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Special Counsel Jack Smith Files New Indictments of Republican Presidential Candidate Donald Trump for Election Interference after Supreme Court Ruling on Presidential Immunity; Donald Trump Says Six Weeks Too Strict for Abortion Ban; Democratic Presidential Candidate Kamala Harris Criticizes Donald Trump's Position on Abortion; Israeli Forces Agree to Suspend Military Operations in Gaza While Officials Attempt to Vaccinate Infant Population against Polio; Bus Crash Kills Seven in Mississippi; U.S. Intelligence Officials Warn Iran Using Cyber Operations to Influence 2024 Presidential Election; Ukrainian Official Ask U.S. for Permission to Use American Made Weapons to Strike Targets Inside Russia; Waterline in Grand Canyon Shuts Down Causing Park Hotels to Cancel Overnight Stays. Aired 2-3p ET.

Aired August 31, 2024 - 14:00   ET

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

[14:00:00]

NOVAK DJOKOVIC, 24-TIME MAJOR WINNER: -- can't win.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PATRICK SNELL, CNN SPORTS ANCHOR: Wow, he's not holding back at all.

And in the WNBA, another showdown last night between Indiana's Caitlin Clark and Chicago's Angel Reese, but this one, all Clark, dropping a career high 31 points, making more history, the first player in league history, in fact, with a 30 plus point, 12 assists game, with five three-pointers, some from way downtown to. Clark had Chicago sounding like a home game in on 100 to 81 victory. And they're now 16 and 16 on the year, which is incredible because they started out actually one and eight.

And with that, it's right back to you Alex.

ALEX MARQUARDT, CNN ANCHOR: Yes, just remarkable hitting it from so far out repeatedly. Patrick Snell, thanks very much.

Hi there. Thanks so much for joining me. I'm Alex Marquardt, in this weekend for Fredricka Whitfield.

We begin this hour with the legal showdown in former President Trump's election subversion case. A new late-night filing last night setting the stage for a potentially contentious hearing next week in D.C.'s federal court, where a judge will decide how and when the case will move forward. The standoff comes as Special Counsel Jack Smith resurrected the January 6th case against Trump with a new superseding indictment this week. Both Trump's lawyers and the special counsel are at odds about how this this case should now proceed. Trump's team is pushing for his schedule that would carry the pretrial disputes through the beginning of next year, long after the 2024 election. CNN's Holmes Lybrand is covering these legal developments and joins me now. So Holmes, where do things stand now?

HOLMES LYBRAND, CNN REPORTER: That's right. So I kind of want to rewind a little bit to July when the Supreme Court granted Trump this sweeping immunity on presidential actions. And because of that, as you mentioned, Jack Smith earlier this week, he filed a new superseding indictment. This superseding indictment focuses on Trump's actions as a candidate. It focuses on his actions as a private citizen.

So going forward, as you mentioned last night, there was a fire knowing that both of the parties got to kind of say their piece about how they want to move forward. Now, Trump gave a very detailed schedule of how he thinks this case can move forward. It would push everything past January and to after the inauguration then, and maybe even into the spring of 2025, possibly even into the fall. Now, Special Counsel Jack Smith approached it a bit differently. He didn't offer dates, but instead he offered an expedited way of going about this where they could handle different motions and different issues like the immunity issue together, kind of parallel.

These are just very different ways of approaching the case, and all of this will go back to the judge, as we mentioned next week. They will have a hearing. Both of these parties before Judge Tanya Chutkan where she'll get to parse out how they want to move forward. I know from speaking with multiple attorneys who have practiced before her that she likes to move fast. As you mentioned, as you'll remember, this case was actually scheduled for March of this year before the immunity stuff kind of gummed up the whole system. And she likes to move fast. We'll see if she can or how she views the case, hopefully next week.

MARQUARDT: And of course, this case could go away entirely if Trump were to be elected in the fall. So a lot depends on what happens in November for the election. Holmes Lybrand, thanks very much for that reporting.

Reproductive rights is taking center stage in the race for the White House. Vice President Kamala Harris slamming Donald Trump for saying that he will vote no on an amendment to Florida's abortion law. The amendment is on the ballot this November, and if enough Florida voters vote no, that would pave the way for the six-week abortion ban to stay in effect. The former president appeared to flipflop on this divisive issue in recent days. Earlier this week, he seemed to indicate that he planned to overturn the ban when he casts his ballot in Florida in November. Yesterday, he reversed course again. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, (R) U.S. PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I think six weeks, you need more time than six weeks. I've disagreed with that right from the early primaries. When I heard about it, I disagreed with it. At the same time, the Democrats are radical because the nine months is just a ridiculous situation that you can do an abortion in the ninth month. And, you know, some of the states, like Minnesota and other states have it where you can actually execute the baby after birth. And all of that stuff is unacceptable. So I'll be voting no for that reason. (END VIDEO CLIP)

MARQUARDT: Let's point out that it is, of course, illegal to execute a baby. There is nowhere in this country where you're allowed to kill a baby after it is born. No basis for that claim by the former president.

CNN's Priscilla Alvarez is covering these developments for us as well as the Harris campaign. So Priscilla, what is the Harris campaign now saying about Trump's evolving, to be generous, position on this?

PRISCILLA ALVAREZ, CNN REPORTER: Well, they're using it as another data point, that he has flip-flopped on this issue. And they, as the vice president did in her rally this week, like to remind voters that the reason that we're in this position to begin with is because the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade and the foreign president has boasted about putting the justices on the court to do exactly that.

[14:05:07]

So this is another opportunity for them to make that argument. But the vice president herself put out a statement last night as well. Let me read you part of it. It said, quote, "Donald Trump just made his position on abortion very clear. He will vote to uphold an abortion ban so extreme it applies before many women even know they are pregnant." She goes on to say that he is not done, and then finalizes, concludes this by saying "the choice in this election is clear."

Now, the campaign is certainly seizing on this issue. They know it's a top issue for voters. And next week they're going to kick off her reproductive rights tour, and they're going to start that tore in Florida on Tuesday. Of course, notable given that abortion is on the ballot there.

This is going to be a tour of mostly surrogates. It includes at least 50 stops, and the campaign says it will be elected officials and celebrities. Now, it does in some ways remind me of the vice president's tour earlier this year where she had her own reproductive rights tour. I was on that first stop and followed it thereafter. And it was during that tour where she coined the term "Trump abortion ban." And that is something that we have seen her and the campaign used consistently to describe all of the abortion restrictions that we are seeing across the country.

So certainly, this is an issue where they believe they can especially make inroads with female voters, polling showing that she has a lead over former President Donald Trump in that block. And that is going to be when you're looking at a race so close and so by the margins and decided by the margins, where they really want to capitalize.

MARQUARDT: And an issue that without question will come up in the first debate, which is less than two weeks from now. And when Harris became the Democratic candidate, she said that she agreed to the same September 10th debate, the Biden had agreed two, but she wants different rules. And those rules are still being debated. ALVAREZ: Well, this is sort of the tricky part of changing candidates

is that the Biden campaign had agreed to the two debates. And one of those debates, the CNN debate, which was conducted, as we all know, is where the rules were put in play, where the microphone will be turned off when a candidate is speaking. So ABC is following similar rules, but the now Harris campaign wants the microphones to be turned on. And they've been needling former President Donald Trump on this, because although the Trump campaign behind the scenes is saying we do not want this, the rules should stay as they were in June, the former president then himself saying on the trail this week that he doesn't really care either way.

And so the vice president this morning needling him on that, saying, quote, "If his own team doesn't have confidence in him, the American people definitely can't," sort of pushing him to also agree to having the microphones on. But certainly, this is a strategic play in some ways, because there was a moment in 2020 during the vice presidential debate where the vice president said, I'm speaking when then the vice presidential nominee, Mike Pence tried to interrupt, or was speaking. So this is an opportunity for her in the debate. And of course, every campaign is going to try to strategize this so that their candidate can look best.

And so this is a debate over the debates and a dispute that is ongoing according to the sources that --

MARQUARDT: Maybe feeling that that combativeness will help Harris or Trump interrupting will make him look bad. But it is a clear departure from what the Biden campaign had wanted, which is really, really interesting. Priscilla Alvarez, thanks so much. Appreciate it.

In her first big interview as Democratic nominee this week, Vice President Kamala Harris defended her record and tried to define what a Harris administration would look like. In that interview, that was exclusive with CNN, with Dana Bash, Harris answered questions on a range of major issues, including her plans on day one as president and her shift in stances on a couple of topics like fracking and border security. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KAMALA HARRIS, (D) VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: My values have not changed. I believe it is very important that we take seriously what we must do to guard against what is a clear crisis in terms of the climate. We can grow and we can increase a thriving clean energy economy without banning fracking.

We have laws that have to be followed and enforced, that address and deal with people who cross our border illegally, and there should be consequences.

I think the most important and most significant aspect of my policy perspective and decisions is my values have not changed. My value around what we need to do to secure our border, that value has not changed.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MARQUARDT: Joining me now to talk about this and more is Terry Szuplat. He is a former speechwriter for President Barack Obama and author of the book, "Say It Well, Find Your Voice, Speak Your Mind, and Inspire Any Audience." Terry, thanks so much for joining us today.

How do you think of Vice President Harris handle that first interview as the official Democratic nominee?

TERRY SZUPLAT, FORMER OBAMA SPEECHWRITER: I think when you back up and you look at every campaign, every presidential campaign is really a competition, a contest between two big stories. It's the story of who you are, what your values are, what you stand for, your vision for the country.

[10:10:05]

And so every moment in the campaign, every interview, every debate, every speech, is your chance to tell your story and to not get knocked off when you have a question that's hard. And I think, by that measure, the question is, was she able to stay on message? Was she able to speak to the viewers, the American people about her story? I would say yes, by that measure, she succeeded.

MARQUARDT: And part of the reason the stakes are so high is because she had famously done an interview in 2021 with NBC that that didn't go so well. And so it did appear that she handled herself quite well and on the broad range of issues with tough questions from our Dana Bash. You mentioned debates. Obviously, there's a lot of focus, a lot riding on this September 10th debate. Priscilla was just laying out some of the back-and-forth over the rules. But if you were advising the Harris campaign, or even as a Democrat hoping that she does well, what are you hoping to see from her on September 10th?

SZUPLAT: Well, I hope that she does exactly what she did at the convention, again, back to that basic idea of the story. I think her speech at the convention was pitch perfect. I think everyone left with a clear sense of her middle-class upbringing, her family, who she's going to stand up for in her career. If she can deliver that, again, each question, bringing it back to that core message, she'll do great.

And I think the whole debate and discussion about the microphones, right, is their hope that Donald Trump will keep doing what Donald Trump does. He's not doing so well right now. By all accounts, the polls, he's slipped. She's either tied or ahead and all the swing states. He can see the polls. He's starting to run scared. And so as someone who wrote speeches for Barack Obama who supports Kamala Harris, I hope Donald Trump keeps doing what he's doing.

MARQUARDT: So much of this in the debates is not just about the issues and putting forward what she believes and contrasting with the other candidate, but it's also about behavior and about interjecting and handling the onslaught from the other side. So when we talk about the microphones, that's why that's kind of so important. So how do you hope that she's sort of handles Trump, if you will? SZUPLAT: I would think the best thing is to not take his bait, right.

What he thrives on is just throwing 1,000 things at his opponents and hoping they'll get disoriented and discombobulated, and again, get knocked off the message and the story that they're trying to tell the voters. So he's done that over and over.

I think there was a really telling moment in the interview the other day where she was asked about his comments, about her suddenly becoming black, and that's clearly an attempt to turn this conversation into a big conversation about race in America. She wasn't going to have it. She wasn't going to play. She said next question, please. So she can do that in a debate. I think that will work to her advantage.

MARQUARDT: She now has 66 days, I believe, to sell herself, sell her story, her vision for the country to the American voters, will probably get some support from high level surrogates like your old boss, Barack Obama. But how do you want to see her hitting the campaign trail? We have this rally Monday with President Joe Biden. What does she need to do to get out there, particularly in the swing states, and sell that vision?

SZUPLAT: I think what you've heard in both her convention speech and the interview the other night is she's doing what effective and great leaders do. She's trying to reach out. She's trying to broaden the coalition. She had a lot of Republicans speak at the convention. She's talked about wanting to be a president for all people. She's talked about appointing a Republican to her cabinet. She's very deliberately making a play to bring people in.

In contrast, you have Donald Trump being his sort of classic angry, vindictive, vicious, name-calling candidate, and his rallies have descended into that again. So I think she can go out there and be hopeful, be optimistic, be joyful. Americans typically gravitate towards a more hopeful, optimistic candidate. I think that's what she's offering.

MARQUARDT: And clearly, she thinks that Tim Walz, governor of Minnesota, is helping drive home that that narrative and that image.

SZUPLAT: Absolutely.

MARQUARDT: Terry Szuplat, thank you very much.

SZUPLAT: Thanks so much.

MARQUARDT: Just hours ago, the first babies received their polio vaccinations ahead of a larger U.N. led campaign in Gaza. But the challenges that lie ahead are significant. We have the details next.

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[14:19:00]

MARQUARDT: Right now, eight officials in Gaza are preparing to vaccinate hundreds of thousands of children against polio. The vaccinations are expected to begin tomorrow and continue for almost two weeks. The highly infectious virus was found in sewage samples recently, followed by the first recorded case of polio in Gaza in 25 years.

New video showing some babies receiving the inoculations today ahead of a bigger rollout. Israel says that it has agreed to pause its fighting as workers enter each area of Gaza.

Elliott Gotkine is following this story for us. So Elliott, there are a lot of moving parts to making this work, including Israel committing to stop the military operations for hours at a time in different areas. How complicated is this going to be?

ELLIOTT GOTKINE, CNN JOURNALIST: Alex, it's going to be incredibly complicated, not just because this is going to be done with kind of staggered humanitarian pauses or ceasefires, if you like, in three different areas starting with the central part of the Gaza Strip on Sunday.

[14:20:01]

But on top of that, of course, you have this being a rollout of this nature to try to vaccinate what more than 640,000 under tens would be complicated in the best of times. It's certainly not the best of times in Gaza, which as of tomorrow will be, and as of Sunday, tomorrow will be entering its 11th month of fighting. I mean, not only have you got the security situation, you've got infrastructure and roads that have been destroyed. You've got people that have been displaced multiple times. Perhaps the message during those days will not get through to people that need to come to get their children vaccinated.

And on top of that, there's always the concern that Hamas might use this campaign in these particular areas to either launch attacks or perhaps to use as cover. And that Israel, if it sees that there is an asset, whether military equipment or militants themselves, is there a guarantee that they won't -- they will let those assets go in order to ensure that these vaccinations proceed accordingly?

And we even heard from the World Health Organization's main person for the Palestinian territories, Rik Peeperkorn, saying that three days in each area, the central part of the Gaza Strip, the southern part of the Gaza Strip, and then the northern part of the Gaza Strip is, in his words, insufficient the carry out this vaccination campaign, which needs to vaccinate 90 percent of those children whose vaccination campaigns would have been disrupted as a result of the war, they need to reach 90 percent in order to prevent an outbreak from happening. Alex?

MARQUARDT: Elliott, this vaccine is relatively simple in that it can be administered orally. But the complicating factor, one of them, of course, there are many, is the fact that it requires two doses, and that second dose would need to be administered in four weeks time. It's all well and good if they can pull this off now, and that is a big if, but to what extent have they started planning for that second phase? GOTKINE: Well, it's probably one step at a time as far as this

vaccination campaign is going, because let's not forget that there is still the hope, I wouldn't say optimism, but the hope that the broader ceasefire talks may actually come to fruition and create this situation where there was a ceasefire across the Gaza Strip.

But certainly, right now they will be trying to administer the first of these doses in those three areas, as I say, starting with the central part of the Gaza Strip on Sunday. And then on the assumption that it all goes smoothly, there will be hope that look, they've managed to do it once and avoid shooting at each other in those designated areas when the vaccination campaign is taking place. So there's no reason why they shouldn't be able to do it again.

But as I said, I think in the first instance, they will just be happy to get the campaign off. It's going to be three three-day pauses in the central part of the Gaza Strip, then the southern part, then the northern part over the first 12 days of September. And as you say, four weeks after that, they will be hoping to be able to repeat that, Alex.

MARQUARDT: And Elliot, when it comes to those broader ceasefire talks that you mentioned, there do appear to be growing divisions between the Israeli prime minister and his defense minister, Yoav Gallant, about the path to achieving that temporary pause in the fighting. What more do you know?

GOTKINE: It's no secret that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his Defense Minister Yoav Gallant loathe each other. You may recall that Netanyahu tried to sack Gallant when he called for a pause in the judicial overhaul plans several -- sorry, last year, and then un- sacked him when they were protests about it. So there's no secret that they loathe each other. And I don't think it's really been a secret that they had different views on how to approach the situation of the hostages in terms of the defense establishment being more in favor of signing up to a ceasefire agreement and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu been more reticent.

What really seems to be at the nub of this spat, which has been transcribed almost by CNN affiliate to Israel channel 12 and others in the Israeli media is over the so-called Philadelphi Corridor. This is the 14 kilometer or so border strip of land between the southern part of the Gaza Strip and Egypt. Prime Minister Netanyahu is insisting, and he even brought it to a vote that Israeli troops would stay in that area come what may. Gallant effectively saying to Netanyahu, you're choosing to stay in the Philadelphi Corridor over the lives of the hostages.

MARQUARDT: Yes. It's been a major sticking point, not just between Israel and Hamas, but now we're seeing internally in the Israeli government. Elliott Gotkine, thanks very much for that reporting.

Exclusive reporting this week as CNN gets an inside look at Iran's hacking operation, revealing new details about a multiyear scheme targeting both the Trump and Biden administrations. And with the presidential election coming up, U.S. intelligence agencies are on edge over this unpredictable wildcard. CNN's Zach Cohen has more details.

ZACHARY COHEN, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY REPORTER: Yes, Alex, U.S. intelligence officials have warned that Iran is using cyber operations to influence the 2024 presidential election and recently revealed Iranian hackers successfully breached Donald Trump's campaign.

[14:25:00]

But we're learning new details about how Iranian hackers have been using similar tactics to relentlessly target both political parties for years. Now, in 2022, Iranian hackers successfully infiltrated the email account of a former Trump administration official and onetime confidant of John Bolton, the former national security adviser and a prominent Iran critic. Once they gained access to the account, the hackers sent what seemed like a harmless request to a group of fellow U.S. based Iran hawks, asking them to review a supposed book the person was writing about the Obama administration's Iran nuclear deal and North Korea's nuclear problems. The email said, quote, "I am close to finishing the manuscript and have begun asking experts like yourselves to review the chapters." This was June 2022, but it was the hackers posing as the former Trump administration official.

Now, the email encouraged recipients to click a link that promised to take them to the supposed manuscript. But in reality, it contained malicious code that would have given the hackers unfettered access to the targets' computers. It's not immediately clear if anyone clicked the link. But after learning his account had been compromised, the former official notified the FBI and warned colleagues that he had been spoofed as the result of a pretty sophisticated hack.

Now, CNN has also learned that the same group of hackers similarly targeted a former diplomat who worked in the Middle East under the Biden administration this past April, using a nearly identical phishing scheme. While its unclear if that hacking attempt was successful, both of these previously unreported incidents shed new light on a multiyear Iranian hacking operation that's attracted fresh attention from U.S. intelligence officials in recent weeks, and it's sure to continue in the final months of the 2024 presidential race.

Alex?

MARQUARDT: Thanks to Zach Cohen.

After a quick break, more on the deadly bus crash that left seven dead, including a six-year-old boy after the bus ran off the road in Mississippi.

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[14:31:11]

MARQUARDT: Breaking news for Mississippi this morning. Seven people were killed and dozens injured in a bus crash near Jackson. Officials say that the bus was on its way to Mexico and the crash is under investigation. Let's get straight to CNN correspondent Rafael Romo with the latest. Rafael, what are you learning? RAFAEL ROMO, CNN SENIOR LATIN AMERICAN AFFAIRS EDITOR: Alex, the

National Transportation Safety Board just announced it will be investigating this crash in coordination with the Mississippi highway patrol. The NTSB said the accident involved a motor coach road departure and rollover after experiencing a tire failure while on Interstate 20 near Vicksburg, Mississippi.

And we have learned more about the bus company and the services it provides. According to its Facebook page to the company called Autobuses Regiomontanos, that's the name and Spanish, provides transportation services between American cities like Nashville and Memphis, Tennessee, Columbus and Dayton, Ohio, and Raleigh, North Carolina, as well as here in Atlanta, two cities in Mexico.

CNN affiliate WAPT citing Warren County Sheriff Martin Pace is reporting that it was around 12:30 a.m. local time when the bus traveling westbound on Interstate 20 went off the side of the road. The sheriff also told WAPT the bus turned over on its side, leading to passengers being trapped. Six passengers were pronounced dead at the scene of the crash that happened near Bovina over 30 miles west of Jackson. A seventh passenger died in the hospital according to highway patrol. Another 37 people were injured.

We also have learned that some of those who died were children. According to the Warren County coroner, siblings aged six and 16 are among the victims. Tow truck driver Keith Allison told CNN affiliate WAPT it took a long time for authorities to recover some of the victims because the bus ended up in a ditch and many passengers were ejected.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KEITH ALLISON, TOW TRUCK DRIVER: The traffic was hard to get to it, for one, because roads were blocked. But once we got there, it's about 1:00 this morning when we got the call, and we had to get the bus stood up to get it there where the bodies had come through the windows. So it was pretty much a lot of waiting game to recovery, for them to recover everybody and then get the bus out.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMO: Mississippi highway patrol told CNN it is investigating the cause of the crash. A highway patrol spokesperson told us that there were several Mexican identification documents that were recovered, but we don't know if they were passports or any other type of identification. An employee with the company told me that all of the passengers go through proper immigration checkpoints and must show their passports or visas to enter either Mexico or the United States. Alex?

MARQUARDT: Rafael Romo, thanks so much for that reporting.

Ukraine says that they want permission to fire U.S. missiles deep into Russia. The U.S. essentially saying that they're thinking about it. But what happened in a meeting between Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and his Ukrainian counterpart who is visiting Washington this week, that's next.

You're in the CNN Newsroom.

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[14:38:47]

MARQUARDT: In Russia's latest attack on Ukraine, at least six people were killed and nearly 100 more injured when rockets hit a residential building in the northeastern city of Kharkiv. The strikes coming as Ukraine's defense minister met with Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin yesterday at the Pentagon and presented Austin as well as White House officials with a list of targets that Ukraine would like to hit inside of Russia with long-range American missiles.

I spoke yesterday with Ukraine's defense minister Rustem Umerov about his meetings. Here's part of that conversation.

(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)

MARQUARDT: We understand that you presented them with a list of targets that Ukraine wants to hit inside of Russia with these U.S. made weapons that have been given to Ukraine. Do you think that you were successful at convincing the administration to loosen those restrictions?

RUSTEM UMEROV, UKRAINE'S DEFENSE MINISTER: We provided this situation on the battlefield. We have explained the needs, we have explained what kind of capabilities we need to protect the citizens against the Russian terror that Russians are causing us. So I hope we were heard.

MARQUARDT: And that includes, I imagine, going after targets inside of Russia, correct?

[14:40:00]

UMEROV: Yes, we explain that it's legitimate military targets, logistic hubs, airfields. So we've explained our logic behind of our request.

MARQUARDT: The question at issue as far as I understand it is permission for the Ukrainians to use the longest range missile that the U.S. has given to Ukraine, which is called an ATACMS. It goes 200 miles, or 300 kilometers. And you have been petitioning the administration to be allowed to use that inside of Russia. Are they going to now allow you to do that?

UMEROV: We hope. We are in the consultation phase, and we hope it will be allowed because, as we said, that our partners should understand that we are protecting our land. We're protecting people gains the violation of Russian Federation, who is launching the missiles to towards the cities, towards the civilian objects. And that's why we want to protect them, to hit the legitimate military targets.

MARQUARDT: So the Biden administration is still considering this? UMEROV: Yes, they are analyzing it.

MARQUARDT: And the argument that we hear from U.S. officials is that Russia has moved many of their high-value targets, their assets beyond the range of ATACMS, those missiles that I mentioned, and the U.S. is still afraid of escalation by Vladimir Putin, not to mention the fact that the U.S. also believes they don't have a large enough supply of these missiles.

In the meantime, President Zelenskyy, we've heard say that there is no rational reason to limit Ukraine's defense. So what do you make of those American arguments?

UMEROV: So let's say that for the last year they launched 10,000 missiles to our civilian objects. They hit people, they hit civilians. They launched 15,000 UAVs against us. So we want to stop this terror against our cities. They're 10 years in fight with us, two-and-a-half years of full-scale invasion. And we want to stop it. What this escalation means, so we want to protect people. They're killing our citizens. That's why we want to deter them. We want to stop them. We don't want to allow their aviation to come closer to our borders to bomb the cities. That's a legitimate target. That's why we're focusing to the protection of our citizens.

MARQUARDT: What about the argument that Russia has, indeed, moved back their assets? So even if the U.S. gave that permission you would not be able to reach them?

UMEROV: We are showing that the airfields that they are using to hit our cities are within the range of deep strikes. So that's why we are showing the targets where we are going to hit.

MARQUARDT: Today, we heard that the president has fired the air force commander. How much of that dismissal was in response to the crash of the F-16 fighter jet earlier this week.

UMEROV: I would probably say this is a rotation, but it is unfortunate. We've launched an investigation. We are analyzing what has happened. We also opened this file to our partners so they are also analyzing this and investigating along with us.

MARQUARDT: Are there any indications of what may have happened? Did Russia shoot this jet down? Are there any indications perhaps of friendly fire?

UMEROV: I don't want to make any assumptions, because there is an investigation. All the parties are involved, and we will be waiting and closely watching it, because it's headed by our inspector general office. So hope to find out soon.

MARQUARDT: But the dismissal of the air force commander, that was connected to this or not?

UMEROV: This is two separate issues. But as I said, it happens during the war. But at this stage, I would not connect them.

(END VIDEO TAPE)

MARQUARDT: Let's get more on what's happening in Ukraine with CNN's Fred Pleitgen, who has arrived in the capital of Kyiv. So Fred, why is this such an important decision for the U.S. to give permission to the Ukrainians to use these American missiles, that these Ukrainian officials, including Umerov, felt they had to come all the way to Washington, D.C. to make their case?

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, it was so interesting in your interview with Rustem Umerov there, that he kept talking about trying to hit important Russian logistical facilities. But then he also kept talking about airfields. And I think this is something that right now for the Ukrainians has really become almost existential, not just to their frontline forces, but also to many of the communities in those sort of semi front line in areas, in the Kharkiv area, for instance, in the northeast, but also in the Sumy area as well.

And if we look at some of the things that have happened over the past couple of days, it really plays into that, because, for instance, you were talking about that one strike that happened in the city of Kharkiv. Well, that was one of those aerial glide bombs that are dropped by the Russian air force. They can do that from pretty far away from the Ukrainian border, away from the frontlines. And they do a lot of damage. This is one bomb with half a ton of explosives in it. And the Ukrainians are saying one of those bombs hit Kharkiv and not only killed several people, but it also badly damaged about 20 apartments.

[14:45:02]

Today another major strike in another community in the Kharkiv area, also in the northeast of the country, where two people were killed also using what's called a FAB-500 bomb with a guidance system. And that again, with a half-a-ton of explosives obviously causing a lot of damage. So it causes damage to communities. Also, of course, really hits Ukrainian frontline troops as well. Some of those troops are the ones that the Ukrainians are trying to advance right now within the Kursk region, in Russia, of course.

What we're hearing from the Ukrainians is that their forces are still able to advance in that area, but they are noticing an uptick in the Russians using that aviation against their forces and also using that aviation on Ukrainian territory as well to obviously stop Ukrainian resupplies. So that's why the Ukrainians are saying they need to use those U.S. supplied longer distance weapons. First and foremost, of course, the ATACMS to try and hit some of those Russian airfields from which these frontline bomber aircraft are taking off.

The Ukrainians right now, they tell us, still advancing deeper into Russian territory. But at the same time, of course, having big problems in the east of the country, specifically in the Donbas region in the Pokrovsk area, where the Russians are making advances, also thanks to the support of the Russian air force. And the Ukrainians are saying they really need to be able to strike deep into Russia to try and mitigate that, Alex. MARQUARDT: Yes, such a fascinating moment with Ukrainians on the advance inside Russia, but on the retreat in eastern Ukraine. Fred Pleitgen in Kyiv, thanks, as always, for your terrific reporting.

Ahead, one of the busiest travel weeks of the year. Grand Canyon National Park has been forced to cancel its overnight hotel stays. We'll explain that.

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[14:51:20]

MARQUARDT: Visitors heading to the Grand Canyon this weekend may want to pack extra water after the park's main pipeline broke down on Wednesday. Officials say that the waterline failed after a series of breaks, forcing a sudden shutdown of overnight hotel stays. Park officials say that water restrictions will run throughout Labor Day when and hotels are near or at capacity.

I'm joined now by Danyelle Khmara. She's a senior reporter covering border issues for Arizona public media. Danyelle, thanks so much for joining me. You've also reported on the pipeline for the podcast "TAPS." And since 2010, there have been more than 85 major breaks. So when this happens, how does this impact the park?

DANYELLE KHMARA, SENIOR REPORTER FOR BORDER ISSUES, ARIZONA PUBLIC MEDIA: Yes. So this break is kind of extreme. Typically, we don't see hotels in the park closing down. Typically, people that are visiting the park don't even realize when the pipeline has a break, and its more businesses that are within the park might have to revert to using disposable plates, constrict their water a bit. But typically, visitors to the park don't realize when these breaks happen.

MARQUARDT: This, of course, is going to be a very busy weekend, Labor Day weekend. A lot of people heading that way. A lot of visitors will not now be able to stay in hotels overnight. How do the surrounding businesses and hotels manage in these types of situations?

KHMARA: Yes. So like I said, typically all but the businesses in part with a normal break, which they happen quite often, typically, what they have to do is just go to disposable plates and stuff like that. But that's also businesses and hotels that are within the park. So having a restriction like this where the hotels are closed to visitors staying overnight is quite rare. But the hotels and the businesses that are outside of the park that are still quite close driving to the park shouldn't really be affected. The only reason why those businesses would be affected would be, say, if tourists were to cancel their plans and then there would be an economic impact to the surrounding area. But otherwise, the surrounding areas, the surrounding cities and hotels, they're' on a different water system. So tourists, hopefully, can still change their plans and find a place to stay in the surrounding area.

MARQUARDT: This pipeline, Danyelle, it was built back in the 60s, so it's been around for a while. Park officials saying that it has exceeded its expected lifespan. So big picture, what is just that one pipeline exist? And what are the challenges that come along with that?

KHMARA: Yes. So this pipeline is decades beyond its planned lifespan. But try to imagine a pipeline being built inside the Grand Canyon. So we're not talking about a flat pipeline that typically exists in municipalities, domestic pipelines. This is a pipeline that it is built literally into the sides of cliffs. It has to endure extreme weather variations. It has to endure different types of typography, not to mention changes in environmental stewardship as well. When it was built in the 60s, like you said, the type of technology that we have today just didn't exist back then.

So they are working on building a new pipeline, which is a few years into a yearslong process. And they have new technology now that, fingers crossed, this pipeline will not be experiencing all the breaks that the current one does.

MARQUARDT: I assume that's part of this rehabilitation project, $208 million that the National Park Service is undertaking. So what critical changes are expected there, and how long will it be before they're finished?

[14:55:00]

KHMARA: Yes. So one of the big changes is that a lot of the pipeline that exists now and that has existed since the late 60s is exposed to the elements. And also the current pipeline is built out of aluminum. So the new pipeline, a lot of that will be encased in steel and a lot of it will the buried so that it is not exposed to the elements. They are predicting that the project will be done in 2027. But with a project as complex as this, literally imagine helicopters bringing in supplies, workmen, workpeople repelling off cliff sides for some portions to build this, there could be some delays. So 2027 is whether shooting for, and we'll just have to see how long it takes.

MARQUARDT: Hopefully the people heading out there this weekend still manage to have a wonderful time. Of course, it's just an incredible place. Danyelle Khmara, thank you very much.

KHMARA: Thanks.

MARQUARDT: When we come back, seven U.S. troops injured during a raid in Iraq that killed 14 ISIS members. We have those details.

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