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CNN International: Biden, Harris Meet With U.S. Hostage Deal Team; Growing Pressure In Israel To Secure Release Of Remaining Hostages; Biden: Netanyahu Not Doing Enough To End Bloodshed. Aired 11a-12p ET
Aired September 02, 2024 - 11:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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RAHEL SOLOMON, HOST, "CNN NEWSROOM": Good morning or good evening, depending on where you're watching. I'm Rahel Solomon live in New York.
Ahead on CNN Newsroom, and at this hour, thousands of Israelis have taken to the streets demanding their government make a ceasefire- hostage deal, after six hostages were found murdered in Gaza. Our team of reporters will bring you all of the angles. Plus, dozens of people are injured after Russia launches new attacks on key Ukrainian cities. We'll take you live to Kyiv for an update on the war. And U.S. President Joe Biden hitting the campaign trail, taking on his new role as Kamala Harris' surrogate. We'll look at what he is bringing to his Vice President's campaign.
We begin with grief, anger and frustration in Israel. In Jerusalem, thousands are gathered to pay their respects to Israeli-American Hersh Goldberg-Polin, one of six hostages killed by Hamas, whose bodies were found over the weekend. Since October 7, the 23-year-old's parents have worked tirelessly to try to bring him and the other hostages home. His mother delivering a heart-wrenching goodbye to her son.
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RACHEL GOLDBERG-POLIN, MOTHER OF HERSH GOLDBERG-POLIN: For 23 years, I was privileged to have the most stunning honor to be Hersh's mama. I'll take it and say thank you. I just wish it had been for longer. Hersh, for all these months, I have been in such torment and worried about you for every single millisecond of every single day. It was such a specific type of misery that I have never experienced before. I tried hard to suppress the missing you part because that, I was convinced, would break me.
So, I spent 330 days terrified, scared, worrying and frightened. It closed my throat and made my soul throb with third-degree burns. Part of what is so deeply crushing and confusing for all of us is that a strange thing happened along this macabre (ph) path upon which our family found itself traveling for the last 332 days. Amidst the inexplicable agony, terror, anguish, desperation and fear, we became absolutely certain that you were coming home to us alive. But, it was not to be.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SOLOMON: Meantime, that anger playing out in the form of protests and a general strike across Israel, which ended a short time ago.
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Thousands of Israelis are calling on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to negotiate the release of all remaining Hamas-held hostages. That's after the Israeli military, over the weekend, discovered the bodies of those six hostages killed in Gaza. You're seeing on your screen here. Their deaths are also putting Gaza ceasefire talks in jeopardy. Prime Minister Netanyahu vowing to keep trying to reach a deal with Hamas.
The Biden administration, meantime, is working today in an effort to come to an agreement. U.S. President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris meeting with the U.S. hostage deal negotiating team. The White House Security Advisor says that the next few days will be quote, "critical in the push to reach a deal." Both Biden and Harris have condemned the killings of the six Israeli hostages, with the President vowing that Hamas leaders will pay for their crimes.
CNN's Jeremy Diamond is live for us in Tel Aviv, while we also have Arlette Saenz, who is covering the developments in Washington.
But, Jeremy, let me start with you, and talk to us a little bit about the situation on the ground there with the strike. What's the latest?
JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN JERUSALEM CORRESPONDENT: Well, the last 36 hours -- over the last 36 hours, we have seen an outpouring of grief, of anger, of frustration following the murder of those six hostages in Hamas captivity and the return of their bodies to Israel. Last night, on this very road where I'm standing now, we saw hundreds of thousands of Israelis coming out into the streets, demanding that the Israeli government prioritize a ceasefire and hostage release deal, accusing the Israeli Prime Minister of not doing enough to secure that kind of a deal. Today, we saw Israel's largest labor union, union Histadrut, calling for a general strike. We saw several sectors that were impacted for several hours this morning into the early afternoon, until an Israeli court put an end to that strike.
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But, in about an hour's time, we are expecting more thousands of people to return to this very area, right in front of Israel's military headquarters, where the Israeli cabinet, the security cabinet, frequently meets to discuss this hostage deal, and they will continue to raise their voices.
Earlier today, this part of the street was blocked, actually, and I spoke with one woman who was blocking traffic about who she blames and why she believes the Israeli Prime Minister isn't doing enough.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) MIMI ZEMAH, PROTESTOR: Whether you're religious or not, whether you're
a Muslim, a Christian, a Jew, it's about being human. There are people there. There is no reason on earth they're still there, and that's why we're here. They shouldn't be here anymore. There is one person who wants to sit on this chair and he is willing to sacrifice everything, this country, these people, our freedom, our values, he is willing to sacrifice everything so that he can remain on his chair.
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DIAMOND: And the person she is talking about there, of course, is the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and that is where much of the anger has indeed been directed. But, there is a little bit of hope at least, that perhaps, perhaps the deaths of these six hostages, their bodies brought back, bringing back a kind of national trauma here in Israel, that perhaps this could be the moment where there will finally be a change, although for now, it appears the Israeli Prime Minister and his government are simply doubling down on their previous strategy.
SOLOMON: And Jeremy that was my question. I mean, as you know, obviously, you've been reporting out there since October 7. There had already been this growing pressure on Netanyahu to reach a deal. So, how might this weekend's gruesome discovery, how might that change things?
DIAMOND: Well, there is this hope still that perhaps the groundswell of calls for the hostages to be released, for this government to prioritize a hostage release deal, that if these demonstrations continue, it will build. And we did have an Israeli official telling us that the Israeli Prime Minister is worried about these ongoing demonstrations in the streets. But, in a cabinet meeting today, it appears that the Israeli Prime Minister is simply doubling down on his previous strategy, insisting that Israel must continue to maintain control of the Philadelphi Corridor, that there will not be a deal if Hamas continues to insist that Israeli troops withdraw from that critical stretch of land between Gaza and Egypt.
And now, as President Biden appears to be saying that Prime Minister Netanyahu is not doing enough to secure a deal, I just spoke with a senior Israeli source who said this, that it is, quote, "remarkable that President Biden is trying to pressure Prime Minister Netanyahu rather than Hamas' leader Yahya Sinwar." So clearly, the Israelis feel that pressure should be brought to bear on Hamas and not on the Israeli Prime Minister. But, I can tell you that there are tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands of Israelis who disagree and who believe that more pressure needs to be brought to bear on the Israeli Prime Minister himself.
SOLOMON: Yeah. OK. Jeremy Diamond live for us there. Jeremy, thank you.
Let's get now to CNN White House Correspondent Arlette Saenz. Arlette, President Biden and Vice President Harris, they were expected to meet a short time ago in the White House Situation Room with the U.S. hostage deal negotiating team. What's the status of the ceasefire talks, from what we can tell?
ARLETTE SAENZ, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Rahel, President Biden tried to convey a little bit of optimism this morning, as he spoke to reporters, telling our colleague Kevin Liptak that he does believe that they are very close to presenting some type of final deal to the negotiators at some point in the future. It comes as there has been a real sense of urgency relating to these talks on a ceasefire and hostage agreement in the wake of the recovery of those bodies of six hostages who were killed in Hamas captivity in Gaza.
Now, the officials across the board in the U.S. have been working for weeks now, very closely, with their counterparts in Qatar and Egypt, trying to secure some type of framework that could potentially bridge the gaps in the differences between the two sides. Now, it comes at a time when there has been, as Jeremy is noting, significant pressure on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to get this deal across the finish line.
For the President's part, he has really been reluctant to publicly pressure Netanyahu, instead trying to exert that pressure privately. But, this morning, he was very blunt when he asked about Netanyahu's role in this moment. Take a listen.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mr. President, if you think it's time for Prime Minister Netanyahu to do more on this issue, do you think he is doing enough?
JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: No.
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SAENZ: Now, Biden and Netanyahu last spoke a little less than two weeks ago. We'll see if there is any further conversation that gets scheduled on the books. But, this morning, the President and Vice President met with their national security team, including the team that is working on those hostage negotiations in the Situation Room. We're waiting to hear if that meeting has concluded.
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It comes as U.S. officials, in the wake of the recovery of these bodies of the six hostages, have expressed some concerns about whether Hamas is actually serious about trying to reach a deal, but the President making clear this morning that they are still trying to work towards that, still trying to propose and present some type of final agreement. He believes that they could be on the verge of that very soon. But, it all comes at a very urgent and complicated time following this discovery of those six dead hostages.
SOLOMON: Yeah. All right. Arlette Saenz live for us there in Washington. Arlette, thank you.
And the families of the hostages still being held by Hamas are demanding their release and holding out hope that they'll see their loved ones return, among them, the family of Omri Miran, who was kidnapped during the October 7th attack. His brother-in-law spoke to CNN about the latest developments and what he says needs to happen now.
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MOSHE LAVI, OMRI MIRAN'S BROTHER-IN-LAW: These six sausages who were murdered alongside many others who were murdered earlier in this war for the past 11 months could have been saved if we prioritized the sanctification of life, if we chose the path of a viable deal to bring them home. I don't know if the deal would have succeeded. Hamas is not a good faith partner to any negotiated treaty. It's a terrorist organization that needs to be destroyed, both materially and ideologically, just like the Nazis were destroyed and just like other vicious ideologies were destroyed in the past.
But, we need to prioritize the hostages now, and we already achieved so many military achievements in dismantling the Hamas military capabilities. So, what we want to see is that we prioritize them, because when we saw Omri last in a psychological warfare video showcased by Hamas in late April, it gave us hope that we can still bring him home. It's now more than four months later, Hersh Polin Goldberg was also filmed in a similar video in late April. He -- his life were terminated. He was murdered by Hamas. This could happen to my brother-in-law, Omri. This could happen to the rest of 101 hostages, those who are still alive. We need to prioritize them over (ph) other objectives.
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SOLOMON: Clearly, a very critical time for these fragile negotiations to try to bring these hostages home.
Let me bring in CNN Security Correspondent Kylie Atwood, who joins us from Washington. Kylie, what's been the reaction from the State Department to the events this weekend?
KYLIE ATWOOD, CNN U.S. SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Well, listen, we haven't heard anything formally from the Secretary of State, but what we have heard from U.S. officials in the Biden administration, as you are hearing from Arlette, is that this really adds new urgency to their efforts to try and secure a deal to get home the rest of the hostages that are being held by Hamas. Of course, this devastating news, the death of six hostages over the weekend, murdered by Hamas, does really demonstrate the reality of just how tenuous and how dangerous this situation is for the rest of the hostages that are still being held. Their death is really something that officials are concerned about, particularly because what happened over the weekend.
And so, when you talk to U.S. officials, they say a few things. First of all, of course, there are questions about how serious Hamas is when it comes to these ongoing negotiations to try and secure a deal if they were going to go ahead and murder these six hostages over the weekend, but they also say that this does add, one, new urgency, and, number two, new pressure to Israel to secure a deal, and specifically to Prime Minister Netanyahu personally to secure a deal, because we have seen those protests now erupting across Israel to put pressure on him to come to a deal, to bring home the rest of those hostages, 101 of them in total, about 68 of them expected, believed to still be alive.
SOLOMON: And Kylie, what else are we hearing from the families of the hostages whose bodies were found over the weekend?
ATWOOD: Well, just incredibly sad to hear from them. You heard from the father of one of them just recently in a eulogy for his son who was killed, saying that they failed him. They failed to bring him home, just incredibly devastated by the fact that he was killed by Hamas and not able to return to his loved ones, of course. So, there is, first and foremost, that deep sadness. They were hopeful that something could come to fruition to get their loved ones home. But then, they're also extremely frustrated.
And as you look at those images of those protests across Israel, there are so many people out on the streets protesting and effectively saying that the Israeli government needs to do something here to get the rest of the hostages home.
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They are, of course, frustrated by Hamas, who is holding those hostages. But, it isn't only Hamas. It is the Israeli government. Listen to what the cousin of Carmel Gat, one of those hostages who was killed over the weekend, said about the frustrations with the Netanyahu government, not just Hamas.
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GIL DICKMANN, COUSIN OF CARMEL GAT, HOSTAGE KILLED IN GAZA: Of course, they blame Hamas, and I also blame my government. And right now, we know the decisions that our Prime Minister Netanyahu has made, made it impossible for Carmel and other hostages to return and put their lives in great danger, and that's what killed them.
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ATWOOD: And the families of these hostages have said time and time again that they believe that there is a deal within reach, and they are reiterating that today. We'll watch and see what comes out of this meeting that President Biden is having with his national security team that Arlette was speaking about earlier. It will be critical to see what kind of pressure the United States is willing or able to put on Israel and Hamas at this moment.
SOLOMON: All right. Kylie Atwood live for us there. Kylie, thank you.
And the United Nations began its mass polio vaccination campaign in Gaza over the weekend. This after the highly infectious virus was recently found in sewage samples. On Sunday, UN officials say that the polio vaccine reached around 87,000 children. The UN has pledged to vaccinate 640,000 children in the war-torn territory. The vaccination drive is expected to last until September 12. And during this process, Israel has agreed to temporary pauses in fighting. Well, coming up for us, they don't call them battleground states for nothing. After the break, we will take a closer look at the campaign stops that Kamala Harris plans to make on this Labor Day and what's at stake. Plus, the U.S. election is entering a pivotal new stretch. We will hear from today's panel about what Harris and Trump need to accomplish before taking the debate stage.
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SOLOMON: Welcome back. And only eight days left until the first presidential debate between Vice President Kamala Harris and former U.S. President Donald Trump, abortion remains a critical issue in this election, and over the past several days, Trump's shifting positions on an abortion referendum in Florida have angered his conservative base. But, in a span of 24 hours, he seemed to backtrack how he would vote in his home state of Florida. Take a listen.
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DONALD TRUMP (R), FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT AND 2024 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Well, I think the six-week is too short. There has to be more time. And so, that's -- and I've told them that I want more weeks.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: So, you'll vote in favor of the amendment?
TRUMP: I'm voting that. I am going to be voting that we need more than six weeks.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Are you voting yes or no on Amendment Four in Florida?
TRUMP: So, 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 where you can do an abortion in the ninth month.
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So, I will be voting "no" for that reason.
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SOLOMON: Meanwhile, President Joe Biden is entering a new political phase as a top surrogate for the Harris campaign. On this Labor Day, the President will join Harris in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, as they work to appeal to working class voters. Biden has made no secret how important Pennsylvania will be this November. He narrowly beat Trump in that battleground state in 2020 by less than two percentage points.
Let's get a closer look now at the campaign trails. Joining us now from Washington is our Senior White House Reporter Kevin Liptak. So, Kevin, how much can we expect to see Biden now on the campaign trail for Harris? KEVIN LIPTAK, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Well, we'll see him a
fair amount. That's at least according to what his aides are predicting. Of course, it will all depend on what Harris herself thinks will be useful in those weeks heading up until Election Day. But, it is kind of a new role for President Biden, no longer the candidate, now acting as something of a validator in chief for his Vice President. And what you're seeing him do today is kind of the start of a strategy that his team has been sketching out over the last couple of weeks or so, as they look ahead to the final months of his presidency.
And what he is doing today really does kind of embody that strategy. He will be in Pittsburgh for Labor Day. You really can't imagine more of a Joe Biden-type event. He has been in Pittsburgh for several labor days over the course of his career, really trying to appeal to union workers who Democrats believe can be a mobilizing force in the election. And it does speak to this strategy of campaigning very heavily in the so-called blue wall states, Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin. And in fact, President Biden will be in all three of those states over the course of this week.
But, it has been interesting, in the weeks or so since the President decided to drop his presidential bid, he has actually seen his approval rating tick up slightly, and I think both he and Kamala Harris campaign very much want to capitalize on whatever political capital remains for President Biden and they do view that among blue collar workers, particularly in those blue wall states. But, of course, this does launch the final sprint toward Election Day. The Kamala Harris campaign did get some good news over the weekend. A national poll showed her with a slight lead, at least among likely voters.
But, when you talk to campaign officials, they still view themselves very much as the underdogs in the race. In fact, a memo from her campaign Chairwoman Jen O'Malley Dillon said that they were the clear underdogs because Donald Trump still has a motivated base of support. So, very clearly trying to guard against any kind of overconfidence within the Democratic Party as they look ahead both to the debate on September 10 and to this final sprint towards Election Day.
SOLOMON: Yeah, just about one week left into the debate, I think about 10 weeks left until the election. So, it's all happening, Kevin Liptak.
LIPTAK: Yes.
SOLOMON: It's all happening. The moment is upon us.
LIPTAK: It is all happening. Yeah.
SOLOMON: Thank you. I'll see you soon, Kevin.
All right. Let's discuss this all with today's panel. Joining us from Washington is former U.S. Representative from Illinois, Joe Walsh. We're also joined by Democratic Strategist Julie Roginsky in New York. Good to see you both. Joe, let me start with you. We just heard a few minutes ago, Trump
sort of changing comments on how he'd vote on the abortion referendum in Florida. Democrats over the weekend accusing him of flip-flopping. I just want to play a few clips for you.
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MAURA HEALEY, MASSACHUSETTS GOVERNOR: This is Donald Trump, who will say anything and everything depending on where the wind is blowing. He caught some heat the other day. And so, he comes out with the statement that all of a sudden he is a believer in IVF. It's just patently false. It's offensive.
REP. ADAM SCHIFF (D-CA): Went on something like the right to an abortion. You flip-flop every 15 minutes. That shows essentially he has no values.
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SOLOMON: So, Joe, I'm wondering, for those voters who still have not made up their minds, they are still trying to decide, how do you think this factors in? Is it appearing more moderate on the issue, or is it appearing like he is flip-flopping?
JOE WALSH, FORMER U.S. HOUSE REPUBLICAN: It's not a flip-flop, because Trump doesn't have a stance on abortion. He is not pro-life. He is not pro-choice. He is just pro-Trump. The guy wakes up every morning and all he thinks about is, how can today benefit Donald Trump? He knows this is a bad, horrible issue for Republicans. So, he is moving away from it purely because of political reasons. IVF, I don't think Donald Trump even understands what IVF is. This is a real vulnerability for Trump and Republicans generally in this election. They're trying to run away from this issue.
SOLOMON: Julie, Harris has said, as part of her plan to address the home affordability issue in the U.S., which is a -- it's pretty big issue for a lot of people, that she would offer a $25,000 down payment assistance program for low and sort of middle income workers. And Trump, to that, had this response. Take a listen.
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TRUMP: Her plan is very dangerous, because it may sound good politically, and that's the problem, and we have to be very careful, because when somebody gets up and says, we're going to give you everything, $25,000 for a house, we're going to give you all sorts of little goodies, free healthcare, we're going to give you everything, universal healthcare, it sounds so beautiful. It's dangerous because she is saying that she is going to give away things that she'll never be able to get approved.
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SOLOMON: So, Julie, it's that last point that I want to ask you about. Is it a valid point that even if she does win the White House, a full sweep of both houses of Congress, it seems ambitious? I mean, how does she get these programs through on a divided government?
JULIE ROGINSKY, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: Well, if it's divided, she won't be able to. If it's not divided, as you pointed out, if she gets both houses of Congress, she'll be able to. Look, I mean, it's kind of rich coming from Donald Trump, who just yesterday or two days ago said that suddenly he is going to have the government pay for IVF. And I agree with Joe. He has no clue what that entails or what that means, but he kind of gave it away, right, in complete contravention to all Republican orthodoxy for the last number of decades about government giveaways. Suddenly, he is OK with government paying for that, but he is not OK with government helping people have more affordable housing, which is a massive crisis in this country.
And look, to Kamala Harris' credit, she is at least addressing the issue. Trump, of course, is known very well, going back to when his father was still around, for trying to prevent black residents from moving into his developments in Queens and Brooklyn. So, the irony of this whole thing is that Donald Trump's life has been about making sure that people could not get affordable housing well before he ran for office when he was a developer. So, I think on this one, Donald Trump should probably take a seat,
SOLOMON: Joe. Let me ask, Trump spoke to Fox News over the weekend, and he said this about the last presidential election.
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TRUMP: It's so crazy that my poll numbers go up. Whoever heard you get indicted for interfering with a presidential election, where you have every right to do it, you get indicted and your poll numbers go up.
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SOLOMON: Well, yeah. I mean, you're just shaking your head. And so, my question is, we can put the poll comment aside, but my question is, he is still facing criminal charges because of his efforts to overturn the last presidential election. Who is this comment for? I mean, his base is already solidly behind him. What's the strategy here?
WALSH: Again, I'll watch my language. He doesn't have a strategy. He doesn't do strategy. He is like just all gut, whatever is just there. But, think about what he just said. He said he had every right to interfere with an American election. As you rightly pointed out, he has been indicted for trying to overthrow the 2020 election. But, in his mind, he had a right to do it. He had a right to interfere with the election. He had a right to try to overthrow the results. He still believes he won in 2020.
Look, I don't believe there is any other issue besides this that should compel every American voter not to vote for this guy, because we're talking about 2020, but we're 65 days away from the 2024 election, and he will never, ever accept the results of this election in November. That's un-American. SOLOMON: On this Labor Day here in the U.S., one, I appreciate both of you laboring with me today. This is the day that we celebrate American workers. Union organizations that represent workers have typically been a really important voting bloc, and Dems tend to be most associated with unions. But, Trump in 2016, he did appeal to a lot of union workers, especially white union workers. And I thought this was really interesting. NPR had this interesting stat this morning that I wanted to share with you. So, nationally, about one in 10 American workers are in a union. But, get this, in swing states, that number actually jumps to one in five, and that you're seeing this shift to unions among younger people. You think about Starbucks, for example, and some of the efforts there.
And so, my question is, unions continue to be really important, but in this environment, Julie, let me start with you, how do the campaigns reach these workers in these critical states?
ROGINSKY: Look, I've worked with a lot of unions and a lot of campaigns, and I can tell you, unions have an incredible ability, by their very nature, to organize. They organize their workers. They can organize their workers to come out and vote. They have a incredible get out the vote program for their own membership. That's phenomenal. The challenge, of course, is that a lot of these union workers are non-college educated men who tend to vote Republican more than Democrat in recent elections. And so, part of the challenge for unions is to also educate their own workers about which candidate is better for their union priorities, for their working priorities.
I think I would obviously say that Kamala Harris and the Democratic Party has been much more on the side of the working people in this country than Republicans have been traditionally. But, again, that is an education thing that both the Harris campaign and also individual unions need to educate their members about.
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SOLOMON: OK. We'll leave it here on this Labor Day. Hope you guys get to enjoy a little bit of your day. Jay Walsh, Julie Roginsky, thanks for being with us. Thanks for having -- thanks for joining us.
All right. And still to come, scenes of destruction in Ukraine after a series of major new strikes by Russia. We'll go live to Kyiv.
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SOLOMON: Welcome back. You are watching CNN Newsroom. I'm Rahul Solomon live in New York. And here are some of the international headlines we are watching for you today.
In Germany, a far-right party has won a state-level election for the first time since the Nazi era. The Alternative for Germany party is also running neck and neck in a second state in the east of the country. The party is not likely to be part of a local government, though, as they don't have enough votes overall. The German chancellor has warned other parties against forming coalitions with what he calls extremists. Today, Pope Francis has started his longest trip ever to four
different countries over 12 days. The pontiff will travel to Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, East Timor and Singapore. This will be one of the longest trips any Pope has been on, and over the furthest distance from the Vatican, more than 32,000 kilometers. Topping the Pope's agenda are interreligious dialog and protection of the environment.
In Ukraine, at least four people have been injured after a new barrage of Russian strikes in different parts of the country. The attacks coincided with the start of the new school year. Ukraine's Air Force says that in the latest bombardment, Russia unleashed a combination of cruise and ballistic missiles as well as attack drones.
Let's bring in CNN's Christiane Amanpour, who is in the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv, one of the areas that came under attack. Christiane, good to see you. What can you share with us about the latest with the strikes in Kyiv?
CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Well, Rahel, this is the third major attack by Russia on Ukrainian cities in the past week. What happened today was, at 05:30 a.m., it was preceded by a general air siren and alert. And as you say, there were cruise missiles and ballistic missiles and drones, dozens of them, frankly. We're not sure of exactly the targets, because you have to get that from the military, which hasn't exactly named it. But, in general, these targets represent infrastructure, usually energy infrastructure, and also they represent when they can the Russians trying to get to any kind of military facility, ammunition facility, production facilities.
But also, Ukraine has been stepping up its attacks on Russian energy infrastructure. It did so on Sunday, even close to Moscow. So, there is kind of a, as you know, a two-pronged war here.
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There is the war of the cities, the war of infrastructure, which I've just described, and then there are the frontlines. Ukraine continues to try to press advantage in the Russian region of Kursk, which it had basically invaded earlier this month. And at the same time, the Russians continue to press their offensive against a key logistical hub in the east -- on the eastern front in Pokrovsk, and that is something that everybody is looking at very carefully and trying to decide, on balance, what was the right thing to do, to do the Kursk incursion, or to better defend this logistical hub in Donetsk?
But, at the moment, even though there is a debate going on, most people believe that the Kursk invasion was important. It sort of destabilized Russia's sort of frontlines. And it was designed, we're told, to really make people in Moscow and around Putin think twice. And it also boosted some morale amongst a flagging essential Ukraine military force. On the other hand, they do have this very key area in the east, and we're waiting to see what happens there.
So, it's really intense this period of military activity, and it comes at a time when this government here is trying to persuade the American administration to lift the restrictions on how they can use and where they can use the weapons that the U.S. and other NATO countries are delivering. Rahel.
SOLOMON: Yeah. Christiane, it's really interesting as you sort of lay out the thinking and the debate. It's been more than three weeks now since Ukraine started this incursion into Kursk, and the President there, Vladimir Putin, says that that will not stop their advance. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
VLADIMIR PUTIN, RUSSIAN PRESIDENT (Interpreted): Their calculation was to stop our offensive actions in key parts of the Donbas. The result is known. Yes, of course, our people are going through a tough time, especially in the Kursk region, but the main task of the enemy was to stop our offensive in Donbas, and they failed.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SOLOMON: So, Christiane, what more can you tell us about the fighting on the battlefield in Russia?
AMANPOUR: Well, look, this is a psychological warfare as well. I mean, a lot of this action is designed to destabilize the other side. And Putin has always been quite good at psychological warfare. Whenever something happens that goes wrong, he always says, well, it doesn't really matter. They're failing. They haven't succeeded, and we continue to press our advantage.
Now, all things can't be true at the same time. It is true that the Kursk incursion has not drawn as much Russian military reinforcements or activity that the Ukrainians had hoped. Russians are still using some of their battle hardened troops to press that advantage in the Donetsk. It's believed that what Putin wants, within short order, is to solidify his occupation and his seizure of as much, if not all, of the Donbas region, or at least the Donetsk region. And this is what they're trying to do.
And so, they have actually been -- they've been pressing this for a while, but they have stepped it up for a bit. And I think the Ukrainians, from what we can determine from talking to military types and to those who are in touch with military types, I think they believe that Pokrovsk might in fact fall. They are retreating. But, they say that they did get a victory in Kursk, and they are not going to give up, and they are not going to be bullied into any kind of surrender or unconditional capitulation. Basically, this is going to go on, and that is what we can see from both sides, despite the enormous pain and the death and destruction that's been going on now for 30 months.
SOLOMON: Yeah, just incredible to think about what the people there in Ukraine have lived through. Christiane Amanpour, thank you. And Christiane will be anchoring her show "Amanpour" from Kyiv in the coming hour, 06:00 p.m. in London, right here on CNN. Well, still ahead, travel across the U.S. is up for the holiday
weekend. We will have a live report with the record-breaking numbers. Plus, hotel workers in the U.S. are using the Labor Day holiday to protest labor issues. We'll tell you why they're on strike.
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[11:40:00]
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SOLOMON: Welcome back. The roads and airports continue to be busy for the Labor Day holiday here in the U.S. An estimated 17 million passengers will pass through airports across the nation through Wednesday. The summer travel season has been a busy one. The Transportation Security Administration, the TSA, estimates that it has screened nearly 240 million travelers since Memorial Day weekend. That is about 2.7 million passengers a day.
Joining us now from Reagan International Airport or National Airport is Pete Muntean. So, Pete, what's it looking like behind you? It seems OK in back of you.
PETE MUNTEAN, CNN AVIATION CORRESPONDENT: It's been relatively calm, Rahel, and that's good news for travelers, considering the fact that the rush out of town on Friday was so big. In fact, the TSA thought they would screen 2.8 million people at airports nationwide on Friday. That number was actually exceeded. It was 2.9 million people nationwide. That number is six percent bigger than this time last year. It really fits into the theme that this has been a huge summer for air travel, the biggest ever. We're talking a quarter billion people passed through TSA checkpoints nationwide since Memorial Day.
The numbers for today will not come out until tomorrow, but the TSA is anticipating a pretty big number, about 2.6 million people flying today. The good news is, most of the cancelations and delays have remained relatively low. They really peaked on Thursday, when bad weather hit the Mid-Atlantic.
Just want you to listen now to one traveler we talked to, as they were beginning this journey, and they said they were going to take all of the snags in stride.
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CHRISTIAN FLORES, LABOR DAY TRAVELLER: Not really. We do this. I'm regulars. We travel for work and for leisure and family all the time. So -- and coming in here and seeing that it's not that crowded and traffic is pretty light. So, if I had any problems, they went away. Yeah. So, we'll see how Monday looks. At least today looks good. I'm glad I'm going to fly tomorrow. But, we'll see how Monday turns out.
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MUNTEAN: Things here at the Terminal 2 North Checkpoint at Reagan National Airport have been relatively smooth. In fact, the live numbers, about five minutes to get through the line in standard screening and TSA PreCheck here at Reagan National Airport. One thing that travelers are going to see more of now is facial recognition technology. The TSA has been rolling that out more and more at airports. It started out as a small pilot program. Now it's expanded to about 80 airports nationwide in the U.S. Here is how it works. You take your ID. You put it in the machine. The machine scans your photo and matches that photo live with the camera on the machine. They say it's a lot more accurate than a human doing that, and it speeds things up too, which is good news for all these people traveling today, Rahel.
SOLOMON: Pete, talk to us a little bit about the roads. I mean, one thing that at least if you were driving, maybe you appreciate it, is that prices for gas, they've come down. But, what about just sort of how much company there was out there on the roads? How many people were driving?
MUNTEAN: It's going to be packed. And we are kind of in the middle of the worst time, in the thick of it. AAA anticipates that between about 11:00 a.m. on the East Coast and 08:00 p.m. is when traffic will be its worst. In fact, not too far from here, in the D.C. area, the Baltimore-Washington Parkway, two big metro areas, that's a spot that is often very, very packed. The traffic there this afternoon will be 40 percent greater than the norm, according to the projection by AAA.
So, it's going to be a lot of company out there, especially coming back from those shore spots, most people going to the beaches and trying to get out that one last getaway of this holiday season, sorry, this summer season, this last holiday of the big summer push.
[11:45:00]
SOLOMON: Or Pete, I mean, you could labor like us on Labor Day, and then you don't have to really worry about the traffic or all of that.
Pete Muntean live for us there. Pete, thank you.
All right. Hotel workers in Baltimore, Maryland, have joined the thousands of others on strike across the U.S. for the Labor Day holiday weekend.
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An estimated 10,000 hotel workers are on strike, demanding better pay and staffing. Many hotels have not returned to their staffing to pre- COVID levels, despite travel being up. The strike is stretching from Boston to the west coast of Hawaii. They are impacting about two dozen hotels such as Hilton, Hyatt and Marriott.
Joining us now from New York is Gloria Pazmino. So, Gloria, give us a sense, we just sort of laid out there briefly how widespread this is, but give us a sense of sort of how many people are taking part in the lay of the land here.
GLORIA PAZMINO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Rahel, you were just talking about how many people are traveling on Labor Day, and this is precisely why "UNITE HERE", the union that represents these workers decided to authorize the strike around this weekend because they know that this is a really important weekend for the industry. There is more than 10,000 workers out on the picket line right now, Rahel, and this is really stretching to different cities around the country, everywhere from Connecticut -- Greenwich, Connecticut, to Seattle to Hawaii, several cities are being impacted by this.
So far, three hotel chains are being impacted by the strikes, Marriott Hotels, the Hyatt Hotel line, as well as the Hilton Hotels. They are all being impacted. So far, hotels are still open. They're operating, but they're having to do so with fewer resources. They're having to cut back on some services, and they are operating with smaller staffs.
What are these working -- workers asking for on this Labor Day? Supposedly a day where we celebrate the contributions of workers and the labor movement. They say they want better wages. They want better working conditions. And specifically, they want a restoration of some of the cuts that were made during the pandemic. As you know, the hotel and the travel industry were so severely affected by the pandemic.
Take a listen to one hotel worker who is joining the picket line in Hawaii, talking about why she has been on strike.
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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Well, we're going to do whatever it takes for us to have a better contract, better wages, better work conditions. We're doing this not only for us, but for them too, for the guests, to provide them the better service they deserve and for our families, for our community.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PAZMINO: Now, Gwen Mills is the President of "UNITE HERE", the union representing the workers. One issue that they are very focused on, Rahel, is the question of daily room cleaning. If you've been to a hotel recently, you've noticed that they are not cleaning your room every day as they used to. That was one of the changes that was made during the pandemic. But, workers say now that travelers are back and tourism is back up to where it used to be before the pandemic, those services are needed. It takes much longer to clean those rooms, and they say they don't have the proper staff, and that ultimately is -- it is affecting the guest. Rahel.
SOLOMON: Well, it's a really interesting point, Gloria, because one thing we've seen in so many of the economic reports is that where American consumers are spending tends to be in the service industry. You think about hotels. You think about airline fares.
Gloria, just in your conversations, any sense of how long this is expected to last, or is there an end point here?
PAZMINO: Well, they specifically wanted this to happen over the Labor Day weekend, because there is so much traveling, because hotels are expected to have so much more business. They have authorized the strike to last anywhere between two and three days. But, we should point out that their contracts in many of these cities are expired. So, the union has said that there are more cities that are ready to join the strike. So, it is possible that we may see more cities joining as the days goes on. The hotels so far, specifically Hyatt, has said that they are disappointed that they're striking, but that they are still working to try and reach an agreement.
SOLOMON: All right. Keep us posted. Gloria Pazmino there live for us in New York. Gloria, thank you.
And coming up, Adele opens up to a concert crowd about her big plans. Coming up, what the singer had to say about her future career?
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[11:50:00]
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SOLOMON: It's been described as a little America, a bit like Texas, but just 60 miles from North Korea. 41,000 people live in the largest U.S. overseas military base in the world. It's within driving distance of North Korea, and those living there like to experience both American and Korean culture.
CNN's Mike Valerio reports.
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MIKE VALERIO, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It's where rock concerts roar, Donuts Delight, Krispy Kreme on the conveyor belt, and where families find new homes in Korea, like the Cook family trading their lives in Cincinnati, Ohio, for Camp Humphreys, South Korea. It's the Army's busiest airfield in Asia and the biggest U.S. military base overseas. Camp Humphreys is about 60 miles away from North Korea, driving distance from the heavily fortified demilitarized zone, the DMZ, which divides the Korean Peninsula. More than 40,000 people call Camp Humphreys home, including the Cooks. They have not one but two sets of twins, the youngest just eight-months-old.
They came here because of Sergeant Terry Cook, an army IT specialist here to support the critical U.S.-South Korea military alliance.
TYRESE COOK, MILITARY SPOUSE: We met in Cincinnati, Ohio.
VALERIO (voice-over): But, in dad mode with his wife Tyrese, he says it's all about supporting his parental platoon.
SGT. TERRY COOK, U.S. ARMY: I just really like to spend as much time to maximize that topic to get this whole unit I got here,
VALERIO: I just looking good right now. You are literally Super Dad. You could do like curls.
VALERIO (voice-over): Camp Humphreys hosts the only U.S. Army Division, which is partially made up of South Korean soldiers. It also serves as the headquarters of United Nations Command, the international military force designed to protect South Korea since the Korean War. Now, nearly 75 years later, the Korean Peninsula's proximity to China and Russia makes South Korea a key linchpin in northeast Asia's security for the U.S. government. But, the goal for families here is to immerse in Korean culture, which is especially important for Tyrese since she lived in Germany as a kid when her dad was a sergeant in the Army.
TYRESE COOK: Being able to provide my children with the same cultural experiences that I was given as a child, it is extremely important to me as a mother.
VALERIO (voice-over): But, for those looking for a slice of America, there is plenty, Texas Roadhouse, the on base golf course, and one of the biggest Fourth of July celebrations on this side of the world. Then there is this, a giant bakery, Wonder Bread, burger buns and delicious donuts made with the secret Krispy Kreme recipe, no less, for the schools, restaurants and grocery stores serving U.S. bases across South Korea. There is also the feeling of belonging. Jubilation after years in the Army, finally becoming American citizens. Noncommissioned Officer (NCO) Sergeant Vanessa Ramo was born in the Philippines, supported here at her naturalization ceremony by her platoon.
PVT. RENEE MYATT, U.S. ARMY: She is an amazing NCO, very, very supportive to us. Hello, I'm sorry.
VALERIO (voice-over): As for becoming a U.S. citizen in Korea --
STAFF SGT. VANESSA RAMO, U.S. ARMY: I didn't expect it to be here, honestly. It's great to do it overseas somewhere, especially in Korea. I love Korea.
VALERIO (voice-over): Ramo's Platoon leader himself naturalized in Philadelphia.
LT. JACOB HAN, U.S. ARMY: It just makes me really proud, because I'm a Korean American, meaning, I can serve the people, like, the country that I was born in, but also the country that also gave me a lot of opportunities, which is the U.S.
VALERIO (voice-over): A slice of America, inextricably part of the Korean tapestry and for its newest residents, hardly far from home.
Mike Valerio, CNN, Camp Humphreys, South Korea.
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[11:55:00]
SOLOMON: And before we go, one more thing.
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Adele says she is taking a break. The Grammy winner told a crowd at a concert in Munich on Saturday that she plans to finish her Las Vegas residency in November, and then she may not take the stage quote "for an incredibly long time." With 10 shows remaining, her Las Vegas residency ends November 23rd. The singer told the crowd that she needs a rest and wants to take time to live her new life.
Well, we know your time is money. So, thank you for spending some time with me today. I'm Rahel Solomon live in New York. Stick with CNN. One World is coming up next.
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