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Nation Marks 23rd Anniversary Of September 11 Terror Attacks; Harris Gets Under Trump's Skin With Jab On Crowd Size At Rallies; GBI Reviewing Deer Hunting Video Appearing To Show Georgia School Shooting Suspect. Aired 7:30-8a ET

Aired September 11, 2024 - 07:30   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:32:15]

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, everyone. We are live in Lower Manhattan this morning. The Freedom Tower climbing in the sky behind me; the Memorial Plaza behind us as well.

And this morning we stop and we remember. We remember and honor the nearly 3,000 lives that were lost on September 11 -- 23 years ago, terrorists attacking.

Next hour, the families are going to begin reading out the names of the lives that were lost, something that they do every year. A beautiful, somber, heart wrenching moment that goes on and on and on. Nearly 3,000 lives lost. Those names will be read.

And then we will stop -- 8:46 a.m. will be the first moment of silence to mark when the first tower, the North Tower, was struck. You see those moments that we will be following and bringing to you live throughout the morning.

And on this anniversary 23 years later, joining me right now is the secretary of Homeland Security, Alejandro Mayorkas. Secretary, thank you very much for being here on this morning.

ALEJANDRO MAYORKAS, SECRETARY, DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY: Thank you for having me.

BOLDUAN: What are you thinking? I mean, we see the families behind us in Memorial Plaza. Families have been laying that one rose that they put on that name, and they've done so many times before. What are you thinking this morning? What are you thinking about this morning?

MAYORKAS: You used the word "somber" Kate, and that is a very appropriate word. It is, indeed, a very somber day. But we also have to draw inspiration from the fact that we have exhibited the resolve to stand strong and continue our way of life. Our way of life is impenetrable and will stand forever.

BOLDUAN: The threat -- the threat landscape -- it has, of course, evolved over the 23 years and the intelligence lapse and gaps that led up to 9/11 -- how has it evolved? What is the greatest threat to the American homeland today?

MAYORKAS: I think the foreign terrorist threat that struck our country so tragically 23 years ago persists. It is still very much something that we have to address. But the threat has evolved so that we are also concerned about individuals already here in the United States radicalized to violence. Radicalized to violence by false narratives, ideologies of hate, personal grievances, and other forms of narratives that are propagated on social media.

[07:35:00]

BOLDUAN: And speaking of -- along that vein on domestic threats, you had -- I think it was just in July you created a bipartisan panel for an independent review of the attempted assassination into Donald Trump. Have -- are there any preliminary findings? Have they brought you any work yet? And what are you hearing about this?

MAYORKAS: The independent review panel is one line of investigation --

BOLDUAN: Yeah.

MAYORKAS: -- of the July 13 attempted assassination. They will present me with a report at the end of this month is what the anticipated timeline is. We set a short timeline given the gravity of the event and the urgency of addressing it successfully.

BOLDUAN: No read yet on any conclusions that have been drawn?

MAYORKAS: No read yet, and we certainly don't want to get ahead of that.

BOLDUAN: Totally understandable.

This 9/11 lands in the thick of an election. Politics need to not be brought here but the candidates will all be here. I say that by way of just bringing up one of the issues when it comes to the homeland that you are in charge of when it comes to securing the border.

Immigration and securing the border was a huge topic discussed last night at the -- at the debate between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump. Donald Trump trying to make the case as he has many times before that the biggest threat to the country right now is illegal immigration.

Some of the things that he has said last night, and he has said before is that crime is down everywhere else in the world except crime is up in the United States because of illegal immigration. He thinks the number of illegal immigrants that are in the United States is far more than -- undocumented immigrants than the 11 million believed. He said last night he believes it's 21 million.

We have a new form of crime. It's called migrant crime and it's happening at levels that nobody thought possible. You are the man in charge of protecting the border. Can you respond to that?

MAYORKAS: Kate, it's not permissible for me to respond to a candidate's statements. The Hatch Act prevents me from doing so. But let me --

BOLDUAN: The charges leveled --

MAYORKAS: Yeah.

BOLDUAN: -- that are by --

MAYORKAS: Yeah.

BOLDUAN: -- others other than the candidate as well.

MAYORKAS: What is -- what is very important is that we focus on facts and not fiction. We have driven the number of encounters at the southern border down by more than 50 percent. That is through executive action.

But the enduring solution to what everyone agrees is a broken system is for congressional -- for Congress to act, and it has failed to do so because some interfered with a Senate bipartisan piece of legislation that was a remarkable compromise and would have made a remarkable difference in the security of our border.

That being said, crime is down in this country and the demonization of migrants is not consistent with our country's values.

BOLDUAN: When you hear a charge that illegal immigration and migrant crime is one of the greatest threats to the country today you say what?

MAYORKAS: That it's false.

BOLDUAN: Secretary Mayorkas, thank you very much for being here and joining us on this day as we all remember to never forget. Thank you very much --

MAYORKAS: Thank you.

BOLDUAN: -- for your time.

John, Sara, back to you.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: All right. Of course, we are still analyzing the fallout from the debate overnight. Kamala Harris went after Donald Trump on a number of issues. What seemed to get under his skin the most was when she talked about his rallies.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KAMALA HARRIS, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES, PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: 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.

(END VIDEO CLIP) BERMAN: So with us now is David Plouffe, senior adviser to the Harris campaign and campaign manager in 2008 for Barack Obama. Nice to see you this morning, David.

That was an interesting moment and clearly, it did get under Donald Trump's skin. But it was an answer to a question about immigration. I'm curious how that fact dealt with the question of immigration.

DAVID PLOUFFE, SENIOR ADVISER HARRIS CAMPAIGN, CAMPAIGN MANAGER FOR 2008 BARACK OBAMA CAMPAIGN: Well, John, Kamala Harris talked about immigration through the night.

And I think the main point is that there was a border bill that most -- some of the most conservative members of the Senate cooperated with Democrats on and it would have passed. It would have created a lot more border agents, a lot more technology. It would have helped us solve the problems instead of just talking about it, and Donald Trump killed it, and he said he was proud to do so.

The crowd size moment is interesting. It was making a bigger point, which is if you do watch his rallies -- and unfortunately, I'm forced to do it -- it's filled with grievances, filled with crazy things that no one outside of, I guess, some precincts on Fox News talk about, and it really is not focused on solutions. It's focused on himself.

Clearly, it triggered him, and I guess that was the exchange where he ended up talking about folks in Ohio eating dogs, which is not true.

So -- but it speaks to a bigger point, and I think that's what Kamala Harris did so well last night -- is she was really trying to connect with the American people about their desires, their hopes -- talking about things like a lot more support for small businesses, and housing.

And I think Trump was kind of focused on his normal -- it's almost like an old record spinning round and round. It's the old tired playbook and he brought it to the debate stage last night. And I think he did a huge disservice to his campaign.

[07:40:05]

BERMAN: So you were real-time tweeting, I think with some dial testing that you were involved in last night during the debate. Care to give us a window as to what you were doing and what got the biggest response?

PLOUFFE: Well, I won't share everything, John. And obviously, you know, your network had some research and other networks had qualitative focus groups with undecided voters. Obviously, any presidential campaign is looking most closely at how the voters who are yet to decide -- who may be either undecided or soft Trump-soft Harris viewed the debate. And what we saw was just a dominating performance.

You know, I think particularly, their exchange on abortion was one where the biggest gap I've ever seen in a debate in terms of people liking what Kamala Harris said and really disliking Donald Trump.

But throughout the night I think that she did herself a lot of good on the issues of the economy, on health care, on foreign policy, and Donald Trump did not. I mean, I'm not sure I've ever seen a group of voters react so poorly to something as they did to Donald Trump's strange detour into dog- and cat-eating land.

But it wasn't just that. I mean, I think -- John, I've always -- you always have to focus on the campaign. You have a good night, and you've got to focus on the next day. You've got to move on.

And I think 1) he -- we've waited 11 years for his health care plan, and we've never seen it and we never will. His only plan is to kick tens of millions of people off health care. I think he said I have the concepts of a plan after 11 years. You'll hear a lot more about that in the days to come.

He refused to say he wouldn't sign a national abortion ban. I'll remind your viewers he personally said he's going to cast his vote in Florida for a six-week abortion ban before many women know they're pregnant.

And then he basically said, you know, he wouldn't take Ukraine's side. He was asked repeatedly.

And so I think those are three key moments we'll see a lot about in the coming days and weeks.

BERMAN: She was given an opportunity to explain why and how her positions have changed on a number of issues. She was asked about fracking, Medicare for All, defunding the police. She only answered about fracking, and she cited the fact that in 2020, on the debate stage -- the vice presidential debate stage -- she said she supported President Biden's plan on that.

Why doesn't she address her evolution on these issues more?

PLOUFFE: Well, John, she talked about health care. She said clearly that she believes obviously a lot of people get their health care through their employer, but a lot of people also rely on the ACA, so that's a big difference.

If you get your health care from your employer, Kamala Harris is going to work to strengthen our health care system. If you get it on the individual market, like over 20 million Americans get, with her, you'll save it, and we'll improve it. Donald Trump will get rid of it.

So at the end of the day -- listen, I look at Donald Trump -- all these questions posed to Kamala Harris and that's fair. You know he's had seven or eight positions on just about every issue through his life. At this late stage of his life where he's settled is the most extreme version on all of them. Project 2025 is a big part of that.

But you saw on abortion last night, on health care last night -- by the way, how delusional is he? He said he saved Obamacare. Sixty time he tried to kill it. And if it wasn't for the courage of John McCain, he would have been successful.

So at the end of the day, I think what people saw last night is a candidate who is very much focused on the future. And I think, listen, whether you're Donald Trump or Kamala Harris, people are going to compare what you're offering the American people over the next four years. And I think there's a big distinction there on a range of issues that matter greatly to the American people.

BERMAN: David Plouffe, thanks for coming in this morning. Appreciate talking to you -- Sara.

PLOUFFE: Thanks, John.

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: All right, thank you, John.

This morning we're waiting to learn when students of Apalachee High School in Georgia could be returning to class for the first time since the deadly shooting there last week that took four lives.

The suspect's mother is set to speak with Barrow County investigators as early as tomorrow. This is coming as newly surfaced video shows the suspected shooter posing with a dead deer and a gun and being praised for his shooting skills.

CNN's Isabel Rosales is joining us now. What do we know about this video, and how might this play into the shooting investigation, if at all?

ISABEL ROSALES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Sara, good morning.

This video is likely to be an important piece of evidence in this criminal case as Colt Gray's access to firearms is being highly scrutinized here. The Georgia Bureau of Investigation, which is leading this investigation, told me it is looking into this video.

This video appears to be taken as a screen recording off of Colt Gray's mother's Instagram and was posted in January of 2023. We can see what appears to be Colt Gray hunting, posing with a rifle, posing with the dead deer that he hunted. And we can hear the voice of what appears to be his father in the background boasting his shooting skills and calling it the greatest day.

[07:45:00]

Now, five months after this video was apparently taken, Jackson County deputies paid Colt and Colin a home visit after they received -- the FBI received anonymous tips about an alleged school shooting threat. And Colin mentioned several times this deer hunting -- this first deer hunting trip with Colt, saying that he was trying to teach the boy about firearm safety.

And I spoke with Colt Gray's maternal grandfather who criticized Colin's move of buying an AR-15 style rifle. Our reporting shows that was done several months after this first deer hunting trip as a holiday gift. The grandpa criticized that moved, saying this gun wouldn't have been appropriate for hunting. He also said this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHARLES POLHAMUS, GRANDFATHER OF COLT GRAY: There's no point in talking about anything else other than he's a narcissist and he was evil, and he's gonna get what he deserves. Unfortunately, he took his son with him.

ROSALES: So you blame -- you blame the shooting on him entirely?

POLHAMUS: No question.

ROSALES: Does Colt -- does Colt bear any responsibility for that in your eyes?

POLHAMUS: Absolutely. Who in the hell are you gonna blame other than Colt? Colt is the one that did it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROSALES: Meanwhile, Marcee Gray -- I've been texting back and forth with her. She's Colt's mother. She says she is cooperating with Barrow County investigators and the GBI. She is meeting with them tomorrow in Barrow County.

SIDNER: Wow, Isabel. That was an incredibly telling interview that you did with the suspect's grandfather. Thank you so much for your reporting on this story -- John.

BERMAN: All right. Happening now, Hurricane Francine barreling toward the Gulf Coast. When Louisiana and Texas can expect to start feeling the impacts today -- as soon as this afternoon.

And the big endorsement overnight. Taylor Swift -- why she chose to weigh in now.

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TAYLOR SWIFT, SINGER-SONGWRITER: Singing "Look What You Made Me Do."

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[07:51:25]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HARRIS: Donald Trump has not plan for you, and when you look at his economic plan it's all about tax breaks for the richest people.

DONALD TRUMP, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: She doesn't have a plan. She copied Biden's plan and it's, like, four sentences. Like, run, Spot, run. Four sentences that are just oh, we'll try and lower taxes. She doesn't have a plan. Take a look at her plan. She doesn't have a plan.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SIDNER: This morning both the Harris and Trump campaigns are claiming victory in their first and very fiery debate, but who did actually come out on top?

Joining us now, some more opinions on this one. Former vice chair of the DNC and aide to President Obama, Michael Blake is with us. Also with us this morning, former Republican congressman from Pennsylvania, the all-important commonwealth, Charlie Dent.

I'm going to start with the simplest question, and I just asked this. First, to you, Michael. Who won this debate because there is a debate over who won the debate?

MICHAEL BLAKE, FORMER VICE CHAIR OF DNC, AIDE TO PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA: Who's debating this?

SIDNER: The Trump campaign and --

BLAKE: Come on, Sara. What are we doing? I mean, when you have to go into your own spin room you know you lost. And the reality is he was a train wreck. He understood that. He has no vision. And anyone that tries to act like on their side they won clearly was asleep at the wheel -- what happened last night. They should just hope that he just sits down, be quiet, and everyone else can focus on all the news.

I can't wait to hear what the congressman and others have to say because they know Trump lost last night.

SIDNER: Well, let's just go to the congressman then. He's here with you side-by-side. Look, another split-screen moment.

Charlie Dent, how did the candidate for the Republicans do versus the candidate for the Democrats?

CHARLIE DENT, (R) FORMER U.S. REPRESENTATIVE: Uh, I think Harris won the debate decisively. You know, Trump just looked ill-prepared. She was appropriately aggressive. She trolled him. She triggered him from crowd size to dog-eating. I mean, it just was a -- it was terrible for Trump.

And I thought that Harris was particularly powerful on women's health and reproductive rights where she made some very strong points. He didn't.

The only thing I could say about Trump that I thought at the end of the debate he made a comment that he probably should have made repeatedly. He said if you're going to do all these things why didn't you do them in the first 3 1/2 years of your time in office? But by then it was -- it was too late.

You know, he -- Harris also effectively attacked him on tariffs and Trump retorted well then, why haven't you repealed them? But Trump was just so -- you know, he was just obsessed with his own

issues of crowd size. And I think she really got him pretty good, too, with the comment about all your former staffers and generals all say you're a disgrace. And so, I -- it was clearly -- she clearly got under his skin.

So a big win for Harris. Trump's people -- look, Biden lost the first debate, but this is a complete and total reversal. We'll see what the polls say going forward but I don't know how anybody can spin this other than a pretty decisive defeat for Trump.

SIDNER: I want to talk about some of the issues. You brought up the issues of reproductive rights, and here is what Kamala Harris had to say, and Donald Trump, on the issue of abortion.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: What I did is something. For 52 years they've been trying to get Roe v. Wade into the states. And through the genius, and heart, and strength of six Supreme Court justices we were able to do that.

HARRIS: 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.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[07:55:12]

SIDNER: She addressed the lie that won't die, that Republicans -- that Donald Trump, in particular, keeps saying over and over and over again about aborting a child after it's born, which is murder -- which is not legal in any state and nobody's asking for that.

However, you saw this debate between the two of them. Very significant the way that they both responded because it tells you a lot about them.

What did you make of that debate between the two of them?

BLAKE: Trump can't handle a confident Black person showing up. And so, he couldn't stand that he was being outdebated on substance and policy. The notion that he and others are saying that she's done nothing, she literally leads the Maternal Health Task Force for the administration, first and foremost.

He was given two opportunities to very directly say I would veto. If they came forward with a ban I wouldn't. So it's very clear --

SIDNER: His answer was I won't have to.

BLAKE: I won't have to.

SIDNER: That was his answer. BLAKE: And then let's go a step further, Sara. When they talked about health care -- because this is all intertwined -- the concepts of plans -- you are running for president for a third time and you don't have a plan, you need to sit down.

And the reality is they do not have any approach other than they believe that Black and brown people showing up will be bad. Let's say everything negative against you. Let's disrespect your sorority. That's why I wore my black and gold to rep my fraternity because we are tired of this nonsense right now.

And the notion of what they are trying to do has no substance whatsoever, other than a strategy. Trump believes if I triple down on this nonsense those that feel that and those that believe that will vote for him. It's not about trying to govern the country. On a day like 9/11 we should actually be talking about what's positive. Nothing about that was positive because he actually wants to destroy communities.

SIDNER: Charlie, what is your take on -- you did mention the issue of reproductive rights and this was a - this was a big moment for the two of them actually.

DENT: Well, yes. Look, clearly, I was -- I was the last member of the House Republican Conference who was pro-choice on the abortion issue and I've often said the party needed to moderate on this issue.

And I thought that Harris effectively hit Trump on what she called the Trump abortion bans that in many of these states where they have six- week bans no exceptions, I thought she was quite effective. And Trump kept saying that everybody wanted Roe v. Wade overturned. Well, that's simply not the case. And all the legal scholars want it overturned. Again, not the case.

So she really was able to go after Trump, saying OK, you wanted the states to have it. Well now we have Trump bans. And Trump didn't have a good answer. And frankly, we're all struggling with whiplash from Donald Trump on the issue of abortion. He's moved back and forth so many times and he really was unable to articulate a coherent position again last night.

SIDNER: I just -- I have to do this. You talked about health care, and health care is another big issue for the population and, particularly, paying for it. So it's kind of linked with the economy.

Here is Trump on Obamacare, in particular. All right, we don't -- let me read you. We somehow don't have the sound.

All right. He says, "If we can come up with a plan that's going to cost our people -- our population less money and be better at health care than Obamacare, then I would absolutely do it. But until then I'd run it as good as I can run it."

And he was asked yesterday, "Do you have a plan?" And he says, "I have a concept of a plan. I would only change it if we came up with something that's better and less expensive than Obamacare." BLAKE: Look, so this man ran because of his disdain for Barack Obama -- President Obama -- where the fundamental policy he got done was health care. The notion this long that they have a concept of a plan not only is disastrous and foolish, it shows he is not serious in trying to be president.

And we can't ignore their notion of a -- his notion of a comment was to say that we support murder on the Democratic side.

In no regard should this man go anywhere near the Oval Office because he has no plan and there is no humanity towards us as a people.

SIDNER: All right, we're going to leave it there.

Michael Blake, thank you so much. Charlie, go ahead.

DENT: I just wanted to say on health care, I was in two meetings with Donald Trump in the White House on Obamacare and I got into a nasty fight with him over this issue. He has no concept of the policy. He would always say we're going to cover everybody. It's going to cost less and it will be beautiful. There was never any policy to back it up. He just didn't care about its impact on people, sadly.

SIDNER: Well, he was in the White House for four years and there was no health care plan that was passed by his administration.

DENT: Right.

SIDNER: Obamacare still is in place.

Thank you, gentlemen. Charlie Dent, Michael Blake, thank you both for coming on and talking us through this really important debate last night -- John.

BERMAN: All right. This morning Hurricane Francine barreling toward the Louisiana coast. Let's get the latest on where it's headed.

CNN meteorologist Allison Chinchar here with the forecast. Allison, what are you seeing?

ALLISON CHINCHAR, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Yeah, that's right. So the latest update just came in moments ago. Still 90 miles per hour sustained winds. Forward movement picking up a little bit of speed.

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