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Republican Presidential Candidate Donald Trump Announces Press Conference; President Biden and Vice President Harris Announce New Negotiated Prescription Drug Prices for Medicare Recipients; Rep. James Clyburn (D-SC) Interviewed on Vice President Kamala Harris's Presidential Campaign and President Joe Biden's Legacy. Aired 8-8:30a ET

Aired August 15, 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]

ERIC BLAND, ATTORNEY: I don't believe he's ever going to get out. And if he does, he'll be deep into his 70s or early 80s and would be considered older at that time.

But I think there's a good chance that this case may get a retrial if the Supreme Court or some federal court says that looks, South Carolina, you should have applied the federal standard.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: Wow, I mean, I remember watching this trial so closely and how it all played out. And to think that the work of the jury and the time that they spent to reach the verdict that they did --

BLAND: Seven weeks.

BOLDUAN: They now would just be back in, and they might see another trial of this kind, going back to square one on this one, is quite wild.

Thank you so much, Eric. It's good to see you.

A new hour of CNN NEWS CENTRAL starts right now.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Donald Trump announces a press conference for later today. The last was full of fiction, fantasies, and falsehoods. So what exactly does the campaign want to get out of this?

We've got brand new details on the economic rollout from Vice President Kamala Harris, how she says she will save seniors billions.

And a bizarre legal nightmare for one widower now has the happiest place on earth in the hotseat.

I'm John Berman with Kate Bolduan and Sara Sidner. This is CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

BOLDUAN: For the first time since Joe Biden bowed out and Kamala Harris jumped in, the president and the V.P. about to hold their first joint event today. There is new reporting this morning on how Biden is turning his attention now to really getting Harris elected with a first focus on lowering drug prices. The president is ready to tout the results of drug price negotiations that the White House says will save Medicare enrollees more than $1 billion. This rollout comes just before Kamala Harris is set to roll out her own big policy pitch, a speech on the economy tomorrow.

CNN's Isaac Dovere has more on all of this for us. Isaac, let's start with the today. Biden-Harris together at this joint event, what more are you learning about what they're announcing?

ISAAC DOVERE, CNN SENIOR REPORTER: Look, this isn't just a proposal. This is something that is now done. They've negotiated drug prices through Medicare on 10 of the most popular medications, things that affect heart disease, diabetes, that they say will save Americans, especially seniors, billions of dollars. And it is about the administration saying, look, this is the work that we've done through legislation that we've passed that will make a direct impact on people's lives over the course of the years to come.

And that is part of what is happening as Harris and Biden appear together for the first time, really since the change in the campaign, that it's not just, hey, we're standing campaigning next to each other. It's we're talking about what we've done together, the connection between the Biden administration and Kamala Harris looking to be part of that administration, of course, as the vice president, but also the continuation of it as she tries to get elected herself.

BOLDUAN: And I will say, when you speak with the administration over the course of the of Biden's presidency, you speak to Democrats on Capitol Hill, lowering drug prices is one of the things that they talk about over and over again as look what we have done, asked, answered, promised, and delivered. And this is kind of, this is one of their big, big things.

Also then, folding this into tomorrow, Harris begins to lay out really her policy vision of her campaign tomorrow with this economic speech. What are you hearing about it?

DOVERE: Well, look, she's going to be in North Carolina, a state that she is looking to put back on the map in a real competitive way politically. And she's going to start talking about her ideas. Now, this is the difference between what she's talking about today with Joe Biden, something that is done, and what she'll talk about tomorrow, something that she is saying she wants to do.

A big focus on it will be trying to, or talking about an attempt to have a ban on price gouging in supermarkets, to go after companies that raise prices unfairly. Of course, we don't know the details of it and I'm not sure that even her campaign could give us that much of the details of it. We'll see as things go tomorrow. This is the more traditional part of a presidential campaign where you propose ideas and say, this is what I'd like to do. But it is the first real thing that we are seeing out of Kamala Harris as a policy proposal since she became the nominee a couple of weeks ago.

BOLDUAN: And this may be a normal course of the campaign, but it's also been put under certain kind of new spotlight because it's been part of the attack coming from the Trump campaign is that they can't find her policy positions anywhere. Look at her website, you can't find it. We hear that over and over again. So let us see. Good to see you, Isaac. Thank you.

Sara?

DOVERE: Thank you.

[08:05:04]

SARA SIDNER, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Speaking of Donald Trump, he will take more questions from reporters at a news conference today. The last time he did so he lied but a whole bunch of times, all the while lobbing really personal attacks at Kamala Harris. A flurry of Republican allies then asked him publicly to rein it all in and stay focused.

CNN's Steve Contorno is joining us now. Steve, Trump had a chance to stay on message yesterday in North Carolina, but it derailed oh, pretty early.

STEVE CONTORNO, CNN REPORTER: That's right, Sara, he certainly gave some lip service to some of the economic policies that he wanted to discuss and his team really wanted him to focus on. He talked about his plan to get rid of taxes on tips and on Social Security. But even he acknowledged that he didn't want to spend a lot of time talking about this. at one point and he said we are going to talk about one subject, and then we will start going back to the other stuff because we sort of love that. And he also said, they say the economy is most important subject. I'm not sure that it is.

And then from there he went on to attack Vice President Harris with some of these familiar retorts that we have seen from him lately, these mean-spirited attacks. Take a listen to what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, (R) U.S. PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: She is not a brilliant person. She is not a smart person. She is not very smart. But it is crazy, isn't it though? Isn't it crazy? She was so disrespected just a few weeks ago. And now it's like Kamala, Kamala.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CONTORNO: Now that's not the focus that many Republicans want to see from Donald Trump. They were hoping that he would stay on message because the economy is one of those areas where they believe they have the upper hand over Democrats, that we just got through this long period of inflation and Republicans believe that is an area that Harris is vulnerable because she was vice president during these past four years. But Donald Trump even saying he didn't think the economy was the most important subject, Sara.

SIDNER: One note, he did say her name right in that clip though. Steve Contorno, thank you so much. Appreciate your reporting. John? BERMAN: I just want to play a little bit more of what Trump said

about the vice president during the so-called economic speech.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, (R) U.S. PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: -- most embarrassing day. Thats why they keep her off their stage. That's why she's disappeared. That's the laugh of a crazy person.

Her laugh is career threatening.

Someday it's going to come out. That's the laugh of a person with some big problems.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: All right, with us now is Congressman Jim Clyburn, Democrat from South Carolina. Congressman, it's always great to see you. When you hear Donald Trump go after the vice president's laugh, attack her intelligence, what do you hear?

REP. JAMES CLYBURN (D-SC): Well, thank you very much for having me. I hear the sounds of a desperate man. This man has been desperate for a long time, not just since she came into this race. His whole camp is about being desperate. He is running not for this office but away from his life's history and recent convictions and trying to find a way to modify if not nullify those convictions.

So that's what I hear when you launch into these kinds of attacks. This lady has a great record. She didn't become the district attorney in San Francisco, or did she become the attorney general of California, or the United States senator from California, but for the fact that she is studiously prepared for this job. Nobody gets on the job training to be vice president or to be precedent. They developed a record for the public to see, and they let the public know that if given the opportunity, what you have seen in my record is the kind of approach you will see me give to governing.

And I think that's why she has taken off like a rocket ship since becoming the presumptive nominee, and I do believe she is going to be successful in this campaign.

BERMAN: We haven't had a chance to talk to you since the former president went before the National Association of Black Journalists and basically said that he just found out that Vice President Harris was black and questioned her heritage. What is it that you think is going on there?

CLYBURN: Well, you just noticed it, and it was mentioned that he finally pronounced her name correctly. That means to me that he is a slow learner. If he did not know that she was black, he is a slow learner.

[08:10:03]

I knew that before I ever met her. She didn't select Howard University because he was not black. It's a historically black college, a historically black university in this instance. I'm a graduate of one, and I know there's a certain sense of pride in selecting these schools. And she decided to join a sorority, the oldest African American sorority, Alpha Kappa Alpha. Why did she do all of that if she were not identifying as being black?

And so in our society, irrespective what your background may be, you have some choices as to who you would like to be. The first president -- HBC that I attended selected being black, his parents were not black. He was adopted by black parents, and therefore decided to live like he had been black. These are choices that people make. She made that choice. And I think Donald Trump is obligated to respect and honor that choice.

BERMAN: Have you had a chance to talk to President Biden since he left the presidential race?

CLYBURN: Well, we talk as he was leaving the race, and after he issued this statement, and I have communicated with him, but we have not had what I would call a one-on-one conversation with him.

BERMAN: What's your understanding of his mood right now?

CLYBURN: He's in a good mood. I suspect that he is not happy with some of the public statements and public actions that were taken in this whole issue. But I noticed yesterday, he joked about inviting people to the White House because he's looking for a job. I think he is in a real good place, because Joe Biden knows that he's bookending a tremendous record here that no president of the United States could ever match. And that is having been vice president for eight years to the first African American president in these United States. And when he got the opportunity to run for president himself, he took on an African American woman, an Asian American woman to be his running mate. And now he is an opportunity to work to hand off the presidency to that woman so that she can be the first woman president of these United States.

What a record, what a legacy. That's the kind of stuff that Joe Biden has been living for all of his life. And I do think that this puts him in a very good place as he works to get over the disappointments. You've got to be disappointed not getting a second term. But he is going to be one happy man when he leaves the presidency.

BERMAN: Congressman Jim Clyburn, great to see you this morning. Thank you so much.

Kate?

BOLDUAN: A new report this morning that both the Trump and Harris campaigns have been targeted by Iranian hackers. The new warnings now from Google.

And a daring rescue from a submerged car after the driver suffered a medical emergency, all caught on video. How the driver's young son helped save his mother. And the sugar substitutes meant to help cut calories may not be as

healthy as you think. Dr. Sanjay Gupta is back today to answer your questions about all of it.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:18:30]

BOLDUAN: So Google is now warning both presidential campaigns about ongoing hacking threats from Iran. It says there have been multiple attempts by Iranian hackers to access accounts belonging to people associated with Harris, Biden, and Donald Trump.

Iranian hackers have already broken into one Gmail account belonging to what's being described as a high-profile political consultant.

Donald Trump himself appeared to reference as well, early voting while out speaking in Florida.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R) FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: ... and it looks it's Iran. Iran doing it because Iran is no friend of mine and a lot of bad signals gets sent, but it looks like it's Iran doing it. And the reason is because I was strong in Iran and I was protecting people in the Middle East that maybe they aren't so happy about that. So, that's what it seems to be, Iran.

REPORTER: Is that what the FBI told you specifically, that it was Iran?

TRUMP: I don't want to say exactly, but it was Iran.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: CNN's Sean Lyngaas has more on this for us.

Sean, what more are you learning about the hacks?

SEAN LYNGAAS, CNN CYBERSECURITY REPORTER: Kate, Trump is right, when he says that the Iranian government doesn't have any great warm feelings towards him. Obviously, under Trump, the US government killed a top Iranian general.

What we're seeing now however is pretty standard intelligence collection that happens around a presidential campaign. This hacking group that's associated with Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, it has been trying to break into accounts, pretty much anyone close to Biden, Harris, or Trump.

Where they've had success apparently, is in targeting Roger Stone, the longtime GOP operative, and then using that access to his personal account to try to gain further access to the campaign.

[08:20:18] But this is, we've seen this movie before, Kate, in the sense that in 2016 the Russian Intelligence Services, as we know, hacked the DNC and Hillary Clinton campaign in an effort to undermine that campaign. And so, what we're sort of bracing for or preparing for is potentially more documents to be leaked after this.

However, so far, it's been pretty minimal in terms of what we've seen in the public realm. We don't know with definitive certainty that Iran is the one leaking the documents, but the FBI and the Justice Department is preparing to investigate this.

They're gathering all the information that they can and I expect there to be more public warnings from US authorities in advance of the election to say, watch out for suspicious documents. There's a foreign intelligence service that is trying to undermine confidence in the political process -- Kate.

BOLDUAN: Yes, for sure. Sean, thank you so much for the reporting -- Sara.

SIDNER: All right, want lower drug prices? The Biden-Harris administration says that is exactly what they are delivering.

Up next, Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra joins us to talk about it, and how it will lower prescription drug costs.

And a woman died at a Disney property, but the company says her husband signed away their right to a jury trial by signing up for Disney+. We will talk about that strange story, ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:26:01]

SIDNER: Today, President Biden and Vice President Harris are set to make their first joint appearance together since Biden's decision to drop out of the presidential race. The two are teaming up to tout the results from Medicare's first round of drug price negotiations.

The White House says, the negotiations will save the federal government $6 billion and will save Medicare recipients more than a billion dollars when the prices of drugs drop in 2026.

Joining us now to talk about the savings, Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra.

Thank you so much, sir, for being here.

First of all, what drugs are covered, because it is not everything, and why were they chosen to be the first to have prices lowered?

XAVIER BECERRA, HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES SECRETARY: Sara, first, thanks for having me.

Secondly, these were drugs that Congress essentially gave us the direction on how to select them. They're the 10 most expensive drugs in the Medicare program.

Just to give you an idea, just those 10 drugs out of the more than 3,500 drugs at Medicare coverage costs about getting close to $50 billion in one year just those 10 drugs.

And we then took those 10 drugs, did negotiations, dropped the price, $6 billion is what we estimate will be saved if you use the price that we got now, as a result of negotiation and applied it to 2023 of those same drugs, we would have saved $6 billion in the Medicare program.

And as you said on top of that, because some Medicare beneficiaries have to pay out of pocket additionally, we would have saved them about -- we can save them about $1.5 billion moving forward.

SIDNER: I'm curious why its only 10 drugs. I think that's going to happen in 2026 that those prices will drop, 15 for 2027 and so on. Why can't the government negotiate prices for all the drugs to lower costs for patients and for Medicare?

BECERRA: Great question. If you're looking for a job, you've got one at HHS.

We would love to have it be more than 10. Congress said first year, you negotiate 10. Next year, you can negotiate 15 and so forth and so forth.

I think part of it was to make sure that everyone in the health care system could handle the change. Remember, this is the first time in history we got to negotiate to lower the price of prescription medication in the Medicare program.

And so, it's no easy known feat. We can do it. We'd like to do it for more, President Biden has said, there's no reason why these negotiations apply only to the Medicare program and the 66 million people who are part or Medicare, it should apply to everybody.

SIDNER: You're not going to want to hire me at HHS after this question, just letting you know.

Merck and the US Chamber of Commerce, which has drug company executives on its board, filed separate lawsuits against the government arguing that negotiating drug prices like this in Medicare is unconstitutional and they have many different reasons why it's unconstitutional according to them.

How concerned are you that this lawsuit will go forward or these lawsuits will go forward and wipe out the drug cost lowering program.

BECERRA: Sara, every one of the companies that has these 10 drugs that we negotiated has sued us to stop us from negotiating. Although, those companies have also engaged voluntarily in the negotiations and all of them, reached with us a fair price.

And so, this is America. They're going to do what they've got to do. They're going to make their money. We're going to continue to try to save money. At the end of the day, by the way, in most of the -- there hasn't been a case in court where the pharmaceutical companies have won.

So we're going to keep moving forward, but it is what it is. They want to make more money. We want to save people more money. It is what it is.

SIDNER: Secretary Xavier Becerra, thank you so much for joining us this morning. Appreciate your time.

BECERRA: Thank you.

SIDNER: John.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: All right, new polls this morning show Vice President Harris gaining with a key group of voters, the group that could decide the election.

And we are standing by for a new Retail Sales Report, literally coming out in 28, 27 seconds. We're going to pour over the numbers during the break and tell you what all mean. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:30:17]