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New Poll: Harris & Trump Neck-and-Neck in Battleground GA; Trump Promotes QAnon Conspiracy, Crude Attacks Against Harris in Social Media Posting Spree; U.S. Army: Cemetery Employee "Abruptly Pushed Aside" by Trump Staff; U.S. Intel Helped Foil Terror Plot at Taylor Swift Show; Source: Top Ukrainian Pilot "Moonfish" Killed in U.S.-Made F-16. Aired 3-3:30p ET

Aired August 29, 2024 - 15:00   ET

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

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: A critical test, no teleprompter, no cheering crowd, just Vice President Kamala Harris, her running mate, Gov. Tim Walz and CNN's Dana Bash, asking the tough questions. The first sit- down interview these two have had since becoming the Democratic presidential ticket.

Plus, a strong rebuke for the Trump campaign. The U.S. Army accusing the former president's staff of ignoring the law and honored tradition during an appearance at Arlington National Cemetery, one of the country's most sacred spaces.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: And new details in the planned terror attack against the Taylor Swift concert. The CIA says it helped prevent the plot, which was designed to kill tens of thousands of people. We're following these major developing stories and many more, all coming in right here to CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

SANCHEZ: So just a couple hours from now, Vice President Kamala Harris will take the stage for a rally in Savannah, Georgia. The final stop of her bus tour through a critical battleground state. It comes ahead of her exclusive interview with CNN's Dana Bash, which airs tonight at 9 PM Eastern, right here on CNN. Harris will be joined by her running mate, Minnesota governor, Tim Walz. Their first interview with a major television network and the first chance for Americans to see and hear them respond to important questions facing the country.

This all happening as a new Fox News poll shows Harris surging in Georgia. Here's how Fox News described the stakes in that important battleground state last night.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If that lead holds, she wins Georgia, she wins the presidency.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: CNN's Priscilla Alvarez is in Savannah, Georgia, following the Harris campaign. Priscilla, what more do we know about what the Vice President is up to today? PRISCILLA ALVAREZ, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Well, the Vice President is expected to do two more stops on her bus tour today, going to small businesses, before she comes to the arena where I am at, where people are filling in to watch her speak at a rally. This is how she's going to bookend what has been a notable trip for this campaign as they try to peel off voters from Republicans in the southern part of the state.

But, of course, she's also going to be, as you mentioned, participating in that high stakes interview alongside her vice presidential nominee, Tim Walz. And the reason that this has become such a critical moment in interview for the two of them is because this campaign, up until this point, has been quite choreographed and scripted, starting only over a month ago.

So this offers them an opportunity to answer candidly to questions and do so unscripted for her to make her case why she has the credentials to be the president, to draw her stark contrast from former President Donald Trump, and where necessary, explain her evolutions on certain policies or distinctions with President Joe Biden.

So there will be a lot of observers watching that interview tonight, and I'm told by sources that she did prepare extensively for it, as she has done with other major interviews. But again, Boris, this is a rally that is again going to end and conclude what has been a significant visit by her and her vice presidential nominee to try an aggressive strategy in this crucial battleground state, because as you mentioned, while polls show that she has a slight edge over former President Donald Trump, it's still within the margin of error. So the campaign is keenly aware that they still have a ways to go and it's going to be a close race, again, a state that President Biden only won by less than 12,000 votes.

So the Vice President ending her trip here in this arena, where you can see people behind me are trickling in, and another yet exciting rally for the voters that have been here talking to us.

SANCHEZ: Yes, the music quite loud there. Priscilla Alvarez, thank you so much from Savannah. Brianna?

KEILAR: So any moment now, former President Trump will be speaking at a campaign event in Michigan where we're told that he'll focus on the economy. These are live pictures coming to us from Michigan, by the way. His campaign, however, is having to answer for an incredibly lewd and sexist post that Trump shared on his Truth Social site. Steve Contorno is in Michigan where the former president is scheduled to speak.

Steve, the campaign desperately wants Trump on message and yet here we are.

STEVE CONTORNO, CNN REPORTER: And yet Donald Trump's social media feed has a very different message than the economy or jobs or inflation or immigration. Those issues where the campaign feels like it's on solid ground. Instead, his social media feed over the last 48 hours has been very much on the attack. Let me run through for you just a few of the posts he has shared with his very large audience there. In one, he calls for January 6th members - committee members to go on trial. Another post he shared said there should be military tribunals for former President Obama. There are references to the bizarre conspiracy theory around child sex rings, referencing QAnon.

[15:05:01]

There's a picture of Biden and Harris and other politicians in orange jumpsuits. And yes, as you mentioned, there is a picture of Vice President Harris and Secretary Clinton with a comment on it that referenced a lewd sex act. And earlier today on CNN, the Trump campaign was asked about these Truth Social posts. Here's what they said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JASON MILLER, TRUMP CAMPAIGN SENIOR ADVISER: I don't know if the president even saw the comment that was on there or simply the picture. But I would say with regard to Kamala Harris, the attacks that have been levied by Kamala Harris' both the campaign, by Harris' allies against President Trump, not just recently, but over the past year and a half, two years, ever since he came down the escalator, quite frankly, in the case of many left of center people, have been quite horrific.

KAROLINE LEAVITT, TRUMP CAMPAIGN SPOKESWOMAN: Americans aren't concerned with social media posts and silly memes. They are concerned with the problems that are plaguing them and their families right now.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CONTORNO: Now, in many ways, these posts are par for the course from what we've seen from Donald Trump since the days when he was still allowed and was very active on Twitter. The difference here is it's coming after this period in which many people close to his campaign, many of his allies were urging him to get off the personal attacks and start talking about policy. And it's also coming at a point in this race where we are seeing these polls really narrow and his support among women especially is lagging. And that is these types of posts, many people around him and his allies are worried that it will hurt him with the audiences that he is trying to reach out to at a critical stretch of the campaign here, Brianna.

KEILAR: Yes, it's certainly not helpful for him. Steve Contorno, thank you for that, live for us from Michigan. Boris?

SANCHEZ: Besides the controversy over Trump's Truth Social posts, the Army is now confirming a physical altercation between the Trump campaign and an employee at Arlington National Cemetery. This follows an NPR report that Trump campaign staff verbally abused and pushed a cemetery official who tried to stop the campaign from filming political material in Section 60, an area where filming like that is banned by federal law. CNN's Oren Liebermann is live for us at the Pentagon. Oren, this is an unusual and stinging rebuke by the Army of Trump's campaign.

OREN LIEBERMANN, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: It's much more than unusual. It's quite a remarkable statement to see the army put something out like this, a rebuke of the Trump campaign and of former President Donald Trump's visit to Arlington National Cemetery and specifically to Section 60, but also a statement in which the army stands up for the Arlington National Cemetery employee who was involved in this incident.

Now, it is worth pointing out that the army statement does not explicitly mention Trump. Instead, it references an August 26th ceremony and a subsequent visit to Section 60, which exactly describes the visit of Trump to Arlington Cemetery earlier this week. Now in that, it says that Arlington National Cemetery made clear to the campaign the rules, federal laws, DOD policies and Army regulations surrounding a visit to Arlington National Cemetery.

One of those explicit federal laws, and I'll read this right now, it says, "Memorial services and ceremonies at Army National Military Cemeteries will not include partisan political activities." And this is worth pointing out. The visit to the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, you saw that video a second ago, that's absolutely fine. It is the visit to Section 60 where fallen service members from Iraq and Afghanistan are buried, that is where the issue is. That is where it's illegal to film political activities, partisan activities and that's what the Army says occurred here.

They say an Arlington National Cemetery employee tried to stop this from happening when she was, quote, "abruptly pushed aside." Here is part of the statement from the Army: "An Arlington National Cemetery employee who attempted to ensure adherence to these rules was abruptly pushed aside. Consistent with the decorum expected at Arlington National Cemetery, this employee acted with professionalism and avoided further disruption."

There is a bit more to the statement here: "The incident was reported to the Joint Base Myer-Henderson Hall police department, but the employee subsequently decided not to press charges. This incident was unfortunate, and it is also unfortunate that the Arlington National Cemetery employee and her professionalism has been unfairly attacked.

Spokespeople for the Trump campaign suggested this employee was a, quote, "despicable individual and might have mental health issues." So you see there not only the rebuke of the campaign, but also the standing up for and the backing of the Arlington employee who was involved in this. Boris, it is worth pointing out that the Army considers the matter closed because the employee decided not to press charges here.

SANCHEZ: Oren Liebermann, live from the Pentagon. Thank you so much. I do want to quickly point out for our viewers that the Trump campaign has now responded to this rebuke.

[15:09:56] Chris LaCivita, the Donald Trump for 2024 campaign manager, posted a video of the former president's visit to Arlington National Cemetery on social media, quoting, "Hoping to trigger the hack at SecArmy." He tagged the account of the Secretary of the U.S. Army, Christine Wormuth. I do want to point out the video that LaCivita posted to social media is the one we've seen of Donald Trump laying the wreath at the tomb of the unknown soldier where filming was allowed. It was not from Section 60 of the cemetery, which generally is not allowed. It was from Section 60 of the cemetery where the former president was buried. And it was not from Section 60 of the cemetery which generally is off limits to campaign media by federal law.

Again, the Trump campaign, we should note, has said that they have footage of this incident and they said that they would put it out. That was according to Stephen Cheung of the Trump campaign, but they have yet to. Brianna?

KEILAR: So let's talk about this now with former Trump White House communications director, Anthony Scaramucci. Anthony, how are you seeing this as we see the Trump campaign trying to kind of continue on with this issue? Still not releasing video though of what transpired even though they say they have it.

ANTHONY SCARAMUCCI, FORMER TRUMP WHITE HOUSE COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR: So Brianna, this is a violation of norms and this is something that Mr. Trump has been doing for the last nine years. So we're talking about it. He enjoys the fact that we're talking about it. Airtime is being taken up at other networks talking about this.

And look, it's absolutely wrong. It's a despicable way to handle things, but he likes the attention associated with it and he was there for that photo op. And so there's one Green Beret, there's a family of a deceased Green Beret that's very upset that they didn't get permission to use his tombstone in that photo op, but that's Donald Trump. That's who he is. That's what he wants to do. And he wants you and I to talk about it and he wants that attention on him.

And so this will keep going until we frankly stop talking about it, but it's a despicable thing. It's a sordid thing. And, you know, for whatever reason, a very large group of people in this country that don't believe the things that John Kelly has said or how Donald Trump actually feels about the veteran community.

KEILAR: Do you think this is a winning issue for him? Because I mean, certainly on one hand, many of the family members of the Abbey Gate 13 feel seen by Donald Trump in a way they do not feel seen by President Biden. That's just the truth. You can talk to them. That's how they feel.

But on the other hand, you have a lot of family members of people who are buried in that cemetery who do not like what went down and they are upset about this. That's certainly not something that should be seen as politically beneficial to Donald Trump. Do you think overall this is a winning political issue for him?

SCARAMUCCI: So I'm just going to speak the way the campaign thinks and the way Mr. Trump thinks. They think it is a winning issue because it's red meat for their base. It's triggering for people that like normal things in our society. They want to be the homewreckers, if you will. He sees himself as an orange wrecking ball. And he thinks the way to win this election is to double and triple down on his base.

So the real question will be - and we'll know this in November, if other people have grown tired of this, do they have Trump fatigue? Are there veterans out there who said, you know what, I really have had enough of this. I want to return to something that's a little bit more sacred as it relates to our sacrifices in the country.

But they're playing this because they know it works for their base, Brianna. And I think it's important for people to understand that. They don't care what normal is. What they care about is they know they've got a low ceiling and they may have a high floor. He's never been able to burst through 47 and a half percent. So he's got to do everything he can to get as many of those supporters out to the polls in November.

KEILAR: Trump will be speaking on the economy this afternoon, but - and then that's an issue, right? We look at the polls. He does well on that. He is more trusted by people on the economy than Harris is. But then here in the last 24 hours, Anthony, on Truth Social, he's been focusing on, you know, QAnon conspiracy theories. He's threatened to lock up his political opponents. And then you have some pretty misogynistic attacks and sexual content that we can't even post. It's so inappropriate. What do you think about that? Is that something that voters are won over by?

SCARAMUCCI: Well, again, listen, voters are not won over by that, particularly moderate independent voters. But his team is going to him and saying, hey, listen, we'd like you to be on message. Could you stay on message on things like the economy, immigration, the border?

And so as H.R. McMaster pointed out in his recent book, he's reflexively contrarian. So the more people tell him to stay on message, the more posts and more nonsense you're going to get out of him. So, you know, there's well-documented scenes, anytime you tell him to do something and go in one direction, he has this sort of bullying, rebellious streak.

[15:15:05]

And so those posts, again, red meat for his base. They enjoy that for some reason. Normal people look at that and they're aghast by it. And I think you have to think about how the Harris team thinks about it strategically in terms of convincing suburban women what a danger he would be if he returns to the presidency.

But I just want to recommend to the Trump strategists, keep telling him to stay on message so that we can keep seeing this sort of imbecility from him.

KEILAR: Trump's first campaign manager from 2016, Corey Lewandowski, returning to the campaign here, rejoining it. What do you think of that? What do you think that means? SCARAMUCCI: Well, he knows the president well, you know, and I - and full disclose, I'm a friend of Corey's. We've chosen to keep politics out of our friendship. I've always gotten on with him when he was in the campaign early on in 2016, I was with him.

And remember, he wrote a book, "Let Trump Be Trump." And so I think what's happening for the president right now, the polls got a little wobbly on him and they changed candidates. And so he's searching for a redirection in the campaign. And so I think he's going to Corey for the let Trump be Trump sort of strategy as opposed to a more buttoned up, more disciplined Trump. And we'll have to see if that works for them, you know?

I mean, right now the polls are super close, but I would point out to the Harris team, if they're this close and you're on their team, I would be concerned because he has a tendency to underperform in these polls. People don't like admitting that they're going to vote for him. So you got to be plus three, plus four, if you really want to have a comfortable lead over him.

KEILAR: All right. I recognize your pals, as you say, it might be hard to kind of set that aside as you assess sort of what maybe that means in some ways too. Anthony Scaramucci, thank you so much. Really appreciate it.

SCARAMUCCI: Good to be here.

KEILAR: Ahead this hour on CNN NEWS CENTRAL, how U.S. Intel helped stop a quote "advanced terror plot" to attack a Taylor Swift concert earlier this month.

Plus, Russia launching a third massive attack against Ukraine as we learn one of the country's top F-16 fighter pilots who spoke to us here on CNN is among those killed in this week's strikes.

And we're waiting to see if a judge will move Bryan Kohberger's long awaited murder trial out of the Idaho town where he's accused of killing four college students.

Those stories and much more coming up on CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

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[15:22:02]

SANCHEZ: For the first time, the CIA is revealing new details on how U.S. intelligence helped foil a terror attack planned for a Taylor Swift concert in Austria earlier this month. Katie Bo Lillis has this new reporting.

Katie Bo, it turns out that U.S. intelligence played a critical role.

KATIE BO LILLIS, CNN SENIOR INTELLIGENCE REPORTER: Yes, Boris, we had this really unusual moment yesterday where the CIA confirmed on the record that it had provided the intelligence that the Austrian government used to be able to disrupt this plotted attack on a Taylor Swift concert in Vienna earlier this month.

We heard from Deputy Director David Cohen speaking at a conference in Washington who said that the plot was quite mature and that it had threatened to kill potentially 10s of thousands of people, including some Americans. But to a certain degree, this was a little bit of a victory lap for the CIA. You heard from Cohen saying, and I'll share directly what he said, "I can tell you that within my agency, and I'm sure in others, there were people who thought that was a really good day for Langley and not just for the Swifties in my workforce."

So we know obviously that the concert was canceled and that Austria wound up detaining these three teenagers in connection with the plot who had allegedly sworn allegiance to ISIS. But Boris, this is part of a bigger concern for U.S. intelligence agencies who are really worried, not necessarily about ISIS plotting, fielding trained operatives to carry out an attack ...

SANCHEZ: Sure.

LILLIS: But they're worried about lone wolf attacks just like this. They're worried about online radicalization of young people who might be susceptible to this kind of propaganda. So this is really a bigger issue for U.S. Intel rather than just bad blood in between ISIS and Taylor Swift.

SANCHEZ: She got the song, the song point in there, "Bad Blood." When it comes to this specific plot though, you described it as mature, though the way that the CIA described it, advanced was another way. What do we know about what they were actually plotting?

LILLIS: There's still a lot of details about exactly what was supposed to happen here that we don't know. And certainly the deputy director did not share ...

SANCHEZ: Right.

LILLIS: ... anything additional yesterday, nor did he give us any indication of how the CIA learned about this plot. But what we do know, Boris, is that this isn't the first time in recent months or even in the past year that the United States has warned other countries about potential ISIS attacks.

They warned Russia in advance of an attack in March, on a concert hall in Moscow that ultimately killed a hundred people. They also warned Iran about a potential attack at an event in Iran. Once again, Iran unable to prevent that from happening. So this is something that the United States does when it has indications that there's an attack coming that could kill innocent civilians.

SANCHEZ: Yes. Katie Bo Lillis, thanks so much for the update. Appreciate it.

LILLIS: Thanks, Boris.

SANCHEZ: Brianna? KEILAR: In Russia's war on Ukraine, we are learning of some huge losses that Ukraine suffered this week. The destruction of its first F-16 plane given by the U.S. But more tragically, the death of one of the nation's top fighter pilots known as Moonfish. A source says that he was killed Monday defending against what officials have described as a, quote, "massive aerial attack by Russia."

[15:25:03]

Today, Ukraine hit back. Officials say forces took out several oil depots inside of Western Russia, as well as a field artillery depot. More now from CNN Chief International Security Correspondent Nick Paton Walsh. Nick?

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Boris, Brianna, the loss of this F-16 to some degree expected. Look, they're trying to fly these complex jets with limited options for maintenance given the Russian threat and a very compressed training regime for the skilled pilots Ukraine has sent to the United States and other places for training. They're trying to get it up and running really fast. And while we don't know the full details as to how this happened, Ukraine says it was during a bid by this F-16 and its pilot named as Oleksii Mes, call sign Moonshine, to fend off on Monday one of the largest attacks Russia has launched against Ukraine.

Monday saw over 200 drones and missiles fired at Ukraine's energy infrastructure. The exact details unclear. It's referred to as a crash, but it may be that in combat somehow it was indeed damaged. And Ukraine says it will call in international investigators to help in the probe of exactly what happened here.

But it will, of course, encourage scrutiny as to the speed of delivery of these planes and the weaknesses that may cause. But it - me and my mistake at all, they're flying in a conflict area unprecedented over Europe for decades, so in exceptionally stressful and complex conditions.

But the loss of this F-16 comes after Ukraine desperately trying to regain the narrative on the battlefield, launching an incursion into Kursk that's now three weeks old but now appears too to be pressuring the Belgorod region to its south, where Russian officials said they'd be needing to evacuate people on the border area in the last 24 hours.

And two, when President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says he'll reach out to the White House and also too, to Donald Trump and Kamala Harris with a list of targets that they would like in Russia to hit with U.S.- supplied longer-range weaponry. A bid, perhaps, to make the debate about what is and is not a red line when it comes to confronting Russia, part of the U.S. election campaign to try and force the candidates there to become Russia hawks.

And I think, too, a time in which Ukraine is desperately throwing all it can at this conflict to change the narrative in its favor and perhaps put it in a better position ahead of a likely another grueling winter where diplomacy may be spoken of more loudly or a change in the administration in Washington may indeed cause a change in the strength of support Ukraine is seeing. We'll have to see how that happens. Boris, Brianna?

KEILAR: All right. Nick Paton Walsh, thank you for that.

Next, a scathing watchdog report uncovers egregious failures in how the FBI handles child sex abuse allegations, including one instance where a child was abused for more than a year after agents failed to follow up on a tip.

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