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Trump Alleges that Haitian Immigrants are Eating Pets in Ohio; U.S. Marks 23 Years Since September 11 Terror Attacks; Louisiana Braces for Landfall As Hurricane Francine Strengthens. Aired 9:30-10a ET

Aired September 11, 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]

SARA SIDNER, CO-ANCHOR, CNN NEWS CENTRAL: And particularly Haitians eating people's pets, and to a lot of people listening to that, to a lot of immigrants and Americans who were born and raised here, it sounds like fear-mongering.

KATE BEDINGFIELD, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: It is fear-mongering and there is absolutely an element of racism to it. It's gross. But it's also incomprehensible to -- I'm going to guess about 80 percent of the people who were watching that debate last night. I mean, it is an extremely online right-wing meme which by the way has been debunked.

And Donald Trump used this opportunity on the debate stage in front of millions of people to, instead of making a cohesive case about his own immigration plans, to talk about this thing that means nothing to 80 percent of the people watching. So, it was bizarre. It was kind of quintessentially Donald Trump.

It was pinched with hatred, made no sense to anybody except the most online, you know, right-wing MAGA followers, and is not the way to make a case to the moderate and swing voters who are going to decide the outcome of this election.

SIDNER: All right, Kate, I want to listen to Kamala Harris on the economy. She was asked if people were better off four years ago, something that we've heard -- a debate being won, that very sort of line, are you better off four years ago? And here's how she answered it when asked.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KAMALA HARRIS, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES & DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: I love our small businesses. My plan is to give a $50,000 tax deduction to start-up small businesses, knowing they are part of the backbone of America's economy. My opponent, on the other hand, his plan is to do what he has done before, which is to provide a tax cut for billionaires and big corporations which will result in $5 trillion to America's deficit.

My opponent has a plan that I call the Trump sales tax, which would be a 20 percent tax on every day goods that you rely on to get through the month.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SIDNER: Now, she is talking about the tariffs that Donald Trump reiterated that he would use. But she did not answer the question, are you better off? Should she have answered that question directly and then go into her policies?

BEDINGFIELD: Well, I think effective debates are about explaining to people how you view the world and why you're going to do what you're going to do if you're elected president. And I thought she answered that question really effectively by both going straight to small business, which she believes is one of the beating hearts of the economy.

Talking in concrete ways about what she would do for small business, and then contrasting with Trump who has said again he's going to continue big giveaways to the wealthiest in this country. I mean, I thought she did a nice job kind of lining up that contrast. At the end of the day, you know, a successful debate is about using the time in front of the camera to connect with the audience in the way you want -- in the way you want to, answering the question the way you want to. And I thought she did a really effective job of that in that answer.

SIDNER: May, what did you think about her answer in the end?

MAY MAILMAN, FORMER TRUMP WHITE HOUSE ASSOCIATE COUNSEL: You know, the economy is the number one issue in this election, and that just wasn't enough. She felt rehearsed, she felt memorized, she felt nervous, it just didn't seem to the audience, I don't think as to be capturing really the problems that Americans are facing and presenting a real plan.

So, I thought one of Trump's stronger moments of the night was when he said, her plan is, you know, can be summarized as run-spot-run. There isn't much there. I'm going to give people free things, that, you know, this doesn't really address the problem of giving people free things is the cause of the inflation that has hit historic levels.

And that, although the inflation is coming down, it is still rising at 1 percent higher than the Fed's target rate. That means prices are still going up. So, Trump missed an opportunity there, and then, of course, the moderators did follow-up multiple times with Trump, will you answer the question? Tell me about your tweet. Tell me about it.

And they did not follow up here. So, I think there were missed opportunities both from the moderators and from President Trump. But it was not her strongest answer by far.

SIDNER: May, who won this debate?

MAILMAN: Well, Trump lost this debate. You know, I think Kamala Harris could have won this debate by really explaining to people clearly who she is, and I still don't think people know, but Trump lost this debate because he did have a few strong moments. Like I said, I think that he got in -- something I -- that really resonated with me that Biden-Harris administration hasn't fired very many people.

They're just sort of on cruise control and bureaucracy, and you know, I don't -- I don't like that. That's not what I want from my government. I want accountability. But he did get distracted and her tactics of getting under his skin worked. He was clearly distracted, I think from the rally comment on down. And so, my friends who were -- you know, were voting for Trump, we want Trump to win, this was -- this was a missed opportunity. This was not what we were hoping for.

[09:35:00]

SIDNER: Kate, there was an important moment talking about healthcare, in particular, reproductive rights. Here is what Kamala Harris and Donald Trump had to say on that particular issue.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, U.S. REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: 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)

SIDNER: Kate, how do you think that they both handled the question about reproductive rights?

BEDINGFIELD: Well, I think the exchange on reproductive rights was one of the best moments of the debate for Kamala Harris, because she had -- you had Trump there, you kind of heard it in that soundbite, you had Trump reiterating how proud he is that he put these justices on the Supreme Court who overturned Roe.

So, it was very clear who is at -- who is at fault? Who's got responsibility for the fact that reproductive freedoms have been taken away from women across the country. You had him reiterating that. You also had her kind of pushing him on national abortion ban and whether he would veto it, he did -- around it, he wouldn't give an answer.

And then you had her giving a really heartfelt answer about what women in this country are going through. And so, it really illustrated the stakes of the issue. And we know this is an issue that is motivating voters all across the country. So, I thought this exchange was one of the most powerful for Kamala Harris in this debate.

SIDNER: All right, Kate Bedingfield and May Mailman, thank you both so much for coming on this morning. Kate?

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN NEWS CENTRAL: Thank you so much, Sara, we're here in lower Manhattan, we're continuing to follow the reading of the names out loud by family members of the victims of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. A 23rd anniversary commemorating that horrible day. We are also following while watching -- while this is all playing out here in New York, you see live pictures there.

We're also following a ceremony as we see every year happening at the Pentagon as well as we're approaching another moment of silence that will be taking place shortly there. Natasha Bertrand is standing by at the Pentagon as we're approaching that 9:37 a.m. moment. Natasha.

NATASHA BERTRAND, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Kate, 9:37 a.m. is when American Airlines flight 77 did crash into the Pentagon here in the E-ring, which is the outermost ring of the Pentagon. You can hear the invocation beginning now, and they're going to do the moment of silence right now. Let's listen.

(MOMENT OF SILENCE)

(TRUMPET BLARING)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Ladies and gentlemen, please be seated.

BOLDUAN: Nine-thirty-seven A.M., September 11th, 2001. That is the moment as Natasha was saying American Airlines flight 77 hit the Pentagon killing 184 people on that horrible day. Natasha, back with me now. And a memorial that has been built since, Natasha, it is a beautiful one.

BERTRAND: It is. And they hold this event there of course, every year commemorating the lives of the 184 people who were killed when that flight, American Airlines flight 77 did hit the Pentagon directly.

[09:40:00]

It killed 125 workers inside the Pentagon, including contractors as well as people who worked here on a more permanent basis, as well as 59 people who were on that flight itself. The youngest being just a 3- year-old girl whose remains were actually never found here. And so, this memorial is really to commemorate that, and we do expect to hear from the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, he's actually about to speak as well as the Secretary of Defense, Lloyd Austin.

They will be giving remarks, of course, commemorating the 23rd anniversary here of 9/11, very personal day, of course, for the people here inside the Pentagon, many of whom were here on that day.

BOLDUAN: Absolutely, Natasha, thank you for being there and marking this moment. We're going to continue to mark -- the ceremony continues at the Pentagon. The ceremony and the commemoration continues here in Lower Manhattan. And we also be soon be going to Shanksville, Pennsylvania, with so many where flight 93 crashed into that windswept open field on that fateful day. John, back to you.

JOHN BERMAN, CO-ANCHOR, CNN NEWS CENTRAL: All right, thanks so much, Kate. Millions under hurricane watch as Francine barrels towards Louisiana. We could see landfall as early as this afternoon. And a major endorsement for the Harris-Walz campaign for the world's most famous self-proclaimed childless cat lady. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:45:00]

(MUSIC PLAYING)

SIDNER: All right, sorry, the snakes freak me out. Anyway, moments after the big debate, Taylor Swift announcing she is voting for Kamala Harris and Tim Walz. She also used her endorsement on Instagram to take a jab at Republican Vice Presidential nominee J.D. Vance, signing the post "childless cat lady".

Joining us now, CNN's Elizabeth Wagmeister, she has jumped into the political fray with no abandon here.

ELIZABETH WAGMEISTER, CNN ENTERTAINMENT CORRESPONDENT: She has. And you know, this isn't the first time that Taylor Swift has entered the political fray. Back in 2020, she did endorse Biden and Harris, so, this isn't a huge surprise.

But the surprise, Sara, is that Taylor made an endorsement at all. It seems that for months, there has been endless speculation on whether Taylor, who, of course, is one of the biggest stars on the planet, would make this endorsement, and this is the biggest endorsement from a celebrity yet for the Vice President.

Now, earlier this morning on "Fox News", Trump was asked about Taylor's endorsement. Let's take a look at what he had to say.

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

TRUMP: I actually like Mrs. Mahomes much better if you want to know the truth. She's a big Trump fan, I was not a Taylor Swift fan, it was just a question of time. She couldn't -- you couldn't possibly endorse Biden. You look at Biden, you couldn't possibly endorse him. But she's a very liberal person. She seems to always endorse a Democrat and she'll probably pay a price for it at the -- in the marketplace.

(END AUDIO CLIP)

WAGMEISTER: Now, when he says Brittany, he is referring to Brittany Mahomes who is the wife of the football star Patrick Mahomes. She allegedly liked a post of Trump, so there's been a lot of chatter about that, and you see right there that Taylor and Brittany who are good friends, they are hugging, they were at the U.S. Open having fun this past weekend, people made a big deal of that.

But just like Taylor and Brittany who are very famous in the real world, of course, Sara, people have friends from all different walks of the political aisle.

SIDNER: I'm not sure she gives a rats tail about potentially losing some fans because that hasn't happened before and she's endorsed before. But we will see what happens in the future. Elizabeth Wagmeister, thank you so much for your reporting there. John Berman?

BERMAN: All right, Hurricane Francine, the storm is gaining strength, expected to make landfall later today.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:50:00]

BERMAN: All right, happening now, Hurricane Francine could make landfall as soon as this afternoon. More than 2 million people are under hurricane watch, millions more under threat of severe flooding. Let's get right to CNN meteorologist Allison Chinchar. How strong is it, where will it land?

ALLISON CHINCHAR, METEOROLOGIST: All right, so, it's still a Category 1 storm-sustained winds right now of 91 miles per hour, gusting up to 115. The National Hurricane Center still forecasting this thing will intensify further, getting into a low-end Category 2 hurricane before it makes landfall likely later this afternoon or early this evening before finally beginning to spread inland, taking with it the potential for heavy rain, some storm surge and also some gusty winds.

Here, you can start to see a lot of those outer bands already starting to spread into portions of Louisiana. We've still got rain in Texas and also Mississippi. But notice, pretty far inland for all of that rain. You're talking areas like Memphis, Atlanta, even Birmingham likely to get several inches of rain out of this, even though the coastal areas likely to pick up the most.

And it's not just the rain, but the coastal areas also have the concern of storm surge. This area just south of Morgan City looking at about 5 to 10 feet of storm surge. Some of the surrounding areas about 3 to 5.

BERMAN: All right, we'll watch it very closely, Allison Chinchar, thank you very much.

SIDNER: And thank you for joining us at CNN NEWS CENTRAL with John Berman, Kate Bolduan and myself, "CNN NEWSROOM" is up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:55:00]

JIM ACOSTA, ANCHOR, CNN NEWSROOM: Good morning, you are live in the CNN NEWSROOM, I'm Jim Acosta in Washington. The presidential debate and the morning after, we'll look at its impact on a deadlocked race in a moment. But first, remembering 9/11, 23 years later. The families of those killed on 9/11 are coming together to honor their loved ones and the nation is joining them, remembering the sacrifices of that day.

Let's not waste a moment here, let's go live to CNN's Kate Bolduan, she is at the site of the World Trade Center Memorial. Kate, we're just seconds away from a moment of silence. What can you tell us?

BOLDUAN: Seconds away from that moment of silence, we're going to listen to that, together, this will be the fourth moment of silence we have marked here on this day, 23 years since the horrible terror attacks on our nation. Let's listen to the moment.

(BELL RINGING)