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Trump Holds Campaign Rally in Battleground Pennsylvania; Biden to Make Case for Harris in Speech Opening Dem Convention; Israel and Hezbollah Exchange Rocket Attacks Across Lebanon Border; Qatari and Iranian Officials in Touch about Ceasefire; Trump Campaign Has Made Strong Push to Win Over Black Voters; Disney Wants Wrongful Death Suit in Florida Dismissed; What Parents Should Know About Student Substance Use. Aired 3-4p ET

Aired August 17, 2024 - 15:00   ET

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

[15:00:00]

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: -- is covering the Trump rally which is about to get underway. Tell us more about what's happening?

DANNY FREEMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, so, Fred, you're right. This Trump rally out here in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, that gets underway really in the next hour or so for the main speaker. But we have been hearing multiple speakers here just in the past hour. I'll get to that in a moment, but I want to talk to you about that counter programming of the DNC that we just learned about this afternoon.

Essentially the Trump campaign is telling CNN's Kristen Holmes that they're planning a number of messaging events over the course of the week as the DNC is happening in Chicago. These will be smaller venues and these will try to focus on one or two policy events -- policy issues, I should say, per event.

And the other thing that I'll note, Fred, is that the first one is going to be right back here in Pennsylvania on Monday. Former president Trump is going to arrive and Harrisburg heading down to York, Pennsylvania, do an event there, followed by weeks, rather events further on in the week in Michigan, North Carolina, and Arizona.

Now, Fred, like I said, we're waiting for former president Trump to get here and start speaking around 4:00. But it's been interesting who we've been hearing behind us speak just in the past 30 minutes or so. We heard from Dave McCormick, he's the Republican Senate candidate who's running in a very tight case against Democratic Senator Bob Casey. And we also heard former Pennsylvania senator Rick Santorum also on the stump also attacking current incumbent Senator Bob Casey.

So a reminder that not only is the top of the ticket so crucially important in Pennsylvania, we have an important swing Senate seat here as well. Something to keep an eye on. But the other thing that we're keeping an eye on, Fred, is, can President Trump stay on message today? That's been a theme over the course of this past week where his campaign, his advisers had been hopeful that President Trump can really lean into messages on the economy, messages on immigration, all attacking Vice President Harris.

That has not always been the case, though, over the course of the past week. But today, advisers hoping that he can deliver a message against Kamala Harris that really is more consistent and talking about things like inflation, talking about things like the border. So we shall see at the moment.

The last thing I'll mention, Fred, we've been talking about this all afternoon, we're in Luzerne County right here. This is a crucial county in Pennsylvania that former president Obama won twice in '08 and in '12, and then former president Trump won in 2016, he flipped it, and then won again in 2020. This is really part of his base that he needs to turn out. It's a lot of white working class voters out here.

The path to win in Pennsylvania if former president Trump can do it will have to run through Luzerne County. That's why he's here today. And again, that's why we're going to see President Trump here in Pennsylvania once again on Monday.

I'll toss it back to you, Fred, as this rally continues on.

WHITFIELD: I don't know, Danny Freeman, doing a great job there keeping your train of thought. There's a lot going on there. All right. Thank you.

All right. Tomorrow Vice President Kamala Harris and her running mate, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, will also campaign in Pennsylvania with a bus tour of multiple cities. They'll make four stops in the western part of the state before traveling to Chicago for the Democratic National Convention, which gets underway Monday.

And we're now learning that President Biden will pass the symbolic Democratic torch to Harris on the opening night of the convention when he delivers the keynote speech.

CNN's Kevin Liptak joining us right now.

So, Kevin, what more are you learning about the president's big speech on Monday and his preparations?

KEVIN LIPTAK, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes. Well, he is up at Camp David right now working with his aides to revise this speech which will ultimately be one of his largest audiences before the November election and will essentially be the start of his long political farewell. And I say the start because his aides are emphatic that we will see plenty of President Biden over the next several months campaigning for Vice President Harris, but also working to cement his legacy.

But there's no question that this speech that he delivers on Monday is not the speech he had been hoping to give, not the speech he had been planning to give. And certainly there are plenty of scars lingering from that prolonged effort to remove him from the Democratic ticket. But you know, I think when you talk to President Biden's aides, they do say that he wants to look ahead and he wants to look to the future. And so in this speech, he will really be making the case for Kamala

Harris as the most natural successor to the legacy that he began while in office. He'll make a proactive case for Harris talking about her record, talking about her character. But he'll also be making the case against Donald Trump continuing these warnings that Trump poses a threat to democracy and that Harris is necessary to ensure democracy is preserved.

That's in the words of one of Biden's aides. So that's a lot that he's going to want to pack into that speech. Now when we did see him last night heading out to Camp David, his message about the speech was actually pretty concise. Listen to what he said.

[15:05:01]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Are you going to work on your speech this weekend?

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: OK.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: What's your message to Democrats on Monday night?

BIDEN: Win.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LIPTAK: Now when you talk to White House officials, they do say President Biden is extraordinarily proud of how the Democratic Party coalesced around Kamala Harris as its nominee after his decision to withdraw helped in no small part by his decision to endorse her right out of the gate and certainly this Democratic convention could have been a much more dysfunctional affair if that hadn't happened.

And I think what you'll see from Democrats in Chicago next week is a real thankful attitude towards President Biden and you will see that scattered about through the programming. There'll be references to his record, his legislative accomplishments. They'll even have some of his quotes broadcast on the big screens inside the United Center where the convention is being held. He of course will be on hand for this symbolic passing of the torch on Monday evening.

But then it's goodbye Chicago. President Biden won't stick around for very long, sort of handing over the convention to his chosen successor.

WHITFIELD: All right. Kevin Liptak in Washington. Thanks so much.

All right. Joining me right now to talk more about the race for the White House is Sophia Cai. She is a national politics reporter for Axios.

Sophia, great to see you.

SOPHIA CAI, NATIONAL POLITICS REPORTER, AXIOS: Hi.

WHITFIELD: All right, so both candidates once again in the key state of Pennsylvania this weekend. It's a state Trump narrowly won in 2016, then narrowly lost to Joe Biden in 2020. Do both campaigns view Pennsylvania as must wins?

CAI: Absolutely. I mean, like Pennsylvania is one of the three blue wall states that the then Biden campaign now Harris campaign continues to invest heavily in. It was the first stop in the swing state tour that Harris and Walz did, the first time that they were paired together on the ticket. And it's also a state that the Trump campaign has to win. They've laid out a couple of different paths to victory and each of those paths to victory includes Pennsylvania and one other state.

So that tells you why we're going to see Trump, as well as Harris in Pennsylvania again and again and again.

WHITFIELD: We're also seeing new polls out today that show a very tight race in four key Sun Belt states. Just released, "New York Times"-Sienna College poll shows Vice President Kamala Harris narrowly leading former president Donald Trump among likely voters in Arizona and North Carolina. Trump has a narrow lead among likely voters in Nevada and Georgia. All four states fall within the margin of error, meaning, you know, there's no clear leader in any of those states.

So, Sophia, do you think each campaign is reacting to this poll of these Sun Belt swing states?

CAI: Yes, I mean, this is a new development for both campaigns. When Harris came on, she really open the map and put all of those states back in play. And remember, those were the states, the swing states that the Trump campaign was most confident in, but now the Harris campaign has forced Trump to spend in states like North Carolina. They were both in North Carolina this week, both putting out there economic plan.

Even just being there is a change from where the race was. And it tells you that Trump is in an uncomfortable position in these states. And it's something that, you know, they've really had to grapple with.

WHITFIELD: You also just wrote a piece, you know, for Axios highlighting how Harris has put North Carolina back in play for the Democrats. You point out that the, you know, state has voted for Democratic president just twice in the last 50 years, most recently for President Obama in 2008.

Harris used North Carolina to roll out her economic policy yesterday. That was pretty intentional, wasn't it?

CAI: It was. I think it's a confident move. North Carolina, to be realistic about it, is still going to be an uphill battle. Trump won it by more than a percentage point. He also won it in both 2016 and 2020, but at the same time, you have a Democratic governor, Governor Roy Cooper, who won that state both of those times when Trump won. So he's going to be a really important surrogate.

And Harris has been in North Carolina even when Biden was at the top of the ticket. So she's going to be making the case that North Carolina was always on her radar.

WHITFIELD: And she was wearing a tar heel blue, you know, that was no mistake either.

CAI: No mistake.

WHITFIELD: Right. So opening night now for the Democratic National Convention Monday. President Biden will deliver the keynote speech and he'll be passing the proverbial, you know, torch to Vice President Harris. What do you suppose that moment is going to be like for him? I mean, it is -- this convention is all about her, but symbolically there's a lot that is being laid out in messaging for him as well.

[15:10:05]

CAI: Yes. I think it'll be the start of some of his farewell. But of course, you mentioned this is about her and he is going to be talking a lot about her. He's also, you know, one of a very stacked lineup, followed by former presidents Barack Obama and Bill Clinton. And then Harris and Walz later in the week. And so he kicks off the convention. And, you know, he's going to be talking about his accomplishments, which are also going to be her accomplishments.

And I think Democrats on the whole are just going to make sure that, you know, the train stays on the track. I mean, they've really are set up very well to really roll out with the convention and then continue that momentum into the debate and then get out to vote. And so, you know, the path is pretty clear. But of course we've also got these protests that we've got to be keeping an eye on.

WHITFIELD: Right. Right. And that is a promising to be quite sizable, you know, far outside of the perimeter. But not too far away from hearing it or seeing it.

Sophia Cai, thank you so much.

All right. Join us for live special coverage ahead of the DNC, which kicks off tomorrow night, right here on CNN at 7:00 p.m. Eastern Time.

All right. Still to come, new attacks in the Middle East as Hezbollah launches a volley of rockets toward northern Israel this morning. We're live in Tel Aviv with all the latest developments.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:16:11]

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Jim Sciutto in Tel Aviv.

Militant group Hezbollah launched a volley of at least 55 rockets towards Northern Israel this morning. The group says that attack was in retaliation for an Israeli strike earlier in Southern Lebanon. Such a familiar cycle here. Hezbollah says at least 10 Syrians were killed in that attack. Israel says it was targeting a Hezbollah weapons storage facility.

Palestinian officials say an Israeli strike overnight killed at least 15 members of one family in Gaza. In a statement, Israel says it was targeting several militants in Central Gaza, including one who launched rockets towards Israeli forces.

CNN's Nic Robertson has been following the developments along with me here in Tel Aviv.

Nic, this cycle is constant, right? It's been going on for weeks, months, years, firing back and forth. But the talks continue and we have Secretary Blinken coming here to Israel. We have a number of instances of shuttle diplomacy going back and forth. Cautious optimism you hear from the U.S. and Israeli sides.

Do we have a sense of what are the remaining hurdles to get a deal across the finish line?

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: We know that Hamas objects to the fact that they say Israel has put in a condition that for the movement of people back, the displaced people back to the north of Gaza, that they must be unarmed. They want the free and independent movement of people back across Gaza. They object to the fact that they say that Israel has a veto on the Palestinian prisoners who would be released as part of a hostage negotiation.

There's a lot of Palestinian prisoners that can be released, but there will be some high-profile names that Hamas will particularly want. We don't know who they're naming, but that's the sticking point. Who controls the borders of Gaza, particularly that border with Egypt, the Philadelphi Corridor. The IDF took control of it and have discovered multiple in some of the massive tunnels where Hamas has been resupplying weapons from outside of Gaza.

So obviously Israel has an interest in making sure there is security there, but this is, for Hamas it's their territory. They want to be able to control it. So these are some of the significant sticking points there.

SCIUTTO: There's of course Hamas, and I spoke to a senior Hamas official last hour, they will blame Israel for everything standing in the way of agreement. You will hear from Israeli officials Hamas is the issue here.

Is there a sense of where each side in these negotiations is willing to give, right? I mean, do we have a sense of where that middle ground is that will get them across the finish line?

ROBERTSON: Well, I think we can safely say that when Secretary Blinken comes, there will be issues that he will be pressuring Israel on and perhaps part of that will be the Netzarim Corridor. That's the sort of narrow --

SCIUTTO: In Central Gaza. ROBERTSON: Central Gaza that divides the north from the south. When it

comes to Hamas, you can expect Egypt perhaps to be the country that's going to be putting maximum pressure on there. So what are the gaps there? Well, look, Hamas' back is to the wall. They know the population is against them to a degree. They know that there's basically no way out of this. They want to survive some way and reconstitute and continue to fight another day.

That's a diminishing option, but it's going to take a lot of time. So where's the compromise in all of this for them? Well, the leadership gets to live to fight another day that they perhaps get sanctuary in a third country. That's always a possibility in negotiations. Remembering that negotiations neither side admits defeat. And this is about Hamas trying to find the way not to accept that.

So what would we be looking at here? Basically, who is going to run Gaza and who is going to control those border crossings. And does that involve the Palestinian authority?

SCIUTTO: Exactly. A power sharing to some degree. And what would Israel tolerate as well? Would they be willing to allow Hamas to maintain a position there?

[15:20:02]

I will say, as you look around Tel Aviv tonight, that the level of fear of an escalation of this war, whether it be from an Iranian attack or attack from Hezbollah in the north seems to have subsided in recent days. Is there a substantial reason behind that?

ROBERTSON: The idea to have the talks that were held in Doha on Thursday grew out of a meeting a week and a half ago in Tehran with the Jordanian foreign minister which then went to the Organization of Islamic Cooperation meeting in Jeddah. There were many foreign ministers, the Iranians were there. And it grew some momentum. And that momentum became political dialogue.

And in the midst of political dialogue, the argument is you don't start throwing rockets while the negotiations --

SCIUTTO: Although we've seen rockets get thrown, right? And strikes carried out in the midst of negotiations like this before.

ROBERTSON: Because in this environment, there are red lines and as long as the perception is they don't cross the red line, or they don't make a mistake crossing a red line, then this process can continue forward.

SCIUTTO: Right.

ROBERTSON: And that's why it gets stuck because the use of weapons side-by-side with negotiations, typical for any conflict, but this conflict, as you've been discussing, has been going on for a long time.

SCIUTTO: And listen, there are criticisms even inside Israel. You certainly have questions about Hamas' interest in making a deal. What they calculate to be their advantage, but you have criticism from inside Israel as to what Prime Minister Netanyahu calculates to be in his own advantage. Benny Gantz questioning whether he is holding his own political objectives over those of, for instance, the safety of the hostages or the progress of the negotiations.

ROBERTSON: There's a sense that there's a potential off-ramp here for Prime Minister Netanyahu. If he can save his own political leadership, he can save his government by dumping the two of the hardest right members, Smotrich and Ben-Gvir, from the coalition, which is they threatened to bring down the government. But if he has an alternate political off-ramp to keep him in power, then that's his political survival.

SCIUTTO: Right.

ROBERTSON: And then that's the off-ramp I think that everyone hopes that can be found if he is going to lead this, if he's going to lead the ceasefire talks.

SCIUTTO: Right. That would be quite a significant development. Yes.

ROBERTSON: It will be huge. We're a long way from that.

SCIUTTO: Nic Robertson, thanks so much as always.

Let's go now to CNN's Fred Pleitgen. He is in Tehran, of course the Iranian capital.

And Fred, leaders in Iran certainly are watching these ceasefire negotiations closely. What are you hearing there about, one, are they optimistic for an agreement and what they're looking for specifically here?

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, they're absolutely not optimistic is certainly something that we're gleaning from having spoken to Iranian officials and other sources here on the ground as well. And I think one of the things that's been so interesting in the past couple of days as these negotiations were going on is that despite the fact that of course Iran is not part of the negotiations, they are still very much a big factor in the negotiations.

And they're not only watching closely what is happening in the negotiations, they're actually being kept up to date by those negotiations by the mediators. In fact, the Qatari prime minister after each day of negotiations called the Iranian foreign minister to brief the Iranian foreign minister as to what exactly was going on. There's two things that the Iranian foreign minister then said on Friday night, which I think are key to Iran's position and what they're sort of perceiving is happening.

First of all, they don't believe that Israel is serious about the negotiations. They warned of what they call Israeli deceit. But the other thing that's also a big factor as well is that they say that they believe that the United States is not an objective mediator in all this. They believe that the United States is obviously firmly in Israel's corner, and therefore they don't believe that any sort of settlement is something that is necessarily in sight.

That does not mean that they're moving away from the process and they're not watching it closely, they're not giving the process a chance, but they certainly do say that they're not very optimistic about what's going on in those ceasefire talks. And on top of that, the Iranians have also said, this goes to the point that you guys were actually just discussing, that as negotiations are going on, there usually isn't violence.

Well, the Iranians have said that their revenge for the killing of Ismail Haniyeh, which of course happened here on July 31st in Tehran, that is something that is still very much in the cards. They say that does not depend on what's currently going on in Doha and could happen at any time.

Now, I spoke today to a senior political analyst here in Tehran who's very close to the power structure in this country. And he told me what he believes some of the considerations of Iran's leadership are now. Let's listen in.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MOHAMMAD MARANDI, POLITICAL ANALYST: I think it's very important for the Iranians to make sure that countries across the global south and at least part of public opinion in the West recognize that the escalation was carried out by the Israelis and that's one reason why they've delayed it. But also I think the response, although it will be harsh, I think it will be calculated in a way so that countries across the global south don't conclude that Iran is putting them at risk.

[15:25:03]

So the court -- the ball really is in the court of the Americans after the Iranian strike and I think it will be hurtful, significant, they will cause significant pain to the Israeli regime.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PLEITGEN: So you can see that there's at least some here in Tehran who still believe that a strike is almost all but inevitable by the Iranians. The Iranians certainly have said they believe that they have the firepower to do that. Of course, they have not said when, how and where that's going to take place, and have said that that is also part of what they call the punishment towards Israel. But I think one thing has been also key of the messaging that we're getting out of Tehran here is that the Iranians certainly don't want a broader conflict to break out that could also then involve, for instance, the United States as well -- Jim.

SCIUTTO: Yes. Of course the trouble is what one side calls proportional. The other side might view as an escalation. That's of course the danger always.

Fred Pleitgen in Tehran, thanks so much. Now please do stay with us. There's much more news. We'll be right

back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[16:30:23]

WHITFIELD: Former president Trump and his campaign had been making a strong push to win over black voters.

CNN's Elle Reeve traveled to Virginia recently to visit a store owned by a black woman selling MAGA merchandise. She spoke to the business owner and other voters there about how they feel about the election.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JO ANNE PRICE, RUNS A TRUMP STORE: Every woman ought to have one of these. It's one of those things that when people see one, then they want one. Same thing with the Confederate hat. You know why? Because people don't think you have the nerve to do it.

ELLE REEVE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Jo Anne Price runs a Trump store in Christiansburg, Virginia.

When Joe Biden announced he wouldn't run for president again, was there any part of you who felt a pull to vote for Harris?

PRICE: No.

REEVE: Why not?

PRICE: Absolutely not. I would not vote for either one of them. I would not vote Democrat ticket. No way.

This is a white privilege card. And this is just a play, it just says this card trumps everything and it gives the bearer happiness and success because of the color of the skin.

REEVE: And who buys that?

PRICE: White people.

REEVE: OK.

PRICE: It's funny.

SEBRIAM VANNOY, TRUMP SUPPORTER: And then when you give it to a state trooper, they'll let you go and don't write you a ticket.

REEVE: You think so?

VANNOY: Yes. I've experienced it.

PRICE: Yes.

REEVE: Wait, really? VANNOY: Yes. And then he said, OK, he laughed at it and gave it back

to me and did not write me a ticket.

REEVE (voice-over): This actually happened at least once elsewhere. In 2022, a woman claimed Alaska police let her go without a ticket when she flashed a white privilege card instead of a driver's license.

PRICE: It's humorous to us. You know, it really is. It's humorous to the average American here, you know?

VANNOY: Chances are 2 to 1 he was a Republican, too.

REEVE: Trump has been working to appeal to black voters, and polls showed some success when Biden was still in the race, but have since gone down.

The Trump campaign this year has made a big effort to reach out to black voters. What do you think of their efforts?

PRICE: I think their efforts aren't succeeding tremendously. All the things that have happened to President Trump, the attacks on him, have done nothing more than strengthen black people's connection to him because now he's someone who is the target of a struggle, and they have always been -- felt that they've been a target.

I did prison ministries for five years. So, you know, if you're a convicted felon and then somebody else is a convicted felon, there's a camaraderie there.

REEVE (voice-over): Donald Trump attacked Kamala Harris, questioning her racial identity. She's black.

TRUMP: I didn't know she was black until a number of years ago when she happened to turn black and now she wants to be known as black.

REEVE: He's acknowledged his commentary has provoked mixed reactions. Price is just one person and not a swing voter, but we were curious what she made of his comments given that she's a black woman and fervent Trump supporter and former local Republican Party chair.

How do you make sense of how Trump talks about Vice President Kamala Harris, that he sort of suggests that he doesn't understand her biracial background, that first she was Indian and then she was black? What do you make of that?

PRICE: I don't understand it either. She's Indian and she's Jamaican.

REEVE: Yes.

PRICE: Is she black?

REEVE: I mean, do you not think she's black?

PRICE: Is she? Was she born here?

REEVE: Yes. PRICE: Yes. Were her parents citizens? No.

REEVE: OK. But we have birthright citizenship in America. Do you --

PRICE: We call that anchor.

REEVE: People can't immigrate here and not be citizens, but have green cards and work permits.

PRICE: Yes, that's true. However, she can claim to be black because of her Jamaican father. You know, that's her right. We're a melting pot, you know, because I basically have a combination in my family as well.

REEVE: How do you reconcile that? Like, you have a history of blended families in your family. How do you reconcile that with Trump seeming to not understand how Kamala Harris could have a blended family herself?

PRICE: Herself? She could have a blended family. What I'm saying is, is his comments about that, I think he's making a point. And, you know, I'm not so disturbed by that.

REEVE: But what is the point he's making?

PRICE: The point he's making simply is, is that she is not a black, black person.

[15:35:03]

REEVE (voice-over): There were some mixed views on the idea of a woman president.

What do you think about Kamala Harris?

VANNOY: Kamala Harris -- may I say this? And hopefully that you ladies won't get offended. But because of what happened in the Garden of Eden, there will never be an elected woman, whether she's black or white, that will occupy the White House, that God would ever stand behind.

REV. MERRIE TURNER, TRUMP SUPPORTER: I'm not sure America is quite ready for female leadership. It would be wonderful to have a female president if and when one arises that has conservative values, that are going to lead the nation in prosperity.

REEVE: Did Joe Biden dropping out change your view of the election at all?

JOE SHANNON, OBAMA-TO-TRUMP VOTER: Oh, it surely did. I think she's going to be worse than Joe. I just don't think she has the experience. I think she was only chosen because she was a woman.

PRICE: He has been mocked, scrutinized, slandered, dragged into court. This man is still standing and he's standing strong because he knows that he was chosen. He's our David.

REEVE: Elle Reeve, CNN, Christiansburg, Virginia.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: And that story was less about black voters as a whole and more about the point of view of those who are running that shop in Virginia.

All right. Coming up, the unusual defense Disney wants to use to stop a lawsuit following the death of a woman at a restaurant inside Disney World.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:41:31]

WHITFIELD: All right. Disney is trying to get a lawsuit thrown out after a woman died at one of its resorts in Florida. Jeffrey Piccolo filed the suit when his wife died from a severe food allergy reaction after eating at a restaurant in Disney Springs. The company wants to handle the matter in arbitration because the woman's husband signed up for a one-month trial of Disney Plus back in 2019, and the fine print requires users to settle any dispute with any part of the company that way.

Disney tell CNN, I'm quoting now, "We are deeply saddened by the family's loss and understand their grief. Given that this restaurant is neither owned nor operated by Disney, we are merely defending ourselves against the plaintiff's attorneys attempt to include us in their lawsuit against the restaurant."

Joining me now to talk about this is personal injury lawyer Ted Spaulding.

Good to see you. All right. What do you think about Disney's approach here?

TED SPAULDING, PERSONAL INJURY LAWYER: Yes, well, it's great to be with you. We were talking I think it's a "Hail Mary." It is a stretch and this is a stretch in the sense of what's called scope. Florida does deal with this like a lot of states, the arbitration clauses. What's unique here is it is not an arbitration clause on a contract or a sporting event or other kind of ticket directly for what you're doing. It's you've signed off on it on something totally unrelated.

WHITFIELD: Unrelated.

SPAULDING: And it should relate is what Disney is saying. So that's where I feel in my gut. It's probably a stretch. It's probably a "Hail Mary." Let's see if we can get this in arbitration versus a jury trial. The theory is can save money potentially if it's arbitration. The verdict may be lower with an arbitrator making a decision versus six to 12 of your peers in a jury trial.

WHITFIELD: Interesting. So the husband's lawyers say this claim by Disney is so outrageously unreasonable and unfair as to shock the judicial conscience. Do you think that will be an argument that sticks?

SPAULDING: Absolutely. He's actually quoting straight from the language. So the two areas that I think trip here is the scope, as I was saying earlier, and what this lawyer is talking to, which is it's unconscionable the language and having it be overhear on a totally separate, unrelated thing apply to something totally unrelated. That's unconscionable, shouldn't be allowed. So yes, that's directly speaking to one of their best arguments.

WHITFIELD: So is this an anomaly or is this something that all of us have to be mindful of now, when you agree, when you're about to buy something online, or whether it be a subscription or tickets, anything. And it asks you if you agree to the conditions? You check agree before you even get to payment. Is this a reminder that you need to read all that fine print? Is this a way in which every big company is going to try to protect itself against any potential calamity?

SPAULDING: The scare is they already do it. This is nothing new in general. OK. Having waivers, having arbitration clauses, none of that is new. That's why like Florida, most states have public policy language in laws that say, here's where that can apply and here's where it's going too far.

[15:45:02]

So it's nothing new. And yes, for the public, as always, you should read the fine print. The problem is neither agree to it or move on and you don't --

WHITFIELD: Yes, or you're not going to enjoy whatever the product is.

SPAULDING: Right. You can't go to that ball game. You can't get Disney Plus.

WHITFIELD: Right.

SPAULDING: You really don't have any sway to change that language. It's good to know what it says but then you make a decision. Again, the state law hopefully backs you up at the end for something like this. That's a big stretch. That says wait a minute, this is going a little bit too far, shouldn't be allowed.

WHITFIELD: All right. We'll see how it goes.

Ted Spaulding, great to see you. Thanks so much.

SPAULDING: Thank you. Good to see you.

WHITFIELD: We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:50:19]

WHITFIELD: All right. Heading off to college is both exciting and tough for American families. Among the challenges, navigating being away from home, parents, getting to know a new city, dorm life and new friends, and there are other big challenges including pressures involving drug and alcohol use. According to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, young adults ages 18 to 25 make up just over 11 percent of the nearly eight million drug-related annual emergency room visits in the United States.

My next guest wrote about all of that on CNN.com and the importance of family discussions on the issue. Dr. Jill Grimes, author of "The Ultimate College Student Health Handbook," is with this now.

Dr. Jill, great to see you. Oh, my goodness, I do not hear you. Do we have audio of Dr. Jill? I see you. OK. We're trying to work out some things. Sometimes we get these little gremlins in the system. We all need this really important information and Dr. Jill is dialed in. OK. Can we hear you now?

DR. JILL GRIMES, FAMILY PHYSICIAN: I don't know. Can you hear me now?

WHITFIELD: Yay. I can hear you now. All right. Good. Let's proceed. Good to hang with this -- here, Dr. Jill. All right. So how do families start the conversations about preparedness for potentially dangerous drug and alcohol use? I mean, our kids just want to go up the college like, all right, already, mom, dad, get out of my hair. But you need to have these conversations because it really could be a very serious matter, right?

GRIMES: Right. And, you know, what I have found is you've got sort of two camps of parents. You've got the one that honestly it never even been crosses their mind that drugs could be an issue because their kid is not a, you know, partier and so for them, they're missing the whole point that a lot of drug use on campus has nothing to do with being a recreational buzz. It's about kids who are self-medicating their anxiety or insomnia, or maybe they want to enhance their focus with, you know, ADHD stimulant meds.

Then you've got the other group of parents, they're like, you know, you kids will be kids. It's college, live it up, do whatever. And I feel like they're really doing a disservice because they're minimizing the risks. And we do see all of these emergency room visits and it is important to talk about these things and to realize that partying has leveled up since parents were in college. You know, instead of keg party, you've got people doing shots until they black out. And weed is much, much stronger than it used to be.

WHITFIELD: So in your article, you break it down to like myths, you know, because just you gave a couple of examples, like some parents may be like, you know, my kid is too good. I don't have to worry about that. You know, or the kind of people that my kid, you know, hangs out with.

GRIMES: Right.

WHITFIELD: You have in your article, you know, they're not CD drug dealer types and you're really trying to help, you know -- you know, parents see that, I mean, things are different. You know, it's just not so obvious to the eye. GRIMES: Right.

WHITFIELD: So I guess if parents are a little reluctant about having the conversations, what can parents generally count on in terms of support on college campuses to help better equip their kids with, you know, the right kind of knowledge base so they can make some good decisions?

GRIMES: Well, I think more and more colleges in all of their welcome week step, there is a lot of both online courses that incoming freshmen and transfer students actually have to take to educate themselves about not only alcohol awareness, but we all know about the fentanyl crisis and about the risks of taking one pill and how one pill can kill.

So I think that that is improving. The problem is, is that I think there's a lot of ignoring that. It's just like one more thing you got to go through and I applaud all the schools who are having more interactive speakers coming in and small groups to workshop. In fact, some of the best ideas I've heard from dealing with alcohol came from student groups, things like if one of your friends is really too far gone and you can't seem to get through to them, one of the students came up with they have actually spill a drink on them.

If nothing else works, spill a drink on your friend and immediately say, we got to take you, we got to take you and go get changed. So I think --

WHITFIELD: Oh, gosh.

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GRIMES: I know, right? But, I mean, sometimes it takes that and I think it's really good for students to proactively go so through these scenarios.

WHITFIELD: Wow. And great tips. I encourage everyone to read the article because, yes, there are things that I didn't think of, you know, but obviously you got to have these conversations and you got to lay it all out for everybody. Kids need to get educated. Parents do, too.

Dr. Jill Grimes, thank you so much.

GRIMES: Thanks so much for having me.

WHITFIELD: And thank you for joining me today. I'm Fredricka Whitfield. The NEWSROOM with Jessica Dean and Jim Sciutto starts right after this.

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