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CNN International: IDF Entered Hamas Tunnels in Khan Younis; Biden Delivers Forceful Speech on Day One of DNC; Thousands of Pro- Palestinian Protesters Outside DNC; Blinken to Discuss Negotiations With Leaders of Egypt, Qatar; One Dead, Six Missing After Tornado Hits Luxury Yacht Off the Coast of Sicily; Six People Missing After Yacht Sinks Off Sicily; Ukraine Claims to Hold 1,250 Square Kilometers in Russia's Kursk Region; Former Rep. George Santos Pleads Guilty to Federal Charges; Trump Campaigns Through Battleground States of Pennsylvania and Michigan; Iran Behind Hacking Attempts on Trump, Harris Campaigns Says FBI. Aired 8-9a ET

Aired August 20, 2024 - 08:00   ET

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

[08:00:00]

AMARA WALKER, CNN ANCHOR OF "CNN NEWSROOM": Hi, everyone and welcome to our viewers all around the world. I'm Amara Walker. This is "CNN Newsroom." Just ahead, an enthusiastic welcome for Joe Biden on the first night of the DNC as he passes the torch to Kamala Harris and warns of the dangers of Donald Trump. But it wasn't all cheers and praise. Outside the DNC, some pro-Palestinian protesters broke through a security fence, leading to a number of arrests. And the Israeli military recovers the bodies of six hostages from inside southern Gaza. We are live in Tel Aviv with the details on the military operation.

The opening night of the Democratic National Convention featured a Joe Biden we rarely see these days. He was fierce at times, raising his voice to the crowd as he delivered a forceful defense of his administration's accomplishments over the past four years. There was also a lot of emotion coming from him and his family. Biden was often interrupted by delegates chanting, "We love Joe," and he drew applause for several pointed attacks on Donald Trump.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, (D) PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: Donald Trump promised "Infrastructure Week" every week for four years and he never built a damn thing. He says we are losing; he's the loser. He's dead wrong. The brave service members who gave their lives to this country, he called them suckers and losers. Who in the hell does he think he is? Who does he think he is?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WALKER: Biden's speech concluded with the ringing endorsement of Kamala Harris. He said picking her as the VP was the best decision of his career. Tonight's big speakers will be former President Barack Obama and his wife, Michele. Kamala Harris' husband, Doug Emhoff, is also scheduled to speak. Let's get right to Chicago. That's where we find CNN's Stephen Collinson right now.

I think a lot of us are hurting from that late night that we all stayed up to watch the Biden speech. But just big picture here first, Stephen, I mean, what was it like to -- just to be there on the convention floor? I mean, there were so many emotions, especially starting with Ashley Biden's speech as she introduced just her father, and seeing President Biden walk up there, have been wiping his tears before he even began speaking?

STEPHEN COLLINSON, CNN POLITICS SENIOR REPORTER: Yeah. It was a very poignant moment. It was something you don't always get to see. Biden off rule (ph) was the first president in nearly 5.5 decades not to continue a run for re-election when he had the possibility of a second term. So it was a very moving moment for him personally. It was also an affirmation -- don't forget that four years ago, he didn't have the traditional convention because of the COVID-19 pandemic. That shut everything down when he was the nominee. So it was really a first big embrace of Biden as the leader of the Democratic Party.

I think what he did last night was defend his own presidency because it's being attacked by the Trump campaign as a means of trying to weaken Vice President Kamala Harris, the new nominee. But he was quite generous in his praise of her when the crowd was chanting, "Thank you, Joe." Biden kept saying, thank Kamala as well, although he did go on long past midnight on the East Coast when many viewers it would have been asleep, as you mentioned. Some people were joking that he did pass the torch, but he kept hold of it for just as long as he could.

But I think it would have been churlish for the Democratic Party and politically self-defeating for them to deny him that moment.

WALKER: I mean, it was a speech that Biden never wanted to give, right? I mean, this is a man who has faced adversity through his entire life. He was always an underdog and for him to surrender, that would just go against who he is. In terms of the context of the speech, the way he passed the torch and also spent a significant amount of time defending his legacy, what were your thoughts on that?

COLLINSON: Well, although the vice president has performed much more strongly than Biden in a lot of the polling since she took over the top of the ticket, she's pulled into at least a tie with former President Trump and leads him nationally in some polls, and she's very competitive in swing states. There are still Biden voters out there. There are voters, I'm thinking particularly of white working-class men in swing states that she must win like Michigan, Wisconsin, and Pennsylvania that aren't yet signed up to Kamala Harris as the Democratic nominee.

[08:05:00]

So, it was very important for the president to address those voters and to say that she is his heir. She will continue his work. So, there was quite a lot of politics going on behind the scenes as well, as this big set piece of emotion and adulation.

WALKER: So, the theme for day two, Stephen, is "A Bold Vision for America's Future." The headline speaker will be former President Barack Obama. What do we anticipate to hear from him?

COLLINSON: I think he will give a very strong affirmation of Harris candidacy. You would expect that. Obama still remains the most talented speaker in the Democratic Party. He has a facility for weaving a narrative. It will be his job to create that bridge between what we saw last night and to put it in context and to turn it into a message for the future. What Biden did in stepping down was allowing Harris to emerge as the change candidate in this race against 78-year- old Donald Trump, even though she's been an integral part of the previous administration and is blamed by the Trump campaign for complicity in what they say are the deficiencies of that administration.

So Obama, who is still remembered as a voice for hope and change, that famous slogan from the 2008 campaign, he's going to try and pitch this to the future. And of course, there are hugely symbolic overtones to this. The first black president will be endorsing the person who he hopes to become the first black woman president. So, I think it's going to be quite an interesting evening.

WALKER: Yeah, a symbolic evening as well. Stephen Collinson, good to see you. Thank you very much well. While the Democrats were cheering their speakers inside, thousands of people were protesting outside the convention. At least four people were arrested when they broke through security fencing around the convention site. The protests were centered around the war in Gaza and organizers hope that tens of thousands of people would show up. But in the end, it appeared that only a few thousand were on hand Monday.

CNN Law Enforcement Correspondent Whitney Wild is in Chicago, joining us live with more. Tell us more about what happened there.

WHITNEY WILD, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT CORRESPONDENT: Well, Amara, I mean, you said it. They expected tens of thousands of people, only a few thousand showed up, but that was quite enough to cause a problem here in downtown Chicago, outside the United Center. What happened was, this protest as it was making its way around the protest route, it came upon this fence outside the United Center and groups of people were able to actually lift these fences up. So, you can see there is these things right here, these like sort of pins. And so, what happened was these protesters lifted it up and out, and then ended up pushing it over.

So clearly, that fence is breachable, which was pretty shocking thing to law enforcement because what we had heard over and over was that this was one of the most critical tools that they were using to try to fortify this area, and they actually thought this was going to be really effective. Now, they are adding another layer. So if you see what some of these folks are doing, they are putting up some bolts that are going to keep these -- fuse these fences together and then, Amara, beyond that, there is this other layer of fencing here.

So before, it was just this -- these two layers. Now, there's a third layer of fencing here, so law enforcement doing what it can to try to fortify this area. What we've heard over and over is that the security apparatus here has layers and layers of security. So when those protesters did breach the fence, there was a pretty large police response from the Chicago Police Department, as well as Secret Service Uniformed Division. So law enforcement was on top of it pretty quickly, but it is an example of how even the best-laid plans can be porous, Amara.

WALKER: Right. Well, hopefully things go smoothly for the next few days. Law Enforcement Correspondent Whitney Wild, thank you very much.

All right. Turning now to the war in Gaza and the Israel Defense Forces say the bodies of six Israeli hostages were retrieved from Gaza during an operation overnight, after its soldiers entered Hamas tunnels in Khan Younis. Now, this comes as U.S. Secretary of State, Antony Blinken arrives in Egypt to try to set up the pressure on Hamas to accept a deal on a Gaza ceasefire and release the hostages. Egypt and Qatar have acted as mediators between Israel and Hamas.

CNN's Nic Robertson joining us now live from Tel Aviv. Nic, first about those hostages, I mean Israel had announced the deaths of all, but one of the men in recent months. What more do we know?

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Yeah, this appears to be the largest number of hostage's bodies recovered by the IDF in one operation.

[08:10:00]

They said that this was an intelligence-led operation that got them to the location. We don't have details of how they were able to recover the bodies, but we do now have the names and most of them were elderly. There was Yoram Metzger, Alex Dancyg, Nadav Popplewell, Chaim Peri, Avraham Munder. Now, Avraham Munder, he was 79-years-old. Until now, his family understood that he was still alive. And the last one recovered, Yagev Buchshtav, he was 51-years-old. It's believed that most of them had died perhaps in June, perhaps in July.

That's certainly when announcements about their deaths have been made, but we also understand that all of them had been -- had been seen alive when they were -- during their capture, during their captivity. Indeed there's been an interview with the grandson of Avraham Munder. His grandson, according to Israeli media, is actually blaming the government for not doing enough and his grandson was held in captivity along with Munder's daughter, the grandson's mother, and with Avraham's wife. Now, those three were released in November last year as part of a hostage release deal back then. But this, of course, terrible, terrible news for all these families. Recovering the bodies (inaudible) Avraham Munder's family, now the realization that he too unfortunately has passed away.

WALKER: Yeah. Just so tragic. Regarding the ceasefire and hostage release talks, Nic, Blinken is saying that the Israeli prime minister has agreed to a bridging proposal. What does that mean?

ROBERTSON: This is the sort of proposal the United States has put forward with the mediators here, with Qatar, with Egypt, and this is designed to get over the differences between Hamas' position and the Israeli government position. However, Hamas has said that they have been shown this bridging document and they believe that this sides too much with Israel. In fact, they've released a statement today, really calling out what President Biden said last night, where he said that he believed that Hamas was backing away from the deal. That's a misrepresentation says Hamas.

Hamas says that they backed the deal that President Biden spoke about back in July but it's clear at the moment they are resisting, though they are not ruling out entirely this bridging proposal and the bridging proposal is the thing that would then begin to get discussed if Hamas or the technicalities of it will get discussed if Hamas signs up to it. There's no indication that that can happen quickly. And it really just does seem like a very, very tiny incremental step in this very long process.

I think what it indicates is, if there is any movement forward, it is incredibly slow and is not about to bring a quick resolution.

WALKER: Nic Robertson, appreciate your reporting. Thank you very much, from Tel Aviv there.

Well, a specialized dive team has gathered off the coast of Sicily to search for victims of a sunken luxury yacht. One person is confirmed dead and six people are still missing after the yacht was struck by a waterspout early Monday. The divers will try to enter the wreckage with -- which is some 50 meters underwater now. And we've also learned the Chairman of Morgan Stanley International, Jonathan Bloomer and his wife are among the missing, also British tech tycoon, Mike Lynch is also missing.

Barbie Nadeau joining us now from Rome with the latest. Such a tragic story, Barbie. What do we know about the latest on the search?

BARBIE LATZA NADEAU, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Yeah, you know, it really is a tragedy. It's very, very difficult for these divers. These are specialized cave divers who normally search underwater in very treacherous conditions, but they can only go down for about ten to 12 minutes at a time, the Fire Brigade said. And when they went down yesterday, they got to the command center of the yacht, but it was full of electric wires, so they had to go back up. So now, they've got to try to get inside that yacht and can try to get to these six luxury suites where they think that these missing six people are probably, Amara.

WALKER: So what do we know about the six who are still missing and the person who died?

LATZA NADEAU: Yeah. I mean, what we are hearing about the person who died was he may have been the chef on this luxury yacht. Now, in terms of the six missing, they're all passengers. The ten crew members were all -- have all been rescued and they are all tied to Mike Lynch.

[08:15:00]

Now, this is the British tech tycoon who coincidentally was acquitted of a fraud case in San Francisco just two months ago. And all of these people, as far as we know, are somehow tied to that. We've got his U.S. based lawyer was -- is among the missing as well. And all of these people were potentially out there just trying to enjoy their time after this acquittal. He faced 25 years in prison and he was acquitted in the U.S. court in June. So, we'll hear a little bit more when his wife, who did survive, starts to speak a little bit. But at the moment, this is what we've been and able to gather, Amara.

WALKER: Just terrifying what the survivors have gone through. And of course, they will be interviewed as part as this investigation. Barbie Nadeau, thank you very much. Live for us there in Rome.

All right, still to calm, two weeks into Kyiv's cross-border incursion, Russian troops are on the move inside Ukraine and they're setting their sights on a key eastern city. And caught on a hidden camera what one of the authors of Project 2025 says in private and what it suggests about Donald Trump's involvement with it.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WALKER: Russia is claiming Ukraine likely used American-made rockets to destroy a bridge in the Kursk region. It comes two weeks into Kyiv's surprise cross-border incursion. Now, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says Ukrainian forces now control more than 1,200 square kilometers of Russian territory. But inside Ukraine, Moscow's forces are closing in on the eastern city of Pokrovsk. Officials say they're evacuating the area in case it falls to the Russian advance.

CNN's Clare Sebastian joining me now live in London with more. Tell us more about the city of Pokrovsk, which is being described as a key logistical hub and it could bring Russia closer to its stated aim of capturing the entire Donetsk region. Is that right?

CLARE SEBASTIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yeah. I mean, it is a very strategic location. It has been in Russia's sights for many months now, Amara, as one of the key targets as they tried to push west of their conquest of Avdiivka, which of course happened in February. If you look at the map, where Pokrovsk is, it is really on an intersection of about six different highways, so a very sort of strategic transport hub. We know that Ukraine has been using it as a military hub as well. To the north, those highways will lead to Kramatorsk, which is the de-facto capital of Donetsk or has been so since the fighting broke out there in 2014 and Slovyansk as well to the north of that, which is another military hub.

So, it would make the Ukrainians much more vulnerable in the Donetsk region. And of course, we know that one of the key goals of President Putin is to take the whole of the Donbas or Luhansk and Donetsk. And of course, this really highlights the key risk for Ukraine in launching this operation, this incursion into the Kursk region in Russia and trying to stretch Russia's forces out and try to reduce the pressure on the frontlines.

[08:20:00]

Are they are also stretching out their own forces? I think that is not yet clear, but will be as we see this situation unfold and especially at a time when Ukraine is short of manpower.

WALKER: And so -- I mean, obviously, the Ukrainian incursion into Russia, obviously, hasn't stopped Russia from gaining more ground into eastern Ukraine. Zelenskyy is saying that the cross-border attack is about setting up a buffer zone, but was the redeployment of Russian troops a major goal?

SEBASTIAN: So I think there's a variety of goals. We've been getting more and more details from the Ukrainians on what exactly they're intending to do at this point. I think clearly, when you open up a new front as Ukraine has done in Kursk, you are to an extent trying to create a diversion. We saw the Russians do the same when they opened up a new front in the Kharkiv region in May. Creating a buffer zone is something they've talked openly about. This they say is to try to prevent those cross-border attacks into Ukraine, which they say had stepped up in the months before the incursion. Long-range attacks also, of course, remain a major risk and we saw overnight, more missiles and drones fired at Ukrainian cities.

But there's not just the military strategy here, we are talking about a PR strategy as well with this incursion into the Kursk region. One of course is morale at home, but secondly, we've heard the most explicit comments I think from President Zelenskyy so far on what this -- what kind of a message this sends to the West. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): We are now witnessing a significant ideological shift, namely the whole naive illusory concept of so-called red lines regarding Russia, which dominated the assessment of the war by some partners, has crumbled these days, somewhere near Sudzha.

If partners removed all existing restrictions on the use of weapons on Russian territory, we would not need physical entry, particularly into the Kursk region, to protect our Ukrainian citizens in the border area and destroy Russia's potential for aggression.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SEBASTIAN: So this is pretty stark. He is arguing on the one hand that if the West had provided more long-range capabilities, had lifted restrictions on using them in Russia, there would have been no need in the first place for using ground troops in Kursk. And he's also trying to make the point here that the fact that Ukraine has now essentially invaded Russia, and we are not seeing, despite threats from Russia, any response that goes really beyond the normal course of hostilities, that this sort of makes a mockery of Western fears of escalation, that is Zelenskyy's argument.

As for the West though and in particular the U.S., the U.K. and France, which have provided long-range missiles so far, we are not seeing any sign from those countries as of yet of the restrictions on using seeing them in Russia being lifted. Amara?

WALKER: Of course, the fears of escalation is still always present. Clare Sebastian, thank you.

Still to come, Joe Biden places his legacy in Kamala Harris' hands, the president's powerful speech at the DNC is coming up. And a little later this hour, the U.S. pointing a finger at Iran over attempts to hack both main parties' election campaigns. We'll tell you what Tehran is saying about it.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:25:38]

WALKER: It wasn't the speech he wanted to give, but when Joe Biden took the stage at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago Monday night, this is how he was greeted.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ASHLEY BIDEN, DAUGHTER OF PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN: Your 46th President of the United States, Joe Biden.

(CROWD CHEERING)

WALKER: The president delivered what was essentially his political swan song in an emotional address to the crowd. He passed the torch to Kamala Harris after a standing ovation that lasted more than four minutes. See a lot of emotions there, even from the vice president and Jill Biden. Mr. Biden reflected on his legacy and said he gave his best to America and there was also a surprise appearance from the nominee herself.

CNN's Priscilla Alvarez joining me now live in Washington with more. Wow, that was quite a night, a long night, that one well into the early morning hours of Tuesday. How was it received?

PRISCILLA ALVAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, certainly, the people that have worked with the president were very emotional watching him give that speech. Of course, not long ago, the president was expected to close out the Democratic National Convention as the Democratic nominee. So, this was quite different with him delivering this keynote speech as this convention is getting underway, as he passes the torch over to the Vice President Kamala Harris.

I want to note that moment there that you're showing where he embraced his daughter, Ashley Biden, the president later saying or telling reporters that it was all overwhelming and that was an important moment for him. Of course, he's always kept family very close and they were in the audience as he delivered these remarks.

Now, earlier in the day, the president said he was ready to pass the torch and that is exactly what he did in this nearly hour-long speech where he ticked through his accomplishments on the domestic front and on foreign policy, talking about infrastructure, also talking about the Israel-Hamas war and underscoring the need to get a ceasefire deal. But also taking the time to zero in on how critical it is to get the vice president elected. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

J. BIDEN: Selecting Kamala was the very first decision I made before I became -- when I became our nominee, and it was the best decision I made in my whole career. She's tough, she's experienced, and she has enormous integrity. She will be a president we can all be proud of and she will be a historic president who puts her stamp on America's future.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ALVAREZ: Now remember, in the moments after President Biden announced that he was stepping aside from this race, he endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris and he believes that that was important to avoid a fractured convention now, that immediate endorsement. And so that he leaned into more yesterday. Now, the praise was mutual. The vice president, as you mentioned, coming out with a surprise appearance and delivering remarks, and she to praised President Biden's leadership.

Now, of course, the president, while this sounded like a farewell speech, it wasn't quite that according to aides. That may come in January, but this certainly was a moment for him to reflect, to note that this was ultimately the accomplishments of the Biden-Harris Administration, often saying over the course of his remarks to chants of "Thank you, Joe," thank you. Kamala, as he handed it over to the vice president for the next few days.

WALKER: Priscilla Alvarez, good to see you. Thank you. And for his thoughts on the convention so far and what is still to come, we are joined now by Brad Woodhouse. He is a senior adviser to the Democratic National Committee. A late-night, I know it's early, thanks for waking up with us.

(LAUGH)

WALKER: I had a hard time this morning, to be honest. I was like, what time is it? When is the President going to get on stage, so I can go to bed? Let's talk about -- I mean, you were there, you were on the floor. Just -- kind of describe the mood to us because, obviously, the crowd was -- gave the president a huge embrace, right, and said thank you for his service. But they were also saying thank you for not running again.

BRAD WOODHOUSE, SENIOR DNC ADVISER: Well, look, I think they -- I think they were really saying thank you for the service and they were saying thank you for all the great decisions you've made, one of which was picking Kamala Harris to be on his ticket and one of which was endorsing her when he decided not to run.

[08:30:00]

I have been to every Democratic Convention since 2004. Obviously, we didn't have one in 2020 because of COVID and I've never been on the floor. I've never been in the arena with something like the four-and- a-half minute standing ovation that Joe Biden got when he came on stage. It was absolutely electric. I mean, the only thing I can compare it to in my context is the energy that you see when you go to something like a Bruce Springsteen concert. I'm sure people see that when they go to a Taylor Swift concert. It was absolutely electric.

But what I think was really important about it was, it was clear how much people appreciate what this president has accomplished and what this administration has accomplished, and they know that we have a record and plans to run on. And there was a real passing of the torch last night. I mean, I thought that was one of the most important things. It wasn't just the passing of the torch from Joe Biden to Kamala Harris, it was also the presentation of Hillary Clinton who was the first female nominee of a major party in this country. She broke history. She nearly broke that glass ceiling, and Kamala Harris is going to break it.

WALKER: Every time, I saw the cutaways to former Speaker Nancy Pelosi, I just couldn't wonder you know what the future of her relationship will be like with President Biden. At one point in Biden's speech, he alluded to the divisions and the reports that he was angry about being pushed to step aside. He denied them. Here is a part of that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Are you angry at Nancy Pelosi (inaudible)?

J. BIDEN: No. I haven't spoken to Nancy at all. Look, no one influenced my decision. No one knew it was coming. What I decided to do was, I didn't want to -- to the extent that the party thought they'd lose Senate seats, the House seats, that would have been the topic you would have had to cover the entire campaign. And it wasn't worth it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WALKER: I was actually referring to Biden speaking up there on the podium last night as well where he said like, all this talk about me being angry that I should step down, that's not true. What are your thoughts? I mean, of course, Biden felt the love last night, but I mean, he still has to be hurt by how all this went down? And what's going to happen next with his relationship with Nancy Pelosi?

WOODHOUSE: Well, I can't speak for what is going to happen next. I actually believe that they will have -- as time goes by, that they will have a relationship. I mean, she was on the floor. She was holding a 'We heart Joe Biden' sign last night. She was chanting 'We love Joe." And so I think that relationship will be fine over time. I think what you saw last night was all that is in the past, all of that is in the past, that this party is unified around one goal and that is to elect Kamala Harris as president, Tim Walz as vice president, and to make sure that Donald Trump never defiles the Oval Office again, that he can never from that Oval Office incite another insurrection against this country, that he never from that Oval Office can say that they're both sides are good people when something like Charlottesville occurs, which was what inspired Joe Biden to run in 2020 in the first place.

All of that stuff you saw in that room, that's behind people. People are excited about the future. They're excited about a new generation of leadership. And yes, they're excited about what Joe Biden has accomplished because they realize that over the course of time, it will be proved to be historic, substantial, and he'll go down as one of the best presidents we've ever had.

WALKER: So day two of the convention today, Kamala Harris and Tim Walz won't be there. They will actually be in a crucial battleground state, Wisconsin, for a campaign rally, and she'll be speaking in a primetime slot. What are your thoughts on that? I mean, obviously, the highlights, this unusually short timeline that they have in this presidential election season. But also, how tight this race is, that they have to be out campaigning during this convention.

WOODHOUSE: Well, look, they're going to be in Milwaukee. It's about 90 minutes from Chicago (inaudible). But it's really important to do. I mean, you have to take advantage of every moment in this campaign. I mean, she came in with barely 100 days left when she was -- when she became the nominee. Tim Walz even had last time when he became the vice presidential nominee. And so, they've got a really sprint to the -- sprint to the finish.

So, I think this is actually great. I think it will -- I think there'll be energy rebounding between Chicago and Milwaukee. They're so close. They're both Midwestern cities. But Wisconsin is crucial. It is an absolutely crucial battleground. It is very hard to win a presidential election without winning Wisconsin.

[08:35:00]

So I think it's great that they're driving 90 minutes up the road and doing this during this rally in the same place that Donald Trump gave that convention speech that went on 90 minutes and put America to sleep.

WALKER: Well, I hope you are well rested for day two.

(LAUGH)

WALKER: Senior Democratic Party Adviser.

WOODHOUSE: Absolutely, I wouldn't hold you (ph).

WALKER: I'm sure you are.

WOODHOUSE: Going to be great.

WALKER: Brad Woodhouse, good to talk to you. Thanks.

WOODHOUSE: Thank you.

WALKER: Democrats are planning to shine a spotlight on Project 2025 each nights of the DNC. On Monday night, a state Senator claimed the conservative blueprint for a second Trump term aimed to greatly expand the powers of the presidency. Donald Trump has publicly distanced himself from Project 2025, but in a hidden camera video, a key author of the playbook calls those denials merely politics. CNN's Kyung Lah has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RUSSELL VOUGHT, FORMER GOVERNMENT OFFICIAL AND CO-AUTHOR OF "PROJECT 2025": Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed by Thy name.

KYUNG LAH, CNN SENIOR INVESTIGATIVE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): You are looking at secretly recorded video of Russell Vought, a former cabinet member in the Trump Administration.

VOUGHT: This year has been predominantly now getting ready for a year five of a Trump Administration. We have got 350 different documents that are regulations and things of that nature.

LAH (voice-over): Vought, the platform policy director for the Republican National Committee says he is building the plan for Trump's second term.

DONALD TRUMP, (R) FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES AND PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I don't know what the hell it is, this Project 2025.

LAH (voice-over): Trump publicly disavowed Project 2025, a conservative blueprint for his administration if he gets re-elected. But in private, Vought said that's just politics. The details of the real plans are secret and based on Trump's own beliefs.

VOUGHT: Notwithstanding, I expect you to hear ten more times from the rally, the president, you know, distancing himself from the left's boogeyman of Project 2025.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yeah. And you are not worried about that?

VOUGHT: No, I am not worried about it. And so, I see what he's doing is just very, very conscious distancing himself from a brand. He's very supportive of what we do and know that we have all manner of things that we do that's, you know, even unrelated to Project 2025.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Sure.

LAH (voice-over): Vought has been a mastermind behind expanding the powers of the presidency, some of those policy proposals Trump has supported, two sources tell CNN. Trump even hosted a Mar-a-Lago fundraiser two years ago for the group Vought founded, the right-wing 'Center for Renewing America'

VOUGHT: He's been at our organization. He's raised money for our organization. He's blessed it --

LAH (voice-over): In this hotel suite, Vought thinks he's talking to family members of a wealthy donor. But one is a journalist, the other an actor working undercover for the U.K. based 'Centre for Climate Reporting.' The center provided the video to CNN on the condition we blur their faces so they can continue their undercover work. The conversation covers a host of issues, like abortion and how his position differs from Trump.

VOUGHT: He talks about rape, incest, and life of the mother, I don't actually believe in those exceptions. I want to get to abolition, but I also -- we got to win elections. And so, I want to get as far as we possibly can in --

LAH (voice-over): His view of who should be an American.

VOUGHT: So, I want to make sure that we can say we are a Christian nation and my viewpoint is mostly that I would probably be Christian nation-ism. That's pretty close to Christian nationalism. Can we, if we are going to have legal immigration, can we get people that actually believe in Christianity? Is that something? Or do we have to have, you know, are we not allowed to have, ask questions about Sharia law?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What could we see America looking like, I guess, in an ideal world?

VOUGHT: I mean -- in an ideal world, I mean, I think we could save the country in a sense of, you know, the largest deportation in history --

LAH (voice-over): And even pornography.

VOUGHT: We'd have a national ban on pornography, if we could, right?

LAH (voice-over): But the most striking of Vought's statements has to do with presidential power.

VOUGHT: George Floyd obviously was not about race, it was about de- stabilizing the Trump Administration.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Right.

VOUGHT: It's the left's belief that structures in society are the problem. Pulling society down for purposes of revolution is exactly what they want. And what you're seeing on college campuses is a part of that as well. The president has, you know, the ability both along the border and elsewhere to maintain law and order with the military.

LAH (voice-over): A major part of Vought's plan is turning thousands of career federal jobs into political appointments, meaning workers could be fired if they're not sufficiently loyal to Trump.

VOUGHT: 80 percent of my time is working on the plans of what is necessary to take control of these bureaucracies. I want to be the person that crushes the deep state. And I think there's a lot of different ways to do that. It is defunding it, it's impoundment, the ability to not spend money. It's getting rid of their independence.

[08:40:00]

LAH (voice-over): Even as Vought talks about the so-called deep state, he claims his group is forming its own to take over on day one.

VOUGHT: We are trying to create a shadow Office of Management and Budget, a shadow National Security Council, and a shadow Office of Legal Counsel.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yeah.

VOUGHT: These are the main organs in government that you need outside to create the battle plan.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And you're not going to publish those?

VOUGHT: No, no.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They go straight to --

VOUGHT: Yeah. They are a very, very close hold.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LAH (on camera): We are hearing from both the Trump campaign and Russell Vought's organization in response to the video. A spokesperson for Vought's group is downplaying the video, saying Vought has spoken about the same topics publicly, telling CNN "Thank you for airing our perfect conversation, emphasizing our policy work is totally separate from the Trump campaign." And the Trump campaign says, only President Trump and the campaign represent policies for the second term.

Kyung Lah, CNN, Los Angeles.

WALKER: Kyung, thank you for that.

Former Republican Congressman George Santos has pleaded guilty to charges of wire fraud and identity theft, as part of a plea deal after Santos was accused of fraudulent activity during his midterm campaign two years ago. He was set to stand trial on really two dozen federal charges. Outside the court, he told reporters he took full responsibility for his actions.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE SANTOS, (R-NY) FORMER UNITED STATES REPRESENTATIVE: Pleading guilty is a step I never imagined I'd take, but it is a necessary one because it is the right thing to do. It's not only a recognition of my misrepresentations to others, but more profoundly, it is my own recognition of the lies I told myself over these past years.

WALKER: Santos will serve a minimum of two years in prison and pay almost $400,000 in restitution as part of the plea agreement. A U.S. attorney says, Santos acknowledged committing a litany of other crimes he will be held accountable for when he is sentenced this February.

The Trump campaign not wanting to be out done by the Democrats is visiting four battleground states to stump for votes. Will the counter programming work? And why economists are saying Donald Trump's anti- inflation promises could backfire.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WALKER: Donald Trump's counterprogramming tour continues Tuesday in Michigan. And he spoke last night in the battleground state of Pennsylvania. And later today, he will be appearing in Michigan. Now, before Harris entered the race, Trump assumed he had Michigan in the bag. Well, now, with the new opponent, he's making his pitch to voters there. Democrats are criticizing Trump for rallying supporters in Howell, Michigan where white supremacists marched just last month.

Let's bring in Alayna Treene, joining us now from Washington.

[08:45:00]

Hi, Alayna. Do we have any idea of what Trump's focus will be in his speech?

ALAYNA TREENE, CNN REPORTER: We do. Today, his focus is going to be on crime and safety. And look, actually every single day this week, his campaign has geared each of these events towards specific policy and particularly the policy that they want Donald Trump to be focusing on given they think these are the issues that he will win on in November. So yesterday, in York, Pennsylvania, he was talking about the economy. Today, it's going to be about crime and safety, as I mentioned.

Later this week, he's going to be in Arizona at the border to talk about immigration. Again, these are the issues where Donald Trump polled better than Joe Biden. And the goal for the Trump campaign right now is to try to tie Harris to those policies, to the Biden Administration's handling of these issues, to see if they can get a leg up on her on these issues come the fall. But look, I actually think what they're doing this week is interesting because there are some changes from Donald Trump's normal type of campaigning.

First of all, these events really aren't rallies. He has one rally on Friday evening, but the rest of them have been these speeches at smaller venues, smaller crowds. You're not seeing the large rally type of thousands of people, the big stage, the music, the lights, these are really designed for him, again, to push him to focus on the messaging, something they've been wanting him to do. And we know and we've reported on this, Amara, that Donald Trump's team, as well as his outside allies, have been repeatedly urging Donald Trump to be more disciplined when it comes to talking about policy.

They want him to do away with the personal attacks on Harris and instead really zone in on the issues and the thing that they think voters care the most about. But I will say, he actually did an interview yesterday with CBS where you did see Donald Trump kind of resort to his old playbook where he went after Harris. Take a listen to what he told them.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: Well, I don't think she's a very bright person. I do feel that. I mean, I think that's right. I think I am a very bright person and lot of people say that. I don't think she's a very bright person. And you know what, our country needs a very smart person and I don't think she's a very smart person. So, I'm not looking to --

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: So, what do you think of (ph) her?

TRUMP: I don't consider that an insult, that's just a fact. (END VIDEO CLIP)

TREENE: So you could see Donald Trump, Amara, kind of toeing that line saying, look, I'm not insulting her. That's just a fact. But this is something I know that many people on his team and the people who want him to win cringe at many times. They want him to stay on message and it was interesting because we did see Donald Trump yesterday, actually largely be cognizant of that urgency that people are telling him.

He did mostly stick to the script, stick to the teleprompter. It reminded me of his press conference last week at his golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey, where the speech he gave at the top was very much him reading line by line through a binder, very on message. And then I actually asked him personally, you know, what do you make of this strategy of people saying, do away with the attacks and focus on the messaging? And then he went into a series of insults against Harris where he attacked her intelligence and other attributes.

So, I think we'll all be staying tuned today to see how much he actually can stay on message in this Howell, Michigan speech.

WALKER: Well, maybe for Trump staying on message is doing what he does best, right? This personal attacks. We'll see. Alayna Treene, thank you.

Well, we are saying new findings from American intelligence about Iran. The FBI and others say Tehran is behind a hack and leak operation that targeted Donald Trump's presidential campaign and also tried to compromise the former Biden-Harris campaign. For its part, Iran is rejecting what it calls unsubstantiated claims of hacking attempts. CNN's Zach Cohen is joining us now from Washington.

Zach, U.S. officials believe the investigation's findings mark the clearest sign of efforts by Iran to influence the 2024 election. What is Tehran's goal by doing that?

ZACHARY COHEN, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY REPORTER: Yeah, Amara, Iran really does want a shape the outcome of the 2024 presidential election. That's according to the FBI and various intelligence agencies in the U.S. that put out this joint statement yesterday, pointing the finger at Iran and accusing Iran of being behind this hack and leak operation targeting Donald Trump's presidential campaign, but also attempting to hack the Biden-Harris campaigns as well.

They make clear in this statement that they believe Iran and the Iranian government is trying to infiltrate through cyber -- through hacking means and various other cyber operations, political parties across the spectrum, really -- the goal of trying to sow discord, trying to undermine the democratic process, and tried to exploit those divisions that already exist within the American society and especially within the political conversations happening online.

I'm going to read them a part of this statement from yesterday, says the IC is confident that the Iranians have through social engineering and other efforts, sought access to individuals with direct access to the presidential campaigns of both political parties. Such activity, including thefts and disclosures, are intended to influence the U.S. election process.

[08:50:00]

Now, we know Donald Trump was briefed by the FBI on their preliminary findings after some documents showed up and were brought to news organizations that appeared to be from a senior campaign official working on Donald Trump's campaign. Obviously, once those documents were surfaced, the FBI started investigating. The FBI did brief Trump on these Iranian -- apparent Iranian efforts to infiltrate his campaign.

Now, the Biden-Harris and Kamala Harris' campaign says that they don't believe the hackers were successful in breaching their campaign accounts. I want a closer look though at the operation that was targeting Trump's campaign though, because it is interesting, the first point of access was actually when the hackers were able to breach an account, a personal account belonging to Trump's longtime ally, Roger Stone. The FBI believes the Iranian hackers then used that access to Stone's account to then breach the senior campaign officials to access these documents and then attempt to leak them publicly.

Again, this is very typical of what the FBI says it has seen from Iran in years past, going back all the way to the 2020 election, that similar tactics were used to try to undermine confidence in the U.S. democratic process and try to sway the election outcome in their favor. They view the 2024 election though as particularly consequential, that's according to the FBI's statement, which says that is because they believe the outcome of the 2024 election will have a significant impact on Iran's own national security interests. Really, this is a very public warning from not just the FBI, but the Intelligence Community as a whole.

We are coming down the home stretch of the 2020 presidential campaign and you can be sure we are going to hear a lot more about potential efforts to -- for foreign nations and nation-states to influence the outcome in the months ahead.

WALKER: Yeah, got to remain vigilant. CNN's Zach Cohen, thank you.

All right. We'll have more news after this quick break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WALKER: Donald Trump is vowing to slash prices as he promises to make Americans better off in his campaign to return to the White House. Now, Trump is not only promising to bring down prices for gasoline and electricity, he's also forecasting prices in general would plunge if he were president. But economists say some of the things he is promising to do in a second term would do exactly the opposite.

CNN's Matt Egan joining us now from New York. OK. Matt, break it down for us. What is Trump promising and why are economists saying that is not going to work? MATT EGAN, CNN REPORTER: Well, Amara, some former President Trump's inflation promises sound not just unrealistic, but undesirable. It'd be one thing for Trump to promise to lower the rate of inflation, that would mean prices would still be going up just at a slower pace. We've actually been seeing that the last two years. But Trump at times has gone even further, he's promising outright price drops across the economy. Take a listen to what he said during a speech last week in North Carolina.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: But prices will come down, you just watch. It'll come down and they'll come down fast, not only with insurance, with everything. As president, I will seal the border. I will send them all back to their countries where they belong. Prices will come down and come down dramatically, and come down fast.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

EGAN: Now, dramatically lower prices, obviously, that sounds great. I mean, who doesn't miss the pre-COVID prices at the grocery store or for things like car insurance. And in some cases, yes, prices can come down for certain goods and services. For example, over the last 12 months, we've seen price drops on everything from appliances and used cars to men's suits.

[08:55:00]

But widespread price drops, I mean, that is deflation. It's not just improbable, it's actually scary. University of Michigan and Economist Justin Wolfers, he told me the best the way to get deflation would be to have a really bad recession. He said this is extremely dangerous and feeds on itself. The Fed would be terrified. Now, the Fed really does not like the idea of deflation because of what it would mean for consumer actions, right? I mean, if all of us knew that prices for anything would be a lot cheaper next month than it is now, we obviously would wait until next month. But if that spreads across the economy, then that lowers prices even further and it can be really become a doom loop that is really hard to get out of.

Now, the real goal here is for the economy to grow into the higher level of prices where paychecks keep going up and consumers are able to catch up with a new level of prices. The ironic thing here is that there are these concerns about the Trump agenda. Remember, he wants to impose massive new tariffs. That's something that could cost families hundreds or maybe even thousands of dollars. He's calling for this massive immigration crackdown. That could hurt the supply of workers and boost wages. And he's even arguing that the president should have some ability to influence Fed policy. Again, history shows that can be inflationary.

So when you put all this together, that's why some mainstream economists worry that his plan might not just fail to fix inflation, that it could actually make things worse. Amara?

WALKER: Yeah, that all makes sense. Matt Egan, thank you very much. EGAN: Thanks.

WALKER: That's our time. Thanks for being with me. "Connect the World" with Erica Hill is up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:00:00]