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CNN International: Protests Set To Resume In Israel As Netanyahu Defies Growing Pressure To Reach A Deal With Hamas; Biden Says Israeli PM Not Doing Enough To Secure Deal; 129 Killed During Mass Prison Break Attempt In DRC. Aired 11a-12p ET
Aired September 03, 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, at least 47 people killed, hundreds wounded, after a Russian strike on a military college in Ukraine. Plus, one week to go to the debate between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump, and both candidates are sharpening their messages. I will discuss with my panel. And the Harris and Walz campaign kicks off a bus tour to lobby for reproductive rights. We'll take you to Florida, where it all gets started, to see why it's such a big issue there.
A terrible tragedy for the whole of Ukraine. Those were the words of Ukraine's First Lady, Olena Zelenska. She is describing the Russian strike on a military educational facility Tuesday morning that killed at least 47 people. Her husband, President Zelenskyy, says that two ballistic missiles hit the facility and a nearby hospital. Zelenskyy reiterating his calls for Ukraine's allies to provide more air defenses and to lift restrictions on Ukraine to strike deeper into Russia. Local authorities declaring three days of national mourning following the strike. It's one of the single deadliest attacks on Ukraine since Russia launched its invasion more than two years ago.
CNN's Christiane Amanpour is in the capital Kyiv, and she spoke with the Foreign Minister shortly after that attack.
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DMYTRO KULEBA, UKRAINIAN FOREIGN MINISTER: Ballistic missiles, educational facility, the city of Poltava, a large city in Ukraine. I actually come myself from Poltava region. My father is from there. So, this geography is very familiar to me. And we had a very detailed briefing. And the main takeaway, the main lesson that I want everyone again to hear about, and we will not get tired of reminding of it, this is just another reason why delivery of air defense systems to Ukraine must be expedited.
CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN INTERNATIONAL HOST: Do you think if you had had them there, this would have been intercepted? KULEBA: Well, ballistic missiles are very difficult to intercept, and
Poltava is in the east of Ukraine. So, much closer to the Russian territory. According to what I know, the time range for the ballistic missiles to reach the target was very short, and the only way to intercept them was to have a Patriot system or SAMP-T air defense system, because they're the only one capable of intercepting ballistic missiles. So, I don't know how many more tragedies like this have to occur for all promises to be fulfilled and for all new commitments to be made.
AMANPOUR: From what we understand, and I'd like you to confirm, the education facility was targeted as was a hospital. This is a defense education, a military education center. Can you tell us, what are the number of casualties?
KULEBA: Well, the most recent number that I heard was like 40, 40 dead, but -- and more than 100 wounded. But, these numbers, unfortunately, are growing. We started the meeting in the morning with one number, and the meeting lasted for hour and a half. And by the end of it, the numbers increased.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SOLOMON: And you can see more of Christiane's interview with the Foreign Minister at 01:00 p.m. Eastern here on CNN, and of course, we will bring you any new developments as we get them here.
Now, to the latest on the Israel-Hamas war, where we continue to see bitter frustrations, deadly consequences, and still no end in sight. We expect to see protesters on the streets of Israel for a third day to demand a ceasefire deal, an end to the war, and the return of the hostages. The killing in Gaza of six hostages by Hamas has fueled the wave of anger among Israelis, and Hamas is warning that it will kill more of them if Israeli forces close in to try and rescue them.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rejecting calls to do whatever it takes to get an agreement with Hamas, and has been accused by some hostage families of stalling efforts to reach a deal. In the U.S., President Biden answered a reporter's question by saying he does not think Mr. Netanyahu is doing enough to find agreement. Still, the Israeli Prime Minister digging in when he spoke to the media Monday night. Take a listen.
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BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER (Interpreted): What happened over the last five days? One thing happened, they murdered six of our hostages in cold blood. So, after this horrible murder, I can't believe that any serious person will come and say -- would come and say, I've compromised more.
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You're not serious. Hamas is serious. I don't believe something like that, or anyone like that -- anyone thinks that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SOLOMON: And we have full coverage of the story for you. CNN's Arlette Saenz is at the White House. Jeremy Diamond joins us from Tel Aviv.
Jeremy, let me start with you. Clearly, still a lot of anger against Netanyahu. We're expecting more protests today. Talk to us a little bit about the mood there, from what you can tell.
JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN JERUSALEM CORRESPONDENT: Well, the Israeli Prime Minister is defiant despite the mounting pressure that he is facing here in Israel, as hundreds of thousands of people over the last couple of days, not only in Tel Aviv, but across the country, have been taking to the streets, demanding that he prioritize the release of the hostages, striking a ceasefire deal over any other aims of this war. And despite that pressure, last night, we saw the Israeli Prime Minister doubling down on what has become a major sticking point in these negotiations, and that is who will control the Philadelphi Corridor, that strip of land along the Gaza-Egypt border during the first phase of a ceasefire agreement.
The Israeli Prime Minister, he came up with this demand after the initial framework agreement between Hamas and Israel in early July, saying that Israeli troops needed to retain control of that corridor. Hamas has said that Israel needs to withdraw from there in order to get into a ceasefire agreement. And so, that leaves these two sides at a standstill, and it also really deals quite a heavy blow to the hopes of so many Israelis, some of whom I spoke to in the streets of Tel Aviv yesterday, who had hoped that the deaths of these six hostages could potentially be a catalyst to a deal and to getting to a deal in terms of changing the Israeli government and the Israeli Prime Minister's position on this notion.
Because it is important to note that even as the Israeli Prime Minister stressed the security imperatives of retaining control of the Philadelphi Corridor, his Defense Minister, Yoav Gallant, has said in multiple cabinet meetings now that he believes that the Israeli forces could withdraw from that corridor in order to get at least several dozen Israeli hostages out of Gaza, and then, if necessary, could return to Gaza and take over that corridor once again, without dealing a blow to Israel's security. But, the Israeli Prime Minister and the majority of the ministers in his cabinet disagree with that position, and they are showing no signs of changing, despite what we've seen in the streets over the last 48 to 72 hours.
SOLOMON: Yeah. We'll have to see how much of that continues on the streets there in terms of protesting. Jeremy Diamond live for us in Tel Aviv. Jeremy, thank you.
Let's get to Arlette Saenz now, who joins us from the White House. Arlette, talk to us a little bit about what appears to be this growing frustration from Biden becoming more public in these recent comments.
ARLETTE SAENZ, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, Rahel. This really marks another tension point in the relationship between President Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu. Yesterday, the President here at the White House was asked whether he believes that Netanyahu has done enough to try to get this ceasefire and hostage deal across the finish line, and the President answered very bluntly by saying "no". Now, the President also, a bit later in the day, was asked if he plans on speaking to Netanyahu any time soon. He said that he eventually will speak with him, but did not put a timeframe on that.
It comes, as Jeremy was noting, Netanyahu is facing significant pressure from within his country to do something to try to move these hostage talks along. Now, the Israeli side, as you heard Netanyahu's comments, really bristled at the President's suggestion that the Israeli Prime Minister hasn't done enough. They said that they've approached these negotiations with seriousness. A U.S. official responded to that by saying that the President has made clear he believes Hamas is responsible for the latest deaths of the hostages, but they also believe the Israelis need to act with some urgency in these talks.
The President had assembled his national security team yesterday to chart the path forward, to try to make some progress as it relates to these hostages and ceasefire talks. The President himself has said that he thinks that they could soon present a final deal to the two sides. What the administration and the U.S. officials have been trying to work towards is bridging the gaps between Israel and Hamas. But, even as the President is expressing this optimism, it remains entirely unclear if a plan will be presented that would be acceptable to both sides. We know that officials who have been involved in these negotiations have been working the phones in the wake of the deaths of those six Israeli hostages, including one Israeli American.
National Security Advisor, Jake Sullivan, yesterday, spoke with Israel's Minister of Strategic Affairs, Ron Dermer, as well as the Qatari Prime Minister, to try to move these conversations along. But, at this point, it really remains unclear whether the two sides will be able to come to any type of agreement at a time when both have remained dug in on their positions.
SOLOMON: Yeah. And as Jeremy just laid out, the Philadelphi Corridor still remaining quite a sticking point between the two sides.
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Arlette Saenz live for us at the White House. Arlette, thank you.
And coming up, as debate day nears, Kamala Harris plans to unveil new details in her economic plan. At the same time, some of the nation's first voters will cast their ballots this week. We're going to have details straight ahead. Plus, Donald Trump's campaign continues its aggressive fight to win the White House, but the former President's latest waffling on one particular issue, that's making headlines. Stay tuned.
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SOLOMON: One week from today, U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris and former U.S. President Donald Trump will go head to head on the debate stage in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. While Election Day is still more than two months away, the first U.S. ballots will go out on Friday in North Carolina. The Vice President, meantime, expected to unveil new details of her economic plan in New Hampshire tomorrow. Her campaign, meanwhile, just dropped this brand new ad.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She'll make groceries more affordable by cracking down on price gouging, and she'll cut housing costs by taking on corporate speculators. Middle class families build America. We need a leader who has their back.
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SOLOMON: While Donald Trump is not on the campaign trail today, his efforts to crush Kamala Harris' momentum, well, they are in full swing. The former President is fully leaning into the insult-driven strategy that helped him win in 2016. But, Trump's advisors have been pleading with him to focus on top voter concerns like immigration and inflation.
All right. We're going to get into much more of that with 11 weeks to go until the election, after this quick break.
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SOLOMON: Welcome back. You are ere watching CNN Newsroom. I'm Rahel Solomon live in New York. And here are some of the international headlines we're watching for you today.
Despite a series of recent health complications, Pope Francis is beginning his longest trip yet. The 87-year-old Pope touched down in Indonesia earlier for a 12-day tour of Southeast Asia and the South Pacific. His visit comes as the Catholic Church seeks to grow its presence across Asia and strengthen ties with other religions.
At least 11 people have been killed in China after a bus crashed into a crowd of students and parents outside a school. State media quote that the police is saying 13 others were injured. Authorities say that the bus went out of control at an intersection near the school in China's eastern province of Shandong. The driver has been taken into police custody.
In a CNN exclusive, we have learned that the U.S. has seized Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro's airplane. The U.S. says that the jet was acquired in violation of sanctions, among other criminal issues. Venezuela's government accuses the U.S. of piracy and escalating aggression.
Now to a mass prison break attempt in the Democratic Republic of Congo that has left at least 129 people dead. This happened early Monday at the DRC's largest prison in the capital city. Authorities say that women were raped and several prison buildings were destroyed by fire. The country's Interior Minister held a crisis meeting Tuesday to address the incident and says that an investigation is ongoing.
For more on this, let's bring in CNN's Larry Madowo, who joins us live from Nairobi. Larry, first, let's just talk about what we know about how this happened.
LARRY MADOWO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We know it happened early Monday morning, Rahel. This was an attempted prison break because officials are telling us no prisoners actually escaped. But, what did happen is that the prisoners that were killed, more than 100 died from either crushing or from suffocation, because that was a stampede as they tried to make their way out of this dangerously overcrowded prison. And a fire also broke out in the prison's administrative building. It burned through some food depots and the hospital as well. And most tragically, some women were raped in this Monday morning incident.
There has been some horrific videos shared on social media. It shows bodies lying on the ground, people just absolutely shocked by what they're seeing. You can also hear gunfire in the air. It's so graphic we cannot show you here. But, this is how the DRC interior minister explained what happened.
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JACQUEMAIN SHABANI LUKOO BIHANGO, CONGOLESE INTERIOR MINISTER (Interpreted): The provisional human toll stands at a 129 dead, including 24 by gunshot after warning, the others died by jostling, suffocation, and some women were raped. The Commission has also identified 59 injured currently being cared for by the government for appropriate medical care.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MADOWO: An investigation has been launched, and authorities in the DRC are suspending sending any more prisoners to this facility. It was built for 1,500 people, but it had more than 12,000 people there, according to Amnesty International, and the government, Rahel, was in the process of decongesting it and improving conditions.
SOLOMON: And Larry, I mean, mass prison breaks are rare, but this isn't actually the first time we've seen this kind of incident at this particular prison.
MADOWO: It isn't. The same Makala Central Prison is the largest in the Democratic Republic of Congo, and they saw another prison break in 2017. Members of a religious sect broke in, freed some of their members. But, also across the country, prison breaks are not uncommon. In 2020, there was a rebel group affiliated to ISIS that broke into a prison in Beni in the northeastern part of DRC and freed several hundred men. There has also been other prison breaks in other parts of the country, because the bigger problem is just the horrible conditions that prison in the DRC are in, the overcrowding, the terrible conditions, and that makes them ripe, essentially, areas for people to try and break out of.
[11:20:00] And sometimes, they have, obviously, help from the outside. The government calling this latest prison break out of Makala a premeditated act of sabotage.
SOLOMON: OK. Larry Madowo reporting live for us here. Larry, thank you.
Now to Bangladesh, where many people are still picking up the pieces after a mass uprising that ousted the country's former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. It came after she ordered a brutal crackdown by police, leaving some protesters with deep scars. Now, some victims are coming forward.
CNN's Anna Coren has her story.
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ANNA COREN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The fresh faces of the future against that of the past. Shoes hanging in the face of Bangladesh's ousted Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, the ultimate insult and show of defiance in a country where people on the streets achieve the unthinkable, what began as a student-led protest against government quotas in early July morphed into a mass uprising, after Hasina, who'd been in power for more than 15 years, ordered police to open fire and cracks. Over the following weeks, hundreds of people were killed while thousands were arrested.
NUSRAT TABASSUM, PROJECT COORDINATOR: They came to my house. They broke three doors. They took me with them, and oh, my god, the physical torture, that was miserable.
COREN (voice-over): Nusrat Tabassum, a 23-year-old political science student, says she was beaten for hours on end. Her face repeatedly hit. Some of her teeth now loose. Her right eardrum burst.
TABASSUM: Without hearing it, I can't listen in my right ear.
COREN (voice-over): After five days in custody, Nusrat was paraded in front of the cameras, the only female in the group of prominent student leaders forced to make an apology.
For fellow student Iftekhar Alam, his detainment was even more sinister. Snatched from his home before dawn, he was blindfolded, handcuffed, and believes he was taken to a notorious military intelligence facility in Dhaka, where, over the years, hundreds of Bangladeshi considered anti-state have been disappeared.
IFTEKHAR ALAM, STUDENT PROTESTOR: I was like there is no escaping from this and my life will end here and no one will know.
COREN (voice-over): The law student says for hours he was beaten with a metal rod, breaking bones in his feet. A burning cigarette was then pushed into his fingers and toes as part of what they called their little game.
ALAM: When I close my eyes, I remembered that I went to that horrible day.
COREN (voice-over): Once released, he discovered Hasina had resigned and fled to India.
ALAM: The people's Bangladesh, it is the people's country.
COREN (voice-over): The capital, now awash with colorful murals, has a very clear message, there is no going back.
As the UN investigates the hundreds of protester deaths, the people have entrusted interim chief Nobel Prize winner, Muhammad Yunus, to bring about desperately needed reform.
COREN: The call of the government has unleashed a spirit that has electrified every level of society. It has given a voice to everyone, from students to doctors, even rickshaw drivers, as they take to the streets to make their demands.
COREN (voice-over): But, change doesn't happen overnight, especially in a country of 170 million people, where the iron fist ruled and corruption and cronyism reigned.
TABASSUM: My country is sick, but our people, we will stand together. I believe there will be sunshine in future,
COREN (voice-over): A future this generation will continue to fight for.
Anna Coren, CNN, Dhaka, Bangladesh.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SOLOMON: All right. And still ahead for us, Kamala Harris' campaign for U.S. President is focusing on the issue of abortion rights. Coming up, we will tell you about the Democratic bus tour that kicks off today, and the significance of starting in the state of Florida. Plus, Harris and President Joe Biden are also talking business. We will be looking at why they say they don't want a century-old steelmaker to be taken over. We'll be right back.
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SOLOMON: One week from today, U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris and former U.S. President Donald Trump will go head to head on the debate stage in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Our team tracking this pivotal new stretch in the race for the White House. We have CNN's Alayna Treene, who is standing by for us in Washington, D.C. We also have Priscilla Alvarez with details on the Harris campaign.
Priscilla, let's start with you, and talk to us a little bit about what we're learning about the focus and the messaging from Harris with this new ad.
PRISCILLA ALVAREZ, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, this is how they are fine tuning their messaging on the economy. The Vice President making it about affordability, lowering, for example, housing prices, as well as drug costs. Now this, of course, is an issue where the Vice President has typically lagged behind former President Donald Trump. So, they're trying to seize on it now, especially a week before the presidential debate.
Now, the Vice President in this ad, again, focusing on the affordability of goods, but she is also going to be focusing on this on the trail, yesterday, along with President Joe Biden, appealing to labor groups and union workers, again, the economy, a strong theme there, and tomorrow, heading to New Hampshire to talk about small businesses, entrepreneurship and innovation. She teased some of this last week, saying that she wanted to propose tax credits for small business startups. So, this has been a trickle of economic proposals from the Harris campaign, as they in some ways try to distinguish their messaging, aware that prices are still high for Americans, but that their campaign is proposing how to lower that, and that affordability is front and center on that.
Now, again, I should go back to President Joe Biden, who will be utilized on the campaign trail to send this message as well, especially in those blue wall states. It's where he narrowly won in 2020 and where they think that he can really help the ticket this time around. Now, he is transitioning himself from candidate to surrogate, and we got a piece of that during their event yesterday.
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KAMALA HARRIS, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE U.S., (D) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: It's going to be a tight race to the very end. So, let's not pay too much attention to those polls, because as unions and labor knows best, we know what it's like to be the underdog, and we are the underdog in this race, and we have some hard work then ahead of us. Well, here is the beauty of us in this room. We like hard work. Hard work is good work.
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ALVAREZ: Well, there you heard from the Vice President. That's a message that she has been delivering on the campaign trail, that they are the underdogs, not to get too sort of boastful about their fundraising numbers and polling that shows a slight edge over former President Donald Trump, knowing well that it's going to be a tough race, but at least for now, keeping that focus on the economy when they're only days away from that debate.
SOLOMON: Yeah. And Priscilla, almost simultaneously keeping the focus on the economy, but also keeping their focus on reproductive rights. The campaign kicking off this reproductive rights bus tour. What can you share about that?
ALVAREZ: Yeah. That is going to kick off today in Florida, a state where abortion is on the measure or -- sorry, is on the ballot. Now, Senator Klobuchar will be launching it along with the campaign manager Julie Chavez Rodriguez.
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This is really going to be a tour that's composed of surrogates, elected officials and the campaign's celebrities. It's going to include at least 50 stops. We don't know all of them yet, but we do know it is going to go all the way up to Election Day, which really gives you a good sense of how much the campaign is banking on this issue going into November. Of course, they saw how it galvanized voters in the midterms in 2022 and they want to emulate that now in 2024. The Vice President, of course, very familiar with this issue. She had her own reproductive rights tour earlier in the year. She was really designated as the voice on the issue when it was the then-Biden campaign. So, some of that now sort of spilling over into the Harris campaign, as they also try to gain more momentum on this issue.
SOLOMON: OK. Priscilla Alvarez live for us there. Priscilla, thank you.
Let's bring in now CNN's Alayna Treene, who is covering the Trump campaign. Alayna, on this issue of reproductive rights, Trump's stance on abortion, it's been flip-flopping lately. I mean, is it clear where he stands?
ALAYNA TREENE, CNN REPORTER: This is an issue, Rahel, that Donald Trump has struggled with to articulate, to really pick a side on for over a year now, and especially because he does have -- he tries to play both sides of it sometimes. When he is around his allies and some of his more conservative audiences, you hear him take credit for stacking the Supreme Court with three conservative justices who helped overturn Roe v. Wade. But, he also often tells people, you have to think about politics. You have to win elections. And so, this has been an issue that he has really tried to straddle.
But, we did hear some -- a new part of this last week, when he was asked first in one interview with NBC News about how he would vote on Florida's abortion referendum, and essentially the referendum would help get rid of the six-week abortion ban that Florida Governor Ron DeSantis had put in place, and issue new protections around abortion.
Now, Donald Trump, at first, said he thought that the six-week ban in Florida went too far, that it's not enough time, and that led many people, particularly many of those allies that helped put him in the White House in 2016 during his first campaign. It really angered them. You saw a lot of statements coming out from pro-life and anti-abortion groups, kind of criticizing Donald Trump on it. Then his campaign told everyone, no. That doesn't mean that he is not going, he is -- how he is voting on this referendum. He then was asked about it again on Friday, and he said that he plans to vote "no" on the referendum, essentially saying that he would keep that Florida six-week ban in place.
So, he kind of went all over on this. But, again, I think that this has been a massive issue for Donald Trump, something he has struggled on, and one that they know is going to play such a huge role in November. And so, this won't be the end of that conversation, Rahel. SOLOMON: I mean, Alayna, a huge role in November, but it also may play
a huge role next week on Tuesday during the debate. I mean, how are they preparing for? They will inevitably be asked about -- he will be asked about his position. I mean, how are they preparing to handle that question?
TREENE: No, absolutely. I think, like, a key part of this is going to be the debate, particularly because you have someone like Harris who, as Priscilla laid out, has kind of owned this issue for the Biden administration. She is a woman. She can speak to some of this from that background.
But, look, they know that this is going to be one of the most hotbed issues at the debate. Donald Trump has been preparing for this debate behind the scenes, and abortion is absolutely one of those issues that they are kind of fine tuning and working on with him.
I think one thing to keep in mind as well, Rahel, is that a lot of this plays into the broader picture of another area where Donald Trump is struggling, which is the widening gender gap. We have seen that really become even more of an issue for the Trump campaign with having the Vice President now at the top of the Democratic ticket. This is something that they recognize, and they know that abortion plays a big role into that, and that abortion rights are very popular across the country. So, this is something that they're fine tuning behind the scenes. And I think there is no question that his kind of waffling on abortion, particularly his answers when it comes to the Florida referendum, is going to be a major issue at the debate, and one that they need to kind of sort out over the next few days before they hit the stage in Philadelphia. Rahel.
SOLOMON: Yeah. I want to talk more about that. Alayna Treene, thank you.
And the first stop, as we said, of the Harris campaign's reproduction rights tour is in Florida today, and it's to bring attention to Amendment Four. This is a proposed Florida state constitutional amendment, you just heard Alayna reference it there, that would overturn the ban on abortions after six weeks. It would guarantee rights to an abortion through the first trimester. It's something that Harris' rival and Florida resident Donald Trump has expressed support for.
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DONALD TRUMP (R), FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT AND 2024 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Well, I think the six-week is too short. It has to be more time. And so, that's -- and I've told them that I want more weeks.
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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. So, I'll be voting "no" for that reason.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SOLOMON: All right. Joining us now is Mitch Perry. He is the Senior Reporter for the Florida Phoenix. Mitch, welcome. So good to have you. Let's start with what you can share with us based on your reporting about how Trump's comments, the waffling, how is it being received there by Republicans in Florida, as they actively work to try to get this measure passed?
MITCH PERRY, SENIOR REPORTER, FLORIDA PHOENIX: Yeah, especially pro- life Republicans, they weren't happy. And I saw people on social media commenting on it and saying, overall, look, we're still going to support the President. He is better than Kamala Harris on this issue, but it did not help. And you saw the Trump campaign had to play cleanup on this twice. After the comments came out last Thursday on Fox News, he came out with a statement, or his press person did, saying that he hasn't said for sure that he is going to vote for Amendment Four, and then next day, as you saw, he came out completely against it, even though he continues to say six weeks is too short.
Florida did have, up until two years ago, never had limitations roughly on this. Then they passed the 15-week law in 2022, then came back in 2023, the six-week law, which is not going to affect until a few months ago because of court challenges.
SOLOMON: Yeah. And I mean, to that point, Mitch, I mean, how much do you think Florida voters know that this new rule is in effect as of May 1, and that it's actually on the ballot again in November?
PERRY: Yeah, absolutely. We've talked to providers here and people who help out, help women who need their funding for abortions, and they told me, because they deal with a lot of young women who don't really follow the news that closely, as we all do here, and a lot of them were saying that they had no idea actually. They weren't paying that close of attention to the fact that this six-week law is now the law of the land here in Florida. Again, it only went into effect on May 1. And Florida had been a place since the other crackdowns of abortion, a lot in the south, right, where there is complete bans. So, some of these groups were helping fund people to come down to Florida, actually, and get an abortion, which happened to me, go up until 15 weeks, until a few months ago. Now, it's down to six weeks.
It's very strong, and it's -- now we're dealing with this whole debate, this amendment, which is going to be fascinating to see. It needs to get 60 percent to pass, which is not going to be easy. Polls showed it consistently getting support well over 50 percent, but in between, some poll showing it gets over 60 percent, some show it does not. SOLOMON: Oh, interesting. So, this may really come down to wait and
see sort of how the voters decide. It's not really clear, it sounds like.
One thing Mitch that's interesting is obviously a lot of our focus has been on the presidential election, for obvious reasons. But, one thing that hasn't gotten as much attention as some of the Senate races. Democrats have said they believe that they'll be able to hold on to their majority in the Senate despite some pretty tough races this November. I'm curious how this issue, specifically of abortion rights, is impacting the Senate race there in Florida.
PERRY: Right. We have Debbie Mucarsel-Powell, who was a former congresswoman from South Florida, challenging incumbent Rick Scott, and she is actually doing better than I think some people thought -- think in the polls, still down in most polls, between three percent to five percent to six percent, and she hasn't really gotten a lot of support from the national groups in Washington. They see this as one of those races. They don't really expect to win. The Democrats do. But, Debbie Mucarsel-Powell has made abortion rights front and center from the very beginning of this campaign for her.
It's interesting, because with the state now becoming much more red the last few years, roughly a million more registered Republicans and Democrats, the folks who were supporting the abortion rights amendment know they can't rely strictly on Democrats to pass this, right? So, they're being very strictly neutral and not trying to get partisan. But, Democrats like Debbie Mucarsel-Powell, are fighting hard into this, leading into this, trying to get Republicans who maybe would vote the party line, not only to support Amendment Four, but to support her, because, in fact, she is going to be much better, in her opinion, on reproductive rights than Rick Scott would be.
SOLOMON: Mitch, it's interesting. We have an international audience, and I'm curious, I just heard you say there and point out that the states become more red in recent years. Talk to me a little bit about the demographics of the state, and talk to me about the changing demographics, you think about COVID, how many people moved into Florida, just some of the changes we've seen there.
PERRY: Yeah. Well, think about this. Rick Scott ran for reelection, or excuse me, ran for election for the first time for Senate six years ago. He barely narrowly defeated incumbent Democrat Bill Nelson by 30,000 votes, right? It was a recount. It was so close, as was Ron DeSantis defeating Andrew Gillum that year. Flash forward (inaudible), that's when Democrats had about a 200,000 voter advantage lead. Then it's every month since then, every year since then, more Republicans have committed the state.
You mentioned COVID. COVID had a lot to do with that. We saw people leaving states like Illinois, New York, coming to places like Florida. So, there has been a real seismic change in our politics here, from being the quintessential swing state for so many election cycles to this year we are not.
[11:40:00] This is a big deal for the folks in Palm Beach County to have this event with Senator Amy Klobuchar being a top surrogate for the Harris campaign today, because, in fact, they have -- it is not on the radar like it has been for so many election cycles. So, this has been a quiet state as it were right now. Democrats are really hoping, with this amendment, maybe to get more Republicans switch over to them and help them on those down-ballot races.
SOLOMON: Mitch, it's so fascinating. And as I hear you talk about some of the previous races, it just sort of refreshes my memory of how important sometimes Florida politics can become. You've been covering Florida politics for more than 20 years. If you had to think back, when was the last time sort of a Florida issue sort of dominated so much of the national conversation about the presidential election. I have an idea, but I'm curious what you think.
PERRY: Yeah. Well, I mean, in terms of -- we had voting rights on the ballot in 2018. I think we were thinking a national issue here in a midterm election for -- what was it, increasing the minimum wage. Basically, the way that Democrats get any of these issues that they want to get through with progressives certainly is through the constitutional ballot amendment process, right, because, again, with -- even when the Democrats had a registration lead here, they nearly lost one point races, going back to Rick Scott's two victories for governor in 2010 and 2014. Donald Trump in 2016 won by just one point over Hillary Clinton. He only won by three points over Joe Biden in 2020.
So, even as recent as four years ago, this was a really big battleground state, and it's just the last couple of cycles now where we're not one of the top seven, right? Georgia has superseded in the south here as a state where everybody is competing for. So, yeah, abortion rights this year, because it's on, what, 10 states are also voting for this, the Kamala Harris. It's one of the good issues for Democrats. They have issues with inflation and immigration where they're struggling with that, but abortion rights are strong for them, and right here -- and they're doing in Palm Beach County, the Democrats are, which, of course, is the President's home region, actually.
SOLOMON: Well, that's a really interesting point. Mitch Perry, so great to have you. Thank you. You are welcome back anytime to talk all things, Florida politics.
All right. And the Vice President also speaking out about the potential sale of a U.S. Steel -- of U.S. Steel to a foreign company. While in Pittsburgh on Monday, Harris said that U.S. Steel should remain domestically owned. An Ohio-based company previously made an offer to buy the company for more than $7 billion, but Japan's largest steel maker, Nippon Steel, has offered $14 billion to take over U.S. Steel.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HARRIS: It is vital for our nation to maintain strong American steel companies, and I couldn't agree more with President Biden, U.S. Steel should remain American owned and American operated.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SOLOMON: Joining us now is CNN's Matt Egan. So, Matt, help us understand what we should make of Harris' stance on this.
MATT EGAN, CNN REPORTER: Well, listen, Rahel, this is more evidence of the uphill political battle that this deal faces. And I guess we shouldn't be shocked. We're talking about a foreign takeover of a legendary American company during the middle of an election season. And this is a company that is a symbol of blue collar jobs, and it is based in Pennsylvania, the must-win battleground state. And so, now we do have Harris going to the Steel City, the home of the Pittsburgh Steelers, to voice her opposition.
One thing that is worth noting here is that Harris didn't say exactly what if anything she'll do in her official capacity to try to block this deal. But, look, it really was controversial from the moment that Nippon still offered to buy U.S. Steel for $14 billion. That was back in December. They tried to get ahead of some of these concerns by saying that U.S. Steel will keep its iconic name, that it will remain in Pittsburgh. That's where its headquarters will stay. But, look, regulators, they've got to sign off on this. This needs a green light from not just the antitrust regulators at the DoJ, but it has to get approved by CFIUS. That's the interagency panel that reviews foreign investment in the United States.
And one of the things that's come up here politically is that, of course, this is an iconic company. It's a story name, 123-years-old. When it was founded, it was the biggest company on the planet, worth twice the entire size of the national budget at the time, and it really did help make America an economic superpower. It still went into the skyscrapers and bridges and appliances and cars. But, it's also worth noting, this is company that's been in decline for decades. At its peak of employment back during World War II, it had 340,000 employees. Today, it's down below 22,000. It's faced that competition internally and from overseas.
[11:45:00]
And so, its production has gone down.
And now, Rahel, the big question is whether or not it's going to come under foreign ownership or if antitrust regulators are going to spike this deal.
SOLOMON: And Matt, I mean, to be clear, if you can still hear me, Vice President Harris isn't the only one to oppose this foreign takeover or this bid to take over U.S. Steel. Talk to us a little bit about the politics of this moment.
EGAN: Yeah. This is faced bipartisan political backlash. Right? Vice President Harris joins a number of other officials that have voiced opposition. Right? President Biden came out against this in his own trip to Pittsburgh back in March. We've also heard from Rust Belt Democratic senators, including John Fetterman and Sherrod Brown. And then, on the Republican side, we've heard from Josh Hawley, Marco Rubio against it. And the GOP ticket, former President Trump and J.D. Vance are against it as well.
What's notable here and sort of unusual is not that a foreign takeover is getting scrutiny. It's that it's a foreign takeover from a close U.S. ally. Not even during the height of the trade tensions between the U.S. and Japan in the 80s and 90s did we see a takeover from a Japanese company get blocked. And I spoke to Michael Leiter, he is a partner over at Skadden Arps, and he told me that it is difficult, if not impossible, to identify national security risks that justify opposing the merger. He told me it is much, much easier to see the political risk here. And he said it's regrettable that the politics appear to be driving this debate here.
So, more to come on this front. And one other point here, Rahel, is U.S. Steel, it's down five percent today after Harris came out against the deal.
SOLOMON: Yeah. I mean, I guess it doesn't take much to understand why you just sort of laid out the decline there and some of the challenges. There is a lot here. Matt Egan, thank you for breaking it down for us.
EGAN: Thanks, Rahel.
SOLOMON: We have breaking news in our top story today. The death toll at the military educational facility in central Ukraine has risen to 49. That's according to local officials, which add there may be more bodies buried under the rubble. Russia's strike on the facility damaged at least 10 residential buildings at the facility.
I want to get now to CNN's Fred Pleitgen, who joins me live in Kyiv. Fred, just give us the latest on this Russian strike.
FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hi there, Rahel. Yeah. This came a couple of minutes ago, with that regional military official saying exactly that that the death toll now stands at 49. However, the fear is that it actually could rise. As you mentioned, there are apparently still people who are trapped underneath the rubble and the rescue crews trying to get to them. This regional military official also says that at least 219 people are now confirmed to have been injured in these strikes. Now, he says that the rescue crews and the search and rescue crews are still on the grounds -- are still trying to get people out from underneath some of those buildings.
You were also saying 10 residential buildings apparently damaged, and that, on top of the fact that a hospital in that area was apparently badly damaged as well. They believe that as many as 18 people could still be trapped somewhere underneath there. And of course, they fear that with that, the death toll might continue to rise, as we get into the evening hours.
Now, to recap all of this, the Ukrainians are saying that it was two Russian ballistic missiles that struck this military educational facility. They say that there was actually an air raid siren that went off, an air raid alert that went off, but that the time between when that alert first happened and the striking of the missile was so short that people simply didn't have enough time to get to these air raid shelters, and that is why the toll is as bad as it is.
Now, the President of this country, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, is obviously extremely angry about this whole situation. He came out earlier today, and he was actually one of the first to confirm that this attack had happened. And he once again called for the lifting of restrictions on longer distance strikes with Western weapons inside Russia, and also for more air defenses for Ukraine. That's something that the Ukrainians have been calling for a lot, of course, really for the past over a year, and they say that they badly need longer distance air defense systems, like, for instance, the Patriot, because, of course, ballistic missiles, like the ones that were used in this attack, extremely difficult to shoot down four air defense weapons, and those longer range air defense weapons, like, for instance, the U.S.- supplied Patriots are the ones that can do that.
So, right now, a lot of grief, a lot of anger on the ground here, and the leadership of this country already saying that they will have revenge for this against the Russian army, Rahel.
SOLOMON: And Fred, I mean, obviously, this is one of the worst strikes since Russia's invasion began. But, talk to us a little bit about, if we take a step back, how this fits into the pattern of Russia escalating their air campaign against Ukraine.
PLEITGEN: Well, first of all, you're absolutely right. It is definitely one of the worst -- one with the highest -- one of the ones with the highest death toll since the beginning of Russia's full-on invasion of Ukraine.
[11:50:00]
There were two other strikes that I was actually at in 2023 that were sort of similar as far as the carnage is concerned. There was one in early 2023 in Dnipro, where almost a whole house, residential building was blown away by a missile that's meant to destroy aircraft carrier strike groups. There was another event later on in 2023 where a funeral wake was essentially annihilated also by one of these ballistic missiles and that killed 59 people.
But, one of the things that we have also indeed be -- having been seeing is an uptick in the aerial campaign that the Russians have been waging against Ukrainian cities, of course, also against Ukrainian forces, but other regions as well. For instance, on Monday, there was a massive array of aerial attacks here on the capital in Kyiv, where the Ukrainians say that their air defenses took down a lot of ballistic missiles and cruise missiles, but obviously didn't manage to take down all of them. Three people there were injured. And you did see some of those explosions taking place in the Ukrainian capital.
And if we look at some of the bigger cities that are closer to Russian territory, the situation there, in many ways, is even worse. For instance, Kharkiv, which is the second biggest city here in Ukraine, on Sunday, suffering a huge attack by Russian glide bombs and missiles, with the Ukrainians saying that 40 people were injured in that, and that followed several others attacks on the same cities, also using some of these very heavy weapons. So, the Ukrainians are saying, because of that, they need more of those air defense weapons, but they also need the U.S. to lift some of the restrictions on using U.S. weapons to strike Russian territory, Rahel.
SOLOMON: Yeah. All right. Fred Pleitgen live for us there. Fred, thank you.
We are going to take a quick break. We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SOLOMON: And one more thing before we go. The ghost with the most is coming back to the big screen this week. "Beetlejuice Beetlejuice" is the highly anticipated sequel to Tim Burton's beloved 1988 classic. The movie is a Warner Bros. production which, like CNN, is part of Warner Bros. Discovery.
CNN's Elizabeth Wagmeister spoke with some of the film's stars.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice.
ELIZABETH WAGMEISTER, CNN ENTERTAINMENT CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Three iconic words --
CATHERINE O'HARA, ACTOR, "BEETLEJUICE BEETLEJUICE": Nobody should say it three times.
WINONA RYDER, ACTOR, "BEETLEJUICE BEETLEJUICE": I don't like -- about saying it twice.
WAGMEISTER (voice-over): -- three iconic women returning to that ghostly comedy --
(VIDEO PLAYING)
WAGMEISTER (voice-over): -- 36 years after the original. Catherine O'Hara --
O'HARA: I'm trying to capture the perfect primal scream.
WAGMEISTER (voice-over): -- and Winona Ryder.
RYDER: I can't believe I'm doing this.
WAGMEISTER (voice-over): -- reprise their roles in the long-awaited sequel to Beetlejuice.
WAGMEISTER: It took a long time, but why is now the right time for this?
O'HARA: Jenna had to be born --
RYDER: Yeah.
O'HARA: -- to become an actress.
(VIDEO PLAYING)
WAGMEISTER (voice-over): Fresh off Netflix's monster hit Wednesday, Jenna Ortega plays Ryder's daughter and O'Hara's granddaughter.
(VIDEO PLAYING)
WAGMEISTER (voice-over): All three women sat down with CNN ahead of the film's release.
WAGMEISTER: I love sitting with the three of you because it's the three generations of women of this film. Jenna, what did you learn from working with Winona and Catherine?
JENNA ORTEGA, ACTOR, "BEETLEJUICE BEETLEJUICE": First of all, comedy legend.
O'HARA: Yes.
ORTEGA: Everything that she does is absolutely perfect. I feel like Winona has this quality to her that that's why you're like the perfect Lydia, because you feel like you know her. You feel like you relate to her. But, there is still something there that's unattainable and it belongs to just you.
WAGMEISTER (voice-over): The sequel finds the Deetz family back home where Beetlejuice first haunted them.
[11:55:00]
When Ortega's Astrid accidentally opens the portal to the afterlife, Michael Keaton's Beetlejuice is unleashed all over again.
O'HARA: I honestly did not know that this movie was so loved. They're at the right, I guess, that --
ORTEGA: Yeah.
O'HARA: -- the nostalgic sort of value of it really means something to them.
RYDER: There is just nothing like it. It's in its own genre. That is like a testament to Tim.
WAGMEISTER (voice-over): Tim Burton returns to direct the sequel to the 1988 classic.
TIM BURTON, DIRECTOR, "BEETLEJUICE BEETLEJUICE": Is that a movie that could have been made in like 1989? It really was the anchor to this, to see through generations of the Deetz.
WAGMEISTER (voice-over): Burton also made Wednesday with Ortega, a natural choice for Beetlejuice, even though she wasn't born when the original came out. She saw decades later at age nine.
WAGMEISTER: And what do you remember about watching it?
ORTEGA: I remember sweating a lot because I saw a drunk Beetlejuice costume when I was like six-years-old at a Halloween costume party, and she terrified me.
WAGMEISTER (voice-over): As for a third movie, likely titled with those three cursed words --
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice.
WAGMEISTER (voice-over): -- these generational stars say they could be back for more.
O'HARA: Yeah, I'd like to be alive --
RYDER: Yeah.
O'HARA: -- 30 years.
WAGMEISTER (voice-over): Elizabeth Wagmeister, CNN, Los Angeles.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SOLOMON: And see, that's why she is a comedy legend.
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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