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Today: Harris, Walz Take Battleground Blitz To Arizona; Today: Trump Returns To Campaign Trail With Stop In Montana; Center For Politics: Harris "Reset" Electoral Map Since Entering Race; Brazil's President: 62 People Killed In Plane Crash. Aired 2-2:30p ET

Aired August 09, 2024 - 14:00   ET

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

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[14:01:03]

JESSICA DEAN, CNN HOST: Sun Belt swing. Vice President Kamala Harris and a running mate talked to voters in the key states of Arizona and Nevada, two swing states that both campaigns are fighting the win in November.

While Donald Trump pays a visit to Montana, a state -- a safe state for his own ticket, but one that could hold the key to control of the Senate.

Plus, new details on that foiled terror plot against a Taylor Swift concert. Austrian authorities arresting an 18-year-old Iraqi national as they investigate that alleged ISIS-inspired plot.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: And meddling in U.S. elections from abroad. A new report suggests Iran is creating fake news web sites in an effort to influence U.S. voters before November.

We are following these major developing stories and many more, all coming in right here to CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

DEAN: The race for the White House heads West today, with Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump both on the campaign trail. Harris and her running mate, Governor Tim Walz, speaking at an event near Phoenix, Arizona tonight as they push forward on their battleground blitz. Then, is off to Nevada and California.

KEILAR: And Trump will mark his return to the trail with a rally tonight in Montana, which is his first major campaign event in nearly a week, and the first since yesterday's press conference where he agreed to debate his Democratic rival.

We have correspondents covering both candidates. Let's begin with CNN's Eva McKend, who is live for us in Glendale, Arizona, with the Harris campaign.

Eva, what's the message they are hoping to bring to voters there?

EVA MCKEND, CNN NATIONAL POLITICS CORRESPONDENT: Well, Brianna, they are here in the southwest to reach a diverse coalition of voters, the voters that they say helped power pass democratic victories. They will talk about immigration. They will need to in this border state.

They will also address the economy as well and reproductive rights. And they say they have the infrastructure to make this case to young voters, to Latino voters in this pivotal state.

People are just starting to line up here for the rally this evening, and they tell me that they are really excited about the shake up in this Democratic ticket, but also, they are really motivated to vote against Trump. Let's listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANDREW MARTINEZ, VOTER: She is not Trump. That's it. OK? It's -- there is no hit or miss about, OK? You go Trump way, I'm sorry, it's the end of America to a certain point. I'm sorry.

VONDA MARTINEZ, VOTER: I like that -- her policies. I like her policies that she's willing to talk about the border. I like her policies on education. I like that she is about women's rights, reproductive, IVF, all of those things, because those things matter to me.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MCKEND: So, that husband and wife, they are voting for different reasons. The campaign picking up a key endorsement today. Brianna. The League of United Latin American Citizens.

And I've been speaking with another key organizing group. They are called LUCHA Arizona. They are an immigrants' rights activist group. When I spoke to them a few months ago, they were feeling kind of deflated. They were feeling as though it was going to be hard to make the case for President Biden, knocking on doors because of all of the enforcement policies that he was adopting.

But they say that they feel new life with Vice President Harris at the top of the ticket, and especially her, selecting Governor Walz as her running mate, they say really signals that she would adopt a progressive no-nonsense agenda if she is elected president.

And so, already, they have had 100 and thousand doors. They have knocked their goal by November to reach 1 million voters. Brianna?

DEAN: All right. Eva McKend for us live on the trail in Glendale, Arizona. Thanks for that reporting.

And let's bring in CNN Kristen Holmes now, who is covering the Trump campaign.

[14:05:00]

Kristen, the former president, will be in Montana, not a battleground state in the presidential race, but it certainly is going to matter in when it comes to the Senate. KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, this is a critical race. It's actually one of the biggest races that we have on the Senate map this time around, and that's because it's one of the only Senate right -- races, in which the Democratic incumbent, in this case, Senator Jon Tester is running for reelection in a state that Donald Trump won by a large margin.

If you look at his opponent, Tim Sheehy, he could likely get a big boost by having Donald Trump there on the ground campaigning for him. And when Donald Trump was defending the fact that he's not in these battleground states, he mentioned that. He mentioned that, yes, he doesn't have to go to Montana. He also has a fundraiser in Wyoming. Doesn't have to go to Wyoming, but he is there to boost up their chances in both the Senate and the House.

But the fact remains, as we have been covering, when is Donald Trump going to get back out on the trail in a real way to visit these battleground states? Now, if you talk to his campaign, they say that overall, they believe that they are positive -- they are optimistic about how this is going.

They say that he doesn't necessarily have to be just in these battleground states, that they are reaching people in other ways. Doing podcast, he is been sitting for interviews, he has been doing events with various streamers, trying to reach people who are maybe not in the mainstream media, watching the mainstream media, but instead have different outlets that they go to.

Of course, this is a high risk, high reward kind of situation. We have no idea if this kind of outreach works, particularly this close to the election. But we know that Donald Trump has said that they are going to ramp up his travel. He is going to be on those states. But the one thing to keep in mind here, and this is what we're really hearing from allies of Donald Trump who are concerned now, because of that change in the top of the ticket.

Because of what you saw Eva just talking about this kind of change in enthusiasm around Kamala Harris, they obviously see that. Is this strategy going to play out? Is it possible that Kamala Harris can keep this momentum going? And the Trump team says we don't believe that's going to happen.

But one thing is clear, you have a split screen right now of Kamala Harris on the road with Tim Walz, hitting these battleground states, while Donald Trump has just been at Mar-a-Lago and, of course, has this rally now in Montana later tonight.

KEILAR: Yes. You asked a very smart question about that yesterday, too. Kristen Holmes, thank you so much, live for us here in Washington.

So, as the campaigns are crisscrossing the country, you can see there is a method to the madness, and it's all about gaming out as many paths as possible to that number. The all-important 270, and no one knows the map, the electoral map and math like Larry Sabato, the director of the center for politics at the University of Virginia. Larry, worth noting, you made three big changes to the electoral map expectations since we last spoke. What are they?

LARRY SABATO, DIRECTOR, CENTER FOR POLITICS, UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA: Minnesota and New Hampshire had both become surprisingly competitive when President Biden was still in the race. That is Donald Trump was a competitor in places where he shouldn't have been given the normal map.

Well, with the substitution of Kamala Harris, certainly with Minnesota because of the addition of Governor Walz, but also New Hampshire. And those four votes can matter in a close race, they are now leaning much more strongly democratic.

But the big one, I think, is Georgia. Most of the Georgia experts that we know and check with felt that Georgia was clearly leaning to Trump for most of this year, even before Biden's troubles.

But that isn't true any longer. There is so much enthusiasm and energy for Kamala Harris and the Democratic ticket that those very same people, some of them Republicans, think that this is a very competitive state that Georgia could go either way.

So, it's now a toss-up. We didn't change Montana or Wyoming, though. I want you to know that. They are still heavy Trump states.

KEILAR: Yes. No very good point there. So, in Georgia, as you're looking at that, do you have a sense of the demographic shift of people that were reticent for Biden but are now energized by Harris?

SABATO: Sure, it is a big groups of voters. It's the fact that you've got people in the Democratic coalition, whether it's minorities, blacks, and Latinos, or young people, for example, suburban women, who were simply not excited about President Biden. You can say that was justified or unjustified, but facts are facts.

Now, they are energized, and so, it's really a matter of getting people activated and dedicated and determined to vote and to bring friends with them.

Well, Kamala Harris is doing that. That's where the difference is. That has made a number of states across the country much more competitive, including the two they are in today, Nevada and Arizona. They are -- they are tied. They are ties now, whereas, they were clearly leaning to Trump earlier in the year.

[14:10:00]

KEILAR: Other states that you're watching closely?

SABATO: Well, beyond the Blue Wall States, I guess we'll watch them until election eve or longer, depending on how long it takes to count the votes. Wisconsin, Michigan, and Pennsylvania, which may very well be the entire election.

But, you know, you have to keep an eye on states that are vaguely competitive, like North Carolina, that's one we are really watching.

Now, that is normally a Republican state. Barack Obama was the last Democratic presidential candidate to carry it in 2008, and he lost it running for reelection.

But that is becoming more competitive, because, first of all, the demographic demographics in North Carolina are changing, and those who have professional degrees of one sort or another are becoming more dominant in certain parts of North Carolina. But we're also looking at that because the Republicans nominated, without getting into the details, a pretty extreme candidate for governor, and the Democrats have a more mainstream candidate, and of course, there is a Democratic governor there now who served the past two terms.

So, that's having an impact, because some Republicans get turned off by the gubernatorial candidate, and they may not be excited about Donald Trump, and they may not vote.

So, will that happen? I don't know yet. It's too early to say, but it's certainly worth watching.

KEILAR: Always fascinating talking to you about the map. Larry Sabato, thank you so much.

SABTO: Thank you, Brianna.

DEAN: And let's get more perspective on Donald Trump's campaign from someone who worked inside the Trump administration. We're joined now by Secretary Mark Esper. He served as the defense secretary under President Trump. He is also a CNN political commentator and serves on the board and as a strategic adviser for some aerospace and defense- related companies.

Secretary, nice to see you as always. Thanks for being here with us.

MARK ESPER, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: Good to see you, Jessica.

DEAN: You too. Let's start -- I just want your reaction as someone who worked with the former president and in his last administration, I would love to hear your reaction to his press conference from Mar-a- Lago yesterday, where he attacked Vice President Harris's intelligence, he said a lot of falsehoods and lies, he was really focused on crowd side comparisons. How -- where do you think his state of mind is right now?

ESPER: Yes, first of all, I didn't see the entire speech, remarks. I caught snippets of it, and have read a lot about it, but a lot of it is not anything we haven't seen before, right? But I think it really reflects a growing frustration and a growing inability to really find the angle of attack against the Harris-Walz ticket, and it's reflected in his comments, not just yesterday, but prior to that as well.

And so, you see him out there grabbing at different things, trying out different names to call her -- different attack lines, and I think it just reflects that they haven't picked up a strategy. At a time when she's had a few good weeks now, of enthusiasm, of momentum, first from her selection, but then the selection of the governor of Minnesota as her V.P. And now, she'll have a convention in about a week and a half that's going to give her another boost, going hopefully into Labor Day or so.

So, she is on a run, lot of momentum, and he's been, you know, back at Mar-a-Lago, really not doing much. So, it's a curious dichotomy between the two campaigns.

DEAN: And I wonder, as you watch him campaign for president this third time around, as a former Defense Secretary -- as his former defense secretary, do you think he is equipped, and can he be trusted to make those tough decisions about the military, about foreign affairs? Do you -- would you feel confident with him making those choices?

ESPER: Well, I've said several times that I think he's unfit for the job for a number of reasons, but first and foremost that I think you have to, in all these jobs, particularly the presidency, but in all public service jobs, you have to put the country first, and that's just not his inclination.

And so, no, I -- that's why I've said on repeated occasions, I will not be supporting him in this election. So, that's a principal concern of mine.

At the same time, I'm curious to hear where Vice President Harris will be on any number of issues on her own accord. Not the Biden administration, but where she will be on issues such as defense spending. We think we know where she is on Israel and Ukraine and issues like that, but I think we're all waiting to hear that where she will be if she were to win the election in November.

DEAN: Are you open to supporting that -- her ticket?

ESPER: Well, I've said on other occasions that I thought that the first campaign or the first party that introduced a next generation candidate would really have an upper hand, and we've seen that now with Kamala Harris.

The other two things I'm looking for is someone that can, you know, speak more to hope, and bring people together. And I think you see that in the Harris campaign.

[14:15:00]

The third thing I'm looking for is -- again, on either side, but at this point, it's really the Harris campaign is, will she make a move to the middle, to the center? Because I think, you know, there is this big 50, 60 percent of Americans who are sitting there in the middle just are waiting to hear people move more to them, and rather than kind of arguing from the positions on the right or the left.

So, those are the things I'm looking for, and I, like all the -- most other Americans, will be pulling that lever in about, what? 80 some days. DEAN: Yes. And we don't have much time at all, but I do want to ask you about J.D. Vance's and Republicans attacks on Governor Tim Walz military service. What do you make of those attacks?

ESPER: Well, first of all, I'm really happy that we have two vice presidential candidates that were veterans, are veterans, and they both served honorably. So, I'm really happy to see that. I think that's important for the country. I think it's for the positions that either may occupy. And of course, it -- it's important to the military and veterans.

Look, I think some of the attacks are without merit. Some, I think, need clarified by Governor Walz. He should -- he should speak to it. The fact that it's been going on for a few days now, in my view, means that he should just get out speak to the issues, clarify where I think he's probably misspoken, or people would say misled, and clarify things. But get this off the table and get focused back on the bigger issues that are out there.

DEAN: All right. Secretary Mark Esper, thanks so much for your time.

ESPER: Thank you.

DEAN: And we have some "BREAKING NEWS". We are learning a small passenger plane has crashed in a residential area outside Sao Paulo, Brazil. Brazil's president just announcing on X that all 62 people on board are dead.

KEILAR: That's right. We have CNN's Julia Vargas Jones, who is joining us now. Can you tell us what you're learning about this? We're seeing pictures start to come in.

JULIA VARGAS JONES, CNN NEWSOURCE CORRESPONDENT: Yes. We are and they are striking. The video that we're seeing the most is this woman walking out of her house into a balcony, and you see that giant plume of smoke.

I just spoke to that woman not that long ago, Natalie Sakara (PH). She told me she was having lunch when she just heard the loud noise, and it sounded like a drone. She walked outside and she saw the plane just going down in a spiral.

She said basically that she just crouched down and started praying. That was just her next-door neighbor right there. So, I asked her, like, how far was this from your house? Was it 50 feet? 100 feet? She's like, no, no, no, Julia, that is my next-door neighbor. So, she is saying she feels like the luckiest woman in the world right now to have survived this.

Also, just to give you some context, this is outside in the countryside of Sao Paulo. The flight was carrying about 68 passengers, four members of the crew, the flight was supposed to be only about an hour and a half. Eight minutes before it was supposed to touch down in Guarulhos, which is the largest airport in Brazil, the busiest one, the hub.

Though, it was these flights like this every day, and yet, this happened just about eight minutes before they were supposed to land.

She is saying, right now, first responders have blocked off the scene completely. There are firefighters, police, other kinds of first responder, medics, but she can't even go back to get her belongings. Her animals are out with her. The whole scene, of course, is still chaotic, as we're trying to figure out if there were any survivors on this fight. It appears the president said that they are all dead, and we don't know who else might have been injured or have lost their home in this tragedy.

It does appear that we'll get to know a little bit more in the coming hours as authorities make their way through the scene. But for now, a lot of the residents of that area are just holding their breath.

KEILAR: I'm sure they are. All right. Julia, stay with us.

Let's bring in CNN aviation analyst and former FAA safety inspector, David Soucie.

David, obviously, there are a lot of things we don't know right now. We're just starting to get these videos. We do have this comment from the president that everyone is dead that was on board. What could have happened here? What would you start looking at as you began investigating this?

DAVID SOUCIE, CNN SAFETY ANALYST: Well, the only thing that's going to be available right now, at this moment, is the communications that went on between air traffic control and that airplane in the moments before, and as they made that approach.

What I'd be looking at as well right off the bat, is the fact that this -- first of all, I want to talk about the ATR-42. I think that's what it was. It may have been a 600, I'm not sure at this point.

But that ATR is used quite a lot in Brazil and all over the world. There were some issues with that airplane in the states with icing, and certainly icing wouldn't be in play at this point because of where it was located, but that's one of the first things you look at, is, what about the aircraft history? Where is it at? But it looks, to me, at this point like this -- and listening to the video as well, is it's a power on stall, which is one of the most difficult things to recover from once you're into this stall, is you have power on the aircraft, but yet it's still stalling and it rotates around. It's like a flat spin, they sometimes refer to it.

[14:20:05]

So, those are some of the most difficult things to get out of, and they just didn't have enough altitude to recover from it. You can see the nose being pointed down, which is one of the ways to get out of that stall. He's trying to get the nose down to get some more air speed over the top of the wing, so they can then recover out of it, but it never did get far enough down where it could recover from the damage, or from the -- from the tragic crash at the bottom.

KEILAR: And David, you're referring to some other video, certainly that we are getting in. We are going to bring that to our viewers here on the other side of the break. You are looking at video of a plane crash outside of Sao Paulo, 62 people on board, dead at this point.

This is video from a woman's house. The plane landing on the home of her next-door neighbor. We have new video here, just in a few minutes. Stay with us.

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[14:25:34]

KEILAR: We have some "BREAKING NEWS". We are learning that a small passenger plane has crashed in a residential area. This is outside of Sao Paulo, Brazil. Brazil's president just announced on X that all 62 people on board are dead.

And we do have new video. I want to warn you, though, this video that we just have in is very disturbing.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Kind of (INAUDIBLE)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DEAN: CNN aviation analyst David Soucie is back with us. And David, that was the video you were kind of describing, I think, right before we went to break where we see the plane going in a circle as it's going to the ground.

Walk us through what you think that is, and what you are seeing as you watch that video.

SOUCIE: Well, it's -- it is very disturbing to watch, and I hope that any children aren't watching it at this point. I thank you for that warning.

But when we talk about that type of spin, how we get into those spins is unknown at this point. How the aircraft got into that predicament or not. But we refer that to as a power on stall.

Meaning, it didn't have the engines lost, and then it stalled and fell to the ground. This is a power on stall, in which, they are trying to attempt to keep moving forward and get air flow over the wings enough where they can recover from this spin that they're in.

And that's sometimes referred to as a flat spin as well. So, as low as it was, and I think they were just on approach to land. As low as it was, it takes quite a bit of altitude to recover from that, because you have to get the nose down and get the aircraft to get some airflow over the wing so that you can recover and pull out of those, those flat spins. And there just wasn't enough airspace for that to be accomplished, and tragically ended the way that it did.

KEILAR: So, David, you said they were on approach to land. Is that right? SOUCIE: I think, one of the reports said they were six minutes from landing at that point.

KEILAR: And so, knowing that fact, what are the different scenarios that you are familiar with that have led to what you described as a power on stall?

SOUCIE: There is very few that would cause this. So, the ones that I would be aware of that have happened before is when there is a last- minute change in the approach path.

So, if the aircraft is already planning on making their descent, and they are in that descent, they are coming down, and then, at the last minute, there is something on the runway, or there's something that causes them to make it quick and rapid change to that plan, they may have already had their flaps down, they may already have been in this more slow, slow speed scenario for landing, and if they are in that speed, it's more vulnerable to a flat spin.

What can happen is if those flaps then are brought up too quickly, and that airspeed has not been recovered, then at that point you have a low air speed. Your wing isn't configured for that low speed, and then you put the power on. At that point, that aircraft doesn't really know where to go, because it doesn't have enough air flow over the control surfaces to make it go in the direction you want it to.

So, in that case, it can stall. And that means that the air flow over the top of the wing is interrupted, and that the aircraft just kind of stalls. It doesn't go forward, it's not going back, it's just stalling. So, it starts to go downward, straight downward, and that's what happens.

And then, when you try to recover from it, you put full rudder on, and you try to crank it to one side. And if that doesn't work, you try to get the nose down to get some air speed. But again, as I mentioned before, if you don't have enough altitude, and then, it's difficult, if not impossible, to recover from that scenario.

DEAN: And in that video that we played, you hear -- you hear almost like what? I am not an aviation expert, but to my ear, it sounds like a stalling engine, like it is making a weird sound.

KEILAR: It is. It's trying.

DEAN: Yes.

KEILAR: That's what you hear.

SOUCIE: Yes.

KEILAR: And we also heard the neighbor. This video that we have on our screen right now. This is the next-door neighbor to the house where the plane fell on, and she described what she thought at first was the sound of a drone.

She was confused, she went outside and then she saw this airplane falling out of the sky.

Let's play the second video that we just have in David, so that you can listen to the sound. Again, I do want to tell our viewers, it is disturbing. Please don't be showing this to your kids. Let's listen to this athen, David, tell us what you are hearing.