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NYT Poll: Trump Ahead In Arizona, No Clear Leader In North Carolina and Georgia; FBI Searches Homes Of New Interim NYPD Commissioner; Lebanon's Health Ministry: At Least 100 Killed In Israeli Airstrikes. Aired 7:30-8a ET

Aired September 23, 2024 - 07:30   ET

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

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[07:30:27]

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: We've got brand new polls out this morning from The New York Times and Siena College. Donald Trump leads Vice President Harris among likely voters in Arizona -- look at that. A closer margin in Georgia and North Carolina where it is within the margin of error. The Times notes about 15 percent of the electorate in these states still undecided or not definitely decided.

With me now is former Trump White House associate counsel May Mailman, and former senior adviser to the Biden 2020 campaign Alencia Johnson.

May, first to you. What do you see in these poll numbers from the Sunbelt?

MAY MAILMAN, FORMER TRUMP WHITE HOUSE ASSOCIATE COUNSEL (via Webex by Cisco): Yeah. So these are all still within the margin of error, but I think what's notable is the trend. I think everyone was expecting to see Kamala Harris get a big boost after the debate and not only is there no boost but it's actually the other way.

So this same poll, The New York Times/Siena College poll, had Kamala Harris up five points in Arizona one month ago, now 10 points the other way. Trump is up. This is a state Biden won very narrowly. And so I think that these trends -- it's not so much the numbers, its trends are extremely positive for Trump.

BERMAN: How do explain, Alencia, tough, a bounce -- an apparent debate bounce in Pennsylvania, Michigan, and to a lesser extent Wisconsin, but the opposite in the Sunbelt? How is it these two seem to be moving in opposite directions?

ALENCIA JOHNSON, FORMER SENIOR ADVISER TO THE BIDEN 2020 CAMPAIGN, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST (via Webex by Cisco): Listen, I think polls -- this is the one thing I'll agree with the other panelist is that polls show a trend, but it's not the full picture. As someone who has sat on four presidential campaigns, polls aren't everything. It is what happens on Election Day and early voting.

And to that, Kamala -- Vice President Harris and Gov. Walz have been campaigning in states throughout the country to make sure that voters know about who they are. We are still in the margin of error and while this poll shows that Trump might be ahead in Arizona there are other polls that show Vice President Harris is ahead in some of the other states. And that indicates to me that the vice president's campaign needs to continue to do what she says she's doing -- is going out and earning everyone's vote.

I will say in all the presidential campaigns I have worked on these races have always been close, right? They've always been close when it comes to the polls. And so, again, it matters what happens at the ballot box and that will be the indicator, particularly on the issues that voters will be making decisions on, particularly around abortion, in states like Arizona.

BERMAN: I've got to say not close like this -- not that I've ever seen. We're talking about knife fight in a phone booth in what could be three or four or five battleground states between the north and the south.

One of the -- the closest state in this recent batch was North Carolina, which showed a two-point spread. Most of it was taken before this wild scandal involving the lieutenant governor of North Carolina Mark Robinson. This is what his opponent says about it and how it might impact Donald Trump in the election. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOSH STEIN, (D) NORTH CAROLINA CANDIDATE FOR GOVERNOR: Robinson exists because Donald Trump has lifted him up throughout. And candidates up and down the ballot in North Carolina need to have -- they need to be held accountable for supporting Mark Robinson and being part of his entire campaign.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: So this is the Democratic gubernatorial candidate Josh Stein kind of doing Kamala Harris a solid, Alencia, here trying to push the Mark Robinson scandal up -- the reverse coattail thing. He's trying to help it happen.

How effective do you think it will be?

JOHNSON: Listen, I think it will be extremely effective to continue to tie these horrible candidates to Donald Trump. He was not only campaigning with him, Mark Robinson actually had a speaking position at the RNC. And so it is actually appropriate to tie these candidates with their leader, Donald Trump, because this is the Republican Party.

And we want to be very clear that it's not just Donald Trump that is the danger to our human rights and our civil rights, it is also these candidates down ballot, including those gubernatorial candidates, particularly on the issue when it comes to race, when it comes to gender, which are issues that voters are thinking about as they're going to the ballot box.

And in North Carolina, you know, if Mark Robinson doesn't do that well it actually will continue to hurt Donald Trump, and that means North Carolina is not out of the game for the presidential election on the Democratic side.

BERMAN: May, what do you think about this? What could the impact be? And how responsible is Donald Trump for candidate quality on the Republican side over the last six or eight years?

[07:35:05]

MAILMAN: I think that as the leader of the Republican Party you can definitely tie candidate quality to Trump, but I think he's actually done a very improved job. I think this cycle Republicans have a really strong field. Now, I would not put Mark Robinson in that really strong field, and so you did not see Mark Robinson with Donald Trump this weekend in North Carolina.

But I don't -- I don't know. This is such a personal failing from what appears to be more than a decade ago, so it's difficult I think to take that and say somehow that that's Donald Trump. It just -- it really feels -- it's so wild and at this point so long ago. And Mark Robinson's entire team quit, so even the GOP is distancing themselves from him.

So candidate quality does affect the entire race, but this one -- you know, I -- at least it seems like they're trying to make it not.

BERMAN: Alencia, I -- one of my obsessions is with 43 days left and, yes, Vice President Harris has agreed to a CNN debate, but Donald Trump hasn't and I'm not sure he will. What events are there that can change? In The New York Times poll, some 15 percent said they're undecided or not yet decided, but what things are there left that could change their minds?

JOHNSON: Listen, I think we still have forty-some days. I know you mentioned earlier that the polls hadn't been this close -- as unprecedented. We are actually in an unprecedented election right now, right? This has never happened in our political cycle in modern history that a candidate steps down and his vice president has a little over 100 days to continue to communicate to the American people.

There's a lot that can happen in these 40-some days. There could be an October surprise. There could be something that makes the American people pay attention. Voters are paying attention. We have the vice president's debate coming up soon.

And whether or not Donald Trump accepts the debate with Vice President Harris, I think you're going to continue to see her not only speak to voters but also find ways to connect with the media to talk about her plans and her vision should she be elected as president.

BERMAN: All right, Alencia Johnson, May Mailman. Thank you both very much. Great to see you this morning -- Sara.

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: All right. Ahead, major questions surrounding the new interim New York Police commissioner after the FBI executed a search warrant at his homes. Thomas Donlon took over the job more than a week ago because the NYPD commissioner resigned after the FBI seized his electronic devices.

CNN's Gloria Pazmino is joining me now. What do you know about this particular search?

GLORIA PAZMINO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, Sara. We are still trying to learn more about the reasons why federal investigators took the remarkable step of searching the homes of Tom Donlon on Friday.

But here is what we do know. Our law enforcement sources tell us that this search warrant is related to apparent documents that Donlon might have held onto from his previous FBI and law enforcement jobs. They also tell us that this latest search warrant for the police commissioner is not related to any of the other four federal investigations that are currently ensnaring City Hall.

Now, Donlon issued a statement after the search warrant was executed at his home, and I want to just show you a portion of it because he says that federal authorities "took materials that came into my possession approximately 20 years ago and are unrelated to my work with the New York City Police Department."

Now that distinction, Sara, is really important. And the reason he's trying to draw a distinction there is because the NYPD is already under federal investigation. As you noted, the previous commissioner had to resign after his electronic devices were confiscated. So he's trying to draw that distinction.

Now, Tom Donlon has had a long career in law enforcement, including as special agent in the FBI. He was -- he ran the FBI national threat center, and he worked with the NYPD joint terrorism task force here in New York City. He was also in charge of New York's Homeland Security office.

So the question is did Donlon come into contact with some sort of documents during that time that federal authorities are now trying to get back -- Sara.

SIDNER: So many unanswered questions. What is City Hall saying about the situation with the new interim commissioner?

PAZMINO: Well, they've said so far, Sara, that they expect all their employees to follow the law. But this is certainly not something that City Hall wants to be dealing with right now. They have had to answer several questions for several weeks now because there are these other federal investigations that have been swirling around City Hall involving the mayor and top members of his administration.

[07:40:05]

And Tom Donlon is appointed to the NYPD for now on an interim basis. So the question is whether or not he is going to be appointed full time. If the mayor is going to find another police commissioner. But here you have the largest police department in the country once again facing questions about federal investigations. SIDNER: Gloria Pazmino, thank you so much. There are so many things to unravel there and I know you'll be all over it. Appreciate you.

All right. Breaking for us this hour, at least 100 people have been killed in Israeli strikes in Lebanon this morning as Israel is ramping up attacks on Hezbollah targets across that country raising fears of a wide regional war.

CNN global affairs analyst Kimberly Dozier is joining us now. So we're seeing this ramp up and they're saying look -- they're telling people to leave certain areas if they are near any kind of building that Hezbollah -- that they know is in, saying look, we fired 150 rockets. They were aimed at military targets.

What do you think about what is happening here? Is this really going towards a greater conflict in the region?

KIMBERLY DOZIER, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: Well, it certainly looks like Israel has put all the pieces in place so that it could do some sort of a ground invasion into Lebanon. Israeli officials, over the years, have briefed us that there are something like 150,000 rockets and missiles, including sophisticated missiles with technology provided by Iran that could reach every part of Israel -- all of its populated cities. Hezbollah hasn't used those yet.

It looks like what Israel is trying to do right now -- the weekend strikes were aimed at rockets that were about to be launched, according to the Israeli Defense Forces. But now with this warning to Lebanese villages to clear out of those villages it seems Israel may be planning to go in first with aerial bombardments but perhaps later on the ground to hit stored weapons that Israeli officials believe are in those villages just north of Israel in southern Lebanon.

And that means if people don't leave, we might see the situation that we've seen in Gaza where Israel says well, we gave you a warning and now we're going to hit the targets. The fact that you didn't get out of the way is on you.

SIDNER: Wow.

If we do see something like a ground invasion, as well as what we're seeing now, what might be the fallout here as far as Israel's allies -- Western allies, including obviously, the United States? Would they get involved in all of this?

DOZIER: Well, some of the things that argue against Israel moving in in a major way are that the military is tired. It's tired from its onslaught in Gaza. And the IDF has had trouble recruiting and making the numbers it needs to keep up this pace.

Also, Hezbollah, in the north, has its hands tied in that a lot of those sophisticated missiles that it has pointed south -- they're not really supposed to be for Hezbollah's use. They're Iran's strategic reserve just in case Iran feels it's about to be attacked by Israel or the U.S. Then those missiles allegedly would be fired at major Israeli populated areas. So you've got the Biden White House and other Western powers looking at his just as the U.N. General Assembly week starts in New York. It is a major risk of all-out war that they want to avoid, but it doesn't seem like the Biden White House has a whole lot of influence over the Netanyahu administration right now.

SIDNER: Yeah, that's becoming increasingly clear. Israel's defense minister briefed his U.S. counterpart on Israeli military operations against Hezbollah.

Let's listen to what the White House is saying. The National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby said this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN KIRBY, SPOKESPERSON, WHITE HOUSE NATIONAL SECURITY COUNCIL: We don't believe that a military conflict -- and we're saying this directly to our Israeli counterparts, George -- we don't believe that escalating this military conflict is in their best interest. It's certainly not going to be in the best interest of all those people that Prime Minister Netanyahu says he wants to be able to send back home.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SIDNER: So I guess the question is what's the endgame here? Because you just talked about the fact that the United States -- and we just heard it there from Kirby -- really does not want to see this escalate at all.

DOZIER: Absolutely, but Israel has added to its war aims from October 7 that it wants to bring the 63,000 Israelis who were evacuated from the north back to their homes so they can resume ordinary life. And until Israel feels that it has degraded Hezbollah's missile and rocket capability enough to allow that we're going to see this friction at the border continue -- friction that could spill into an all-out armed confrontation on the ground. And that's what everyone's hoping to avoid.

[07:45:09]

SIDNER: At this point, does this -- all that's happening there in Lebanon as well as, obviously, in Gaza, sort of lower the chance of there ever being a ceasefire?

DOZIER: I think it does. And Secretary of State Blinken said as much last week in Cairo when he said every time it seems like we're close to a resolution of the ceasefire deal something happens. In this case, it was the walkie-talkie and radio and pager explosions blamed on Israel, though Israel hasn't confirmed it was behind that plot.

But it just leaves a chaotic picture that really doesn't set it up for the White House to be able to accomplish a ceasefire on the ground in Gaza.

SIDNER: Kim Dozier, it's always a pleasure to have you. Thank you so much -- John.

BERMAN: All right. This morning, a new strategy by Ukrainian President Zelenskyy to shore up U.S. support. New reporting on the so- called "Victory Plan" he is presenting to President Biden.

And check your backyard for a loose bull. Bull on the lam. One still missing after eight escaped from a rodeo in a mall parking lot.

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[07:50:38]

SIDNER: In case you didn't know, the Kansas City Chiefs still undefeated. The two-time defending Super Bowl champions squeaked past the Atlanta Falcons 22-17 last night.

Here with me now with some of the big moments, CNN's Carolyn Manno. I'm not going to talk about the Rams until you talk about the Rams, but we're going to talk about it.

CAROLYN MANNO, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: We are going to talk about the Rams.

You know, with the Kansas City Chiefs what's funny, Sara, and you know this, it hasn't been pretty -- I mean, but they've been getting it down. It's good to have a good defense. The Chiefs have won their three games by a combined 13 points, but a win is a win at the end of the day.

Patrick Mahomes shook off an interception to throw a pair of touchdown passes. But the Falcons were able to stay close in this game. In the fourth quarter, down five with just over five left to play, Atlanta quarterback Kirk Cousins throwing to tight end Kyle Pitts on fourth down. He drew some heavy contact, by the way, from Chiefs safety Bryan Cook. No pass interference flag thrown, and the Falcons would get the ball back for one more drive in the final minute.

Once again, Kansas City's defense rising to the occasion, stopping Bijan Robinson for a third-yard loss on fourth and one. So the Chiefs win a nailbiter 22-17 the final there.

The Vikings also improving to a perfect 3-0 with a dominant win over the Texans. Minnesota quarterback Sam Darnold matching his career high with four touchdown passes in the 34-7 win. It was the biggest margin of victory for the Vikings in five years.

Pittsburgh is off to its first 3-0 start for the first time since 2020. Justin Fields absolutely lighting up the Chargers, throwing one touchdown and rushing for another in the 20-10 win. Fields starting in place of his injured teammate Russell Wilson, but it's going to be very hard to take him out of the lineup now.

And to the Rams. Nobody was giving the winless Rams a chance against the Niners. L.A. missing a handful of starters on the offensive side of the ball and fell behind by double digits in the fourth. And Matthew Stafford just kept grinding and grinding. The quarterback leading his team to three scoring drives in the last 10 minutes of this game. Kyren Williams rushing four yards to score his third touchdown of the day with just under two remaining to tie it up.

And then it all came down to the leg of kicker Joshua Karty from 37 yards out with two seconds left. And Sara knows this. It is good to complete the 27-24 comeback. It was such a great day.

Two games on Monday night, by the way, too. But it was good. Nobody -- everybody counting them out.

SIDNER: Nothing feels better than beating the Niners -- I'm just going to tell you. I'm just telling you. You'll also notice that in the stands there was a lot of red. They show up in numbers.

MANNO: They do.

SIDNER: So the Rams fans -- we've got to get it together. You just show up, like -- because --

MANNO: I'm not biased but, you know --

SIDNER: -- they're more than --

MANNO: -- I'm going to let you say it. I'm going to let you say it.

SIDNER: All right, let's now talk about the WNBA playoffs. What happened to Caitlin Clark last night?

MANNO: Yeah, this was really tough to see. I mean, all eyes have been on here all season long. You know this. We've been following her closely. That attention, once again, magnified even more so now that we're in the playoffs.

And less than two minutes into her first postseason game against the Connecticut Sun, she was poked in the eye. There was no foul that was called and play continued, but she was in obvious pain. She really struggled after that. She finished the game with just 11 points on two for 13 from three in the game.

But Connecticut took game one in this best of three series. Remember, this is a best of three to start in this first round. Ninety three-69 the final.

So Indiana and Clark are going to try to keep their season alive in game two on Wednesday. Her and Aliyah Boston have been playing so well lately. They've had a ton of momentum. So we'll see what happens there with them, but tough to see.

SIDNER: Well, Ms. Wilson proving why she's getting the attention she is getting -- MVP -- wow.

MANNO: She is a superstar fresh off that MVP title that a lot of people expected for a third time, overcoming a slow start to help her Aces begin their quest for a three-peat but ultimately getting it done.

She struggled early. She only put up four points in the first half, but she really found her groove after the break.

Fifteen of the team's 26 points going to A'ja Wilson in the third quarter as the Aces held the Storm to only two points in the final quarter to take the 78-67 victory. They are looking to do special things this postseason. We've got a lot of postseason left, Sara, as you know, but good to see her playing well and then getting a win.

SIDNER: It was fun.

All right, Carolyn Manno. Great to see you this morning.

MANNO: You, too.

SIDNER: All right, John.

BERMAN: All right. This morning, we're expecting to learn new information about the suspect in the apparent assassination attempt on former President Trump. Ryan Routh will be in court in West Palm Beach. Prosecutors are expected to lay out why they believe he is a danger to the community and a flight risk.

New details in the case of a rural Kentucky sheriff charged with killing a judge he was supposed to be protecting. The court clerk now says the two went out to lunch together just before Sheriff Shawn Stines allegedly shot and killed District Judge Kevin Mullins. A preliminary investigation indicates the two had some sort of argument. Stines was arrested at the courthouse.

[07:55:07]

And bull on the lam. A bull is loose somewhere in Massachusetts. This was one of eight that escaped their pen and just took a walk down the side street. They were all being held in a parking lot -- a pen in a parking lot of a mall in North Attleborough as part of some rodeo there, and some of the bulls -- well, you can see where they ended up.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHRIS MOONEY, ESCAPED BULL RAN INTO HIS YARD: As soon as I stepped out and I looked over there, I was like those aren't horses. Those are literally bulls and -- oh my God. So I got all my dogs from outside and brought them inside real quick. The kids were inside -- safety first -- and that was it. Everybody else just started coming as much people as you can.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: Yeah. And as far as we know, there is still one bull loose this morning somewhere in Massachusetts. Maybe he got as far south as Rhode Island. Seven have been corralled. The rodeo is now under investigation, Sara.

And I can just tell you as a resident of Massachusetts, or former -- I mean, I'm not sure we're equipped for rodeos. You don't necessarily think rodeo in Massachusetts.

SIDNER: That's no bull stuff. Thank you so much, John Berman.

All right. New data this morning from the CDC shows cases of whooping cough are soaring across the country.

CNN health reporter Jacqueline Howard with us this morning. How do you prevent whooping cough, and what are some of the symptoms?

JACQUELINE HOWARD, CNN HEALTH REPORTER: Yeah, Sara. Well, first of all, what we're seeing right now with these outbreaks of cases, we are seeing the potentially what could be causing this is since the COVID- 19 pandemic we've stopped masking, stopped distancing and that's led to a rise in many different respiratory illnesses, including whooping cough.

We also know over time the vaccine-induced immunity can wane. That's why it's important to get your booster. And then number three, we also know that we tend to see outbreaks of whooping cough every three to five years.

And this year, on September 14, the number of cases reported were five times more than the number of cases reported for that same time period compared with last year, Sara.

And the best way to prevent whooping cough is to get vaccinated. The pertussis, also known as whooping cough, is included in the DTaP or Tdap vaccinations. These vaccines are part of the routine childhood immunizations. It's also recommended during pregnancy. And for adults, it's recommended to get your booster every 10 years.

And pertussis or whooping cough is a bacterial infection. And even though the initial symptoms are similar to the common cold, Sara, when the illness progresses it's known for causing coughing fits. And the name comes from that whoop noise you make after coughing so much and you're trying to catch your breath. That's how whooping cough got its name.

So that's why, again, the CDC is really raising awareness about this increase in cases. And it's important to keep an eye out for those signs and symptoms.

SIDNER: Yeah. It's one of those things where I was trying to figure out how do you know you have it? And you know because you have --

HOWARD: Yeah.

SIDNER: -- those coughing fits long after the cold symptoms are gone.

Jacqueline Howard --

HOWARD: Exactly.

SIDNER: -- thank you so much. I really appreciate it.

HOWARD: Absolutely.

SIDNER: You did talk us through how to prevent it, correct? All of those vaccines.

HOWARD: That's right, yes.

SIDNER: Yeah, yeah.

HOWARD: Vaccination -- exactly -- DTaP or Tdap.

SIDNER: DTaP or Tdap -- got it. Thank you so much. Appreciate it, Jacqueline -- John.

BERMAN: All right. Happening now, a crucial week for Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy here in the United States. He toured a munitions plant in Pennsylvania and is set to speak at the U.N. General Assembly before unveiling what he calls a "Victory Plan" to President Biden.

Let's get right to CNN's Nick Paton Walsh. Nick, what is this plan, exactly?

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Yeah. Look, in all honesty, John, we don't have the full details. We have a sort of slight sniff of it. But it will certainly involve specific requests from President Joe Biden to authorize longer-range use of U.S.-supplied weaponry to hit specific targets inside of Russia.

Bear in mind that Ukraine has been doing a pretty good job of that over the past days or so. Some high-profile ammunition depots exploding deep inside Russia. Extraordinary video of the damage done by that.

So this I think part of trying to ensure that the U.S. accuracy and also the U.S. political will is involved in diminishing that Russian ammunition supply and military infrastructure deep inside its territory.

There's also going to be a diplomatic element to this -- essentially, they say Zelenskyy trying to force Russia into a diplomatic solution. And then also, too, economic costs already being imposed upon Russia by some of these longer-range strikes. Maybe there's a sanctions element to this, too.

But really, this is about the very short timeframe that Volodymyr Zelenskyy finds himself in.

In a statement he put out recently he referred to how there will be a new president after November, and I think that's very much in the minds of Ukraine -- sometimes less in the focus of U.S. policymakers. The largest land war in Europe since the 1940s because of the events in the Middle East, struggling at times to get the bandwidth perhaps from political leaders to harness their attention and focus on this.

But the ask he's going to make is going to be of Joe Biden. It's going to be of Donald Trump who he's also going to be seeing. And it's going to be of Kamala Harris, too.