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Hiker's Body Found in Grand Canyon; A High School Quarterback Dies from Injury; Black Men Speak About Harris; Frank Luntz is Interviewed about Voters; Prediction for Labor Day Weekend Travel. Aired 8:30-9a ET

Aired August 26, 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]

REP. JAKE AUCHINCLOSS (D-MA): 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 J.D. Vance knows how to do is insulting 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 bellyaching and lamenting about the past. And they're seeing the contrast with Kamala Harris talking about the future.

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: I do want to ask you, just as a veteran of the Afghanistan War, what you did make of the withdrawal and how that went, because it was deadly for Americans, it was deadly for Afghans as well.

AUCHINCLOSS: It was. It was also the right decision to make, to leave Afghanistan. Joe Biden had the moral courage to make a decision that previous presidents had refused to make because of some cost bias and group think. That war had no political end game. And the first thing a Marine officer learns is that all war is an extension of politics by other means. The national government and Kabul had no agenda and no capacity to build a nation. And so Americans were left help - holding the bag. And we saw that when the Afghan president fled the country within the first 24 hours.

Ultimately, I don't think there is a single, serious national security adviser out there who would look at the situation today and say, boy, I wish we had 50,000 or 100,000 Americans engaged in war in Central Asia right now. That would really be critical. With all we have in the Middle East and Ukraine and the South China Sea. Joe Biden understood the strategic imperative of for the United States to disengage from Central Asia and to engage with strategic priorities elsewhere.

SIDNER: All right, Congressman Jake Auchincloss, thank you so much for coming on this morning. Appreciate your time.

AUCHINCLOSS: Good morning. SIDNER: Omar.

OMAR JIMENEZ, CNN ANCHOR: All right, coming up for us, new details this morning about the heartbreaking death of a high school football player after being injured in the school's season than opener.

And families in Alaska now forced to evacuate after a deadly landslide plowed through homes and neighborhoods.

Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:37:14]

SIDNER: The body of a hiker who disappeared during a flash flood near the Grand Canyon National Park was finally found on Sunday. The 33- year-old woman was last seen Thursday afternoon when heavy rain triggered flash flooding near Havasu Creek. The floods caused chaos in the Grand Canyon and prompted the National Guard to use a Black Hawk helicopter to evacuate more than 100 tourists and tribal members.

CNN's Camila Bernal is following the story for us.

What do we know about this young woman? And these floods are just vicious.

CAMILA BERNAL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Sara, such a heartbreaking update for this family that was holding on to hope. Like you said, it was actually a group of tourists, a group that was out on the river that found the body of 33-year-old Chenoa Nickerson. And authorities saying that this is now an investigation in the hands of the park service and the medical examiner's office.

So, yes, she was out on Thursday with her husband. And authorities saying that she did not have a life jacket. And at some point, as she was hiking, she got separated from her husband. He was rescued and he is safe. But, unfortunately, they could not find her until yesterday.

And authorities saying that they actually had to rescue 104 people. That included some of the hikers and also tribal members. You know, some of the people that were out there hiking and that shared their experience and their videos, saying that they had essentially been yelled at to get to higher ground. They had to run up in a matter of minutes. They got into groups. They formed human chains. They did everything they could to get to that higher ground and avoid these flash floods.

It was a monsoon that then triggered the flash flooding and change the scenario very, very quickly. It was chaotic. The governor of Arizona, Katie Hobbs, actually had to activate the National Guard. And they used these Black Hawk helicopters to get people out of the Grand Canyon.

Take a listen to what a guard's member had to say and how they describe this situation. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAJOR ERIN HANNIGAN, DIRECTOR OF COMMUNICATIONS, ARIZONA NATIONAL GUARD: UH-60 Black Hawk has the ability to - to move out people quickly. We can seat about 11 people in the aircraft, not including the crew members. So, the nice thing about being able to provide that support was being able to start moving people rapidly.

It was surprising when I got down there and - to see that cheers that came from the people who were getting picked up.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERNAL: So, you hear it there, it was that relief to be getting picked up, to be getting rescued because it was just so scary for a lot of these people that were out there. The area was shut down to tourists and there was a tribal village that was also shut down. A village that was about eight miles below the rim of the canyon.

[08:40:04]

So, authorities just really trying to figure out how to get people back in that area safely. And a lot of the tourists saying they learned the lesson and they're not going back during monsoon season.

Sara.

SIDNER: It's terrifying. It goes from completely dry and cracked and you would never expect this to a flash flood that comes so quickly. I'm so sorry to hear there is loss of life.

Camila Bernal, thank you so much. Appreciate it.

Omar.

BERMAN: Thank you.

JIMENEZ: Well, Sara, we're also following a devastating story out of Alabama this morning. A Morgan Academy High School quarterback has died from a brain injury sustained Friday night in his team's season opening game. Sixteen-year-old Caden Tellier was taken to the hospital in critical condition after suffering a hit to the head. Now, his parents announced his death the next day. School officials have suspended all school activities this week, and his family says a service for him will be scheduled soon.

I want to bring in CNN's Gloria Pazmino, who's been following this for us.

So, how is the school and the family reacting this morning?

GLORIA PAZMINO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Omar, you know, a really sad update and turn of events. This is clearly a young man who loved football, who spent most of his childhood and his time playing the sport. His parents have issued a statement. The school is trying to put together resources to offer support to the students and the larger community. A really, really tragic day in Selma.

As you said, he was playing during the school's home opener game on Friday. And it was during that game that Caden Tellier suffered a head injury. He was transported from the game to a hospital in critical condition, but he died from his injuries the following day.

What we are actually looking at right now, those photos that you have up on screen, are actually images of his last game. The photographer captured them during the game and posted them not realizing that he had captured Caden's last moments.

Now, we've heard from his parents, Arsella and Jamie Tellier. They issued a statement saying in part that "everyone who knew Caden knew his kindness, his generosity and love and true to his nature, he is giving of himself one more time. Lives have been touched by the way he lived and now lives will be saved through his passing."

Now, Omar, that statement is making reference to the fact that Caden was an organ donor. And his parents are talking about the fact that despite the tragic way in which he has died and his short time here on earth, he is still helping and servicing other people who will be able to benefit from his organ donation.

School activities for this week so far have been suspended. And as I said, Morgan Academy trying to come together to marshal support and resources, not just for the student body, but also for this family, which is now in the process of planning services and a memorial for their son.

Omar.

JIMENEZ: And it's remarkable even how sudden this happened, that the family has an opportunity to find optimism in some way that his death could help save others.

PAZMINO: Yes.

JIMENEZ: It's unbelievable.

Gloria Pazmino, really appreciate the reporting.

All right, we're following other news. Debate drama included on the political front with new doubts that the showdown between Donald Trump and Kamala Harris will stay on the schedule.

And, will your end of summer trip hit a snag because of too many fellow travelers? I know you've heard that story before, but we're going to bring you the new outlook of potential traffic troubles.

Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:48:21]

SIDNER: The battle for the presidency kicking into overdrive. Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump laser focused now on the battleground states. Harris is making Georgia a priority this week, riding the wave of a convention that got Democrats fired up.

CNN's Victor Blackwell spoke to some black men about what they took away from Harris' historic convention speech and what issues they want to see her tackle next.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN ANCHOR: Do you believe the polls that show that black men in a substantial way are shifting to former President Trump?

ANTHONY WILSON, VOTER: I was in the barbershop today, right, and there's - there's this real kind of resolve that a lot of folks who are younger and millennials are having, which is, hey, I make a little bit of money. I want to keep my money, right. And the country has never really worked for a black man, so what do I have to lose?

And so black men are beginning to - to vote with their pocketbooks. And I think that that's a - that's misguided. But I think with - I think that the Democratic Party has failed to demonstrate what it has to offer the black man specifically.

HAKEEM WEBB, VOTER: I don't want a black man's policy. I don't want a black man's policy. I want a policy that's going to be applied across the board. And since I'm black, I can benefit from it and understand capitalism and understand how to navigate. I think we're never going to get a black man's policy.

BLACKWELL: What is the relevance of - of sex here? Sexism is as pervasive in this country as racism is. Do you think it's going to hurt her with voters, men, black men specifically?

[08:50:03]

HENRY CASLIN, VOTER: You know, the black community, for us, we're used to women being in leadership. So, for us, I don't think it's going to be a big deal.

OMAR ALI, VOTER: I would say that I agree and disagree. I think it may be a problem because a lot of African American business, in particular black - black male business, feel a little threatened because there is a huge movement when it comes to black woman business.

And so, number one, we shouldn't let them divide us that particular way. But they're - the movement is so great for African American women. And we support them. And we want that.

And sometimes I think African American men can feel like they're outpacing us when we should be together at the exact same time.

CASLIN: I know what you're talking about.

BLACKWELL: How relevant is her support for a woman's right to make medical decisions about her body? ALI: It's the woman's body. So, she should be able to dictate her terms of her body.

CHARLES BARTHELEMY, VOTER: The Lord made life. Jesus Christ made life. And you have to value life. So, Kamala wants to take live.

WILSON: There's so much that we don't know as men that we can't - that we don't have the privilege to opine on. Like, we will never have a period. We will never go through childbirth. So, to even fix our mouths to comment on how - I don't care what God said, women have the right to govern their bodies. And it's time for men to shut our mouths.

BLACKWELL: Immigration has been an attack line from Republicans against the vice president. She talked about it in the speech.

KAMALA HARRIS, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE U.S. (D) AND U.S. PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I know we can live up to our proud heritage as a nation of immigrants and reform our broken immigration system.

BARTHELEMY: We have millions of (INAUDIBLE) coming over here. And what are they doing? They're taking black men's jobs.

WEBB: They're not taking black people jobs or white people jobs. They're taking indigent jobs, low paying jobs, working in jobs that most people and most Americans do not want to take.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

JEMENEZ: All right, we're now just 70 days out from the November election. You just heard from several men sharing their thoughts on the race. But now that the conversations - now that the conventions, I should say, are behind us, how has the momentum shifted and what are other voters saying?

To discuss this, let's bring in Frank Luntz, pollster and communications strategist.

Thanks for being here.

Look, I know that one of your favorite questions to ask as a pollster is, what issue or concern keeps you up at night? You've done a few interesting focus groups over the last few weeks. Is there an answer from some of those folks on that front that has stood out to you the most?

FRANK LUNTZ, POLLSTER AND COMMUNICATIONS STRATEGIST: Yes, there is. And I just want to compliment you on that previous segment. If you really want to understand the black community, go to the black - particularly black men, go to the black barbershop and you're going to hear everything. Every opinion. And there's no holds-barred. There's no editing.

Nationwide, there is one issue that still Trumps every other, and that's affordability. I've said this on your show before. It's not inflation. Nobody understands the theory behind it. What they care about is the price of food and fuel, housing and healthcare. The second issue, and it's still trailing, is immigration, but it's broader than just what's happening at the border. It's a sense of safety, security, and whether we're in control of the people who are in our country.

For younger women, the top issue is abortion, just as your - your focus group showed. The idea for younger women that no one tells them what they must do is a big deal. And that's going to bring them to the polls and everything else.

So, security tips on - on taxes on tips. None of that matters. It's those three issues that are going to have the biggest impact on Election Day.

JIMENEZ: And I think, more broadly, one of the things that you're touching on here is just sort of the general outlook on either what the future of the country is going to hold, general outlook on safety, ability to put groceries on the table, food on the table, things like that.

And I know you recently moderator a focus group with 15 undecided young voters between ages of 18 and 27. And I want to get into more of the details of that in a moment. But one part that stood out to me was specifically the question of how optimistic or pessimistic are you about America from zero to ten. Only one of the 15 said anything above a six, four of the 15 were at a five, everyone else four and below. What were your impressions of why?

LUNTZ: Why is climate. Why is job availability. Why is the economy in general and how difficult it is to afford the first house, to afford to live or do what you want to do. The why is -varies. But I will tell you that it's not just among younger voters.

JIMENEZ: Yes.

LUNTZ: Nationwide, the percentage of people think the country's headed off on the wrong track is at modern time highs.

[08:55:03]

Even though the economy's relatively strong, even though that things are going relatively well compared to previous times, we have become a nation of pessimists. We no longer think the future is going to be better than the past. And let me give you one polling data point. By two to one Americans think their kids are going to have a worse quality of life than them. That's never happened in American history before. That's significant.

JIMENEZ: So, when you're looking at this race here, all right, we're on the other side of the conventions. We know who the nominees are at this point. We know that they're heading out to battleground states this week. Given what you have seen, how do you break into some of that pessimism? How do you change some of the minds and outlooks over what's ahead? Where do you start if you're these candidates?

LUNTZ: It's awesome. You're the first person to ask that. Number one, you acknowledge it. You acknowledged it. You empathize with people.

Number two, give them a detailed plan of action for what you're going to do in your opening days, weeks, months, and then years.

And, number three, you prove to them that you've had a track record of dealing with these problems in the past, which is why they should trust you to deal with them in the future.

Let me emphasize, neither candidate is doing this. Neither candidate is really capturing the zeitgeist that's going on right now. And it's completely open and it - they should be going after this because that's how they prove their own credibility, which obviously is important.

JIMENEZ: Yes.

Frank Luntz, your work is always interesting, but especially in these next few months it's going to be even more so. And I hope - I hope some of these campaigns are paying attention because you just laid out some great insight. Really appreciate the time.

LUNTZ: Thank you.

JIMENEZ: All right, Sara.

SIDNER: All right, thank you, Omar.

New this morning, if you plan on traveling this Labor Day weekend, you may need a backup plan. Sorry, guys. Millions of Americans are expected to hit the highways and airports as they head out to mark the unofficial end of summer.

CNN's Tom Foreman has more from Washington, D.C.

Just how busy is it going to get. And let me just tell you, right next to you we're seeing like someone lying on the floor at an airport. So, it doesn't give me good vibes.

TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, that person was tired. That's the difference (ph). No, there's - I don't think you need a backup plan. I don't know. You need a strategic plan is what you need.

Travel is going to be, according to AAA, up about 9 percent compared to last Labor Day. That's domestic travel in the United States. Partially because it's going to be about 2 percent cheaper. Gas prices are a little bit down, a little bit easier to get out there. Big, big targets out there are Seattle and up to Alaska. A lot of people doing that travel.

The thing is that if you pick the right times, it can be better, maybe better depending on where you are. The worst times seem to be Thursday afternoon from, you know, from like 2:00 to 6:00. And they say that on Friday afternoon, from 1:00 to 7:30 p.m. those are bad times to travel. That's when you're going to have the biggest part.

But that again is where you are, right? Are you in one of those travel battleground states or one - battleground places, right, where you know there's a lot of traffic around a lot of metro areas. On a normal weekend there's a lot of traffic. So, be smart about that. Be careful about that.

And if you're going to the airport, give yourself some extra time. TSA is expecting about 17 million screenings this coming weekend.

SIDNER: Oof.

FOREMAN: Seventeen million. Seventeen million times somebody saying, you got everything out of your pockets? That's going to happen 17 million times.

SIDNER: Do you have water.

FOREMAN: So, yes, it's a - it's a very big weekend. A lot of people trying to get in a last hurrah before they put away the white shoes and go back to school.

SIDNER: To be fair, sometimes I just want to lie on the floor here to rest because I am also tired.

FOREMAN: Yes, I know.

SIDNER: But that probably wouldn't be great for my career, you know what I mean?

FOREMAN: I do it. That's what offices are for.

SIDNER: I do want to ask you about this cyberattack that we're hearing about in the Port of Seattle and the Seattle Tacoma International Airport. What can you tell us about that?

FOREMAN: Well, it's kind of a mystery. It happened early Saturday morning. It knocked out a lot of the display screens for people seeing where their flights are. It seemed to have affected the baggage system. Some other computer systems.

It did not stop a lot of flights. There were a few flights that didn't go. It did make some lines longer. And at one point one of the airlines was suggesting, if you don't want to check bags, maybe you shouldn't, because we're having some baggage issues.

They still haven't sorted out exactly what this thing is. They think it's a cyberattack, but they haven't proven yet if so where it came from or what the goal was with it. But you know after we had that big CrowdStrike thing some weeks back, which wasn't an attack, it was just a software accident in effect or mistake, there's a lot of - a lot of ears perking up at this. People look around saying, what is - what is this? What happened in Seattle? And how do we get to the bottom of it? Especially with a big travel weekend coming up.

SIDNER: Especially that. Let us hope none of that happens that everyone gets to their destination with maybe a pillow.

FOREMAN: Absolutely. SIDNER: Tom Foreman, thank you so much.

FOREMAN: Happy holidays.

SIDNER: Always a pleasure.

Another hour of CNN NEWS CENTRAL starts right now.

[09:00:09]

JIMENEZ: All right, welcome, everyone. A