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Today, Harris to Tout Small Business Plan in New Hampshire; Biden Administration to Accuse Russia of Sustained Effort to Influence Election; A.I. Recreated Voices of Gun Violence Victims Urge Lawmaker Action. Aired 10-10:30a ET

Aired September 04, 2024 - 10:00   ET

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

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[10:00:00]

JIM ACOSTA, CNN ANCHOR: Right now, a brand new snapshot of the race of the White House finds vice president Kamala Harris surging in two key swing states while three crucial battlegrounds appear to be completely up for grabs. We'll break down our new poll showing a sizable group of voters who still haven't made up their minds.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REPORTER: Well, this year, had you planned to vote for Donald Trump?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Well, I did. Now, the table's my turn.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm leaning more towards Democratic still, but I think I still want to look at my options more.

REPORTER: So you haven't decided who you're going to vote for, or even if you're going to vote?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Right.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: Plus, that's my conversation with the parents of a Parkland shooting victim who are leading a nationwide effort to demand an end to gun violence.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There's a lot of us out there ready to start fighting and ready to get or honoring our loved ones, so no one else has to go through this.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: And with the help of artificial intelligence, the voice of their murdered son is now joining the calls for change.

And Matthew Perry's alleged drug supplier and the so-called ketamine queen. Now their trial date is set. Good morning everybody. You are live in the CNN Newsroom. I'm Jim Acosta in Washington.

More on the new CNN poll in just a moment, but let's start with the race for the White House with Tucson Mayor Regina Romero from the battleground state of Arizona. She's a member of the Harris campaign's National Campaign Advisory Board. Mayor, thanks so much for joining us. We appreciate it.

As you know, the economy and inflation are top issues with voters. How are folks in your city feeling about this? Has Biden-Harris administration done enough to tackle those issues?

MAYOR REGINA ROMERO (D) TUCSON, ARIZONA: Good morning, Jim. Thanks for having me on your show.

Well, here in Tucson, Arizona, we have been blessed with the support of the Biden Harris administration. We've been very aggressive in pursuing infrastructure funds as well as Inflation Reduction Act funds, and so the city of Tucson has seen more than $100 million dollars in federal investment, both creating affordable housing opportunities and housing first for the unhoused, as well as receiving funds for infrastructure. We're receiving funds for our climate action planning. And so we have been blessed in seeing that investment from the federal governments thanks to bills that were shepherded by President Biden and Vice President Harris.

On the election, you know, we are really looking at reproductive freedom, reproductive freedom is on the ballot in Arizona, and that is one of the leading issues. And we know that Vice President Harris is solidly for reproductive freedom and bodily autonomy.

ACOSTA: Yes, that is a big issue. Indeed. There's do CNN polling this morning, as I'm sure you're aware, Mayor, showing that Kamala Harris has some work to do in your state. Former President Donald Trump is ahead by five points, 49 to 44. We're going to break down some other numbers in just a moment with our David Chalian. But this is a state President Biden won by a narrow margin four years ago.

Do you know why Kamala Harris might be a little bit behind there and has some catching up to do?

ROMEROR: Well, you know, she just became our nominee. And so people in Arizona really need to understand who she is, what she stands for. And bottom line, this election will be closed. We all knew that. Vice President Harris has been saying she is the underdog. And we need to do all of the information and education to the community and the voters here in Arizona.

[10:05:00]

But we have two very different visions of, you know, what we want to see in this country.

And Vice President Harris, we know that she will fight for working families. She has presented her economic plan. She has talked about small businesses. She just kicked off a reproductive freedom tour. She is rolling out all of her policy issues that matter for working families.

And then on the other hand, with Donald Trump, we have a convicted criminal that is pushing Project 2025 agenda, has been clear, or maybe not because he's flip-flopped, on abolishing reproductive rights for women across the country. And we know that during his presidency, his priority was to give tax cuts to his billionaire buddies.

So, it's, very, very different two different visions. And I think Arizonans need to hear from Vice President Harris and know that she will fight for every day Americans as on day one of her presidency.

ACOSTA: All right, Mayor Romero of Tucson, thank you so much for joining us this morning. We appreciate it.

ROMERO: Thank you for having me, Jim.

ACOSTA: All right. Former President Donald Trump may have the edge in Arizona, but CNN's latest battleground poll tells a different story in the other key swing states. Let me drill down on this with our polling and CNN's Political Director David Chalian.

David, what do these numbers show us? I mean, we were just talking with the mayor a few moments ago. Arizona not looking so great for Kamala Harris at the moment, but some of these other states different story.

DAVID CHALIAN, CNN POLITICAL DIRECTOR: Yes, though, Kamala Harris still very much a contention Arizona, as you noted, but Trump has a lead there.

If you look across all six battleground states, you see that Harris has an outside of margin of error lead in both Wisconsin and Michigan, the top two states there. As you noted, the outside the margin of error lead for Donald Trump in Arizona at the bottom there, but Georgia, Nevada, Pennsylvania, Jim, they are all within the margin of error. No clear leader. You know, I mean, all six are toss-up states, but that is where Georgia and Pennsylvania, given the size of the electoral votes available there, that is where this battle is going to be fought and won.

ACOSTA: Yes, I mean, and it's it is quite the turnaround from where President Biden was just a few short weeks ago. And how many voters are still up for grabs at this point? Because I noticed that part of this poll is very interesting.

CHALIAN: Yes. The number surprised me. It was a larger number than I expected. If you take a look here, and what we say is these are movable voters. So, what does that mean? It means that either they don't have a first choice of Harris or Trump, or they tell us they're with one of them right now, but they can move, right? They're not -- 16 percent in Pennsylvania, 16 percent in Michigan. If you average across the six states, 15 percent of respondents in these surveys tell us they might change their mind. They are not locked in. That obviously, if you're dealing with very close races that are going to be a coin flip and very few votes between the candidates, that's a sizable chunk. And I would imagine if you're the Harris and the Trump campaign going into that debate next Tuesday, you're looking to talk to those folks.

ACOSTA: And, you know, I think the conventional wisdom was that the number of those undecided, you could fit in a bus stop, you know, at the corner of Pennsylvania and 10th Street.

But let me ask you this, David Harris is going to roll out our economic plan today. How critical is this issue for the vice president?

CHALIAN: It's issue number one. That's just where voters are. It's the most important issue across all six states. And, interestingly, we see that among. Trump voters, it's overwhelmingly the number issues. This is over all likely voters in all the states. You see a plurality of voters across all these states, and the economy is the most important issue, including, by the way, in Arizona, even though you heard the mayor talk a lot about reproductive rights, that only rates 10 percent in Arizona has the most important issue. But Among Trump voters, it is the driving issue, not so for Harris voters. Across these states, Harris voters say that protecting democracy is their number one issue.

Again, economy overall among likely voters is the number one issue. You see Harris today in New Hampshire rolling out her small business agenda. You saw her a couple of weeks ago in North Carolina rolling out some of her housing policy and her attack on price gouging at the food market. You're going to hear economic appeals from both of them at this debate next Tuesday. That's where voters are and they need to meet them there.

ACOSTA: Yes. And if Kamala Harris can chip away at those numbers in terms of voters who are concerned about the economy, that is certainly going to help her coming out of the debate.

CHALIAN: And she has made in the head to head, who do you trust more to handle the economy, she's made progress where Biden was. She's closing the gap with Trump. It's still a Trump issue.

ACOSTA: All right. We're going to have to follow those battleground states because the, I mean, the map is going to be very interesting to watch in the weeks to come.

David Chalian, thank you very much.

[10:10:00] And we are following breaking news just into CNN. The Biden administration is expected to accuse Russia of a sustained effort to influence the 2024 election.

CNN's Evan Perez has more on this exclusive reporting. It's just coming into CNN. Evan, what can you tell us? EVAN PEREZ, CNN SENIOR JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Jim, this is an effort by the Biden administration to get ahead of what the Russians are allegedly doing ahead of this 2024 election.

And so, you know, sources have told Sean Lyngaas and Kylie Atwood, Zach Cohen and me, that this is really the most significant effort by the Biden administration to sort of call this out. We've seen Russia today, which is now called RT, we've seen some of their activity that the Justice Department has called out. For instance they said that there was a Russia today employee who was running about 1,000 social media accounts that were essentially used to sort of divide Americans, tried to of the division that we already see on social media.

And so what we expect today from the from the Biden administration State Department, Treasury Justice Department, we expect that they're going to call out the Russians for what is a persistent effort that they believe is directed at influencing that 2024 voters this year.

They're also going to call out a company called or an organization called the Social Design Agency, which the Justice Department and the Treasurer Department has already sanctioned for running social media accounts and websites in Europe. So, their activity is also going to be called out as part of this.

Now, you know, if you sort of take a step back obviously we're coming down to the last few months of the presidential campaign. And this is the time where you see a lot of activity from the Russians, from in some aspects from the Chinese and also from the Iranians. We've heard a lot from the administration recently about the Iranians trying to essentially pit Americans against each other, trying to sow chaos by trying to hack the Biden-Harris campaign as well as successfully breaching the Trump campaign. So, that activity is all part of what is going on this year.

We're expecting to see. Attorney General Merrick Garland and the FBI director Chris Wray later this afternoon, they have a meeting of the election Threats Task Force, Jim, and we're about the activity that they believe the Russians and some of these other countries have been added.

But today, certainly, the attention, the large part of the attention, is going to be on this Russian effort, which is, again, centered on R.T., which is formerly known as Russia Today, and which the U.S. government has forced to register as a foreign agent inside the United States. Jim?

ACOSTA: And, Evan, I mean, obviously we know from the 2016 campaign that the Russians attempted to influence the presidential election. The bipartisan Senate Intelligence Committee concluded all of this to try to help Donald Trump in that race against Hillary Clinton. What do we know about what the goals are, what the aims are this time around, and how might the tools be a little bit different?

PEREZ: Well, you know, some of the tools are very similar to what they did in 2016, Jim. I mean, we've seen certainly the use of these bots, of these accounts, these fake accounts on social media. It's very similar to what the Russians did in 2016, where they went on Facebook, tried to organize events, where Americans essentially could be pit against each other. That was what was happening back in 2016.

The goal then According to the intelligence community was obviously to help Donald Trump, but secondarily was to sort of so chaos and to try to get Americans to be more divided.

And you can see some of the fruits of that. Obviously, you know, I think, you know, online, you can see Americans being pit against each other. Some of that is happening naturally, but also you have to call into question whether some of this is being driven by foreign forces.

And so we don't know what the intent of the Russians are. Certainly, at this point, we might hear more from the attorney general and the FBI director whether the intelligence community has concluded that they have a favorite in this in the 2024 election. But we also can see what the Russians have been saying, which is to criticize the Biden administration For the conduct of the war in Ukraine and so on. Jim?

ACOSTA: Right. And as we know, throughout this campaign, former President Trump has made it clear that he has a very different view when it comes to how the U.S. should be supporting Ukraine against in that war against Russia. And, Evan, I guess the other question that I have about all of this is, it sounds as though there were, there, the Russians just haven't really learned their lesson from the 2016 cycle, and they're just sort of up to their old tricks. I mean, it just sounds like there hasn't been much of a deterrent to stop this behavior.

[10:15:02]

PEREZ: I mean, I think I would say, I would take the opposite view, which is that they have learned those lessons. Actually, they've learned that for spending just a few, you know, thousands of dollars, they can have more impact than spending millions and billions of dollars on fighter jets and on aircraft carriers. I mean, that's one of the things that the Russians learned from 2016, is that they could have a lot more impact with just using social media to sow chaos in the U.S. election system.

You can see, Jim, some of the effects of that. The fact that you have a lot -- a big portion of the electorate that distrusts the election system in this country, some of it being driven by former President Donald Trump. So, that, I think, is what they've learned.

ACOSTA: Interesting. All right, so they have been emboldened.-- PEREZ: That's exactly right.

ACOSTA: To a large extent. Evan, all right. standby, if you can.

CNN Legal and National Security Analyst Carrie Cordero joins me now. Carrie, I do want to ask you about this breaking news that Evan was just laying out that the Biden administration is about to come out and accuse Russia of trying to carry out a sustained effort to influence the upcoming election. What are your thoughts on this? I suppose this shouldn't come as a major surprise, but it is notable that the Biden administration is going to come out and make this accusation.

CARRIE CORDERO, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Yes. I think the fact that they're making a big public statement about it and that they're really previewing how much they're going to lay out is important. Because as we know, if we just go back, we are now you know, at least eight years into understanding the sustained nature of foreign attempts to influence the election, Russia in particular.

And so we go back to 2016, the U.S. was really caught, flat-footed. 2020 individuals within the national security apparatus made a big effort to educate the public, particularly coming from the intelligence community coming from the cyber unit within the Department of Homeland Security. So, there was an effort within government to warn about particular efforts from Russia, also to a lesser degree, China and Iran.

So, this is really important. I think we are getting close to the election. And so in order for the public to have an understanding of how they might be on the receiving end of information that is out in the world, out in the digital space is really important. And so I'll be looking more for what specifically they're going to communicate.

ACOSTA: And that's a very important point, Carrie, that the public needs to know that if they're looking on social media and they're seeing things from suspicious sources, that, who knows, it could be a Russian disinformation campaign. It could be bots that the Russians are putting out there to try to sow those divisions, as Evan was talking about.

CORDERO: That's right. I mean, if we go back and look at what they tried to do in 2016, there was a huge online component, but sometimes that online component even translated into trying to affect the behavior of Americans in the physical.

And so I'm curious to understand more about what the administration is seeing about this current effort, how much of it is in the virtual space, how much of it do they think actually could be trying to create physical spaces, protest-type things activity where Americans are pitted against each other.

ACOSTA: Yes. And we're just being flooded with disinformation now on social media. So, it stands to reason that some of this is going to be fueled by the Russians. The Biden administration is going to be making this accusation, we understand, later today. It is focused on RT the Russian state media network, that has been accused, essentially, of being a propaganda arm of the Kremlin, and we're going to have more on all of this here on CNN.

Stay with us for that. Our Evan Perez and Carrie Cordero, thank you very much.

More on all of this stay with us, we'll be right back.

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[10:20:00] ACOSTA: It's a message unlike any other that's been heard in Washington. The voices of victims killed by gun violence recreated using artificial intelligence.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hello, I'm Joaquin Oliver. Six years ago, I was a senior at Parkland. Many students and teachers were murdered on Valentine's Day that year by a person using an AR-15.

The thing is, I died that day in Parkland. My body was destroyed by a weapon of war. I'm back today because my parents used A.I. to recreate my voice to call you. Other victims like me will be calling too again and again to demand action.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: Now, that voice you just heard belonged to Joaquin Oliver, known as Joaq to his friends and family. He was killed in the shooting at Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland in 2018. His voice is part of a national bus tour advocating for gun regulation.

And we're joined now by Joaquin Oliver's parents Manuel and Patricia Oliver who are friends of this show. We've had you on many times. I always appreciate you coming on. We appreciate it.

And you're among the organizers of this bus tour. You were telling me just a few moments ago you were driving the bus. I do want to ask you about that in a moment, but I do want to also hear what you think about his voice being recreated by A.I. to send this very powerful message.

MANUEL OLIVER, SON JOAQUIN KILLED IN PARKLAND SHOOTING: What is it that you said when you heard that voice?

PATRICIA OLIVER, SON JOAQUIN KILLED IN PARKLAND SHOOTING: It's very hard to hear Joaquin's voice. Because when I tried the last test on my phone, it was like he was sending a message to me. So, I really wanted to hear more.

So in a moment, I got on the dial and I wanted to -- you know, I wanted him to say to me, hi, mommy, at least, you know? But you have to come back to reality and this is something that it was created and it's for good because we believe that any actions that we take to create awareness on gun violence is positive. And using Joaquin's voice is a good example.

ACOSTA: Yes, and it does sound like him.

M. OLIVER: Oh, it's a hundred percent his voice. And the thing here is that I've been told, call your representative. That's what you need to do. So, now, Joaquin is calling my representative.

And another six families are doing the same thing. We have our loved ones on a platform. So when they pick up the phone at the congressional office, that's the voice. M. OLIVER: Exactly. So our representatives will pick up the phone and it's Joaquin calling, asking for change, and it's Uzi (ph) from Uvalde, asking for change, and Akila (ph) from Nashville, asking for change.

ACOSTA: And we've talked about this issue so many times over the years. You know, I feel like we're almost family. But I have to ask you because we were talking about the polling just a few moments ago in this race, and has the issue of gun violence gotten enough attention in this race, do you think? It seems like it's been shifted to the backburner a little bit just if you look at the polling. What do you think? Does it need to get more attention?

M. OLIVER: 100 percent Yes, because we've been there. We've been in all these places. We know what people think. There's a lot of people that requires attention on this issue.

And I know that this administration has done a lot. I always thought that it's not enough. As long as we see more victims, of course, it's not enough. But we have to keep on doing those things that we have tried during the last four years.

We were in Chicago. We went to the DNC and remember that waiting to hear something. And they did something really cool that the last day, so I appreciate that effort.

ACOSTA: And, Patricia, what about the bus tour? What was that? How's that been? What's it been like?

P. OLIVER: Well, you know that we created this bus tour since last year, honoring Joaquin's birthday, which is August 4th, and we decided to come again on the tour. We picked 15 cities, and we visited different communities.

We've been in line with Lush Cosmetics and Match for Our Lives. They've been working together in all this tour. And we've been just getting more and more people involved, because when they see the bus, it's a kind of communication that is there. And also, when you tell the story about the campaign, they found it very easy to use and very powerful at the same time, that you're not the one who's making the call. It's the voice that is making the call for you, and you can do it over and over again. So, it's been very interactive, very positive.

ACOSTA: And you're here in Washington. Tell us what you're up to here. And when you talk to people, when you talk to people up on Capitol Hill, are they being receptive enough? Are they saying, yes, we still want to listen to you about this issue?

M. OLIVER: Well, I'm not giving them that option. They have to listen to me. If I come without the bus, they will listen if I knock their doors. But now we have a school bus with huge speakers, so they have to listen to us.

We've been around almost all the country twice. This is a 6,000 miles bus tour that we're doing. I'm literally driving the bus. And if they don't listen, people are listening, and I think that's more important. ACOSTA: Well, and the dedication you've both shown to this issue, it's just been absolutely incredible and inspiring to watch.

And I do want to go back to this, you know, A.I. recreated voice, because we talk so much on this show and other shows, about, you know, the dangers of A.I. and how artificial intelligence can be used for all these nefarious purposes. But this is something that is doing some good. People need to hear these voices, your son's voice, the voices of Uvalde.

M. OLIVER: It's the good use of artificial intelligence. And actually, technology is so important. It's so fast that we added into our mission. We change our mission into the use of technology to defeat gun violence.

And we're very proud that we're doing these. And I think this shouldn't be a debate, red or blue or even an ethical thing that we're doing, no. We're not crossing any line here. The line was crossed six years ago when Joaquin was shot inside a school.

ACOSTA: Yes. And it keeps happening and more families are being impacted by this, devastated by this and something obviously has to change, and you're making that happen. Yes, thank you very much. We really appreciate it to have Manuel and Patricia Oliver, always welcome to come back anytime. Just let us know. Thank you so much.

And we'll be right back.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hi! This is Uzi Garcia. I'm a fourth grader at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, or at least I was, when a man with an AR-15 came into my school and killed 18 of my classmates, two teachers, and me. That was almost two years ago.

[22:30:00]

Nothing has changed.

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