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The Obamas Light Up Night Two of the DNC; Trump may Appoint Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to His Administration Should He Win; Taylor Swift Closes Her Eras Tour in Europe at the U.K.'s Wembley Stadium Despite Surprises and Cancellations in Her Past Stops. Aired 3-3:45a ET

Aired August 21, 2024 - 03:00   ET

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

[03:00:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN ANCHOR: Hello and welcome to our viewers joining us from all around the world and to everyone streaming us on CNN Max. I'm Rosemary Church.

Just ahead. Barack and Michelle Obama steal the show as they endorse Kamala Harris on the second night of the Democratic National Convention and they issue fiery warnings to voters about the potential dangers of another Donald Trump presidency.

America's top diplomat wraps up his latest trip to the Middle East with a concrete deal to end the fighting in Gaza and bring Israeli hostages home remains elusive.

And as Taylor Swift's European tour comes to a close, CNN talks to fans who say it lived up to all the hype.

UNKNOWN (voice-over): Live from Atlanta, this is "CNN Newsroom" with Rosemary Church.

CHURCH: Thanks for joining us. Well, if the Democrats needed any more enthusiasm around the presidential campaign of Kamala Harris, they got it in abundance from Barack and Michelle Obama, who delivered rousing endorsements on the second night of the party's convention in Chicago. The former president took aim at Republican Donald Trump and what he called his weird obsession with crowd sizes, but he spent most of his 35-minute speech explaining why he thinks Kamala Harris is the president the country needs.

Former first lady Michelle Obama energized the crowd with her line of the night, Hope is making a comeback. She accused Trump of doubling down on racist lies while Harris is working to make people's lives better.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MICHELLE OBAMA (D), FORMER U.S. FIRST LADY: Her story is your story, it's my story. It's the story of the vast majority of Americans trying to build a better life. Look, Kamala knows, like we do, that regardless of where you come from, what you look like, who you love, how you worship, or what's in your bank account, we all deserve the opportunity to build a decent life. All of our contributions deserve to be accepted and valued.

(APPLAUSE)

M. OBAMA: Because no one has a monopoly on what it means to be an American. No one.

(APPLAUSE)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: Delegates also heard from the second gentleman, Doug Emhoff. He praised his wife for standing up to bullies in her career of public service and for making empathy her strength.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DOUG EMHOFF, U.S. SECOND GENTLEMAN AND HUSBAND OF U.S. VICE PRESIDENT: I love you so much. I'm so proud of how you're stepping up for all of us, but that's who she is. Wherever she is needed, however she is needed, Kamala rises to the occasion, and she did it for me and our family, and now that the country needs her, she is showing you what we already know. She is ready to lead.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: Kamala Harris is back in Chicago after a rally with her running mate in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. A campaign official tells CNN Air Force Two circled the airport for about 15 minutes longer than necessary so Harris could watch her husband, Doug Emhoff, speak at the convention. In Milwaukee, Harris symbolically accepted her party's nomination for president and she leaned into the importance of reproductive health care with a swipe at Donald Trump.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VICE PRESIDENT KAMALA HARRIS (D), U.S. PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Just yesterday when he was asked if he has any regrets about ending Roe v. Wade, Donald Trump -- Donald Trump without even a moment's hesitation, you would think he would reflect on it for a second, said no.

Well, we will make sure he does face a consequence and that will be at the ballot box in November.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: Meantime, Donald Trump says he would consider appointing rival Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to his new administration if he's re-elected, if the independent candidate drops out of the presidential race and endorses him. CNN's Kristen Holmes spoke with the former president during a campaign stop in Michigan.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN U.S. NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Former President Donald Trump in Michigan on Tuesday trying to still counter program the Democratic National Convention with the smaller quote unquote "messaging events" that the campaign is referring to them as they are held in these smaller venues with smaller crowds and it is an effort to try and keep the former president on message.

[03:05:06]

Now we were able to catch up with the former president asking a very specific question earlier in the day, RFK as running mate Nicole Shanahan said the two of them were considering leaving the race and endorsing Donald Trump. I asked him what that endorsement would mean for him and whether or not he would consider giving RFK an administration role. Take a listen.

Can I ask you about RFK? Because just moments ago, his running mate said that they were considering endorsing you. Have you considered him for a role in the administration, and what role would that be?

DONALD TRUMP (R), U.S. PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Well, we haven't, but I would love that endorsement because I've always liked him.

HOLMES: Would you also consider putting him in the administration?

TRUMP: You're asking me a very unusual question. I haven't been asked that question yet. I like him a lot. I respect him a lot. I probably would if something like that would happen.

HOLMES: Now this of course comes a day after Trump said he would consider giving Elon Musk a role in the administration or an advisory role to people, RFK and Elon Musk, who are not traditional Republicans at all. They just happen to be people who support Donald Trump. In fact, RFK is a sure progressive in many areas.

I asked Donald Trump about that specifically, saying, what would you say to traditional Republicans who don't want to vote for that administration? He essentially brushed that off, saying that he believed that they were smart, going on to say that Republicans like him, and if he likes them, then he could put them in the administration.

But all in all, clearly right now, Donald Trump is still trying to get his message across trying to break through, as Kamala Harris, the change at the top of the ticket, has really shaken up this race, and right now she is in control of the media spotlight.

Kristen Holmes, CNN, Howell, Michigan.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHURCH: Ron Brownstein is a CNN senior political analyst and a senior editor at "The Atlantic." He joins me now from Chicago. Great to have you with us.

RON BROWNSTEIN, CNN SR. POLITICAL ANALYST AND SR. EDITOR, "THE ATLANTIC": Rosemary, Hi, good to be here.

CHURCH: So the second night of the DNC offered up a stunning lineup of speakers and performers with the headliner address from former President Barack Obama, who called this an all-hands-on-deck moment, while the former first lady Michelle Obama spoke before him saying, hope is making a comeback. So how critical is it for Kamala Harris to have this caliber of support in such a tight race?

BROWNSTEIN: It was an extremely strong night for the Democrats. I thought much more thematically interesting and coherent than the first night. You know, on the one hand, we saw a number of speeches that were more about humanizing Kamala Harris than about explicating her agenda, really trying to convince voters that she would defend the middle class because she was a product of the middle class.

Essentially the connection that Bill Clinton made in his famous, "I Still Believe in a Place called Hope" speech in 1992. But even more striking to me was the way that this night of the convention dealt with the potential threats of a second Trump term in a very different way, I think, than Joe Biden had been doing.

Because tonight was less about preventing the darkness that could come from a vindictive Donald Trump in the White House again, than it was about encouraging voters to envision the morning which we heard specifically, almost like a morning in America, of a less divided America. It reminded me that a Democratic consultant said to me last week that the last voters Harris needs, she has to inspire, not scare. And I thought tonight was a striking pivot in that direction.

CHURCH: Right, and we also saw Republican speakers Tuesday night at the DNC, including former Trump press secretary Stephanie Grisham, who revealed Trump's true feelings about his own supporters and it wasn't complimentary. What do the Democrats gain from a lineup of GOP speakers like this who have had direct dealings with Trump?

BROWNSTEIN: Well, first of all, it is a way to reinforce what I just said. I mean, I really think the overriding message of tonight was as a country we don't have to live like this, we don't have to live. It is nice -- nice edge with, you know, politics interrupting every Thanksgiving dinner and Sunday afternoon.

President Obama's speech emphasizing the opportunity, the necessity of seeing kind of the shared experience even in people you disagree with. I think was summoning voters toward envisioning something different and it gives another dimension to that we can't go back, we're not going back argument. Now, you know, electorally, there are not a lot of hardcore Republicans who are going to vote for Kamala Harris, no matter how deep their concerns about Donald Trump.

[03:09:54]

But there are clearly, I mean, in the last few elections, we have seen. The results we have seen in states like Georgia and Arizona, and even Michigan, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, would not have been possible if there were not a substantial number of independents who previously leaned toward Republicans who are now voting for Democrats because they can't abide the Trump definition of the party. And this was clearly an attempt to create a permission structure for more of those voters to make that transition.

CHURCH: And Ron, we have learned that more people watched the first night of the DNC than the first night of the RNC and given Trump's obsession with crowd size and ratings, how do you think he is processing that information?

BROWNSTEIN: Well I think there's the entire reaction to the Harris ascendancy after the kind of the somnolence the Democrats are in, there's almost this torpor, this defeated kind of walking days has obviously tremendously unnerved him and the ratings underscore what we talked about before the convention.

You know, the opinions about Harris are probably less deeply held and for any nominee arriving at their convention, I think, since will be the Republican businessman in 1940 and she's the first nominee in roughly 60 years who was not either an incumbent president or had to run through the primaries.

The initial reaction has been positive but people don't really know a lot about her and that creates obviously a risk that Republicans could fill that in, but it creates the opportunity that more people would tune into the convention precisely because they want to learn something about her.

And the Democrats would have more opportunity that is usually the case at a convention to define their nominee because so little space on the canvas has been written on yet. And so it'll be interesting to see. I would not be surprised if the audience for her acceptance speech is higher than -- than Trump's and don't forget half of all the people who watch Trump's acceptance speech watched it on Fox.

And that was an indication I thought in early indication of what ultimately occurred which is he did not get much of a bounce out of his convention he did not really speak to people beyond those already in his camp she clearly has an opportunity to do that Barack Obama was kind of summoning her precisely to do that and we'll see if you can deliver on it on Thursday night.

CHURCH: That's a critical point. Ron Brownstein, many thanks for joining us. I appreciate it.

BROWNSTEIN: Thanks for having me.

CHURCH: Fires broke out in several parts of the Israeli-controlled Golan Heights on Wednesday after dozens of rockets and missiles were launched from Lebanon. This comes as more than 40 people were killed in Israeli strikes across Gaza in the past 24 hours as mediators push for a ceasefire and hostage release deal.

In Gaza City, an Israeli strike on a school sheltering displaced Palestinians killed eight people. The IDF says it conducted, quote, "precise strikes" on a Hamas command center hidden in the school. Meanwhile, Israel released video of its operation to recover the bodies of six hostages. It says soldiers found them in Hamas tunnels under Khan Younis. The Israeli military is investigating what caused their deaths.

Gaza ceasefire talks are expected to resume this week amid a flurry of diplomatic efforts to end the war. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken met with top officials in Egypt and Qatar to get the latest on what they're hearing from Hamas. Blinken says Israel has agreed to a bridging proposal meant to close the remaining gaps in a potential Gaza ceasefire agreement. And this comes despite reported comments from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that cast doubt on a potential deal.

So let's go live now to London and CNN's Salma Abdelaziz. Good morning to you Salma. So what progress has been made on this ceasefire agreement as Blinken wraps up his trip to the region and what's the next step in this process?

SALMA ABDELAZIZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Let me start Rosemary with the breaking news that we just got this last hour because I think it emphasizes why Secretary of State Antony Blinken, why these mediators are so insistent pushing for this ceasefire deal. We understand that around 50 projectiles were fired from Lebanon towards Israel. This has just happened, so we don't yet have comment from the Lebanese authorities or any claim of responsibility.

But we do know that the Israeli military says it struck overnight a Hezbollah militant in the nearby area in southern Lebanon. Again, a reminder of the possibility of regional war spiraling out of control in this conflict. As you mentioned, Secretary of State Antony Blinken on this whirlwind tour of the region, speaking of course in Israel, Egypt, and Qatar to various mediators and various factions of the warring parties.

He very much wanted to walk away with the deal and he is absolutely not walking away with that. I want you to hear how he emphasized that time is absolutely of the essence at this moment to reach a deal that he says right now is the best chance for. Take a listen.

[03:15:00]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANTONY BLINKEN, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: Israel has now accepted that proposal. I heard that directly from Prime Minister Netanyahu yesterday. And we hope and expect that Hamas will do the same. Time is of the essence. Time is of the essence because with every passing day the well-being and lives of the hostages are in jeopardy.

Time is of the essence because every single day women, children, men in Gaza are suffering without access to adequate food medicine and at risk of being wounded or dying in fighting that they didn't start and they cannot stop.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ABDELAZIZ: So you heard him there saying that Prime Minister Netanyahu has agreed to that bridging proposal. American officials have not detailed what's in that proposal, but Secretary of State Antony Blinken essentially saying now the ball is in Hamas' court to accept that bridging proposal away from it. Again, we don't know the details of it. One of the major sticking points is around Israel's lasting presence in Gaza, something that Hamas absolutely does not want.

These negotiations will continue. And it just seems that pressure, that urgency that you're hearing from Secretary of State Anthony Blinken is not necessarily shared by the warring parties.

CHURCH: Salma Abdelaziz, joining us live from London with that report. Many thanks.

Iran's U.N. mission says Tehran's pledged retaliation against Israel over the killing of a Hamas leader must be quote "carefully calibrated." Iran says it's to avoid adversely impacting a possible ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas.

And for more let's go to CNN's Fred Pleitgen who joins us live from Tehran. So Fred, what is the latest from Iran's leadership as Israel braces for a retaliatory response to the killing of a Hamas leader in Tehran?

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SR. INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, Rosemary, first of all, a lot of really interesting new nuances coming out, not just from the U.N. mission of Iran, but of course last night also from the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, who also said that there could be a prolonged period of waiting before a retaliatory strike by the Iranians happens.

And all this, of course, also coming at a pretty key time here in Iran. In fact, I'm right now inside Iranian parliament, inside the modulus with a confirmation hearings for Iran's new cabinet. Of course, they just voted for a new president, Masoud Pezeshkian, and those ministers are set to be confirmed today. The debate about that is going on right now. That's what you're seeing in the background. But right now for the Iranians, they're saying that there could be a prolonged period of waiting before retaliatory strike takes place.

They're also saying that they will not give any information as to what exactly that strike could look like. One of the things though that we've heard is that the Iranians do want to create deterrence through a strike that they plan on. I was able to speak to the former head of Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps and here's what he had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MOHSEN REZAEE, FORMER COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF, ISLAMIC REVOLUTIONARY GUARD CORPS (through translator): The occupying power of Jerusalem is a regime that will continue its evil acts if it does not receive a harsh response. Also, the United States and Europe have not been able to control this regime.

PLEITGEN: How does Iran find the right measure to prevent this from turning into a bigger war in the region?

REZAEE (through translator): We have investigated the possible repercussions and we will not let Netanyahu, who is sinking in a swamp, save him himself. The Iranian actions will be very calculated ones.

PLEITGEN: The United States has threatened Iran though with what they call cataclysmic consequences if Iran strikes Israel. What's your reaction to that?

REZAEE (through translator): The U.S. is highly vulnerable to Iran. The commanders of the U.S. military are aware of Iran's capabilities. Therefore they will avoid taking action against Iran. On the other hand, the U.S. is facing problems regarding their own defense coasts. There has to be a ceasefire in Gaza soon.

The United States and Israel should not repeat their mistakes. If in the first weeks of the Gaza war the United States has stopped Israel and Netanyahu, the war would not extend. So the main element of the extension of the war are the US and Israel. The more this war extends, the more the United States will be damaged.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PLEITGEN: So that was the former head of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, Mohsen Rezaee, speaking to me last night. And of course the Iranians have said that they do want a ceasefire to happen in Gaza. They believe that that's very important. I think one of the interesting things that we took from that statement coming from Iran's U.N. mission now overnight is that they also say that any sort of retaliatory action that they might take. They don't want that to have adverse effects on possible ceasefire negotiations and on the ceasefire being implemented.

One of the other things that we also took from that as well is they said that a strike could look unlike anything that you've seen in the past before. And they say that it could come from the air, but it could also come from the ground, that all that could be a complete surprise, Rosemary.

CHURCH: All right, our thanks to Fred Pleitgen with that live report from Tehran.

[03:20:06]

And coming up Russia insists it's repelling Ukrainian advances in the Kursk region but reports and video from the battlefield tell a very different story. We'll have that on the other side of the break. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHURCH: Russia says it has destroyed 11 Ukrainian drones over the Moscow region overnight. Moscow's mayor calls it one of the largest attempted drone attacks on the city to date. This comes as Russian forces insist they will repel Ukrainian forces from the Kursk region.

Russia's military is building temporary bridges across a key river in the region. Ukrainian forces have destroyed at least two bridges there in order to weaken Russia's supply lines. Ukraine's top commander says his forces have now captured more than 1,200 square kilometers of Russian territory. Russia insists it's countering Ukraine's advances and taking Ukrainian prisoners, but that's not what the United States is saying.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAJ. GEN. PATRICK RYDER, PENTAGON PRESS SECRETARY: We have seen indications of Russia moving a small number of forces into Kursk, the Kursk region, to respond. I would say, generally speaking, though, Russia has really struggled to respond. And you continue to see some Ukrainian advances in that regard.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CNN's Clare Sebastien joins me now live from London. Good morning to you, Clare. So Ukraine appears to be increasing drone attacks while continuing its advance in the Kursk region. What is the strategy here?

CLARE SEBASTIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, Rosemary, the drone attacks is something pretty typical. We do see on a fairly regular basis, Ukraine targeting Russia with drones across various regions. This seems to have been slightly larger than usual, some 45 drones, according to the Russian Ministry of Defense, of which 11 targeted the Moscow region. So that is slightly unusual.

We don't know of any damage as of yet or any potential targets. But of course this comes some two weeks into the Kursk Incursion. Ukraine appears to still have the initiative there. The Russian resistance really only starting to take shape, really only starting to slow down the Ukrainian advance there, as I say, some two weeks in.

And it comes as well as Russia is still, I think, to an extent maintaining this facade, at least to the Russian people, that the incursion into Kursk is isolated, it's a terror attack and it's not a crisis case in point if we look at the sort of Russian response which has been fairly haphazard fairly fumbling but relatively effective so far was President Putin turning up in Beslan on Tuesday ahead of the 20th anniversary of the terror attack on a school there and making a rather tenuous link between that and what's happening now in Kursk. Take a listen.

[03:25:05]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VLADIMIR PUTIN, RUSSIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): As for those opponents and enemies of ours that I mentioned, they continue this work of trying to destabilize our country. This is obvious. And since we fought terrorists, today we have to fight those who commit crimes in the Kursk region, in Donbas and Novorossiya.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SEBASTIAN: So just to be clear, he's comparing Ukraine's defense forces in a war that Russia started with terrorists that killed over 300 people in a school. But look, he is out there, he's greeting people, he's about to today

hold his third high-level international meeting since the incursion of Kursk with the Chinese premier in Moscow, trying to create the sense that it's business as usual, that I think the risk for Russia is not so much that this becomes a bigger invasion by Ukraine, but that the Russian people start to perceive this as a failing by Putin.

CHURCH: All right, our thanks to Claire Sebastian with that live report from London.

From Yes We Can to Yes She Can, Barack Obama fires up Democrats urging America to embrace Kamala Harris, his message of hope and warnings about Donald Trump. That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHURCH: The second night of the Democratic National Convention included some Republicans who have become disillusioned with their party. One of them is the mayor of Mesa, a city of about half a million people in the battleground state of Arizona. John Giles said he feels more at home at the DNC than in today's Republican Party.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAYOR JOHN GILES (R), MESA, ARIZONA: My hero, John McCain, taught us -- taught us to put country over party. And that's how Vice President Harris and Governor Walz will lead, too.

I have an urgent message for the majority of Americans who, like me, are in the political middle. John McCain's Republican Party is gone, and we don't owe a damn thing to what's been left behind.

(APPLAUSE)

GILES: So let's turn the page. Let's put country first. Let's put adults in the room, where our country deserves

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: We also heard from Stephanie Grisham, the former White House press secretary during the Trump presidency and longtime aide to Melania Trump. Grisham said Donald Trump mocks his supporters, calling them basement dwellers in private. She also said he has, quote, "no empathy, no morals and no fidelity to the truth."

[03:30:00]

But the loudest cheers of the night went to the Obamas, who electrified the DNC crowd. After joking that he's the only person stupid enough to speak after his wife Michelle, Barack Obama said he was quote, "feeling hopeful because this convention has always been pretty good to kids with funny names who believe in a country where anything is possible."

The former U.S. President also took swipes at Trump calling him a 78 year old who still uses childish nicknames and has a weird obsession with crowd sizes.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA (D), FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT: -- he wants you to think that you'll be richer and safer if you will just give him the power to put those other people back in their place.

It is one of the oldest tricks in politics, from a guy who's act has, let's face it, it's gotten pretty stale.

(LAUGHTER)

OBAMA: We do not need four more years of bluster and bumbling and chaos. We have seen that movie before, and we all know that the sequel is usually worse.

(CHEERING)

(APPLAUSE)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: Lindy Li is a political strategist and a member of Vice President Harris' National Finance Committee. She joins me now from Chicago. A pleasure to have you back with us here as the second night of the DNC wraps up after an impressive lineup of performers and speakers, including a highly anticipated address from headliner Barack Obama and his wife Michelle, who thrilled both of them, thrilled the crowds. How critical is their endorsement for Kamala Harris?

LINDY LI, POLITICAL STRATEGIST AND MEMBER, VICE PRESIDENT HARRIS NATIONAL FINANCE COMMITTEE: Absolutely critical, Rosemary. And I don't remember but at that initial stages of it people were wondering why the Obamas didn't come out all of a sudden, would everybody else. Remember that they waited a number of days but when their endorsement did come in need such a tremendous impact.

And there was a video of Kamala Harris walking down the hallway doing a walk-and-talk and talking on the phone with both Michelle and Barack Obama, that really resonated with folks. But especially with younger demographics that find videos to be incredibly appealing.

And is a very homespun and hardy and sincere interaction and I think it really just ignited up a firestorm of love and enthusiasm across America. What I thought on the floor today was just indescribable, it was unbelievable, and I am an immigrant. I was like in tears the whole time to be here to be an American. I am feel blessed beyond words.

CHURCH: And second gentleman Doug Emhoff referred to his wife, Kamala, as a joyful warrior after a very emotional introduction from his son, Cole, who pulled together a video presentation that went a long way in defining who Kamala is. That's something the Republicans have been trying to do. So how does Harris plan to counter those negative efforts to define her?

LI: Well I want to bring up something that really angered a lot of people like J.D. Vance said about childless cat ladies, remember that he's specifically called out Kamala Harris who has two stepchildren so he's basically implying that the bond between a stepmother in her stepchildren is nullified which is incredibly painful and wrong.

She's every -- in every way a mother as every other mother so for him to deny the strength and love of their bond is just sacrilegious almost it just sticks tremendously hurtful, and I think undermined Americans perception of him. And so today, the Harris -- Doug Emhoff fully demonstrated that their bond is undone. It transcends politics, it transcends circumstances. They are an incredibly close family and I've seen it close.

And the love between Doug and Kamala, oh my goodness, it's just electrifying. You see that not only on TV, but at events. The two of them are deeply in love.

CHURCH: That's lovely. And of course, we know TV ratings showing the first night of the DNC outrated the first night of the RNC. How are Democrats feeling about that news? What's the mood in Chicago after that second night of the DNC? And of course, that news about the ratings.

LI: Well I want to say, I was on the floor so I got to see everyone. There was in a single person with the Maxi Pad on the ear and we saw that every single night of the RNC people trying to imitate Trump with the ear bandage which it became kind of a farce, it was just so absolutely ridiculous. What the RNC offered was anger and antics and just ridiculousness in clown shows.

[03:34:57]

What the DNC offered today where actual policies, actual hope, visceral love for this country, and the belief that our future still lies ahead of us, that we are stronger when we unite against us rather than trying to tear each other apart, that we have far more in common than we do that tears us asunder. So I feel like I haven't slept for a number of days, but it's not only just that. I am completely galvanized and inspired by this, all the love that is just pulsating in that convention hall right now.

CHURCH: And at the same time, of course, we have to take the message from Barack Obama and Michelle Obama that this is a tight race. It's all hands on deck, as he says. So what is the plan ahead?

LI: The plan is to make every, to maximize the value of the 80-some days that remain to us. The Western Pennsylvania bus tour is one great step, but it's not enough and she's going to be litigating the case in every battleground state, particularly the blue wall though.

We have to focus on Wisconsin and Michigan and Pennsylvania because believe it or not that's where the battle will be won or lost. My state in particular, it's not just Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, it's the collar counties like Chester County, Montgomery County, and Bucks County. These are the counties that will determine whether or not Pennsylvania goes to Trump or to Harris. We need to do everything we can to reach out to those moderates who concerned about border security who concerned about inflation and she's already doing that by doing everything by saying that she's gonna invest in more housing built in millions of more units to bring down prices she's hearing the American people. She understands that inflation is still too high. Accumulated inflation is eating away people's pockets books and she's, kind of, pivoting away from Biden- nomics into our own cohesive economic policy.

CHURCH: Lindy Li, great to have you with us. I Appreciate it.

LI: Thank you so much.

CHURCH: The era of Taylor Swift performing in Europe comes to an end. We will meet devoted fans as the megastar ends this leg of her Eras tour. And we'll run the numbers on how much the tour has meant to economies across the continent. Back with that in just a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHURCH: The European leg of Taylor Swift's heiress tour has come to an end. She leaves behind devoted fans with millions of dollars in ticket sales and the highest grossing tour of all time. Swift resumes the North American leg of her tour on October 18th. CNN's Anna Stewart hit Wembley Stadium for Swift's farewell to London.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ANNA STEWART, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Lights, camera, fans smile.

UNKNOWN: It's just wonderful. The vibe is just so nice.

STEWART (voice-over): As the fog is slipping away, Taylor Swift's European tour is coming to a close, leaving behind windfall profits.

[03:40:03]

Swift has dazzled fans in Dublin, shaken it off in Warsaw, and styled it out in Stockholm, all to the tune of millions of dollars in sales and a boost to retail, travel and hospitality businesses.

UNKNOWN: She's gotta be tired. Because if I am, she's gonna be tired too.

STEWART: How much Taylor Swift have you played in the last few days?

UNKNOWN: Oh, hours, countless, it's been my whole life.

STEWART (voice-over): In the U.K., the average fan is spending $1,100 all in, according to analysis from Barclays Bank. They estimate a $1.27 billion boost for the British economy.

Gelsenkirchen, Germany hosted almost as many Swifties as the city's population, giving the hotel sector a Swift lift. Fans say it's all worth the hype. UNKNOWN: I spent a lot of money. It's not good.

UNKNOWN: It's fine, we spent it last year, so it's like it's not real. It's great, it's great.

STEWART: You've forgotten all about it.

Yeah, yeah, Gullmaff, Gullmaff. I love that, Gullmaff.

STEWART (voice-over): Eras is the highest-grossing tour of all time, according to Pulstar. Eclipsing $1 Billion in sales before the 2024 concerts in South America, Asia and Europe even began.

And it's had no shortage of viral moments in Europe. From celebrity appearances, to fans without tickets clamoring to get a view. And the guy on the Chiefs.

London had to bolster security after three Vienna shows were canceled due to a terror threat. But even then, Swifties in the Austrian city rallied with fans singing her music in the streets.

After more than 40 sold out shows across Europe, Miss Americana is heading back to North America. Swift gets a two-month break until she hits Florida, Louisiana and later Canada.

UNKNOWN: Like the adrenaline probably keeps her going. I'm sure when she finishes the tour, she'll sleep for about two years.

UNKNOWN: Yeah, she must be knackered, like they say in the U.K.

STEWART (voice-over): But for now, it's so long, London.

STEWART: Oh, thanks!

STEWART (voice-over): Anna Stewart, CNN, London.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHURCH: Leaving you on a high note, thanks for your company, I'm Rosemary Church. Have yourselves a wonderful day, "World Sport" is next, then "CNN Newsroom" continues with my friend and colleague, John Vause at the top of the hour. Stick around.

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[03:45:00]

(WORLD SPORT)