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Source: CIA Director Expected To Attend High-Level Ceasefire Talks In Cairo; Sen. Chris Coons (D-DE) Discusses Harris To Accept Democratic Nomination Tonight & RFK Jr Expected to End Campaign, In Talks To Endorse Trump; Supreme Court Blocks Some Proof-Of-Citizenship Requirements That Could Have Barred Thousands From Voting In Arizona. Aired 2:30-3p ET

Aired August 22, 2024 - 14:30   ET

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

[14:30:00]

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: The U.S. dispatching top officials to get a deal done. But what if it doesn't come through? We are live from Tel Aviv, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: Amid an urgent push to secure a ceasefire and hostage release deal in Gaza, a source familiar with the negotiations says that CIA Director Bill Burns is expected to arrive tomorrow in Cairo to attend high-level talks, which will take place over the weekend.

Hopes for a deal are fading though, as a major sticking point remains. Israel saying it will not leave the Philadelphi Corridor in southern Gaza, regardless of any pressure to do so.

CNN's Jim Sciutto is live for us in Tel Aviv tracking the latest.

[14:35:00]

Jim, what are you learning about where these talks stand?

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: Listen, Boris, it's really not good. I mean, the talks are happening. There will be another meeting of officials in Cairo, as you said.

And the U.S. is sending senior officials to take part. Bill Burns, the director of the CIA, Brett McGurk, a top State Department negotiator often involved in these talks.

So the fact that they're showing up shows that the U.S. is still invested. And an Israeli negotiating team will be there as well. Hamas does not take part in these talks in-person. They have mediators who convey to them where things stand.

Talks are taking place. But as you mentioned, Israel is now publicly insisting on a presence at what's known as the Philadelphi Corridor. That is the border between Gaza and Egypt. And why that is of a concern to Israel is because there are all those

tunnels underneath there that bring in arms. And the concern among Israeli officials that only they can trust themselves to control that corridor.

To date, that had only been discussed privately as the possibility that Israel is insisting on that. Now the prime minister's office is declaring it publicly.

That's a position U.S. officials called as a called a maximalist position, not helpful to the negotiations.

And what it speaks to is -- and this is the way other parties view it -- that Israel wants to maintain a presence in Gaza after this war, which is something going into these talks that even the U.S. was not comfortable with.

So talks happening. But if that is the Israeli position, it's hard to see how they move forward towards an agreement.

SANCHEZ: And, Jim, if there is no deal, what happens?

SCIUTTO: Yes. Listen, my team and I, we spent today up on Israels northern border where, every day, there is cross-border fire from Hezbollah in southern Lebanon and Israel -- from Israel into southern Lebanon against him Hezbollah targets.

There's been really a low-grade war there since October 7th. The concern is, if the talks fall apart, then that low-grade conflict on the northern border becomes hotter with perhaps Hezbollah exacting this revenge it's been talking about.

And sitting in the background is Iran, which has publicly said it's going to seek revenge for the killing of Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran. They seem to be saying they're holding off for some time. Perhaps there's greater concern about Hezbollah striking in the near term.

Regardless, the fear is, if the talks go nowhere, then the risk of that expansion of this war grows higher. And there's genuine concern about that in this country and also in Washington.

SANCHEZ: Our thanks to Jim Sciutto, live for us in Tel Aviv.

Still to come on CNN NEWS CENTRAL, we're just hours away from Kamala Harris formally accepting the presidential nomination. We're going to speak to campaign co-chair, Senator Chris Coons, about what to expect from her primetime speech when we come back.

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[14:42:34]

KEILAR: A big night ahead tonight for Vice President Harris, as she formally accepts the Democratic nomination for president.

She will be delivering a highly anticipated speech as voters here, her personal story firsthand and learn about how she would lead the nation if she wins in November.

Joining us now is the Harris-Walz campaign co-chair, Senator Chris Coons, of Delaware.

Sir. Thank you so much for being with us.

Give us a sense of what we're going to be hearing from the vice president tonight.

SEN. CHRIS COONS (D-DE): Thank you, Brianna. Thanks for the chance to be on.

I'm sorry my voice is a little raspy. I did a lot of shouting last night as I got to hear from a governor, congressman, veteran and coach, Tim Walz, as he spoke, introducing himself to the broader nation.

And tonight, I expect we're also going to hear an electrifying and upbeat speech from Vice President Kamala Harris.

A review of her life story, of her record as an attorney general of the most populous state in the country, vice president serving alongside our beloved president, Joe Biden. And now nominee to be the next president of the United States. Excuse me.

On the Democratic ticket, I think you'll hear about her vision for the future, her compassion for the middle-class, her concern about the proposals that have been made by her opponent, and her hope that coming out of this convention we'll have an energized, engaged Democratic Party nationwide.

KEILAR: And it was a bit of a reality check. We know that your co- chair, Jen O'Malley Dillon, that she told "Politico's" Eugene Daniels, the Harris campaign actually does not have a clear path to victory.

She said, quote, "We don't have it. We are a polarized nation in a challenging time. And despite all the things that are happening in the country, Donald Trump still has more support than he has had at any other point. It is going to come down to every single vote."

How are you approaching that reality check? How are organizers approaching that?

COONS: Brianna, this was always going to be a close election.

And in the last few weeks, what we've seen across the country, as Vice President Harris and Governor Walz and barnstormed across the country to Pennsylvania to Michigan, to Nevada, to Arizona, to all the different swing states, including Wisconsin, during this convention week.

[14:45:00]

Is more volunteers, more small-dollar donors, more folks expressing interest in the campaign and working to learn more about how the Harris-Walz ticket will improve our position at home and abroad. But it's not news that Jen O'Malley Dillion recognizes that this is going to be a very close race.

Vice President Harris, as a candidate, has several different pathways to 270, which is an improvement over where we were a month ago. But bluntly, none of those pathways are a slam dunk and in none of those pathways is it obvious that we're going to win? This will be a hard- fought and close contest this November.

KEILAR: I do want to ask you about RFK Jr because he is having an event tomorrow. You have heard the noise about this in public and private dialogue from his campaign about possibly dropping out and endorsing Trump. I think that is very much what the expectation of this may be.

What would that mean for the race? Which voters are you concerned might swing over to Trump? And how much of a difference could it make?

COONS: Brianna, I don't think that will make a very significant difference. RFK Jr has struggled to get on the ballot in many states to deliver a message that breaks through with any significant number of voters.

There are folks who dislike vaccines or are vaccine deniers, or who share some of his issues and concerns, of course.

He has a running mate who has poured a fair amount of her money into trying to make their campaign a successful national campaign. He's dropping out because that effort hasn't succeeded.

And so, look, I think folks should pay some attention to some of the more extreme positions Robert F. Kennedy Jr has. One of them is that he said that he would act to deny a single penny of funding to any public school that requires vaccinations of any kind.

I'll just remind you that, without a measles and mumps, vaccinations, we'd have widespread national pandemics of these childhood diseases that we're largely eliminated due to effective vaccines that you're required to take if you're going to go to a public school.

So, look, RFK has got a whole bunch of different positions. His brain's all over the place. It's been hard to keep track of all of them. But his opposition to vaccination is one of them. And I don't think the science or public health bears that out.

KEILAR: Senator, I think it's fair to say I've saved my very most important question for last. Is Beyonce coming tonight?

(LAUGHTER)

COONS: I don't know that. I believe Pink is going to be performing tonight. To the best of my knowledge, Beyonce is not. But I don't know that. And so I'm looking forward to tonight with some anticipation as well.

KEILAR: All right. We'll see. Senator Coons, thank you so much for continuing the rampant speculation after that. We appreciate it.

Still much more from Chicago.

But first, we do have some breaking news out of Arizona. What we are learning about a Supreme Court decision that could impact this election. We'll have that next.

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[14:52:32]

SANCHEZ: We're following breaking news out of the Supreme Court where the court just blocked parts of a Republican-backed law that could have prevented thousands of people from voting in November's election.

CNN chief legal affairs correspondent, Paula Reid, is here to explain what the justices decided -- Paula?

PAULA REID, CNN CHIEF LEGAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: This is a big case. This is one of the election cases that we've been following very closely.

And here, the Supreme Court has said it will not revive citizenship requirements to vote in the presidential election in Arizona. There may be some citizenship requirements to vote in state and local elections.

But as you know, voter I.D., this is an issue that Republicans have tried to keep front and center for a long time. And Arizona is one of seven states that is expected to decide the outcome of the November presidential election.

And this case, if it had gone the other way, it could have potentially impacted the ability of tens of thousands, maybe as many as 40,000 people to vote in the presidential election.

And, Boris, we're talking about a state that was decided by just over 10,000 votes in 2020. That's why the Republican National Committee made this emergency appeal to the Supreme Court.

But this was an emergency appeal. This wasn't the usual kind of case where you have oral arguments and you get a lengthy decision. We just have this sort of short one-page decision.

And one of the things that you see on here is an interesting alignment across the justices. Usually, there is a doctrine that they follow trying not to get involved in contentious disputes related to ballots too close to an election.

But here, while this was presented to Justice Kagan, you see that Justices Thomas, Alito and Gorsuch would have just granted this request from the Republican National Committee. But Justices Sotomayor, Kagan, Justice Barrett and Justice Jackson would have denied it in full. So there is clearly a split across the justices, three different ways of thinking about this, even though, historically, there has been a doctrine, often embraced by conservatives, not to get involved in these kinds of disputes.

So this is one of several cases that could have an impact on the election we're watching very closely.

SANCHEZ: Yes, we look forward to seeing what develops, what comes of the others.

Paula Reid, thank you so much for the update.

[14:54:37]

Still much more to come from the Democratic convention. Kamala Harris has three main objectives for the biggest speech of her political life. We're going to look at what she's aiming to do as she closes out the DNC, when we come back.

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KEILAR: Capping off a historic week. Hello, there. I'm Brianna Keilar at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago. And my good friend and colleague, Boris Sanchez, is in Washington.

And hours from now, Vice President Harris will be walking out onto the stage behind me to formally accept her party's nomination for president.

[14:59:58]

She'll be laying out her vision for America. And when she does, she is expected to be greeted by many delegates wearing white. Already seen them filter in here to the arena even hours before.