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Democrats Make Their Case to Americans; Harris' Vice Presidential Nominee Tim Walz Introduces Himself at DNC; Six Bodies Now Recovered from Bayesian Wreckage; Gaza Ceasefire Talks Expected to Resume in Cairo. Aired 4-4:30a ET

Aired August 22, 2024 - 04:00   ET

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

[04:00:00]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

(John Legend performance)

GOV. TIM WALTZ (D-MN), U.S. VICE PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: It's the in it It's the fourth quarter We're down a field goal, but we're on offense and we've got the ball. Kamala Harris is top. Kamala Harris is experienced and Kamala Harris is ready. Our job is to get in the trenches and do the blocking and tackling.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Bro We broke up with you for a reason.

OPRAH WINFREY, TV HOST AND PRODUCER: We're all Americans and together. Let's all choose Kamala Harris.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ANNOUNCER: Live from London, this is CNN NEWSROOM with Max Foster and Christina Macfarlane.

CHRISTINA MACFARLANE, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, and a warm welcome to our viewers joining us from all around the world. I'm Christina Macfarlane. It's Thursday, August 22nd. It's 9 a.m. here in London. 3 a.m. in Chicago where tonight's Kamala Harris will close out the not the Democratic National Convention making her case to be the next president of the United States. Wednesday was the night for vice president nominee Tim Walz to introduce himself to the American people.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. TIM WALTZ (D-MN), U.S. VICE PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: It's the honor of my life to accept your nomination for vice president of the United States

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MACFARLANE: Well Walz highlighted his career as a high school teacher and coach and an army National Guardsman. He leaned into his progressive accomplishments as Minnesota governor including free breakfast and lunch for all public school students. Walz's 17 year old son Gus was moved to tears. Pointing to the stage and saying that's my dad. The vice president hopeful said the November election was all about freedom.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WALTZ: I'm letting you in on how we started a family. Because this is a big part about what this election is about, freedom.

When we Democrats talk about freedom, we mean the freedom to make a better life for yourself and the people that you love.

(APPLAUSE)

WALTZ: Freedom to make your own health care decisions. And yes, your kids freedom to go to school without worrying about being shot dead in the hall.

(APPLAUSE)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MACFARLANE: Well for the second night in a row the Democratic Convention featured speeches from Republicans supporting Kamala Harris. Here's former Georgia lieutenant governor Geoff Duncan.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEOFF DUNCAN, FORMER GEORGIA LIEUTENANT GOVERNOR: Our party is not civil or conservative. It's chaotic and crazy. And the only thing left to do is dump Trump. These days our party acts more like a cult. A cult worshiping a felonious thug.

Let me be clear to my Republican friends at home watching. If you vote for Kamala Harris in 2024, you're not a Democrat. You're a patriot

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MACFARLANE: Well former U.S. President Bill Clinton told the crowd Kamala Harris stands for we the people while Donald Trump believes in me myself and I.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BILL CLINTON, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The next time you hear him don't count the lies. Count the eyes. His vendettas, his vengeance, his complaints, his conspiracies ...

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MACFARLANE: And House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries fired up the crowd with his enthusiastic endorsement of Kamala Harris.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. HAKEEM JEFFRIES (D-NY), U.S. HOUSE DEMOCRATIC LEADER: Donald Trump is like an old boyfriend. Who you broke up with but he just won't go away. We broke up with you for a reason. Donald Trump can spin the block all he wants, but there's no reason for us to ever get back together.

(APPLAUSE)

JEFFRIES: Been there, done that, we're not going back.

(APPLAUSE)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MACFARLANE: And Oprah Winfrey brought down the house with her surprise appearance praising Kamala Harris as the embodiment of truth honor and joy

[04:05:00]

OPRAH WINFREY, TV HOST AND PRODUCER: Let us choose loyalty to the Constitution over loyalty to any individual. Because that's the best of America. And let us choose optimism over cynicism because that's the best of America. And let us choose inclusion over retribution. Let us choose common sense over nonsense.

(APPLAUSE)

WINFREY: We won't go back. We won't be set back, push back, bullied back, kick back. We're not going back.

(APPLAUSE)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MACFARLANE: More now on day three of the Democratic National Convention from CNN's Julia Benbrook in Chicago.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JULIA BENBROOK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: According to a senior advisor, when Minnesota Governor Tim Walz was preparing for his speech tonight, the most important thing was that the speech feel true to him and authentically tell the story of who he is.

BENBROOK (voice-over): On day three of the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, key players took the stage.

CLINTON: We need Kamala Harris, the president of joy.

JEFFRIES: We must continue to stand up, not as Democrats or Republicans, but as Americans.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Are you ready to elect Kamala Harris and Tim Walz?

BENBROOK: And it was game day for Tim Walz, Vice President Kamala Harris's running mate.

WALTZ: We're driving down the field.

(APPLAUSE)

WALTZ: And boy, do we have the right team.

BENBROOK (voice-over): Walz introduced himself to Americans and detailed his time as governor, during which Democrats in Minnesota increased protections for transgender rights, legalized marijuana, installed new gun safety laws and codified abortion rights. He's a military veteran, former congressman, high school teacher and football coach.

WALTZ: It was those players and my students who inspired me to run for Congress. They saw in me what I had hoped to instill in them, a commitment to the common good.

BENBROOK (voice-over): Walz is already going on offense, taking on former President Donald Trump and his running mate, Ohio Senator J.D. Vance.

WALTZ: And it's an agenda that does nothing for our neighbors in need. Is it weird? Absolutely.

(APPLAUSE)

WALTZ: Absolutely. But it's also wrong. And it's dangerous.

BENBROOK (voice-over): Harris watched tonight's program from her hotel room, but she did call Walz to wish him good luck and encourage him to enjoy the moment. She will give her address on Thursday.

Reporting in Chicago, I'm Julia Benbrook.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MACFARLANE: Meantime, outside the DNC convention in Chicago a coalition of pro-Palestinian protesters continued their march against the war in Gaza on Wednesday night. The police superintendent praised organizers for making sure Wednesday's protests were peaceful.

Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LARRY SNELLING, CHICAGO POLICE SUPERINTENDENT: Everybody wants to be safe. Everybody wants to feel safe. And we want everybody to be and feel safe.

So when we have these conversations on safety and what's going to keep everybody safe and we're working together, this is how it turns out. It turns out no arrests, no violence, peaceful protests. People got their voices heard.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MACFARLANE: Dozens were arrested, including three journalists and two officers and two protesters were slightly injured in clashes on Tuesday. Police say they are ready for more protests tonight.

Well meantime, Republican President nominee Donald Trump and his running mate J.D. Vance are trying to draw attention away from the Democrats party in Chicago. They're making their way through several swing states this week. But in North Carolina Wednesday, Trump made it clear he's watching the DNC, too. CNN's Phil Mattingly has that.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN CHIEF U.S. DOMESTIC CORRESPONDENT: Former President Donald Trump's advisers have been very clear. Over the course of this week, they wanted to counter-program the Democratic National Convention and they wanted to do it in policy-focused and in some cases smaller venues to try and keep the former president focused on policy issues. The former president clearly aware of that and not necessarily a big fan, at least based on what he was saying here in Asheboro, North Carolina on Wednesday, the third stop of a swing state blitz for the former president and his running mate and making clear he's paying some attention to what's going on in Chicago. Watch.

DONALD TRUMP, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT, 2024 PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: Did you see Barack Hussein Obama last night? Take little shots. He was taking shots at your president.

And so was Michelle. You know, they always say, sure, please stick to policy, don't get personal. And yet they're getting personal all night long, these people.

Do I still have to stick to policy?

[04:10:00]

MATTINGLY: Now the event here was supposed to be focused on national security. Certainly there were discussions and remarks about national security interspersed throughout the other things the former president talked about, but he made abundantly clear that he is frustrated by the internal conversations his advisers are trying to stress to him not to make it personal. Not to attack Kamala Harris by name, trying to basically keep him in control, as one advisor was telling me earlier this week.

He will be able to test that out again on Thursday and Friday, going to Arizona and Nevada, obviously two other critical swing states. What the campaign is also working towards, though, right now, a potential endorsement from Robert F. Kennedy Jr. It's currently under discussion. It's potentially happening on Friday in Arizona. Both candidates will be there then.

That would be a very consequential moment for the campaign and for the former president, perhaps more so than anything he does in any of these swing states over the course of the coming days.

Phil Mattingly, CNN, Asheboro, North Carolina.

(END VIDEOTAPE) MACFARLANE: Well, Richard Johnson is a lecturer in U.S. politics at Queen Mary University of London. He joins me live from Oxford, England. Thank you so much for your time.

Let's talk about Wednesday night because it felt like a lot of the focus really was on Tim Walz. And this was his -- this was his moment to shine. This was who we really found out, you know, who he was. And it was in many respects his pep talk to America.

I think what we learned is that he is this kind of every man, you know, a former high school teacher, a former football coach. But what did you make of his performance and what did it say about his capacity for serious politics?

RICHARD JOHNSON, LECTURER IN U.S. POLITICS, QUEEN MARY UNIVERSITY OF LONDON: Well, Tim Walz was not a well-known figure before Kamala Harris chose him as her VP nominee. And that's in contrast to even say when Kamala Harris was chosen by Joe Biden, because Harris had ran for the Democratic nomination in 2019, which really elevated her national profile. And, of course, Joe Biden himself, when Barack Obama chose him, was a very well-known figure himself, having run for president two times by that point before, and a senator for many years.

Walz, of course, was a congressman and a governor, but was not someone who really broke through in the national consciousness. So this was his opportunity to explain who he was, to explain his values. And as you said, really to emphasize that he's coming from the Great Plains, the upper Midwest, that he has this kind of blue collar appeal, that he was a high school social studies teacher, a coach.

And, you know, the reason why or one of the reasons why Kamala Harris chose Tim Walz was because this was meant to be the appeal from Donald Trump's vice presidential pick, J.D. Vance.

But Vance, a senator from Ohio, has a more complicated story. Yes, he grew up in poverty, but then he went to Yale Law School, worked in finance with some very, very wealthy people. And his kind of trajectory in life doesn't -- isn't as familiar. And Vance has also said certain things that sort of don't chime very well with those kind of family values that Walz is really seizing. And I thought the images of his wife and his two children last night were very touching, where they were really visibly moved by seeing their father on the stage.

So I think she's done a wonderful job in choosing him to put that contrast against J.D. Vance and to go squarely for those Midwestern voters who prove so pivotal in the election.

MACFARLANE: Yes, and Walz is more complex than you think. I mean, we saw him talk last night about his family's struggle with infertility. It's something he's already kind of been open about. But we also heard him discuss gun control. And I think what, you know, many people perhaps didn't realize is that Walz is a gun owner and was one time a fully endorsed member of the NRA.

How unusual and valuable is that aspect of Walz when it comes to campaigning for the Democrats? JOHNSON: These days, it's become fairly unusual for a Democratic politician. You have to think of the congressional district that Walz represented. He was elected in 2006 in a big Democratic wave year, winning southern Minnesota, a large, geographically large rural district.

This is a district where there is an agricultural tradition and also a gun owning tradition. There aren't that many Democrats who represent districts like that in Congress today, far fewer than there used to be a generation or two ago. And indeed, Walz's district has gone back to the Republicans.

[04:15:00]

So Walz is sort of is fairly unusual in today's Democratic Party. And I think with a Democratic Party that is anchored in urban communities and in sort of suburban communities and is also strongest in kind of the coastal areas of the United States, to have someone who has that rural tradition, who's comfortable with gun ownership, comfortable with hunting as a recreation, but also someone who, as governor, has taken action on gun violence is really a sweet spot for the Democrats to place themselves in.

As people who all Americans want to be protected from gun violence. And many Americans feel very strongly about the right to bear arms in the Constitution. And I think Tim Walz is someone who's credible speaking to that group of voters.

MACFARLANE: Well, Tim Walz and the Democrats definitely have laid the groundwork well for Kamala Harris, who, of course, will take to the stage later tonight to deliver her acceptance speech. And we will wait with bated breath to see how that goes. But Richard, for now, we appreciate your thoughts. Thank you.

JOHNSON: Thank you.

MACFARLANE: Now, crews have resumed their search for the last missing person from the luxury yacht that sank off the coast of Sicily. Emergency workers recover the remains of four missing people on Wednesday and another body was brought back up a short time ago. The latest victim's names have not been released. A body recovered earlier this week is thought to be that of the onboard chef. Fifteen people were rescued.

CNN's Barbie Latza Nadeau is following this live from Porticello, Sicily. And, Barbie, I understand it has been very difficult for the teams there to even reach the boat. So what's the latest on the recovery operation underway?

BARBIE LATZA NADEAU, CNN REPORTER: Yes, you know, we just witnessed them bringing the fifth body bag up here to the staging area behind us. And, you know, they've gone back out to search this sunken vessel. We've been told it's very, very difficult.

Of course, you've got to remember this is a 56-meter luxury yacht. It's got little rooms. It's got sleeping suites. And it's a debris field. You know, we were told after the first time they went down on Monday, this is the fourth day they've been searching, that they were met with just a sort of swarm of electrical cables and things that were just loose in the ship. So, of course, that's going to be difficult.

Yesterday, they were able to find two people at a time and another two people at a time. They had identified where this fifth body was, and this morning they weren't even out there an hour before they brought it back in. Now they're out there again searching for the sixth and final missing person.

All the while this is going on, of course, there is a criminal investigation into the circumstances around why this luxury yacht went down in this sudden storm. There were other boats out there at the same time that seemed to be just fine. So they're looking at that.

We know that they interviewed the captain for about two hours yesterday. They've talked to almost all of the survivors. Of course, the one-year-old baby girl, who was a survivor as well, wouldn't count in that. But her mother, who, you know, miraculously was able to save her from the waves. All of those survivors are staying at a hotel that's looking out at the area here where they're searching for the sixth and final victim. After that, they'll have to bring this luxury yacht to shore, and the investigation will continue on.

MACFARLANE: Yes, one can only imagine what the situation is like for those survivors, as you say, waiting and watching for this recovery to happen. Barbie Nadeau, live for us there in Sicily, thank you.

All right, singer Taylor Swift is opening up about the thwarted terror plots in Austria, which forced the cancellation of multiple concerts earlier this month. Police arrested three teens in connection with the planned attack on the venue where Swift was set to perform, finding one of them to be an ISIS sympathizer who had been radicalized online.

Swift released a statement online, saying in part, quote: The reason for the cancellations filled me with a new sense of fear and a tremendous amount of guilt because so many people had planned on coming to those shows. But I was also so grateful to the authorities because, thanks to them, we were grieving concerts and not lives. My priority was finishing our European tour safely, and it is with great relief that I can say we did that.

Now, leaders of U.S. and Israel discussed the Gaza ceasefire talks as negotiations reach a critical juncture. We're live from Tel Aviv next.

Plus, India's prime minister is preparing for a visit to Ukraine after this personal moment with Russia's leader. We'll discuss how his friendly visit to Moscow could go over with Kyiv.

And later, music that makes a difference. I'll speak with the lead singer of the top Ukrainian rock band about their efforts to support their country at war.

[04:20:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MACFARLANE: Welcome back. A U.S. carrier strike group arrived in the Middle East on Wednesday as the region braces for a potential Iranian attack on Israel. The Defense Secretary ordered the USS Abraham Lincoln and it's assigned destroyer ships to move there earlier this month.

Iran has vowed to retaliate for the assassination of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran. Israel has neither confirmed nor denied responsibility, but Israel's U.N. mission says the response must be carefully calibrated to avoid derailing the Gaza ceasefire talks.

Mediators are still trying to push for a Gaza ceasefire and hostage release deal with more talks expected in Cairo this weekend. The White House says President Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke in a phone conversation Wednesday on the ongoing diplomatic efforts to de-escalate tensions in the region. Vice President Kamala Harris also joined the call. A key sticking point in the negotiations is the Philadelphi corridor along the Egypt-Gaza border, which Israel forces seized in May.

And an overnight Israeli strike on a house in northern Gaza killed 12 people, including six children, among them 16-month-old twins. That's according to the director of a local hospital. The Israeli military says they're looking into the incident.

Meantime, Gaza officials say two people were killed and 15 wounded, ten of them children, in an Israeli airstrike on a school in central Gaza on Wednesday. The IDF claims Hamas was using the school as a command center, but did not provide any evidence.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

(CHEERING)

(APPLAUSE)

(CHANTING)

JON POLIN, FATHER OF ISRAELI-AMERICAN HOSTAGE IN GAZA: I've got this.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MACFARLANE: That's the parents of an American-Israeli hostage, overcome with emotion during the Democratic National Convention. They spoke about their son, 23-year-old Hersch Goldberg-Polin, who was wounded and kidnapped by Hamas from an Israeli music festival. His parents wore pieces of tape with the number 320 written on them, which marks the number of days their son has been held hostage.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JON POLIN, FATHER OF ISRAELI-AMERICAN HOSTAGE IN GAZA: This is a political convention. But needing our only son and all of the cherished hostages home is not a political issue. There is a surplus of agony on all sides of the tragic conflict in the

Middle East. In a competition of pain, there are no winners. In an inflamed Middle East, we know the one thing that can most immediately release pressure and bring calm to the entire region. A deal that brings this diverse group of 109 hostages home and ends the suffering of the innocent civilians in Gaza.

RACHEL GOLDBERG-POLIN, MOTHER OF ISRAELI-AMERICAN HOSTAGE IN GAZA: Hersch, if you can hear us, we love you. Stay strong. Survive.

[04:25:00]

J. POLIN: Bring them home.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MACFARLANE: Well, let's go live now to Tel Aviv and CNN's Nic Robertson. And, Nic, as we were watching and hearing there, that was a really emotional and powerful moment at the convention that the parents of Hersch calling this a political convention but not a political moment, what is happening where you are in the Middle East. At a time when these ceasefire negotiations appear to be in a deadlock and in a week where we have seen the bodies of six hostages returned home, how significant was that?

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Yes, it really seems to be almost sort of worse than deadlocked because sort of deadlocked implies that there's sort of -- there's still an engagement at the moment. Everyone's waiting, at least the U.S. side, the Israeli side, is waiting for Hamas to make a commitment to the U.S. bridging proposals. But it doesn't seem that that's coming.

Everything that they've said so far indicates that they object to it. We haven't heard officially from them yet that they've outrightly objected to it, but that appears to be the expectation at the moment.

And part of the thrust that we heard of the conversation between President Biden and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that took place last night really appears to indicate the president is really pressuring the Israeli prime minister with the importance of getting these negotiations done.

And in that conversation we're told they talked about, you know, an expected peace talks over this weekend. Again, the indications in this region are that those expected peace talks over this weekend may not happen. And in a sign of how much Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is sort of digging in on his position on the Philadelphi corridor, that border between Gaza and Egypt, that Egypt -- that rather Israel took control of in May. The prime minister is insisting, despite rumors -- or despite reports in some Israeli media, and specifically because of those reports, saying that those reports are not true, Israel does not plan to pull out of that corridor at all. So again, this is a very contentious issue.

It seems to be at a variance with what U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken thought the prime minister had agreed to. And as you were just mentioning, in Gaza yesterday, strikes on a U.N. school where people thought they had safe haven, they were killed there, 15 people killed. And overnight in the north of Gaza, there was another strike, 12 people killed in Beit Lahiya, that's right in the very north of Gaza.

Six of those 12 were children, two of them 16-month-old twins, and the hospital they were taken to there. The doctors said they're really running out of equipment, that they need to treat casualties there.

So the situation in Gaza, as desperate as ever. And on Israel's northern border, the concerns mount because Israel has been having some strikes deeper into Lebanon, hitting Hezbollah ammunition dumps, which are obviously high-value targets for Hezbollah.

And some distance from the border, Hezbollah yesterday striking Katzrin, which is quite some way deep into northern Israel in the Golan, destroying houses there. So it seems on that northern border, the tempo is picking up again. It may not mean that it's going to explode into a massive escalation, but of course, with the ceasefire talks not going anywhere, it just adds to the growing tension.

MACFARLANE: Yes, 100 percent. And I mean, these ongoing strikes, as you point out, underlying the fact that these ceasefire negotiations are just not working. I mean, they are set to resume today in Cairo.

Nic, what is your sense of what other levers the U.S. in particular can pull at this point to get both sides back to the table to acquiesce to any sort of deal, given how entrenched their positions have become, as you say?

ROBERTSON: Yes, at the end of last week, the aspiration, or even early this week, the aspiration was for talks to fire up again in Cairo today. We're aware that there are some low-level, technical-level discussions about how the bridging proposal the United States has put forward that Israel says it accepts. Hamas hasn't publicly said their position, but they at the moment largely appear to reject it. They haven't officially done that yet.

So these technical-level talks are supposed to be in the detail about what you do when the bridging proposal is agreed. So it's not even agreed, and it's not even clear what sort of momentum there is in these technical-level discussions.

[04:30:00]

And the idea that was an aspiration last week that there could be a big sort of another peace summit this weekend, that idea really, that aspiration really seems to be evaporating at the moment. It doesn't have substance, and I don't think anyone at the moment believes it is absolutely for sure going to happen. Now things can change. But at the moment the momentum doesn't seem to be to get there.

So whatever talks are happening today, they're low-level and they're talking about something that hasn't been even been agreed to yet.

MACFARLANE: All right, Nic Robertson live for us there in Tel Aviv, thanks Nic. OK, ahead defining moments from night three of the Democratic National Convention and what's in store for the finale?

Plus the U.S. is deploying more military power in the Middle East ahead of Iran's expected retaliation against Israel. We'll go live to Tehran for Iran's take on that move.