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Harris H.Q. Focusing on New Strategies in Final Sprint; Boeing Workers Vote Overwhelmingly to Strike; Miami's Tua Tagovailoa Concussed Again in Loss to Bills. Aired 7-7:30a ET

Aired September 13, 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]

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: Brand new CNN reporting from inside the Harris campaign, their strategy to focus on impact over policy and the group of voters they wanted to resonate with the most.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: Breaking overnight, Boeing workers are on strike. Tens of thousands of union members vote to walk off the job today. A big blow to one of America's biggest manufacturing giants.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: At war with the west, Vladimir Putin with a big threat overnight as President Biden ways giving Ukraine permission to strike deeper into Russia.

I'm John Berman with Sarah Sidner and Kate Bolduan. No audio, no air conditioning, no problem. This is CNN News Central.

SIDNER: All right. This morning, keep the momentum high, keep drawing eyeballs. That is the new final sprint strategy for the Team Harris headquarters, as, get this, Kamala Harris today officially passes the halfway point in her hyper speed campaign for the presidency. Just 54 days ago she jumped into the race. Just 53 days now left to go.

Soon, Harris heads to the critical battleground commonwealth of Pennsylvania, more specifically, directly to counties Donald Trump won in the last two elections. And she tries to goad Trump into another debate.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KAMALA HARRIS, U.S. VICE PRESIDENT, DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: Donald Trump and I had our debate. I believe we owe it to have another debate, right? We owe to the voters.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SIDNER: CNN Senior Reporter Isaac Dovere leads us off. Isaac, you've heard how they're talking to each other about what this race really looks like inside the Harris headquarters. How does that compare to what she's saying out on the trail?

EDWARD-ISAAC DOVERE, CNN SENIOR REPORTER: Well, that's right, Sara, and a piece up on our site this morning. What I get into there is a leadership retreat that happened at Harris headquarters last week before the debate, where they talked about how, still, they do not see a one clear sure path to 270 electoral votes. Obviously, that would win her the election.

That doesn't mean that they don't see ways that it can happen. They see a lot of ways that it can happen. But still, this race is very tight, and they think that and Harris is running close. Some people think that if the election were held today that Donald Trump would still win. Obviously, that was pre-debate. Post-debate, what they tell me is that's still basically where they see this. There's a lot of work that they have to do to keep this going, keep the energy and excitement high. And that's part of why you see Harris talking about things the way that she did yesterday in North Carolina. Let's take a listen to that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HARRIS: Donald Trump intends to end the Affordable Care Act. As he said in the debate, he made clear he has no plan to replace it. In fact, you remember? Concepts, do you remember? He has, quote, concepts of a plan, concepts of a plan.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DOVERE: So, that's trying to jazz up the supporters, get everybody really engaged with the energy of this race, and make it something that keeps that momentum going from, like you said, the first 53 days of this campaign, which were, for the most part, a lot of good vibes and sugar high for the Harris campaign.

SIDNER: How is the Harris campaign, though, feeling specifically about the battleground states, which they have been hitting very hard?

DOVERE: Yes. And, look, as you pointed out in that map today, we're going to see Harris in Pennsylvania, two stops in places that Donald Trump won, Tim Walz in Michigan, then he's in Wisconsin.

What they look at in this campaign now from the Harris view is a possibility that unlike in previous presidential cycles the last couple times, you will not see states necessarily move as regions. Wisconsin and Michigan, Pennsylvania, the blue wall, might split up in different ways.

[07:05:00]

North Carolina and Georgia might act in different ways. Arizona and Nevada might act in different ways. Why is that? Because there are different candidates in those races when it comes to the candidates for senator and governor, those races, there are ballot propositions that are changing things, and there are just different things going on in those states. And that shakes up all the calculus here and comes back to what I was saying at the beginning of why they don't see that there's one certain clear path to 270 now even though they see a lot of ways through potentially to get there.

SIDNER: They certainly think that the path to the White House, though, does include going through Pennsylvania.

Isaac Dovere, thank you so much.

BOLDUAN: So Donald Trump also on the trail today, and he says he has settled the debate over debates, declaring that he will not debate Kamala Harris again. Here is his spin on it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT, 2024 PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: So, because we've done two debates and because they were successful, there will be no third debate.

It's too late anyway. The voting's already begun. You got to go out and vote.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: This morning, Donald Trump is right there. He's actually in Southern California this morning, and that is where CNN's Kristen Holmes is for us. Kristen, good morning.

KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Kate. Well, today, he is slated to give some sort of press remarks. We're not sure if this is going to be the generic press remarks that we generally hear from Trump, and then he takes questions, or if this is just going to be him rambling on and then leaving. Obviously, it could be anything when it comes to Donald Trump.

Now, what we expect to hear from him is a re-litigation of what we've really heard for the past 48 hours, Donald Trump has tried to reset the tone, reset the narrative around the debate, as you said, putting his own spin on it.

Universally, Republican operatives, every single ally that I spoke to said that Donald Trump lost the debate. They were disappointed, but Donald Trump himself, he has continued to maintain that he won. And now he is trying to sell that to at least his base, which is what you showed there yesterday. That was in front of a crowd in Arizona, people who were already supporting Donald Trump. He got the cheers. He got the laugh lines that he wanted.

So, today, the big question is whether or not he actually takes questions from us on that debate performance and also on a critical issue that we've all been talking about. And Republicans have been speaking out against was just traveling with Laura Loomer.

Now, one of the other things that he continues to hammer on is this fear mongering around immigration. Here's what he said last night.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: Illegal Haitian migrants taking over a beautiful place. It was so beautiful, Springfield, Ohio. I was there. I campaigned there a while ago, Springfield. It was so beautiful. Now it's just -- what a place. Can you imagine you have this small little community? All of a sudden you have 20,000 illegals in your community.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: So, this is all part of a strategy. We know that Donald Trump and his team want him to hammer home these issues of immigration, the economy and crime. So, we expect to hear that from him today. But again, Kate, the question is, are we going to walk in there and he actually takes questions from reporters, or is this just another opportunity for him to air his grievances and then leave his home here in California, his resort here in California and head to Nevada.

BOLDUAN: And is that now part of the strategy, not even give policy and concept to but just airing of grievances? We shall see with you this morning. Good to see you. Thank you.

BERMAN: Breaking overnight, 33,000 workers walk off the job in a strike that could have major impacts on the U.S economy.

Breaking overnight, Miami Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa taken off the field with a concussion. This was at least Miami Dolphins is third in the NFL. There are serious questions this morning on if or even should he ever take the field again.

And could Elon Musk become the world's first trillionaire?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:10:00]

BERMAN: All right. Breaking overnight, about 33,000 Boeing employees on strike after union members overwhelmingly rejected a proposed contract with the aircraft manufacturer. This is the first strike at Boeing in 16 years and will pretty much halt commercial airplane production at one of the country's largest manufacturers and exporters.

CNN's Vanessa Yurkevich is with us. Great to see you, Vanessa. So, what's going on here?

VANESSA YURKEVICH, CNN BUSINESS AND POLITICS CORRESPONDENT: Great to see you, John. So, yes, this was not just a no vote. This was an absolutely not vote. You had 95 percent of membership voting down this deal that was agreed to by the union leadership and Boeing. And then you had 96 percent of membership saying they wanted to go on strike.

And that is exactly what we are seeing this morning. 33,000 union members who work at Boeing, bringing one of America's largest manufacturers to a grinding halt. You also mentioned they are a huge exporter. Listen to what the union president, Jon Holden, said last night after the vote results.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JON HOLDEN, PRESIDENT, INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF MACHINISTS UNION: This is something that we take on one day at a time, one week at a time. You know, we got to get back to the table. Our members sent a strong message. I know they're going to be staffing the picket lines tonight and we'll be there 24/7 all across Puget Sound in Portland and the other locations.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

YURKEVICH: Now, this will not affect passengers of airlines right now, and this is not really going to affect the airlines in the immediacy. However, where this does come into play is if this strike drags out, this is going to affect the nearly 10,000 suppliers that work with Boeing.

[07:15:07]

Boeing says that it contributes about $79 billion to the U.S. economy, and creates many more jobs in addition to these union membership jobs, about 1.6 million jobs.

So, this could certainly have a ripple effect, but union membership saying that the deal that was struck is simply not good enough. It was 25 percent wage increases. It was a signing bonus. It was the promise to bring a new airplane to Washington that union members could vote on that could work on. We don't know, though, with this vote, John, whether or not that plane will end up coming to the state of Washington, because it was contingent, of course, on this deal being a yes vote by membership, and that's not what we saw last night, John.

BERMAN: Yes, it wasn't just no, as you say, it was hell no, like 95, 96 percent. So, what happens next?

YURKEVICH: It's tricky, because there's not one single issue that the union leadership can point to as to why members voted this deal down. A lot of it, John, is pent up frustration from 2008, when a lot of the members gave up concessions for a contract.

And since then, there's been no full negotiation on a contract. They've just done contract extensions. And so they really felt like this was their moment to get everything that they wanted, and they didn't. And from Boeing's perspective, they say they want to get back to the negotiating table. But, John, Boeing really hasn't been doing so well financially these days. They're about $33 billion in operating losses and haven't turned a profit since 2008. So, the union's leadership and membership may want more. But how much can Boeing give? We simply don't know.

BERMAN: All right. Vanessa Yurkevich, as I said, great to have you here this morning. Thanks so much. Kate?

BOLDUAN: New questions this morning about the health and well being of the quarterback Miami Dolphins, suffering another concussion last night, at least his third in the last few years.

And an incredible rescue caught on police body camera, officers pulling two children from a home engulfed in flames.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) [07:20:00]

SIDNER: The Miami Dolphins head coach says it's too early to decide whether to put quarterback Tua Tagovailoa on the injured reserve list after he suffered a concussion, his third. He went down after Buffalo Bills safety. Damar Hamlin tackled him. You'll remember that Hamlin himself collapsed on the field last year after a hard hit to the chest, causing him to go into cardiac arrest.

Joining us now is CNN's Andy Scholes. Andy, I know Hamlin is it's clearly shaken up by this, but how this morning is Tua doing?

ANDY SCHOLES, CNN SPORTS ANCHOR: Well, Sara, you had Dolphins coach Mike McDaniel. He said Tua was in good spirits after the game, but, you know, everyone, just lots of concern for Tua right now. You know, a couple of years ago, we had one of the scariest moments in recent memory in the NFL with Tua's hands seizing on the field after taking a hit to the head. And last night's game against the Bills, Tua lowered his shoulder on this run. He slams right into Damar Hamlin. He immediately went into a fencing response with his arms in an unnatural position. Tua was attended to on the field and was able to walk off on his own.

Now this was Tua's third diagnosed concussion of his career. And he's admitted in the past that he's considered retirement due to concussions. His status moving forward is certainly unclear, but here was Dolphins coach Mike McDaniel after the game on his quarterback.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MIKE MCDANIEL, MIAMI DOLPHINS HEAD COACH: My thought was concern and I was just worried about my guy. So, that's, yes, not something that you -- everyone ever want to be a part of, you know, you hope not to.

The furthest thing from my mind is, you know, what is the timeline? You know, I want to know. We just need to evaluate and, you know, I'm just worried about my teammate and like, like the rest of the guys are.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCHOLES: Now, Tua did play all of last season, but in 2022 had a series of concussion problems in week three against the Bills. He stumbled after a hit, but was cleared to return to play in that game.

Now, the NFLPA ended up firing the independent neurologist that let Tua stay in that game. Now, the very next week, though, Tua hit his head and his hand seized up on the field and was carted off with a concussion. He would return two weeks later and would play until week 16 when he suffered another concussion against the Packers. Tua ended up missing the final two games of the season and then the playoffs.

Now, as for the game last night, it was dominated by the Bills. James Cook, he ran for two touchdowns and caught another from Josh Allen. Miami actually dominated at the time of possession and had more yards, but Tua threw three interceptions, including a pick six in the third quarter before leaving the game. Bill's beat the Dolphins for the 14th time in 16 games, 31-10. But after the game, Allen's thoughts were with Tua.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOSH ALLEN, BUFALLO BILLS QUARTERBACK: Understanding what's happened in the past and just knowing that I'm praying for him and his family. He's a great football player, but I've been around him outside of the football field and even amazing human and even more amazing human.

So, again, prayers are going out to him and his family and hopefully everything's all right.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCHOLES: Yes. So, Tua, Sara, has had three diagnosed concussions in the NFL now, likely more. He had one at Alabama to in his final season there. So, just lots of people, including former players, calling for Tua to have real serious thoughts about whether he needs to keep playing.

SIDNER: Yes, seeing that response where his hands seize up, it's really, really hard to watch. And this poor guy like it's going to affect his whole life.

[07:25:01]

So, we will all be watching and hoping that he recovers.

Andy Scholes, thank you so much. I appreciate it. John?

BERMAN: Yes, Sanjay has done amazing work on this. I mean, there's much more to life than football.

SIDNER: The truth.

BERMAN: And people need to be there for him to tell him that, you know, you don't need this.

SIDNER: Yes.

BERMAN: All right. New this morning, President Biden may soon give Ukraine the okay to use long range missiles to fire into Russia. Vladimir Putin with a fiery response.

Trouble at takeoff, a near miss as two passenger planes nearly collide. So, why does this keep happening?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BOLDUAN: President Biden and a possible big shift coming in Ukraine. President Biden now appearing poised to allow Ukraine to the use of long range missiles supplied by the west to target deeper inside Russia, something Ukraine's top officials have long called for, something that to this point has been something of a line in the sand for the Biden administration. Biden's meeting with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer today, where this will likely be a topic on hand for their discussions, and just as Vladimir Putin is also now weighing in on this.

Let's bring in CNN's Kevin Liptak. He's got much more on the very latest here. Kevin, what are you hearing about what's driving this change in position coming from President Biden?

[07:30:02]

KEVIN LIPTAK, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Yes, there are a couple of reasons, Kate, why this conversation is happening now. One is just the general battlefield.