Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

Biden Looks To Reassure Donors At NY, NJ Fundraisers; Democratic Leaders Stand With Biden Amid Calls To Drop Out; Beryl Strengthens Into A HURRICANE, Expected To Intensify; Interview With NOAA National Hurricane Center Director Michael Brennan; Presidential Debate Most-Watched CNN Program In History; Women's Lives Under Taliban Rule; Knoxville, TN, #9 On CNN's "Best Towns To Visit" List. Aired 5-6p ET

Aired June 29, 2024 - 17:00   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[17:01:17]

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: Hello everyone.

You are in the CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Alisyn Camerota in New York.

Right now, the Biden campaign is doing damaged control with anxious big money donors in the northeast. The president and first lady arrived in the Hamptons earlier today for two fundraisers with the goal to reassure his financial backers that he is up for this race and can still win in November.

CNN White House correspondent Arlette Saenz is here with more.

So Arlette what was the president's private message to donors tonight.

ARLETTE SAENZ, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well Alisyn, President Biden has done -- held two fundraisers today in the Hamptons where he was really trying to reassure these donors that his candidacy is on track.

Now according to the reporters who were in the room, the president acknowledged that he didn't have a great night on the debate stage, but neither did Trump. And he went on to say that he thinks voters are going to have a different reaction to the debate.

Of course, we will be seeing in the days and the weeks to come how exactly voters are feeling about the president's performance. But there is anxiety within the Democratic Party and particularly with -- among some high dollar donors about whether President Biden has a viable path forward in this race.

You see the president attending these fundraisers. He had another one yesterday here in New York city. He's about to travel to Red Bank, New Jersey for another event with Governor Phil Murphy. And his advisers behind the scenes have been fielding calls from anxious donors after this debate. Now one thing the Biden campaign has been trying to tout are some

bright spots in the fundraising in the 48 hours around this debate. The Biden campaign earlier today had announced that they raised more than $27 million between Thursday and Friday. But there will be questions going forward about what his fundraising will look like down the road.

At the same time this afternoon, top campaign officials, top officials at the Democratic National Committee held a call with DNC members, one that was described as a pretty standard call, but it was one where they acknowledged the president's poor debate performance and then tried to essentially rally the troops laying out what the DNC, the Democrats' organization looks like heading into this November elections.

So President Biden, really at this moment is attempting to have some type of reset. You saw that yesterday in the campaign rally in North Carolina, where he came out with a much more fiery and in impassioned speech. You see that in these meetings or private meetings with these Democratic donors as he's trying to pitch them once again on his candidacy.

But there will be questions still going forward about what comes next. You know, the campaign has been insistent that the president is remaining in this race, even among some Democratic anxiety. They say that he plans to debate Donald Trump if there is another matchup in September on the debate stage.

And so far there have been no signs showing that the president is backing down from this race despite some of the anxiety within his own party.

CAMEROTA: Ok. Arlette Saenz, thank you very much for that reporting.

Here with me now, we have republican strategist and former RNC communications director Doug Heye and Democratic strategist, former special assistant to President Biden and convention consultant for the DNC, Meghan Hays.

Ok. Meghan, let me he start with you. So the DNC on that conference call -- well, forget the conference call for a second. Behind the scenes. Is there talk of perhaps tapping somebody from the fairly deep Democratic bench that could possibly take the place of President Biden in November?

[17:04:52]

MEGHAN HAYS, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: No, absolutely not. I mean, the president has to drop out himself. People went to the ballot and cast their vote for him during the primaries. They're now pledged delegates to him.

So there is no way that we can have a brokered convention that anyone else is going to take the place unless the president decides himself to step out. There is no behind-the-scenes movement with the party to do that. This is up to the president and he's not going to do that. CAMEROTA: One more question, Meghan.

What about polls? What -- I mean we haven't seen the polls -- any polls yet since the debate. What if the polls show a real weakening of support?

HAYS: Look, I was on the campaign in 2020. We can't live or die by the polls. If we would have done that he would never be the president right now, he would've dropped out listening to those polls.

The president is a resilient human. He's a resilient man. He knows that he is an underdog now. He knows he had a bad performance. He knows that he needs to spend the next hundred and something days proving to the American people that he can do the job for the next four years. And I think that he will do that.

I would accept I would expect the polls to have a little dip in them and then he needs to bring them back up. This is -- this is just how campaigns seasons go. There's four months left, but the president knows that he has work to do to earn the trust of the American people.

CAMEROTA: Doug, what do you think?

DOUG HEYE, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: Well, Alisyn, look, you know, you're from New Jersey. I was born in Red Bank, New Jersey where President Biden is going later today. I applaud anybody going to (INAUDIBLE) his hometown.

But what we saw the other night wasn't a bad night and I mentioned New Jersey because I want to talk about Frank Sinatra for a moment.

I saw Frank Sinatra about four times in his career. And each time he got older and older. And what we would see with Sinatra towards the end of his career was one minute, "Come Fly With Me" was going great and a few songs later, he couldn't remember the words to "My Way". And this happened more and more as he got older.

Joe Biden as an age where he ages faster in a job where you age faster than any other. So we can't just attribute to this one bad night for Joe Biden because this was what everybody was looking for. And that's a problem for Biden.

The other thing I would say Alisyn is as somebody who spoke out very forcefully and very frequently against Donald Trump in 2016, I've noticed that a lot of the Democrats, especially on Capitol Hill on Friday, who repeatedly said, when would Paul Ryan speak out, when would John Boehner speak out. They always use that word.

They were mum, they ran from cameras. They didn't have comments. They essentially acted like Republicans who said, I didn't see the tweets about Donald Trump.

And I'll tell you, it cost me a lot of money he to say what I said about Donald Trump. No regrets.

Democrats right now are hiding from what their true feelings are because they don't want to cross the king. And I get it, if you come for the king, your best get him, but they are not in a good situation right now, and their silence tells you that.

CAMEROTA: Meghan, what about that? What about the idea that many Democrats, whether it be elected officials, whether it just be voters feel that that wasn't just a bad debate performance. They feel that it telegraphs something more worrisome about President Biden

HAYS: Look, and I just wanted to address Doug's point here really quick. The former president Barack Obama came out and said that people have bad debate. So there are the stewards of the Democratic Party, the people who are the leaders of this party who have spoken out. It's not just present, former President Obama.

So I just want to point out that people are not the Democratic Party is not running from this (INAUDIBLE) cook-out (ph) like a lot of people have been in support President Biden here, that he should stay on the ballot.

So I just want to address that, that people are not running like they did from Trump.

But I do think, you know, the president has to reaffirm to the American people that he is fit to do the job. and he needs to spend the next 130 days or 129 days doing that.

He -- I mean, it was a bad night for him and he needs to prove that North Carolina was not an anomaly. That he didn't come out strong the next day. That that is who he is.

And he mean, I would assume that the campaign knows that they need to be doing that. They are going to work very hard. You saw him today. He was -- he's going well yesterday. He's been at fundraisers today, so I just, you know, I do think there is work to do, but this is something that I think that Joe Biden is used to in his career of being the underdog and being able to prove to people that he will get back, will get up when kicked down.

CAMEROTA: So I mean Doug to that point as Meghan was just saying, you know, President Obama said you can have a bad debate night, Pennsylvania Senator John Fetterman are calling on Democrats to quote "chill the f out".

And so is it possible that what they're saying is that, you know, the next day he looked vibrant by the way. On Friday at a rally, his color was better, his voice was stronger. He looked vibrant. Is it possible that Democrats are panicking prematurely?

HEYE: Well, I always did better on tests when I had notes with me and certainly did better at basketball games when I was in a home crowd where they were cheering for me and that's what we saw with Biden.

Yes, he's going to have some good days, but he's also having increasingly bad days and they're confirming what voters are feeling, that 25 percent of voters who don't like Donald Trump, and they don't like Joe Biden. They didn't get a reason to vote for Biden. And I'm talking about

those members of Congress who weren't running from Joe Biden on Friday, they were running from Manu Raju. They were running from reporters because they didn't want to answer questions.

Clearly, a lot of the framework here, the Democratic Party is going to support the president. That's their job.

[17:09:49]

HEYE: But I can tell you, having worked at the RNC when you schedule a weekend call, it's never for a good reason.

And we know that some people are very quietly saying amongst themselves that this was a disaster. The only person who can affect this other than Joe Biden is Jill Biden. If she gives her husband the Adrian Balboa "you can't win" speech, that may be the only thing that does it.

But this is where we run into very risky territory for Democrats.

CAMEROTA: Guys, stick around. We have more questions. We're going to take a very quick break out. We'll be right back to talk more about all of this fallout.

We'll be right back.

[17:10:24]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CAMEROTA: Leaders in the Democratic Party are overwhelmingly backing President Biden, despite other calls for him to step aside. But what would replacing Biden as the nominee even look like?

CNN's Tom Foreman tells us.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey Alisyn, primaries have been held, delegates commit President Joe Biden is the presumptive nominee for the Democratic party. Short of a true health crisis about the only way he loses that slot is if he agrees to step aside.

But even then the process of replacing him would be full of uncertainty. Democrats could work it out at their convention in August, the way political parties used to. Various names would be put forward and most likely the more than 3,900 delegates from across the country would discuss and debate and eventually decide on a new candidate.

Almost all of them are currently pledged to Biden, by the way, and approved by his campaign. But what if they can't agree on a new choice? If it gets really nasty and grinds on, well then maybe the additional roughly 700 superdelegates, deep-seated party insiders and elected officials could be key to settling the matter. Normally, they can't vote on the first ballot for president if it would change the nominee, but they can vote on subsequent ballots.

But that scenario raises questions too. Would voters who took part in primaries feel pushed aside and alienated from the party if a new nominee was chosen that way.

Would a new choice be able to mount an effective campaign in the roughly ten weeks from the end of the convention until election day. For example, would Donald Trump agreed to debate a fresh face at that late date?

And who would be the choice. There are several big names that could likely be considered, but not until the party decides how it feels about Vice President Kamala Harris.

Plenty of Democratic voters and party leaders would see her as the natural heir to the nomination. And if she is not chosen, her disappointed supporters could also become a deep problem for the party in November.

For now, Biden's advisers and top Democrats are pushing back on the whole idea of him dropping out. But that talk just keeps elbowing in, Alisyn.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CAMEROTA: Tom Foreman, thank you very much for all of that.

We're back now with our panel. We have Meghan Hays and Doug Heye.

Ok. So Meghan, you are a Biden adviser. Who is talking to him right now? Who in the inner circle can have a candid conversation with him about what went wrong.

HAYS: Look, I think they've had those candid conversations. I think obviously Dr. Biden is very involved, but I think Anita Dunn as you saw, she was on another network earlier today talking about the conversation.

You know, there's the campaign staff and the White House staff that's all around him. But you know, again, I think that they are moving past this. They are moving on to look to what they're going to do for the next 130 days to what they can do to show the American people that he is capable of doing this job and what they will do for him.

I mean, he has had a tremendously successful presidency. I think they need to remind people of that. And then he needs to get on out on the trail and continue to remind folks what he's going to do for the next four years.

CAMEROTA: Meghan, I have another question. What went wrong? What -- we were told that for the week before the debate, he was prepping at Camp David running, you know, simulations of the debate. What happened?

HAYS: You know, I don't know. I wasn't part of debate prep. I wasn't in the room with him at the debate obviously, I don't know. It seemed like he was over-prepped a little bit. It seemed that he just -- it just wasn't a good night for him. It just didn't seem like he's the Joe Biden that we're used to seeing, the Joe Biden that was in North Carolina the next day.

So I don't know what went wrong, but I do know that the next day he got right back up and went out there and owned that it wasn't a good performance and continued to move on.

HEYE: So Alisyn, I certainly didn't think he was over prepped and the second he started speaking, I heard his voice and said oh, this is going to be a very real problem for the president.

I first met Joe Biden on the first morning of my first internship in 1991 and I've spent a fair amount of time with them for a Republican staffer along the years. I like Joe Biden. I think he's a good person.

But at 81, this is what people expect. And if we go back to the State of the Union, he had a big forceful night and he sparred with House Republicans. It was a good night him.

And Democrats said after that State of the Union address, this was a game changer. The reality is the game didn't change and had the debate gone well for Joe Biden, the game wouldn't have changed either.

This is a very long season, 162 days but this was a devastating loss for Joe Biden because it speaks directly to those concerns that the -- forget the Trump voters and forget the core Biden base.

[17:19:52]

HEYE: That 25 percent of voters says, I don't like either of these guys, they saw a lot worse of Joe Biden than they did Donald Trump, who yes made up a lot of stuff, said crazy things, did what Donald Trump does, because the moment Joe Biden spoke, they said, uh-oh.

CAMEROTA: Meghan, what about that? I mean, what about there were 50 million people watching, some of them young, some of them first-time voters, and they certainly didn't like what they saw. How is he going to have another 50-million-person opportunity.

HAYS: Yes. No, that's totally fair. Doug is, totally right. That it didn't -- it was not a good day for him. I was hands-down we've said that over and over again and you know, we are -- there is a real fear of people staying home if they're not going to vote for Biden or Trump and they'd just say home. That is a real fear.

And that is why, you know, luckily this debate was early enough in the campaign season that he can go out there and try to get his message out and they can work together.

You know, the vice president will be extremely helpful on the trail as well. So they are -- they are very well-prepared to go out for the next 130 days and continue to get out its message.

But I mean, Doug has some very valid points there. I do think that this is where the organization and the money that they've raised early on really is helpful here that they have boots on the ground that can deliver some of this message for him.

CAMEROTA: Is there going to be another debate, Meghan?

HAYS: I mean he agreed to go to another debate, so I would -- I would hope so. I think that it would be good for him to do that. What do you think, Doug?

HEYE: Well, I said before the debate started, I wouldn't be surprised if there was only one. I wouldn't be surprised at this point if there's only one as well. Because you can see -- you know, look, these candidates talk about anytime, anywhere like they're pro wrestlers but you could also see Donald Trump saying that loser, I beat him once. Why do I need to beat him again? And all that kind of Trumpy talk that we see.

I just don't know because there are reasons for and against either of them doing it.

CAMEROTA: Doug, very quickly, Nikki Haley today in the "Wall Street Journal" warned the Republican Party to prepare for a younger rival, basically saying that she thinks that Democrats will ultimately replace Joe Biden or Joe Biden will ultimately step aside.

Who do you think Trump's team is most afraid of?

HEYE: If I'm them, I'm afraid of the Whitmer-Warnock ticket. I think that could be a one-two punch for Democrats. Look, it's hard logistically to do for all the reasons that Meghan and Tom Foreman laid out. That one would scare me.

And he's not right there yet, but in a couple of years, Wes Moore, the Democratic governor of Maryland is I think the major star to watch.

CAMEROTA: Interesting. All right.

Meghan, Doug -- thank you both very much.

HEYE: Hey, by the way, speaking of New Jersey "Combat Love" in bookstores now, a great story of the Jersey Shore written by Alisyn Camerota.

CAMEROTA: Doug, you are fabulous. Thank you for that plug. A lot happens in Red Bank as you know --

HEYE: Absolutely.

CAMEROTA: -- and as you telegraphed earlier. Thank you very much, really appreciate it. Thanks guys.

All right.

Still ahead. We now have the first hurricane of the season. How strong Beryl could get and where it could hit. We're talking with the director of NOAA'S National Hurricane Center next.

[17:22:48] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CAMEROTA: We have some breaking news. Beryl has now strengthened into a hurricane with maximum sustained winds of 70 miles per hour. The storm is expected to intensify quickly as it moves into the Caribbean.

Michael Brennan is the director of the Hurricane Center at NOAA.

Michael, thanks for taking the time to talk to us. So where is the storm headed right now.

MICHAEL BRENNAN, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL HURRICANE CENTER, NOAA: Well, it's moving very quickly west towards Barbados and the Windward Islands, and the Lesser Antilles, moving west about 22 miles per hour.

So it's going to be approaching those islands as we go through the night tomorrow night, and into Monday.

Then it's going to move quickly westward to west-northwestward across much of the Caribbean sea through the early to middle portions of next week.

CAMEROTA: And do you see it intensifying? I'm looking at the numbers of its rating there. How quickly is it intensifying?

BRENNAN: Yes, it's rapidly strengthened all the way since its formed. You know, just this time yesterday, it was a tropical depression and it had just formed. It's rapidly strengthened to a hurricane now.

We're expecting it to go on and continue to intensify very quickly becoming a major hurricane by late to tomorrow night or early Monday morning before it reaches Barbados and the Winward Islands.

CAMEROTA: So isn't this particularly early for a hurricane.

BRENNAN: It's not necessarily early for a hurricanes, certainly early for a hurricane this far east and certainly would be very early for a major hurricane to occur anywhere in the Atlantic Basin.

Now, we don't typically get the most of those occur typically in the peak month of August, September, October. So it is very unusual. The waters, as we know in the Atlantic Basin are quite warm and at near- record warm levels for this time of year.

So unfortunately it's not surprising that we're getting this type of development this early in the season this far east.

CAMEROTA: So how strong do you think this will get?

BRENNAN: Well, right now we're forecasting this is a major hurricane, category 3, maximum sustained winds of at least 115 miles per hour by the time it reaches the islands. So that's very dangerous, but it's not just from the wind perspective. We're expecting a very dangerous, life-threatening storm surge of five to seven feet above normal tide levels nearer to the right of where the center passes through those islands with large and destructive waves. Also expecting three to six inches of rainfall.

So a very dangerous situation unfolding for places like Barbados, St. Lucia, St. Vincent, and the Grenadines and Grenada.

CAMEROTA: Is it on a trajectory to hit the U.S.?

BRENNAN: It's too early to tell, but at this point it looks like it's going to stay well south of Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands and then move near or over portions of, you know, Jamaica, Hispaniola, Cuba maybe closer to the Yucatan Peninsula by the time we get later in the next week.

[17:29:53]

BRENNAN: At this point, we don't see a threat to the mainland U.S. from this system, but we'll keep watching it. That would still be quite far down the road.

CAMEROTA: So does this suggest that it's going to be a very active hurricane season?

[17:30:06]

BRENNAN: Yes. I mean, it's certainly an indication that conditions are lining up to be favorable across the base. And NOAA is forecasting an above-average season.

We're watching two other systems at the moment, one moving into the southern Gulf of Mexico and another farther out in the eastern Atlantic. They both have a shot at becoming a tropical depression or tropical storm over the next several days.

So this may just be the beginning of an active period here in the Atlantic, here and through the into next week.

CAMEROTA: OK, Michael Brennan, we know you're busy. Thanks for taking time to talk to us.

BRENNAN: Thanks, Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: OK. Op-eds and headlines suggest that maybe time for President Biden to bow out of the race. We're going to look at the media coverage of the president's performance in the CNN debate.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[17:35:29]

CAMEROTA: The media is still dissecting CNN's big debate on Thursday night. Here are a few noteworthy headlines. "The New York Times" calling for Joe Biden to drop out of the race. While the Atlantic says, "Dropping out is Biden's most patriotic option."

Joining me now is former CNN chief media critic and author of "Network of Lies," Brian Stelter. Brian, great to see you.

BRIAN STELTER, SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT, "VANITY FAIR" & AUTHOR: You, too.

CAMEROTA: Yes. So I mean, obviously, people, everyone is still talking about the debate, particularly about President Biden's performance.

Can you believe it was the most-watched CNN program in history? I mean, I thought maybe the O.J. verdict or the car chase or the start of the Gulf War. But this was the most-watched CNN program in history.

STELTER: Yes, even more than that famous debate with Ross Perot, you know, in 1992 where Larry King was bringing in all three candidates. This was, honestly, even bigger than January 6th and the aftermath.

And I think that's for one very specific reason, Alisyn. A lot of Americans had tuned out of this election until this week. A lot of people didn't believe there was really going to be a rematch.

They don't want to see these two elderly men running for office again. They want to see other candidates. So people hadn't really paid attention. And now, as of this week, they are.

I'm doing - here's my very scientific backyard pool party analysis today, Alisyn. I had people come up to me at a kid's birthday party saying, "Is Biden seriously going to stay in the race?"

This has now permeated beyond just "The New York Times" and "The Atlantic," beyond just the political elites. This is now an everyday conversation for people who, I think, in some cases, didn't believe the rematch was really happening.

CAMEROTA: Yes. But, I mean, another interesting metric, Brian, is that, if you look at the past debates, I mean, people do tune in for debates. This is where they try to get their impressions.

Now, it was less than in the previous debates. So in September of 2020, 73 million people watched that face off with Trump and Biden. And then in October, the next month, 63 million. So now it's 51 million.

It's interesting. I mean, you know, for all the talk of, like, oh, debates don't move the needle, people sure seem very interested in tuning in.

STELTER: A hundred percent. And the reason for the decline from 2020, as number one, the people don't like to watch repeats as much as premiere episodes. And this is a rerun.

Number two, it's the middle of the summer. So not as many people wanted to watch this live. But I actually think this debate has permeated the culture more than the debates in 2016 or in 2020. Because this was truly a game-changing debate.

I mean, look, if you're in a battle between someone who lies really confidently versus someone who mostly tells the truth, but really incoherently, the confident liar is always going to win.

And I think many millions of Americans, who don't want to see Trump re-elected, were yelling at their TVs wanting Biden to fight back harder, wanting to see an actual debate, an actual fight.

They didn't get that. They came away disappointed. And it makes me wonder if there will be any more debates at all.

But I have an idea, Alisyn. I brought this up as a joke on Thursday before the debate to the heads of one of the major networks. I said there should be a presidential fitness test on live TV this fall. And I was kidding. But I'm serious now.

I think we should have a presidential fitness test on all the networks. Maybe Trump and Biden can even go golfing, as they apparently want to do.

CAMEROTA: I mean, does golf show your fitness level? Is that --

(LAUGHTER)

CAMEROTA: I mean, what I'm imagining right now is like, what were those celebrity fitness tests in, like this 19th century --

STELTER: Yes --

(CROSSTALK)

CAMEROTA: -- where they would swim and jump off things. That's what I'm imagining. Is that what you mean?

STELTER: Yes, but that is what this is coming down to, right? I feel like 2016 and 2020 were elections about what kind of America we live in, what kind of America we want to have.

You know, it was about race and class and gender. And those issues are still all very live this year. But now, suddenly, this election is more about actual physical fitness. It's about actual competency.

And there are so many Biden supporters out there who are looking around and saying, I don't want to vote for Trump, they're saying, but I can't trust Biden for four more years.

I feel like a lot of the conversations about Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton and Bill Clinton, who are all supporting Biden right now, are forgetting that we're having an election for four years, not for four more months, but for four more years.

And that is why the media reaction has not been overstated. This is not an overreaction from the likes of "The New York Times." This is a very serious crisis for the Democrats.

[17:40:01]

CAMEROTA: Brian, what did you make of the structure of the debate? Because it was different. (CROSSTALK)

CAMEROTA: As you know, the -- there were rules where the mics we're muted. They could speak for only a certain amount of time and then Jake and Dana would cut them off.

And Jake and Dana --

STELTER: Yes.

CAMEROTA: -- you know, obviously, there was -- there was some -- I don't know if controversy is right word -- but question about whether they should have been the fact checkers, which would have taken most of their time.

Obviously, when Donald Trump was, you know, I mean, saying such a blizzard of lies or not.

So what did you think of the whole format?

STELTER: Philosophically, I believe in live fact-checking. But practically speaking, it's impossible during the debate.

It's one thing to do during an interview. If I say the sky is orange right now, you can correct me and in real time. But if two different people are vying for airtime, it's really on them to detract from each other. Biden clearly didn't do it.

But I think, when it comes down to the structure here and the format, this was a shining moment for CNN because it points for a new way forward for debate. No studio audiences to get in the way. And the muting of microphones actually worked.

I'll tell you, Alisyn, there were executives at CNN that we're very worried about this. They didn't know how it was going to go with the microphones. But it actually fostered a real conversation.

And for better or worse, we learned a lot about the candidates. We learned about Trump's emotional appeals, his rhetorical appeals. They're oftentimes full of bunk but Biden didn't push back on them.

And it makes me wonder if there will be another debate, if Biden's able to do it or not.

CAMEROTA: Yes, that is one of the big question marks today.

Brian Stelter, thank you very much for the analysis. Great to see.

STELTER: Good to see you.

CAMEROTA: All right. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[17:46:17] CAMEROTA: It's the most serious women's rights crisis in the world, Afghanistan, under Taliban rule. Since seizing control almost three years ago, the Taliban has rolled back women's rights almost entirely.

Most girls and women now barred from school and universities. Women are forbidden to travel without a male guardian. And crucially, most cannot work or provide for their families.

Eight months ago, CNN's Anna Coren exposed the heartbreaking consequence of the Taliban's misogyny as suicide rates among women surged.

She now brings us an update on what led one Afghan -- or one young Afghan girl to such despair, and her second chance at life.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ANNA COREN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Huddled on the floor over schoolbooks. Sixteen-year-old Azo meticulously copies the English sentences. Her neat, cursive writing, a display of devotion to furthering her education.

AZO: (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

COREN: "Learning new words makes me happy," she explains.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That community of children.

COREN: But this scene was unthinkable just eight months ago when we first met Azo in the same room on the outskirts of Karachi in Pakistan.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

COREN: "Don't worry, you'll be fine," says her brother, kissing her hand. "We are with you always."

Azo was bedridden. Her skeletal frame wasting away.

AZO: (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

COREN: Every breath she took and movement she made causing unbearable pain.

Azo is from neighboring Afghanistan. And it's there in her home in July of last year, she tried to kill herself.

(on camera): Can you talk to us about --

(voice-over): This is the first time the teenager, whose identity is hidden due to security concerns, is able to speak to us about what led her to that point.

AZO (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

COREN: "On that day, I felt like everything was over. I glanced at pictures of my classmates and felt a deep sense of longing. I was overwhelmed by hopelessness. And that's why I drank battery acid, convinced it would end my life.

(SHOUTING)

COREN: Azo, seen here in pink in happier times, is one of countless Afghan girls who have attempted suicide. An alarming trend spreading across the country since the Taliban returned to power almost three years ago.

(WHISTLE)

(SHOUTING)

COREN: A ban on secondary education for girls, one of the most damaging of dozens of edicts enforced by the Taliban, contributing to what human rights activists describe as the most serious women's rights crisis in the world, a call backed up by U.N. officials.

RICHARD BENNETT, U.N. SPECIAL RAPPORTEUR ON HUMAN RIGHTS IN AFGHANISTAN: The Taliban's institutionalized system of gender oppression established and enforced through its violations of women and girls' fundamental rights is widespread and systematic amounting to crimes against humanity.

COREN: But despite this powerful language, the U.N. has appeased the Taliban for the U.N. conference on Afghanistan in Doha, agreeing to its demands that women's rights are off the official agenda, guaranteeing its attendance for the very first time. Nor will Afghan women be represented in Taliban meetings.

HEATHER BARR, HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH: This is shocking and shameful here, and this really represents a huge win for the Taliban, obviously, in terms of how much power they're able to exercise, how much the international community is allowing their conduct, their abuses to be normalized.

And this is really devastating for Afghans and women.

COREN: Especially for girls like Azo.

[17:50:00]

After her suicide attempt, she was vomiting blood and couldn't swallow. Her siblings smuggled her into Pakistan for treatment at a local hospital. But Azo's condition only worsened.

CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: The rising number of girls turning to suicide out of their dispatch.

COREN: When our story aired in December, a highly respected institution in Pakistan that wishes to remain anonymous contacted CNN, offering Azo proper medical care that would ultimately save her life.

UNIDENTIFIED DOCTOR: Her weight was that of probably a four-year-old. She was 20 to 22 kilograms at the time that we saw are. There's no doubt in my mind that she had only a few months left to live really.

COREN: By consuming battery acid, Azo suffered what's called an esophageal stricture, a narrowing of the esophagus, stopping food from passing to her stomach.

Over several procedures, doctors inflated a tiny balloon inside her esophagus to gradually widen the passage allowing her to eat.

In January this year, she ate her first meal of rice and milk.

AZO (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

COREN: "It was delicious. I felt strong at that moment and so happy. I told myself I could get through these hard days."

And since then, she has doubled her weight. Yet Azo's battles are far from over.

(LAUGHTER)

UNIDENTIFIED DOCTOR: You see the area where she was pretty badly scarred.

COREN: The doctor says she'll require ongoing medical care and is now at risk of developing esophageal cancer.

But the immediate threat facing Azo and her siblings is deportation as Pakistan prepares to expel the next wave of undocumented Afghan migrants.

Approximately one-fifth of the nearly three million Afghans living in Pakistan were deported by the end of last year. Homes in refugee camps have been marked by authorities for the next round.

And Azo is visibly upset at the prospect.

(on camera): Would you try to kill yourself again if you we're forced to return to Afghanistan?

AZO: (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

COREN (voice-over): "If I go back to Afghanistan, I would end up doing the same thing again because I can't attend school or see my friends. I cannot live there.

For the pediatric surgeon who operated on Azo, he says, they were lucky to get to her in time.

UNIDENTIFIED DOCTOR: We don't want to be at the resuscitating end. The goal is to be at the prevention part and to kind of not allow it to happen.

COREN: But sadly, there is no way to stop what is happening in Afghanistan under Taliban rule as an entire generation of girls, just like Azo, are unable to see any light on the horizon.

Anna Coren, CNN.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CAMEROTA: We thank Anna Coren for that incredibly illuminating and upsetting piece.

And we'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[17:57:46]

CAMEROTA: We visited a lot of towns, but there's something special about Knoxville. And there's one person who has more star power in Knoxville than anyone else. And of course, that person is Dolly Parton. She's more than just a music star in Knoxville. She's a goddess. She's a way of life.

Knoxville is also the home of the University of Tennessee where Tennessee orange burns very bright.

But there's even more that puts it on CNN's list of Americas "Best Towns to Visit." Each year, the fireflies all synchronize creating a phenomenon that is hard to capture on camera.

Derek Van Dam shows us number nine on our list, Knoxville, Tennessee.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DEREK VAN DAM, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Welcome to Knoxville, Tennessee, known as the cradle of country music, where country legends like Dolly Parton got started and where she's still celebrated.

ROBIN EASTER, RHINESTONE FEST EVENT ORGANIZER: Dolly's part of the culture of Knoxville. Knoxville loves Dolly and they love everything Dolly.

This is UT ball orange.

VAN DAM (on camera): Yes.

EASTER: And Dolly.

You could not be more Knoxville than this really.

(LAUGHTER)

VAN DAM: (SINGING)

(LAUGHTER)

VAN DAM (voice-over): One reason she's so beloved? Her songs capture everything that's special about Knoxville, including its fireflies.

(SINGING) VAN DAM: The luminescent bugs are kind of a thing out here. It's one of the few places in the country where you can see synchronous fireflies.

ERIC EDELMANN, MOLLY BRANCH FIREFLIES: They start syncing up and flashing at the same time. They flash anywhere between 60 and 80 times a minute.

VAN DAM: The synchronized light show is part of the firefly mating ritual. And deep in these woods, people come to experience the natural phenomenon.

Recording the bugs on video can be challenging. So I did my best to grab a few snaps.

(on camera): This is just so beautiful. It's almost like creating a line that goes all the way into the background. It makes you stop for a second and appreciate what you've got in front of you.

(LAUGHTER)

VAN DAM: I've found true love. That's a perfect symphony of nature, all coming together at the same time. Pretty cool.

(END VIDEOTAPE)