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CNN International: Today: Biden & Harris Address Lowering Cost Of Living; Gaza Ceasefire and Hostage Talks Resume In Qatar; DEA: Matthew Perry Turned To Unscrupulous Doctors To Get Ketamine; Trump Veers Off Message, Mocks Harris During Economic Speech. Aired 3-4p ET

Aired August 15, 2024 - 15:00   ET

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

[15:00:44]

RAHEL SOLOMON, CNN HOST: It is 8:00 p.m. in London, 12:00 p.m. in Los Angeles, 3:00 p.m. here in New York. I'm Rahel Solomon in today for Jim Sciutto. Thanks so much for joining me today on CNN NEWSROOM.

Let's get right to the news.

For the first time since the historic switch up at the top of the ticket, President Joe Biden and his number two and now possible successor Kamala Harris appearing side by side. It was a joint event in Maryland to celebrate new Medicare prices for 10 common drugs treating conditions including diabetes, heart disease, and arthritis.

It was also a moment of mutual praise and admiration as Biden passes the torch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KAMALA HARRIS, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Few leaders in our nation have done more on so many issues, including to expand access to affordable health care than Joe Biden. And today we take the next step, thank you, Joe, forward in our fight.

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Folks, I'm an incredible partner the progress we've made. She's going to make one hell of a president.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SOLOMON: It's a long-awaited news for the White House that stems from the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act.

And it's a key component of their message on lowering costs for Americans, let's bring in CNN's Isaac Dovere who has more.

Isaac, this is the first time we're seeing Biden and Harris together in this type of joint events since Biden stepped aside and we're now learning more about his head space since making that decision, tell us about that.

EDWARD-ISAAC DOVERE, CNN SENIOR REPORTER: Look, obviously, it's a very difficult July for Joe Biden. He felt turned on by a lot of members of his own party and a lot of old allies, including Nancy Pelosi and to an extent, Barack Obama as well. He feels somewhat relief to not be running. Presidential candidates always say that the best days of their campaign are the first day and the last day of the campaign but he also was hoping to run again. So there is a little bit of wistfulness and there's definitely frustration about the circumstances that led to him essentially being pushed out of the race.

But his commitment does remain now to making sure that Donald Trump is not the president. I think those two clips that you played at the top, they're really good at it Harris saying that he -- in saying, thank you, Joe, and her saying about him -- sorry, saying about her, that she's an incredible partner and then she's going to make one hell of a president, that's the kind of connection and unity that they are trying to convey now and into next week for the Democratic convention.

SOLOMON: Yeah, you also heard the audience start to chant, "Thank you, Joe".

Let's talk about the Harris campaign today also announcing how many presidential debates you might see this fall. What did they say?

DOVERE: Well, look, it's the debate over debates is what we're seeing here play out. We'll see what this actually looks like. We did get it seems like set today that there's going to be a vice presidential debate on October 1st. Notably, that's a lot later in the calendar than we have an expecting to be in the days when Joe Biden was the presidential nominee and Kamala Harris was the running mate.

But Vance and Walz, two vice presidential nominees, have now both agreed to that. And now there's talk about potentially a second Harris-Trump face off, when we will have the first one for sure in September 10th and then it looks like we might actually get a second one. And more than that, we'll see, but this is a favorite topic for the political world to talk about and for campaigns to discuss about, obviously.

SOLOMON: For sure, okay. Well, hopefully, we will get at least one debate. We will certainly be watching for it.

Isaac Dovere, thank you.

And let's dive deeper now into this big news and what it means for seniors struggling with these very common conditions with CNN medical correspondent Meg Tirrell.

So, Meg, walk us through what we've heard at this announcement and really and critically what it means for seniors.

MEG TIRRELL, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, Rahel, I mean, this has been a long time in the making and many people including me who has covered the drug industry for 15 years really thought we'd never see Medicare negotiating drug prices because the pharmaceutical industry has fought back so hard against this, and they are continuing to fight against this even as these are getting announced and are set to take effect in 2026. So, this is the first ten drugs that Medicare is negotiating prices

on. The government today coming out saying that this is estimated to save them $6 billion in 2026 based on 2023 numbers.

[15:05:07]

That's about 22 percent savings on these medicines. They say out-of- pocket costs for seniors, that will be $1.5 billion in savings. So the first ten drugs include blood thinners, like Eliquis and Xarelto, diabetes drugs, heart failure, drugs, arthritis, cancer, chronic kidney disease, psoriasis, and other autoimmune disorders. So these are some of the drugs that have had the highest spending and Medicare. They accounted for more than $50 billion in 2023 spending. That's 20 percent of Medicare Part D spending.

And so, for example, the way this is going to affect people, the government gave a hypothetical example, because all plans are a bit different in terms of the discounts that are already baked in.

But they said for Stelara, which is psoriasis drug, if you are paying co-insurance on that already based on 2023 prices, a senior would be paying $3,400 a month out-of-pocket in 25 percent co-insurance. Under this newly negotiated price, that would come down to $1,100 per month. So that's a 66 percent discount there, Rahel. This is a fairly big deal and people are still kind of processing what its all going to mean for medicines going forward.

SOLOMON: Yeah. I mean, it sounds like huge savings just based on some of those examples you pointed out.

So, Meg, this is the -- this is the first year, but what's the expectation in terms of what this could look like moving forward even beyond that?

TIRRELL: Right. So, the way they structured this in the Inflation Reduction Act is that in the first year. So, it will kick in 2026, there'll be ten drugs that are chosen and we just went through those. Each year after that, they're going to add more drugs that they'll negotiate the prices on.

So, 15 additional medications in 2027 and 2028. Beyond that, going up to 20 getting added each year. So, we heard from President Biden today saying, we want to negotiate on all of them. So, this is really going to be cumulative. The Congressional Budget Office estimates this will save $100 billion over ten years.

And one really interesting drug were held and I think a lot of people are wanting Ozempic. That one is widely expected to be on the 2027 list.

SOLOMON: Wow, that's -- that's interesting. A lot to watch, certainly. Meg Tirrell for us there, thank you, Meg.

I want to now bring in Catherine Rampell. She is a CNN economics commentator and also a "Washington Post" columnist.

Catherine, always good to see you.

So talk to us first about how big this Medicare announcement is when it really come to the pocketbook, economic impact for seniors, Meg did a great job, I think just talking about how significant sum of these savings appear to be.

CATHERINE RAMPELL, CNN ECONOMICS & POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: They do appear to be huge. The real question will be, to what extent do they affect the private market? Because so many private insurers sort of benchmark their policies. There reimbursement rates against what the federal government does in the -- especially in the Medicare program -- to some extent in the Medicaid program. But that reimburses at much lower rates.

So the real question will be, to what extent will we see ripple effects beyond seniors given the way that this is renegotiating contracts and in shifting the market.

SOLOMON: So, yesterday, we heard Trump deliver what was at least initially billed as an economic policy speech. There wasn't a ton of policy, but I do want to ask you about one promise that he made on energy prices. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT & 2024 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I'm announcing today that under my leadership, the United States will commit to the ambitious goal of slashing energy at electricity prices by half, at least half.

(APPLAUSE)

TRUMP: We, intend to slash prices by half within 12 months at a maximum 18 months. And if it doesn't work out, you say, well, I've voted.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SOLOMON: So, Catherine, I'm curious what you think about that. I mean, crude prices obviously are set globally. But is that a reasonable promise? And what would that even look like?

RAMPELL: Yeah. I think, the problem is he doesn't know what that would look like. He has provided no details about how he would get from point A to point B. It's a little bit like saying, hey guys, I'm going to lose 50 pounds, but not explaining how. Am I going to cut back on my calories? Am I going to exercise more? No, it's just going to happen magically.

And that's what Trump does. He makes these outlandish promises, has -- makes no attempt to explain, you know, how it would work or how the governing would be executed, and I think his base just takes it for granted. Not to mention the fact that energy production already has been extremely strong. Now, I'm not going to attribute that to any particular president. It's been happening during the Biden administration, but nearly every source of energy production recently touched a record high.

[15:10:01]

That's oil, natural gas, solar, wind -- battery production is also at record highs. And I think is expected to double this year if it had been sort of in terms of storage capacity.

So it's not really clear like what his path would be for -- for getting costs down given that we're all already producing so much as it is.

SOLOMON: Well, what about, Catherine, on his plans to continue to lower inflation? I mean, we know he has said that he would like to be more involved in the rate cutting decision-making that normally happens and typically happens at the more independent Federal Reserve.

What are your thoughts about what we've heard him say on how he expects to lower inflation?

RAMPELL: Yeah, once again, there is no set of policy proposals he's put forward that would achieve that. In fact, the policy proposals we do know about would likely worsen inflation.

You mentioned interfering with the political independence of the Federal Reserve. We've seen that happen in other countries when politicians are in control of the money supply that tends to lead to worse inflationary outcomes because nobody trusts that the government is not going to print more money to pay its bills or juice the economy just in time for an election, for example.

Beyond that, Trump has, of course, said that he would deport millions of immigrants. That presumably includes the immigrants that pick our produce and build our homes. You can expect prices for those things to go up. He's also said or some of his advisers have suggested that he wants to devalue the dollar.

And then there's his tariff policy. He wants to impose 10 percent tariffs the other day actually, yesterday he said and maybe 20 percent tariffs on all goods coming into the United States. Maybe 50 to 100 percent tariffs allegedly on Chinese products.

Those tariffs will be passed along to U.S. consumers, at least in part is previous trade wars had the exact same consequence. There's been a bunch of studies looking at this and found but the cost of those tariffs were passed down to consumers who, who bought the affected products. So all of those things are likely to increase prices despite his sort of pulled out of thin air claims about how he will reduce inflation.

SOLOMON: What about on the Harris side of things? I mean, we're obviously expecting to hear from her tomorrow, this big speech. What are you expecting and what are you going to be listening most closely for, Catherine, when she speaks?

RAMPELL: So, she has on her campaign has already put out a sort of memo about price gouging, which is really, if you look at the detail or to the extent that there are any details you look at the legislative templates that she's likely to draw from, including legislation she had sponsored when she had been a senator, it's basically price controls.

And lots of countries have tried some form of price controls, they backfire. They leave just shortages. They lead to uncertainty. They lead to black markets, et cetera. You know, that has been very discouraging to see her lean into.

Beyond that, I'm interested to see what else she says about taxes. How much does she emphasize, for example, expanding the child tax credit? Does she maintain Biden's pledge to not increase taxes of any kind on households making under $400,000, how much wiggle room does she leave for the corporate tax rate, which obviously Republicans want to lower and the Biden/Harris administration has proposed raising, but maybe there's a trade there. Who knows, you know, what the child tax credit or something else?

So, those are the things I'm looking for. Also very interested to see if she talks it all about trade policy, to see if she talks at all about health care policy, super report and issue too many Americans and a bunch of subsidies for Obamacare individual market. Insurance premiums are expiring next year.

So how much does she get into all of that? And the other kitchen table issues that Americans care about?

SOLOMON: So you'll be looking for details, as will we all.

Catherine Rampell --

RAMPELL: Yes. Ideally, yes.

SOLOMON: Thank you so much. It's good to see you today.

All right. Still ahead, Israel-Gaza ceasefire negotiations resume as the Gaza health ministry announces a new grim death toll in a ten- month conflict. We are live in Tel Aviv with what's coming out of those meetings.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:17:25]

SOLOMON: Welcome back.

On the day that mediators are working to move forward on a ceasefire and hostage deal, a grim milestone in Gaza. The health ministry there reporting 40,000 people have been killed since this conflict began ten months ago. That's about one in every 55 people who live in Gaza, the majority, women and children.

It's a stark reminder of the deadly cost of this war and why mediators are applying pressure for Israel and Hamas to come to an agreement. Negotiations are expected to continue into Friday.

Now earlier today, U.S. national security communications advisor John Kirby said that the talks are off to a promising start.

Let's bring in CNN international diplomatic editor Nic Robertson, who is live for us in Tel Aviv.

A diplomatic start, he says, or a promising start, he says what have you seen, Nic, any progress being made? What can you share with us?

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Well, we know that the Israeli delegation that went was the delegation that's often gone before there. David Barnea, the head of the Mossad, Ronen Shem -- Ronen Bar, the head of Shin Bet, the internal intelligence security, and Major General Nitzan Alon, who's the head of intelligence for hostages. So that was taken as a good sign and it was understood that the mandate that they've been given by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu would allow them to move things forward.

The caution from -- from John Kirby was that while this is a positive start, don't expect immediate results and I think that's what we're seeing already and it's not surprising. And these things don't get immediate results because its proximity talks that are sequential. So one party meets and it looks like the Israelis will be meeting again, not only with the Qatari and Egyptian mediators, with the U.S. mediators as well, that there'll be meeting again tomorrow.

So that also is a sort of a good sign. And then there's the possibility that the mediators, this is expected that they will meet with Hamas after that. But then, of course, Hamas has representatives in Doha that they're going to have to reach out to Yahya Sinwar, the leader in Gaza, and that process often takes time. So, nothing fast.

But if you look at the fact that there was so much concern about getting the talks going in the first place. And now, they're already huddled into a second day, positive step. But, but it's the output. It's what we hear afterwards. It's what ground is actually covered than agreements can be made.

That's going to be -- that's going to tell us success or not. I think it's just too soon, really to be -- to be sure where this is exactly headed.

SOLOMON: Fair enough. But as you say, I mean, the fact that these talks have started, have resumed, positive start nonetheless. Nic Robertson live for us there in Tel Aviv -- Nic, thank you.

And joining me to discuss this further is retired General Wesley Clark, founder of Renew America Together and also a former NATO allied supreme commander.

General Clark, always good to see you.

So Kirby says negotiations are not about the deal itself, but the implementation of the deal. This is what he told CNN earlier today.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN KIRBY, NATIONAL SECURITY COUNCIL COORDINATOR FOR STRATEGIC COMMUNICATIONS: Both sides need to show compromise. Both sides need to social leadership here. We are now talking about the implementing details of the deal itself. The smaller for gaps that we absolutely believe can be narrowed in terms of how the deal was executed.

It's not about a debate in Doha today, about the deal itself, the structure of it. It's now about implementing it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SOLOMON: Generals, is either side showing the leadership required to make progress here.

WESLEY CLARK, CNN MILITARY ANALYST: I think they definitely are (INAUDIBLE). There's no doubt about that.

But (INAUDIBLE) a lot of how many hostages will be released? Will all the hostages be named? So there are these (INAUDIBLE) plus there are issues with happens the end of the first release (INAUDIBLE) second discussions to move forward has happen. And what marketing ultimately, the Israeli want to do more to Hamas. And Hamas wants to stop, and the hostages are caught in the middle.

SOLOMON: General, let me ask, the U.S., Egypt, Qatar said that they were prepared to offer a final bridging proposal. What pressure can they apply to get movement from either side to move needle, to move the needle at all? I mean, it seems like talks have been deadlocked for months.

CLARK: Well, they can certainly provide pressure on Hamas, (INAUDIBLE) certain amount of access through Sinai into Gaza. So, opening (INAUDIBLE) putting financial backing, helping reconstruction, providing immediate medical (INAUDIBLE) when fighting stops, providing humanitarian, food, shelter, all immediate steps. They could do a lot to alleviate the civilian hardships that this is part of how they deal with Hamas, and how Hamas sees its role going forward really the key issue. I think it's going to be very difficult for Israel (INAUDIBLE) Hamas as a future leader of the government of Gaza, and it's going to be virtually impossible for Hamas to give up that role.

SOLOMON: OK. General Wesley Clark, thank you for the time today.

CLARK: Thank you.

SOLOMON: Coming up next, multiple arrests have been made connected to the overdose death of friends star Matthew Perry. What we're learning from law enforcement that just finished a news conference. We'll tell you.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:26:52]

SOLOMON: Welcome back.

Five people are now being charged in connection to the death of beloved "Friends" star Matthew Perry. U.S. Attorney Martin Estrada announced the charges this afternoon, including against Perry's assistant, two doctors, and a woman called the ketamine queen.

To help us understand all of this, we have CNN legal analyst, Areva Martin and Dr. Natalie Strand, who is a professor of anesthesiology at the Mayo Clinic.

But -- good to see both of you, ladies.

Areva, let me start with you. This is a case includes a number of defendants, a variety of charges. What appear to be the most serious allegations here?

AREVA MARTIN, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Wow, this is such a stunning indictment by the U.S. attorney in Southern District of California. What's shocking to me, Rahel, is the number of people that were involved in getting this illicit, illegally prescribed drug to Matthew Perry and the callousness in which it was done. We know there's a statement by one of these doctors that says how much would this moron pay?

So these are doctors who are held to such a high standard, but yet they failed in every respect and knowing that he had an addiction problem, that he had suffered from substance abuse, that he was actually on ketamine therapy to address his drug addiction and to give him the level of ketamine that was provided to him in this very elicit and illegal way is stunning for these professionals.

SOLOMON: And, Dr. Strand, I mean, ketamine is most commonly used in anesthesiology in a medical setting. Talk to us a little bit more and help us understand what does it do, but also what's the potential for abuse.

DR. NATALIE STRAND, PROFESSOR OF ANESTHESIOLOGY, DIVISION OF PAIN MEDICINE AT THE MAYO CLINIC: Well, ketamine has been used in medicine for, I mean, 50, 60, 70 years. So it's a very common and usually very safe drug. In fact, that's one of the things we love about it in anesthesiology. They're really five main reasons we use ketamine in the hospital or outpatient care.

One is to start anesthesia or to give procedural sedation to somebody who needs sedation but doesn't need to be completely out for a procedure. We also use it for pain medicine, both for acute pain and chronic pain. But typically this is not highly monitored setting. We can use it for mental health treatment.

I think a lot of people know about that using it for depression primarily. Also, some researchers showing it can be helpful with anxiety, with PTSD, even with addiction, because it might treat some of the depression and anxiety that goes along with addiction. We also use it for pain relief. That end of life. So terminal illnesses and palliative hair and reuse it in the emergency department. So in the right hands, in the right setting, it is very safe, very useful, and very commonly used. While it does not have the physical potential for abuse the same way that opioids are benzodiazepines do, you can develop a psychological dependence on it. The potential for abuse is definitely there.

SOLOMON: Areva, two of the defendants were doctors, and ketamine is as we just heard, sometimes prescribed for a variety of things, including for off-label treatments. How do you think that that could factor into the prosecution?

MARTIN: I think it's going to be used by the prosecutors to show that these doctors failed to provide the kind of customary care that you would expect for doctors treating a patient.

[15:30:07]

We know that one of the doctors has been charged with falsifying medical records by trying to create a scenario by which this was a normal prescription that was provided to Matthew Perry.

But we know the prosecutors have evidence to suggest that even though he was receiving ketamine treatment, that he hadn't received his normal dose in a week-and-a-half or so before his actual death, that this doctor didn't have -- didn't provide accurate information about the prescription that was provided.

We also know one of the doctors that has been charged has also been linked to another murder. Someone else, another death, I should say someone else who die from a similar circumstances that death has also been included in this indictment.

Look, these are very serious charges. The minimum jail time for these charges is ten years in federal prison, and some of the charges carry up to life in prison. So very serious charges.

SOLOMON: Dr. Strand, you know, the indictment said that, according to authorities, that Perry's assistant who has no medical training, was apparently regularly administering these ketamine injection how important. Is it to have a medical professional on hand when using something like this?

STRAND: I want to be careful here because you mentioned this earlier. There are off-label uses for ketamine and there's -- there is a place to be aggressive with treatments in a safe way for patients who have failed for a second, third lines and therapies.

So when I talk about ketamine and ketamine research and potential uses, I want to be careful here that this outcome doesn't cloud that the usefulness for ketamine and very difficult patient populations.

So to go back to your original question, when we administer ketamine IV or intramuscularly, patients are always monitored. We monitor heart. We monitor oxygen saturation. We monitor respiratory rate.

So if someone is taking ketamine for the most part in these -- these access points, they should be monitored. Now, I do also want to point out that plenty of people use intranasal ketamine or oral ketamine in a home setting or a setting where they're not monitored. So that is done even though as you said, most of the time it is off-label.

SOLOMON: Areva, you know, we heard the attorney -- the attorney there say that one of the defendants, Jasveen Sangha, is apparently called the ketamine queen and authorities say that they found 79 vials of ketamine when they raided her residence.

How -- how big of a fish is this apparent ketamine queen and how major are these charges?

MARTIN: These are very serious charges in this ketamine queen apparently has a reputation for providing, you know, illicit use drugs to be used in illicit fashion. I think what's important here? And I understand what the doctor says. She's saying, look, that this drug can be used in a safe way and by prosecuting doctors in this matter, we don't want to chill or quell the use of this drug in a safe way.

But this case is not a case of safe use by the text messages, by the information that the prosecution has provided to date, we know that this was drug trafficking. This was drug dealing by these doctors are engaging in using real peoples prescriptions to get additional medication to provide to someone who was not prescribe the medication. And we see so many instances of this where doctors are peddling drugs to individuals who already have suffered abuse issues, and unfortunately meet their demise in a way that Matthew Perry did.

So I think we can talk about it being used safely and also talk about this group of defendants who clearly are acting outside the normal scope of medical practice.

SOLOMON: And, Doctor, lastly, I mean, you know, as we hear you talk about some of the ways that this can be used the safely in the ways in which this can actually be used to try to help people who were dealing with serious conditions. I just wonder what your reaction is -- I mean, obviously, these are just allegations at this point. But what your reaction is to fellow doctors, perhaps using ketamine in this way?

STRAND: Well, I have to be upfront and say that I am not related to this case. I've never provided care related to this, so all I will say is as ketamine along with any other controlled substance, with great power comes great responsibility. So anybody who's going to take on the honor and the role of caring for patients in need should be very careful, and make sure were doing so with the needs of the patient coming first.

SOLOMON: Okay. We'll leave it here. Areva Martin, thank you. Dr. Natalie Strand, thank you.

MARTIN: Thank you.

SOLOMON: All right. Coming up, former President Trump's allies continue to hope that he sticks to policy when he steps up to the mic for news conference in the next hour. But can he do it?

We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:37:59]

SOLOMON: Welcome back.

In the next hour, Donald Trump is set to hold another news conference at his golf club in New Jersey. Since the race changed three weeks ago, allies of the former president have been calling them for him to focus on the issues concerning voters, not his new opponent.

Yesterday, Trump was supposed to address voters in North Carolina about his plan for the economy, but continued to attack Kamala Harris.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT & 2024 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: They wanted to do a speech on the economy. A lot of people are very devastated by what's happened with inflation and all of the other things. So we are doing this as an intellectual speech. We're all intellectuals today.

What happened to her laugh? I haven't heard that laugh in about a week? That's why they keep her off the stage.

When Kamala lays out her fake economic plan this week, probably, it will be a copy of my plan because so basically that's what she does.

She's not a brilliant person. She is not a smart person. She is not very smart. But it is crazy, isn't it, though? Isn't it crazy?

She was so disrespected just a few weeks ago. And now, its like Kamala, Kamala.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SOLOMON: As Donald Trump grapples with how to campaign against Kamala Harris, his team is adding more staff for the sport to November, including Trump's 2016 campaign manager, Corey Lewandoski.

Let's bring in CNN's Kristen Holmes, who covers the Trump campaign.

Kristen, that's the name perhaps some people haven't heard in a few years. Well, what is the addition of Corey Lewandowski tell us about the internal thinking and operation of the Trump campaign. It's sort of like a blast from the past there.

KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, certainly. I mean, he has stayed close to Donald Trump and there has been internal conversation about bringing back some of these big 2024, a big 2016 -- excuse me -- allies, these loyalists from the first campaign.

I will note, Corey Lewandowski was only Trump's first campaign manager in 2016. He joined the campaign when Donald Trump started in June of 2015, but was later ousted for Paul Manafort. But again, this is not the only person who is being added. And this comes at a time in which allies have expressed some real concern about the state of the campaign and the state of Donald Trump's messaging himself.

[15:40:04]

This is why you are seeing these events that are going to focus on the economy, on immigration, on crime. When you talk about Donald Trump and Kamala Harris, what his team wants to do is link her to Joe Biden because obviously as we had seen before Joe Biden dropped out of the race, Donald Trump was pulling ahead of Biden on specific issues and that included the economy.

What they want to do is say Kamala Harris is just an extension of Joe Biden. Now, obviously, as we've seen right now, that doesn't seem to be working, but that's what yesterday was, was really the first time we had seen Donald Trump hammer home this idea that Kamala Harris was part of the Biden administration.

Now we'll talk about the adds, talking about Corey Lewandowski, also bring on Taylor Budowich was the head of MAGA Inc., which is the super PAC aligned with him, the spokesperson for that. Another close loyalist named Alex Bruesewitz, somebody who had worked on 2016 campaign, has been a big social media Trump person for the last several years. They're clearly trying to mix it up here.

Now, we're going as far as to say this isn't full on campaign shakeup, just because Chris LaCivita and Susie Wiles were the campaign heads are staying in their place. Donald Trump himself saying they're still going to run the campaign that these are just additions. But again, this is coming at a time where we have heard several of his allies voicing concern, both privately and publicly, that's something needs to change.

SOLOMON: Okay. Kristen Holmes, reporting for us there, Kristen, thank you.

Let's discuss all of this further. Let me bring in my political panel for more on the state of the race. We have Republican strategist Shermichael Singleton and Democratic strategist Maria Cardona, joining me now.

Shermichael, let me start with you.

As we all know, Republicans have been pleading with Donald Trump to try to focus on the race its focus on the issues. Yesterday's event was not a typical Trump rally. I mean, people were seated. It was a smaller venue, but he is still, Donald Trump, he went on several tangents, attacking Kamala Harris.

Shermichael, did anything Trump say yesterday, calm those concerns among those within his own party who believes he needs to focus on the issues, not her?

SHERMICHAEL SINGLETON, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: I mean, there were some substantive aspects of it. He talked a little bit about her copying his policy positions that he announced a couple of weeks ago. He talked a little bit about inflation, about rising costs. He talked about immigration. He went back to his phrase of we're on the brink potentially the World War III if you elect to Kamala Harris, which will be a continuation of Joe Biden's failed foreign policies. That's how he phrased it.

And so, I think you're going to get a little bit of both, right? You're going to get some policy and you're going to get some 2016 Trump. And I just want to remind the audience in 2016, Donald Trump ran against arguably one of the most qualified individuals to be president.

Fast forward to 2020 and what really only change that dynamics, I believe was the fact that we were in the midst of a once in a lifetime international pandemic. And the fact that a significant amount of Americans voted by mail those two variables would not be in play this November. And so, while the race is still close, I think as long as the former president can talk about the tangible things while still being himself, people liked that about him. I think that this race can continue to be competitive.

SOLOMON: Maria, I was going to ask something different, but let me let you respond.

MARIA CARDONA, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: I hope that every time Donald Trump opens his mouth, he talks about Donald Trump and his campaign lets him be Donald Trump, because every time he is Donald Trump he alienates key blocs of voters that he needs to win.

And so I think the key difference between now and 2016 is that people now know what four years of Donald Trump would bring and it has been awhile.

So part of what the Democrats are doing with Kamala Harris and Tim Walz at the helm is not only to remind people what a nightmare it was for so many groups of voters to have Donald Trump as president of the United States, how hurtful it was to their communities, how many Americans died under his watch, because he denied the science of COVID, how many jobs were lost, the economy went into the toilet because Donald Trump did not know how to be a good steward of that economy.

The Democrats will remind voters of that while at the same time talking about the optimism, talking about the energy, talking about the hope that now has been injected into the Democratic Party because Kamala Harris and Tim Walz are at the helm and they're going to focus on the issues that voters care most about, lowering cost, reminding them that the economy under Biden and Harris has done well and she's going to do so much more to make sure that everybody feels that by spending working class opportunities and expanding the middle-class.

[15:45:00]

And she's also going to make the contrast that Donald Trump is also a 34 times convicted felon, fraudster, rapist, and everything that this country does not deserve and does not value as president of the United States.

SOLOMON: Shermichael, one of the biggest -- SINGLETON: Rahel, if I --

SOLOMON: Well, don't let me get in the way. Go ahead, Shermichael.

SINGLETON: Sorry. I just want to rebut just a little bit of what Maria said. The vice president has been in office for three-and-a-half years with President Biden. He's at every opportunity where President Biden to shift the economic trajectory of the country. Most Americans, despite the fact that inflation has improved do not feel it. Okay?

Again, were in a once in a lifetime pandemic. The United States was not the only country that's all its economics changed. We weren't the only country that saw seismic jobs decrease. Everybody all over the world saw that.

And I also want to say, everybody knows Donald Trump's temperament. They voted for him, overwhelmingly in 2016. He exceeded expectations in 2020, again, despite the fact that we're in the midst of a pandemic barely lost by 81,000 votes across four states.

So this idea that Maria is articulating here, that he has somehow absorb of being able to be worthy of the presidency because of his past inclinations are because of the recent trials and verdicts against him, I am not convinced based on how close this race is that a plethora of people in the middle believe that because it is not just Republicans, Rahel, that are given Donald Trump this bump that he continues to have that, he's maintained for over a year now.

SOLOMON: Well, listen, we could talk about the causes of inflation and who was in office when all day, and we could talk about how Americans feel about inflation. It is a very real issue as well.

CARDONA: Right.

SOLOMON: But I do want to ask just looking ahead to the next four years, right? Not necessarily the law plus four years, but the next four years, Maria, Biden was asked earlier today how he feels about Vice President Kamala Harris, perhaps distancing herself from his economic policies. And he said essentially, she won't.

Do you believe that, one? And if she doesn't, is that a mistake?

CARDONA: So here's where I think we have to inject a little bit of reality because I know that -- and Shermichael just did it, right, trying to connect Kamala Harris with the economic policies of the last four years. And guess what? That's fine. Because the Biden administration's economic policies are actually incredibly popular, Rahel, this is what Republicans don't understand.

This -- and this is what has been so frustrating to the Biden administration because the policies themselves, if you poll the policies themselves, in surveys, in polling, in focus groups they pull off the charts, $35 insulin caps, $2,000 prescription drug caps. They talked about it today at the event that she had with the president, continuing to expand access to health care, student loan forgiveness, job creation, the infrastructure bill or law that actually injected millions of dollars into so many districts and states that Republicans were tripping over themselves trying to take credit for a law that they even did not pass themselves or didn't approve of.

And so, again Kamala Harris doesn't need to distance herself from Biden's economic policies. What she needs to do is exactly what she's doing right now to put her own signature on it for her to be able to talk about it, and to be able to talk about it in future terms of what it will do, continuing to expand the middle-class continuing to lower costs, which is the one thing that voters really feel in their pocket books. But the economic policies themselves, Rahel, people were not happy with Donald Trump, Joe Biden matchup, and that showed and that I think was what showed that the Biden economic policies he wasn't getting credit for it.

Kamala Harris will get credit for it because she is new and fresh and energetic and young and now she can point to the old guy here, the past, say the past. What we don't want is Donald Trump.

SOLOMON: Shermichael. I see you have a response. Unfortunately, we have run out of time, but fortunately, we have a few more months where we will talk about this again, I am sure, so hold that thought. Thank you both.

SINGLETON: Rahel, I am always okay with allowing Maria to have the last word. I'm okay with that.

SOLOMON: Aw.

CARDONA: I love you, Shermichael.

SOLOMON: Such a gentleman. All right. Thanks, guys.

SINGLETON: I love you, too, my friend.

SOLOMON: I'll see you soon.

All right. Well, coming up after the break, our Wolf Blitzer's conversation within Israeli photographer who captured heart wrenching images of the aftermath of the October 7 Hamas attack.

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I'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SOLOMON: Welcome back and returning to Israel now. I want to share with you some powerful photographs taken the morning of the October 7 Hamas attack.

The pictures were taken by well-known Israeli photographer Ziv Koren.

CNN's Wolf Blitzer had the opportunity to speak with him about his work and also what he witnessed in the horrific aftermath of the attack. These images, which we do have to warn you are disturbing, are currently on display in a public art display.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST, THE SITUATION ROOM (voice-over): This is award-winning Israeli photojournalist Ziv Koren pinned down by Hamas gunfire on October 7th in southern Israel.

ZIV KOREN, ISRAELI PHOTOJOURNALIST: We've got out of Sderot, trying to get to the Gaza envelope, and this is where we were confronted with Hamas terrorists started shooting at us. It was madness.

BLITZER: So, all you can hear is these bullets flying over your head.

KOREN: I think it was a very long 20 minutes that the bullets were flying all over until the soldiers arrived.

BLITZER: On that Saturday morning, Koren grabbed his camera, his protective gear, and headed south from Tel Aviv with little information.

What he captured shows the horrific aftermath of the October 7 terror attack.

KOREN: I didn't really shoot a lot of people that were alive. Most of scenes I photographed were from dead Israelis, exactly.

Thirteen people standing here on the way to travel to the Dead Sea and one of the pickup trucks of Hamas went through and just kill them all.

And I think it's part of my responsibility to tell the story even though it's something that most people just want to look away from.

BLITZER: He's taken over 350,000 photos since the attack.

KOREN: I never stopped since.

BLITZER: Today, Koren's images hanging the Shimon Peres Center for Peace and Innovation in Jaffa, as part of an exhibit meant to be a reminder and a reckoning for the world.

KOREN: It was a huge tragedy. I mean --

BLITZER: The kibbutz.

KOREN: Yeah, it's a kibbutz, Kibbutz Nir Oz, 25 percent of the members of the kibbutz are either dead or kidnapped.

But not only that, I think the worst thing about what happened in Nir Oz is that nobody came to save them.

[15:55:06]

Just imagine that in every single car here, there was Israelis that died, most of them from the Nova party or youngsters that came to dance and found themselves running away from bullets.

BLITZER: This exhibit is also about speaking for the hostages who still may be alive in Gaza.

KOREN: The hostages should be everything we think about.

BLITZER: So important to bring them home.

KOREN: Exactly.

BLITZER: Koren stayed in touch with the people whose lives were permanently altered on October 7th, documenting it all.

KOREN: Now, a couple that I've been covering for six -- seven or eight months now, even bit more, they were both in the Nova festival. They ran to one of these shelters on the main road, like the other shelters, there were -- the Hamas threw grenades inside this shelter.

They were both severely wounded, 20 people died in this shelter. And they were both they got their leg cut off. And since then, I've been covering their rehabilitation and they just got married last week.

BLITZER: Wolf Blitzer, CNN, Jaffa, Israel.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SOLOMON: And our thanks to Wolf, of course, for that report.

In addition to the exhibit, Koren has published a book in Hebrew. It's called "The October 7th War" with his photos. An English edition of the book comes out mid-September.

All right. Thanks for joining me today. I'm Rahel Solomon.

"QUEST MEANS BUSINESS" is coming up next.