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Presidential Campaigns for Kamala Harris and Donald Trump Negotiating Over Rules for Planned Upcoming Debate; Harris Campaign Promising Kamala Harris Will Give Sit-Down Interview Before End of August. Israel and Hezbollah Exchange Attacks in Major Escalation; General McMaster Writes Blistering Account of Trump White House; Interview with Rep. Jake Auchincloss (D-MA). Aired 8-8:30a ET.

Aired August 26, 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]

JACQUELINE HOWARD, CNN HEALTH REPORTER: -- it's not as common as West Nile virus. An estimated 11 human cases are reported each year in the U.S. And it doesn't always cause symptoms. But when symptoms do develop, the include fever, headache, body aches, but also neurologic disease. In some cases, you can develop inflammation of the brain, which is why this is concerning.

But Sara, when it comes to West Nile virus, EEE, these are all good reminders for us to do the best we can to avoid mosquito bites. That's how these mosquito-borne diseases are spread. So wear repellent when outdoors. Wear loose-fitting clothing. Make sure you have your window screens in place so mosquitos don't come inside. And of course, if you have a mosquito bite and you develop symptoms a few days later, talk to your doctor. You definitely want to pay close attention to this around this time of year, Sara.

SARA SIDNER, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: I don't mind bugs, but I hate mosquitoes, really, truly.

HOWARD: Me, too.

SIDNER: This makes me hate them even more. Jacqueline Howard, thank you so much. Appreciate it.

A new hour of CNN NEWS CENTRAL starts right now.

OMAR JIMENEZ, CNN ANCHOR: The sprint toward Election Day is on. Both candidates planning a battleground blitz this week as the Trump campaign is promising a campaign on steroids.

Also this morning, new presidential debate drama brewing ahead of the September showdown.

Also, flash flooding turned deadly inside Grand Canyon National Park. Hikers forced across rivers and formed human chains to get to safety.

And new this hour, get ready for a hectic holiday at the airports and on the roads across country. I don't know if you've heard that before, but it happens. Millions expected to travel this Labor Day weekend. I'm Omar Jimenez with Sara Sidner. Kate and John are out today. This is CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

All right, everyone, let the debates about the debate begin, at least for the rules. With just over two weeks until their critical face-to- face showdown, it now seems former president Trump and Vice President Harris's campaign this morning have reached a brand new stalemate of sorts over exactly how the debate well go down. Trump going on a brand new social media tear as Kamala Harris's team is now making the case for debate microphones to stay on the whole time.

Lucky for us, we've got CNN's Alayna Treene and Priscilla Alvarez, who have the new reporting on what each side is saying. All right, Alayna, I want to go to you first. What is the latest from team Trump right?

ALAYNA TREENE, CNN POLITICAL REPORTER: Right. Well, you're exactly right, Omar, because it does seem like the Trump campaign and the Harris campaign have reached somewhat of an impasse as it relates to the debate rules for that ABC debate on September 10th. Part of that is about the microphones being muted. Remember, back in June for that June 27th CNN debate between Trump and Biden, there were a whole host of different rules that they had agreed to, including having the microphones be turned off when one and of the candidates was not speaking.

The Trump campaign, we're told, still wants that rule to be in place. However, the Harris campaign is now saying this is a new candidate. We are different campaign, and we want the mics to be on for the extent of the debate. So there's some behind the scenes back and forth over this.

I do want to read for you what we heard from Jason Miller. He's a senior Trump campaign advisor on all of this. He said, quote, "Enough with the games. We accepted the ABC debate under the exact same terms as the CNN debate. The Harris camp, after having already agreed to the CNN rules, asked for a seated debate with notes and opening statements." Of course, we'll have Priscilla fact check some of that. And then he added, "We said no changes to the agreed upon rules."

Now, all of this also comes, I'd like to note, as the former president himself kind of posted on social media yesterday, throwing doubt into whether or not he may actually try to pull out of this debate. He wrote, quote, "Why would I do the debate against Kamala Harris on that network?" He said that as he continued to -- he said he was watching the Sunday show yesterday on ABC, with slamming some of the key people at the network. So all of this kind of throwing questions into what exactly is this ABC debate going to look like?

But I do just want to add, Omar, that this isn't entirely surprising. We know that the Trump campaign has been very critical of the debate rules in the past. We saw that in the leadup to the CNN debate. We're also seeing the former president himself do exactly the same thing as last time as well, which is trying to throw doubt on whether the debate will be fair, to argue that the network is biased, to argue that the cards are stacked against them. This is exactly what we're seeing him do with this debate as well, trying to pre-but whatever is going to happen.

And I can tell you from my conversations with Donald Trump's senior advisers, they privately acknowledge that they are more concerned about this debate than they were about the one with Biden. Harris is an entirely different opponent. They're not exactly sure what this is going to look like. So some of that is also, I think, contributing to all of this behind the scenes.

[08:05:06]

JIMENEZ: Yes. Look, a lot to keep an eye on that front.

I want to bring in Priscilla into this, because obviously a whole aspect of this is what is the Harris campaign saying? It takes two to tango here. So are they saying? What are their concerns with this debate coming up?

PRISCILLA ALVAREZ, CNN REPORTER: Omar, I'm told that the only remaining dispute in this drama, this back-and-forth, is whether the mics are going to be on. The Harris campaign wants them to be on. Of course, the debate rules when they were set with a different candidate, that was President Joe Biden. Now, the Harris campaign says that they want these mics to be on. And in a statement, a senior campaign officials saying the following, quote, "Our understanding is that Trump's handlers prefer the muted microphone because they don't think their candidate can act presidential for 90 minutes on his own." The statement goes on to say that they don't think he can handle himself against Vice President Harris without the benefit of a mute button.

So they are needling former President Donald Trump a little bit here, but they also are pushing back against some of what you heard there from the Trump campaign, that the kit that the Harris campaign wanted the two candidates to be seated and for there to be notes. They say that is not the case. And while they are open to having opening statements, that is not something that they are insisting on. Again, the bottom line here is that this feud is about the mics being on or off over the course of the debate.

Now I will also note that the next couple of weeks, I've been told, are very focused on debate preparations. This is something that the vice president already started earlier this month and something that she is going to be doubling down on in the days to come, of course, recognizing that this is likely a large audience to tune in for this debate. And it gives her the opportunity to go toe-to-toe against former president Donald Trump.

And while she does do that, there will be trouble, perhaps on as much as earlier this month. This week, for example, she will go to Georgia with her vice president presidential nominee Tim Walz. That is a state, of course, that President Biden only won by less than 12,000 votes. So it is going to be one of the battlegrounds that is closely watched this election cycle and one that they are using to kick off after the Democratic National Convention, Omar.

JIMENEZ: And Priscilla, obviously, one major question that has been circulating over the course of the quick launch of her campaign, now post-DNC, is prior to this debate, will she sit down for an interview and answer some questions over potentially some of her changed past positions. Do we know the latest on that front at all, if there are any plans on the books, even?

ALVAREZ: They have not yet provided any details on when exactly that will happen. But as you note, the messaging from the campaign was that there would be an interview before the end of the month. Of course, the month ends this week, and we still don't yet have any clarity on when or if she will be doing that sit-down interview. But certainly that is an observation that many have made, because a lot of the campaign over the last month has been very choreographed with these stops, these rallies, the Democratic National Convention. So while she has spoken to press over the course of those rallies and gaggles, often as rallies end, she has not yet done that formal sit-down interview, which would be less choreographed simply because it is an interview, so you would have the journalist asking the questions there.

So we're still waiting to see if we get more details on that. But certainly, the timeline that was provided earlier this month is coming now to a close.

JIMENEZ: And a lot to keep an eye on, especially as both of these camps end up heating up their campaign blitz, I guess, it's fair to say. Priscilla Alvarez, Alayna Treene, thanks to you both. Sara?

SIDNER: Thank you, Omar.

To continue the conversation, with us now, political anchor for "Spectrum News" and host of "The Big Deal with Errol Louis," Errol Louis himself. I do want to talk about the debate. Is the debate going to happen? You've got these small things back-and-forth, but ultimately, do you see both of them doing, whatever the rules are, doing it?

ERROL LOUIS, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: I'm pretty sure they're going to have a debate. Donald Trump needs it because he's kind of falling behind in the polls, and Kamala Harris would love to have it. It's a great big, open platform.

I think the issue, by the way, is not so much over, or the most important issue is not so much whether or not the mics will be on, but whether or not there's going to be fact-checking by the moderators. Under the CNN rules, as we all saw, Donald Trump could just kind of make up all kinds of different things, and then it puts his adversary in a very difficult position. You either have to refute the lies that this man is telling, and then you kind of lose because the ability to make your own points, or you just let those lies stand. And it didn't work out at all for Joe Biden.

SIDNER: It did not. And I think CNN was fact-checking online, not -- sort of leaving it up to the candidate to fact check, but as you said, maybe put one of the candidates on the backfoot if there are a lot of lives being told.

I do want to ask you about Kamala Harris and her plans for an interview.

[08:10:01]

Of course, the media. I mean, she can come on this show any day, just note, but, of course, we in the media would like to sit down with her and interview her and talk to her about policy and what her detailed plans are and ask about some of the things that she said in the past that seemed to have changed. But does it work for her? Because right now the polling is sort of showing people don't know exactly where she stands on everything. But she's still up.

LOUIS: Yes, she's raising money. She's getting endorsements. She's ahead in the polls. No particular need to change anything.

And by the way. I mean, there's plenty to work with right now. The dirty little secret of all of this, we should share with your viewers, Sara, is that the big sit-down interview really is a way to signal to the rest of the press, a lot of the regional and local press, what are the issues? What has she said? And so forth. On the first night of the Democratic National Convention, let's remind everybody, a 92-page platform was passed by the convention. It commits to all kinds of different things in the area of environment and labor and a public option for health care and so forth. She's now officially committed to those. People could go out and start working on that right now. They don't have to wait for the big interview. There's plenty to work with right now.

SIDNER: Let's talk about Donald Trump. Donald Trump's advisers saying that the campaign is going to be Trump on steroids. What do you think that means? Because some people think he's already been on steroids with the with the way in which he has conducted himself at some of these rallies.

LOUIS: Well, it's an interesting kind of tell, because it seems to be, they seem to be suggesting that as the oldest person ever to run for this office at 78-years-old as a major party candidate, who has kept a pretty slow schedule, played a lot of golf, but not so much in the way of campaigning, he's really going to have to ramp it up. So I don't know if it's on steroids. I think he's going to have to get into the game. If you look at what of the Harris-Walz team is about to do, the bus tour, the constant rallies. You remember that show of strength during the DNC when they had not one but two rallies at the same time. Even Donald Trump has never attempted that.

SIDNER: Yes, the two rallies were both, there were 15,000 people in the same place where the RNC was being held, definitely some shade thrown there, and the DNC at the same time, which is obviously completely filled. Really interesting to see them do that because they know that it annoys him. Crowd size are the big, big --

LOUIS: He's got to get his energy up. I mean, frankly, he's kind of been falling behind. They didn't anticipate this. They're still recovering from the shock of having basically pushed Joe Biden out of the race.

SIDNER: And I think he's actually said that he kind of regrets it in some ways.

Errol Louis, thank you. It's so great to have you on the show this morning.

LOUIS: Thanks, Sara.

SIDNER: Omar?

JIMENEZ: All right, this morning, Hezbollah says even more strikes are possible after launching a barrage of drones and rockets at Israel this weekend. We're going to tell what this all means for the ongoing ceasefire talks.

And tragedy on a high school football field. A family and community are mourning the loss of a star quarterback. We'll tell you what happened.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:17:29]

SIDNER: This morning it appears Israel and Lebanon have avoided a huge escalation in their conflict to a wider war for now.

But over the weekend, things got tense as both sides launched rockets at one another. Hezbollah claiming it was able to fire 320 rockets and drones at Israel, despite the majority being intercepted while Israel says it carried out pre-emptive strikes in Lebanon.

All of this while a Gaza ceasefire and hostage deal is hanging in the balance.

CNN international diplomatic editor, Nic Robertson live in Tel Aviv with the very latest. What is the sense there on the Israeli side as to what is going to happen next when it comes to Iran and when it comes to Hezbollah?

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, there certainly is the perception that Iran still intends to strike Israel at some point. The messaging clearly from Hezbollah's attempt to strike them over the weekend is that the strike was a failure. That's the Israel's position, saying that Hezbollah didn't reach any of the military times targets either in the north or in the center of Israel that they claim to have reached.

Both sides, have sort of taken a pause for assessment, but both sides -- Hezbollah is claiming it as a victory on their side. Israel certainly claiming it as such, on both sides saying that there's an opportunity to escalate again and there are lower level strikes going on today.

Israel has hit a Hamas commander in Southern Lebanon today, that appeared to be the target.

So, the ongoing tit-for-tat nature of what was happening before at the lower level still continues across the border. But in many ways from Israel's perspective, what appears to have happened over the weekend, similar to what happened and in April when Iran tried to launch that massive strike against Israel. Israel was able to defend itself adequately and very well, perhaps better than either perceived, even certainly better than Iran that may be perceived.

And the same seems to have happened over the weekend with Hezbollah. So from Hezbollah's perspective, to ratchet up again, they would have to catch Israel by surprise to stop a pre-emptive strike and they would have to know that they could be more successful. Otherwise, it's going to be done damaging for them.

So, I think again, it's tense, it's ongoing, in many ways was sort of back to where we were a week ago with the expectation, escalations are possible, but at the moment, sort of in a period of calm from what happened at the weekend.

[08:20:09]

SIDNER: All right Nic Robertson, thank you so much.

This off course all happening amid ceasefire negotiations that are very, very complex. Appreciate your time and your crew there in Tel Aviv for us.

All right, ahead, people crossed rivers and formed human chains to try to escape the deadly flooding at the Grand Canyon.

And, Donald Trump is facing new criticism from his former National Security adviser, wait until you hear the words he used to describe Donald Trump.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SIDNER: Moments from now were expecting former President Donald Trump will arrive at Arlington National Cemetery to mark three years since the deadly bombing at the Kabul, Afghanistan airport.

[08:25:07]

It is a chance for him to do two things. One: honor the 13 service members killed in the terror attack. And two: Try to tie his opponent, Kamala Harris to the chaotic Afghanistan withdrawal.

Joining us now is Democratic Congressman from Massachusetts, Jake Auchincloss. He is also a former Marine who served in Afghanistan.

Smart move by Donald Trump, do you think? He's there commemorating this day, recognizing those who died and try to pin all this on Kamala Harris, who was a part of the Biden administration when this deadly withdrawal occurred in Afghanistan?

REP. JAKE AUCHINCLOSS (D-MA): Donald Trump has always viewed veterans and service members as props, not as patriots. And I think somebody should ask him while he's there at the cemetery whether he thinks those honored dead are losers and suckers as well.

SIDNER: You heard, you are using his words against him, where he talked about -- when he was talking about the Medal of Freedom.

Let me ask you about his next move. He is going to speak at the National Guard Conference, Kamala Harris has also been invited. I don't think she is going. Should she go?

AUCHINCLOSS: I'll defer to the Harris campaign on her schedule. I'm focused on actions, not on words. What we have seen with Donald Trump over his political career is consistent actions to denigrate veterans.

He has attacked Gold Star families. He has resisted the idea of wounded veterans walking in parades with him.

He has stood against everything veterans have fought for by engaging in sycophancy with autocrats like Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong-un. He has threatened to cut veterans' benefits. This is not an individual who can be trusted as commander-in-chief.

And don't just take my word for it, listen to all the former flag officers who served in the first Trump administration who have issued collective warnings that he cannot be trusted to protect American National Security.

Most recently, of course, General McMaster, who's come out with a scathing and timely reminder of the dangers of a second Trump administration

SIDNER: I do want to get to that because Lieutenant General McMaster did write a book and he's been doing some interviews in this blistering and quite insightful account of what he experienced in the White House.

He describes meetings in the Oval Office as exercises in competitive sycophancy during which Trump's advisers would flatter the president by saying things like, your instincts are always right, no one has ever been treated so badly by the press than you.

Meanwhile, Donald Trump would say, according to McMaster outlandish things like, why don't we just bomb the drugs in Mexico, or why don't we take out the whole North Korean Army during one of their parades?

When you look at the words coming out of -- he was in the administration, he was privy to these conversations. How do you think it is possible that there are so many people in the public still want Donald Trump to be their president?

AUCHINCLOSS: Well, a reminder that every time Donald Trump has been on the ballot, either expressly or implicitly, '16, '18, 2022, Americans as a country have rejected him, including in 2016 with a majority vote on the popular standard went against him.

So, he is not a popular individual and the reason he's not a popular individual is that Americans deep in their bones, understand that he puts himself before his country and those competitive sycophancy conversations that you allude to, we know what that is.

It's the same conversations happening in Venezuela, and Russia, and China. It's what dictators do to embed themselves in the organs of state.

And I think the critical reminder from General McMaster is that that a second Trump administration would be even more dangerous than the first and here's why, during the first Trump administration, there were two groups of advisers. There were the sycophants, as you said, but then there were also individuals who put country and Constitution before the president's personal interests and told them what he didn't want to hear.

In a second administration, those individuals will not be there. He is going to embed his own courtiers at the White House, at the Department of Justice, in the military, in the Social Security Administration, and the entire apparatus of the federal government will become a fiefdom for Donald Trump.

SIDNER: I do want to ask you about this attack from someone who was in the military, JD Vance, who served and he -- one of the first things he did was attack Tim Walz's service, 24 years in the National Guard.

Is this a fair argument for him to make that Walz, who he said abandoned his troops when they were sent eventually to Iraq?

AUCHINCLOSS: No, it's not. It's a desperate, despicable, swift voting of Tim Walz's honorable 24 years of service. He deployed multiple times in disaster zones, made a decision to retire well before his battalion got notice of deployment to Iraq, wrestled with that decision and decided he could do more good for veterans in Congress, which he then did.

He became the ranking Democrat on the Veterans Affairs Committee and helped expand access to the GI Bill. Tim Walz has a proud track record of service.

All JD Vance knows how to do is insult and attack and that's really just a playbook for Republicans. He's attacked women, he's attacked the police. Now, he's attacking a veteran.

He has no positive vision to campaign on. And I think Americans are just getting sick of this belly aching and lamenting about the past. And they're seeing the contrast with Kamala Harris talking about the future.

[08:30:34]