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Harris Repeatedly Baits Trump During Fiery Debate; Nation Marks 23rd Anniversary of September 11 Terror Attacks; CNN Fact-Checks 33 False Claims Trump Made During Debate. Aired 7-7:30a ET

Aired September 11, 2024 - 07:00   ET

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

[07:00:00]

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: An absolute stunner of a presidential debate. And now the question, will there be another? Broad consensus that Kamala Harris laid the traps, Donald Trump jumped in bigly.

And breaking overnight, Taylor Swift makes the endorsement millions have been waiting for.

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: Donald Trump is talking a lot post debate this morning. He touted the job he did the night of the debate. He hit the spin room telling CNN this was my best debate, quote/unquote. Not everyone agrees what his campaign, though, is saying about his performance today.

And this morning, on the 23rd anniversary of September 11th, President Biden and Vice President Harris are set to visit each of the three sites of the 9/11 terror attack.

Donald Trump and his running mate, J.D. Vance, will also commemorate this somber day at Ground Zero today.

I'm Sarah Sidner with John Berman and Kate Bolduan. This is CNN News Central.

BERMAN: This morning, so this might be what happens when you have a plan. The reviews are in from Punchbowl News, Harris triggers Trump and it unraveled from there. The Wall Street Journal editorial board, the president let her rattle him. She won the debate. The New York Times, Kamala Harris craftily exploited her opponent's biggest weakness, not his record, not his divisive policies, not his history of inflammatory statements. Instead, she took aim at a far more primal part of him, his ego.

And from the former speech writer for President Reagan and George H.W. Bush, John Podhoretz, quote, he cleaned his own clock. And when he didn't, she cleaned his clock. And when she didn't, Muir and David, he means Davis, cleaned his clock. In the end, his clock was cleaned. He smudged her clock face a little.

This is some of what transpired.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KAMALA HARRIS (D), U.S. VICE PRESIDENT, PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Kamala Harris, let's have a good debate.

DONALD TRUMP (R), FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT, 2024 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Nice to see you. Have fun.

HARRIS: Thank you.

I'm going to actually do something really unusual, and I'm going to invite you to attend one of Donald Trump's rallies, because it's a really interesting thing to watch. You will see during the course of his rallies, he talks about fictional characters, like Hannibal Lecter. He will talk about windmills cause cancer. And what you will also notice is that people start leaving his rallies early, out of exhaustion and boredom.

TRUMP: In Springfield, they're eating the dogs, the people that came in. They're eating the cats. They're eating the pets of the people that live there. And this is what's happening in our country. And it's a shame.

As far as are concerned rallies are concerned, as far as the reason they go is they like what I say.

HARRIS: What Goldman Sachs has said is that Donald Trump's plan would make the economy worse. Mine would strengthen the economy. What the Wharton School has said is Donald Trump's plan would actually explode the deficit.

TRUMP: It's just a sound bite. They gave her that to say. Look, I went to the Wharton School of Finance and many of those professors, the top professors think my plan is a brilliant plan. It's a great plan. It's a plan that's going to bring up our worth, our value as a country.

HARRIS: Not everybody got handed $400 million on a silver platter and then filed bankruptcy six times.

TRUMP: Everything that she believed three years ago and four years ago is out the window. She's going to my philosophy now. In fact, I was going to send her a MAGA hat.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BERMAN: And that is just a taste of what happened last night.

CNN's Eva McKend and Alayna Treene, they watched the debate last night in Philadelphia and are with us this morning. First, Eva, to you, what are you hearing from the Harris campaign?

EVA MCKEND, CNN NATIONAL POLITICS CORRESPONDENT: Well, John, bottom line, they believe that they accomplish their mission. They set out to characterize the president, the former president rather, as fundamentally unserious, as caught up in his own grievances, as more concerned about his own issues more than he is of everyday Americans, as easily susceptible to being needled on crowd sizes and engaging in conspiracy theories, like falsely maligning immigrants as eating pets.

[07:05:09]

That is exactly what they're doing.

That is exactly what they wanted to come from this debate. And in addition to this, they believe that she had a good mastery of the issues when it came to the economy, and especially when it came to reproductive rights, that she showed real compassion. Let's listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HARRIS: You want to talk about this is what people wanted? Pregnant women who want to carry a pregnancy to term, suffering from a miscarriage, being denied care in an emergency room because the healthcare providers are afraid they might go to jail, and she's bleeding out in a car in the parking lot? She didn't want that?

I absolutely support reinstating the protections of Roe v. Wade, and as you rightly mentioned, nowhere in America is a woman carrying a pregnancy to term and asking for an abortion. That is not happening. It's insulting to the women of America.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MCKEND: And then at the end of the night, they picked up a surprise endorsement from megastar Taylor Swift, who proudly described herself as a childless cat lady.

But, listen, even though that they are feeling good and the spirit of the campaign is celebratory, so much so that they are eager for another debate, they are still sober-minded about the difficult road ahead. That's why they've already built out this week, and she's going to be campaigning again here in Pennsylvania, as well as in North Carolina, and Governor Walz will be campaigning in the Midwest.

SIDNER: All right. We've heard what Kamala Harris is planning to do. Alayna Treene what are you hearing from the Trump campaign this morning? Noting that he was on Fox and Friends this morning trying to sort of, it seemed like, clean up what happened last night, and he went to the spin room, which is pretty unusual for a candidate to do that quickly at the end of the night.

ALAYNA TREENE, CNN REPORTER: Very unusual for a candidate to do that, particularly one who is the Republican nominee in a general election debate, Sara, but also, when I talked to Trump's advisers about that, that that was a signal that they thought he needed to do the spinning himself. They said that this is Trump, he had been talking about this all day, so do with that what you will.

But, look, what I'm hearing from Donald Trump's advisers, I was texting with them all throughout the debate, I also was in the spin room last night catching up with a lot of them, and some have privately acknowledged, particularly I'd say people close to Trump, his outside allies, they note he took the bait, he fell for some of that goading that Kamala Harris had laid out for him, and ones that, I will remind you, and we talked about this all day yesterday, that his campaign had been the most concerned about. They had prepped him behind the scenes over the last few weeks not to fall for that, not to fall into the trap of getting more aggressive, of going on different rants of attacks. They wanted him to be more restrained. Clearly, that was unsuccessful. But they also argue -- you know, they're arguing that the moderators were more biased against him. You saw a lot of his surrogates, including people like Tulsi Gabbard, Brian Hughes, Trump himself said this, that it was a three- on-one debate. Of course, we know that when they blame the moderators and attack the networks, it ends up being a -- it ends up not really being a winning argument.

A key thing as well that I heard is, people were frustrated that he didn't steer the conversation back to the policy issues that matter. And particularly, when he fell for some of those attack or that goading and that baiting from Kamala Harris, it was on immigration, one of the issues that he does much better on, that they believe he polls better on. Same with the economy. He could have needled her more. They don't think she did well enough on the economy or answering questions about her changing her position, some of the flip-flopping, but they thought that a lot of people I talked to, that it was on Donald Trump to do that.

And so, I think, you know, we'll see what they end up saying today, as much as they are trying to claim that he won the debate. Sara?

SIDNER: What they're saying privately and publicly are often two different things. Alayna Treene, Eva McKend, thank you both very much. We'll be talking to people from both campaigns, by the way, this morning, so you'll hear from them yourselves, and we have much more ahead.

Kate is at the site of the 9/11 Memorial. Kate, out to you.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, guys. We are here at the 9/11 Memorial Plaza. We are going to be covering all of the moments that are going to be happening throughout this morning and bringing you all of the live moments here 23 years after September 11th 2001, a day that changed the world, changed the nation, dignitaries, gathering families coming to read those names allowed, as they do every year. And also we will be seeing President Biden, Vice President Harris, Donald Trump and J.D. Vance, all will be coming here this morning. We'll bring that to you. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:10:00]

BOLDUAN: On this day, 23 years ago, the United States was attacked and the world and this nation were changed forever. Nearly 3,000 people killed when terrorists attacked the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and also then there is the site in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, as well, targeting the political and financial heart of this country.

And today, the nation comes together once again to stop, to remember, to honor, and to never forget honoring the victims, honoring the survivors, the families of everyone impacted and all of the heroes that ran to help the heroes that also raised their hand to serve in the aftermath of 9/11.

[07:15:11]

CNN's Brynn Gingras is here with me. The bagpipes picking up once again.

BRYNN GINGRAS, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: I was just going to say you can feel how heavy this day is. You really do, especially when you're here at the site. We're starting to see those family members trickle in with a single white rose or the red rose, finding the names of their loved ones. Some of them they're very familiar where exactly that name is located one of these two reflection pools, and it's a heavy moment.

You know, there's also moments, I remember last year, you know, meeting family members, little kids who never met their parent or named after them, but felt like they knew them because their family had just talked about them so much. So, there are these moments where, you know, you feel like that never forget, that that's actually happening. And that's what today is all about, right? This is --

BOLDUAN: The families, because it is the families that read the names.

GINGRAS: Exactly.

BOLDUAN: It's not the dignitaries that come.

GINGRAS: It's not the dignitaries. They are not part of this. They are present, but it's not part of this. They want to keep most of the families want to keep politics completely out of this. Of course, you know, the debate was last night, so it's sometimes hard to sort of change our gear to today. But that is what it is all about for these families, remembering those who were killed not only here, but also in Pennsylvania at the Pentagon and also the people that have suffered in the aftermath. You know, about more than 300 firefighters have died from, you know, 9/11-related illnesses, and there are many more who are still suffering from cancer because they responded, because they raised your hand, as you mentioned, Kate.

So, this is a day about remembering where our country was at that moment and where we are going and where we have been. And that's why it's so important for these families.

BOLDUAN: And we will be together. We will be there, six moments of silence that we all experienced together. The city stops.

GINGRAS: At approximately 8:40, right? There's a citywide moment of silence and, as you said, followed by five more moments of silence. And in between those moments, all those names will be read.

BOLDUAN: And as you said, though, in this moment, this is -- this September 11th is one of those that lands in the thick of a presidential election. We're going to see all of them here. President Biden will be here. Vice President Harris will be here. Donald Trump and J.D. Vance, yes, just hours after they left the debate stage, they will also be here and also be heading to Pennsylvania as well.

Brynn's going to be here with me. We're going to bring you all of those moments throughout the morning, you guys. Back to you.

BERMAN: All right, Kate. So, a fact-check of the big debate, as Daniel Dale noted in real time, Trump has been staggeringly dishonest and Harris has been overwhelmingly though not entirely factual.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:20:00]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: I read where she was not black, that she put out. And, I'll say that, and then I read that she was black.

People don't go to her rallies, there's no reason to go. And the people that do go, she's busing them in and paying them to be there.

In Springfield, they're eating the dogs, the people that came in. They're eating the cats. They're eating the pets of the people that live there.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: Just a few of the claims, false claims that Donald Trump made last night.

CNN Senior Reporter, resident fact-checker Daniel Dale is with us. You have been busy my friend.

DANIEL DALE, CNN SENIOR REPORTER: I have, sir. The fact check story of the night was the staggering dishonesty of former President Trump. I counted at least 33 false claims from him, and I think that might be a generous count, versus one, maybe two false claims from Vice President Harris, though she did also add a smattering of misleading, or lacking in context claims.

Let's go through this wild list of false Trump claims, John. Some of them are just egregious lies. On the economy, he said tariffs do not raise prices on Americans. They do. He said his tariffs raked in hundreds of billions of dollars from China. Americans paid those billions. He said all of the jobs created under Biden and Harris are merely bounce back jobs from his administration. No, today's number is millions higher than back then. He said we have the worst inflation ever. No, the U.S. record is 23.7 percent. It is 2.9 percent today, down from a Biden Harris era peak of 9.1 percent. He said there was no inflation when he was president. Prices actually rose a cumulative 8 percent when he was president.

Then on immigration, he said migrants in an Ohio City, you heard, are eating people's cats and dogs. That is a baseless, debunked Facebook rumor, just nonsense. He said Harris is the border czar. No, she never was. She had a more limited immigration related diplomatic assignment. He said 21 million migrants have crossed the border under Harris. That is many millions too high. He said millions of people are entering monthly. There has not been a single month in the millions. He said many of the migrants are from foreign prisons or mental institutions. Even his own campaign has not been able to corroborate that.

On abortion, he said every Democrat wanted Roe v. Wade overturned. That is just untethered to reality. Roe was supported by more than 80 percent of Democrats. Then he said every legal scholar wanted Roe overturned. A bunch of legal scholars have personally told me that they did not. He said Governor Tim Walz says it's fine to execute babies after birth. Walz never said that and that is illegal in every single state.

On foreign relations, he said $85 billion in U.S. equipment was left to the Taliban. That is a massive exaggeration. The Pentagon says the number is $7 billion. He said Iran didn't fund terror groups under him. Iran did, though its funding level did decline. He said he ended Russia's Nord Stream 2 pipeline. No, he did authorize sanctions, but after it was more than 90 percent complete. And Russia resumed construction during his own presidency.

[07:25:02]

He said the U.S. has provided far more aid to Ukraine than Europe has. It's the reverse. Europe has provided far more aid than the U.S.

He said President Biden took millions of dollars from China. He did not. He added a false claim about Biden getting money from Russia, again, nonsense. And he said Harris was sent to negotiate peace with Putin right before Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Not only did that just not happen, the Kremlin says Harris has never once even spoken with Putin. Trump said he rebuilt the entire military. He did not.

And then attacking Vice President Harris, he said Harris was the first candidate to drop out of the 2020 Democratic primary. There were actually 13 others who dropped out before her. He said Harris previously said she wasn't black, total fiction. He said people don't attend Harris rallies. Thousands do indeed. He said people don't leave his own rallies early. Some do.

And when it came to the 2020 election and his own legal troubles, he said there's so much proof the 2020 election was stolen. There is not. It was not. He said Nancy Pelosi turned down his offer of 10,000 National Guard troops on January 6th. There's no evidence she even got such an offer. It was Trump, not the speaker, who had the power to deploy the guard. He said no judge even looked at the merits of his allegations about the 2020 election. Some judges actually did, and his side still lost those cases. He said the Justice Department was behind a variety of legal cases it had actually nothing to do with.

And then a whole bunch of other lies on a variety of topics. He said crime is skyrocketing. It's actually declining sharply. He said the Central Park Five pleaded guilty. They did not. They were wrongly convicted. He said those men killed someone. It was not even a murder case. He said he saved Obamacare when actually he tried to kill it and then weakened it. And he said Harris has a plan to confiscate, quote, everybody's gun. She does not. In 2019, she supported a mandatory buyback of assault weapons in particular, and her campaign says she doesn't even support that now. John?

BERMAN: Wow. All right, Daniel Dale, get a drink of water. Get some calories in you. Thank you so much for that. That was stunning, to say the least.

DALE: Thanks for having me.

BERMAN: Sara?

SIDNER: I'm exhausted. Are you, Daniel Dale?

BERMAN: That was a tour de force.

SIDNER: Wow. All right, in minutes, Presidential Candidate Kamala Harris and Donald Trump will arrive in New York to pay their respects at the 9/11 memorial. Our Kate Baldwin is live for us there.

And Kamala Harris snags a critical endorsement after last night's debate. Just how valuable might it be? Taylor Swift is officially in. She's with her for Kamala Harris.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:30:00]