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San Francisco 49ers Player Shot; U.S. Seizes Venezuelan President's Plane; Interview With Fmr. Rep. Max Rose (D-NY); Harris Campaigns With Biden. Aired 11:30a-12p ET

Aired September 02, 2024 - 11:30   ET

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

[11:30:01]

JIM ACOSTA, CNN HOST: This is going quickly.

(LAUGHTER)

ACOSTA: And this debate is coming up quickly as well. And I wonder what you think about this folks.

Say what they want about Kamala Harris giving a speech at the convention or the interview with Dana on CNN. But I wonder if the debate format is perhaps the best format for her. And should that make the Trump campaign for president a little nervous?

SHERMICHAEL SINGLETON, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, look, I think it depends, right?

ACOSTA: Yes.

SINGLETON: I think the vice president will probably be better than President Biden at articulating her position and trying to draw the contrasts for obvious reasons. I don't need to see what those reasons are.

But I do think the vice president may have some issues on the issues of the economy and immigration. How does she respond to that if a question is asked, if given the opportunity to lead the country for four years, what would be different then versus what you're currently doing now to tackle inflation or immigration or foreign policy?

So I can see that as a potential issue for her. I would imagine Donald Trump's team is preparing him to go after the vice president very hard on those three points, where he appears to still have an advantage.

ACOSTA: Yes, Max, what do you think?

FMR. REP. MAX ROSE (D-NY): Gosh, I mean, if I were Donald Trump, I (AUDIO GAP)

ACOSTA: Uh-oh.

ROSE: And I wouldn't know how to answer.

ACOSTA: Yes. Keep going, Max. The audio was a little weird there, but I think we got you now. Go ahead.

(CROSSTALK)

ROSE: All right, good.

How does Donald Trump answer for his actions on January 6? How does Donald Trump answer for the fact that his campaign that literally just illegally filmed a campaign commercial at Arlington Cemetery? How does Donald Trump answer the fact, particularly on Labor Day, that he is perhaps the most anti-worker president in recent political memory?

He's the one that has is going to have trouble answering questions. And, lastly, on the point of immigration, how does he answer for the fact that he personally torpedoed one of the most comprehensive, moderate, perhaps even conservative immigration bills in modern-day history?

It's going to be a tough run for him.

ACOSTA: Yes.

And, Tia, I mean, I do think it's interesting. Today, we're going to see Kamala Harris, President Biden out on the campaign trail together. How big of a moment is that going to be, do you think?

TIA MITCHELL, WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT, "THE ATLANTA JOURNAL- CONSTITUTION": I think it's a big moment.

And I think it's going to outline their -- show how they plan to use President Biden going forward. We know there -- yes, there were some weaknesses that caused Biden to decide to step aside, but he also did have some strengths, particularly when it came to his outreach to unions, particularly where it comes to kind of his home turf, which is the Scranton, Pennsylvanias, of the word, Pennsylvanias, in those blue-collar type places.

And so I think tonight we will get to see, A, that show of unity with he and Harris sharing the stage, but, B, this is a great sweet spot for him on Labor Day. And I think the only variable, of course, is how well Biden is able to do when he's on the stage delivering his speeches. But he tends to do pretty well with teleprompters. So I think it might be a good event for him.

ACOSTA: And he's popular in those blue wall states, and that's where he's heading with the vice president.

Shermichael, I want to ask you about this new ABC/Ipsos poll that shows Kamala Harris holding a narrow lead over Donald Trump 52 to 46, maybe a smidge higher than where we were before the convention, so not a huge bounce.

But, Shermichael, when you compare those numbers to what President Biden was polling against Donald Trump, what, I mean, maybe two months ago, it is a pretty dramatic turnaround for the Democrats.

I just wonder, what are you and some of your fellow Republican strategists thinking when you look at these numbers right now as we're heading into this last stretch?

SINGLETON: Oh. Oh, yes, Jim, there's no doubt about the fact that the vice president is a much more formidable and stronger candidate than President Biden for a whole host of reasons.

ACOSTA: Yes.

SINGLETON: She's a woman. She's a woman of color. She excites very key constituencies within the Democratic Party.

It is going to be a tougher race. You just can't negate those facts or realities. But it is interesting, I think, that the vice president is campaigning with President Biden, because I think the campaign, her campaign, has attempted to sort of move away from the president to try to focus on what a Kamala Harris presidency would look like.

And I think they smartly were attempting to do that. I think campaigning with the president, in my opinion, does present some potential barriers. I think this gives Republicans the opportunity to tie her directly to a president who is unpopular on key issues that the vice president has been attempting to run away from.

So, strategically speaking, I don't think that's very wise. But, overall, she's going to be a much more formidable candidate. Republicans cannot negate that fact. And that's why I think a lot of Republicans have continuously attempted to remind the former president to stick to the issues where you are strong to make your case to voters.

[11:35:11]

ACOSTA: Well, and to that point, Shermichael, over the weekend, Trump sat down with FOX and claimed that he had every right to interfere with the presidential election.

Max, I'm sure you saw this, but he said that -- we have it up on screen. He says: "It's so crazy that my poll numbers go up. Whoever heard you get indicted for interfering with the presidential election, where you have every right to do it,you get indicted and your poll numbers go up."

I mean, from a political standpoint, I mean, obviously that presents some challenges. But, I mean, I have to think Jack Smith, his ears perked up when he heard that.

ROSE: This connects to a much broader theme about Donald Trump. Donald Trump has no respect for the Constitution, no respect for those who serve in uniform, and certainly no respect for our democracy.

That should -- his poll numbers should not matter in the course of that conversation. But, you see, all he cares about is his own political future. So one day, he's interfering in an election. The next day, he's saying that those who receive a Medal of Honor should be looked down upon.

And the day after that, his campaign is literally muscling their way onto Arlington Cemetery and filming a political commercial, rather than paying due justice and honor to those who made the greatest sacrifice. This man and his entire campaign only cares about themselves.

ACOSTA: And, Tia, I did want to ask you about this. George Clooney is praising President Biden to reporters in Italy over the weekend, saying -- quote -- "The person who should be applauded is the president. He did the most selfless thing that anyone has done since George Washington."

Tia, this is the first time we have heard George Clooney speak out about this since that op-ed he wrote calling on Biden to step aside. He is a big donor. And, as we were saying earlier, you can't really argue too much with Clooney's political acumen here.

I mean, Kamala Harris is doing better right now than the president was doing against the former president, yes.

MITCHELL: Yes.

Yes, I mean, I think this is part of, like -- and I don't -- I think he's genuine. I think he was genuine when he said he thought Biden should step aside. He was -- he's being genuine now when he's saying he thinks Biden did a good thing by stepping aside.

But I think it's also part of the delicate kind of repairing that all the Democrats and donors who behind the scenes were kind of working to push Biden aside or at least encouraging him to step aside. Now they have got to back up with Biden personally, as well as kind of continuing to signal that they are on one accord, despite kind of the divisions that were laid bare after that disastrous debate.

So I think Clooney and many others have been very deliberative of when and how they have spoken since Biden stepped aside, being very deferential to him. And it'll be interesting to see if the -- we will probably find this out for years and years to come, but whether these personal relationships can be prepared, because we know George Clooney was campaigning and fund-raising for Biden...

ACOSTA: Right.

MITCHELL: And up until that debate is when he went public and said, I -- I'm troubled by what I have been seeing.

ACOSTA: Yes, that was that big moment at that fund-raiser where Clooney says, this is not the President Biden that I once knew. Very interesting, those comments there.

Shermichael, former Congressman Max Rose, Tia Mitchell, thanks to all of you. Really appreciate it. Hope you enjoy your Labor Day.

Hope everybody out there enjoys their Labor Day. We will be right back.

SINGLETON: Thanks, Jim.

ACOSTA: Thank you so much.

ROSE: Thank you.

MITCHELL: Thank you.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[11:43:21]

ACOSTA: Welcome back to the breaking news, some exclusive live pictures that we're showing you right now of the seized plane belonging to Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro.

Maduro, we should note, is not on board, but the plane was seized by officials for violating U.S. sanctions.

CNN's Kylie Atwood joins me now.

Kylie, this is pretty extraordinary. This does not happen, obviously, every day, where U.S. authorities go in and seize the plane of a head of state. But that is essentially what's happened this morning? Can you break this down for us?

KYLIE ATWOOD, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Yes, exactly.

ACOSTA: Yes.

ATWOOD: So the plane of Nicolas Maduro, the president of Venezuela, is now in the hands of the United States.

As you can see there, those images demonstrate that it has just landed in Florida. It was seized by U.S. authorities in the Dominican Republic. That is according to multiple U.S. officials who spoke with our colleague Priscilla Alvarez about this.

And how this all came to fruition, Jim, is that this plane was in the Dominican Republic in recent months. We don't know exactly why, but that presented the opportunity for U.S. authorities to work with authorities in the Dominican Republic to actually make up a plan and seize the plane.

And just to give folks context, this plane is effectively the Air Force One of Venezuela. This is a plane that cost about $13 million, the U.S. estimates. It's been used by Maduro to travel around the world to make visits to see other world leaders and the like.

It's now in the hands of the U.S. government. It's an extraordinary move. The U.S. has, for years, been trying to disrupt the flow of goods and finances, money going into Venezuela. For example, they have disrupted luxury cars going into the country.

[11:45:04]

But we should note that this is just such a bold move, because, according to one of those U.S. officials who spoke with our colleague, this is unheard of and sends a signal that no one is out of the reach of U.S. sanctions.

So they clearly had their eye on this plane for a while that was being used by the president of Venezuela, and now it is in U.S. custody. Now, the process here is that now that it is in the United States, Venezuela can petition for the planes. So, we will watch and see what happens there.

But, also, the United States can collect evidence from the plane. We just saw some folks heading into the plane...

ACOSTA: Yes.

ATWOOD: ... U.S. authorities heading in there with what appeared to be a recording device. They will be able to collect evidence in terms of what the president of Venezuela was doing potentially on that plane.

We will watch and see how this all unfolds -- Jim.

ACOSTA: Yes, Kylie, we do want to emphasize to our viewers you are looking at live exclusive pictures right now -- almost live. It happened just a little while ago of these law enforcement officials. These are live pictures, as a matter of fact, of these law enforcement officials sort of circling this plane, going in and out of this plane.

It's landed in Fort Lauderdale right now. But as Kylie was saying a few moments ago, it was seized in the Dominican Republic.

And, Kylie, as you were saying, this is a very aggressive move on the part of the Biden administration to go and do this while Venezuela is in the middle of a lot of political turmoil right now.

ATWOOD: That's right.

So we just had the elections in Venezuela over the summer. U.S. officials were highly concerned about the results of those elections, how those elections unfolded, calling into question the fact that Maduro came out victorious in those elections.

So, the fact that they have seized this plane sort of builds on the tension that has only been escalating in recent years between the United States and Venezuela. Of course, there have been some cooperation between the two countries in terms of a prisoner swap that we saw recently. But beyond that is a really tense relationship, and the Biden administration making it very clear that they are not going to hold back.

They're going to go after Maduro and really try and seize anything he has in terms of incoming income, incoming revenue, and all of that enable him to travel around the world.

ACOSTA: Yes.

ATWOOD: Now no longer able to do that on this plane.

ACOSTA: And you were just saying a few moments ago this is -- that country's version of Air Force One, and so this is not a small thing.

And, Kylie, what are these police officers doing outside the plane right now? You can see several officers going in and out of the plane. They're taking pictures.

ATWOOD: They're collecting evidence, Jim.

And so we don't know exactly what they're going to find on that plane. There are still some questions that we're looking to learn in terms of why this plane was sitting in the Dominican Republic for a number of months here.

But it is noteworthy that the authorities from the D.R. did work with the United States on these efforts. We don't know the last time that Maduro was on this plane. We do know, as I said, that there are images of him traveling around the world, meeting with world leaders on this exact plane.

ACOSTA: Wow.

ATWOOD: So it'll be interesting to see what they find on board, notes from those types of visits and the like potentially.

We will just have to watch and see what investigators share with us. We have put in requests for comment from, of course, the Department of Justice, DHS, and the State Department to provide us with more context with regard to how this all came together.

ACOSTA: All right. Kylie, thank you.

And just to recap for our viewers, you are looking at exclusive live pictures right now of the plane belonging to the Venezuelan leader, Nicolas Maduro. It has been seized by the United States. It was seized in the Dominican Republic and then flown to Florida. It's sitting on the tarmac in Fort Lauderdale.

When we have more information all of this, we will bring that to you.

Kylie Atwood, thank you very much.

We will be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[11:53:29]

ACOSTA: This morning, San Francisco 49ers player Ricky Pearsall is in good spirits after being shot in the chest in an attempted robbery in downtown San Francisco on Saturday.

That's according to social media posts from the player's mother. The NFL rookie was released in the hospital yesterday.

And Camila Bernal joins us now.

Camila, what's the latest in the investigation? CAMILA BERNAL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Jim.

So, authorities still gathering evidence while he's at home recovering according to the 49ers on the NFL. And you mentioned that Facebook posts from his mom. Well, she said that the gunshot went in through his chest, out his back and thankfully missed vital organs.

She said it was God who protected him. And here's what happened. It was three 30 p.m. on Saturday, broad daylight. He's walking in Union Square in San Francisco, a very popular shopping area. And a 17-year- old approaches him trying to rob him at gunpoint.

There's a struggle between the two of them. That gun fires multiple times, and both of them are shot and injured. And the 17-year-old actually tried to run away, but San Francisco police stopped him and arrested him. He is a 17-year-old. So the charges are going to be filed in juvenile court.

And authorities saying that the decision those will either come tomorrow or Wednesday. But it does highlight the crime in San Francisco. Specifically in that area. There's been shoplifting and also car break-ins. And so this is another high-profile case adding to this national conversation about San Francisco.

[11:55:00]

So, the mayor, London Breed, saying that this is a setback. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LONDON BREED (D), MAYOR OF SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA: We are glad that the victim will be OK.

But this incident does set us back from all the hard work that we have done in order to make significant changes in public safety in San Francisco. We still have the lowest violent crime rate of any major city. We are on track to have record low numbers of gun violence in particular in this city.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERNAL: And Matt (sic) Farrell, who's actually running for her in -- against her in the next mayoral election saying that enough is enough, that there needs to be some change.

So, again, just a lot of conversation about what is happening in San Francisco and what could be done, Jim.

ACOSTA: All right. And we wish the best for Ricky and his entire family. Camila Bernal, thank you very much.

And thank you for joining us this morning. I'm Jim Acosta.

"INSIDE POLITICS WITH DANA BASH" starts after a quick break. Enjoy your Labor Day.