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Biden and Harris to Share Stage; Trump Holds News Conference; Rep. Mike Quigley (D-IL) is interviewed about the Presidential Race; Gaza Health Ministry Reports Numbers of Dead; Fact Checking Trump's Speech; Gupta Answers Questions on Sweeteners. Aired 9-9:30a ET

Aired August 15, 2024 - 09:00   ET

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

[09:00:00]

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: Thousands of Taylor Swift fans as she is getting ready to take the stage for the first time since that terror plot was thwarted targeting her concerts.

And an incredible scene. A woman suffering a medical emergency while driving. You'll see on video how her quick thinking son and an officer nearby saved the day.

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

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: This morning, Biden-Harris, that was the Democratic ticket 2020. It was the Democratic ticket in July of 2024. It is not the Democratic ticket today. But today we will see that combination together on stage really for the first time since President Biden dropped out of the race. The joint appearance comes as Harris prepares to roll out her big economic policy tomorrow in North Carolina.

And CNN's Jeff Zeleny joins us now from Asheville, North Carolina. One of the most beautiful swing locations in a swing state that there is.

Jeff, North Carolina is interesting all of a sudden. Explain why was Trump there yesterday? Why is Harris there tomorrow?

JEFF ZELENY, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Hey, John, good morning.

You see the Blue Ridge Mountains behind me here. I think we'll be talking a lot more about those Blue Ridge Mountains, in addition to the blue wall. States of Michigan, Wisconsin, and Pennsylvania that, of course, we talked so much about as being the center of this presidential campaign. There is no doubt North Carolina is getting a renewed focus as a battleground state. We saw former President Donald Trump here yesterday. Vice President Kamala Harris is going to be in Raleigh tomorrow laying out her economic plan, as you said.

And the economy is at the heart of this presidential campaign. There is no mistake about it. Yes, there are other issues, other distractions, but the pocketbook issues are on the minds of voters. That's why Vice President Harris is coming here to North Carolina to lay out part of her economic proposal. But as you said, she'll be making a stop earlier actually this afternoon in Maryland to appear for the first time with President Biden since this change at the top of the Democratic ticket. This will be their first joint speaking event. They'd been together, of course.

But -- and this is really going to highlight the fine line that she is walking here over the next three months or so. You know, she certainly owns the record and policies of the Biden administration, but she's trying to put a bit of distance between some of that. Not, however, on what they're announcing today. That is a major savings in Medicare because this is a -- one of the sort of -- sort of fallouts from the Inflation Reduction Act that she cast the deciding vote, you'll remember, back in 2022. And that allows the government to directly negotiate with the drug manufacturers, saving some 6 billion and passing along some $1.5 billion in savings to seniors.

So, of course, she will embrace that. You will not hear her talking about Bidenomics. That phrase that was mentioned so often during the first part of this campaign has been all but retired. There is no doubt she's trying to shift her focus to cost cutting. She'll be announcing the first ever federal ban if she's elected during her first 100 days that she said her administration will look into, price gouging, looking at meat packers, the consolidation on that front.

So, there is no doubt, John, the economy front and center in this. But it's going to be a delicate balance for her to embrace, and then perhaps move beyond the Biden record.

BERMAN: Yes, delicate I think is the right word. And it's interesting because President Biden will deliver the big speech on the first night of the convention, Monday night, next week, really just a few days from now.

ZELENY: Right.

BERMAN: It makes me wonder how much this joint appearance today was meant to maybe take a little air out of the balloon in terms of the pressure that that moment might create there. Get them out together so it's already been done at least once.

ZELENY: Right. No doubt about it, John, I had that exact same thought. Look, I mean, this has been somewhat of an awkward moment for President Biden. This switch is so fresh. We've been spending some time here. The campaign signs on the walls of the Democratic headquarters still say Biden-Harris. As volunteers are out working, there are signs that still say Biden-Harris. The Biden name is still front and center here. So, there's no doubt that appearance this afternoon is going to be closely watched.

But there's also no doubt that this now is Vice President Kamala Harris' party, and they're focusing on North Carolina because suddenly the -- with her at the top of the ticket, this state is back in play.

John.

BERMAN: I once did a live shot from that exact same location, Jeff, and there was so much fog coming off the mountains, all you could see behind me was white, not that beautiful view that we're seeing behind you.

ZELENY: (INAUDIBLE).

BERMAN: Soak it in, my friends, soak it in.

ZELENY: (INAUDIBLE).

BERMAN: Jeff Zeleny, thank you very much.

ZELENY: (INAUDIBLE).

BERMAN: Sara.

[09:05:00]

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: We all are soaking in that beautiful shot there with Jeff Zeleny.

All right, new this morning, the personal attacks did not end. Donald Trump went there again and again despite a number of Republican allies publicly imploring him to stop the personal attacks and focus on policy. But Trump is going to be Trump.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT AND 2024 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: What happened to her laugh? I haven't heard that laugh in about a week. That's why they keep her off the stage. That's why she's disappeared. That's a laugh of a crazy person, I will tell you. If you haven't known (ph), it's a crazy -- she's crazy.

Her laugh is career threatening. They said, don't laugh. She hasn't laughed. She doesn't laugh anymore. Smart, but some days it's going to come out. That's the laugh of a person with some big problems.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SIDNER: So much for the personal attacks going away against Kamala Harris.

And now, later today, Donald Trump set himself up to hold another press conference, this time at his golf club in New Jersey.

CNN's Steve Contorno is with us.

There is an on script and an off script Donald Trump, and he seems to be enjoying the off script one.

STEVE CONTORNO, CNN REPORTER: Certainly, Sara. If you listen long enough and hard enough, you may have found an economic message in Donald Trump's speech yesterday. And he did talk a little bit about his plan to get rid of taxes on tips and taxes on Social Security. He also took some time to criticize Vice President Harris and tie her to the Biden economic record, especially on inflation. And that's where his campaign would love for him to focus on. Unfortunately for them, he also veered off into many other subjects, and even sort of poked funded at the idea that he would even give an economic speech focused on just one topic.

Listen to what he had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT AND 2024 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: This isn't a rally, but this is a different kind of a thing. Today we're going to talk about one subject ever -- and then we'll start going back to the other, because we sort of love that, don't we? But it's an important -- no, it's an important -- they say it's the most important subject. I'm not sure it is.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CONTORNO: I'm not sure it is. In fact, he went on to lay out -- continue his attacks and broadsides on Vice President Harris.

But look, he also, yesterday, had some people come to his defense of how he's been campaigning, including his vice presidential nominee, J.D. Vance. Vance, at an event of his own, defending the former president saying, "the people who are criticizing him had an opportunity to make Donald Trump do something different by challenging him over three separate primaries." And going on to say, "Donald Trump has earned the right to run the campaign that he wants to run."

But this criticism, of course, is not just coming from some of these Republican rivals like Nikki Haley or people who didn't take the opportunity to challenge Trump this time around. It's also come from people very close to the former president. We saw the former speaker, Kevin McCarthy, his former adviser, Kellyanne Conway, both of them in recent days have gone on television and sort of tried to speak to Trump through Fox News to convince him it's time to get on message or you're going to lose this thing.

SIDNER: Yes. Well, in November, the voters will decide what they want.

Steve Contorno, thank you so much for your reporting.

Kate.

BOLDUAN: And joining us right now is Democratic congressman from Illinois, Mike Quigley.

Congressman, thank you so much for joining me.

What we -- what we heard from Donald Trump there, where he continues and returns to now focusing on her laugh, what happened with her laugh, and talking about her laugh. What do you think Donald Trump -- Donald Trump's repeated focus on Kamala Harris' laugh is about?

REP. MIKE QUIGLEY (D-IL): That one. I can't figure out. I mean, I always knew that they use the code words and the dog whistles, as they have done to the point we have heard that Republican House leadership has told its membership to stop doing this. This one is beyond explanation, but it's -- it's Trump being Trump.

I think in a larger picture, it highlights the contrast of sort of happy warrior Harris-Walz versus angry grievance, let's talk about the past, let's move toward the past of Trump-Vance.

BOLDUAN: Let's talk about tomorrow. Let's talk about the -- let's talk about the future, meaning tomorrow. Harris is going to be rolling out her policy vision. Starting to roll out her policy vision tomorrow with a speech on the economy.

Yesterday, there was new data that came out showing inflation fell below 3 percent for the first time since 2021, which is good news. Bad news though, is the Biden administration and Kamala Harris, they have for months been trying to cite data that has been coming out to convince Americans that the economy is getting better and still voters have shown in poll after poll to this point that they think that Donald Trump will do better with the economy. Why is that?

QUIGLEY: Look, I think you just have to meet that head on and appreciate the fact.

[09:10:04]

Look, early on the Biden campaign just kept talking about how great the economy was. And it was and is strong. But the fact is, I think there need to be more focused on understanding the pain that people felt with inflation. And I think Vice President Harris has -- has started to talk about that. And I think that's going to be a big part of what we learn today and tomorrow of what the campaign releases. You know, talking about price gouging and other efforts and things that we can do to help people meet that burden.

BOLDUAN: My CNN White House colleagues have some new reporting out this morning about President Biden that I wanted to ask you about. Kind of the behind the scenes, in the moments and how he's doing -- feeling in the -- in these fresh moments after kind of bowing out of the -- out of the presidential. And here's some of the reporting. It says, "President Joe Biden is still smarting from having been forced to abandon his re-election campaign more than three weeks ago." And they also report, "sources stopped short of using the word grudge, but said Biden would not soon forget those who appeared to be most active in pushing him aside."

You were -- Congressman, you were one of the first to publicly call on him to step aside in terms of elected Democrats. What do you say to this? Does this worry you? Have you spoken to President Biden?

QUIGLEY: You know, I have not. And let me be honest, I don't blame him. I would have been hangry too. He's a proud man who did an extraordinary job. He saved our democracy once. And I'd like to think the decision he made in stepping aside may have saved democracy twice, as we see the Harris campaign just explode with energy.

So, look, I'm going -- I'm not what matters here. I'm going to be a small footnote in history as it relates to what took place. This is all about President Biden's legacy. The extraordinary efforts to bring us out of Covid, January 6th and move us forward, restore the rule of law and our save our democracy once and probably again, and, you know, what happens with this campaign as it moves forward.

So, look, I don't blame him, but in the final analysis, none of this is going to matter. What really matters is November and whether we can move forward positively.

BOLDUAN: And a big step of the immediate what matters is your home state and your, you know, and the -- and the voters you represented and the district you represent because the Democratic Convention coming to Chicago starting next week. So, it's going to be a busy time for you for sure.

Congressman, thanks for coming in.

John.

BERMAN: So, what could be make or break negotiations over hostages and a ceasefire in Gaza about to begin.

A 12-year-old to the rescue after his mother had a medical emergency and drove into a body of water.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:17:42]

BERMAN: This morning, the health ministry in Gaza says more than 40,000 Palestinians have been killed there since October 7th. Ceasefire and hostage talks are set to get underway very shortly in Qatar.

John Kirby, from the White House National Security Council, spoke to us a short time ago.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN KIRBY, NATIONAL SECURITY COUNCIL SPOKESMAN: What we're trying to do here at the White House is work feverishly to get this ceasefire deal in place so we can get at the very least six weeks of calm and a chance to get the most at-risk hostages out. Now, not that they're not all at risk, they are, but I'm talking about the women and the elderly, the sick and the injured, get them home to their families where they belong. And that's why we're in Doha right now. And that's why we're working so hard on this.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: CNN chief national security correspondent Alex Marquardt is with us now.

What are the hopes for these discussions, Alex?

ALEX MARQUARDT, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Well, John, that really is the question. We've heard a lot of optimism from U.S. officials lately. We heard Secretary of State Antony Blinken a couple weeks ago saying that we're inside the ten yard line. And I've been speaking with sources today. One in particular telling me that there is no breakthrough expected. This is seen, as you've been saying, as a make-or-break moment. But it's not like those involved in the conversations believe that anything is necessarily imminent.

But this comes, of course, after ten months of a horrible war that, as of today, we hear from the Gaza health ministry, some 40,000 people have been killed. So, now you have the main mediators at the table alongside the Israelis. Hamas, notably, is not there. So, what's going to happen today is, you're going to hear -- we're going to see, rather, the CIA director, Bill Burns, his Egyptian counterpart, the Qatari prime minister, engaging with the Mossad director, David Barnea (ph). Then after this, what will have been discussed today will then be taken to Hamas essentially for review.

Now, there are still, John, major sticking points. The U.S. has kind of tried to downplay them saying it's essentially the mechanics of the deal that really need to be hashed out. But there are major sticking points about the IDF presence in Gaza and their eventual withdrawal, about the ability for Gazans to return to their homes in the north. Whether this temporary ceasefire turns into a permanent ceasefire. And then discussions about which Palestinian prisoners can be released.

And, John, we've been tracking these discussions so carefully for the past few months. But at the end of the day, we do have to remember, this is about human lives.

[09:20:01]

You have 115 Israeli hostages who -- whose families want to see them or their remains come home. You have these tens of thousands of Palestinians who've been killed in this ten-month war.

I want to play a little bit of sound from the people who have been suffering inside Gaza. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): God willing, the expectations will prove true, as everyone is expecting a solution. Everyone is hopeful that a ceasefire will be achieved.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): We hope to God there will be solutions. Everyone. Youth, women and elderly people is now begging for money. We are broke and everyone is either dying, injured, or getting amputated. No one has been spared.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MARQUARDT: Now, John, it is impossible to overstate the level of suffering in Gaza. So, what would happen after this is, after the mediators essentially go home, we believe that technical teams could take over those conversations. But looming over all this, John, of course, is the potential for Hezbollah and Iran to carry out strikes on Israel. And much of it, we believe, hinges on what happens at these discussions today.

John.

BERMAN: It adds an incredible amount of pressure to these talks where there was already plenty.

Alex Marquardt, thank you so much. Appreciate it.

Kate.

BOLDUAN: Donald Trump says tax cuts that happened during his administration were the, quote, "largest tax cuts in history." The fact check on that ahead.

And Taylor Swift returns to the stage for the first time since authorities thwarted a terror plot on her concerts in Europe.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:25:49]

BOLDUAN: We are moments away from market open and the economy is top of mind on the campaign trail very clearly. Kamala Harris, the big economic speech tomorrow. Donald Trump with a speech last night, during which he hammered Kamala Harris, blaming her for high inflation, blaming her for high grocery prices that have haunted the Biden administration throughout.

He also suggested that your taxes will quadruple under a president Kamala Harris.

CNN's Julia Chatterley has been looking into the facts surrounding that speech and what we know. What was your takeaway from the economic portion of the Donald Trump speech?

JULIA CHATTERLEY, CNN BUSINESS ANCHOR, "FIRST MOVE": Well, the good news is, I guess, we're no longer headed for a great depression, because remember in his last speech he talked about that.

BOLDUAN: Yes, 1929 (ph).

CHATTERLEY: So, now we've forgotten that, of course.

You're right, he did talk about the pain of inflation. He talked about credit card debt being at record highs. That's important because it's a sign of the struggle that American families face. So, let's tick boxes where there were good things. The question is, how do you help? And that's where, unfortunately, we slipped from some degree of fact into fiction.

Taxes first. He often says that his tax cuts were the largest in history. It's not correct. I can show you and give you a look in terms of what the Congressional Budget Office do, which they look at the amount of revenues that were lost as a result. Obama's were bigger in 2012. The extension of those tax cuts. Reagan in '81 outstripped him. But size actually in this case shouldn't matter. It should be about

who you help most. And I think the consensus view on those tax cuts was it wasn't helping low-income Americans enough. So, that should be a focus.

Next, a quadrupling of taxes under Kamala Harris.

BOLDUAN: Yes.

CHATTERLEY: He accused Biden of that, too. That's a carryover. We don't have the information.

BOLDUAN: Right.

CHATTERLEY: Let's see what Kamla says on Friday about what she's going to do in terms of policy.

The other thing, tariffs. We kept coming back to this, do you remember, during the last sort of three to four years. Taxes. Tariffs are a tax on U.S. importers when you buy goods from China. Americans pay for those.

Now, you can push back on China and say, look, we're going to buy less as a result, but it's American the pay that. And the trade commission says actually it was one for one. A one percentage point increase in the tariff, one percentage increase in the prices that consumers in America pay. And this is crucial to watch because he's talked about adding tax to more Chinese goods and other nations as well.

Final thing, can we please talk about bacon.

BOLDUAN: Anytime.

CHATTERLEY: Bacon-gate.

BOLDUAN: I'm happy to talk about bacon all the time.

CHATTERLEY: It's an official gate at this stage. This is a weird fictional point to make. We know and have the data of how bacon prices have gone up. Now, breakfast sandwiches are more expensive. It's gone up 18 percent. The former president keeps claiming it's gone up 400 percent. Sometimes he said 500 percent.

BOLDUAN: It's like it feels -- is he throwing in, it feels like it went up 400 or 500 --

CHATTERLEY: He has a beef with bacon.

BOLDUAN: What is it?

CHATTERLEY: I don't understand. This has economist really head scratching, this --

BOLDUAN: But is there any way to look at the numbers, find a number that would get you anywhere to 400?

CHATTERLEY: I've tried. I've --

BOLDUAN: Because there's a big delta between 18 and 400.

CHATTERLEY: I know. No.

BOLDUAN: OK.

CHATTERLEY: He clearly loves a breakfast sandwich. Apparently, I don't know. An 18 percent rise. It's a painful rise. It's not 400 percent to 500 percent. Bacon-gate. Someone should show him the data please and stop that one.

BOLDUAN: Fascinating.

CHATTERLEY: Yes.

BOLDUAN: Thank you very much.

CHATTERLEY: Thank you.

BOLDUAN: Great to see you.

John.

BERMAN: I don't know that showing him the data would change much.

CHATTERLEY: We can try.

BERMAN: All right, this morning, Dr. Sanjay Gupta on call to answer your questions. We asked you to submit questions on zero calorie sweeteners. And CNN chief medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta, he heard you. He poured over the questions. And he joins us now with the answers.

Sanjay, you were here yesterday and you said something which stuck with me, and a lot of people, which is basically, if you're using these artificial sweeteners to lose weight, like not so much, that's not what's going to happen here.

So, K. Thomas from Kassas City asks, how do you gain weight with zero calorie products?

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes. Yes, this is really interesting, right? You think, hey, look, I'm not even eating or drinking the calories, or not many of them, and I'm still gaining weight. What gives? This is the most common question we got.

First of all, just the long-term data on this. I'll explain this. But there was a study, John, that I thought was fascinating. It was out of Minnesota, 3,000 people, and they followed them for 20 years. So, really long-term data here.

And what they basically found with that group of people was that over that long term, they actually had more of this visceral fat during that time. Not -- not less.