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America's Choice 2024; Russia's War On Ukraine. Aired 8:30-9a ET

Aired August 12, 2024 - 08:30   ET

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

[08:30:00]

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: -- able to do that, and then hold on to that seat.

MELVIN CARTER (D), ST. PAUL, MINNESOTA MAYOR: You know, Governor Walz has an approach to politics where we see all the time elected leaders and, you know, political figures. You know, their goal is to essentially other folks and say, you know, if they don't agree with me, then they must be bad people. Or if they must don't agree with me, then, you know, they must not love America. They must not love Minnesota, or whatever it is.

Governor Walz has brought to Minnesota this brand called Our Minne -- or called One Minnesota. That's it -- it's what he says all the time. To say, listen, our goal has got to be to hear people. Our goal has got to be to listen to people in a way that we haven't before, and ensure that they know that they're part of the vision that we have for our communities.

And I think he did that very effectively in the first season, very effectively in Minnesota. And we Minnesotans are really excited the rest of the country getting to see it.

SIDNER: Mayor, I want to talk to you about the controversy that was brought up by JD Vance, who started it basically. But back then, when he ran, and subsequently when he ran for governor, he was accused of embellishing his 24 year military record, and it's happening again. Fellow veteran, now Republican rival, JD Vance, here he is and what he said in short about why he went after Walz's military history.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. JD VANCE (D-OH), VICE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I never went to a war zone. I'm not criticizing Tim Walz's service, I'm criticizing the fact that he lied about his service for political gain.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SIDNER: The Harris-Walz campaign says Walz misspoke when talking of carrying weapons in war because he never saw combat. Do you think the Walz needs to further explain a more robust explanation of some of the things that he's been accused of by Vance? CARTER: No. I think this is a perfect example of political hypocrisy. The guy who was in the military for 24 years, didn't serve nobly enough for the guy who was in the military for four years. The truth is, both of their service is valiant, both of their services commendable. And I think the folks who are trying to make a political attack line out of somebody who lived a life of service to community, that's what owes us an apology.

SIDNER: Are there other weaknesses that you think Republicans are going to try to exploit when it comes to Walz?

CARTER: You know, I love watching them scramble to try to come up with attack lines on the vice president. I love watching them scramble when it comes to trying to find attack lines on Governor Walz. I think the American people are smarter than most of what I'm hearing from them, and I think we'll find that out really quickly in November.

SIDNER: Mayor Melvin Carter, thank you so much for joining us this morning, coming in bright and early from St. Paul appreciate it. John?

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Vice President Harris picks up an historic endorsement from an influential group that has never endorsed before, and a new warning from scientists that climate change will soon make some cities too dangerous to ever host future Olympic Games.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:38:03]

SIDNER: The momentum the Kamala Harris campaign has built over the last three weeks is showing up in the polling. She is on the rise in some crucial swing states. This is a gentleman also on the rise, CNN's Harry Enten --

HARRY ENTEN, CNN SENIOR DATA REPORTER: Thank you.

SIDNER: -- senior data reporter has our numbers this morning, OK. So, how much has this race changed?

ENTEN: You know, we've been talking about national polling last few weeks and -- but, of course, as you know, as Al Gore knows, as Hillary Clinton knows, it's about those battleground states. It's about that "blue wall" that Donald Trump broke into back in 2016, but then Joe Biden put back together in 2020.

I want you to look at this trend line. This is Democrat versus Donald Trump. We'll look at Joe Biden versus Trump in May. And what you see here? You see some red on the screen, you see Trump up by three in Pennsylvania, up by a point in Wisconsin, Biden up by a mere point in Michigan. Biden running well behind his 2020 numbers regardless which state you look at.

Now look at the momentum as we come to the right side of your screen. We come to August, Harris versus Trump. What do we see? We see a ton more blue on the screen. We see it here in Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Michigan, plus four, plus four plus four. No clear leader still here in August but we're talking about movements of seven points, five points and three points. These are the types of numbers that the Kamala Harris campaign really likes, and these are the types of numbers that Donald Trump campaign really doesn't like.

And I think that's part of the reason why you're seeing Donald Trump lash out on social media. It's numbers like these.

SIDNER: He's lashing out in the rallies, he's lashing out on social media. I do want to ask you who these voters are. Where are they coming from? Are they switching parties or is this something else?

ENTEN: Yes. So where is Kamala Harris picking up voters that Joe Biden couldn't pick up? All right, so this is Harris now, this is Joe Biden back in the spring. Harris is getting a bit more of the Biden base from 2020, so these are 2020 Biden voters.

Biden was winning 90 percent of them. Look at now Harris getting 93 percent of them. But it's not just here where Harris is picking up momentum. Remember Donald Trump, there's all this talk, Donald Trump is going to pick up those untraditional voters, those voters who don't normally turn out. Look at what Harris doing among them.

[08:40:00]

All right, these are 2020 non-voters. Joe Biden was winning just 28 percent. Look where Harris has jumped up to. She's up to 43 percent of these voters, a jump of 15 points.

Where she's not getting support from, she's not getting support from traditional Donald Trump voters. Those voters are sticking with Donald Trump, but she's putting back together the Joe Biden coalition of 2020 and she's picking up some untraditional voters as well, younger voters, voters of color. And this is what's driving Harris's upward momentum in the polls.

SIDNER: We always talk about the snapshot in time. This is one poll. What are the poll of polls? I know you love a poll of polls.

ENTEN: Yes, OK. So if this was just one poll --

SIDNER: Yes.

ENTEN: -- then I don't think we'd be taking -- I wouldn't be that interested in it. Because one poll, you can have outliers, et cetera, although we do see it across three states. So I want to go to another little piece of data that I think a lot of people didn't necessarily look at.

This is again, the Democrat versus Donald Trump. This is an aggregate of the polling in Michigan, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin. Look at this. This is IPSOS polling. The June margin, Biden versus Trump. What you see? You see Trump up by two points across those three states, very similar to the New York Times-Siena College poll.

Look at where we are now, the August margin, Harris versus Trump. Again, perhaps not as favorable to Harris, but still pretty gosh darn favorable, that trend line. Look at this, Harris up by two points. So again, that three to five point movement that we saw in the New York Times-Siena College poll, we see it here as well. Harris now up by two.

Again, though no clear leader. Here's the thing, though, here is the thing. What does this mean for the Electoral College?

SIDNER: Yes.

ENTEN: If Harris is able to win in Wisconsin, in Michigan, in Pennsylvania, she could still lose in those Sun Belt battleground states, Georgia, Arizona, Nevada. And look at this, she gets to exactly 270 electoral votes. So the momentum that we're seeing in these states, it's so important, because if Harris is able to win those states, she seems to be leading him right now, even though there's no clear leader, that would get her to exactly 270 electoral votes and would get her a chance to be the number one instead of the number two.

SIDNER: Interesting, though, to note just how close it is. You're talking up two points. I mean, this is within the margin of error.

ENTEN: We are still talking a very tight race here. But again, the momentums on Harris' side, you'd rather be up than bottom. But at the end of the day, still very, very tight.

SIDNER: All right. Harry Enten, thank you so much.

ENTEN: Thank you.

SIDNER: John?

BERMAN: All right. A new endorsement this morning for the Harris-Walz team, the League of United Latin American Citizens, LULAC, has never before endorsed a presidential candidate. With us now is Domingo Garcia, the Chair of the Political Action Committee for LULAC. Thank you so much for being with us, Mr. Garcia. So why now?

DOMINGO GARCIA, POLITICAL ACTION COMMITTEE CHAIR, LULAC: Because it's a historic election. For the first time, we're seeing a candidate, former President Trump, in a party that's talking about some really bizarre, weirdo ideas. Like, you know, we're going to deport 14 million people, we're going to send the army door to door, looking and asking people to show us your papers, talking about abolishing the Department of Education, defunding education.

These things are very important to our community, and we believed it was time that we stepped up and went for hundreds of thousands of members, especially in those battleground states you just mentioned, Arizona, Nevada, Wisconsin. We think we can make a difference and elect the president like Vice President Harris, who can really unite the country instead of divide us.

BERMAN: Had you made the decision to endorse President Biden when he was still in the race? GARCIA: We did not. We probably would not have done that endorsement. But when you see somebody like Vice President Harris, the daughter of immigrants, somebody from California, somebody who has ideas about how to bring this country together, and deal with the issues of dealing with a broken immigration system, finding a bipartisan solution, bringing Democrats and Republicans together to secure the border. At the same time, in the humanitarian crisis, dealing with education, dealing with the economy and getting jobs that will pay good, paying wages.

That's where I thought it's time to decide, You know what, what JD Vance and what Trump say about women need to be at home raising kids. Women's place is in the house, but it's also the White House.

BERMAN: So, listen, just to make sure I heard that correctly, you don't think you would have endorsed President Biden had he stayed in the race, yet you are choosing to endorse Harris? Do you really see them as that difference candidates?

GARCIA: I think that's that different. I think the fact of the matter is, President Biden has done a great job, but his time had come, and Harris brings a new vitality, a new energy, and new ideas that I think are going to make a really a big difference for our country in the next four years.

Well, president Trump, ex-president Trump, is really kind of a negative force in American politics.

BERMAN: Who -- you call him a negative force in American politics, who is doing better with Latino voters than he did four years ago and eight years ago? So why?

GARCIA: I think he was doing better against President Biden. I don't think he will do better against Kamala Harris. The latest pose especially I was in Vegas for her rally just yesterday, and she was really had the crowd energized a lot of Latino voters, especially young voters. Young Latinos between the ages of 18 and 35, they're coming out for Harris and they're turning against Trump.

BERMAN: Do you think, I mean, can you identify policy differences between Vice President Harris and President Biden that make you endorse her but not Biden?

[08:45:05]

GARCIA: Let's talk about the economy, which I think is the most important part. Her idea, the infrastructure bill that put jobs, especially construction jobs, and re-innovated the hospitality industry. Those are jobs where Latinos are play a big portion. She talked about cutting taxes.

For certain people who work as waiters and bartenders, people that are kind of forgotten in on the margins, she's talking about, I'm going to waive taxes for those individuals on tips and so on. Those steps are things that I think make a difference in the average lives of working class Latino families throughout America, and it's paying off. BERMAN: So the tips idea, the waiving taxes on tips was something we heard previously from Donald Trump, correct?

GARCIA: He said it, but he never did it. The fact of the matter is, I think if the Democrats were able to take the house, the senate and the presidency, they will be able to pass an immigration reform bill, be able to pass funding for our infrastructure and development of our communities, as well as helping her education, which I think is a key ones.

And their service industry, industry I was a former bartender, waiter. That's how I paid my way through law school. That's an important part of it, and I think she'll make it happen and much as talk about it.

BERMAN: I bartended for a catering company in college, some of the best education I ever had. Domingo Garcia, great to see you this morning. Thank you very much. Kate?

GARCIA: Thank you. Have a great day.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: The Defense secretary ordering a guided missile submarine to the Middle East, as Israel is bracing for what is now suggested could be a large scale attack by Iran. And a super-sized grudge by McDonald's in Paris, why they're threatening to pull their original curry sauce after the US Men's Basketball Team dominated and brought home gold?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:51:07]

BOLDUAN: A new sign of just how on edge the Middle East is right now, US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has now ordered a guided missile submarine to the Middle East and is speeding up the deployment of a carrier strike group to the region, as new reporting is suggesting that Israel is preparing for a large scale attack by Iran, an attack that could be just days away. Joining me right now is CNN military analyst retired Lieutenant General Mark Hertling. It's great to see you.

General, the deployment of a submarine, speeding up the deployment of a strike group, it's -- clearly, on one level, to show a force for sure. But what do you think this means?

MARK HERTLING, CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Well, first of all, the strike group is coming from the Pacific aid, it's the Lincoln Carrier Battle Group, LCGB, and they will travel that long distance to reinforce the Lincoln group -- I'm sorry, the Roosevelt Group that's already in the Mediterranean.

The announcement of the submarine is a little bit unusual, though. Submarines aren't usually publicly announced. They are normally with those strike groups. There's usually one or two of them in the same vicinity of the group for protection, but they're -- because of their capabilities, they're usually not considered a part of the group. So Secretary Austin actually saying that Georgia is going to be -- the USS Georgia is going to be in the area, is extremely unusual, but it's sending that deterrence signal to a lot of people who might be considering what they're going to do next within the region.

BOLDUAN: The goal clearly is deterrence, because the region is on edge, and it feels like it could -- what has been going back and forth could explode into a regional -- larger regional conflict, really any moment now. President Biden did a new interview over the weekend, released over the weekend, and he talked about, which is part of -- wrapped up into all of this, the stalled ceasefire and hostage released talks in this new interview with CBS. Let me play what he said, general.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERT COSTA, CBS CHIEF ELECTION AND CAMPAIGN CORRESPONDENT: Is a ceasefire possible?

JOE BIDEN (D), PRESIDENT OF UNITED STATES: Yes, it's still possible. The plan I put together, endorsed by the G7, endorsed by the UN Security Council, et cetera, is still viable. And I'm working literally every single day to, and my whole team, to see to it that it doesn't escalate into a regional war, but it easily can.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: Barak Ravid of Axios is reporting that the Israeli Minister of Defense told Floyd Austin that Iranian military preps suggest that Iran is getting ready for a large scale attack in retaliation. Would a large scale move by Iran be the thing that could ignite what is feared so much? I mean, all the reporting has long been, general, as you know is that Iran does not want that.

HERTLING: Yes. And they don't, Kate, because they know the repercussions of a large scale attack. They could not sustain any kind of action that both Israel and the West would conduct against them if their attack against Israel resulted in either killed or injured Israeli citizens.

So I don't think we're going to see a large scale attack. We may see something like occurred in April when a bunch of missiles were launched, and rockets were launched. But truthfully, you know, the key thing is that Israel citizens are not harmed in this approach, because then Israel will have a rationale for countering that.

The biggest concern I have is the actors that are associated with Iran, specifically Hezbollah, because they have such a capacity to strike a short distance in a short period of time that it really is the most dangerous course of action for Israel.

BOLDUAN: While I have you, I want to ask you about Ukraine because there's some really interesting movement that's happening there right now. Russia is now urging more civilians to flee some its territory, as Ukraine is stepping up its assault after the incursion that is seen. [08:55:04]

Ukraine's forces advance, what is it, 20 miles. The Kursk Operation mark the first time that regular Ukrainian and Special Operations Units have entered Russian territory. What do you see in this?

HERTLING: Well, first of all, I thought it was a raid. A raid is something where you go in and go out just to provoke and to show that you can do it. This now falls in the doctrinal category of demonstration. They've been in there now for almost eight days. Today will be the eighth day.

They have taken a lot of ground, as you said. Estimates are between 20 kilometers wide, or excuse me, 40 kilometers wide and about 20 kilometers deep. That's a big swath of land, and they're staying.

The thing that concerns me is, can Ukraine sustain their actions? And what I mean by that, it's real easy to drive into an area that's not guarded by the Russian forces. It's a whole lot tougher to stay there when you need logistics. When you need people pushing fuel and water and ammunition, and food forward to those locations.

There are indicators that some of the Ukrainian forces are now digging in, in some areas. I would not expect them to stay, but I could be very wrong. I think they're going to pull out, declare victory and say we were able to do this in an area of Russia that was undefended. Much like you have hurt our nation, we're going to hurt yours.

And it's a very strategic move. It's not tactically profound but it is strategic. And I commend Ukraine for doing this. By the way, one of the pieces of equipment they used was a Striker vehicle, which we've talked about before.

I was a Stryker Brigade commander. Those things move fast. They don't need a lot of fuel. They don't need a lot of repair. They're quiet. So you get in and out with that. That's another indication that this is a demonstration and that they may be pulling out soon.

BOLDUAN: Also reinforcing the point of what equipment, what artillery, what machines they have, are a huge part of how they can dictate and manage what's happening on the ground, as we've talked about now since this war broke out. It's great to see you, general. Thank you so much. Sara?

SIDNER: All right. On our radar this morning, police say an officer is fighting for his life after he was injured during protests in Ferguson, Missouri. Protesters were in the streets marking 10 years since 18-year-old Michael Brown was killed by a Ferguson police officer, protests which became pivotal in propelling the Black Lives Matter movement.

Now, Officer Travis Brown fell and hit his head after someone charged at him, according to the police department. Several people have been arrested over the protests.

All right. Ahead a wildfire quickly spreading close to Athens, Greece. Authorities had to evacuate some people as the flames moved from house to house. Some hospitals had to transfer patients there.

You can see that smoke, wow, near the famous Parthenon, firefighters have battled dozens of fires so far this summer, as Greece saw its hottest record since -- wait, hottest June and July on record, all right. McDonald's France joking on Instagram that it is thinking about removing its classic curry dipping sauce, all because of the man, Steph Curry. His performance in the men's basketball final against France at the Olympics helped Team USA win the gold medal, but a McDonald's rep assured all the curry dipping sauce fans, you can keep on dunking, even though it was the USA that walked away with gold. John?

BERMAN: We will go back to freedom fries (ph) so fast, if they do that, there will be massive retaliation. Just saying, all right.

New this morning, by 2050 rising temperatures could make it too hot to hold the Summer Olympics in most of the world, and that includes some US cities that have already hosted the games. CNN meteorologist Elisa Raffa joins us now with this new look. What are you learning?

ELISA RAFFA, CNN METEOROLOGIST: John, we've already seen warming in the last 100 years. Paris hosted the Olympics in 1924. Since the last time they hosted, you can see those temperatures have climbed an average of five degrees since 1924. We've added 120 scorching days and 80 sweltering nights to Paris because the climate is warm.

A new study now takes those trends and looks into the future. They look at wet bulb globe temperature, which looks at heat, but with a combination of humidity and wind and shade, and sun angle. So it really looks at heat stress on the body. How is our body reacting to this heat?

And the study decided that 82 degrees Fahrenheit is really that threshold where it just becomes too dangerous to exert yourself outside. Look at how many cities become too dangerous and too hot. Beijing, Rio, Athens, Atlanta, just some of those cities on the list all previous host cities. And when you look at the map of how many other cities there are, I mean, look a lot of the Eastern US, couple of cities in Europe. Look at how many places in India, Eastern Asia, all with cities, places that are too hot, too dangerous to host the Olympics.

So our options are we the host in higher elevations, cooler elevations, we don't have the Summer Games in summer, or we really need to rely on cities in the southern hemisphere, because to target June, July and August, those summer months, you need the cooler winter season of the southern hemisphere for some of those cities.

But again, something we'll really have to think about if we don't decrease our emissions. This could be the situation in the next couple of years. The 2050 is in our lifetime, John.

BERMAN: Yes, late autumn games just doesn't have the same ring to it. Elisa Raffa, thank you so much.

A new hour of CNN NEWS CENTRAL starts right now.