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Harris Reiterates Pledge To Sign Border Security Bill; Trump Holds First Rally Since Walz Joined Harris Ticket; Trump, Harris Agree To September 10 Debate; Gaza Civil Defense: 90-Plus Killed In Israeli Strike On Gaza School-Mosque Compound Overnight; Three Children Rescued From Flooded North Carolina Creek; Brazilian Passenger Plane Crash Outside Sao Paulo Kills 62; From D.A. To Democratic Nominee: Longtime Friend Talks Harris' Rise; Federal Election Subversion Case Delayed Until September. Aired 12-1p ET

Aired August 10, 2024 - 12:00   ET

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

[12:00:00]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

YUSRA MARDINI, TWO-TIME OLYMPIAN: -- bittersweet feeling having the Refugee Olympic team, but I am really incredibly proud of what they represent, of what they are doing right now.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BIANNA GOLODRYGA, CNN HOST: And you can watch the rest of our conversation, along with all of the Amanpour hour interviews at amanpour.com. And that's all we have time for today. Don't forget, you can find all of our shows online as podcasts at cnn.com/podcast, and on all other major platforms.

I'm Bianna Golodryga in New York. Christiane is back next week. Thanks so much for watching.

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN HOST: Hello, everyone. Thank you so much for joining me this Saturday. I'm Fredricka Whitfield.

All right. The race for the White House is heating up in America's west today. Vice President Kamala Harris and her running mate, Governor Tim Walz, are wrapping up their five-day battleground blitz in Nevada. Former President Trump campaigned in Montana last night and with his first rally in nearly a week as he railed against his new democratic challenger.

Last night in Arizona, Harris and Walz held what the campaign is calling its biggest rally yet, where she doubled down on border security.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KAMALA HARRIS (D), VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES, CURRENT PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: Earlier this year, we had a chance to pass the toughest bipartisan border security bill in decades. But Donald Trump tanked the deal. (BOOING)

HARRIS: Because he thought by doing that, it would help him win an election. But when I am president, I will sign the bill.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: CNN's Eva McKend is in Las Vegas covering tonight's rally. So Eva, what more can you tell us about Harris's Arizona event last night, and what can be expected later on today?

EVA MCKEND, CNN NATIONAL POLITICS CORRESPONDENT: You know, Fred, Democrats jubilant at that Arizona rally, the crowd filled to the rafters as we heard chance of we're not going back. The Vice President, in addition to focusing on immigration, also talking about the issue of reproductive rights.

She did address ceasefire protesters in a markedly different way than she did earlier this week. She sort of leveled with them, saying, listen, she wants a ceasefire as well, in addition to all of the hostages being returned home and that she is working around the clock to achieve this with President Biden. It was a much different tone.

Let's take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HARRIS: So let me say I have been clear. Now is the time to get a ceasefire deal and get the hostage deal done.

(CHEERING)

HARRIS: Now is the time. And the President and I are working around the clock every day to get that ceasefire deal done and bring the hostages home.

(CHEERING)

HARRIS: So I respect your voices, but we are here to now talk about this race in 2024.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MCKEND: Fred, Harris finishing up her tour here of the Southwest in Las Vegas, picking up a key endorsement from the Culinary Union. You know, she really hopes to appeal to key voters in the Democratic coalition, Latino voters, young voters. And in doing that, she is playing up her working class roots, talking about the time when she worked at a fast food restaurant and really trying to appeal to these voters here that will be so consequential months ahead. Fred?

WHITFIELD: All right, Eva McKend, keep us posted throughout the day and evening.

Meantime, former President Trump is back on the campaign trail, holding fundraisers today in Wyoming and Colorado. Last night, he took the stage in Montana, his first rally since Kamala Harris announced Tim Walz as her running mate. Trump wasted no time going after Walz, as well as Harris and Democratic Montana Senator Jon Tester.

CNN's Alayna Treene is in Bozeman, Montana.

ALAYNA TREENE, CNN REPORTER: Well, former President Donald Trump traveled to Bozeman, Montana on Friday. It was his first rally since Vice President Kamala Harris had announced her running mate and selecting Tim Walz on Tuesday. Now, Montana is an interesting state. It is not a battleground. It is a reliably red state.

One that Donald Trump's senior advisers tell me they are not concerned about him winning in November. But he came here instead to stomp for Tim Sheehy. He's a businessman, as well as a former Navy SEAL. And he's locked in a tight Senate race with Jon Tester, the long serving Democratic Senator of Montana.

And really, when I talk to people on the ground, as well as people on Capitol Hill, they say this is one of the most hardest fought races in the battle for the Senate majority.

[12:05:00]

Now, I actually caught up with Steve Daines, a senator from Montana, as well as the chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee. And he told me that he was the one who actually privately encouraged Donald Trump to come here. He said, we know it's not a battleground, but this race is incredibly important. So a lot of reasoning for why he wanted to come here tonight.

Now, we did see Donald Trump mention Sheehy, as well as give shout outs to both him and other Republican lawmakers. But most of his speech really mirrored what we heard him do on Thursday at his press conference in Florida. He attacked Harris over immigration, crime, inflation, but also mocked her intelligence, argued that she was running to the left of Joe Biden, that she was a dangerous liberal, and also attacked her running mate, Tim Walz.

Now, one thing that was new that we haven't seen before is he actually stopped in the middle of his speech on two different occasions to play a video going after Harris. I want you to take a look at what he did.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT, CURRENT PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: So don't take my word for it. Listen, Kamala Harris's agenda straight from her own mouth. Would anybody like to see her? Let's do it for a couple of seconds. Go ahead.

HARRIS: Yes, I am radical. We need to get radical about what we are doing and take it seriously.

TRUMP: Kamala is grossly incompetent and, in my opinion, has a very low IQ. But we'll find out about her IQ during the debate, OK? Let's find out about her, right?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TREENE: Now, I think it's clear from that that we have really entered this new phase of this election cycle. Donald Trump's campaign, but also the Harris campaign, their attacks have become increasingly personal and nasty. And I think it's reflective of just the state of the race right now as they're sprinting to November.

And one thing I can tell you, at least for Donald Trump's part on this when I talk to his team, is that he has been increasingly frustrated with the Democratic enthusiasm surrounding Vice President Kamala Harris. You know, she's sustained this enthusiasm for several weeks now.

And you've heard him attack her crowd size, attack her for having celebrity performers. All of those things have been getting under his skin. And I think that's a lot of where this is coming from.

Alayna Treene, CNN, Bozeman, Montana.

WHITFIELD: All right. Thank you, Alayna.

All right, joining me right now to talk more about the race for the White House, Julian Zelizer. He is a CNN political analyst and a professor and historian at Princeton University. Great to see you.

JULIAN ZELIZER, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Nice to see you.

WHITFIELD: Hard to believe it's only been five days since Harris picked Tim Walz as her running mate, but they have been barnstorming across battleground states and drawing pretty big crowds. So how would you assess what you have seen this week from this new Democratic ticket?

ZELIZER: So far, very successful. They're drawing crowds, they're drawing interest, and they're getting some good poll numbers initially. There are underlying concerns and there's many, many weeks left. But there is no way not to see this as a pretty successful, you know, week after announcing who the vice presidential running mate would be.

WHITFIELD: Harris seems to have a lot of momentum when you look at the polls. Take a look at this just released New York Times/Siena College poll of likely voters that shows Harris ahead of Trump in the battleground states of Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania.

It's essentially a tie as her four-point lead in those states falls within the margin of error. But it is a big improvement, right, over President Biden standing in those states. So what's your takeaway from this new polling?

ZELIZER: Yes, in terms of enthusiasm and support for her candidacy, she has erased some of the gap that emerged under President Biden. And I think Democrats should be happy. Those are real numbers and those are the key states. The concerns will be that on two big issues, immigration and the economy, in many ways, she is still saddled with the concerns that people have over the Biden administration. So part of it will be a race in some ways, which of those two factors matters more in coming weeks to voters? And B, can she address those issues in a way that closes some of the support that exists for an alternative, meaning former President Trump as opposed to her candidacy?

WHITFIELD: And what do you make in the contrast of their rallying and their state visits? Trump, you know, only holding one rally in a non- battleground state. You know, since Harris named Waltz her running mate, they have held a week of rallies in swing states.

ZELIZER: Well, I think the Trump campaign and Trump are scrambling to figure this out by all accounts. He doesn't know exactly how to handle this, and he's trying to recalibrate his campaign. And on the other hand, Harris and Walz kind of know what they want. They see the finish line, and they're acting with momentum, which in politics is an incredibly powerful factor.

[12:10:02]

And the more they feel that momentum, the more crowds are coming out, the more you can just keep replicating that. So I think that's the dynamic that we're seeing right now.

WHITFIELD: The Democrats, they're going to be holding their convention in Chicago in just over a week, and then Harris and Trump will face off in their first presidential debate in September. What are you seeing in the levels of confidence of these two campaigns?

ZELIZER: Well, I think Trump instinctively feels confident certainly for debates. He's a natural on television. He doesn't get worried about how he will perform. I think Harris is pretty confident, though. She's very good when she is focused, when she really understands, you know, what issues she wants to highlight and the ways that she wants to attack them.

So I'm sure she's confident. That said, I think everyone naturally worries about appearing on the campaign stage with him because you just don't know what's going to happen or how it's going to go. Nothing is conventional. So I think it's a mix of emotions on her part.

WHITFIELD: All right. While they both have committed to one, and lots of reporters asked Harris, you know, when she was getting off the plane or on the plane whether there would be more, since Trump said he wanted at least two more, she said, we'll see what my team says. To whose advantage would it be to have more than the September 10th debate?

ZELIZER: It really depends how it goes. But I think Harris and the campaign feel that if they can handle the Trump debate style, and if they can show on the public stage how good she is at taking him on, I think they'd be open to another one. I don't sense they are scared in any way of having more than one.

WHITFIELD: All right. Julian Zelizer, we'll leave it there. Thanks so much.

ZELIZER: Thank you.

WHITFIELD: All right. We're also following dramatic new developments in Gaza. And a warning, some of the images you're about to see are very disturbing. Gaza officials say at least 93 Palestinians have been killed in an Israeli airstrike on a school and mosque. Medical officials in Gaza say those targeted were civilians, children and the elderly.

Witnesses say they were given no advance warning of the attack. The IDF claims the school was being used by Hamas terrorists and that they took steps to mitigate the risk to civilians. The strike marks the fifth Gaza school targeted by the Israeli military in the last week.

CNN's Clarissa Ward and Ben Wedeman are tracking the developments. Clarissa, what more are you learning about this latest bloodshed?

CLARISSA WARD, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Fredricka, this is truly a horrific strike, even within the context of Gaza, where we have seen so many horrific strikes. Save the Children is saying that this is the deadliest attack on a school since October.

Five schools hit in the last week alone. As you said, more than 17 in the last month. Obviously, these schools are not in session, but they are being used as shelters. And the Gaza defense are telling us that basically they think there were 6000 people taking shelter at the Al- Tabi'in Islamic school compound in Gaza City, that there were about 200 worshippers who had gathered in a hall to pray the dawn prayer, the Fajr prayer.

When this strike occurred, we have been looking through just really astonishing and horrifying footage, Fredricka, that clearly shows scores of dead, many injured, women and children among the dead. The IDF, as you mentioned, is saying that Hamas and Islamic Jihad militants were inside the school, were using it as kind of a command center.

They're also disputing the casualties, saying that they believe that 20 to 25 militants were killed. Now, we can't say whether there were combatants among the dead, and we can't verify the exact number of casualties. But as I said, we have been looking at some truly horrific footage.

And among that footage, we also came across video of one of the munitions used, which is a U.S.-made GBU-39 small diameter bomb. It is produced by Boeing. And this comes, Fredricka, crucially, just one day after the U.S. agreed to release $3.5 billion in military aid to Israel.

So, undoubtedly, this is underscoring the necessity for a ceasefire. But also, you can understand how to the people of Gaza, those calls for ceasefire talks really are sounding very hollow at the moment, and many people fearing that this will only do more to damage those talks' chances of succeeding, Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: All right, Clarissa, thanks so much.

And Ben Wedeman to you in Beirut, both Egypt and Jordan have joined a growing chorus of nations condemning this latest attack. What does this strike potentially mean for those talks now?

[12:15:09]

BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Fredricka, before I get to that, let me just tell you, within the last hour and a half, Israeli warplanes have flown yet again for the third time since last Tuesday over Beirut, breaking the sound barrier.

This is something people are slowly getting accustomed to here. But because this is also something the Israeli warplanes regularly break the sound barrier over southern Lebanon. But over Beirut is really seen as a message not only to Hezbollah, but Lebanon as a whole, a warning not to retaliate for last week's Israeli assassination of a senior Hezbollah commander.

Now, regarding reaction to that strike on the shelter in Gaza that killed more than 90 people, we're seeing that Jordan and Egypt, two countries that have peace treaties with Israel, peace treaties increasingly strained as the Gaza war continues. The Jordanians are accusing Israel of systematic targeting of civilians.

The Egyptians are saying that this is clear evidence of the lack of an Israeli political will to end this war. Increasingly, there is the feeling even among those Arab regimes that are understanding to a certain extent of Israel's desire to destroy Hamas, to continue with this war.

There is a feeling that increasingly the war, the mounting death toll, which is now almost 40,000 in Gaza, is becoming a destabilizing element and that it endangers any possibility of these ceasefire talks that the United States wants to hold a summit on on the 15th of August, including Egypt, Israel, Qatar, the United States, and remotely Hamas.

There is a feeling that, for instance, the United States, the optics is they're getting it all wrong, that as Clarissa mentioned, the releasing of $3.5 billion in military funding to Israel just hours before the strike on the school does even more damage to an already damaged U.S. reputation.

The U.S., of course, has been talking for months about trying to get a ceasefire in Gaza, get a hostage, get the release of the hostages, but the feeling is it's a lot of talk, but very little in the way of real action to bring the bloodshed to an end. Fredricka?

WHITFIELD: All right, Ben Wedeman and Clarissa Ward, thanks to both of you, appreciate it.

All right, still ahead, officials say at least 62 people are dead after a fiery plane crash in Brazil. What we're hearing from witnesses today. And the storm named Debby, carving a path of destruction across the northeast as it moves out of the U.S. Torrential rain burying communities with water, trapping people in their homes and forcing rescues. How this weekend's weather is already impacting the cleanup.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[12:22:48]

WHITFIELD: All right. Today, the Northeast of the U.S. is still reeling from remnants of what was Tropical Storm Debby. Damage cleanup is underway in New York and Pennsylvania after Friday's severe flash flooding. Take a look at this dramatic rescue of three children captured on video right here in North Carolina.

During this rescue, first responders there pulled the children who were clinging to a tree branch from rushing floodwater, as you see right there. One boy who was able to get out of the creek called 911. Listen as children describe what happened.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And I was really scary because at the end, Kelly was like, she was barely holding on and one foot was up. And then the rescue team came just in time to come put her in the boat.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When I saw that everyone was like in trouble, I immediately called 911. And that's when all the parents and the fire department came here and then everyone was OK.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Boy, that was a close call for those kids. CNN Meteorologist Elisa Raffa is here. There were a lot of close calls, maybe not of all that caliber because of this kind of flash flooding.

ELISA RAFFA, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes, I mean, it took that flash flooding all the way up the East Coast. We finally have the remnants of Debby offshore finally got swept into a front. You see the showers that are left behind just offshore here.

But look at the footprint of the heavy rain from Florida where it may landfall through the Carolinas where it dumped 10 inches to 20 inches of rain, all the way up through D.C., Philly, New York, even up to the Canadian border where we had some significant rain totals.

What we have the next phase of is the river flooding rates. We just had so much rainfall in the Carolinas. The rivers are still reacting, aggravated and rising. So we still have some flood watches. And, in fact, for the river flooding, we've got that level two out of four, slight risk also for some heavy rain.

You know, even if they get some isolated storms that can drop a lot of heavy rain, again, we just got 10 inches to 20 inches of rain in a lot of this area. So it's not going to take much for the flooding to get even worse. Some of those rivers, again, keep fear up near major flood stage. Again, we'll have this through the next couple of days, even rivers that are not at flood stage yet or at major flood stage. We'll get there looking at some moderate flood stage in Tarboro, North Carolina, again, as the rivers still rise.

[12:25:06]

Some of these communities that might not have power still also have some heat advisories for that heat index up to 110. So keep that in mind.

And we're not done, by next week, we could be having Ernesto on our hands. Our area development is increasing over the next seven days. Looks like it takes a trek somewhere through the Caribbean islands as we go through the next five days or so. So something that we'll need to watch closely. Again, the next name on the list is Ernesto.

WHITFIELD: Ernesto, stay away.

All right. Thank you so much, Elisa. Appreciate it.

All right, investigators are analyzing the black box from that passenger plane that crashed in the middle of a residential neighborhood in Brazil. What we're hearing from witnesses next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[12:30:10]

WHITFIELD: Brazil has declared three days of mourning after horrific plane crash Friday killed all 62 people on board. Dramatic footage shows the plane's rapid fall and destroyed fuselage in flames on the ground. The passenger plane was on a domestic Brazilian flight when it slammed into a residential area outside of Sao Paulo. Earlier, first responders told CNN about the challenges with recovering the bodies.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CAPTAIN MAYCON CRISTO, SPOKESPERSON, SAO PAULO FIRE BRIGADE: Because of how the plane crashed, there is less damage in the front. So it was not as difficult to remove those first bodies, but as we move along to the back of the plane, there is more destruction, because the fire caused more damage in the back half. So I can't say if this work will finish in 12, 24, or 36 hours. It's impossible to say for now.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Journalist Stefano Pozzebon joins us live from outside the crash site. Stefano, what is the latest?

STEFANO POZZEBON, JOURNALIST: Well, the latest Fredricka has been sort of the same line since we've come here earlier today, earlier on Saturday, to bring you the latest news. So you can see, every couple of minutes we have cars coming in and out of that crash site. You have federal police, military police, first responders, the firefighters. We know that there are about 200 people working at this moment around that plane, or the carcass of a plane, to try bring as many bodies, recover as many bodies as possible before nightfall.

Those bodies are being taken to Sao Paulo, which is the capital of the state. We're about 100 kilometers northwest of Sao Paulo here in Vinhedo, and they will go through a process of identification. I was speaking with other first responders throughout the morning, they say that they are performing DNA tests, dentry tests on their mouth and, of course, facial recognition.

So far, however, Fredricka, only two victims, two bodies, have been identified, and these are the pilots and the co-pilot, because they were the only ones that were possible to identify through facial recognition. All the Brazilian authorities that we've been speaking with in since coming here have been telling us that the bodies are in such a state that it's impossible for them to recognize them, to identify them.

And they're urging the relatives not to come here to the crash site. They're urging the relatives to go to a location in Sao Paulo, an auditorium that has been prepared and set up as a location for them to receive psychological help, treatment, and also to provide whatever information they can to try to identify as many people as quickly as possible.

The Brazilian authorities have also told us, Fredricka, that two black boxes have been recovered from the plane, and they hope that these black boxes will be able to explain what really happened up there, because right now, neither the company nor the Brazilian aviation investigation authority have a clue of what could be the cause of such a tragic accident. And it was really tragic, Fredricka, the plane crashed about 17,000 feet in less than a minute. Fredricka?

WHITFIELD: Yes. And -- and there was no emergency call that came from the cockpit, right?

POZZEBON: Yes.

WHITFIELD: Yes. All right, horrible situation.

POZZEBON: Yes, correct. There was no emergency call. No, I was speaking with some of the neighbors here. They said that they heard a loud noise for a few minutes, the plane was emitting a noise as it was crashing down. And they could see that first responders and Brazilian police arrived at the site in a matter of minutes after the plane crashed. They could see the plane really falling down slowly, winding down from the air and then crashing.

Luckily, they crashed on an open field without causing any further damage, 62 people however, it's still a tragedy for the entire country here, Brazil has declared three days of national mourning. Fredricka?

WHITFIELD: Yes, really horrible situation. Stefano Pozzebon, thank you so much in Brazil.

[12:34:28] All right, back in the U.S., as Vice President Kamala Harris introduces herself to voters as the new Democratic nominee for the race to the White House, I'll speak with someone who is called to a friend for 20 years. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: It hasn't even been two weeks since the Vice President has been on top of the Democratic ticket for the White House. She's been on a pretty incredible journey since at least 2004 when she was District Attorney in California, then Attorney General for California, U.S. senator and then Vice President.

My next guest has known her through much of that journey. She's known her for some 20 years. She has served on Harris's transition team during her attorney general tenure, and was a founding member of the National Finance Committee for Harris's 2020 presidential bid. And today she is a surrogate for the Harris-Walz campaign. But the role she probably cherishes the most is that of friend.

[12:40:10]

With me now is Shelly Kapoor Collins, founding partner of the Shatter Fund, a venture firm that invests in female entrepreneurs. Great to see you.

SHELLY KAPOOR COLLINS, FRIEND OF VICE PRESIDENT KAMALA HARRIS: So nice to be here with you, Fredricka, thanks for having me.

WHITFIELD: So I know you have known the vice president for some 20 years. I wonder if there's a way to kind of succinctly, you know, express, how is it you all became friends? What's that friendship been like?

COLLINS: Yes, sure. Thanks for asking. So I moved back to San Francisco in 2003. And you know, San Francisco, as you likely know, is the smallest big city there is. And so we had a lot of overlap in our circles. And with her background and my background being so similar, I got to initially just know her socially, and then became even more engaged when she ran for attorney general.

WHITFIELD: And we're looking at some of these gorgeous pictures that you provided for us. I mean, you guys could be sisters, just looking at the joy that you both, you know, share in these images, you know. And among the photos you show Harris hosting a Diwali gathering, a first for any vice president. Her mother, Indian, her father, Jamaican. So what -- what has that been like for you when you hear from the former president and his running mate who have been accusing Harris of choosing her identity for political convenience?

COLLINS: Yes, you know what I'll tell you is that the Vice President, what I'm really excited about is that over the last I think you said two weeks, two and a half, three weeks, the country has gotten to know what I know, what those who have supported her for a long time in California know, and that's the real Kamala Harris, right? She is bold. She is strong. And she is a balanced leader, a balanced leader who is measured and objective in the way she handles things. And above all, she has integrity. And I think those are the qualities that we want to see in our next President of the United States, in which she embodies in spades. And then, you know, just looking at her credentials, you know, going from district attorney to attorney general to senator to vice president, and each of them being historic positions, and now the Democratic nominee for president. You know, you just put credentials up and you know that that's who she really is.

WHITFIELD: Do you feel like she's been underestimated?

COLLINS: You know, I would tell you that you only underestimate her at your own peril. Again, it goes back to knowing who she is. What I know about the Kamala Harris that I know is that she is a caring person. She cares about her friends and her caring and passion, her genuine passion, carries over into her service. And she cares about the people she serves. So really, she is a public servant in the true sense of the word. She's there to serve the people.

WHITFIELD: What were your thoughts when she chose, you know, Tim Walz is her running mate. What is it about him that you think appealed to her? Why do you believe that he compliments her?

COLLINS: Yes, so I wasn't clearly in the room when she made those decisions, but what I can tell you is I trust her. As a friend I trust her. I know that her success thus far is not an accident. She didn't just get here. And I know that she makes the right -- right decisions. And so I trust her to think it through, make the right decisions, and she has an amazing team around her.

And, yes, no, I'm really excited. She is the right person, Fredricka, to be on this ticket and take on Donald Trump in November, and having Tim Walz there on the ticket with her is the right thing.

WHITFIELD: Before that November election, there is that September 10th debate that she has agreed to, that the former President agreed to, what are your expectations and how she will handle the unexpected when sharing the stage with Donald Trump.

COLLINS: You know, look, I think from everything that I know about Kamala Harris, she shuts out the noise. She's focused. She knows whether it's the mission or the task at hand. She shuts out the noise, and she doesn't get wrapped around the axle when someone says something about her that she doesn't like. So I think she's going to handle it just fine with a lot of focus.

WHITFIELD: All right, Shelly Kapoor Collins, thanks so much for being with us.

COLLINS: Thank you for having me.

WHITFIELD: We'll going to have you back.

COLLINS: Thanks. Thanks for having me.

WHITFIELD: All right. Thank you.

COLLINS: Take care.

[12:44:27]

WHITFIELD: All right, a month after the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling on presidential immunity, the federal election interference case against Donald Trump is heading back to court, but later than planned. Why the judge just granted the special counsel a delay?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: All right, the first hearing in Trump's federal election interference case has been delayed until September 5th. A trial judge granted Special Counsel Jack Smith an extension after the Supreme Court ruled last month that Trump was immune from prosecution for carrying out official acts as President. Smith's office says they are still assessing what that means for their case and how to move forward.

Joining me now is Jeffrey Jacobovich, a criminal defense attorney and adjunct professor at American University. Jeffrey, great to see you. So why did Jack Smith, you know, seek to delay this hearing?

JEFFREY JACOBOVITZ, WHITE COLLAR CRIMINAL ATTORNEY, ARNALL GOLDEN GREGORY LLP: Fredricka, that's a good question. I think it -- it's because of a number of reasons. As Special Counsel, he's obligated to consult with DOJ officials before determining in which direction he will go.

[12:50:10]

This is a very delicate situation, because the Supreme Court came out with a very strong opinion and surprising decision affording president's absolute immunity for official acts. And so the court will have to determine what's an official act, what's an unofficial act.

And this is new territory, uncharted territory. And there will be hearings, most likely, there could be a mini trial. And I think Jack Smith and DOJ is trying to determine the best way to proceed.

WHITFIELD: At the same time, does a delay undermine the case? Does it not bode well for the Special Counsel team?

JACOBOVITZ: Well, it certainly delays it. Does it undermine it? If you think Kamala Harris is winning the presidency, this case is going to trial next year. If you think Trump is winning, the case will be dismissed by Trump or whoever his, excuse me, his attorney general is. And so it certainly has an impact on the timing, but it will be very unlikely for this case to go to trial before the election.

WHITFIELD: OK. Now, you -- you mentioned the after this Supreme Court ruling, the court will then decide what's official, what's an unofficial act. There could be almost like a mini trial within the trial. How would that be conducted? JACOBOVITZ: Well, that -- that is a good question also, because it's really never been done before, and Judge Chutkan will have to determine whether we'll be on the briefs, whether it will be at a hearing with live witnesses or counsel argument. And so that hasn't been resolved yet. She's looking for briefing on how to go forward in the case, and certainly at the status conference that will be discussed.

WHITFIELD: Would there be witnesses that would be involved in something like that?

JACOBOVITZ: Well -- well, there could be witnesses. But you know, one of the other issues regarding Jack Smith asking for a delay is he could be contemplating what's called superseding the indictment. He could be thinking about amending the indictment, adding other defendants, and there are unindicted co-conspirators in this case, adding other defendants or deleting some of the counts, because some of the counts would be very difficult to prove now, based on the Supreme Court's decision.

WHITFIELD: it's very complicated. It's almost like starting all over, isn't it?

JACOBOVITZ: That's right.

WHITFIELD: All right. Jeffrey Jacobovitz, thank you so much. Great to see you.

JACOBOVITZ: Thank you, Fredricka, you too.

WHITFIELD: All right. Still ahead, CNN takes a closer look at the chaos that comes with misinformation surrounding elections and how alternative media is making it worse.

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WHITFIELD: Conspiracy theories about the 2020 election led to the storming of the U.S. Capitol. CNN's Donie O'Sullivan was there that day reporting on the chaos. Today, are those same conspiracy theories spreading? Donie's investigation into this is the focus on this Sunday's The Whole Story with Anderson Cooper. Here's a preview with one of the most vocal 2020 election deniers, the My Pillow CEO, Mike Lindell.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MICHAEL LINDELL, MY PILLOW CEO: So what you see, see that Willy Wonka on the chocolate factory back there?

DONIE O'SULLIVAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes.

O'SULLIVAN (voice-over): I'd stepped into Mike Lindell's factory, into his world.

O'SULLIVAN: Robots?

LINDELL: These are -- these are -- look what they do.

O'SULLIVAN: Oh my God, look at the robots.

O'SULLIVAN (voice-over): But the more I spoke to him.

O'SULLIVAN: Do you have evidence that was stolen?

LINDELL: In 2020?

O'SULLIVAN: Yes.

LINDELL: Absolutely. The evidence we have is the cast vote record.

O'SULLIVAN (voice-over): The more it was clear, when it came to elections, that his was a world of pure imagination.

O'SULLIVAN: It seems you have -- I think it's two different things, right? You can say there's issues with voting machines, et cetera. But you don't have to say go as far as saying that the 2020 election was stolen.

LINDELL: I -- I have never -- for me, I haven't said that. You guys have been the one saying that. I've said that in the beginning. Yes, it was stolen. I know it was stolen. I have evidence it was stolen. We got to secure election proper and learn from that. I don't care if it was completely turned over or not, we got a big problem here where computers are in our elections.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: All right, be sure to tune in to an all new episode of The Whole Story with Anderson Cooper, one whole hour, one whole story airs tomorrow at 8:00 p.m. Eastern and Pacific right here on CNN.

All right. Hello again, everyone. Thank you so much for joining me. I'm Fredricka Whitfield. All right, less than 90 days until the election. And today, the race for the White House is targeting western voters. Vice President Kamala Harris and Governor Tim Walz are wrapping up their five-day battleground blitz in Nevada tonight. Former President Trump is holding fundraisers today in Wyoming and Colorado after holding his first rally in a week in Montana last night.

Harris and Walz are in Arizona, where they held what the campaign calls its biggest rally yet last night. Harris's newly minted running mate talked about the big turnout while poking fun at Trump's constant references to crowd sizes.

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