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CNN International: Second Day of Deadly Russian Strikes in Ukraine; U.S. Negotiators Meeting in Cairo on Gaza Ceasefire Deal; U.N. Pauses Gaza Aid Deliveries Monday Over Security Risks; Kennedy Suspended His Presidential Campaign on Friday, Endorsed Trump; Trump and Harris Still Haggling Over Sept. 10 ABC Debate; Special Counsel Tries to Revive Trump Classified Docs Case; Telegram Founder Pavel Durov Arrested in Paris; Congressional Task Force Visits Site of Trump Shooting; Hostage Rescued From Gaza by Israeli Military. Aired 8-9a ET

Aired August 27, 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]

SARA SIDNER, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: -- endorsed the Trump campaign. This hour, we speak with RFK Jr.'s sister, Kerry Kennedy, who says she is outraged by her brother's decision to embrace Donald Trump.

Voting companies and election officials still dealing with the fallout from the 2020 election lies, they are bracing for Election Day in November, what they are doing to try to prepare. And potentially record high temperatures and humidity expected to smother the Midwest this week, the heat so dangerous some schools are being forced to close just days into the new year.

I am Sara Sidner with John Berman and Kate Bolduan in this hour. CNN's News Central starts right now.

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, Russia unleashes a new wave of deadly strikes on Ukraine a day after Moscow launched one of its largest drone and missile attacks of the war. And the debate over debates, 14 days away from the scheduled presidential debate and the two campaigns needle each other over negotiations. Plus, a shocking number of tiny shards of plastic are now inside our heads. We have details from a new alarming study.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is vowing to respond to another deadly Russian bombardment, warning that crimes against humanity cannot go unpunished. For the second straight day, Russian missiles and drones rained down throughout Ukraine, setting off air alarms across the country. At least five people were killed Tuesday and ten others wounded in the latest strikes, including a missile attack on a hotel in the Central City of Kryvyi Rih.

It comes one day after Ukraine is calling Russia's largest aerial assault since the war began two-and-a-half years ago. CNN's Salma Abdelaziz joining me now, live in London with the latest. Salma, it appears that Russia is stepping up its bombing campaign and clearly, it's in response to Ukraine's surprise cross-border incursion.

SALMA ABDELAZIZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, look, it's absolutely within the context of the Kursk assault. However, this is not necessarily a direct response to that. This is part of a continued Russian strategy that we've seen really since the beginning of the conflict, and that is Moscow targeting Ukrainian civilian infrastructure, hitting power lines, hitting electricity plants, hitting water plants, making daily life extremely difficult for average Ukrainians, weaponizing the ability to just turn on your light or get a glass of water in the morning.

And what is so concerning for President Zelenskyy -- he spoke on this just a short time ago -- is yes, of course, he has air defense capabilities that have been enriched by the West, by his allies in NATO, and they are able to take down a majority of what is being fired at Ukraine but some is still getting through. Some of those drones and missiles are still making it through and you're looking at the image, is the aftermath, the impact of that, people killed, homes destroyed, neighborhoods in shock, families sent into bomb shelters.

And for President Zelenskyy, again, there is very little, he says, he can do about it now, unless he is allowed to lift restrictions that have been put on NATO -- by NATO rather on weapons. And that includes, first of all, this is President Zelenskyy pleading for this -- first of all, he wants to be able to use his long-range missiles. He wants to be able to use those to strike at targets inside Russian territory. Secondly, he is asking if he can use those air defense capabilities right up to Russian airspace, right near Russian airspace.

Now, for Western allies, of course, this would make them cringe, it begins to make them wonder could this possibly result in an escalation with President Putin? Now, the red lines that have been set by the United States, by NATO have been shifting throughout this conflict. So President Zelenskyy will continue to plead with this -- for this and his argument is, if I don't get these rights, if I'm not able to use the weapons in the way that I need to, my people will continue to be vulnerable to this type of Russian assault.

WALKER: Then, what is this new class of weapon Ukraine says that it has, and it will allow Ukraine to strike deep into Russia without asking permission from its allies?

ABDELAZIZ: So very little detail given on that. You have to remember, yet again, there's a lot of this that happens behind closed doors. We are expecting that two Ukrainian officials, including the country's defense minister, could be meeting with officials in D.C. this week. We may find out more then, but the first and primary requests you're going to hear from President Zelenskyy is that appeal to hit targets inside Russia, that's something that simply White House officials are not convinced on. They believe that Russia has moved any high-value targets too deep in their territory for Ukraine to reach.

But President Zelenskyy, again, insisting that this is the way forward and he's going to be pleading for this because time is of the essence. As we head into the winter months, it will be ever more important to protect, of course, power plants, water plants, all of this civilian infrastructure that keeps people warm in these winter months.

[08:05:00]

WALKER: All right. Salma Abdelaziz, thank you very much. As negotiators in Egypt meet to discuss the nuts and bolts of a Gaza ceasefire and hostage release deal, inside Gaza, the death toll is mounting. The Gazan ministry of health says another 41 people were killed across the enclave in Israeli strikes in the past 24 hours. It adds to the toll which already exceeded 40,000 since the war began in October. The U.N. says it is temporarily halting aid deliveries because of security risks, after the Israeli military ordered people to evacuate parts of Central Gaza.

It could also disrupt plans by the U.N. to vaccinate children in Gaza against polio, a disease that experts say threatens to spread fast. CNN's Nada Bashir joining us now, she's following the developments on the Gaza ceasefire and she has more now from Cairo.

NADA BASHIR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, despite notes of optimism from U.S. officials on the progress of ceasefire negotiations, we are yet to see indications of any significant breakthroughs and frankly, little movement in efforts to narrow the gaps between Israel and Hamas. Following talks here in Cairo over the weekend, working level discussions are expected to continue, focused on the finer details of a proposed agreement. However, there are still believed to be significant sticking points.

Hamas has once again stressed that any agreement must include guarantees for an eventual transition from an initial six-week pause in fighting during the first phase of the proposed deal to a permanent ceasefire in the second phase. Israeli officials have yet to provide such guarantees with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in June indicating that Israel would seek a continuation of the war following an initial pause. Now according to officials, there also continues to be disagreement on the terms surrounding the longer-term presence of Israeli forces within the Gaza Strip.

While Israel has proposed to station a reduced number of troops along the Philadelphi Corridor, a buffer zone between Egypt and southern Gaza, Hamas has reiterated that it wants to see a full withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza. However, one senior U.S. official has told CNN that negotiators believe Hamas may be more flexible on an Israeli troop presence in Gaza during that first phase of the deal with ongoing debate as to whether parts of the Philadelphi Corridor should be considered densely populated areas and therefore, areas where troops should not be present under the terms of the proposed deal.

Now, officials say mediators expect that Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar will receive a copy of the latest proposal in the coming days, though the timing of any expected response remains unclear. For now, discussions can continue to try to hammer out those finer details of the proposal and to bring Hamas and Israel to some sort of agreement, but there is no indication that that agreement is in any way imminent.

Nada Bashir, CNN, in Cairo. WALKER: All right, Nada, Thank you. In politics, alliances and friendships can change quickly, case in point, Robert Kennedy Jr. On Friday, he suspended his campaign for president and endorsed Donald Trump. When he shook Trump's hand on stage in Arizona, it came after years of animosity between the two. Kennedy has repeatedly condemned Trump, calling him a bully, while Trump once called him the dumbest member of the Kennedy clan. Those were his words.

Meanwhile, Donald Trump is casting doubt on whether he will debate Kamala Harris in two weeks. He is also re-opening an argument with the hosts of ABC News about whether the candidate's microphones are all on all the time during the debate or muted when the other candidate is speaking. The previous debate, the mics were muted. Alayna Treene joining us now from Washington with the details. OK. Alayna, so where do things stand on this debate over whether or not these microphones should be muted. And of course, the question is if Trump will even show up.

ALAYNA TREENE, CNN REPORTER: Yeah, there's a lot of will he or won't he, the debate over the debate. There's a lot to break down here and look, I think the big thing is to keep in mind that this, all of this process discussion over the rules is because both campaigns recognize that the stakes are so high for this debate, particular after you saw what happened in that June 27 debate with CNN, where really it set off a series of events that led to Joe Biden ending his campaign. And so, they are both looking for any edge they can get in the September 10 showdown.

Now, I will say just off the top here that from my conversations with Donald Trump's team, they tell me that they do think there is a need for a debate before the election, at least one, and Donald Trump himself believes that he is obligated to participate in a debate. So, I do really believe that there will be one. The question is, what will it look like and what are the parameters around it? And that is really what this discussion behind the scenes between the campaigns is really focused on.

[08:10:00]

Now, just to talk about the microphones being on or off, this is such an interesting thing to me because remember, in the lead-up to the June debate, it was the Biden campaign that had pushed for the microphones to be shut off when a candidate was not speaking. That is something that the Trump campaign had initially criticized. However, in the lead-up to that debate, in just the days before when I was talking to Donald Trump's team, they had said, you know what, we actually think this could benefit us because then Donald Trump will not come off looking as aggressive.

He tends to interrupt; that can make him look sometimes like a bully. And so they thought that maybe having the microphones shut off was a good thing. And of course, they believed Donald Trump did very well in that first debate. And so, they don't really want anything to change. However, from the Harris side of this, they're saying that they were not Joe Biden -- they are not the Joe Biden campaign. They were not the ones who agreed to those rules when they had initially set that September 10 debate. And now, they are pushing for the microphones to be on for the duration of this.

Again, all to say, it's very process, but they want to have some sort of edge. Now, I can tell you as well in my conversations with the Trump team that part of this is the same thinking that they had back in June, that they do not want Donald Trump coming off and appearing as aggressive, particularly now with Harris as his new opponent. She is a woman, there are different optics with these debate -- with this debate, and so that is some of the calculus behind this. And I'll also say that in many ways, they do believe that Donald Trump's rhetoric, the tone you know, whether or not he is consistently interrupting Kamala Harris, they think his demeanor is almost as important, if not even more important than the substance of some of what he is going to be saying.

So keep that in mind throughout this entire conversation, but I think big picture here, is that they both recognize that this is a very important moment, one of the last defining moments really before the end of this election in November. And so, they want any edge they can get as they look forward to that.

WALKER: Very high stakes, as you say, but it's also interesting to see that Trump and Harris agree on having hot mics and Trump's seems to be at odds with his own campaign, which wants the mics to be muted. Let me ask you about this, Trump and Kennedy, I guess alliance now. I mean in the past, we have seen the two of them exchange some really harsh comments. Why this about-face from RFK Jr. suddenly?

TREENE: Well, look, I think part of it is just him recognizing what is going to serve him best and what is -- what he believes in most. I mean, look, he's also been very critical of the Democratic Party. There's a reason that he suspended his campaign as being a Democrat and then ran as an independent as a third-party candidate, rather than go up against Joe Biden, and that's kind of what we're all seeing play out. But it is pretty remarkable. I mean, RFK Jr. has had some very choice words for Donald Trump in the past. He has a history of criticizing him as a bully, of saying that Donald Trump had appealed to bigotry and hatred and some of that criticism, Amara, came as recently as early July. Take a listen to what RFK Jr. said in one of these interviews.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERT F. KENNEDY JR., (I) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: You know, I think Donald Trump is a terrible president. He wasn't draining the swamp; he was turning the government over to corporate pirates.

I think the problem is, number one, he is a bully. And I don't like bullies and I don't think America -- that that's part of America's tradition.

The easiest thing for a political leader to do is to appeal to our bigotry and hatred and xenophobia and prejudice and point to people who are unlike us and say, they're the ones who are damaging our country.

(END VIDEO CLIP) TREENE: I mean, Amara, that is just something -- that criticism is just very, very harsh for Donald Trump. But, I will say, RFK Jr. isn't the only one who has been critical of this new person in their alliance. I mean, Donald Trump has been very critical of RFK Jr. as well. His campaign for months now has been trying to label him as a radical liberal, as someone who is far more progressive than he tries to make voters believe.

I mean, all of this is very interesting seeing that now not only has RFK Jr. endorsed Donald Trump, but we know that he is going to be campaigning with him. And even yesterday, RFK Jr. did an interview with Tucker Carlson where he said that Donald Trump had asked him to be a part of his transition team and that they're having conversations about what kind of role RFK Jr. might have in a future Trump Administration. So this goes beyond just a typical endorsement.

Really though the bottom line here, I think to break it all down is that this is politics and that Donald Trump's team recognizes that he could help his campaign in certain states, particularly given that this is going to be such a close election on the margins, they want any edge they can get over Harris. And I think for RFK Jr.'s part, he recognizes that this relationship now benefits him as well, particularly when you saw the writing on the wall with some of his polling numbers. Amara?

[08:15:00]

WALKER: Yeah. This is politics. You are right, which often generates unlikely bedfellows like the two of them. Alayna Treene, good to see you. Thanks so much.

Well, neither Donald Trump nor Kamala Harris have any big campaign events planned today, but they are making news with their moves in the TV ad market. Amid advertising efforts in many locations, the Trump campaign today starts an ad push in West Palm Beach, Florida, which is close to the former president's Mar-a-Lago home. Democrats say the ad buy shows Trump is scared he could lose Florida, a state that he won with more than three points in 2020.

Meanwhile, the Harris campaign has released a minute-long ad that talks about her economic plans. It mostly focuses on the steps she will take to help middle-class Americans.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KAMALA HARRIS, (D) VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES AND PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: When I am elected president, I will make it a top priority to bring down cost. We should be doing everything we can to make it more affordable to buy a home. Under my plan, more than 100 million Americans will get a tax cut.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WALKER: All right, our Priscilla Alvarez is tracking the Harris campaign. Priscilla, let's put aside the ad wars aside just for a moment and focus on the sit-down interview that Kamala Harris has said that she will give by -- or I think she said she would schedule one before the end of the month. Do we know where that stands? And if she will actually do that sit-down interview?

PRISCILLA ALVAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, that's the key. The scheduling of the sit-down interview would happen before the end of the month, and that's exactly what we heard from a campaign official just yesterday evening on CNN Situation Room. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

IAN SAMS, SPOKESMAN, HARRIS CAMPAIGN: As the vice president said, and I think you all know, she said that she's going to schedule interview by the end of the month. I think everybody can look at her calendar, but I think it's also important. I know it's lost sometimes in the discussion about an interview, the vice president has been taking questions from reporters who are covering her on the campaign trail.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ALVAREZ: Now, the reason that this has become increasingly important is because a lot of the last month as the vice president became the party's nominee has been quite scripted and choreographed. And while they have enjoyed a boost from all of that, an interview would allow for some of that -- those unscripted moments, those opportunities for her to speak off the cuff as she answers questions from whoever they choose to do that sit-down interview. So, it is for those reasons that this again has become such a priority and so important for observers, but also for the campaign as they work to schedule the interview in now only a couple of days.

Now, again, when that interview would happen is still an open question, but it is those details that we'll likely get before the close of the weak.

WALKER: OK. And Priscilla, back to the new ad launched by the Harris campaign. We saw her focusing on the economy. Some of the criticism has been that Harris has been light on policy, not very detailed, more kind of broad strokes when she talks about not specifically economy, but other issues like immigration and crime. Do we expect her to lean more into the ads to give those kinds of details that people are asking for when it comes to her policy stances?

ALVAREZ: The ads and the campaign stops, the campaign is well aware, of course, that the economy is a top issue for voters. I think over the course of the last month, there's -- or months, there's also been recognition that Democrats have often talked about it in quite vague terms. Remember, President Biden often talked about Bidenomics, pointing to how the administration was helping the economy and that it was moving in the right direction.

But what I've heard from those sources close to the vice president is that she wants to speak more to the individual experiences, acknowledging that people don't feel overly confident about the economy right now and that there are struggles that they face day in, day out. And that is what we are seeing come through those ads. There was an ad Friday, there was an ad yesterday that was announced, and now an ad today. And when you look at them all together, she covers three issues -- economic opportunity, costs being high and how she plans on lowering them, but also her own upbringing in the middle class.

So, this is something that we will hear more about. Of course, this is a part of the $150 million ad buy this month, more of that to come, they are already setting aside nearly $300 million in ad buys between Labor Day and Election Day. So, while certainly not all of those will be the economy, you can expect a lot of them will, with that continuing to be a top issue for many voters.

WALKER: Well, they clearly have a lot of cash on hand to be spending on ads. Priscilla Alvarez in Washington, good to see you. Thanks so much.

All right. Still to come, Special Counsel Jack Smith is making an aggressive attempt to bring back the classified documents case against Donald Trump. Will it work? France denies that the arrest of Telegram CEO is political but Pavel Durov's supporters think otherwise. We'll have the details of what he is accused of.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:22:00]

WALKER: French President Emmanuel Macron says the arrest of Telegram Founder Pavel Durov in Paris over the weekend was "in no way a political decision." Supporters of the Russian-born CEO say he is a political prisoner and that his arrest is an attack on free speech. French officials are quick to shoot that down. 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 has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ALEXANDER 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 AND CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER, TELEGRAM: 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 truly believe that privacy of our users and what they had 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. 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, 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're also using iPhones and Android phones and microchips, kind of misleading to say that we are responsible or any other tech company is 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.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WALKER: The U.S. Justice Department is trying to revive its classified documents case against Donald Trump. In a brief filed on Monday, Special Counsel Jack Smith argued that Judge Aileen Cannon's decision to dismiss the case has no merit.

[08:25:00]

In last month's ruling, Cannon said the DOJ does not have the ability to appoint or fund special counsels. Let's discuss this more with CNN's Senior U.S. Justice Correspondent, Evan Perez. Hello, Evan. So what are the chances that --

EVAN PEREZ, CNN SENIOR U.S. JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Hello, good morning.

WALKER: Hello, good morning. What are the chances that Cannon's ruling could be reversed?

PEREZ: Well, look, there is a good chance here that the government is pointing to decades, more than 100 years of precedent, where courts have allowed the Justice Department to have these special prosecutors to investigate things, going back to the civil war and the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln. What the special counsel is asking for the 11th Circuit in Atlanta to do is to reinstitute this case because they say what the judge has done here calls into question the very nature of what the attorney general, the powers of the attorney general and the Justice Department to do these types of investigations are.

I'll read you just a part of what they write in this filing. They say that if the attorney general lacks the power to appoint inferior officers, that conclusion would invalidate the appointment of every member of the department who exercises significant authority and occupies a continuing office. Now you know, they point to all other parts of the government where this could also call into question and they're asking for the 11th Circuit to essentially send this back to Judge Aileen Cannon, the judge in Fort Pierce that has been overseeing this case.

WALKER: All right. Evan Perez, we'll leave it there. Thank you so much. Good to see you, Evan.

Members of the Congressional Task Force investigating the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump got an up-close look at the scene of the crime on Monday. Lawmakers toured the site of last month's rally in Butler, Pennsylvania where an armed man opened fire on Trump as he spoke to supporters. The bipartisan task force is promising to get to the bottom of what went wrong on that day. Danny Freeman has the story.

DANNY FREEMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: There were really two primary goals from the members of Congress who came here to the site of the assassination attempt of former President Donald Trump in Butler, Pennsylvania. The first was to demonstrate bipartisanship. There were both Democrats and Republicans here to take a tour of this former rally site and they are part of an official Congressional Task Force that has been tasked with investigating exactly what went wrong leading up to this particular rally. And also, look forward to make sure that an incident like this can never happen again.

These lawmakers emphasize that there is no place for political violence in this democracy, that too very bipartisan in nature. But the second goal was to demonstrate that they're also taking this investigation very seriously. Today, we saw lawmakers not only tour the Butler Farm Show as a whole and also go to that specific area where former President Trump was speaking at that rally on July 13, but we also saw lawmakers actually climb on top of the AGR building where Thomas Matthew Crooks, the shooter in this incident, ultimately opened fire at former President Donald Trump. Some of the members of Congress actually remarked that it was the first time they'd been here to this site since that shooting and they were stunned at just how close Thomas Matthew Crooks was able to get to former President Trump on that day.

Now, I want you to take a listen to how one member of Congress characterized why it was so important to come here actually and look at this site on the ground in-person.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) REP. MIKE KELLY, (R-PA): It's the difference between day and night. When you're actually here on this surface, when you're actually walking in these grounds, when you're actually going to the building, when you're actually up on the roof, when you're actually looking at where did we have people positioned, where was the shooter positioned, if you can actually look at that, right now, in-person, then all the rest of the pictures right away, it's like, OK, I got it.

REP. JASON CROW, (D-CO): We have debates. We're going to have tough debates and we're in the midst of an election cycle right now. And all of us are going to have those tough debates. But in the United States of America, you do not get to attempt to assassinate our elected officials and our candidates. It's unacceptable.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FREEMAN: But make no mistake, this is really just one step of this larger investigation by this Task Force. The law makers on the taskforce have until mid-December before they have to issue a final report and crucially, recommendations on how to move forward, again, to prevent anything like this from ever happening again.

Danny Freeman, CNN, Butler, Pennsylvania.

WALKER: Danny, thank you.

Still to come, California has the largest homeless population in the entire country. Now, San Francisco is cracking down on homeless encampments. Why activists say the strategy is not the solution. And will they or wont they --look at the positives and negatives for Donald Trump and Kamala Harris as they decide whether to debate.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:32:05]

WALKER: Two weeks from today, Donald Trump and Kamala Harris are scheduled to meet for their first debate of the campaign. But it's still unclear if it will even happen. Trump continues to raise questions about whether ABC can be a fair host for the debate and his campaign says Harris is trying to change the rules, insisting that the candidates' microphones remain live during the entire debate, no muting allowed, even though Trump says that he would like the mics to remain hot as well.

Let's get more on how the race is shaping up right now, joining me is Larry Sabato, Director of the Center for Politics at the University of Virginia.

Hey there, Larry. All right, let's start with the debate over this debate. So now, Trump is saying he wants the mics to stay on, as does Kamala Harris. But he's always seen at odds with his campaign, which is saying no, let's keep the mics muted as was the situation for the debate between Trump and Biden. What do you make of this debate?

LARRY SABATO, DIRECTOR, CENTER FOR POLITICS, UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA: If it weren't that, Amara, they would be debating about whether they get to sit or stand or whether they can wear comfortable shoes. I mean, honestly, this is so predictable. You know, candidates for sheriff now argue about how many times they're going to debate and for how long and where the venue is. This is ridiculous. It is worthless to people. It doesn't help voters make a decision, but candidates love it because it's all about trying to get an advantage and to get into the head of their opponent and psychologically make them unstable, which in this case may not be hard to do.

WALKER: Recently, Trump was asked about how he was preparing for this upcoming debate, if it happens, and this was his response. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: I'm not spending a lot of time on it. I think my whole life I've been preparing for a debate. You know, you can go in and you can have all sorts of sessions. I have watched Mitt Romney go in and he worked so hard for weeks. He locked himself into a log cabinet and then he developed lockjaw. He couldn't speak. You have to be real. You can't cram knowledge into your head -- 30 years of knowledge in one week.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WALKER: I mean, I feel like he said that before other debates. What are your thoughts?

SABATO: Well, first of all, he's absolutely wrong about Mitt Romney. Mitt Romney won that debate was Barack Obama that first big debate, the first one is usually the most important one. And Romney in some polls actually overtook Barack Obama for a while in 2012. So, he's completely wrong about that, but nothing new there. As far as whether or not he's prepared, Donald Trump will say and do what Donald Trump will say and do, no matter what his staff tells him or what he prepares ahead of time. He's not going to read a lot of briefing materials. Kamala Harris is more of the briefer type.

[08:35:00]

She's going to go through lots of pre-debates and she's going to have mock debates with her staff, and she's going to read reams of information about Trump. They just have different styles; they are different human beings. Whether it matters in the end depends in part on the questions that are asked. The questioners matter a lot and the questions they ask matter a lot. But in the end, it doesn't really change a lot of votes unless you have a complete collapse, the way Joe Biden did on June 27.

WALKER: Yeah.

SABATO: That's a debate that will live forever because it really eliminated a president.

WALKER: Yeah, it absolutely did. Wow, that was one historic night. And we did hear Trump in the lead-up to the June 27 debate, waffling on whether or not he would do the debate and it eventually happened, obviously. Where are you putting your money? I mean, do you expect that this debate will happen?

SABATO: Yes. We'll have a debate. Look, all Trump is doing is what he always does, as you just said, he works the refs -- he the refs. He's working the people who are doing the debate at the network? He is working the refs, the people, the voters out there. He's working his opponent, all of this is psychological. He's going to do it in the end, but he already has a built-in excuse if he doesn't do well, or even if he does well, he'd say I would have done much better if they hadn't been so biased. And he puts this into the heads of all of his supporters, his base supporters, and they just simply repeat it. Whatever he says, they're going to repeat, poor Donald Trump, he was treated so badly and yet he still did well. I mean, I've just written the story for everybody.

(LAUGH)

WALKER: You sure have. You should have that printed out now and then pass it after the debate. Larry, regarding the sit-down interview, this very -- this much anticipated sit-down interview between Kamala Harris and a national media reporter, she did say several weeks ago that she would get an interview scheduled before the end of the month. Doesn't -- so that means that it doesn't -- the interview won't necessarily happen before Saturday. It will just be scheduled before Saturday, as she says.

I mean, this is -- this would be a high-stakes sit down for her, right, because she's been seen to be mostly scripted and not being very accessible to the media.

SABATO: Yeah. You know, it's going to be high-stakes, no question about it. Although from the candidate's perspective, the vice president's perspective in this case, that's exactly what you'd want to do. You want this to be relatively straightforward, maybe even a little boring, so that it doesn't last very long and people aren't going to determine their votes based on some phrase you use in answering the question about the border or whatever it may be. This is a higher stakes game for the inside the beltway folks because they're convinced that Harris is skating by and isn't taking detailed stance on the issues.

Can I make one suggestion? Have you checked Donald Trump's history? Does he take detailed stance on issues? I really don't think so. And they change overnight. I don't know what this is all about, other than it's a game that people who are high up in the media play with one another --

WALKER: Yeah.

SABATO: -- to get an edge on competition.

WALKER: Larry, always great to have you. We've got to go. We have got some breaking news. But thank you so much for your time. Breaking news into CNN, the Israeli military has just announced a hostage has been rescued from Gaza. Jeremy Diamond is following the story. Jeremy, what do we know? JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN JERUSALEM CORRESPONDENT: Yeah. We've just learned that a hostage who was being held by Hamas since October 7th has been rescued in an Israeli military operation. The Israeli military just releasing the details that said Qaid Farhan al-Kadi, a 52-year-old Bedouin man from Israel, was rescued in an operation, a joint operation by the Israeli military and the Israeli Intelligence Service, the Shin Bet. They say that he was rescued by Shayetet 13. That's the Israeli equivalent of the Navy Seals, as well as by Yahalom and Shin Bet forces under the command of the 162nd Division. This happened in the southern Gaza Strip and that is the extent of the details that we have for now.

He is only one of a handful of Israeli hostages who have actually been rescued in Israeli military operations in Gaza. I believe that there have been at least six others so far who have been rescued by the Israeli military. Most of the hostages, of course, who have actually gotten out of Gaza, got out during that November week-long truce. But no doubt that this is incredible news for his family, this 52-year-old man, Qaid Farhan al-Kadi, he was actually working as a security guard near the Gaza border on the morning of October 7th, and that is when he was taken captive by Hamas and whisked away into the Gaza Strip.

[08:40:00]

He has been there now for the last 10-and-a-half months as a captive of Hamas. So obviously, some very rare and very good news today for him and his family.

WALKER: 10-and-a-half months in captivity, it's just incredible. And of course, we are awaiting the details of this operation as to how they were able to pinpoint where he was. In terms of the ongoing -- the hostage release and ceasefire talks that remain ongoing, do you see this rescue operation impacting the talks in any way, Jeremy?

DIAMOND: It is really difficult to know the extent to which this will actually impact the talks. I mean, anytime something happens on the ground, whether it is a strike in Gaza, a rescue operation, anything else, it can have some kind of an impact, if not on the talks themselves, then certainly on the psychology of the populations that are being represented by the different parties at the negotiating table. And this will be a boost, of course, for Israeli morale to see that another hostage has indeed been rescued from captivity.

But I think that all of the families of the hostages are pretty clear eyed at this point that they are not counting on additional Israeli rescue operations to get all of their loved ones out of Gaza. They know and certainly, a big portion of the Israeli government knows that it is ultimately a deal with Hamas that will lead to the release of the remaining hostages. And the question is, can that happen quickly enough for more of them to come home alive rather than dead, as we have seen a number of the bodies of Israeli hostages, some of whom died only in recent months, being brought back to Israel in body bags sadly, rather than coming in home alive.

We know that those negotiations are still ongoing at a technical level in Cairo right now. The United States has said that there has been significant progress over the weekend towards a deal. But it is still very difficult to know whether or not these talks will actually lead to an agreement that would see dozens more hostages released.

WALKER: Yeah. The last rescue that we saw happened in June where we -- four captives were released and that came amid a major Israeli air and ground offensive where dozens of people were killed as a result. Are we getting any more information about this hostage rescue operation, Jeremy?

DIAMOND: As of now, no. I mean, we are looking -- one of the things that I will be looking for as well is to see how heavy was this Israeli military operation in terms of collateral damage and casualties on the ground. We have seen in the past that when these really military does carry out these rescue operations, they tend to do quite a bit of damage on the ground, bombing the area in order to try and send their special forces in safely to rescue these hostages.

But as we saw in the previous instance, of course, of those four hostages who were rescued of back in June, dozens of Palestinians on the ground were killed including a number of civilians who were part of that death toll.

WALKER: All right, Jeremy Diamond, I know this is a developing story. We have Gideon Levy with us now from Haaretz to talk more about this. Jeremy, thank you so much for getting up quickly for that report. First off, Gideon, please give me your reaction to this latest hostage rescue operation. What do you know?

GIDEON LEVY, JOURNALIST, HAARETZ: First of all, it's a very -- it's happy news. I mean, on a humanitarian basis, everyone is something and in this case, it's a Bedouin of 53 we are seeing. He got the granddaughter by the time that he was in captivity and you know, each hostage is a whole world, but it shouldn't change our minds. The hostages will not be released by such operations, here and there -- here a body, there living hostage. But the hostages will be released only in a deal which will end this war. There are no shortcuts.

WALKER: And I'll ask you the question that I asked Jeremy about, you know, how do you see -- how do you see these rescue operations? The last one in June, we saw quite a high number of casualties on the Palestinian side. How do you see these hostage rescue operations potentially impacting the ongoing talks where we know there are huge sticking points?

LEVY: First of all, the ongoing talks leading to nowhere. So it's not much put in risk. But what is in risk, obviously, are lives of innocent Palestinians in those operations. I don't know about this one. The last operation in which there were only bodies brought to Israel, dozens of Palestinians paid in their lives, and this is obviously unacceptable, especially when it is about bodies, dead bodies and living hostages.

[08:45:00]

In this case, I don't know the details yet --

WALKER: Yeah.

LEVY: -- because they are not very clear. But I hope that not too many Palestinians paid with their lives. They don't deserve it.

WALKER: If you are just joining us, we're following breaking news. We have just learned that a hostage who was abducted by Hamas on October 7th, has been rescued -- not released, rescued by the Israeli military. This happened today. His name is Qaid Farhan al-Kadi. He is 52-years-old as we understand it and he was rescued by the 401st Brigade and the ISA forces.

I do want to ask you, Gideon, we've seen hostages rescued like this previously in the last few months. How does it impact the Israeli public's morale?

LEVY: The Israeli's public morale is very low, as you know, and such a release cannot make any difference because they know that most of the hostages are just still there and most probably most of them are not alive anymore, and therefore, any day is crucial. The fact that this time, it is a living hostage and not dead bodies like last time, obviously, makes it more, more, more like good news. But again, it has no effect. We are dealing with over 100 missing hostages and their life is in such a risk. I don't know how many of them are still alive.

And in any case, we should --

WALKER: OK, it looks like we are losing Gideon Levy's signal. But as you heard from him, Gideon is correct. There are more than 100 hostages still being held by Hamas, 30-some of them believed to be dead. But obviously, this is great news, especially for the family of this 52-year-old Bedouin father of 11 who was released. He was kidnapped at his security job at a kibbutz, at a packing factory, and he was in captivity for 10-and-a-half months. He has now been rescued by the Israeli military.

We don't have details yet on this rescue operation, and if there was any collateral damage or casualties as a result. We'll continue to follow this. Our thanks to Gideon Levy for his analysis. We'll have more news after the break.

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WALKER: Breaking news into CNN, the Israeli military has just announced that a hostage has been rescued from Gaza. This, obviously, hostage was taken during that October 7th attack and moments ago, we heard from the spokesman from the Israeli government. Listen.

[08:50:00]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DAVID MERCER, ISRAELI GOVERNMENT SPOKESMAN: He's in a stable medical condition and is being transferred for medical checks right now at a Israeli hospital. His overjoyed family has been updated with the details and the IDF is accompanying them at this crucial moment. Israeli security forces will continue to operate with all means necessary -- all means necessary to bring home all of our hostages. This is truly uplifting news for everyone that cares about the lives of our people here in Israel and I think, right-thinking people around the world.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WALKER: I think (inaudible) he is in stable condition. This is the 52-year-old man who was rescued. Jim Sciutto is in Tel Aviv with the latest. Hi there, Jim. So, what do we know? I know it's early days and we're just getting the information and a lot of questions about the rescue operation itself. But what do we know about the man who is now a free man?

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: Listen, some rare good news in this conflict, given that we're close to 11 months out since the attacks on October 7th. And so many families in Israel suffering waiting for news of their loved ones. Here is what we know about this rescued hostage, 52-years-old, Qaid Farhan al-Kadi. He was a Bedouin. And according to the Hostages Families Forum, he was abducted on October 7th from a security job at Kibbutz Magen, down in the south of course, close to Gaza.

You heard the Israeli government spokesman there saying that his family has now been given the good news, that he is in stable medical condition, and they are continuing to do medical checks on him at a hospital. It is as I say, rare news to speak of a live rescue of a hostage all these months later, the last one was on June 8, when four hostages were rescued from central Gaza. This operation taking place in southern Gaza involving both regular military units and Israeli Special Forces. They have not released further details as to exactly how they managed to gain his safety.

But again, you have to go back to June 8, so a number of months to a successful rescue operation, of course, just last week six hostages, bodies were recovered from Gaza. Of course, not the good news that these hostage families want to hear. That leaves the total of 108 -- 108 that are still remaining there. And Israeli government officials have acknowledged that many of those 108, they have not specified a number, are no longer alive. The Hostage Forum has released a statement saying that this is nothing short of a miraculous. They go on to say that military operations alone cannot be expected to gain the freedom of all these hostages, of course, that speaks to the tension ongoing here between hostage families and the government, because hostage families have been quite impatient for a deal, a ceasefire and hostage release deal to gain the release of the other remaining hostages, or at least a large number of the other remaining hostages. But at least today, for one family, there is good news.

WALKER: They are overjoyed as we heard from the Israeli officials there. Jim, we were talking about this June hostage rescue operation where we saw four captives who were released, they were attending that Nova Music Festival when they were abducted and they all came back home alive. But it also happened amid a really deadly rescue operation where dozens of Palestinians were killed and wounded as a result in this air and ground offensive. What kind of questions will you as we learn more about this rescue operation and the intelligence that they operated on?

SCIUTTO: Yeah. Well, that's a question we don't know yet, if there we're civilian casualties in this. We don't know yet whether Israeli authorities believed there were other hostages potentially in the same location. All we know now is that one came out alive and that the Israeli military was involved here. But these are fair questions and they've been consistent ones, and they speak to a larger issue as to how Israeli leaders and in negotiations with their Hamas captors can get to a point where more of the hostages can see freedom all these months now. Keep in mind, we're coming up on a year anniversary of the October 7th attacks, and it would be quite a moment here for Israeli families to still be suffering through that captivity a year later. So the pressure continues in this country. But again, here you have one family experiencing the relief of getting their loved one home alive.

WALKER: Jim, just lastly, you've been in Tel Aviv for several days now. You're covering the hostage release and ceasefire talks as well. Was is -- what is your sense of, if this is getting anywhere?

SCIUTTO: Yeah. Well, I did speak to a U.S. official familiar with the negotiations yesterday, who reported progress in the talks over the weekend in Cairo, and said that they are on some of the final details, final paragraphs of an agreement, including the names of Palestinian prisoners that would be released in exchange for Israeli hostages.

[08:55:15]

The fact that they're on those final details did not mean that the deal is necessarily imminent. There are still major questions to be addressed. But this official said that they were making progress. You had another moment today where you had officials traveling to Qatar to speak with others involved in these talks. They're trying to move things forward. But again, still waiting for concrete progress and any announcement of, well, a potential deal at least. Those negotiations have been difficult throughout.

WALKER: Jim Sciutto, appreciate you being there and joining us. Thanks so much, Jim. And a recap of our breaking news. The Israeli military has just announced a hostage has been rescued from Gaza. The Hostages Families Forum says the return of Qaid Farhan al-Kadi is "Nothing short of miraculous." The 52-year-old Bedouin father of 11 was kidnapped on October 7th from his security job at a kibbutz packing factory. He spent 326 days in captivity, almost a year, 10- and-a-half months. The Israeli government says he is in stable condition. He is receiving medical checks and we, of course, will stay on top of this breaking news story here on CNN.

I'm Amara Walker. "Connect the World" with Becky Anderson is next.

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