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Trump Promises Free IVF Treatments, Softens Abortion Stance; Trump Seeks To Move NY Hush Money Case To Federal Court; Speaker Mike Johnson Helped Coordinate Trump's Cemetery Visit. Aired 11-11:30a ET

Aired August 30, 2024 - 11:00   ET

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

[11:00:00]

ANDY SCHOLES, CNN SPORTS ANCHOR: -- pumped up for tomorrow. Second rank, Buckeyes, hosting Akron. And for all you viewers out there that didn't know, before Phil was award winning newsman, he was a star on the Ohio State baseball team, look at that right there, Phil.

PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN ANCHOR: Well, I mean star, I might have to fact check on Star. Yes, I look good then large neck.

SCHOLES: Yes.

MATTINGLY: Clearly --

SCHOLES: You're lifting the weights a lot back then, it looked like.

MATTINGLY: Yes. We'll -- we'll go with weights and not other things you consumed in college. Andy Scholes, I love you, man, thanks so much.

SCHOLES: All right.

MATTINGLY: And good Friday morning. You are live in the CNN Newsroom. I'm Phil Mattingly in Washington. Jim Acosta is off. Turn the page, a new way forward not normally what you would hear from a presidential candidate who's trying to stay in the White House. But this election, it is not like any other. Here's what Vice President Kamala Harris told CNN's Dana Bash in her first sit down interview as the Democratic nominee.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KAMALA HARRIS, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I'm so proud to be running with Tim Walz from President United States, and to bring America what I believe the American people deserve, which is a new way forward and turn the page on the last decade of what I believe has been contrary to where the spirit of our country really lies.

DANA BASH, CNN ANCHOR: With the last decade, of course, the last three and a half years has been part of your administration.

HARRIS: I'm talking about an era that started about a decade ago where there is some suggestion, warped I believe it to be, that the measure of the strength of a leader is based on who you beat down instead of where I believe most Americans are, which is to believe that the true measure of the strength of a leader is based on who you lift up.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MATTINGLY: We'll have much more from that exclusive CNN interview ahead for the Republican nominee. It's back to the industrial Midwest, rallying his base. The former president, Donald Trump, heading to Pennsylvania County, he won by nearly 40 points in 2020 but it's the city where he's speaking that really highlights what's at stake here, Johnstown, Pennsylvania, a win for Joe Biden back in 2020, a squeaker, just about 80 votes in 2016 voted for Trump by around the same margins in a tight race, margins matter fighting for every single vote.

That's where we find CNN national correspondent Jason Carroll. Jason, the last time Trump was in Johnstown, he proclaimed that steal was back, and it's not really under Trump or any recent president. What do people want to hear there today?

JASON CARROLL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, what the former president is going to be saying when he takes the stage late this afternoon here, Phil, is why he says he is the better candidate when it comes to the economy, why he is the better candidate to save jobs throughout the state of Pennsylvania, where, as you know, it's a toss up. Every single vote counts.

What he's also going to point out now that the Vice President -- Vice President Harris, has given her interview where she stands on particular issues and where she has evolved or changed her position on certain issues. Key issue -- one of those key issues here in the state of Pennsylvania, being fracking. She was asked about that last night.

And just to give some perspective in terms of why fracking, Phil, is so important here in the state of Pennsylvania, it is second only to the state of Texas when it comes to natural gas production. So many people here in the state rely on natural gas production for their jobs, for their livelihood. Kamala Harris, at one point back in 2019 said that she supported a ban on fracking.

Now she has since evolved in that position. She has changed herself in that position, saying she no longer supports a ban on fracking. She talked about that last night when she was asked about that question. Trump said this about her response. He said her answer, rambled incoherently. He went on to say that she would be for open borders and that there would be no fracking under a Harris administration.

Now also the Trump campaign wanting to spell out, once again, where he stands on certain issues. And yesterday, we got a -- a very new sort of development in terms of where Trump stands, that's on IVF. The Trump campaign now saying that under his new administration, the president -- former president, saying that not only would IVF be covered, if not by the government, it would be covered by insurance companies.

Vice President Vance was -- J.D. Vance, the candidate, was asked about that earlier today and trying to get some specifics in terms of exactly how something like that would be paid for. Listen to how he tried to explain it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. J.D. VANCE (R-OH), VICE PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: All details get worked out in the legislative process, and we're not in the legislative process because we haven't won yet. But I think that President Trump, again just believes that we wanted women to have access to these fertility treatments. He wants to make it more accessible, more affordable for more families, because we believe in the Republican Party. And Donald Trump believes American families are the foundation of our country. They're the best thing about living in this great country.

[11:05:18]

You have a lot of young women today who say they'd like to have more children, but for some reason, health or financial, they're not able to. We want to try to solve that problem, because we want young women and young families to have the family life that they want and that they choose.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CARROLL: Still try to get specifics there in terms of how exactly it's going to be paid for, did not hear that at that point, but perhaps that's something that's something that's going to be coming out later as this campaign continues. But what's happening, as you know here, Phil, is what the campaign, what the former president, is trying to do is to reach out to some of those voters who have been sitting on the sidelines and have turned away from the GOP, because there is this feeling that among some that the GOP is not friendly to those who are trying to support reproductive rights. Again, this is a state where every vote counts. Trump takes the stage here for his rally just at about 4:30, Phil?

MATTINGLY: All right, Jason Carroll for us on the ground, thanks so much.

Joining us now is CNN political commentator, Republican strategist, Shermichael Singleton, and former Republican congressman from Illinois, Joe Walsh. I -- I want to begin Shermichael with the issue of IV -- IVF and the idea of a federal mandate, which, again, I -- I've asked several Republicans about this in the last 12 hours, as someone who covered the Obamacare legislative process and the multiple repeal efforts, the idea of Republicans getting behind a mandate of any kind on health care, let alone on an issue that sometimes splits pro-life groups. I don't understand what -- what this means.

SHERMICHAEL SINGLETON, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, look, Phil, I mean, if -- if you're going to be pro-life, which I am, that means you're pro-life from the cradle to the grave. Certainly I can understand why a liberal may beg the question about, well, this is a government mandate. Conservatives don't traditionally support that. I -- I agree, but Conservatives are supposed to support the idea of -- of families and family growth and nurturing families. And it doesn't make any sense for struggling Americans, middle class Americans and not be able to afford to start a family.

And so I would argue that Liberals and Conservatives could probably agree on some form of private sector government partnership that would make this process much more affordable for people who want to utilize it, or have to utilize it.

MATTINGLY: Yes, I -- I don't necessarily think that's wrong in terms of the -- the potential for compromise here. I think what's -- what's perplexing to me is just that mandates in general are in anathema or antithetical ideologically for Republicans, at least on these types of issues. But it'll -- it'll be interesting to see how it plays out. Joe, you're -- you're reacting to that. You were in Congress. You were part of some of those repeal efforts. The idea of a mandate, is it now acceptable policy on healthcare for Republicans?

JOE WALSH, FORMER U.S. REPRESENTATIVE (R-IL): Well, the -- Phil, the party has changed. So the Republican Party is much more open to mandates now than they were when I was in Congress. This is a Republican Party, Phil, the new MAGA Trump party that openly boasts about using government to go after their political enemies and to enact policies that they want to enact. That would have been anathema to me, eight, nine, 10, years ago.

But Phil your question, what does it mean? It means Trump wants to get -- Trump wants to win. Look, Trump's not pro-life. Trump's not pro- choice. Trump's pro-Trump. He knows this is a bad issue for him. Abortion is a bad issue for Republicans. The base would -- would outlaw IVF. So Trump is trying to run from this issue. This is purely a political statement from him.

MATTINGLY: You know, to that point, Shermichael, we -- we watched the -- the Vice President last night trying -- trying to explain some of her reversals on very specific issues on fracking, on immigration. She was asked about them on -- by Dana. To the point Joe's making, I understand why Republicans would attack that as flip flopping, would attack that, and want to point that out to people. I think the consistency issue, it's not as if the Republican candidate is always consistent on his policy issues as well.

SINGLETON: Well, look again, I'm going to go back to -- to my original point. I think Americans are skeptical when conservatives say we're pro-life, and yet we don't adopt policies that would fit in the category of being pro-life. And if you are all about starting families, protecting families, defending the idea of families, then you would support policies that would enable Americans to go through IVF or any other treatment that they would so choose.

To be a conservative means, first and foremost, you want to conserve very critical and foundational aspects of culture, of society. Well, that is rooted in the idea of family. It begins with the idea of family. So I get Joe's point about this -- this notion of mandates, but that doesn't supersede the very foundation of what conservatism seeks to preserve, and that is the individual's ability to start and -- and protect and preserve family units. [11:10:16]

And so yes, maybe it's a shift from where conservatives were eight years ago. But I think it is a positive shift that is consistent with the notion of being pro-life. You can't say you're pro-life in one regard, Phil, but then disregard of being pro-life and helping American people start families.

MATTINGLY: Congressman, I want to ask you that there's a new Quinnipiac poll that shows the Vice President 21 point advantage among women. Donald Trump has an 18 point advantage among men. I think this has been consistent. Shermichael, you and I have spoken a lot, kind of off air sometimes, about where the former president is with what -- with men. Congressman, does this surprise you? What -- what does it kind of portend for the months ahead?

WALSH: I -- I'll tell you what, Phil, it portends a lot of ugliness, because I think Team Trump is going to try to double down on -- on garnering as much of the male vote as they can and -- and writing off a lot of the female vote. Look, this race is a dead heat, plain and simple, it's a dead heat. And -- and you're right to your prior question. They're going to go after Kamala Harris for flip flopping when Donald Trump hasn't been consistent on an issue his whole entire life. And Trump's vice presidential pick flip flop within a matter of years on Donald Trump.

But -- but this race is a dead heat. It was good to see Kamala Harris on your network last night. I think we need to see more of that. I don't think Kamala Harris can run the prevent defense and be careful and cautious and think she can just ride the vibe and Trump's bad and that will get her a win. I think she's got to get in front of the media and take a hell of a lot more questions.

MATTINGLY: Yes, prevent defense when the game is tied, 22-22 with 20 seconds left. Not a great defensive strategy. On -- continuing to try to embrace the opening football, college football weekend. Shermichael the idea that the, you know, Harris trying to make this about a different type of politics, including saying she would appoint a Republican to her cabinet if she wins the White House, that -- that's a headline. Here's what she said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HARRIS: I think it's really important. I -- I have spent my career inviting diversity of opinion. I think it's important to have people at the table when some of the most important decisions are being made that have different views, different experiences. And I think it would be to the benefit of the American public to have a member of my Cabinet who was a Republican.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MATTINGLY: Shermichael, what do you think about that?

SINGLETON: I mean, look, the Vice President is a lawyer by train, a prosecutor, she understands words well as she said she would, and not that she will. But nevertheless, I think the premise of -- of her point is one that -- that should hold some credence with the American people. Look, we're a diverse country, ideologically speaking. We've been divided long enough, Phil. I think it's a good idea to have people of disparate ideas to be able to offer counterpoints on policy issues.

She and I would like to see the same thing if -- if Trump were to win in November. They have some Democrats be a part of -- of those conversations. I mean it -- when you're governing, you're not just governing for the people of your party, for the people who voted for you, you're governing for the entire country. And sometimes that means you're going to have disagreement.

And so being able to have someone to sort of offer that contrasting perspective from the other half of the country, I think, yields to the best possible policy solutions and avoids policy paradoxes.

MATTINGLY: Shermichael Singleton, Joe Walsh, thanks, guys. Appreciate it.

SINGLETON: Thanks, Phil.

[11:13:48]

MATTINGLY: And still ahead this hour, the flat between the Trump campaign and the army over this week's Arlington National Cemetery visit. Well, it's gotten even uglier. And we're learning how speaker Mike Johnson may have actually played a role in the former president's appearance there. You're live in CNN Newsroom.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MATTINGLY: Just weeks before he's scheduled to be sentenced in that New York hush money case, Donald Trump is asking a federal court to step in. CNN Zach Cohen is with me now. Zach, the request comes three months after Trump was convicted. Why make the filing now? What is the actual argument here?

ZACHARY COHEN, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY REPORTER: Yes, Phil Trump is clearly still doing everything he can to overturn that conviction in the New York hush money case, but this is always also all about delaying that sentencing and delaying it past the 2024 election. Now, Trump is making it very clear in this filing. His -- his lawyers are that this is focused on the election and trying to use the Supreme Court's ruling on presidential immunity, both to get these charges in this conviction thrown out, but also push that sentencing date back indefinitely.

I want to read one part of this that really hones in on the election point. It says the impending election cannot be redone. The currently unaddressed harm to the presidency resulting from this improper prosecution will adversely impact the operations of the federal government for generations. Sentencing is currently scheduled to occur on September 18th, 2024 which could result in President Trump's immediate and unconstitutional incarceration and prevent him from continuing his groundbreaking campaign. So stop me if you've heard Trump say something similar to that before publicly, but his lawyers incorporating that into this legal filing, and it's not lost on anybody either, that the judge in the state level court, Judge Merchan, who obviously oversaw the trial. He's already considering a move by Trump's legal team to overturn this conviction and to postpone the sentencing date beyond the election. Trump clearly doubling down on that attempt to, you know, cover all of his bases.

[11:20:12]

MATTINGLY: So that's one piece of this moment, I guess, if you will. The others, Jack Smith's office and Trump's lawyers have to file a status report, joint status report today in Trump's federal election subversion case. This is -- prosecutors are trying to get more methodical with the actual case. What's the actual strategy here?

COHEN: Yes, Phil, so for almost a year now, we've been hearing about Jack Smith trying to move as quickly as he possibly can to try to get this case to trial before the election. But ever since the Supreme Court handed down that presidential immunity ruling, things have slowed down dramatically. Our sources are telling us that instead, law enforcement or, I'm sorry, lawyers for Jackson's team have been going through that indictment for eight weeks, trying to carve out the pieces that they can't charge Trump with, and trying to make sure that case can remain as much intact as possible, essentially acknowledging tacitly that there will be no trial before the 2024 election.

But they want to preserve the case and the charges as much as they possibly can in case a trial does happen at some point in the future. Now, ultimately, the scheduling and this timeline is going to be up to Judge Chutkan, who is overseeing that in the district court level. She's going to decide how this plays out going forward. But today, we're going to get that joint proposal from Trump's team and the special counsel's office. We're told that they were haggling over that and had disagreements over that as late as last night, so we'll see if they came to an agreement of any kind. But will and what that looks like, obviously.

MATTINGLY: We'll be watching. Zach Cohen, thanks so much bud.

Well, the Trump campaign still pushing back on the controversy over the former president's visit to Arlington National Cemetery. On Monday, family members of some of the 13 service members killed during the 2021 withdrawal from Afghanistan, invited Trump to the cemetery, took part in the wreath laying. You look at it here, the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. Now, the problems started when he accompanied the families to Section 60, where campaign photography is strictly banned under federal law. The Army says a cemetery employee tried to enforce that law and was, quote, abruptly pushed aside.

The army is defending that female worker and calls the incident unfortunate, saying she decided not to press charges. But a Trump campaign adviser publicly mocking the incident, his social media post taunts Army leadership and calls them quote, hacks. There's also another detail surfacing. The speaker the House intervened to clear the way for the replaying ceremony with Trump and the Gold Star families. CNN's Sunlen Serfaty is here with the latest. Sunlen, how did the speaker become involved in this?

SUNLEN SERFATY, CNN WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: Yes, very clear, there's a lot of conversations going on around this incident. And we now know that House Foreign Affairs Chairman Mike McCaul, he was the one that contacted Speaker Johnson. And we know that McCaul got involved here because of parents of a Marine who had been killed At Abbey Gate called McCaul.

So you have this long line of telephone conversations. Now, according to McCaul's office that during that conversation with Johnson, he communicated that the family members were having, quote, a hard time coordinating some sort of ceremony with President Trump, there at Arlington, and then McCaul, in a statement from his office, goes on to say, quote, Speaker Johnson and his team acted quickly and were able to get the situation resolved. But something like this should never have happened. Gold Star families have already suffered enough.

Now, notably, we do not know the extent of what Johnson went on to do, what calls he personally made about this. And these details Phil are emerging, notably in the days after the Army issued, excuse me, the Army issued that very rare, very stark rebuke to the Trump campaign and -- and the -- the incident that happened, and the Defense Department echoed that yesterday at the briefing.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SABRINA SINGH, PENTAGON PRESS SECRETARY: These are people who are dedicated to honoring our fallen heroes, and they maintain that hallowed ground. They work with the families in honoring those who have had their loved one lost. I'm just not going to go beyond what the Army has said other than that, you know, there was a -- a report that was filed. But subsequently that person decided not to press charges, and so we're just going to, we stand by the army statement that this matter is closed.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SERFATY: Now, just remarkable and unfortunate that five days now after this incident, we're still talking about it, but we are also, of course, learning new details of these behind the scenes conversations that are taking place among some very high level people here in Washington.

MATTINGLY: Yes, no question. Great reporting. Thanks so much, Sunlen Serfaty.

Well, CNN has reported that Trump's advisers wanted to focus more on policy rather than personal insults. But as you can expect, that's not necessarily happening. Recently, Trump shared a post that made sexist and crude insinuations about Harris and Hillary Clinton, just one of the latest examples of the insults the former president likes to hurl in his political opponents.

CNN's John Berman asked his running mate, Senator J.D. Vance, about some of Trump's social media posts. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Vice President Harris, in the interview last night, says she'd like to see a culture shift not based on you beating people down, a politics where you beat people down, but a politics where you lift people up. How do you feel about that? How do you feel about the idea of lifting people up in politics?

[11:25:11]

VANCE: Look, I think it's a great idea, John. The -- the problem is that Kamala Harris hasn't governed like that during her three and a half years as Vice President. If she wants to tackle the affordability crisis, if she wants to lift people up and inspire this country, why hasn't she done it for the last three and a half years? I think most Americans think that we're on the wrong track. I think what Donald Trump has -- really believes is the way to lift people up is to open the country to all voices, to not try to censor people that you disagree with, to have a conversation with somebody rather than try to shut them up.

We have to remember back in 2019, Kamala Harris wanted to kick Donald Trump off of all social media. We believe in debating and having a conversation with our fellow Americans agree or disagree, that's how you lift this country up, not by shutting people down, making life unaffordable for their families.

BERMAN: You were talking about Donald Trump's social media, would you describe his post over the last 40 hour -- hours as lifting people up, voting, reposting QAnon statements, reposting these misogynistic memes about Vice President Harris and Hillary Clinton, that's the kind of open discussion that you think is lifting people up?

VANCE: Oh, John, I think if you look at Donald Trump's full campaign appearances and, yes, his social media appearances, what you see is two things, a guy with an agenda to lower prices and bring back American prosperity, and a political candidate who isn't stodgy, who likes to have some fun and likes to tell some jokes. I'd much rather have a candidate who's willing to go off script, who's willing to give every interview and is willing to tell some jokes. I do think that's how you lift people up. A politics of boring scolds telling people they can't laugh. That is not lifting Americans up. That's how to tear us down.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MATTINGLY: We'll be right back.

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