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Concussion Concerns Grow in NFL; Boeing Strike; Trump Refuses to Debate Harris Again. Aired 1-1:30p ET

Aired September 13, 2024 - 13:00   ET

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

[13:00:57]

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: Former President Trump set to speak here in minutes, as he refuses a rematch on the debate stage, and, in the meantime, Vice President Harris heading to Pennsylvania, hoping to parlay her post-debate momentum into some more. We're live on the trail.

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: Plus: from the assembly line to the picket line, tens of thousands of Boeing workers walking off the job. What this means for the troubled airline manufacturer and the ripple effects for the entire U.S. economy.

And should he play again? New questions about the health and future of NFL star Tua Tagovailoa after he suffers another concussion.

We're following these major developing stories and many more all coming in right here to CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

We're following the two presidential candidates right now on opposite sides of the country. In California, former President Donald Trump is getting set to talk to reporters at this very podium after announcing there will be no rematch with Vice President Kamala Harris on the debate stage.

KEILAR: And Vice President Harris is on her way to Pennsylvania, where she will be making two campaign stops today in the critical battleground. We're also learning more about her campaign's new strategies here in the final sprint to Election Day.

Let's get to CNN national correspondent Kristen Holmes. She is there in California.

And, Kristen, what are we expecting from the former president today?

KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Brianna and Boris, first of all, we expected this to start at noon. Now it is at least an hour later, and we don't know what he's going to say.

There was nothing billed for what this press conference was going to be about, and that generally means that we're going to hear a lot of airing of grievances and a lot of ranting. Now, whether or not he takes questions, that, of course, is our big question. We have lot to ask him about in regards to that debate and other things as well when it comes to his campaign.

But we know sometimes they label things as a press conference and then don't in fact take questions. So, what his campaign is hoping he's talking about is the economy in particular. This is something that we know that Donald Trump's team believes can help him win in November.

But whether or not he actually sticks to the script, that remains to be seen. We are expecting likely to have him talk about immigration as well. He has continued to repeat those debunked rumors out of Springfield, Ohio, something that, of course, as we saw in our own air last night, the Springfield mayor said, "We need help, not hate."

But part of the strategy is talking about immigration. And that fact, for them, seems to mean fearmongering as well. So we're waiting to see what he's going to actually say when he takes that podium behind me, when, if, at what time he takes that podium behind me, because, again, we are now more than an hour late.

But we will keep you posted and make sure we try to get in our questions, even if he doesn't seem to want to take them.

SANCHEZ: We will, of course, monitor his remarks and ultimately see if he answers your questions.

Kristen Holmes live in California, thank you so much.

Let's go to CNN's Priscilla Alvarez, who's live in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania.

Priscilla, what's the latest from team Harris?

PRISCILLA ALVAREZ, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, her team wants to get as many eyeballs as possible on the vice president through rallies like she's having here today in Pennsylvania, but also in any other unconventional ways, because, again, the campaign knows that they have to continue to introduce her to voters outside of the campaign trail, as well as on the campaign trail.

But even as they do that and look for multiple pathways to those 270 electoral votes, Pennsylvania continues to be critical. Just look at her schedule over the last eight days, where seven of those days she's spent in this state.

So, clearly, while they're looking for multiple pathways, this state continues to be crucial for them. Now, today, she is returning to two counties that former President Donald Trump won in 2020. We have seen her do this in other parts of the country as well. The idea is to try to convert voters or at least slim down the support for former President Donald Trump in an attempt to get as many votes as possible from perhaps some of those unlikely counties.

[13:05:05]

Now, of course, here during her rally later this afternoon, she's going to be introduced by a local Republican, notable only because that is continuing to be part of the campaign argument, one that she also made yesterday in North Carolina that Republicans are also backing her.

She will also be with Governor Josh Shapiro and Senator Bob Casey. And, again, the idea here and the strategy is for her to identify, for the campaign to identify those sliver of undecided voters in each of the battleground states and try to appeal to them directly.

And one of the ways they see doing that is by going to these battleground states often and early. And today is an example of that. Even though she has spent so much time in Pennsylvania over the last several days, they still think that she needs to be here, especially with early voting just around the corner.

So, today, during her rally, we will expect that she is going to continue her message about being the underdogs, but also appealing directly to those undecided voters, particularly in counties that have leaned toward former President Donald Trump in the last election -- Boris.

SANCHEZ: Priscilla Alvarez live from Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, thank you so much, Priscilla.

KEILAR: Got to get that right.

SANCHEZ: Yes, got to get that right.

(LAUGHTER)

SANCHEZ: Let's bring in CNN chief national affairs correspondent Jeff Zeleny now.

Jeff, does Harris have a path to victory that doesn't include winning Pennsylvania?

JEFF ZELENY, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: She does, but it's not as easy of a path. And here's why. Pennsylvania is the biggest battleground in terms of electoral votes, 19 electoral votes. So if you do not win Pennsylvania, she needs either North Carolina or Georgia and one other state.

So Pennsylvania is 19. You can essentially win the White House as long, of course, as you win the blue wall of Michigan and Wisconsin and that blue dot in Nebraska that we talk about so often. So, yes, she can.

But Pennsylvania is -- it's not an easy path. Obviously, Pennsylvania is very difficult, but it is the easiest mathematically, I guess, because it's 19 electoral votes. But what Priscilla was talking about there is so interesting.

Vice President Harris is not just going to Trump country. This is deep red Trump country. And one of these counties, the former president won by 37 points. So what she's trying to do is sort of the John Fetterman approach by really showing up in some of these rural Pennsylvania counties, finding Democrats.

May not be a Democratic household. There may be one Democratic voter in the household, just really trying to show up and make her argument that she is willing to go anywhere. But, look, this is deep red Trump country. And it's something Trump really doesn't do, going into blue areas as much, as she's trying to go into red areas.

KEILAR: It's interesting, though. And we would cover Bernie Sanders. You would see that with him. He'd go into rural areas, and people who did support him would get very excited because they're not used to a candidate, their candidate showing up.

So it does secure some enthusiasm, for sure.

ZELENY: Right.

KEILAR: I wonder, Jeff, this -- Trump saying that he's not going to do another debate, is that definitively definitive?

ZELENY: I would write it in pencil, not pen, on the calendar.

KEILAR: OK.

ZELENY: Look, how many times have we seen Donald Trump say, I'm not doing a debate? On the ABC debate that we just had this week, I think he pulled out of that at least twice.

So, look, I mean, there are some reasons why he wouldn't do it, because he doesn't like the contrast with Vice President Harris. I mean, he would have to prepare for this debate, which is something he clearly did not do for the last one. So we shall see.

I think the one argument that he might do it is that big audience. He loves an audience more than anyone. So we shall see. But he is closing it down, obviously, for reasons, saying he won the debate. It's very hard to find a Republican not on his payroll, even some who are on his payroll, who disagree with him.

SANCHEZ: One of the most memorable, I don't know if memorable is the word, but certainly historic and unexpected, certainly unprecedented lines from that debate between the two of them was Donald Trump suggesting that Haitian migrants in Springfield, Ohio, are eating pets, they're going after dogs and cats and such.

And he's since doubled down on that. And his V.P. pick, J.D. Vance, has come to his defense. What do you make of that approach, Jeff?

ZELENY: I think it's a very intentional approach. It is an intentional approach to inject immigration into this conversation, into this campaign much more than he was able to do so substantively on the debate stage.

Look, there are many questions about the Biden/Harris administration's immigration policy. But the border has calmed down considerably in recent weeks and months. But he is trying to inject immigration and potentially a racist argument into this conversation, and also so we're not talking about other things. And it sounds outlandish and whatnot, but it is a way to talk about

immigration. What I'm sort of struck by, this is a red area of Ohio, not surprisingly. And J.D. Vance is the state's senator.

[13:10:02]

So, to me, that is so unusual about this. Local officials there, the mayor and other Republicans as well, are saying, stop talking about Springfield in this way. So that is why it is so unfortunate, I guess, all the way around.

KEILAR: Yes, it's very interesting.

Jeff, thank you so much.

ZELENY: You bet.

KEILAR: Jeff Sel -- Jeff Zeleny. I know your name. Why did I do that? Sorry.

(LAUGHTER)

ZELENY: No problem. I have been called much worse.

KEILAR: All right.

(LAUGHTER)

SANCHEZ: Not on CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

KEILAR: No.

SANCHEZ: Appreciate you, Jeff. Thanks so much.

So, right now, some 33,000 Boeing employees are on strike. Union members started walking off the job early this morning after voting overwhelmingly to reject a proposed contract with the troubled aerospace giant.

KEILAR: This is the first strike at Boeing in 16 years, and it will virtually stop commercial airplane production at one of the nation's biggest manufacturing companies and its largest exporter.

CNN's Vanessa Yurkevich is here.

Vanessa, tell us what's happening.

VANESSA YURKEVICH, CNN BUSINESS AND POLITICS REPORTER: We actually just heard from Boeing CFO Brian West, who was speaking at a conference.

And he said that he is disappointed by these results. Also disappointed, though, are the rank-and-file members, who believe that Boeing and their union leadership did not come up with the best deal for them. You have 95 percent of union members voting down the deal and then 96 percent voting to go on strike. And that is exactly what we are seeing today. I want to play for you a sound bite from Jim Bloomer. He's a 20-year veteran of Boeing. Listen to why he says that he is on strike this morning.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JIM BLOOMER, BOEING EMPLOYEE: The fact of the matter is we're owed a lot more for what we do. If Boeing touts that we're the best in the industry, they need to treat us the best in the industry. There's a lot of stuff that just doesn't add up. Their math is crazy.

And just people aren't seeing it. They want more for what we're asked to do.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

YURKEVICH: Now, there's a lot of frustration from union workers who haven't negotiated a deal with Boeing, a full contract deal with Boeing, since 2008, so nearly 16 years.

And they believe that they have given a lot of concessions over the years, and this contract simply doesn't make up for a decade's worth or more of concessions. The contract, as it was put on the table, was 25 percent pay -- wage increases. There was a signing bonus attached to that. There was also the promise to have a new plane in production in Washington state.

That was part of the job security that the union was looking for, but now that they voted down this deal, it's really unclear whether or not Boeing is going to commit to that. Boeing, for their part, says that they are eager to get back to the table, the CFO just moments ago saying that the CEO of the company is directly involved in negotiations.

They want to get this deal done, but union members seem like they have a lot of grievances and want to see much more come together in this deal than what was offered, guys.

SANCHEZ: Vanessa, Boeing obviously plays an outsized role in the industry and a big role in the U.S. economy. Are we expecting that we're going to see the impact of this more broadly?

YURKEVICH: We absolutely could. And the CFO, Brian West, alluded to that.

Boeing, for their part, says that they contribute $79 billion to the U.S. economy annually. They on their own have 33,000 U.S. union workers and 150,000 other workers. The downstream ripple effect of that is that they create 1.6 million jobs.

So, when you stop production at one of America's largest manufacturer and exporter, you're going to see that ripple effect, and that could cause issues if this strike were to go on for weeks and months. Both sides say they want to reach a deal, but you guys know that's so easier said than done. Sometimes, these things really take a while, just getting it perfectly, so they can get that overwhelming percentage of union members saying yes to a contract, instead of the no that we saw just last night, guys.

KEILAR: Vanessa Yurkevich, thank you so much.

SANCHEZ: Still plenty more news to come on NEWS CENTRAL.

Miami Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa suffering another concussion, at least his third while playing in the NFL. Questions once again being raised over whether he should now leave the game.

KEILAR: Plus, CNN heading to the Philadelphi Corridor. It's a crucial strip of land that has become a major sticking point in cease-fire talks between Israel and Hamas.

We will show you what we found ahead on CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

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[13:19:11]

SANCHEZ: Miami Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa might be facing the most consequential decision about his NFL future after suffering a third concussion since turning pro.

It happened during last night's game against the Buffalo Bills, when, midway through the third quarter, Tagovailoa was running for a first down when he collided with the Bills' Damar Hamlin. After he went down, you see there his hand had appeared to seize, before trainers rushed onto the field.

And he ended up walking to the locker room on his own. But after the game, head coach Mike McDaniel expressed concern for his quarterback. 14

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

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

[13:20:03]

The furthest thing from my mind is, what is the timeline? I want to know -- we just need to evaluate and just worry about my teammate, and like the rest of the guys are.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: Joining us now to discuss is neuroscientist Chris Nowinski. He's the founding CEO for the Concussion Legacy Foundation. He's also the author of "Head Games: Football's Concussion Crisis from the NFL to Youth Leagues."

Sir, thanks so much for being with us.

As I noted before, this is Tua's third diagnosed concussion in less than two years. He suffered at least one in college when playing for Alabama. How does the risk of injury compound with each further concussion?

CHRIS NOWINSKI, CO-FOUNDER AND CEO, CONCUSSION LEGACY FOUNDATION: So each concussion tends to be a little more severe and tends to take longer to recover, but that's not always the case.

And so there are examples like Boston Bruin Patrice Bergeron, who missed a year and then was able to play 15 more seasons. So it's not always predictive.

SANCHEZ: And when you look at the angle of this collision, compared to some of the others that he sustained, and the way that he sort of responded to it, the stiffness of his limbs, and then he was clearly wobbly when he was walking off the field, does any of what you saw give you insight potentially into the severity of this injury compared to others?

NOWINSKI: There's no question it was on the severe end of the concussion spectrum.

So when his right arm goes straight and you see that balled fist, we're talking about the fencing posture, which is a sign that like the brain stem is involved and misfiring. And so it should take him longer to recover than the average concussion here.

The one thing you worry about with these situations is if someone starts getting smaller, minor taps and they cause concussions. In this situation, it was a pretty severe hit. So it's not a surprise that he lost consciousness.

So the problem is, he's -- concussions don't predict long-term outcomes on a one-to-one basis. He's more at risk for longer-term issues. He's more at risk for worse concussions. But no one's going to tell him you have to stop because of this one. And so it's -- he's in a very difficult spot with these three, possibly, I think, four concussions in the last two years, to make choices about his future.

SANCHEZ: Yes, and I want to ask you about the difficulty of that kind of decision, because there's been a slew of NFL players, mostly retired, that have publicly suggested that it might be time for Tua to consider walking away from the game.

And, in fact, he spoke with "The Dan Le Batard Show" about his own family's concerns the last time this happened. Let's listen to some of what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TUA TAGOVAILOA, MIAMI DOLPHINS: It was just brought up, like, here and there, like, "I don't think you should continue to play and whatnot, but we will always support what you want to do."

And it was more so like my mom, yes. And I get it.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Of course.

TAGOVAILOA: Like, I got kids too now. And it's like you can understand why the mothers are the way they are.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: If he chooses to return to the game, what are the risks?

NOWINSKI: Yes, well, he's almost certainly going to choose -- unless this concussion creates chronic symptoms.

Like, I think back when I was 24 and I was wrestling for the WWE, the reason I had to retire was not because I got a concussion. It's because the symptoms lasted a year and it was horrible. And I said, I can't -- if I ever get my brain health back, I can't go back to that year.

He's probably going to be fine in a couple weeks. And at that point, no doctor would say you have to retire just because of the number of concussions.

And then, when we think about retirement and long-term effects, we start conflating sort of concussions and CTE. If you get concussions and you recover, there's no reason to retire. But we also know, the longer he plays, the greater his risk of developing CTE, which is so correlated with some of these horrible stories we hear about former NFL players developing dementia and having midlife mental health issues.

So it's just a very complicated topic, a very dangerous sport that we're starting to get data on is not good for your long-term brain health. And so this is just a moment to pause and for him to think about, do I want to continue to risk my brain health? Because you only get one.

And if you mess it up, you may not ever get it back.

SANCHEZ: He did last year bulk up before the season. He studied martial arts to better adjust the way that his body responded to these hits.

Is there anything more that can be done to prevent these kinds of injuries, like if he wears a different helmet perhaps?

NOWINSKI: Well, he's probably wearing the best helmets that we have right now. The data on the guardian cap has not been published yet, so we're not necessarily endorsing that. It might be different for a quarterback to wear that than other positions. It might make his job harder. So there is no real great answer.

[13:25:01]

I mean, he can try to play more safely. And people are suggesting, if he had slid, maybe he wouldn't be in the situation. But the reality is, it's a brutal sport, and he's paid for taking risks with his body, and he's paid a lot of money that's really sort of life-changing money. So it's just a lot of pressure to be under when you're his age.

You have had so many concussions. You can't -- no one can tell you what the future is going to hold. And so I just hope we can -- this helps spark a conversation that helps all of us better take care of the people that we care about, because most of the people playing football are children taking the same risks without $100 million on the line.

So it's just a very hard week for him, and I have great sympathy for him.

SANCHEZ: Yes, no doubt. As a fan of the Miami Dolphins and as a fan of Tua, watching that last night was very painful. And we hope the best for him and for a speedy recovery.

Chris Nowinski, thanks so much for the perspective. Appreciate you.

NOWINSKI: Thanks, Boris.

SANCHEZ: Of course.

So we are standing by. Former President Donald Trump is expected to take questions. We're monitoring this event. It appears someone is at the podium now. Soon, it'll be Donald Trump. And we will take you there as the story warrants.

We will be right back.

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