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Trump and RFK Jr. Hold Rallies in Arizona; Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL) is Interviewed about Harris; William Mendoza- Euceda is Interviewed about the DNC; Secret Service Never Used Radios for Trump Rally. Aired 8:30-9a ET

Aired August 23, 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]

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: Today, Donald Trump is holding a rally in Arizona. Coincidentally or not, RFK Jr. is also expected to be in Arizona today and expected to end his campaign.

CNN's Kristen Holmes is in Phoenix and joining us now.

Kristen, what are you hearing about today?

KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, so many coincidences, right? Well, in terms of what we're hearing today, so first let's start with Donald Trump. He's going to be in Nevada earlier today. Then he's going to be here in Phoenix. We expect to hear a lot about Kamala Harris. He clearly did not like that speech. She went after him. And that kind of thing gets under his skin. And you saw that in that Fox interview. So, even though today is supposed to be earlier, an economic event, and then later a rally, we expect to hear him reacting to Kamala Harris because, as we know, he likely cannot help himself.

Now, what we're doing here in Phoenix behind me, RFK is expected to suspend his campaign. And we know there have been very high level talks about RFK endorsed Donald Trump at that rally later tonight, or possibly when he suspended his campaign. Donald Trump's team essentially saying that they were waiting to see what happened. Trump himself saying that there had been no conversation about a rally in Phoenix, but then, just moments later, his campaign putting out an advertisement for this rally, saying Donald Trump would appear next to a special guest with a shadowy figure. Clearly trying to allude to RFK Jr. here.

Now you might be wondering why exactly Donald Trump's team would want RFK's endorsement given the fact that his campaign has been really plagued by scandal after scandal. We saw in May he admitted that a parasitic brain worm had entered into his brain and died there and caused brain fog. In a "Vanity Fair" article he essentially evaded questions about allegations of sexual assault but - from former nanny. And then, obviously, we saw what happened with the admission that he left a bear cub in Central Park.

But if you look at this race as a whole, particularly with Kamala Harris at the top of the Democratic ticket there is concern that this race is going to be decided by razor thin margins.

And I want you to take a look, or at least listen to the poll numbers here in Arizona. Six percent of Arizona voters in recent polling were for RFK. Now that is compared to Harris at 45 and Trump at 42. This is a "New York Times" poll. They believe that even if some of those RFK voters were to shift to Donald Trump, that could make up that margin. And so that is why Trump's team is really working for this endorsement and have been for several weeks.

Obviously, we'll see what happens today, Kate.

BOLDUAN: Yes, the motivation behind it, very - it seems clear with how you lay it out so well, Kristen. But also when you string together kind of the incidents with RFK Jr., it is quite something the things he's had to answer for in his short campaign. Thank you so much.

Coming up still for us, Kamala Harris calling out Donald Trump for his relationship with other world leaders while speaking to the biggest audience of her campaign so far.

And right now, a volcanic eruption is happening in Iceland. A very active volcano going on for the - erupting for the sixth time since December.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:38:20]

KAMALA HARRIS, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE U.S. (D) AND U.S. PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I will not cozy up to tyrants and dictators like Kim Jong- un, who are rooting for Trump. Who are rooting for Trump. Because, you know, they know - they know he is easy to manipulate with flattery and favors. They know Trump won't hold autocrats accountable because he wants to be an autocrat himself. And as president, I will never waiver in defense of America's security and ideals, because in the enduring struggle between democracy and tyranny, I know where I stand, and I know where the United States belongs.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: Kamala Harris on fire, now officially the nominee, told her story, laid out some specifics for a potential future administration, and called out her opponent, as you saw there, Donald Trump.

Here now, Florida Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz. A cancer survivor.

Congresswoman, I am familiar with Kamala Harris as a prosecutor. And that is Kamala Harris the prosecutor. What else did she bring to the table last night?

REP. DEBBIE WASSERMAN SCHULTZ (D-FL): The Kamala Harris we saw last night was caretaker of the kitchen table and the commander in chief.

[08:39:47] And the bookends of her speech last night were absolutely the stark contrast that the American people needed to hear because we need someone in office who is going to care about the affordable roof over your head, the grocery bill being lower, the prescription drug costs continuing to come down, and someone who cares about our freedom, not just freedom from, you know, Republicans and politicians getting all up in your personal health care business and telling us what to do with our bodies, but freedom around the world.

And we need a commander in chief like Kamala Harris who doesn't cozy up to dictators, who's going to make sure that Maduro understands that there has to be, in Venezuela, a transition to democracy because he lost that election. And we have to have someone with a spine, like Kamala Harris, who is going to stand up around the world to ensure that we are not going to let tyrants run over there people.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: First of all, I'm in the middle of a Florida sandwich here, you know, wedged in between -

SIDNER: Hold on. Before you - let - we - yes, take this shot. So, this is what we do at the University of Florida.

BERMAN: The gator.

SIDNER: We would -

SCHULTZ: That's right.

SIDNER: And John is a Boston guy. And we don't care. We don't care about that.

SCHULTZ: That's right.

SIDNER: Moving on to politics.

SCHULTZ: A Florida Gator sandwich.

BERMAN: Danny Wuerffel. That's all I'm going to say.

There was a national security message last night.

SCHULTZ: For sure.

BERMAN: Just seeing that again, and I've seen - we've seen it a few times this morning, that statement that she made there is the kind of statement you would have heard at a Republican convention 20 years ago.

SCHULTZ: She said clearly, do not mess or test - messed with or test the United States of America. Don't - if you think you're going to test my resolve, put that notion aside. She made sure Iran under - the Iranians understand that, you know, Khamenei understands that. And she made sure that when it comes to the U.S.-Israel relationship and ensuring that if you're pro-Israel, if you care, as the majority of Americans do, about making sure that Israel already has the right to exist, the right to defend itself, and that we will stand by her. And also that we need to make sure, as Jon and Rachel Polin said on

our stage Wednesday night, that suffering, human suffering, needs to end for everyone in that region. And the victims of this entire conflict are - are the victims of Hamas who are a terrorist organization, which she clearly underscored.

SIDNER: I did want to ask you about that - that moment when she talked about Israel and the Palestinians and the suffering. And she did it in such a way - I mean, this is a very hard subject. Can you just talk about how difficult it is to talk about what is going on there without making people really angry with you because the party has had some dissension about how the U.S. deals with Israel and deals with the Palestinians.

SCHULTZ: First of all, the dissension that was predicted and projected never really materialized -

SIDNER: It did not.

SCHULTZ: In the - on the outside of the arena we had about an average amount protests, just like we always do. You know, minor, minor thing - you know, banners unfurling on the floor. But I've not seen a leader more articulately and more clearly expressed the breadth of what is necessary when it comes to conflict in the Middle East and being supportive of Israel, ending the terrorist threat on her doorstep, bringing the hostages home and also making sure that we have the suffering of the Palestinian people who are victims of Hamas, which she said very clearly, end and that the Palestinian people also have a right to self-determination.

She said exactly what needed to be said. And when I went back, when I was walking out of the hall, last - last night, I had several pro- Israel people that I didn't know, stop me, grabbed me by the wrist and said, she was strong on Israel. Now, there's a lot of hand wringers when it - from - from - in the pro-Israel American community and - and there's always a lot of angst. I was just so proud of her. I was so -

SIDNER: You feel like she threaded that needle?

SCHULTZ: And as someone who is a pro-Israel Jewish woman, member of Congress, Zionist, and someone who cares about making sure that we have humanitarian assistance and that we take care of people and also keep people safe from - from the threat that Israel faces, and that the Palestinians face from their - from Hamas, my heart was full.

BERMAN: I did want to ask, you, obviously, you were - were a big party player in 2016 when Hillary Clinton was the nominee.

SCHULTZ: Yes.

BERMAN: I remember Democrats feeling good coming out of that convention. I know it was a more divided convention than this.

SCHULTZ: Yes, quite a bit.

BERMAN: But why is this going to be different? Why do you think that the Harris campaign will be - have different results against Donald Trump than the Clinton campaign.

SCHULTZ: What was amazing, and I had some people who was first-time convention - who asked me about, you know, how does this compare, who are - this was their first convention. What was amazing about this one - I've been some good conventions, Obama's in '08 and the two that I planned, those were pretty good.

SIDNER: You say so yourself.

SCHULTZ: Yes, right. Exactly.

But this one, yes.

[08:45:01]

The delegates, the party is supportive of Kamala Harris, and she showed why she earned that support. But we are focused and unified around making sure that we can stop the extreme MAGA Republicans who, you know, care about taking care of the wealthiest, most fortunate Americans and corporations, that they want to be all up in our business and have the government and politicians tell us what to do with our bodies, interfere with our freedom. In my home state, I highlighted what's going on. DeSantis and the MAGA extremists are banning books and not letting - not letting LGBTQ people, you know, don't say gay and so many other things.

We came, in this convention, unified to advance that agenda forward, to make sure that we can continue the progress and stop the MAGA extremism. And we'll be able to remain unified if it's not just about the candidate and also about the agenda.

SIDNER: OK, I just have to mention one last thing. I know. I'm so sorry. Our EP is telling me to wrap, which happens every single day. What's the nails? Was that a brat summer thing or what's going on? Because that should be orange and blue. I'm just -

SCHULTZ: I know. I wore green on the stage the other night in my remarks and of course I had to rock some blue.

SIDNER: I got it. All right.

Thank you, Debbie Wasserman Schultz. Appreciate it.

SCHULTZ: Go Gators.

SIDNER: Go Gators.

Kate.

BOLDUAN: New details this morning on a series of missteps leading up to the assassination attempt on Donald Trump. Forgotten radios and what that might have had to do with it.

But first, this week on "THE WHOLE STORY WITH ANDERSON COOPER," a visit to Grand Teton National Park turns into a nightmare. The harrowing story of one man's encounter with a grizzly bear. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SHAYNE PATRICK BURKE, SURVIVED BEAR ATTACK: She started biting my left leg a bunch, and then she bit my right leg. She was - she picked me up. I'm almost certain that she bit deep enough that she actually scratched my femur.

ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: She made it - made it to the bone?

BURKE: Yes. I let out a pretty big screen. And at that point she - she has me in the air, my legs in the air, and she just drops me like a cat. And then just steps on my back. And then just goes to bite me.

LAVANDERA: Shayne says the grisly had him pinned, and moved to bite him on the back of his neck.

BURKE: That's how they kill their prey is usually biting behind the head and severing the spine. My hands are still like this. So, she chomped both of those at the same time, and she also bit into the bear canister.

LAVANDERA: Which was still in your hand.

BURKE: Which was still in my hand by the power of the universe. And -

LAVANDERA: The bear bites through it right here.

BURKE: Uh-huh.

LAVANDERA: And that's when you hear that pop.

BURKE: Yes.

LAVANDERA: Which must have been terrifying.

BURKE: My initial thought was, she just spit through your skull and you're definitely going to die.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: Geez.

This episode of "THE WHOLE STORY WITH ANDERSON COOPER" airs Sunday at 8:00 p.m. Eastern right here on CNN.

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[08:52:10]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

D.L. HUGHLEY, COMEDIAN: Trump is saying that Kamala isn't black. I guarantee you this, Kamala's been black a lot longer than Trump's been a Republican.

(END VIDEO CLIP) BERMAN: That was comedian D.L. Hughley right there.

SIDNER: Ow.

BERMAN: Just one of the people speaking before the convention over the course of this week. One young man got to be here for all of it. That is 18-year-old William Mendoza-Euceda from Tennessee, one of the youngest delegates at the convention.

And just like all the youth across America, you are an avid C-SPAN watcher.

WILLIAM MENDOZA-EUCEDA, TENNESSEE'S YOUNGEST DNC DELEGATE: Yes, I love C-SPAN. I love it.

SIDNER: It's amazing. I didn't know a lot of people - I know we do - that watch C-SPAN.

MENDOZA-EUCEDA: Yes.

SIDNER: What did you think? This is your first convention.

MENDOZA-EUCEDA: Yes.

SIDNER: And you're not just one of the youngest. You're the youngest Latino on the floor last night, right?

MENDOZA-EUCEDA: Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes.

SIDNER: What was the experience like for you?

MENDOZA-EUCEDA: It's been great. It's been amazing being there. Like I said, I've watched C-SPAN, so I see a lot of the speakers through - through a camera. And being able to be here and seeing them in - in live, is super amazing. And it's a great experience and it's - it's just a whole different vibe when you see them in person.

BERMAN: What are young people saying today that they weren't saying five weeks ago?

MENDOZA-EUCEDA: Yes. I think a lot of - are excited. I know a lot of young folks that - that are friends of mine that are now registering to vote just because of her. There's people that are excited. She's connecting again with the young voters. And a lot of people love her because I think she's very collectible with young voters.

So, they're excited. They're excited about her. They're excited about all the TikTok's, especially the Kamala headquarters is on-point and is amazing, and gen z truly does love that. So they're connecting. They're connecting and they're really - they really love that.

SIDNER: I would like you to compare and contrast. You said that she's connecting. There was also Joe Biden, who was on TikTok and they did different things. Compare and contrast the two. What - why did Kamala Harris really find her place on social media, which is where young people are these days. MENDOZA-EUCEDA: Yes. I think a lot of it is because of just content creators in general. They just really love her. Especially like the whole, did you fell out of a coconut tree. People just love that. And that she - she has saying that people love. And I think that's one of the main contrasts, that she has says that maybe she did a minute as a joke, but like people take it and it's - and they love it. And in contrast to President Biden, he really didn't have a lot of those sayings like Kamala Harris does. So, I think those are the main things that are connecting people, those small little phrases that - that just go on and on and on.

BERMAN: You know, it's interesting, you're giving a lot of credit to the Harris campaign. You're - I have found that one of the least young and hip things you can do as you approach middle age is try to be young and hip, right? It's like - it just doesn't work at all.

SIDNER: The fact that you're using young and hip, no one uses hip anymore, John. I'm just saying.

BERMAN: It's - you know what, it's groovy.

SIDNER: Oh, gosh.

BERMAN: It's really groovy.

SIDNER: OK, '70s.

MENDOZA-EUCEDA: Oh. Oh. No, maybe not. Maybe not.

BERMAN: I get it. I get it, right?

No, but you do think they get it?

[08:55:00]

You think this is a gen - is it coming from them or is it coming from top down from the Harris campaign or the ground-up?

MENDOZA-EUCEDA: I think it's from ground up. I think when she announced that she was going to run, there is a lot - I was watching TikTok and after an after it was the coconut tree, the coconut tree, the coconut tree.

SIDNER: People were dancing to it.

MENDOZA-EUCEDA: Yes, people were dancing.

SIDNER: Like (INAUDIBLE).

MENDOZA-EUCEDA: They made - they made so many different songs about it. People were just making random videos about it. So, I think it's a bottom up. And I think Harris is doing a good job of doing it from top to bottom also and getting the middle part.

So, yes, I think people are excited. You know, the TikToks are there and they're - they're funny. They're amazing. And they're just great. SIDNER: It really makes me feel old that TikTok is like the thing we're all talking about. Like, what, five years ago I wasn't talking about - I didn't even know what TikTok was.

BERMAN: Well, you know what's cool, but worldwide web. I like love the worldwide web. It's really groovy.

SIDNER: The interwebs. That's where John is.

BERMAN: How do you get to be a delegate?

MENDOZA-EUCEDA: So, I became a delegate to - I'm an at large delegate, so my executors (Ph) committee in Tennessee voted for me to be a delegate here. So, yes, it's been an amazing opportunity.

SIDNER: Why did they - why did you - why did they do that? I mean you are obviously really engaged. And young people get, I'll just say, a bad rap when it comes to being engaged in politics. But the numbers often show that they aren't - they don't vote like some of us old head do.

MENDOZA-EUCEDA: Yes. Yes.

SIDNER: What is it about you?

MENDOZA-EUCEDA: Yes.

SIDNER: What is it about politics that has you so engaged?

MENDOZA-EUCEDA: Yes. Well, you know, I started working in politics when I was 15. So, you know, I'm a pastor's son. I'm a son of a pastor. And, you know, being in a house where their focus is in helping people and working for people, you know, I've seen my parents help people who don't have a house or - and giving them space. And, you know, being in that environment truly wanted me to help people.

And I think my - my track record of working in different political campaigns at such a young age truly shows who I am. And I think people are excited about that. People saw that and they decided that I was one of the best choices to be a delegate.

SIDNER: All right. So, let's put it here.

MENDOZA-EUCEDA: Yes.

SIDNER: Y'all can still (INAUDIBLE). William Mendoza-Euceda, thank you so much for being here.

MENDOZA-EUCEDA: Yes. Well, thank you. Thank you.

SIDNER: And showing up for the youth vote.

MENDOZA-EUCEDA: Yes. Yes.

SIDNER: Interesting.

MENDOZA-EUCEDA: Yes. Yes.

SIDNER: We appreciate you.

MENDOZA-EUCEDA: Thank you.

SIDNER: Kate.

BOLDUAN: Thanks, guys.

A tactical team of local police officers set aside radios for the Secret Service in the lead up to the Trump rally that ended in an assassination on - assassination attempt on Trump. Those radios, never picked up. This is one - this is part of the new reporting coming out in the - on the investigation into the security failures that led to one rallygoer being shot and dying.

CNN's Zach Cohen has these details. He's back with us.

Zach, radios left behind. What could that have to do with it all?

ZACHARY COHEN, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY REPORTER: Yes, Kate, a local official is telling us that if Secret Service had picked up these radios, they likely would have heard a warning that went out three minutes before the shooter opened fire in Donald Trump's direction. And that warning was about a man on the roof.

And that's been a prevailing question over the last month as various investigative bodies have been trying to determine how the shooter managed to get a clear line of sight at Donald Trump on July 13th at his rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. And look, these radios were intended to establish a direct line of communication, or at least inform Secret Service about what local police officers on the ground were discussing in real time. It appears, according to the Butler County district attorney, that those radios were never picked up by Secret Service, which really underscores more broadly this disjointed communication structure that sources are describing to us that - in that Secret Service has used not just leading up to the Butler, PA, rally, but for years now. They actually do not ever have any sort of direct communication with local officers on the ground. Sources saying that instead they rely on a really disjointed, almost game of telephone between a series of liaison and command structures to pass messages back-and-forth. That really being a core problem. And how critical information was lost on July 13th as this crisis folded.

And look, the Department of Homeland Security is looking into all of the security failures around the July 13th rally and the assassination attempt on Donald Trump. And explicitly looking at the communication breakdowns that day. I'm sure that they are going to think very hard about implementing some of the tools they haven't implemented yet, and also trying to revisit this idea of how local police officers interact with the Secret Service at these large security events.

BOLDUAN: Yes, for sure. What is the Secret saying about this?

COHEN: Yes, the service says that it's going to look specifically into this issue of the radios that were not picked up apparently by their agents on the ground. But they're also revisiting the entire security plan for Donald Trump and other details that includes how the communication between local officers on the ground and the Secret Service works on a day of bases and also how the planning is carried out, both in the leadup to big events, but also just regular, routine exercises that have been lost since the Covid-19 pandemic.

They're also doing other things to really increase Donald Trump's security presence. They've added agents to his detail. They've added ballistic glass around him when he speaks at outdoor rallies. And they've also added their own mobile communications apparatus, which is really designed to amplify the cell networks so they can communicate more effectively in rural areas like Butler, Pennsylvania.

[08:59:58]

BOLDUAN: Great to see you, Zach. Thank you for the reporting.

A new hour of CNN NEWS CENTRAL starts now.