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9 Weeks Until U.S. Election Day; Biden Joins Harris to Campaign for Union votes; Protesters in Israel Demand Deal After Hostages Killed in Gaza; Thousands of U.S. Hotel Workers Strike on Busy Holiday Weekend; Ukraine Pleads to Use Long-Range Weapons in Russia. Aired 4:00-4:30a ET
Aired September 03, 2024 - 04:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[04:00:00]
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KAMALA HARRIS, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE U.S. (D) AND U.S. PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: When unions are strong, America is strong.
GOV. TIM WALZ, D-MN, VICE PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: We all live by that very simple golden rule, mind your own damn business.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I feel the government has neglected the hostages.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There's no reason on earth they're still there. He's willing to sacrifice everything so that he can remain on his chair.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He just arrived in Indonesia and this visit will be a challenge. It will test his strength and fortitude.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANNOUNCER: Live from London, this is CNN NEWSROOM with Max Foster and Christina Macfarlane.
CHRISTINA MACFARLANE, CNN ANCHOR: Hello and a warm welcome to our viewers joining us from the United States and all around the world. I'm Christina Macfarlane. It's Tuesday, September 3rd.
It's 9 a.m. here in London, 4 a.m. in Washington, where there are exactly nine weeks to go until Election Day. One week until Kamala Harris and Donald Trump square off in their first and possibly only debate.
Harris enlisted the help of President Joe Biden in the swing state of Pennsylvania as she made her case to labor union voters. The vice president is scheduled to lay out more of her economic agenda in New Hampshire on Wednesday.
Well, the latest poll continues to show a neck and neck race between her and Trump.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) KAMALA HARRIS, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE U.S. (D) AND U.S. PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: So let's not pay too much attention to the polls. Let's know like labor always does. We are out here running like we are the underdog in this race because we know what we are fighting for.
(APPLAUSE)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MACFARLANE: Well, Harris's running mate Tim Walz spoke with voters in Wisconsin, another battleground state. He leaned into his background as a high school coach with nods to both baseball and football fans.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GOV. TIM WALZ, D-MN, VICE PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: We respect differences. That's your opinion. Look, we're sitting here together, Brewers and Twins fans, Vikings and Packers.
(APPLAUSE)
WALZ: Look, we respect it. But on things like health care and what books I read and democracy, we all live by that very simple golden rule. Mind your own damn business.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MACFARLANE: Well more now from CNN senior White House correspondent Kayla Tausche.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KAYLA TAUSCHE, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris appearing on the campaign trail for the first time since Harris ascended to the top of the ticket. President Biden delivering a forceful defense of his one time running mate, who is now running to succeed him as president, celebrating the work that they've done for the last three and a half years, particularly when it comes to organized labor.
JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Made a lot of progress and Kamala and I are going to build on that progress and she's going to build on it. I'll be on the sidelines. I'll do everything I can to help.
TAUSCHE: While the two exhibited their characteristic and stylistic differences, they were in lockstep on much of their message that the Democrats running for office this year are the ones who have a platform that will promote and provide more benefits for those who are members of unions.
Donald Trump and J.D. Vance on the Republican side, they say, have no platform that would do the same. But they did have one area of agreement in particular where the two were in lockstep, and that was the endorsement of American ownership for iconic Pittsburgh based company U.S. Steel, currently at the center of a $15 billion takeover by a Japanese rival. Shareholders have approved the deal, but union members have voiced their opposition. And today, Vice President Harris echoing President Biden's own opposition, which he staked out in Pittsburgh last April.
HARRIS: Everywhere I go, I tell people you may not be a union member, but you better thank unions for that five day work week.
(CHEERING)
HARRIS: Thank unions for sick leave. Thank unions for paid family leave. Thank unions for your vacation time.
(APPLAUSE)
HARRIS: Because when union wages go up, everybody's wages go up. When union workplaces are safer, all workplaces are safer. When unions are strong, America is strong.
(APPLAUSE)
[04:05:00]
TAUSCHE: It's a singular issue, but it's emblematic of the debate in Middle America that is resisting the control of foreign interests and foreign ownership and keeping American manufacturing wholly owned and strong going into the future.
There's just 64 days left before the election, and this is a message that is going to be carried throughout the heartland.
President Biden will be campaigning and making official visits in Michigan and Wisconsin. Vice President Harris will be visiting New Hampshire, where she'll be delivering a speech rolling out the next phase of her economic plan.
Kayla Tausche, CNN, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MACFARLANE: Well, Donald Trump did not hold any campaign events on Labor Day, but his campaign was paying defense over this comment from Sunday.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT, 2024 PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: 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.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MACFARLANE: Well, the Trump campaign says the former president misspoke and was not admitting that he interfered in the election. Trump is scheduled to appear in a Fox News town hall on Wednesday, followed by rallies in North Carolina and Wisconsin later this week. Now, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is facing mounting
pressure to secure a ceasefire deal after the killing of six hostages in Gaza. On Monday, Israel saw a general strike and a second straight day of major protests across the country, all fueled by anger over those deaths and the failure to bring the remaining hostages home.
Despite the pressure, Netanyahu says he won't make any concessions and is vowing to exact a heavy price on Hamas. Netanyahu is also facing criticism from Israel's closest ally, with U.S. President Joe Biden flatly saying the Israeli leader has not done enough to secure the hostages' release. On Monday, Mr. Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris huddled with U.S. officials who have been working to secure a deal. The U.S. president says he's close to presenting a final deal to negotiators.
And the cousin of Carmel Gat, one of the six hostages killed in Gaza, says he blames Benjamin Netanyahu for their deaths because the prime minister's delay in reaching a deal.
Gat was staying at her parents' home when she was kidnapped during the October 7th attacks. She was one of three hostages who were expected to be released in a potential ceasefire agreement. Her cousin is now expressing his anger and frustration.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GIL DICKMANN, COUSIN AMONG SIX HOSTAGES KILLED BY HAMAS: This is exactly the opposite of what we want. It's exactly the opposite of what Carmel would have wished for and exactly the opposite of what the hostages that are still held in captivity deserve. They deserve to be home. They deserve to be rescued.
He is going to use the murder of my cousin in order to keep the war going. And this is exactly it. I'm furious.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MACFARLANE: We'll CNN's Nic Robertson has more now from Tel Aviv.
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NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR (voice-over): In the face of growing demands to get all the hostages home, Israel's Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, doubling down on his defiance.
BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER: We're asked to make concessions? What message does this send Hamas?
It says kill more hostages, murder more hostages, you'll get more concessions.
ROBERTSON (voice-over): Explaining he won't remove Israeli troops from the Gaza-Egypt border, a compromise Hamas demands. His only concession, rare contrition for the six hostage families.
NETANYAHU (through translator): I told the families, and I repeat and say this evening, I'm asking for your forgiveness that we didn't manage to bring them back alive.
ROBERTSON (voice-over): Pressure for him to back down rocketed Sunday. Hundreds of thousands of Israelis took to the streets, demanding he make the deal, save the other hostages.
That energy and anger still alive on Monday, although the tempo and numbers down, their demands not changing.
MICHAL HADAS MAOR, PROTESTER: I'm here because I feel the government has neglected the hostages. They don't care about the hostages.
BARACK ADURIAN PROTESTER: We want this government to cease to exist. We want elections, and first and foremost, we want them to sign the agreement to release the hostages.
ROBERTSON (voice-over): The whole nation watching what's at stake. Hersch, Goldberg, Polin's poignant funeral, testament to that.
RACHEL GOLDBERG-POLIN, HERSH GOLDBERG-POLIN'S MOTHER: I beg your forgiveness. We tried so very hard, so deeply and desperately. I'm sorry.
ROBERTSON (voice-over): Not the cathartic homecoming his family believed to be in reach.
GOLDBERG-POLIN: We became absolutely certain that you were coming home to us alive, but it was not to be.
ROBERTSON (voice-over): An American, but a son of Israel, his family's pain, the nation's too.
[04:10:00]
Goodbyes, the country craves, end here.
GOLDBERG-POLIN: OK, sweet boy, go now on your journey. I hope it's as good as the trips you dreamed about, because finally, my sweet boy, finally, finally, finally, finally you're free. I will love you and I will miss you every single day for the rest of my life.
ROBERTSON (voice-over): Nic Robertson, CNN, Tel Aviv.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MACFARLANE: Well meantime, the U.K. is suspending some of its arms exports to Israel over concerns about how the weapons might be used for the war in Gaza.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DAVID LAMMY, BRITISH FOREIGN SECRETARY: It is with regret that I inform the House today the assessment I have received leaves me unable to conclude anything other than that for certain U.K. arms exports to Israel there does exist a clear risk that they might be used to commit or facilitate a serious violation of international humanitarian law.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MACFARLANE: About 30 of the U.K.'s 350 arms export licenses to Israel will be suspended. These include components for military aircraft including fighter jets, helicopters and drones. British officials insist this is not an arms embargo but Israel says it's disappointed by the decision arguing it sends a very problematic message to Hamas.
Well CNN's Paula Hancocks has been following all of this live for us from Abu Dhabi. And Paula, let's just rewind a little bit. Yesterday we saw Benjamin Netanyahu refusing to budge or actually make any concessions at all following these nationwide protests to come to a conclusion on the ceasefire deal.
But we also saw perhaps more significantly a shift from President Biden saying that he said he didn't feel Netanyahu was doing enough to bring the hostages home. How significant is that comment at this time when we understand the White House is working to bring forth a final -- a new final draft on the ceasefire in the coming days?
PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Christina, we've been seeing this frustration that the Biden administration feels in particular with the Israeli Prime Minister more and more over recent months, recent weeks. And then on Monday you did see a very blunt response by the U.S. President when he was asked whether Mr. Netanyahu was doing enough. Let's listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mr. President, do you think it's time for Prime Minister Netanyahu to do more on this issue? Do you think he's doing enough?
JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: No.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HANCOCKS: So one word speaks volumes there and it really goes to show just how frustrated the U.S. President has been with the lack of progress when it comes to this ceasefire hostage deal.
We know that on Monday as well, the U.S. President along with his security officials met in the Situation Room to try and come up with a final proposal. It has been called a final proposal that they can put to both sides in the hope that they will agree to that deal.
We also know that Jake Sullivan, his national security adviser, has been speaking to the key mediators in Doha and also those of Egypt as well to try and hammer out this final bridging proposal which by saying final, it really seems as though if it is rejected by either side, it raises the question what can happen after that.
But we have been hearing from some sources familiar with these negotiations, increasing frustration especially by that speech that the Israeli Prime Minister gave on Monday where he effectively said that Hamas had to make concessions and that the Israeli military had to be stationed along the border between Egypt and Gaza, the Philadelphi corridor, saying effectively that was non-negotiable.
Now what we heard from this source was, quote: This guy torpedoed everything in one speech.
It's interesting as well because the Prime Minister is focusing very much on this Philadelphi corridor but as we understand it, a source familiar says that this is a change in Israel's position. The agreement back in May that both Israel and Hamas claimed to have agreed to, according to a draft seen in the Israeli military, didn't mention the Philadelphi corridor. So there is a growing frustration on many sides that this appears to be a changing tack from the Israeli Prime Minister. It appears to be moving the goalposts.
And that frustration we're seeing inside Israel as well as outside. Now as expected after that speech, the far-right elements of Netanyahu's coalition were very supportive. They said they agreed with him.
[04:15:00]
Everyone else within the political echelon, though, said that this effectively meant that we would not be seeing hostages coming home. We've seen the Defense Minister, Yoav Gallant, trying to speak against the Prime Minister, saying it is a moral disgrace that this is happening and endangering the lives of the hostages.
We have also heard from Hamas, obviously, taking advantage of what is happening internally in Israel at this point, saying that more hostages held in Gaza would return, quote: Inside coffins if Israel attempted to try and rescue any of them militarily. Saying that new instructions had been given to the guards surrounding those hostages if there was going to be any attempt to rescue them.
Of course, propaganda, but also a note that time is running out for those hostages -- Christina.
MACFARLANE: All right, Paula Hancocks with the latest for us there in Abu Dhabi. Thanks, Paula.
Now, more than 10,000 hotel workers in the U.S. are on strike and they chose to kick it off on the Labor Day holiday weekend. Hospitality workers' union Unite Here says at least 25 hotels in nine major U.S. cities participated in the strike, most of which are still ongoing.
Workers are asking for better pay, better working conditions and additional staff. The union says while many hotels have recovered from the pandemic, worker wages haven't changed. Spokespeople for at least two hotel chains tell CNN they're committed to reaching deals with the union.
Here's how a local union representative described the situation many are facing.
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JEFFREY BARNER, UNITE HERE UNION STEWARD: And, you know, I've had a lot of people with tears in their eyes who don't have enough money to even go back and forth to work to pay for Uber, to even pay for a bus. And it's really hard to be in this business and smile and greet the guests when in the back of your mind, you're trying to figure out where your next meal is going to come from or whether you're going to be able to keep your lights on.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MACFARLANE: Now, the U.S. West Coast will heat up later this week with more than 30 million Americans under heat alerts starting Wednesday. Los Angeles could reach 100 degrees Fahrenheit, almost 38 Celsius by Friday. It will be the highest temperature the city has seen in two years. Other parts of California could be even hotter.
Phoenix, Arizona will also be under an excessive heat watch. The city has hit 110 degrees Fahrenheit or higher 54 days this year, just one shy of its record set last year.
A grand welcome for Vladimir Putin in Mongolia, even though he's wanted for war crimes. Why the Russian president doesn't seem too worried about being arrested.
And later, Pope Francis starts his tour of Southeast Asia with a stop in the world's largest Muslim majority country. We'll tell you what's ahead on his schedule in Indonesia.
And a daring rescue at sea, how sailors were saved from angry waters far off the Australian coast.
[04:20:00]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
MACFARLANE: Russian airstrikes have killed three people in Ukraine overnight. Two of the victims, a mother and her eight-year-old son, were killed in Zaporizhzhia. When a missile hit a hotel complex, one man was killed in the Dnipro region. Ukrainian officials say they shot down dozens of Russian drones.
These new deadly attacks come a day after another wide-ranging Russian air assault, which wounded four people on the day the Ukrainian children returned to school for a new term.
Ukraine's successes with its incursion into Russia's Kursk region and its setbacks in the Donetsk region are bringing the world's attention back to the war, and local businesses are reacting with urgency.
CNN's Christiane Amanpour takes a closer look at the factory in Kyiv that's ramping up its efforts to help Ukraine.
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CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR (voice-over): The evidence keeps growing. Even here in Kyiv, far from the front, memorials occupy ever more space. And since Ukraine's incursion into Russia's Kursk region, the war has returned to the cities with a vengeance.
Last night, ballistic missiles hit Kyiv, destroying infrastructure, tripling the energy grid, raising fears. Ukrainian journalist Nataliya Gumenyuk tells me it's been a trade-off.
NATALIYA GUMENYUK, UKRAINIAN JOURNALIST: There is no discussion whether the Kursk was right, but the question is how much we lose in Pokrovsk, in the Donbas. It boosted the morale among the military. It showed that, you know, Ukraine can do something.
AMANPOUR (voice-over): Just outside Kyiv, there's an urgent race against time in this factory that's building unmanned vehicles or land drones, because aerial drones make the front lines ever more dangerous for soldiers on both sides. Here's CEO and former special forces officer Oleksandr Biletski.
OLEKSANDR BILETSKI, CEO, SHERP: That's why we should have technologies to kill more Russians, with the purpose of using new technologies, like using drones, using robots. That's it.
AMANPOUR (voice-over): And these all-terrain, all-weather drones are meant to save more Ukrainians. On the front, they can be controlled from as far as three kilometers away. Here, we follow along behind.
They can deliver everything from ammunition to water and also remove the wounded from the front lines. Their production has ramped up since the full-scale invasion of 2022, and the company insists Ukraine must develop more technologically advanced systems for asymmetrical warfare to counter Russia's overwhelming manpower. And they want to be much more self-sufficient for the long haul.
Thirty months into this grinding conflict, with the prospect of international support fading, are Ukrainians now ready to negotiate an end to it all?
GUMENYUK: It's really a matter of survival. We can't allow them to control our territory. And what they suggest is unconditional capitulation.
AMANPOUR: Surrender, yes.
GUMENYUK: Unconditional surrender or occupation.
[04:25:00]
AMANPOUR (voice-over): And here Nataliya quotes her friend and Ukraine's Nobel laureate, who warns that occupation is not peace. It's just a different way of war.
Christiane Amanpour, CNN, Kyiv.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MACFARLANE: Well, Salma Abdelaziz is joining me now here to discuss Ukraine. And Salma, we were just saying that the overnight attack on Zaporizhzhia, a mother and a child killed, what more do we know about that attack?
SALMA ABDELAZIZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: So a family caught in this airstrike, yet another barrage of missiles and drones fired at Russia overnight. We've seen this continue on for almost two weeks now, I believe. The latest victims are this mother and her eight-year-old son, both killed in this attack.
They're staying in a hotel in Zaporizhzhia. That indicates they were probably displaced people. The husband and another child, a 13-year- old daughter, are now in hospital with serious wounds.
Just a reminder of the families, the people who are really stuck in the crosshairs of this conflict. And as Ukraine tries to hit back at this uptick in Russian bombardment, it's really been an uptick since the invasion of Kursk a few weeks after that. That's really when Russian forces started barreling through with these drones, missiles, ballistic missiles, near daily towards Ukrainian cities and towns.
Ukraine's foreign minister is saying, we're fighting with our hands tied behind our back. And he is saying that because Ukrainians are pleading with the White House to lift restrictions on the use of long- range missiles. They want to be able to strike deep in the heart of Russia to hit these sites before they fire that barrage of missiles and drones to be on the offense here with Russia.
However, the White House is simply not convinced. There was a meeting last week in which Ukrainian officials provided a target list. President Biden's administration believes that very high-value assets have probably been moved too far to be hit by those long-range missiles.
In the meanwhile, you also have what's happening in the Donbas, where Ukrainian troops are outmanned and outgunned. That makes that Kursk offensive look less and less like a shimmering prize if it means that Russian forces still continue to barrel on through towards Pokrovsk, because even President Zelenskyy has admitted that was the goal of entering Kursk, to divert Russian forces away. And that does not seem to have played out on the battlefield. So very tough days ahead for Ukraine.
MACFARLANE: And meanwhile, President Putin trying to capture the world's attention in a very brazen and different way, arriving in Mongolia, an ICC member, an ICC signatory, and it not resulting in his arrest. In fact, more than that, they rolled out the red carpet for him, it seems.
ABDELAZIZ: President Putin always trying to make headlines, even calling out Ukraine for their strategy in Kursk, you know, whisking that away, saying, I know the game they wanted to play. I know they wanted me to divert troops to Kursk. I'm not falling for that.
Absolutely trying to demonstrate not just strength in the face of Ukrainian troops, literally on Russian territory, literally claiming Russian land, but also trying to demonstrate that he continues to have a coalition of partners. And that's really the message there from President Putin. MACFARLANE: Interesting. Salma, thank you for now.
Now still ahead, Bangladesh is picking up the pieces following recent mass protests, which led to the ouster of its prime minister. Now, political prisoners are speaking out about the horrors they faced under the Hasina regime.
