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Trump Team's Use Of Photography Leads To "Incident" At Arlington; New Effort In Arizona To Rally Mormon Voters For Harris; Bad Weather Scrubs Polaris Dawn Launch, Next Attempt Unclear. Aired 8:30-9a ET

Aired August 28, 2024 - 08:30   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: All right, new this morning, we're learning new details about an incident that turned physical when Donald Trump visited Arlington National Cemetery earlier this week. Former president is now suggesting the problem stem from his campaign's use of photography while he was in Section 60, which is the burial site for recent U.S. casualties. CNN's senior political analyst, Mark Preston, is with us now. What is known about what happened here, Mark?

[08:35:07]

MARK PRESTON, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, we're still getting some details, John, but we are seeing the campaign now play out in just about every corner of the nation. Just on Monday, 13 service members died three years ago. Donald Trump appeared at the ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery. These service members died during that really chaotic and awful withdrawal from with -- from Afghanistan.

Now what happened is that some of his campaign team showed up with cameras video equipment, and that is not allowed in Arlington National Cemetery. It is -- it is part of the rules of decorum in those cemeteries, there appeared to be some kind of altercation. Now we're still trying to find out the details of what exactly happened.

But the Trump campaign is pushing back, saying that -- that it was -- it -- it was inappropriate, basically what the cemetery officials did, John, by preventing them from doing so. And Donald Trump's campaign has also put out a statement from some of the families saying that they had asked Donald Trump to appear at this -- at this really solemn moment here that we saw on Monday.

So a -- a lot is still kind of in the gray area right now, and we're still waiting to hear more from Arlington National Cemetery. They said a report was filed. But still, it just goes to show you that we really can't escape this presidential campaign, John, no matter where we go.

BERMAN: And what you have right now is, you know, on one side, you've got a political operation, the Trump campaign arguing one thing. In Arlington National Cemetery, which is basically a bureaucratic organization putting out very bland statements of what they be -- what they consider to be fact, which is just to say, we don't allow photography in Section 60, correct?

PRESTON: Absolutely, absolutely. And -- and there's some very strong -- strong words as well from the Trump campaign. We saw in "The New York Times" that the Trump campaign said that the individual that stopped the filming, the -- the worker there seemed to have some kind of mental episode or -- or what have you. And they also said that they would release some of the footage.

Now they haven't released any of that footage yet, so we're waiting to see if that actually comes out. And we're also waiting to see what the full report says from Arlington National Cemetery, John.

BERMAN: All right, Mark, the Trump campaign has said they have agreed to the "ABC" debate and all of its terms. Does that mean it's happening? What is the Harris team saying about this?

PRESTON: All right, let's just go to the very end of it. Will there be a debate? I believe there will be a debate. There absolutely will be a debate. There has to be a debate. I believe "ABC" will do a good job at the debate. Now the question is, how will the debate be conducted?

As of right now, Donald Trump says that he will follow the same rules that we at CNN put in place back when we did the June 27th debate between Joe Biden and Donald Trump. Not so fast, says the -- the Harris campaign because they want some of the rules to be altered a little bit, specifically the microphones back into -- in our CNN debate, the microphones, if you were not speaking, were muted, John, if you remember that, Donald Trump's campaign wants them to be muted for -- for this coming, upcoming debate.

However, the Harris campaign wants the microphones to be open, and the reason why is they believe that they can get Donald Trump knocked off of his game. They believe that they can get him angry. They believe that -- that Kamala Harris would be able to get Donald Trump to probably say something or do something that would be embarrassing on national stage.

BERMAN: All right, so stay tuned so says Mark Preston, who knows a thing or two about presidential debates. Thank you so much for being with us, Mark. Sara?

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: Certainly does.

SIDNER: All right. Donald Trump continues to lead Vice President Kamala Harris in pulling out of Arizona, but it is a state the Harris campaign is working hard to win over, and one major voting block could be one of the keys to their success. Mormons had been some of the most loyal Republican voters until Donald Trump took over the party in 2020. President Biden made significant gains with the faith's large population in Arizona, and now Harris is hoping to replicate that support.

Joining us now is the National Director of Latter Day Saints -- Saints for Harris-Walz, Rob Taber. Thank you so much for joining us this morning. I appreciate you. Why are LDS voters drawn to -- to Harris and Walz. Why should they be? ROB TABER, LATTER-DAY SAINTS FOR HARRIS-WALZ: Good morning, Sara, it's great to be here. And honestly, a lot of Latter Day Saints are just ready to turn the page on the last eight years. I mean, we look at this most recent report on Arlington Cemetery, politicizing a solid moment. That's just the latest in a long string of things. We're ready for someone who respects election results, who respects the Constitution, who will protect the religious freedom of everyone, and who is a fresh face ready to represent America at home and around the world. And that's Kamala Harris.

A lot of Latter Day Saints are really excited about her pick of Tim Walz. These are public servants who have dedicated themselves to serving other people, to serving the public, doing what they believe is right. We're a big tent. We're not all Democrats, there a lot of Republicans and Independent Latter Day Saints who are supporting Harris-Walz. But it's because, you know, they just represent something different and that we think is the right path for our country moving forward.

[08:40:20]

SIDNER: I would like to get your take on something that we heard from Donald Trump, because clearly some Mormons voted for Donald Trump back in 2020 and 2016. And -- and so clearly there are some that -- that -- that like him and -- and that want him to be the president again. I do want you to listen to something --

TABER: Right.

SIDNER: -- that he said to Dr. Phil about after his assassination, what he thought? Why he thought he was spared?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: In politics, you have an opponent, and you win or you lose, but you don't have an opponent, and then you're doing well against the opponent. They take him out. They give you a new opponent. They give you a nice, fresh opponent. And so I have to win that. And if I win that, that would really serve to say that there's some incredible power up there that wanted me to be involved in saving and maybe it's more than saving the nation. Maybe it's saving the world. You know, I get along with all those tough guys.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SIDNER: So he's talking about God there. He -- he had mentioned it before that he believed God saved his life. There's a lot of people who are religious, who -- who truly, you know, believe God is -- is involved --

TABER: Sure.

SIDNER: -- in every step of the things they do. What do you think about him saying, look --

TABER: Absolutely.

SIDNER: -- if I get this, this was God's will, and, you know, I'm going to save the nation and the world.

TABER: I mean, we turn the page on the Divine Right of Kings about 250 years ago. You know, I believe in miracles. I certainly believe in God. And I know Harris voters who believe that God spared Donald Trump's life because of what could have happened, should have something more serious have happened to him several weeks ago.

But, you know, we also believe, especially as Latter Day Saints in moral agency that we make the decisions. We believe that the Constitution was divinely inspired. There was a great talk a few years ago by one of our leaders, President Dallin Oaks, about what that means. That doesn't mean that the Constitution is like letter perfect inerrant, but this idea of establishing a small Republican form of government, where we make the decisions, where we have a balance of powers, where we have checks on power.

And in Donald Trump, we have someone with strong authoritarian tendencies, and that repels a lot of Latter Day Saints. You know, Harris-Walz, they're not going to get every Latter Day Saint to vote for them, but just as we saw in Arizona in 2020 we had 18,000 more Latter Day Saints vote for Joe Biden than voted for Hillary Clinton four years prior. And that was larger than the winning margin, and it'll make a difference in Arizona. It'll make a difference in Nevada, quite potentially.

And so, yes, we're continuing to organize and just say, look, we have our agency. We have the ability to make decisions. God trusted us with that. And we, you know, from the New Testament, judge them by their fruits, right? And we look at Donald Trump's fruits and they are not good.

SIDNER: Rob Taber, thank you so much for joining us this morning. I know it is early there, so we appreciate you coming on. John?

[08:43:10]

BERMAN: All right, a 3,500-year-old jar in a museum was shattered after a four-year-old boy decided to get handsy with the exhibit, is this a case of you break it, you buy it?

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BERMAN: All right. Breaking overnight, delayed SpaceX has scrubbed a launch for a second time in as many days, the four person crew will remain in quarantine until the launch can take place, whenever that is. CNN space and defense correspondent Kristin Fisher is with us now. So what happened here, Kristin?

KRISTIN FISHER, CNN SPACE AND DEFENSE CORRESPONDENT: So John, this was all about the weather. And, you know, weather is always an issues for launches to space. It's got to be just right. But for this mission, it's even more tricky, because we're not just looking at the weather for launch. SpaceX is also looking at what the weather is going to be like, where the spacecraft is going to splash down five days from now.

And so if the weather is not perfect at both locations from five days apart, then they're going to have to scrub. And so that's what they did last night. They looked at the weather again and said, we're not going to do it tonight either. So we're looking at Thursday into Friday at the absolute earliest, for when this mission could finally launch. And, you know, the reason that they're so concerned about splashdown, John, and it's not just the weather, it's the wave height, because this capsule splashes into the water somewhere.

So the waves have to be the right height as well. It's because this mission isn't going to the space station where it can refuel on what's called the con -- consumables, right, like oxygen, food, water. These astronauts are going to be up there for five days, and whatever they have in that spacecraft when they launch is all they're going to get to have. And so they have to -- there's no -- there's no wiggle room at day five, if the weather is not good at the splashdown location, that's a problem. So that's why we got this big delay last night, John.

BERMAN: And these four astronauts who are in -- in this picture we have right here, were all looking at something. I'm not quite sure what they're looking at. I'm looking at Sara over there, gazing at something that's fast. Their attention is riveted on something. But what will they do for these days while they, what, you said they're in quarantine? So what can they do while they're just sitting around?

FISHER: Not much, just wait, you know. But for these astronauts, they're -- they're acutely aware of how dangerous this mission is. So, they don't really mind waiting in quarantine for a few more days until the weather is absolutely perfect. It's more tough likely on -- on their families who've come to, you know, watch this launch and see them fly to space.

[08:50:12]

But in terms of the crew, the commander is Jared Isaacman. He is an American businessman. He flew and partially funded another space mission three years ago, Inspiration4. This is his second mission to space. And he says, you know, this is very different from what you've seen some other very wealthy Americans do in space.

He does not see this in any way as space tourism. This is a test and development program. He is partially funding SpaceX's technology and development into space. And so that's why -- what we're going to see here, John, this spacewalk going into the radiation belt. These are really pushing the limit of what SpaceX has done so far. John?

BERMAN: All right. Well, Kristin Fisher, thank you so much for that update. I will just gaze off into space like a SpaceX astronaut. I'll throw out to Sara.

SIDNER: They're gazing into the galaxy. Hello. They're looking up to the stars, just enjoying the beauty of it all. I have revised whether I go or not. I'm going to -- this one out. How about that? I'm just going to sit it out, and then we'll get our suits, and we can look cute in our suits, but I'm not going to go to space on Polaris for now, what do you think?

BERMAN: Smart.

SIDNER: Yes. You don't have anything to say. That's good. Good, John.

Coming up, authorities in California have charged a 26-year-old man with starting a wildfire that destroyed 13 homes and burned more than 3,700 acres. Investigators say the suspect threw some kind of fireworks out of his car window last month, sparking the Thompson Fire in Northern California. He is now being held in jail without bail.

A young girl in Florida is alive thanks to a camera her mother and a dog named Big Mama. "NBC" too reports the girl was inside her home when she suddenly smelled smoke, and her grandmother says one of their dogs started jumping on her as a ceiling started to fall in. Thankfully, the girl's mother was watching from miles away on the family's indoor cameras, and got on the speaker to guide her daughter and their pets out of their home to safety. Everyone is OK. The family thinks an electrical malfunction actually sparked those flames.

And a significant late summer heat wave has 50 million people still under heat alerts today, including Philly and New York. Washington, D.C. is looking at a record breaking 100 degrees. Some school systems once again canceling school due to lack of air conditioning. Others are doing early releases. CNN meteorologist Derek Van Dam is joining us now. Derek, wow. How long is this going to last? I mean, we are coming to the end of August. We're coming into my favorite season of fall, but not quite yet.

DEREK VAN DAM, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes. I -- I don't care how many pumpkin spice lattes you've already ordered, Sara. You cannot wish cast autumn in the month of August. It is just impossible. It -- it will play with your heartstrings a little bit. You get that little cool down we had last week, and then the heat comes back with a vengeance, and it surely did this week.

It stretched from Michigan, Wisconsin, where some schools, the first day of school in the Detroit Public Schools was cut short because of the heat, and there were more stories just like that unfolding over other locations across the eastern portions in the Midwest. And it's all because the heat came back, and it came back in a big way.

So here's the 50 million Americans impacted by heat alerts. That doesn't mean this is the only area confined to the heat, but this is where it will be felt the worst. Remember, we've got that urban heat island effect, thanks to the concentration, the dense concentration of the concrete, the asphalt of buildings along this I-95 stretch and corridor, so things heat up very, very quickly within this area.

We've got a heat advisory for many locations. So yesterday, yes, this doesn't look like autumn to me. We're breaking temperatures or tying them. St. Louis is an example of that. And these records go back, we're talking well over a half a century. But there's some good news in this forecast, at least some temporary relief will come our way.

Quite a big difference from today to tomorrow, 100 degrees today in D.C., 90 tomorrow. Look at the cooldown in Philadelphia. We'll take it while we can. We still have a few more weeks of summer. Sara?

SIDNER: Look at the cooldown in New York, 92 to 75 that is so cool. And by the way, I don't do pumpkin spice lattes.

VAN DAM: Yes. Big deal.

SIDNER: I do not like them, but --

VAN DAM: Oh, OK.

SIDNER: -- our floor director Manzo loves them. He drinks them every single day. I am outing him. Derek Van Dam, thank you so much.

Also on our radar, an ancient artifact, which experts say was at least 3,500 years old, is now destroyed. It's in pieces after a four-year- old accidentally knocked it over. It happened last week at a museum in Israel. The museum says the Bronze Age era jar was displayed near the entrance without a glass case, part of an effort to make some artifacts more accessible. I bet you that's going to change. The boy's father told the "BBC," his son pulled at the jar because he wanted to see what was inside, obviously. A museum official says it will use the jars restoration as an opportunity to educate the public. John?

[08:55:12]

BERMAN: Whenever I break stuff, I say it's an opportunity to educate the public. No debt.

All right. This morning, the first death related to a rare mosquito borne illness has been reported in New Hampshire, health officials say a Hampstead resident died after contracting Eastern Equine Encephalitis. CNN's Jacqueline Howard is here. Jacqueline, I got to say, this is of concern to my people up in New England. They're seeing beach closures and other things at dusk. What's going on here?

JACQUELINE HOWARD, CNN HEALTH REPORTER: That's right. And their spraying of pesticides to really target these mosquitoes. What's happening, John, this first death, sadly, it was in a 41-year-old man, Stephen Perry, and his family says that he developed symptoms quickly and -- and suddenly they turned fatal. And with Eastern Equine Encephalitis or EEE, this can be a deadly disease.

About a third of cases turn deadly. Symptoms include high fever, chills, body aches, joint pain, but in most fatal cases, symptoms do impact the nervous system. It can turn into a neurologic disease, and sometimes you see inflammation of the brain, and that's what has reportedly been seen in this latest case in New Hampshire.

This is the first case that the state has seen, John, in a decade. So that's why it's very concerning. And health officials there are on high alert for this mosquito borne illness, John.

BERMAN: You mentioned New Hampshire. I know about beaches in Massachusetts. What states are areas of concern right now?

HOWARD: That's right. According to the CDC, we're also seeing cases, one in Wisconsin, one in New Jersey, one in Massachusetts, one in Vermont. In Massachusetts, like you said, John, there are some parks that are closing at night to limit people's exposure to mosquitoes that could be carrying this virus. There are a lot of cases of planes and trucks spraying pesticides.

We're also hearing of a voluntary curfew in Oxford, Massachusetts. And we know that there are steps we can all take to really limit our exposure to mosquitoes. Of course, try to wear repellent when outdoors. Wear loose fitting clothing. Make sure your window screens are in place so mosquitoes don't come indoors.

And if you do have a mosquito bite and you develop symptoms, which could develop within three to 10 days after mosquito bite, talk to your doctors. You definitely want to stay on top of things. With EEE, it is rare, there are only about 11 human cases in the United States each year. But after seeing this first reported death, we definitely want to again, stay on high alert. John?

BERMAN: Look, the -- the town paper in the town I grew up in Massachusetts was called The Mosquito. There are a lot of these bugs around there, so obviously it is cause for concern. Jacqueline Howard, thank you very much. I hope people stay careful. Sara?

SIDNER: I shall never go to your hometown. I'm sorry, John, I cannot. All right, new this morning, an exclusive club that used to be exclusive anyway, and extremely lucrative, according to brand new data this morning, 401(k) millionaires, now, not so exclusive, baby. CNN's Matt Egan joins me now. Matt, what -- what are we seeing here?

MATT EGAN, CNN REPORTER: Well, Sara, this is an exclusive club that is growing. New data from Fidelity shows that the number of 401(k) millionaires has hit a record high, nearly 500,000 accounts at -- at Fidelity alone have $1 million balances or more. That's up 2.5 percent from the first quarter and the average size of these balances is $1.6 million. Now this makes sense, because, of course, the stock market has been on a roll. The Dow yesterday closing at a record high above 41,000.

The NASDAQ has spiked more than 30 percent over the past year because of Nvidia and the AI boom. Now I know a lot of people are thinking they don't have $1 million in their 401(k) is or maybe don't have a 401(k) at all. And that's definitely true. Fidelity found that the average size of a 401(k) balance across all participants was $127,000 so far shy of $1 million. But look, this is still up 13 percent from the year before. So that is very encouraging.

And I think when you zoom out, this does seem like pretty good news about the economy. First of all, obviously, bigger nest eggs will set people up better for retirement. Secondly, it's also a positive when it comes to financial flexibility, because this is money that people could borrow against to potentially pay for a down payment or to cover a medical emergency.

And the other really interesting point here is that Fidelity found that people are still saving the same amount of money in their 401(k), despite the high cost of living. So even though people are paying more for food and daycare and rent, they found that the average savings is still 14 percent of the income that is just shy of the 15 percent that experts recommended. So another encouraging sign here when you think about what all this means for the economy. Sara?

[09:00:10]

SIDNER: It sounds like people are being pretty smart with their money. Matt Egan, thank you so much. Appreciate it.

Another hour of CNN News Central starts right now.