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Trump and Harris Campaigns at Odds Over Debate Rules; Meet the Polaris Dawn Crew; Ukraine Looks to Strike Deeper into Russian Territory; Telegram CEO Pavel Durov Arrested in France. Aired 4-4:30a ET
Aired August 27, 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)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Trump needs to debate. Harris needs to debate. They both have something to prove.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The American people deserve the opportunity to hear from both candidates on the issue.
DONALD TRUMP, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT, 2024 PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: I'm not spending a lot of time on it. I think my whole life I've been preparing for a debate.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're the four lucky ones that get to go on this ride. In the not too distant future humans are going to finally reach another planet on our own.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We are all really confident that, you know, some iteration of it is going to be worn by somebody walking on Mars someday. And that just makes it even more of a privilege to be part of it.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He's been called the Mark Zuckerberg of Russia. Tech billionaire Pavel Durov now in custody in France. In a statement, the company said, Durov has nothing to hide.
(Oasis performing)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANNOUNCER: Live from London, this is CNN NEWSROOM with Max Foster and Christina Macfarlane.
MAX FOSTER, CNN ANCHOR: Hello. Warm welcome to our viewers in the U.S., all around the world. I'm Max Foster.
CHRISTINA MACFARLANE, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Christina Macfarlane. It's Tuesday, August 27th, 9 a.m. here in the U.K., where Oasis has just announced a reunion tour. Details on that coming up soon.
FOSTER: Yes, worldwide, apparently. It's 3 a.m. in Wisconsin where Donald Trump plans to campaign this
week with 70 days to the presidential election here in Kamala Harris. A laser focus on the battlegrounds likely to determine the winner.
MACFARLANE: Now, on Wednesday and Thursday, the U.S. vice president's campaign will visit Georgia, which polls show has been leaning towards Trump. But the Democrats believe they can flip it as they did in 2020.
FOSTER: And after Trump's swing through Michigan and Wisconsin, the former president will hit Pennsylvania later this week. The three states are crucial to the Democrats' so-called blue wall that Trump toppled in 2016 and President Joe Biden flipped back four years later.
MACFARLANE: Now, meanwhile, during a stop in Detroit on Monday, Trump cast doubt about whether he will, in fact, debate Harris as scheduled on September 10th. CNN's Kristen Holmes has the details.
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KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN U.S. NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: The debate over debates continues. Both campaigns, the Harris and the Trump campaign, appear to be at an impasse, this time over whether or not the mics will be muted while the other candidate is speaking at that September 10th ABC debate. Now, originally, Donald Trump and President Joe Biden had agreed to terms that were similar to that of the CNN debate, that first debate, in which the mics would be muted as we saw at the CNN debate while the other candidate was talking.
Now, the Harris campaign is saying that they want those mics unmuted. Now, Trump's team says that's not what we agreed to. But a lot of this here is just posturing as each side tries to figure out what's best for their candidate.
However, Donald Trump himself talked about this while he was in Virginia, commemorating the third anniversary of the Afghanistan withdrawal. And he seemed to essentially undercut his own campaign. Take a listen.
DONALD TRUMP, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT, 2024 PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: So we're thinking about it. We're thinking about it. They also want to change the rules.
You know, the deal was we keep the same rules. Now, all of a sudden, they want to make a change in the rules because she can't answer questions.
HOLMES: And you're going to hear a lot of posturing, a lot of spin. For example, I will remind you that it was just three weeks ago when Kamala Harris was brought into the top of the ticket, when Donald Trump backed out Kamala Harris' team saying, you can't do that. It doesn't matter who's at the top of the ticket. You already agreed to the debate.
Donald Trump's team saying, no, everything has changed.
Obviously, now we are almost in a complete opposite situation, in which Donald Trump's team is saying, we want to agree to those original rules that we were already agreed to with President Joe Biden.
And Kamala Harris is saying, nope, I'm at the top of the ticket now. Things have changed.
Again, all of this posturing, all of this, the campaign's trying to make sure that their own candidate looks the best when they take the stage. The big question, of course, will they take the stage at that September 10th debate?
One thing we know is leading up to that, Donald Trump's campaign says that he is going to be pounding the pavement. It's going to be, quote unquote, Trump on steroids. They say he's ramping up his travel. He's going to be in battleground states. We have heard this before. We will wait and see if it actually comes to fruition.
[04:05:00]
Kristen Holmes, CNN, Detroit, Michigan.
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MACFARLANE: Now, this whole will they or won't they debate debacle and Trump's possible hesitation is providing some humorous fodder for the Harris campaign.
FOSTER: Yes, it released an edited version of Trump's remarks that includes some special sound effects.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Why not debate her?
TRUMP: We'll wait. But because they already know everything.
TRUMP: They'll say, oh, Trump's, you know, not doing the debate. That's the same thing they'll say now. I mean, right now I say, why should I do a debate? I'm leading in the polls. And everybody knows her. Everybody knows me.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FOSTER: Two CNN's brittle commentators weighed in earlier with predictions about the debate and arguments over keeping microphones muted.
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SHERMICHAEL SINGLETON, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: The American people deserve the opportunity to hear from both candidates on the issues, whether it's Trump interjecting against Harris or Harris interjecting against Trump. It's really difficult to do that when candidates are jumping and interrupting the other person when they're trying to answer these questions. We're talking about the most consequential job of the country. The
rules that any one of these individuals will make if given this job will be consequential for years and decades to come. So keep the microphones muted. Everyone benefits. We benefited in the previous debate. I think we'll benefit in the next debate.
SCOTT JENNINGS, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Trump needs to debate. Harris needs to debate. They both have something to prove.
Trump needs to prosecute a case against Harris. He's not going to get any help, let's be honest. He's going to have to do it himself, pointing out all the discrepancies between the supposed moderate today, Kamala Harris, and the extreme liberal that she's been for her whole career.
So he's going to have to do it himself. He needs to show up. And she's got to show up too.
Honestly, it's pretty rich for her campaign to be using chicken noises against Donald Trump when you consider that all this time she's been in the race, her campaign has been too scared to put her in front of even one journalist so far.
But my belief is they'll both show up on the 10th and it's going to be a pivotal moment for the fall campaign.
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MACFARLANE: Well, the U.S. Justice Department is trying to reopen the classified documents case against Donald Trump after a judge appointed by the former president himself threw it out.
FOSTER: Yes, Judge Aileen Cannon claimed that the Justice Department didn't have the authority to appoint special counsel. So special counsel, Jack Smith, submitted a brief to an appeals court arguing that her decision lacked merit and set a dangerous precedent.
MACFARLANE: Trump was charged last year with several counts of mishandling sensitive government documents taken from the White House at the end of his administration. He's also facing several obstruction charges.
FOSTER: SpaceX has pushed the launch of its Polaris Dawn mission to Wednesday after finding a helium leak in ground equipment. SpaceX posted an update on X later on Monday evening saying teams were taking a look at the piece called the quick disconnect umbilical. We're going to find out exactly what that is for you.
Both the Crew Dragon capsule and Falcon 9 rocket are in good condition according to the post.
MACFARLANE: Yes, Max and I are rapidly reading up on the details of this to bring you this live. Hopefully tomorrow, the five day Polaris Dawn mission will attempt the first ever commercial spacewalk. The crew of four civilians are headed to the highest altitude of any crewed space mission since the Apollo program ended more than 50 years ago.
Here with some substantial more details is Sherrell Hubbard.
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SHERRELL HUBBARD, JOURNALIST (voice-over): What do a billionaire, two engineers, a former Air Force pilot, and a couple of NASA astronauts have in common? They're all a part of two of the most exciting and risky missions in the universe.
BILL NELSON, NASA ADMINISTRATOR: Space is hard. And you better not mess it up.
HUBBARD (voice-over): A SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule is set for its next mission called Polaris Dawn, a five day SpaceX private trip manned by four civilians. Jared Isaacman, the billionaire, his friend and the mission's pilot, retired Air Force pilot, Scott Poteet, and two SpaceX engineers, Anna Menon and Sarah Gillis.
ANNA MENON, SPACEX ENGINEER: Polaris is all about accelerating the technology development.
HUBBARD (voice-over): The crew is set to do roughly 40 science experiments, attempt a high risk spacewalk, and test some brand new SpaceX developed space suits.
JARED ISAACMAN, FOUNDER AND CEO, SHIFT4: We are all really confident that, you know, some iteration of it is going to be worn by somebody walking on Mars someday. And that just makes it even more of a privilege to be part of it.
HUBBARD (voice-over): The four plan to travel as far as 870 miles from Earth, 620 miles farther into space than the International Space Station. That's where astronauts, Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore are stuck after problems including the thrusters on their Boeing Starliner spacecraft stopped working. NASA announced Saturday that a SpaceX Crew 9 Dragon spacecraft will come to their rescue.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: NASA always has contingency options.
HUBBARD (voice-over): The NASA astronauts now slated to return next February.
I'm Sherrell Hubbard reporting.
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FOSTER: Ukraine is assessing the damage from another night of deadly Russian attacks across the country. Authorities report at least five people have been killed in strikes on Central and Southeastern Ukraine.
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Rescue workers are still searching the rubble for the hotel where two people are still unaccounted for. MACFARLANE: It follows a major missile and drone strike on Monday targeting Ukraine's energy infrastructure that claimed at least seven lives. Rolling blackouts are now in effect for many regions across the country. The Russian Defense Ministry claims it hit all designated targets, including storage sites for weapons sent to Ukraine by Western countries.
FOSTER: Ukraine has been bracing for an attack for weeks after its forces launched an incursion into the Russian Kursk region. And now Kyiv is, once again, asking its allies for permission to strike deeper inside Russia.
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VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): Every leader, every partner of ours knows what strong decisions are needed to end this war and to end it justly. There should be no restrictions on the range of weapons for Ukraine while terrorists have no such restrictions. Defenders of life should face no restrictions on them.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FOSTER: And Salma joins us now. What did you make of that sort of interpretation of the situation from the President there?
SALMA ABDELAZIZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: So you've had the most massive aerial assault on Ukraine since the conflict began, according to President Zelenskyy. And we're seeing this occur now for a second day in a row. And this is something that is part of Russia's strategy to take out energy infrastructure, to take out power plants, to take out water plants, to make it difficult to just exist and live in Ukraine.
And President Zelensky has very little he can do to fight back against this strategy. He can put up his air defense capabilities. And I do have the numbers here.
There was 127 missiles and 109 drones fired at Ukraine. Ukraine was able to shoot down 102 of those missiles and 99 drones. So they're taking out a huge number of them. Still, enough are getting through to create so much damage, to cause people to be killed, to send families into bomb shelters.
So President Zelenskyy is saying to the West, to his allies, to NATO, I need permission for two things to fight back. The first is I need to be able to use my long-range missiles to strike at the source inside Russian territory to these drones and missiles.
And secondly, I would like to use these air defense capabilities that you have given me right up, if not on, Russian airspace. That is concerning, of course, to the West, who do not want to escalate this conflict with President Putin, but who are also desperate for gains.
MACFARLANE: And this was an appeal from Zelensky to President Biden. I mean, how are the White House likely to respond to this? And how do they see that tactically, you know, playing out in this war, whether that's a good strategy or not? ABDELAZIZ: You can look at this war basically as a long haggle. President Zelenskyy going to the West, going to NATO, going to President Biden and saying, I want X. And he gets a no. And then he gets a maybe. And then he gets a let's talk about it. And through that, he's been able to get from no tanks to tanks, long-range missiles, planes.
So you can continue to expect that he will keep pushing that line and that that line will likely keep moving inch by inch.
FOSTER: OK, Salma, thank you so much.
French President Emmanuel Macron says the arrest of Telegram founder Pavel Durov in Paris on Sunday was, quote, in no way a political decision. Supporters of the Russian-born CEO says he's a political prisoner that is arrested in an attack on free speech.
MACFARLANE: French officials are quick to shoot that down, though. The Paris public prosecutor says Durov is facing 12 separate charges as part of a broad investigation into criminal activity on the popular messaging app. Alex Marquardt explains.
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ALEX MARQUARDT, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT (voice- over): He's been called the Mark Zuckerberg of Russia. Tech billionaire Pavel Durov, the creator of the globally popular messaging app Telegram.
PAVEL DUROV, FOUNDER, TELEGRAM CEO: 12 billion messages delivered daily.
MARQUARDT (voice-over): Now in custody in France after French police arrested him at a Paris airport. French authorities say that Durov's arrest is part of an investigation of charges that Telegram was allegedly complicit in aiding money laundering, drug trafficking and distributing child pornography. French prosecutors also say that Durov refused to comply with demands to help intercept potentially illicit communications.
In a statement, the company said Durov has nothing to hide. It is absurd to claim that a platform or its owner are responsible for abuse of that platform.
DUROV: I too believe that privacy of our users and for their trust to us and our responsibility for them is the most important thing in our business.
MARQUARDT (voice-over): Durov was flying to Paris from Azerbaijan, where Russian President Vladimir Putin also visited last week.
The Kremlin has denied that Putin and Durov met.
Durov had also created the Russian app VKontakte, known as Russia's Facebook. He fled the country in 2014 after refusing to turn over user data from the app to the Russian government. Russia tried to ban Telegram in 2018 but lifted the ban in 2020.
With 900 million users worldwide, Telegram is used by everyday people, governments and companies to send official messages.
[04:15:03]
But the app's encryption also makes it popular among criminals and terrorists.
In France, it was found on the phones of the terrorists who attacked the Bataclan concert hall in Paris.
DUROV: They were also using iPhone's and Android phones and microchips. It's kind of misleading to say that we were responsible or any other tech companies responsible for that.
MARQUARDT (voice-over): Durov's arrest has revived questions about the responsibilities of social media companies to moderate their content and assist law enforcement versus protecting their users' privacy and freedom of speech.
French President Emmanuel Macron said in a statement on social media: France is deeply committed to freedom of expression and communication, and that the arrest is in no way a political decision.
Alex Marquardt, CNN, Washington.
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FOSTER: A group tour in Iceland goes horribly wrong. A deadly ice cave collapse and fears about the impact of climate change when we return.
MACFARLANE: And workers in Australia not have the right to ignore their bosses after work hours. We'll explain how the country's new law is guaranteeing the right to disconnect.
FOSTER: From definitely, maybe to a sure thing, British rock band Oasis are reuniting. Details of their bombshell announcement coming up.
[04:20:00]
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MACFARLANE: Welcome back. An American tourist is dead following the collapse of a cave inside a glacier in Iceland. He was part of a group exploring the cave.
FOSTER: You know, the incident raises new fears for the safety of popular tourist activity as the Earth's temperatures rise. Our John Vause has the story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JOHN VAUSE, CNN ANCHOR AND CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): One of Iceland's most popular tourist attractions now the site of tragedy. An ice cave in the Breioamerkurjokull glacier collapsed on Sunday, killing one American, injuring another.
The couple was touring the glacier in southern Iceland when disaster happened. The collapse prompted a major search for two additional tourists believed trapped under the ice.
SVEINN KRISTJAN RUNARSSON, CHIEF SUPERINTENDENT, SOUTH ICELAND POLICE (through translator): It's difficult to get equipment to the area. The rescue missions are therefore mainly done by hand, digging and breaking the ice. So, yes, these are very challenging circumstances.
VAUSE (voice-over): But no one was found and police have since confirmed there have been only 23 people on the tour, not 25. The collapse, though, is now raising questions about the potential role of human-caused climate change. Iceland is warming roughly three times faster than the rest of the planet because of the burning of fossil fuels and carbon emissions.
And the renowned Breioamerkurjokull glacier has been melting since 1930, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. Tourism brings in billions of dollars to Iceland's economy, and tourism officials there are now said to be drafting a new report on glacier tours in the wake of the collapse, as questions linger about their safety, especially with global temperatures on the rise.
John Vause, CNN, Atlanta.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
FOSTER: At least 30 people have died from flash flooding in Sudan's Red Sea state. The United Nations Humanitarian Office says torrential rain caused a major dam to break, releasing almost all of its water and sweeping away entire villages. Hundreds of people are believed to be missing.
MACFARLANE: More than 500 days of bloody civil war has already taken a massive toll on the country, diverting government attention and resources from the vital infrastructure. Aid groups have warned for months that the country is on the brink of collapse and starvation. The U.N. says the collapsed dam will only add to the misery of Sudanese people.
FOSTER: Flooding from monsoon rain has killed at least 23 people in Bangladesh. Meteorologists say the water levels are receding, but very slowly. They also say it's not enough to bring relief if the monsoons continue.
MACFARLANE: Officials say millions of people are isolated in remote areas, with floodwaters blocking roads and preventing aid from coming in. The water has also submerged huge areas of land and poses a threat to crops, according to the Bangladeshi Agriculture Ministry.
Now the captain of the luxury superyacht that sank off the coast of Sicily is facing a manslaughter investigation.
FOSTER: Italian prosecutors announced the investigation on Monday. CNN's Barbie Nadeau has more now from Rome. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BARBIE LATZA NADEAU, CNN REPORTER: The captain of the luxury yacht that went down in a storm on August 19th off the coast of Sicily, killing seven people, has been named in a manslaughter and negligent shipwreck investigation into the tragedy. James Cutfield, a 51-year- old sailor from New Zealand with at least eight years of experience on luxury yachts in the Mediterranean Sea, has been advised to secure a defense lawyer, according to the prosecutor's office. Though he is not in custody and being named is not in an investigation, does not imply guilt.
No other crew members have been named yet, but they are all being asked not to leave the country. Seven people, including British tech titan Mike Lynch and his 18-year-old daughter, died when the ship sank. Fifteen people, including nine crew members, survived.
The investigation will now look at whether the yacht was secured for the storm, which had been predicted in weather advisories to mariners the night before, and whether the crew adequately warned the passengers of their imminent danger.
The cost to raise the ship, which will then be examined by investigators, falls on the ship's owner, which is a company belonging to Lynch's wife. Autopsies on all seven victims will be carried out in Palermo this week.
Barbie Latza Nadeau, CNN, Rome.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
FOSTER: Campaigns argue over the debate rules. There are new questions about whether the showdown between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump will even happen.
MACFARLANE: Plus, more Israeli strikes reported across Gaza, as negotiators try to hammer out a deal for a ceasefire. The details on that just ahead.
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MACFARLANE: Hello and welcome back to CNN NEWSROOM. Here are some of the top stories we're following today.
A helium leak has delayed the launch of Polaris Dawn by 24 hours. Its target launch is now Wednesday morning from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The five-day Polaris Dawn mission will attempt the first ever spacewalk by private astronauts.
Typhoon Shanshan is approaching southwest Japan and is expected to impact much of the country this week. The typhoon will bring dangerous surf conditions and storm surges to Kyushu Island, where it's likely to make landfall on Thursday. And finally, British rock band Oasis have just announced a 2025
reunion tour. The band is expected to play 14 dates across the U.K. and Ireland starting on July 4th. Tickets go on sale this Saturday.
FOSTER: And it's just 10 weeks to go to the election. The Trump and Harris campaigns are starting their sprint towards it. Kamala Harris and her running mate Tim Walz begin a bus tour across the battleground state of Georgia Wednesday.
Donald Trump continuing to hammer the Democrat so-called blue wall with trips to Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania this week.
Trump hinted on Monday that he may not debate Harris as scheduled on September 10th. His campaign is complaining about her team's push to have microphones not be silenced during the debate, saying it's a violation of agreed-upon rules.
CNN's Eva McKend has that story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
EVA MCKEND, CNN NATIONAL POLITICS CORRESPONDENT: The debate is the next race-defining moment on the political calendar. And that's why we see both campaigns trying to jockey for the best conditions possible for their respective candidates. We see the Harris campaign needling Trump, trying to get under his skin.
