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Spending Battle Brewing on Capitol Hill; Harris and Trump Tied in Swing States; Tiafoe Sets Up All-American Semifinal Against Fritz. Aired 9:30-10a ET

Aired September 04, 2024 - 09:30   ET

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

[09:30:00]

FRED TRUMP, DONALD TRUMP'S NEPHEW: In a bad way. And Donald had a big role to play in that.

So while the book's genesis is to honor my father, Freddie, Donald's older brother who is a caring and charismatic guy, and William, who is the most courageous and inspirational person I know, I mention you're also very inspirational. It was time for me to talk.

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: What happened with William? He was born with a rare seizure disorder, as I understand it. It affected him physically and affected him developmentally.

TRUMP: Yes.

SIDNER: What happened when he needed help with paying for going to a facility so that he could live a better life?

TRUMP: It's a long story. I'll boil it down. When my father passed away at the age of 43 in 1981 as a sophomore in college, Donald was named my trustee.

After William was born, he spent seven total weeks in hospital with, yes, a rare genetic mutation called KCNQ2. Donald, my aunts and uncles, my sister, no one visited William in the hospital. OK, that happens.

When we finally got home, there was a letter from Donald's attorney saying that Mary, my sister, and I were, in essence, kicked out of my grandfather's will. If people remember, this is 2000. Donald was in very bad financial straits, and he hatched a scheme that his siblings bought onto to, in essence, take us out.

We settled that lawsuit. I like to half-joke that Donald always says he's never settled a lawsuit in his life. Well, I guess that makes me a victor of some kind.

About ten years after that, William's expenses are tremendous, as are so many people's expenses. I went to Donald, and he put together, with my Aunt Maryanne, a fund. But the way I looked at it, that was my money that I was asking for.

It would have been great if he graciously said, pal, you don't have to ask for it. Whatever you need, you got. Much like when I was doing my advocacy work going down to the White House and then the Oval Office. It would have been great if he said when he got into office in 2017, I know what you're going through. I know you're advocating on behalf of millions of people who, in essence, are voiceless. Let's do what we can to help. It never really materialized that way.

SIDNER: What did he say to you instead about helping your son?

TRUMP: Well, it was in 2023. The fund was being depleted, and I went to him by phone. I said, look, this is what's happening. I need, for William's care, his therapeutic care. He said, he doesn't recognize you. Let him die and move down to Florida.

Now, I don't know how anyone could say that about any other human being, but to say it about your grandnephew is pretty grotesque. And I said, no, he does recognize me. And I guess my point with this is, this is the person that millions of people want to vote for.

I don't understand it. His MAGA base ain't going anywhere, as you all have been reporting, and it's absolutely true. Labor Day is over. I see frays in people. People are going to be educated. Anything I can do. And this is -- this is policy over politics. This is not a personal thing. I believe in Kamala Harris' policies.

Donald's Project 2025, which he has his hands all over.

SIDNER: He has disavowed it.

TRUMP: It's almost like him saying, I had nothing to do with the building of Trump Tower. It's him. And his followers and the people that will be in his administration who just -- it will be a dystopian future. I say future, but it will bring us back decades.

SIDNER: So it sounds like you in part wrote this book to warn the public, in your mind, to not vote for your uncle.

TRUMP: Yeah, I mean, again, there are folks that are going to vote for him no matter what. If I'm asked, I will campaign on behalf of the Harris campaign and get the word out. My mom was born in Kalamazoo, Michigan. I'd love to go to Michigan. I went to Lehigh University, as did my dad, as did my son Christopher. Andrew went to school in Philadelphia. I have family in Pennsylvania. Very important state. And I say I'm a different kind of Trump.

I think I can fit in with any group of people. I just -- that's just my personality.

SIDNER: Fred Trump, thank you so much for sharing. I know these stories are really hard to talk about because they are very personal, but they are important. A lot of families are suffering with family members who have disabilities, who have to pay for some of these things, and it is very difficult.

[09:35:01] Thank you for coming in.

TRUMP: Thank you very much.

SIDNER: And I'm in the midst of reading your book, so I appreciate your time this morning.

TRUMP: Enjoy.

SIDNER: John.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: All right, a new government spending fight brewing on Capitol Hill. New details on the plan lawmakers are working on behind the scenes.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BERMAN: Lawmakers are back on Capitol Hill next week, but they're already working behind the scenes to avoid yet another government shutdown. They're going to have 13 days in session to figure it out before September 30th.

CNN's Lauren Fox is with us with some brand new intel about what's going on behind the scenes. That's my favorite kind of intel is brand new intel.

[09:40:00]

So, what do you got?

LAUREN FOX, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, this morning, House Republicans are going to have a call, John, to discuss their best steps and their strategy in the weeks ahead. And one of the first things that we are getting some insight about is what Speaker Johnson is going to do to try to satisfy some of those conservatives within his ranks.

Now, this is a plan that may never actually become law because Democrats in the Senate are saying it's a non-starter. But right now what Speaker Johnson is looking at is potentially putting on the floor as early as next week a plan to fund the government through the spring. That would get them over that normal Christmas hurdle where they always are having trouble finding some kind of consensus right before the holiday. Then he would attach a bill known as the Save Act that would bar illegal immigrants from being able to vote in the country. Now, that's already illegal. But this is really an opportunity for Republicans to try to drive that message home in the months before the election.

Now that's something that Democrats in the Senate are already saying they are opposed to. So, what could happen essentially is that if Johnson can pass that in the House, and that's still a huge open question, we may have some more insight this morning after their call about whether that's possible, then there would sort of be this standoff once again between House Republicans and Senate Democrats with just 13 days, like you said, to avert this shutdown once lawmakers return. Those are the days left in session.

John.

BERMAN: A lot of work to be done.

Lauren Fox, thank you very much.

Kate,

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: Today, Kamala Harris is heading to New Hampshire to talk about the economy, to roll out more of her economic agenda. And moments ago, Donald Trump did an interview with a New Hampshire radio show and said this about his upcoming debate with Kamala Harris.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT AND 2024 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I've been preparing all my life for this debate. You can't sit in a log cabin like Mitt Romney did. Do you remember, he sat there for four weeks in a log cabin. Didn't talk to anybody. Then he came out. He couldn't speak. You can't do that. You have to know your subject. You're living with your subject. I live with my subject. I live with all of these - these horrible problems that they've caused because we've got to straighten them out. We're going to make America great again.

So, you know, I do - I have meetings on it. We talk about it. But there's not a lot you can do. You either know your subject or not. You either have good policy or not. She's changed every policy, that's why she doesn't want to debate because she doesn't know what she's talking about.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: His remarks coming as new CNN polling in six battleground states show how - really how close the race remains among likely voters. Harris holding an edge in Michigan and Wisconsin, Trump holding an edge in Arizona, Nevada, Pennsylvania, and Georgia, essentially tied.

Joining us right now, former White House director of message planning for President Biden, Meghan Hays, and CNN political commentator, Republican strategist and pollster, Kristen Soltis Anderson.

Kristen, talk to me about the - about the polling. The race is close. We have that. The end this story. It is not yet written. And one thing you see that sticks out to you this morning, across each of the battleground states, is there's an average of 15 percent of likely voters who say they have not yet firmly decided their choice. They could change their views. Why is this so important? KRISTEN SOLTIS ANDERSON, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: It's important because when this race is a coin flip, even something that's very tiny, that seems like it might not matter that much, if you're just moving a small handful of voters, and a small handful of voters in a state like Pennsylvania, or in a state like Georgia, that is going to be really decisive in this election, little things can make a big difference.

And that's what makes next week's debate so incredibly important. Voters know how they feel about Donald Trump. They have known how they felt about Donald Trump for years. Views about him are pretty set in stone.

The reason you have about one in six voters who say they're not really sure right now, or they're not firmly decided, is because Kamala Harris is still being introduced to the American public. Even though she's been vice president, she's relatively unknown to an awful lot of people. So, this debate next week is going to be important as a moment for her to define herself. And it will either be her defining herself the way she wants to be, as somebody who's more moderate, somebody who wants to reach out to a wider range of voters, or it will be a chance for Trump to define her as somebody who's progressive, who's untrustworthy and untested.

BOLDUAN: Let's get to - let's - let's get to all of that in a second if we have - if we have time.

Meghan, the 15 percent, it stuck out to you as well. Why?

MEGHAN HAYS, FORMER WHITE HOUSE DIRECTOR OF MESSAGE PLANNING FOR PRESIDENT BIDEN: Well, I think it's - it's one of those things that people have their minds made up about the - the president, with President Biden, and then former President Trump. But it means that these - some of these voters are not firmly in the Trump camp like we thought before. And so I think that people are starting to move and say maybe they're not going to vote for Trump and maybe they are undecided because the vice president brings a new vision and a new energy to the - to the ticket that wasn't there before. So, 15 percent of people is a lot of people when things are on the margins, when there's, you know, 10,000 votes in a lot of these states that - that decided the last election is going to be even smaller margins. So, it just - it just means that Trump's - the coalition that was going to vote for Trump, his base is solid, but it means that there's a lot of independent voters that are not firmly in his camp like we once thought.

[09:45:06]

BOLDUAN: I want to - we heard it from Donald Trump in that soundbite that he - that from - when he spoke to the radio show this morning in New Hampshire where he said about the debate, she - she doesn't know what she's talking about. She's changed every single one of her positions.

I bring that up because I just also had Trump surrogate Vivek Ramaswamy on the show. He was very focused during that interview on her past policy positions, though she has since changed them and started to explain them, trying to, Vivek was, to paint her as extreme, even after I pointed out that Donald Trump has also changed his position on more than one policy.

I want to play for you what Vivek said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: Is it OK for candidates to evolve on a position over a period of years?

VIVEK RAMASWAMY (R), FORMER PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I think it's perfectly acceptable.

BOLDUAN: OK. Good.

RAMASWAMY: I think most people need to rethink their positions over time as facts change.

BOLDUAN: Let me ask you then - yes.

RAMASWAMY: But - but they deserve to explain to the people clearly what she has failed to do. And it's not just a change in position. These are hard positions on which she has actually taken policy action, both as a vice president and attorney general and a U.S. senator. And simply saying she doesn't believe that anymore is not a sufficient explanation.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: Kristen, does flip-flopping or evolving on a position, does it matter to voters that you're finding - in the same way that we know it has mattered to voters in the past, I would say before Trump broke the mold on changing positions and it mattering in 2016?

ANDERSON: The thing with Donald Trump is that even though he has evolved on a number of issues, voters still feel pretty clear about where he stands. Even if it's not where he stood five years or ten years or 20 years ago, they feel like they have a pretty good sense of what Donald Trump would do, like it or hate it, but they don't feel like they have a great sense what Kamala Harris would do. And that's the real challenge. That's why something like flip-flopping could hurt her more than it has hurt Donald Trump in the past. And it's why this debate is so important.

And, look, she can accuse Donald Trump of flip-flopping too. She can try to say, look, everybody does it. This isn't that big a deal. But I do think she's going to have to credibly make the case to those voters who don't like Donald Trump but aren't sure they trust her on policy that she can be trusted, that she is somebody who's not going to be the far left extremists that Donald Trump says she is. And that's going to be hard because she's not coming in with this deep reservoir of trust where voters feel like, yes, I know her, yes, I can trust what she says. She has to earn it. And she doesn't have a lot of time to do that earning.

BOLDUAN: Do you think that is the biggest task ahead, Meghan, for Kamala Harris, still?

HAYS: I mean, it's one of the tasks ahead. I think it's one of the tasks ahead. But I think that explaining her economic policies on any - you know, like on the issue of fracking, she - she talked about how there's more than one way to get something done.

BOLDUAN: Yes.

HAYS: And they got the IRA passed, the Inflation Reduction Act passed. And so there was more than - there was one way - there was a different way to achieve some of the climate change goals that she was looking at in 2019 that were not available then.

I just think she needs to continue to explain those things. As people were saying, people don't know and so they just need to keep hearing that and hearing her say that over and over again, which hopefully she will do in the debate.

The - on the flipside, people already know that Donald Trump is going to lie and continues to just flip flop his - his positions on most things. So, I just think that they - it's already baked -- excuse me, baked in. But I do think that is a challenge for her, and I do think that her continuing to lay out economic policies is going to be her biggest challenge and to get people to understand what those policies will do and how they will lower costs for people. That is the biggest challenge that the Harris campaign focuses - faces.

BOLDUAN: We could hear more - sorry, we could hear more of that today.

And one - one note from our - from the CNN poll that gets to this is, voters across the swing states largely describe Harris' views and policies from what they know, though they say they don't necessarily know her views on some places, they largely view her views and policies as mainstream and Trump's as too extreme. Again, I think setting up what you all - what you guys are saying right here and also just how important this debate is going to be.

It is great to see you. Thank you so much for coming in.

Sara.

SIDNER: All right, thank you, Kate.

Up next, it hasn't happened in over a decade, men's single tennis, an American man now guaranteed a spot to play for the grand slam. That story coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:53:40]

SIDNER: This is cool. For the first time in nearly two decades, an American man will compete in the final. That's because two Americans, Frances Tiafoe and Taylor Fritz, have made it to the semifinals.

CNN's sports anchor Andy Scholes is joining us now with more. So cool.

ANDY SCHOLES, CNN SPORTS ANCHOR: Yes.

SIDNER: IT's great watching these guys, by the way, play. Tiafoe's been on fire.

SCHOLES: It is, Sara. I mean the crowd gets behind him there in New York. I mean it - we are in for a great weekend of tennis. And both Taylor Fritz and Frances Tiafoe, they won yesterday, booking those spots into the semifinals. It's going to be the first grand slam semifinal between two American men since the 2005 U.S. Open,

And Tiafoe's best finish of his career was reaching the semis back in 2022 in New York. So, he's matched that. The 26-year-old beating Grigor Dimitrov last night. Dimitrov actually had to retire in this match due to injury in the fourth set.

Now this year is the first since 2002 that neither Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal nor Roger Federer will win a major. And Tiafoe says it truly feels like a changing of the guard now in men's tennis.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

FRANCES TIAFOE, ADVANCES TO 2ND CAREER MAJOR SEMIFINAL: You put yourself in positions like, it's only a matter of time. And the game is open. It's not like - it's not like it once was were, you know, you make a quarter final and you play Rafael. It's like you're looking at flags (ph) now. It's like - I mean - I mean now - I mean it's - I mean that's just the reality now is it's totally different. Like, you know, and no one's unbeatable.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[09:55:09]

SCHOLES: All right, Tiafoe and Fritz are actually good friends. They've been playing against each other since they were 14. Fritz holds a 6-1 head-to-head edge over Tiafoe as pros. And last night Fritz beatings fourth ranked Alexander Zverev in four sets to reach a major semifinal for the first time in his career.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TAYLOR FRITZ, WILL PLAY IN 1ST CAREER MAJOR SEMIFINAL: I feel amazing. You know, I've - I've had a lot of looks in quarterfinals over the past couple years and today just - today just felt different. I really felt like it was - it was my time to take it a step further. And, I mean, it's - it's only fitting I'm doing it here on this court at the open in front of the crowd.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCHOLES: All right, so Fritz-Tiafoe going to be on Friday.

Elsewhere, the amazing week at the Paralympics continues for Ezra Frech. The 19-year-old leaping to a height of 1.94 meters, setting a new Paralympic record for the high jump. That came a day after Frech made an amazing comeback to win the 100 meters. Frech, he was very emotional after that second gold last night and said he put everything into this. He was the - he's the happiest man alive. And, Sara, when he was 11-years-old watching the Rio Paralympics, Frech said, I am going to be competing there one day. He made it to Tokyo and now he's won two gold medals. So, how about that?

SIDNER: It is incredible watching those athletes. Like, they are beyond wonderful. Sort of like our John Berman.

BERMAN: Yes, except nothing like that because they're actually good athletes.

Thank you all for being with us today. This has been CNN NEWS CENTRAL with John Berman, Kate Bolduan, and Sara Sidner.

SIDNER: That's me.

BERMAN: "NEWSROOM" up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)