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Harris to Unveil New Economic Policy; Trump Contrasts His Economic Policies with Harris' Plans; Gaza Ceasefire Talks to Resume in Doha; Ukraine Pushing Ahead with Incursion into Russia; Death Investigation of Matthew Perry Uncovers a Criminal Network. Aired 4:00-4:30a ET
Aired August 16, 2024 - 04:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[04:00:00]
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KAMALA HARRIS, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE U.S. (D) AND U.S. PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: Two years ago, as Vice President, I was proud to cast the tie-breaking vote that gave Medicare the power to negotiate.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She is poised to highlight specific policy prescriptions aimed at lowering prices.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Former President Donald Trump on Thursday addressed the press at his golf club. Once he started taking questions from the press, that restraint went out the window.
DONALD TRUMP, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT, 2024 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I think I'm entitled to personal attacks. I don't have a lot of respect for her.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: These defendants took advantage of Mr. Perry's addiction issues to enrich themselves.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Investigators believe this went well beyond Matthew Perry. They say they've uncovered a, quote, broad underground criminal network.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANNOUNCER: Live from Atlanta, this is CNN NEWSROOM with Kim Brunhuber.
KIM BRUNHUBER, CNN ANCHOR: Thank you so much for joining us here on CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Kim Brunhuber. It's 4 a.m. here in Atlanta and in North Carolina, where Vice President Kamala Harris is getting ready to reveal her economic policies for a future administration. They're expected to include plans for a federal ban on price gouging that's aimed at lowering grocery prices, as well as efforts to make housing more affordable, especially for first-time buyers.
Momentum for Harris has been building since she secured the Democratic nomination. And on Thursday, Harris and President Joe Biden appeared together at a public event for the first time since he exited the race. CNN's MJ Lee has the story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KAMALA HARRIS, U.S. VICE PRESIDENT, DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: Our extraordinary president, Joe Biden.
MJ LEE, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Tonight, for the first time in three and a half weeks --
JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: She's going to make one hell of a president.
(APPLAUSE)
LEE (voice-over): -- retiring lame duck president Joe Biden, appearing at an official event alongside Vice President Kamala Harris, the brand new Democratic nominee for president.
HARRIS: Thank you, Joe.
CROWD: Thank you, Joe.
LEE (voice-over): Harris first paying tribute to the man who chose her as his running mate four years ago.
HARRIS: There's a lot of love in this room for our president.
LEE (voice-over): The pair promoting the administration's work to lower the costs of prescription drugs, a popular idea that heavily affects senior and Black Americans.
HARRIS: Two years ago, as vice president, I was proud to cast the tie breaking vote that sent the bill that gave Medicare the power to negotiate.
LEE (voice-over): Thursday's event coming as Harris is quickly establishing her own campaign with distinct policies and messaging, and offering an early preview of how she might try to navigate Biden's low marks on the economy.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How much does it bother you that Vice President Harris might soon, for political reasons, start to distance yourself from your economic plan?
BIDEN: She's not going to.
LEE (voice-over): Harris, who until recently was eagerly making statements like this --
HARRIS: Bidenomics is working.
LEE (voice-over): -- now carefully assessing how to selectively break from Biden. She is not expected to carry the banner of Bidenomics. Instead, she is poised to highlight specific policy prescriptions aimed at lowering prices. On Friday, Harris will travel to North Carolina to propose a federal ban on price gouging to lower grocery costs.
HARRIS: Our President Joe Biden.
LEE (voice-over): Meanwhile, Biden said to be still smarting from being forced out of the 2024 race last month. Sources say he won't soon forget the Democrats who played the most active roles in pushing him to drop out, including former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Biden now focused on burnishing his own legacy and preparing to be an active surrogate for the new Harris-Walz campaign.
BIDEN: The guy we're running against, what's his name? Donald Dump or Donald -- whatever. They want to get rid of this.
LEE: Now, as for the vice president's economic policy rollout speech in North Carolina on Friday, we are learning that as a part of those remarks, the vice president will be unveiling a four year plan that is aimed at trying to lower the cost of housing, including, we are told, a $25,000 down payment assistance for first time homeowners, as well as the construction of new housing and tax incentives for the building of starter homes.
[04:05:00]
Of course, high costs in food and housing are among the some of the most stubborn economic challenges for the Biden administration. So it's no surprise that she is trying to address those issues as the vice president is clearly trying to put a little bit more distance between herself and President Biden's economic record.
MJ Lee, CNN at the White House.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BRUNHUBER: Visits by both sides show how North Carolina is once again being viewed as a battleground state. Since Biden ended his reelection bid and endorsed Harris, Trump has made two stops to the state and invested millions of dollars in new ads. Trump beat Hillary Clinton here in 2016, getting just over 50 percent of the votes on his way to winning the White House that year.
He won North Carolina again in 2020 with a much narrower margin over President Biden, just 74,000 votes. The state hasn't backed a Democratic candidate for president in 16 years.
Meanwhile, as we heard, Donald Trump has been discussing the cost of food against the backdrop of his private golf club in New Jersey, flanked by an array of breakfast cereals, coffee, milk and fruit. Trump slammed Harris's economic policies and falsely accused her of being responsible for the rising prices and inflation felt all over the world. And once again, his attacks became personal. CNN's Alayna Treene has the details.
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ALAYNA TREENE, CNN REPORTER: Former President Donald Trump on Thursday addressed the press at his golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey. And the whole point of this speech was to really drive home his message on the economy.
Now, when I talked to Donald Trump's senior advisers, they said that was really the goal for this entire week, that they wanted him to really drive a contrast between his economic policy and that which of his record when he was in office and compare that to what Harris is going to propose on Friday in North Carolina.
Now, he had a series of props around him, a bunch of different groceries. And really, the point for him was to try and argue that Kamala Harris is responsible for the crunch that many Americans are feeling on their wallets. They also want to tie her to the Biden administration's economic policy.
Part of that is because they know that Donald Trump pulled higher than Joe Biden when it came to that issue, and they believe that is a winning issue for him in November. Now, it was really interesting because Donald Trump really stuck to the script. He brought out a binder with him for these remarks. He put it on the podium and then he read it line by line.
However, once he started taking questions from the from the press, that restraint went out the window. And you really saw Donald Trump revert back to his well-worn playbook.
I asked him specifically, you know, you have a lot of allies who are pressuring you both privately and publicly to stop with the personal attacks on Kamala Harris and focus on a more disciplined message, particularly when it comes to the issues like the economy, but also immigration and crime. And he told me that he actually believes that he is entitled to those attacks. Take a listen.
TRUMP: I think I'm entitled to personal attacks. I don't have a lot of respect for her. I don't have a lot of respect for her intelligence. And I think she'll be a terrible president. And I think it's very important that we win. And whether the personal attacks are good, bad, I mean, she certainly attacks me personally. She actually called me weird.
TREENE: Now, the reason Donald Trump's answer there was so important is because this is something that so many people who want him to win this fall are telling him not to do. He said that Harris makes him very angry, that he is entitled to these personal attacks. But you have heard from a series of his top allies, including Nikki Haley, who recently endorsed him and went on stage at the Republican National Convention and said that she stood behind him.
The former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, even one of his advisers, Kellyanne Conway, all of them went out publicly this week and said, you need to stop with the attacks on Harris and begin talking more about the issues. But it was clear today that Donald Trump seems like he does not want to do that and will not be changing his strategy.
Alayna Treene, CNN, Bridgewater, New Jersey.
(END VIDEOTAPE) BRUNHUBER: Donald Trump's vice presidential pick, J.D. Vance, has agreed to a debate with his Democratic rival. He and Minnesota Governor Tim Walz will face off on October 1st. Vance says he also accepted CNN's invitation for a debate on September 18th, but Walz has yet to sign on.
Harris and Trump are scheduled to have their first debate on September 10th. Her campaign says it's open to an additional debate in October, but won't settle the details on that until the first one's in the books.
Talks in Doha, Qatar, over a Gaza ceasefire and hostage release deal are expected to resume in the coming hours. Delegations from Israel, the U.S., Egypt and Qatar will pick up where they left off on Thursday when no deal was reached. Separately, Egypt and Qatar are in communication with Hamas, which reiterated that any agreement must include a complete withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza.
[04:10:00]
Now today's talks come a day after Hamas officials announced the death toll in Gaza after 10 months of war with Israel has passed 40,000. While Israel disputes that and says it's killed more than 17,000 militants, the staggering number of dead, most of them women and children, has brought renewed pressure on both Hamas and Israel to make a deal and end the fighting.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
VOLKER TURK, U.N. HIGH COMMISSIONER FOR HUMAN RIGHTS: On average, about 130 people have been killed every day in Gaza over the past 10 months. The scale of the Israeli military's destruction of homes, hospitals, schools and places of worship is deeply shocking. International humanitarian law is very clear on the paramount importance on the protection of civilians and civilian property and infrastructure.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BRUNHUBER: Adding to the urgency and pressure for a deal is a potential Iranian attack on Israel. Iran has threatened retaliation for last month's assassination of a senior Hamas leader who was visiting Tehran.
I want to go live to London now, and Elliott Gotkine with the very latest on the ceasefire talks. So Elliot, as we head into a new day of negotiations, where do things stand?
ELLIOTT GOTKINE, JOURNALIST: Kim, they stand pretty much where they have stood for the past nine months so far, in the sense that there hasn't been a breakthrough in on and off talks ever since the last one and only ceasefire came into effect and then ended at the end of last November. But there is hope, I would be loath to say optimism, but there is hope that this time perhaps they could get things over the line. And certainly we kind of know where we stand. We know the pressure is
perhaps greater than it has ever been at any point in the past nine months to try to get a deal, mainly because there is the hope that if a deal is done, it could forestall an expected attack by Iran and or its proxy Hezbollah for the assassination of Hezbollah's top military commander in Beirut and the assassination of Ismail Haniyeh, the head of Hamas's political bureau, who was assassinated in a guest house in Tehran.
Now, we heard from Hamas's political bureau on Thursday stating where its position was, and it says that an agreement in its words, must achieve a comprehensive ceasefire, a complete withdrawal from Gaza of Israeli forces, the return of displaced persons, reconstruction in addition to a prisoner exchange deal in exchange for the release of hostages who were kidnapped on October the 7th.
Israel, for its part, has got a few conditions of its own, and this, according to a regional diplomat, is where some of the stumbling blocks lie, namely that Israel doesn't -- Israel wants to have the ability to screen Palestinians moving north to the Gaza Strip to prevent armed men from moving north and then reconstituting themselves as a fighting force. It wants to have a veto over the identities of some of the Palestinian prisoners being released in exchange for Israeli hostages.
And it also wants to maintain control of the so-called Philadelphia corridor between Rafah in the south of Gaza and the Egyptian border, because Israel sees that as the kind of main conduit for weapons and other materials that go towards supporting Hamas.
On top of that, Prime Minister Netanyahu has repeatedly said that the war will not end until there is, in his words, total victory, something that his own defense minister publicly described as total nonsense. So there's obviously divisions within the Israeli side, but the Israelis are there in Doha. Hamas is not, but it's speaking with the Egyptian and Qatari mediators.
And I suppose another reason why there may be a window of opportunity right now is that Israel's parliament or Knesset is on recess until October. And that means that Netanyahu's far-right coalition members who have threatened to bolt the coalition if Netanyahu signs a ceasefire agreement, they may not be able to recall parliament to hold some kind of no confidence vote to bring down the government in this window. And that could, of course, give Netanyahu time to placate them in some way to prevent them from bolting the coalition.
So that's another reason, Kim, why right now, although it may not be now or never, is certainly seen as the best chance of getting some kind of ceasefire agreement than there has been at any point in the past nine months.
BRUNHUBER: Interesting. Yes, that's a good point. Listen, thank you so much for that update. Elliott Gotkine in London. Appreciate that.
Ukraine is pressing ahead with its cross-border foray into Russia. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is confirming for the first time that the Russian town of Sudzha is now in Ukrainian hands. While Kyiv's forces have advanced 22 miles into Russia, reportedly taking more than 80 settlements and over 400 square miles of land.
Meanwhile, two senior U.S. officials tell CNN Moscow appears to be moving thousands of troops from Ukraine back to Russia to try to stop Kyiv's advance. Some Ukrainian military officials say they don't see that. But the White House believes it's happening.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOHN KIRBY, WHITE HOUSE NATIONAL SECURITY COMMUNICATIONS ADVISOR: It is apparent to us that Mr. Putin and the Russian military are diverting some resources, some units towards the Kursk Oblast to ostensibly counter what the Ukrainians are doing.
[04:15:06]
It doesn't mean that Mr. Putin has given up military operations in the northeast part of Ukraine or even down towards the south, towards places like Zaporizhia. There's still active fighting along that front.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BRUNHUBER: The Ukrainian operation is the biggest penetration into Russian territory since World War II and a major embarrassment for the Kremlin. As Nick Payton Walsh reports from the Russian border, Ukrainian troops are facing no resistance crossing over.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
NICK PATON WALSH, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: This is where Russia begins. It's startling to see the steady flow of military vehicles, that's probably an ambulance and armor just passing through the Russian border point here. That is the border post that clearly got heavily hit when Ukraine moved in hard over a week ago.
Russia's borders here completely undefended. It's also remarkable the freedom with which the Ukrainian military are moving around here. They simply aren't afraid of the drones that have hampered their every move for the past months.
That says the border service of the FSB, the Russian security services of Russia. There's a bullet hole above the rules and bullet holes in the rules themselves.
Now, this is what's so startling about this offensive, the volume of Western supplied armor that we're seeing passing back and forth. Their passage through here, up into Russia, unimpeded in time. That Rochelle from Canada.
WALSH (through translation): Did you expect it?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translation): No, we didn't expect this [operation]. There's a task, we're doing it, no more no less. The final result? No one speaks about that now. WALSH: Just saying about how frequently I've been going back and forth over the last week or so. And you get a real sense of the euphoria. But ultimately, too, the enduring question is, what is all this for? What is the end game?
Yes, it's a huge embarrassment for Vladimir Putin, but they're sending some of their best equipment deep into Russia. And I'm sure in the back of the minds of these troops is the question of what ultimately are we going to achieve? And we still don't know the answer to that.
Ukraine has also said that they've had an extraordinary number of prisoners of war that they've captured as they advance, particularly into one Russian military base, saying that they captured in one day alone 102 replenishing what they refer to as the exchange funds that they're going to use these Russian prisoners to exchange them for Ukrainians caught by Russia.
A remarkable development, though. You saw at that border the confidence and the ease in which Ukrainian forces are pushing up into Russia. And I've got to tell you, after all the months of seeing drones holding Ukraine back, the fact that they're not a threat suggests some extraordinary technological advantage, frankly, on the battlefield. And I'm sure Kyiv will be exploiting that in the days ahead.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BRUNHUBER: When we come back, federal authorities are charging multiple people in their investigation into last year's death of Friends actor Matthew Perry.
And Taylor Swift fans in London must be over the moon. The first of five shows went off without any security concerns. We'll take you to Wembley Stadium just ahead. Stay with us.
[04:20:00]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BRUNHUBER: A woman known to authorities as the Ketamine Queen is among five people facing charges in connection with the death of TV star, Matthew Perry. She pleaded not guilty in a court appearance Thursday. Authorities say their investigation uncovered an underground network of drug sellers and suppliers allegedly responsible for distributing the ketamine that killed Perry.
CNN's Nick Watt reports from Los Angeles.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MATTHEW PERRY, AMERICAN ACTOR: Could I be more sorry?
NICK WATT, CNN U.S. NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Two medical doctors, Matthew Perry's assistant and an alleged dealer known as the Ketamine Queen, among the five now charged in the death of the sometimes sardonic star known as Chandler Bing on one of the most successful sitcoms of all time.
PERRY: 215 coffee house.
WATT (voice-over): Perry had a long history of drug abuse and mental health struggles.
ANNE MILGRAM, U.S. DRUG ENFORCEMENT AGENCY: Matthew Perry sought treatment for depression and anxiety and went to a local clinic where he became addicted to intravenous ketamine. When clinic doctors refused to increase his dosage, he turned to unscrupulous doctors.
WATT (voice-over): Dr. Mark Chavez has agreed to plead guilty to conspiracy to sell the drug to Dr. Salvador Plasencia, who allegedly would inject Perry and expressed a desire to be his go-to for drugs.
MARTIN ESTRADA, U.S. ATTORNEY, CENTRAL DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA: He wrote in a text message in September 2023, quote: I wonder how much this moron will pay.
WATT (voice-over): Prosecutors allege those doctors made tens of thousands of dollars from the "Friends" star.
MILGRAM: They supplied Matthew Perry with large amounts of ketamine in exchange for large sums of money charging Perry $2,000 for a vial that cost Dr. Chavez approximately $12.
WATT (voice-over): When that became too much, prosecutors say Perry turned to a street supplier. He was 54 when he died last October.
COURTNEY COX, ACTRESS: I think he's probably one of the funniest human beings in the world. You know, he's just so funny. He's -- he is genuinely a huge heart obviously struggled.
WATT (voice-over): Cause of death, acute effects of ketamine with drowning, a factor according to an autopsy report. Found unresponsive in the hot tub of his Los Angeles home by his longtime live in assistant Kenneth Iwamasa, who authorities say admitted he injected Perry numerous times on the day he died. He's pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute ketamine, causing death.
ESTRADA: These defendants took advantage of Mr. Perry's addiction issues to enrich themselves. In the end, these defendants were more interested in profiting off Mr. Perry than caring for his well-being.
WATT: Investigators believe this went well beyond Matthew Perry. They say they've uncovered a quote, broad underground criminal network.
[04:25:00]
They believe the Queen of Ketamine has been dealing in north Hollywood since 2019. That year they say she sold ketamine to a young man named Cody McLaury, who overdosed and also died. She was in court Thursday, pled not guilty.
So did Dr. Salvador Plasencia. He is still allowed to operate his clinic, but he has to have a note on the door telling patients about the case and he's not allowed to prescribe controlled substances. His trial date is set for early October.
Nick Watt, CNN, Los Angeles.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BRUNHUBER: Celebrity attorney and legal analyst, Christopher Melcher joined me last hour to talk about how authorities went about their investigation here he is.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CHRISTOPHER MELCHER, CELEBRITY ATTORNEY AND LEGAL ANALYST: They did a great job in investigating and taking their time to kind of work up the chain from the assistant who administered this fatal dose to Matthew, all the way up to these doctors who were getting it. And so that's super important because there has to be accountability. Obviously nothing we can do for Matthew's sake at this point, but for other people who would find themselves in the same situation, there needs to be some accountability for what happened.
BRUNHUBER: Looking sort of more broadly, talk, talk to us about ketamine. I mean, normally it's an anesthetic I understand, but it can be prescribed as well, right. What do we know about that and how Perry was using it?
MELCHER: That's right. So there is this off label use for depression and anxiety. And so Matthew was being prescribed that, you know, it sounds like under some kind of controlled supervision by a doctor at this clinic.
And he had received the last infusion of that maybe a week or two before his death. And then there was this recreational or illegal use of it that, although a doctor was involved in providing it, this, this was not for medical necessity. This was basically because of his drug habit and there's, there's it's a popular drug. It is available. But here in these doses, obviously fatal.
BRUNHUBER: Yes. You talk about accountability. So I want to play you some sound from one of the defendant's attorneys, the lawyer for Dr. Placencia. Listen to this.
STEFAN SACKS, DEFENSE ATTORNEY FOR SALVADOR PLASENCIA: Mr. Perry was on the ketamine treatment, medically supervised, medically prescribed. And while the U.S. attorney may disagree with Dr. Placencia's medical judgment, there was nothing criminal at the time. And more importantly, the ketamine that was involved in Mr. Perry's passing was not related to Mr. -- Dr. Placencia that was provided by another party sometime later.
BRUNHUBER: So nothing criminal, at the time, he says that, but that's what you'd expect him to say, I suppose. But what do you make of this as a defense?
MELCHER: Well, the U.S. attorney's office did a really good job in the indictment. And it's this charging document where they lay out their case, which include text communications between these two doctors. And so, sure, you know, there's, there's a presumption of innocence, and that needs to be afforded to these defendants. But, this looks not like a regular doctor that would be giving prescriptions or supervising a patient.
What the U.S. attorney's office has described these folks as really being street level drug dealers is the kind of conduct that that's alleged to have engaged in. So, I don't know that, you know, when these facts come out or presented to a jury that it -- it's going to look as good as, as the defense attorney portrayed it just now.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BRUNHUBER (on camera): Los Angeles police say they've arrested four men in connection with the shooting death of former General Hospital actor, Johnny Wactor. Wactor was killed when he interrupted what appeared to be the theft of a catalytic converter from a car. Three 18 year olds were booked on suspicion of murder and a 22 year old on suspicion of being an accessory.
Los Angeles mayor's calling for full accountability in the case. CNN has reached out to determine if the men have legal representation before naming them.
Taylor Swift hits the stage in London tonight for the second of her five Eras tour shows in the British Capitol. And it's all under the umbrella of heightened security. Fans crowded Wembley stadium early yesterday to trade bracelets and find their seats. It's been more than a week since three shows were canceled in Vienna after Austrian police say they foiled an ISIS inspired terror plot. Swift didn't say anything about any threat, but she did say it was quote, a delight and a thrill to perform for the fans. The English singer Ed Sheeran joined her during an acoustic set.
All right, when we come back, the youngest daughter of a former prime minister of Thailand will become the country's new prime minister.
Stay with us.
