according to a source familiar, Alex.

And this is -- it's not the understanding, at least, this is not just -- this is not a release, the expectation is, this is an exchange and that is obviously important of who this is and who all is involved.

MARQUARDT: And potentially a historic exchange, certainly in terms of the size of the swap, but also in terms of this numbers of countries involved. I used to live in Russia. I covered a huge spy swap back in 2010. This could be larger than that. I just want to correct myself. On the assassin, I was talking about, his name is Vadim Krasikov and he is believed to be the biggest fish that the Russians have wanted.

And Kate, I think you make an important point. We often talk about this in diplomatic terms, in foreign policy terms as an exchange of numbers and nationalities. These are humans who had been suffering in prison. Some of them in the most incredibly dire conditions when it comes to Russia penal colonies.

We know that Paul Whelan certainly has had medical conditions as he's been held for the past six years and the families suffer alongside them. We speak with the families. We know how difficult it is to not only know that their loved ones are in these prisons, but not knowing when they are going to come home.

And then in the case of Evan Gershkovich, for example, get smacked with the news that he's been sentenced to 16 years in a Russian prison on these espionage charges that everyone believes, whether it's us officials or his employer, "The Wall Street Journal," rights groups are completely trumped up simply for doing his job. Gershkovich was doing a fantastic job as a young American reporter in Russia.

[08:30:36]