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Protesters Demand Deal As Israel And Hamas Harden Stance; 51 Killed, 219 Injured in Russian Strike On Central Ukraine; Harris Kicks Off "Reproductive Rights" Tour, Trump Wavers On Issue; Bangladesh Torture Victims Have Hope For Country's Future; Pope Francis Begins Historic 12-Day Asia Tour. Aired 3-4p ET

Aired September 03, 2024 - 15:00   ET

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

[15:00:38]

JULIA CHATTERLEY, CNN HOST: It's 8:00 p.m. in London, 10:00 p.m. in Tel Aviv, 2:00 a.m. in Jakarta, and 3:00 p.m. here in New York.

I'm Julia Chatterley, in for Jim Sciutto. Thanks so much for joining me today on CNN NEWSROOM.

Let's get right to the news.

In Israel, thousands of protesters calling for an immediate hostage deal have returned to the streets for a third night. The anger and grief comes after six hostages who survived, 329 days in Gaza were killed by Hamas hours before being found by Israeli forces. And Hamas is warning more hostages will be killed if Israel tries to rescue them.

Both sides are doubling down on their cease-fire demands. Israel insisting it will keep troops in a key corridor on the Gaza/Egypt border while Hamas says it will only agree to a deal if Israel leaves the Philadelphi corridor.

International diplomatic editor Nic Robertson is in Tel Aviv for us.

Nic, I can see you're surrounded by protesters. You can talk about what they're telling you. But just to be clear, if we go back to May, Netanyahu agreed to President Biden's proposal, which didn't include Israeli troops being present in that corridor.

Its strategic importance hasn't changed. So what has? Because clearly the protesters, there aren't convinced its that important or a deal- breaker.

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: They're not and they don't understand why its something that they weren't hearing about in May, but now, they're hearing about it all the time and now it's a central issue and now it's the reason the prime minister won't do a deal with Hamas to bring the hostages home, which is what they're asking for.

You're right. Just a few seconds ago, about two minutes ago. This was a sea of protesters is just the burning embers of a fire as they marched off somewhere else, but the three hours here, it was a cacophony of calls calling on the prime minister to get out of Gaza, why are we still in Gaza? People are saying, get the hostages home. If they don't come home, then we're all hostage. That was another thing people were saying.

It's much quieter now as that crowd was gone. But to your point about the Philadelphi corridor, it's not just the crowds here who are raising their concerns and they don't believe what the prime minister saying, they don't believe it's an issue as much substance as he makes it out to be. What we were hearing just a couple of hours ago from Benny Gantz, the leader of the main opposition party, if you will?

The biggest opposition party here, at least who was in the war cabinet until a few months ago what he has said this evening echoes what everyone here is saying is that he's saying what the prime minister told you to last night about the Philadelphi corridor is a lie that he was presented with military proposals for a way to keep that border safe and free from weapons movement, which is prime ministers concern and he didn't go for it. He says the prime minister understands there are alternatives and therefore his language, he says this is the reason that we can't make a deal.

So there's a huge wave -- uplift, if you will, of opposition to the prime minister. But as your question rightly frames it, he's dug his heels in and he's not moving.

CHATTERLEY: So where does that leave us now, Nic? Because we've got Hamas on the other side releasing videos of what they're calling the hostages last messages, and that's clearly only going to fuel the anger the sadness that we're seeing behind you on the streets. I mean, this is exactly one could argue what Hamas wants to see in response.

ROBERTSON: Look, Hamas's leadership absolutely understands the political pressures on the prime minister and a way to exacerbate those pressures are to manipulate and cynically use the hostages. And that video you're referring to is part of that that's how everyone here sees it. When they -- when Hamas puts out of propaganda piece about the hostages, they understand it's a cynical manipulation of the situation. It's a cynical manipulation of their feelings. It's a manipulation of the country.

Nevertheless, you know, I think people just look beyond it. They understand what Hamas is trying to do. They understand that the prime minister is taking a particular position that is just exacerbating this. This is what they feel about it.

The opportunity has been there to have a deal. The prime minister hasn't taken it. And in that and in that vacuum, if you will, Hamas is exploiting it and these videos are just a manifestation of the way that they try to read the political for mood in the country here, and manipulate it to get what they want.

[15:05:10]

And their message is very clear right now. Their message is, if you try to recover more hostages using the military then they will only come home in coffins. It's a very blunt message, but that's where the situation has come to, and that's frankly what everyone here worries about so much that it has -- the situation has been allowed to deteriorate to this point.

CHATTERLEY: Nic Robertson, great to get your context as always. Thank you for that report.

Now, as we watch these images coming in from Israel, I want to bring in Kayla Tausche at the White House.

Kayla, good to have you with us.

What's the White House saying today about that sense of urgency for this hostage and ceasefire deal, and also the stance I think that Prime Minister Netanyahu has taken?

KAYLA TAUSCHE, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Julia, the White House says that there is renewed urge, urgency for that hostage and ceasefire deal after the remains of those hostages were recovered over the weekend. This is something that John Kirby, who's the spokesman for the National Security Council, reiterated, yet again today its been the position edition of the White House for the last several days, but it's really been the position of the White House throughout the course of the last several weeks after the U.S. called that emergency summit in the region beginning August 15, several weeks ago to renew those talks in-person.

And although they've moved locations and been dragged out quite a bit, the U.S. has said that it still remains optimistic that some sort of deal can be reached, though the president has also revealed some of his own beliefs about at the situation which is what he said yesterday, which is that he believes Prime Minister Netanyahu is not doing enough himself to get this deal across the finish line.

Now, President Biden said that he believes the U.S. is close to proposing a final bridging proposal in terms of the U.S. has described it in. But today, John Kirby said that there's no timetable that he was able to provide as to when that final proposal would be put forth. But, of course, considering the language that Nic was just mentioning that Hamas is using, that has upped the ante for the U.S. and its allies to drive these conversations forward and to try to get a deal once and for all, Julia.

CHATTERLEY: Kayla Tausche there at the White House, thank you.

All right. Let's talk more about this.

Avi Mayer, former editor in chief for "The Jerusalem Post", joins us now.

Good to have you with us, sir.

It's not just about three days of protest. It's also about a cause for a general strike that we've seen across Israel, too. It arguably is the most intense pressure that the government and Prime Minister Netanyahu has faced. Does it move the needle and does it sway him to change his position? Because what we've seen and talked about already is an appearance of doubling down on his decision to stand by the terms.

AVI MAYER, FORMER EDITOR-IN-CHIEF, THE JERUSALEM POST: Well, Julia, I think tensions and emotions are as high in Israel today as they've ever been at any point in this war, the sense of grief is profound. Those six hostages had become household names in Israel.

Of course, many around the world familiar with the name of Hersh Goldberg-Polin, who is an American Israeli, whose parents were I think some of the most visible advocates on behalf of the hostages. But the five others were also extremely well-known within Israel. And so the emotions are extremely real and extremely raw at this moment.

As you saw, there have been hundreds of thousands of people swarming the streets of Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, and other cities. And I think the pressure is becoming extremely, extremely strong. I don't know how the prime minister can really withstand it for very long, and I think that even his coalition members, those who are perhaps most disinclined to proving some kind of a deal at this point under the current terms will be hard pressed, not to go forward some kind of a deal at some point in the very near future.

CHATTERLEY: I mean, Avi, he's been under this kind of pressure before though, arguably from allies like the United States, from governing coalition partners, from his own security officials that have said, particularly where were talking about the Philadelphi corridor, that there are alternatives to policing this militarily.

Is this the turning point perhaps that you're suggesting it might be?

MAYER: Look, I think the United States and other mediators are reaching their own breaking point. They're also intensity frustrated with the inability of the parties to reach some kind of agreement for the entire length of time the United States and others have said that Hamas has been the primary obstacle. I think that remains the case.

But I think they do want the prime minister to be more forthcoming and perhaps for him to listen to those of his military chiefs to say, yes, it is a challenge. We do not want Hamas to be able to smuggle in weapons, and individuals and money as they did prior to October 7, which is that enabled them to carry out the October 7 massacre. But we have ways of handling that.

And what the most important in the priority right now really needs to be bringing back as many of those hostages alive as we possibly can.

[15:10:04]

I think he is starting to hear those voices. We've heard even the past hour or so that there is some flexibility that Israeli negotiators are expressing some flexibility on the Philadelphi corridor. The question is whether it will be enough.

CHATTERLEY: Critics have long pointed out or viewed Prime Minister Netanyahu's stance post October the 7th is being prioritizing his own political survival versus the survival of the hostages in question or the outcome of what we see as a result of what happened on October 7th. Do you think the protests will continue and perhaps that becomes the tipping point for him to look at other options and say fine, okay, perhaps troops don't have to remain there, we can police this to your point differently? Do the protests push him there?

MAYER: Well, I think there was a notable moment earlier today when it was announced that the leaders of the hostage family movement have actually partnered with the leaders of the movement that was trying to unseat the prime minister prior to October 7 in light of the government's attempt to push forward a judicial a few just one year ago. And that I think may be the brew that actually does bring that pressure to bear and does make him consider whether this is a direction he needs to pursue.

Ultimately, I don't think the prime minister is opposed the notion of a hostage deal. I think he understands that is the only way that as many hostages as possible are going to be brought home. Yes, we've had those heroic rescue missions that have brought certain number of them home alive.

But we know that that's not going to bring back the bulk of them. He recognizes that. The leaders of the military and the defense establishment realize that it's a matter of figuring out what terms we can get, how Israel can ensure that its own basis security needs are met in the context of any kind of agreement.

It looks like almost there. Let's hope we get there in the days and weeks ahead.

CHATTERLEY: Yeah. Your point is its not just about signing some kind of hostage and ceasefire deal as important as that is, its about what path that leads to in the future.

MAYER: Absolutely. I mean, look, I think many of those who are opposed the deal under the current terms are deeply concerned, for example, about the number of Palestinian terrorists who would be released as part of a deal.

They look, for example, at Yahya Sinwar, the leader of Hamas in Gaza, the mastermind behind the October 7 massacre, who was himself please as part of a previous deal in order to secure the return of an Israeli soldier named Gilad Shalit. He was one of 1,000 Palestinian terrorists released at that time.

And many of the critics of the proposed deal look at that and say, how can we risk that happening again, how can you risk this large number of terrorists returning to terrorist activity and perhaps trying to perpetrate a massacre like October 7, again, so these are very real concerns. The question is, which concern wins out at this point, at which risk is the one that is I think most important to take at this time.

I think most of Israel would say the immediate priority needs to be to bring back those hostages will deal with the security concerns and those long-term ramifications after they're brought home. CHATTERLEY: But your balance and the context is desperately needed at a moment of some high emotion.

Avi, great to have you with us. Thank you, sir.

All right. Now, to Ukraine, where the death toll continues to climb in one of the deadliest single Russian attacks in two-and-a-half years of war. At least 51 people are dead, more than 200 injured after two ballistic missiles hit a military academy and neighboring hospital in Eastern Ukraine. According to the Ukrainian defense ministry, their time between the evacuation sirens and missiles striking was so short that many were killed on the way to the shelter.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy repeated his calls for more air defense systems saying there needed in Ukraine not somewhere in a warehouse, quote. His foreign minister told our Christiane Amanpour that the systems can't come soon enough.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DMYTRO KULEBA, UKRAINIAN FOREIGN MINISTER: This is just another reason why delivery of air defense systems to Ukraine must be expedited.

CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Do you think if you'd 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 to the Russian territory according to what I know, the time range for the for the ballistic missiles to reach the target was very short and the only way to intercept them was to have -- to have a Patriot system or safety air defense system because they're the only one capable of intercepting ballistic missiles.

So I didn'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.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHATTERLEY: And senior international correspondent, Fred Pleitgen, has more on this deadly attack.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice- over): Parts of this military educational facility in the central Ukrainian city of Poltava, almost completely destroyed.

[15:15:05]

More than a dozen people killed here. That Ukrainian say when two Russian ballistic missiles struck, leaving those on the ground with no time to get to bomb shelters hundreds were also wounded and a nearby hospital damaged.

Ukraine's president irate.

VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): The Russian scum will undoubtedly be held accountable for this strike. And once again, we urge everyone in the world who has the power to stop this terror, air defense systems and missiles are needed in Ukraine. Not in a warehouse somewhere, long run range strikes that can defend against Russian terror are needed now, not sometime later.

PLEITGEN: Russia has been accelerating its aerial bombardment of Ukraine's cities and infrastructure, with a massive barrage aiming for the capital Kyiv early Monday, just as children were gearing up for the first day of school after summer break. One of the places damaged, a management college.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): We got up and it had already started to boom. We ran out into the yard near the dormitory. We heard something flying in, something being shot down.

PLEITGEN: On Sunday, more than 40 people injured after a Russian airstrikes on the north eastern city of Kharkiv. Responders desperately trying to save the victims.

There's an ambulance on the other side, the photographer says. We won't be able to carry him there, she answers.

While Ukraine's air defenses often take down Russian missiles, that consequences can be devastating when they don't. The strikes on Poltava were of the deadliest single attacks since the start of the war. We were on hand when a ballistic missile annihilated a funeral wake in eastern Ukraine in October of last year, killing 59 people.

And 46 were killed in Dnipro in January 2023, when a heavy cruise missile blew a giant hole into an apartment block.

The Ukrainian say, the reason why the damage here is so extensive is that this building was hit with a cruise missile called the KH22. That's designed to destroy aircraft carrier strike groups. And obviously, when it hit the building, it completely annihilated it, burying dozens of people underneath.

Now, yet another mass casualty strike, leaving Ukraine's leadership angry and vowing revenge.

Fred Pleitgen, CNN, Kyiv.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHATTERLEY: Our thanks to Fred there.

Now, still ahead for us, with exactly one week until the debate between Vice President Harris and former President Donald Trump, what both candidates are doing to prepare for what could be their one and only meet with before Election Day.

Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:20:51]

CHATTERLEY: Welcome back.

Labor Day has passed, which means were into the final stretch of the race for the White House. Both candidates are off the trail today, just one week before they face off in a debate. But on team Harris, they also dispatching top surrogates on a reproductive rights bus tour through Florida a state where abortion is directly on the ballot this fall, also a moment when the Trump campaign is scrambling to clarify its position on that ballot initiative and the issue in general.

Here with the latest is our very own Kevin Liptak.

Kevin, tell us about this tour. I believe there's up to 40, 50 stops --

KEVIN LIPTAK, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Yeah.

CHATTERLEY: -- perhaps even more over the next few months. Just what's in the game plan? What are they hoping to accomplish?

LIPTAK: Well, and it tells you just how bullish Democrats are about this particular issue of abortion. And I think where they started it today is very notable. They were in Palm Beach County, Florida, which is exactly where Donald Trump lives at Mar-a-Lago.

Now, this doesn't mean that Democrats think they're going to win Florida. That's very, very unlikely. Its been a red state for the last several elections, but it does show you that they wanted very much seize on this issue of abortion rights to galvanize some of their voters Florida is a state where abortion will literally be on the ballot in November. Amendment 4 would enshrine abortion rights into the state constitution and replace a draconian ban according to Democrats, of six weeks for abortion in that state.

And so, they do think that this is a place where abortion an issue resonates and can sort of speak to a larger national audience as they try and convince voters to come over to the side of Kamala Harris. But as you mentioned, this tour will continue throughout the next several weeks, not necessarily with Kamala Harris on that bus herself, but with other surrogates and celebrities and lawmakers trying to make this case to people across the country and it was interesting to hear from one of the people who spoke today.

She's a candidate for Senate in Florida talking about the resonance of this issue, listen to what she said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DEBBIE MUCARSEL-POWELL (D), FLORIDA SENATE CANDIDATE: Listen up, everybody. Florida is in play, baby. Rick Scott and Donald Trump have been attacking our freedoms for too long. We all saw Donald Trump take credit for ending Roe v. Wade. He said that he was proud to have done that and Rick Scott's appalling record speaks for itself. (END VIDEO CLIP)

LIPTAK: And so just to clarify, Rick Scott is the current sitting senator who she is running against?

Now, it was also interesting to hear from the Kamala Harris campaign today announcing that they were going to send $25 million of their funds that they've raised to try and help down-ballot candidates, including in Florida, but in other marquee Senate and House races as well. And I think that tells you a couple of things. One, they're just swimming in money at this point, the Kamala Harris campaign raised more than $500 million in the time since she became the candidate. So they have quite a lot of money to work with here.

But also, they're just want to focus on these down-ballot races. That's something that Democrats haven't necessarily been successful in previous cycles. And I'm thinking back to the Barack Obama administration when that aspect of the ticket wasn't necessarily a priority.

And certainly, they do believe that if Kamala Harris is to win the White House, it will be a lot easier for her to govern if she has Democrats in the Congress as well, Julia.

CHATTERLEY: Certainly. Kevin, great context. Thank you. Kevin Liptak there.

All right. Turning now to the Trump campaign and Donald Trump's podcast circuit. Today, the former presidents that down with podcaster Lex Fridman, who boasts 4 million followers on YouTube. They discussed issues ranging from marijuana legalization to Jeffrey Epstein and the state of American politics.

Just take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LEX FRIDMAN, PODCASTER: The country seems more divided than ever.

DONALD TRUMP, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT & 2024 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Yeah.

FRIDMAN: What can you do to help alleviate some of that division?

TRUMP: Well, you can get rid of these two people. They're terrible. They're the terrible. You don't want to have them running this country. They're not equipped to run it.

[15:25:00]

FRIDMAN: From my personal opinion, I think you are at your best when you're talking about a positive vision of the future versus criticizing the other side.

TRUMP: Yeah. I think you have to criticize though. I think -- I think they're nasty. (END VIDEO CLIP)

CHATTERLEY: It's the latest of Trump's appearances with male influencers, social media stars, and podcasters from Jake and Logan Paul to Elon Musk and Dana White, coordinated effort to engage young men, not following politics and bring them into the MAGA fold.

For more, we're joined by Alayna Treene.

Alayna, just talk more about this strategy. Did they believe they can actually get these young men perhaps to like and listen to Trump? And to what extent is this about actually getting them out there to go and vote for him in the end?

ALAYNA TREENE, CNN POLITICAL REPORTER: I mean, that's really the whole point of this. They want to try and find and create some of these first-time voters. This was a strategy they actually had first deployed in the lead up to the Iowa caucuses. And during the primaries, this idea that they could really win on the margins perhaps if they can create new voters.

And particularly, that's what you're seeing happen with some of the social media influencers and these interviews that Donald Trump is doing. They are targeting some of these male celebrities, predominantly, I should say, male celebrities to go after male voters who are younger, younger audiences trying to get, to get them to see if they can interest them enough to turn out for Donald Trump and this has long been something we've seen Donald Trump engaged in throughout this most recent 2024 campaign. He's had interviews with the series of different social media influencer.

In particular, I want to talk about his interview with Elon Musk. With that interview, they were not necessarily expecting it to be some long-ranging a policy conversation that would help Donald Trump with many of his existing voters, or even more broadly, some more moderate voters that they could maybe target. Instead, they were going specifically after Musk's following, people on his Twitter, his own followers seeing if they could court those people themselves, these more nontraditional people who are not that interested in politics and see if they could maybe turn them out.

And again, they recognize that these are people with more conservative leaning listeners, conservative leaning audiences per se. And so, that's been a focus for that. And I will it work? Unclear, but this is something they have long done.

And it's another thing I just want to add that Donald Trump himself enjoys doing. You can see that when he feels like he's on with some of these younger people, tend to be more candid, more a comfortable interviews for him. He enjoys doing them and that's another reason I think you're seeing a lot of this.

CHATTERLEY: Yeah, certainly. Alayna, great to have you with us. Thank you so much for that.

Now, let's just do, go back to what we were talking about with Kevin and to give you a sense of the importance of abortion in the Harris campaign, just take a look at this new poll from ABC News. Now, Trump leads Harris on things like handling of the economy, inflation and immigration.

But Harris has a wide lead and we're talking 16 points on abortion. It's one of if not the most strongest issue in this race.

Here to break down more of the numbers is Democratic pollster Anna Greenberg.

Anna, great to have you with us.

Let's just start specifically in Florida. It's one of the states where voters are actually going to get a ballot option to enshrine abortion access in the state constitution. Democrats are hoping that this will also have enough ballot effect and help Harris. But obviously the Democrats haven't won Florida since what, 2012.

How do you see the issue of abortion impacting not just the race and Florida, of course, but also nationally, too?

ANNA GREENBERG, MANAGING PARTNER, GQR: Well, I think it's going to affect the election profoundly, already has. It's certainly in 2022, a huge reason why Democrats overperformed, I would argue wouldn't even really won that election even Democrats lost the house was because of the abortion issue, and really, they've doubled and tripled and quadrupled down since then, including by having J.D. Vance on the ticket.

So if anything, I think there might be even more intensity, particularly in states like Florida and other places where there are in Arizona where they're actually are abortion ballot initiatives going to be voted on in November. I think it will have significant down-ballot effect as well.

There are competitive congressional seats in Florida. There is a Senate race in Florida, so its really not just the presidential are people that turn out and some of those places where there, for example, there are competitive House races. So it may have an effect even if it doesn't flip Florida from red to blue, it may affect some of the lower offices in Florida which are really critically important.

CHATTERLEY: I mean, they may want to compete in Florida, but if you follow the path of the money, it doesn't look like a key target.

Let me just show you this. Democrats are pouring money into future advertising spending. Its the money that I'm showing you now, allocated from now through to December, and you can see that they are flooding the battleground states, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Georgia, Arizona.

GREENBERG: Yeah.

CHATTERLEY: Then if we compare that to the Trump campaign, I mean, they're clearly very focused on Pennsylvania and Georgia. Firstly, is that the strategic right decision for both parties? [15:30:04]

And secondly, what does it tell us today about the campaign's view on simply what the path is to victory in terms of the numbers?

GREENBERG: Well, absolutely the spending has to be in about our grounds states. I certainly wasn't suggesting it should be in Florida. You -- I was only responding to the notion of what the initiative would do there. But obviously, you have to spend in the battleground states.

I think the difference between the Trump campaign and the Harris campaign is, A, they're spending more. B, they're also directing some of their lay down ballot, so there's going to be more spending on House and Senate. Already, the Republicans are being outspent in the House and Senate and even more of that's going to get pushed down by the presidential race. And moreover, they're spending a lot of their money on infrastructure and field. I think there's about 350 field offices around the country.

So, it's not just the TV spending in the battleground. It's pushing it down to down-ballot. It's pushing it to infrastructure, neither of which the Trump campaign is doing. I actually think that they are underfunded and not particularly strategic in their buying.

CHATTERLEY: Yeah, two months out.

Tomorrow, Harris set to unveil new economic policies in New Hampshire. Today, she put out this ad on prices. We know it's an incredibly sensitive subject. I just want to play it and get you get your response.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, HARRIS CAMPAIGN AD)

AD NARRATOR: We all know costs are too high, but while corporations are gouging families, Trump is focused on giving them tax cuts.

But Kamala Harris is focused on you.

KAMALA HARRIS, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES & 2024 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Building up the middle class will be a defining goal of my presidency.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHATTERLEY: I just showed that ABC poll that voters trust Trump more than Harris to handle the economy and to handle inflation. I have my own personal views as a business reporter on the price gouging plans, but do ads like this actually work? Did they help her sort of build trust and make gains with voters?

GREENBERG: Well, first, you have to talk about cost. It's real for people.

CHATTERLEY: Yeah. GREENBERG: It's real live experience people are having. Every (AUDIO GAP) I do, people talk about it. And so, just doing that, you know, is important as a starting point. I think the price gouging whether or not it makes sense in policy terms, people do believe quite rightly that corporations are making record profits while prices are going up, and that certainly big corporations and monopolistic corporations are making prices higher.

So I think it is actually fine. It speaks directly to voters. You know, to one of the things they actually think, you know, is causing high prices, whether that's actually, you know, the sole -- sole factor or not, it's what voters think and I think that's really important.

I also think just that you can overstate the economy as an issue in elections in the sense that in 2012, in the exit polls, Mitt Romney had better marks than Obama on handling the economy in 2020. Trump had better marks than Biden on the economy in 2022. Republicans had better marks than Democrats on the economy. And Democrats won every single instance.

And so while I think it's incredibly important issue and it must be addressed, it isn't necessarily the deciding factor in elections.

CHATTERLEY: Yeah, such an important point and we can debate the -- we can debate the economics. The question is, does the policy plan resonate?

Anna, great to have you with us. Thank you.

GREENBERG: I look at the poll policies. I don't have to explain them.

(LAUGHTER)

CHATTERLEY: Yeah, thank you.

Coming up, a journey to the U.S. Supreme Court. Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson's new memoir on her rise to becoming the first Black woman appointed to the highest court in the land. That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:36:43]

CHATTERLEY: Welcome back.

Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, the first Black woman to serve on the United States Supreme Court, he's sharing the story of Harris sent to the nation's highest court. It's all in her new memoir out today titled for the West African translation of her name, Ketanji meaning lovely one. The justice is also embarking on a nationwide tour to promote it.

Our chief Supreme Court analyst Joan Biskupic joins us now.

Joan, great to have you with us. I know you've already read the memoir already. There's lots of these

justices now that are putting out books lately. Why are they feeling the need to speak out and talk about their life stories and what makes Justice Jackson's different?

JOAN BISKUPIC, CNN CHIEF SUPREME COURT ANALYST: Sure. It's good to see you, Julia.

You know, it's like every month we have a new book out.

CHATTERLEY: Yeah.

BISKUPIC: Just most recently, you know, retired Justice Stephen Breyer, Justice Neil Gorsuch. Before them, it was Justice Sotomayor, Justice Thomas, Justice Kavanaugh has one in the works.

But what makes this one different? Two things. First of all, how quickly it's come. Justice Jackson was just named to the court two years ago, and she's already produced this memoire. And that's a very short time period compared to the other books.

And then in terms of memoirs, the kind of memoirs has started frankly with Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, our first woman justice on the Supreme Court. She wrote a book back in 2002, to some two decades after her appointment, you know?

So that's kind of our origin of this new wave of personal memoir. And what makes Justice Jackson's different from Justice O'Connor's, Justice Sotomayor's, Justice Thomas's is just how intimate it is. It's far more personal and, of course, Julia, it's also -- also through the lens of her very historic appointment as the first Black woman on the court.

And she writes at one point, just on the eve of when she's about to be sworn in only one generation after my mother and father had experienced the spirit crushing effect of racial segregation in housing, schooling, and transportation, while growing up in Florida, their daughter was standing on the threshold of history, the embodiment of our ancestors' dreams -- Julia.

CHATTERLEY: Yeah. And while some of the highlights from the book.

BISKUPIC: Sure, well --

CHATTERLEY: Yeah?

BISKUPIC: First of all, I have to say that most justices act like they never dreamed of getting on the Supreme Court, that they just kind of came to them after they were a lawyer, this woman said that when she was about to turn 12, she began dreaming of it and she did it because she read a story about Constance Baker Motley, who was America's first Black woman judge appointed to any federal court.

And she wrote about her and here's and I'd slip a tidbit. She realized that Judge Motley is birthday was the same as hers, September 14. You know, obviously different eras, but she took that to heart and she puts the magazine under her pillow, you know, kind of -- as part of her dream. But I have to say throughout it, you're so aware of the dry this is a woman had.

Her parents were educators. Her mother used to say, you know, never give into your doubts, just going and going and going. So you get you get a real sense of her sense of her quest for achievement for honors, for debate victories in high school into college. But then we reached this wonderful pivot point that I found really compelling, Julia.

[15:40:04]

And it's when she and her husband, a physician, Patrick Jackson, have begun to have children and they both have these really high-powered careers and they really come up against the struggle of parenting in these tough, tough jobs. And it's especially hard when they realized that they have a daughter who has very special needs. It turns out that she was autistic -- is autistic and it takes them a while to figure out how to solve their problem.

And that part of the book is very wrenching because here you have a woman who everything kind of went her away with hard work coming up against the reality of when somebody, as I said, Julia has a special need. But it's -- it's a book I'm sure that will resonate with many readers.

CHATTERLEY: Yeah, from the reviews of powerful woman and an ode to making it happen, whatever the cost, I think,

BISKUPIC: Right.

CHATTERLEY: Joan, great to have you with us. Thank you.

BISKUPIC: Thank you.

CHATTERLEY: All right. To an exclusive new interview, Jimmy McCain, the youngest son of the late Senator John McCain, is slamming Donald Trump for holding a campaign event at Arlington National Cemetery, forgive me, last week, calling it a, quote, violation to use the national shrine as he did.

Joining us now with much more on her exclusive reporting in this, national security correspondent Natasha Bertrand.

Natasha, what more did he have to say? Because he didn't hold back his criticism on this decision.

NATASHA BERTRAND, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, Julia. This is something that Jimmy McCain is clearly very passionate about. He himself has been in the military for the last 17 years. He received his commission in 2022. Of course, his father was the late Senator John McCain, who, of course, was considered by many to be a war hero. And so, he was very personally affected by what he saw at Arlington National Cemetery last week when Donald Trump was there posing in front of gravestones of people who he says did not necessarily give there -- were not able to give their consent, right, to being in a political ad. And of course, add to that the controversy surrounding Trump and his

campaigns treatment reportedly about an Arlington staffer who tried to get them to stop filming at the cemetery. All of this really felt to Jimmy McCain like it was very insulting and demeaning to the people who are buried in that cemetery, which includes it should note, his grandfather, his great-grandfather, and other members of his family.

And so what he told me during this conversation is that when he saw that Trump had visited Arlington and kind of made this a political event, he was quote, blown away because these men and women that are laying on the ground there, they really have no choice of whether to be a part of this political backdrop.

And, you know, I asked him why he thinks that Donald Trumps so frequently, particularly when it comes to his own father, John McCain, makes veterans and make service members a target. As you'll recall, Trump repeatedly said that John McCain is not a war hero because he was captured. He was captured in Vietnam and was a prisoner of war there.

And Jimmy McCain, you know, he said that he believes that Donald Trump simply does not know what it is and what it -- what it feels like to actually serve his country. And he said you know, these people that are in Arlington that were buried -- that were buried there, they signed on the dotted line to serve their country and he said, quote, that's an experience that Donald Trump has not had.

And he said that he thinks the former president thinks about that quite a lot -- Julia.

CHATTERLEY: Yeah, and timely, of course, because he's reregistered as a Democrat, hasn't he, and he said that he will vote for Harris.

Natasha, good to have you with us. Natasha Bertrand there. Thank you.

All right. Coming up, student protests in Bangladesh turned into a massive uprising, ousting the nation's prime minister. Thousands of protesters were arrested. Now some are speaking out about the threats and the danger they say they faced, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:46:42]

CHATTERLEY: Welcome back.

In Bangladesh, many is 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.

Anna Coren has their story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ANNA COREN, CNN INTERNATIONAL 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 achieved 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 on the premise.

Over the following weeks, hundreds of people were killed while thousands were arrested.

NUSRAT TABASSUM, PROTEST COORDINATOR: They came to my house, they broke three doors, they took me with them and, oh, my God, the physical torture, that was -- that was miserable.

COREN: 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 ear drum burst.

TABASSUM: Without a hearing aid, I can't listen in my right ear.

COREN: 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 PROTESTER: I was like, there is no escaping from this and my life will end here and no one will know.

COREN: 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 gang.

ALAM: When I close my eyes, I remember that I went to that horrible day.

COREN: Once released, he discovered Hasina had resigned and fled to India.

ALAM: The people of Bangladesh, it is the people's country.

COREN: The capital, now awash with colorful murals, has a very clear message, there is no going back.

As the U.N. 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 fall of the government has unleashed a spirit that has electrified every level of society. It has given a voice to everyone, students, to doctors, even rickshaw drivers as they take to the streets to make their demands.

The change doesn't happen overnight, especially in a country of 170 million people with the iron fist ruled and corruption and cronies is in reigned.

TABASSUM: My country is sick, but our people, we will stand together. I believe there will be some shining future.

COREN: A future this generation will continue to fight for.

Anna Coren, CNN, Dhaka, Bangladesh.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHATTERLEY: Okay. Coming up next for us, Pope Francis's longest trip yet now underway, the Catholic Church's goal for his tour of Asia Pacific.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:52:26]

CHATTERLEY: Welcome back.

The pope beginning his historic 12-day long tour across Asia earlier today, making this his longest trip yet as the Catholic Church pivots towards its growing following in the continent. While on route to Indonesia, the first stop on his Asia tour, Pope Francis greeted the plane and noted the 13-hour long flight was the longest he's ever flown.

The pope landed in Jakarta where he's expected to meet with religious leaders and politicians over the next three days.

Vatican correspondent Christopher Lamb has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CHRISTOPHER LAMB, CNN VATICAN CORRESPONDENT: Pope Francis arrived in Indonesia on Tuesday after a 13-1/2-hour flight. The pontiff seemed in good spirits on board the papal plane coming to the back of the aircraft to greet journalists individually, thanking them for accompanying him on what will be the longest trip of his pontificate.

Now, in Indonesia, interfaith dialogue will be top of the agenda. Indonesia is the world's most populous Muslim country.

And on Thursday, Francis will be taking part in an interfaith meeting at the Istiqlal Mosque, the largest mosque in Southeast Asia.

Interfaith dialogue, friendship between religions is a message that Francis wants to see resonate across the region. Now, Indonesia has a good history of religious coexistence. And Francis will want to try and support that while he is here.

Today, the pope rested. He was the residents of the papal ambassador to Indonesia. And tomorrow, he will be meeting with leaders of Indonesia's government, followed by leaders of the church.

It's going to be a very busy and grueling 12 days for Francis. He's getting across Southeast Asia and the Pacific. After Indonesia, he'll be in Papua New Guinea, then East Timor, followed by Singapore.

Francis at the age of 87, is telling people by doing this trip that he still has a lot of energy left and a lot of messages that he still wants to get to get across.

Christopher Lamb, CNN, Jakarta.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHATTERLEY: And before we go, it's officially the end of brat summer.

(MUSIC VIDEO PLAYS)

CHATTERLEY: Unless you've been living under a rock for the past three months, artists, Charli XCX's latest album, "Brat", took over social media, pop culture, and even politics with the Harris campaign embracing the brat green aesthetic. Since the day the campaign launched. But on Monday, the "360" singer took to X to officially bid adieu, writing: Goodbye forever, brat summer.

And even NATO joined in on the goodbyes posting on Instagram. Summer might be over, but the goal for peace remains.

And as the sun sets on brat summer, we say hello to brat fall, for brat autumn, who knows? We'll get back to you on that one.

Thanks for joining me today. I'm Julia Chatterley.

"QUEST MEANS BUSINESS" is up next.