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Harris, Trump Campaign In Battleground States Three Days Before Debate; North Carolina State Election Board Appeals RFK Jr. Ballot Ruling; Israeli Protesters Demand Hostage Deal, Mark 11 Months Of Gaza War; Students At Georgia High School Speak Out After The Shooting; Ugandan Olympian Dies After Being Set On Fire By Boyfriend; TikTok Creator Faces Legal Battle Over Viral Catchphrase; Landslides Destroying Multi-Million-Dollar California Homes. Aired 3-4p ET

Aired September 07, 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]

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN HOST: Hello, thank you so much for joining me. I'm Fredricka Whitfield.

And we begin this hour with dueling campaign strategies and debate preparations in the race for the White House. Today, both presidential candidates are on the campaign trail in battleground states and both are getting ready for their Tuesday debate showdown in their own unique ways.

This afternoon, Vice President Kamala Harris took a break from debate prep at a nearby hotel by making a surprise campaign appearance at a small business in Pittsburgh. And former president Donald Trump is holding a rally right now in the battleground state of Wisconsin.

We've got team coverage of the race for the White House. CNN's Eva McKend is in Pittsburgh with the vice president. But let's begin with Alayna Treene at that Trump rally in Wisconsin.

So, Alayna, has it gotten underway?

ALAYNA TREENE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It has, Fred. Donald Trump is speaking behind me right now. He's been talking for a little under an hour now. And look, this speech was really supposed to be focused on the economy about what they're calling "drain the swamp," quote- unquote, drain the swamp, something we know they have referred to before, but really trying to hammer Kamala Harris and tie her to Joe Biden's policies.

However, Donald Trump actually has spent the majority of his speech so far railing against his criminal cases, even though his prepared remarks that were shared by his advisers prior to his speech with reporters actually didn't talk at all about his criminal cases. It did talk about a bit more generally how he wanted to, if elected, he would stop the weaponization of the government.

Of course a claim that Donald Trump has made repeatedly in reference to the legal battles that he is facing with no evidence of whether the actual Justice Department has been targeting him. But all to say that he went onto a long rant about his legal cases. And of course this comes just one day after Donald Trump was in court for a hearing on his appeals court case with E. Jean Carroll, but also a day after the judge in his New York hush money case had delayed his sentencing even further.

Now this is something Donald Trump himself actually addressed on stage. I want you to take a listen to what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT, PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I don't know why they don't do something. They ought to drop it. They shouldn't delay it. They should drop it. Drop all of it, drop all of it.

I've been indicted more than Alphonse Capone. I say it all the time. He sort of the ultimate, you know, he is the ultimate criminal. I got indicted more than him. My parents are up there. They're great people. They're looking down on me right now. I can't believe this has happened to my son. He's been indicted more than Al Capone.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TREENE: All right, Fred, that line about Alphonse Capone, Al Capone, something he says that almost every single rally, but he did, as again, address the delay in his sentencing in his New York hush money case. And he said he thinks it should be completely thrown out, not delayed. Of course, we know that he was indicted in that case back in the spring and he was supposed to face sentencing this month.

However, the judge initially had pushed it back after the Supreme Court had ruled that presidents have immunity for official acts. So they are still waiting to determine whether or not this case could potentially be dismissed. That is also going to be decided after the election.

But just to take a step back and get back to the politics of all of this, Fred. Of course, Wisconsin is a very important battleground to Donald Trump. That is why he is here today. It's one of those states that helped propel him to the White House in 2016. He won this state in 2016, but then he lost it to Joe Biden in 2020. And it is going to be very close in this state come November. Recent polls have shown Kamala Harris gaining ground in Wisconsin after taking over the top of the Democratic ticket.

But again, it's very close and that's why you're going to hear Donald Trump also later in this speech talk about the economy, an issue that his team really has been pushing him to focus on noting that the majority of Americans see that as their number one issue and it's also an issue where he is currently polling higher -- Fred.

WHITFIELD: All right. Alayna Treene there in Wisconsin, with the Trump campaign. Thank you.

All right, Eva, to you in Pittsburgh with the vice president's campaign. How is she preparing for the debate in between making these impromptu visits with people there in Pittsburgh?

EVA MCKEND, CNN NATIONAL POLITICS CORRESPONDENT: Well, Fred, the strategy has largely been to hunker down here at the Omni with a small group of key advisers just strenuously prepare for this debate, save for those stops when she gets out into Pittsburgh into the community in this pivotal battleground state.

[15:05:13]

And it comes at a time when the campaign is shifting strategy a bit at least on air. You know, for the last several weeks, we have seen ads that have really leaned in to the vice president's personal biography. But now we are seeing a new slate of ads that lean into this issue of reproductive rights by having women tell their own stories. Take a listen to what battleground voters are seeing.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LAUREL, VOTER: The overturning of Roe almost killed me. I had a blood clot in my uterus that caused my labor to have to be induced. Because of the overturn of Roe v. Wade, I wasn't able to get lifesaving treatment sooner. I almost died.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MCKEND: And Fred, that is part of a $370 million television and digital ad buy across the country. As for the vice president, she could make another appearance here in Pittsburgh. She told community members today that ultimately most Americans want to move away from the divisiveness of the past -- Fred.

WHITFIELD: All right. Eva McKend and Alayna Treene, thanks to both of you, ladies. Appreciate it.

And make sure you join us for complete coverage and exclusive analysis before and after the debate. The ABC News presidential debate simulcast is Tuesday night 9:00 Eastern right here on CNN.

All right, North Carolina's ballots were supposed to start going out on Friday. But instead a battle is playing out in the courts. The North Carolina State Election Board is asking the state Supreme Court to overrule a lower court ruling which ordered Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.'s name be removed from the ballot. County election officials say they are now in a holding pattern until this all gets sorted out.

And the stakes are high in this critical battleground state. CNN's Dianne Gallagher has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DIANNE GALLAGHER, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Election day 2024 may feel like it's far away.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You're going to put yours inside the flap.

GALLAGHER: But once these ballots ship out, it's here. MICHAEL DICKERSON, DIRECTOR, MECKLENBURG COUNTY BOARD OF ELECTIONS:

We're kicking off the official voting process of the general election.

GALLAGHER: Those first ballots were set to go out Friday, but due to a challenge by Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., who is seeking to remove his name from the North Carolina ballot, that could be delayed. The dispute highlighting the state's role as a battleground that could determine the race for the White House.

JASON SIMMONS, CHAIRMAN, NORTH CAROLINA GOP: We've been preparing, really, for the better part now of a year and a half.

GALLAGHER: The Trump and Harris campaigns are shifting into high gear.

Crunch time or it's literally go time?

DAVID BERRIOS, DEMOCRATIC STATE CAMPAIGN MANAGER: Well, the voters are voting.

GALLAGHER (voice-over): North Carolina is one of seven states where both candidates are investing most of their time.

TRUMP: North Carolina, thank you very much.

KAMALA HARRIS (D), VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: It's good to be back in North Carolina.

GALLAGHER: And resources.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm here supporting Vice President Kamala Harris.

GALLAGHER: It's the only state on the 2024 battleground map former President Donald Trump carried four years ago, but it was his slimmest victory, less than a point and a half. And recent polling points to another close race in November.

SIMMONS: North Carolina historically has always been a two-point state for the last couple of election cycles, and we'll continue to see that.

GALLAGHER: With frequent visits, large investments in advertising, and a robust ground game, the Harris campaign is seeking to turn the state blue for the first time since 2008.

BERRIOS: That's why our infrastructure of 26 offices across the state, over 230 staff knocking on as many doors as we can.

GALLAGHER: Also critical now, voter education, as absentee by mail requirements here have changed drastically with two witness signatures and a photocopy of an I.D. needed, plus ballots that now must be returned by election day.

TRUMP: Did you know that absentee ballots are about to go out in North Carolina?

GALLAGHER: Republicans, including Trump's own campaign, are promoting voting by mail, even as Trump himself continues to falsely criticize the process.

TRUMP: Mail-in voting is totally corrupt. Get that through your head.

GALLAGHER: Just last week, his campaign and the RNC launched an online tool to help Pennsylvania supporters vote by mail. As Trump said in an interview, mail-in voting shouldn't be allowed.

TRUMP: Anytime you have a mail-in ballot, there's going to be massive fraud.

GALLAGHER: Republicans in North Carolina state, the mixed messaging isn't a problem here.

SIMMONS: President Trump has been very clear specifically when he's come to North Carolina --

GALLAGHER: Would we call that clear?

SIMMONS: He has. When he's come to North Carolina, he's told people, have a plan, whether again, that's by voting by mail, voting in-person early, or on election day.

GALLAGHER (voice-over): Voters in the other battlegrounds and the rest of the country are set to join North Carolina in casting ballots either by mail or in person in the coming weeks. Before that, an eager North Carolina voter is poised to kick it off for everyone.

DICKERSON: They're just going to get that ballot back to me as quick as they can, so they can say I was first.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

[15:10:04]

WHITFIELD: All right. Our thanks to CNN's Dianne Gallagher for that reporting.

All right, still ahead this hour, outrage in Israel as protesters demand Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu make a hostage deal. New details on the major roadblocks holding up negotiations. Plus a landslide crisis hitting California. A state of emergency declared in one city as homes slide off cliffs and get swallowed by the ground.

And this content creator coined the catchphrase of the summer. And now the very mindful, very demure or very demure, very mindful TikToker is battling to trademark her viral phrase.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:15:25]

WHITFIELD: All right. This breaking news. Protesters are filling streets around Israel rallying to pressure their government to agree to a hostage deal with Hamas. Anti-government demonstrators and hostage families are also joining together, demanding Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu seal the deal. Emotions are running high as today marks the 11th month since the

horrifying Hamas attack on October 7th.

CNN's Matthew Chance and Julia Benbrook are tracking these developments.

Matthew, you're there right in the middle of the protest. Tell me more about what's being said.

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN CHIEF GLOBAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Yes, well, the protesters have started to thin out a little bit but there had been thousands of people here over the course of the evening and coming out in a show of unity first of all for the hostages that are still being held inside the Gaza Strip. There are still 101 Israelis that are held by Hamas and others inside Gaza.

But the primary -- the next thing they're looking for is a deal. They want a prisoner swap deal to be negotiated to het those prisoners, those hostages out of Gaza and back home as soon as they possibly can. There's a great deal of unity in Israel about the need to get those hostages back home. But enormous division about the best way to do that. And a lot of that division has turned its attention onto Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister.

Most of the people here if not all of them are very concerned that the strategy that the Israeli government is using to pound Hamas in Gaza and to, you know, not see a hostage deal when one, you know, is in front of them, they're saying that's the wrong strategy. They're saying that Netanyahu putting his own political survival above the welfare of the hostages being held inside Gaza.

And they want a deal to be done no matter what the cost, no matter how many Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails are to be released. No matter how much territory inside Gaza Israeli forces, you know, agreed to withdraw from. The priority for the people here is to get those hostages back home as soon as possible.

That's rejected by the government of Benjamin Netanyahu, who's looking to get sort of security, is looking at what prisoners should be released. You know, that can be dealt with later, according to the vast majority of the people protesting here tonight.

WHITFIELD: Matthew Chance, thank you so much.

To Julia now in Washington, the Biden administration, you know, has been working for months now to get a ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas. Is it getting any closer?

JULIA BENBROOK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Biden and top aides have been persistently hopeful that they can get a deal across the line, but significant complications have shifted the mood in recent days leading to some within the White House to question if they'll see an end of the Israel-Hamas war before the end of Biden's presidency. U.S. officials have said they've grown increasingly skeptical that Hamas may be open to an agreement. And earlier in the week, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu

said that a deal is not close and is arguing for a permanent Israeli presence in southwestern Gaza, despite international calls including from the U.S. to eventually fully withdraw.

Earlier today, CIA Director Bill Burns, a lead negotiator in these talks for the U.S., said that it's his hope to have a more detailed proposal in front of Israel and Hamas negotiators in the coming days. But he stressed that its success would come down to political will on their parts.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BILL BURNS, CIA DIRECTOR: I cannot tell you how close we are right now. It is a fact that if you look at the written text, 90 percent to the paragraphs have been agreed to, but in any negotiation I have been involved in the last 10 percent is the last 10 percent for a reason because it's the hardest part to do.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BENBROOK: Now, if a ceasefire deal fails to materialize in the coming months, it will be a huge foreign policy disappointment for Biden, who has spent a big amount of time, effort and political capital, pushing for an end to this conflict over the last year. And sources say that he has become increasingly focused on foreign policy and specifically on this conflict in Gaza since he decided to end his reelection bid.

[15:20:05]

WHITFIELD: All right. Julia Benbrook and Matthew Chance, thanks so much, as we were watching the live pictures of the protest there in Tel Aviv where things are getting a pretty heated.

All right. For more on the situation in the Middle East, we're joined now by former editor-in-chief for the "Jerusalem Post," Avi Mayer.

Avi, great to see you. So Prime Minister Netanyahu said, you know, this week that a deal is not close. He says he wants a permanent Israeli presence in southwestern Gaza despite opposition from Hamas, the U.S. and other key players. So it doesn't sound like anyone is getting close to a deal.

AVI MAYER, FORMER EDITOR IN CHIEF, JERUSALEM POST: Well, Fredricka, I think the sentiments that you're seeing reflected in those protests in the streets are shared by many Israelis who feel that no matter what the circumstances are, no matter what the terms may be, the most immediate concern needs to be bringing back as many living hostages as humanly possible. We of course saw Hamas murder six hostages just last week. That has reverberated throughout this country and the grief and the anger are palpable.

I would say that we are actually perhaps inching closer. I wonder to what extent the prime minister's comments are actually something of a negotiating tactic to sort of ensure that there's some kind Israeli presence. But he himself seems to express some kind of flexibility even in his remarks just the other day, saying, you know, I'm not envisaging a single Israeli soldier every three feet.

Perhaps we can have early warning stations or some kind of more dispersed presence there. But it seems as though we may be reaching closer to some kind of a deal. And I know that it's certainly something many Israelis want to see in the very near future.

WHITFIELD: You know, these protests underway right now have swelled, you know, in the weeks since the bodies of six hostages were recovered from Gaza. Is this public pressure perhaps this time, is there any possibility that it might expedite or move toward some sort of progress?

MAYER: Well, there is certainly that possibility. We know based on comments from American officials, not only throughout the past few months but even for the past few days, that the primary obstacle to an agreement really does remain Hamas even as they wish the prime minister will be more forthcoming, was perhaps be more flexible in its demands, Hamas remains the primary obstacle, but I do think that there is this added pressure.

There's this tailwind now behind the protests in Israel. Israelis are so frustrated and so outraged by the sight of those six hostages being brought back for burial in Israel. I think they feel that there's really no price, no cost that's too high to bring back whatever number of living hostages we possibly can at this point. And we'll deal with what every security ramification at some point down the line.

WHITFIELD: Turkish President Recep Erdogan, you know, is now condemning the killing of a Turkish American activist in the West Bank this week. A local governor in the West Bank says an autopsy released today confirms that the 26-year-old was shot in the head. Her family blames the Israeli military. We even heard from our Matthew Chance, as we look at these live pictures of the protest, that that incident is not necessarily top of mind for a lot of the people there.

But I wonder, even with the Turkish president's, you know, point of view now, if any of this will offer any added incentive for the Israeli government to speak to an issue that is growing?

MAYER: Well, the Turkish president has ceased being a constructive force in this region a long time ago. I think that the incident that happened yesterday is certainly tragic. I know it's under investigation by Israeli authorities. The context, of course, is an uptick in terror activity in the West Bank. We know that just one week ago the leader of Hamas, Khaled Mashal, called for an increase in suicide bombings.

We know that there was an attempted suicide bombing not long ago and a whole spate of terror attacks there. So you see, Israeli anti-terror activity taking place in the cities of the West Bank. Unfortunately, that woman appears to have been present at a violent riot that had to be responded to by Israeli forces.

But this is all part and parcel of an attempt by Hamas to inflame not only the Gaza Strip, but the West Bank in order to (INAUDIBLE) that Israel is fighting a war on multiple fronts. That of course is something that many Israelis do not want to see but we'll have to see what happens at the week's end.

WHITFIELD: All right. Avi Mayer, we'll leave it there for now. Thank you so much.

Up next, hear chilling words from students recounting the minutes before a teenager opened fire inside a Georgia high school. We'll have that and details on the likelihood of additional charges against the suspect.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:29:11]

WHITFIELD: More than 100 riders from various motorcycle clubs brought flowers and said prayers at a memorial around the flagpole at Apalachee High School, the scene of Wednesday's shooting rampage in Winder, Georgia. Today's ride was in support of the community still really from the shooting that left four people dead.

CNN's Isabel Rosales spoke with two sisters who came face-to-face with the alleged gunman.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ISABEL ROSALES, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): 14-year-old Bri Jones was the first student to lay eyes on Colt Gray just moments before she says he began his deadly rampage.

BRI JONES, BLOCKED THE SHOOTER FROM HER CLASSROOM: He knocked on the door. I went up. I saw him holding a bag and just pulling the gun out. I'm not sure what kind of bag was it, but I see him pulling out of a bag and like the gun was so big, like.

ROSALES: Gray was her classmate, and their class the first he tried to enter, she tells CNN.

[15:30:03]

JONES: I always look out the door before I open it. There's just like my -- it's a habit my mom taught me.

ROSALES: But as her teacher instructed her to let him back in, she said --

JONES: I know he has a gun. If I would have opened the door, then like he would have got every single one of us in that class. And I don't want me, my teacher, my friends in the class and my other classmates, I don't want none of us to get hurt. So I just -- I just didn't go like, I thank God that I did not open that door.

ROSALES: Jones said Gray moved on to her sister's class down the hall.

MALASIA MITCHELL, SAW HER TEACHER FATALLY SHOT: Colt shot my teacher multiple times.

ROSALES: Malasia Mitchell says she'll never be able to erase the image of her teacher, Richard Aspinwall, begging for help.

MITCHELL: And we had to drag our teacher, our teacher's body fully into the classroom. We heard him take his last breath.

ROSALES: Mitchell says she felt powerless.

MITCHELL: I've been trained what to do, like give CPR and other stuff, but I couldn't because --

ROSALES: Help him?

MITCHELL: Couldn't help him. So I ended up having a seizure.

ROSALES: The 14-year-old suspect who allegedly caused all this pain in court, the families of the victims just feet behind him.

JUDGE CURRIE MINGLEDORFF II, JACKSON COUNTY, GEORGIA: You're charged with four counts of felony murder.

ROSALES: Just minutes after the suspected shooter left the courtroom where he did not enter a plea, his father walked in for his own first appearance.

MINGLEDORFF: Two counts of felony murder in the second degree. You're charged with four counts felony involuntary manslaughter.

ROSALES: And he's charged with eight counts of second-degree felony cruelty to children. An arrest warrant for Colin Gray alleges he gave his son a firearm when he knew his son was a threat to himself and to others. It's only the second time a parent has been charged in connection with a mass shooting carried out by their child.

CHRIS HOSEY, GEORGIA INVESTIGATION BUREAU DIRECTOR: The GBI has arrested Colin Gray.

ROSALES: Last April, in an unprecedented case, the parents of Ethan Crumbley were each sentenced to 10 to 15 years for involuntary manslaughter. The D.A. in the case says Colt Gray may face additional charges.

BRAD SMITH, DISTRICT ATTORNEY, PIEDMONT JUDICIAL CIRCUIT: You can anticipate there will be new charges on Colt Gray because we've never addressed the other victims in the school.

ROSALES: At Apalachee High, some students left wondering how they can possibly move forward.

Do you think you'll be able to come back to school?

MITCHELL: Yes, because I'm not going to walk in fear.

ROSALES (voice-over): Isabel Rosales, Winder, Georgia, CNN.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: And we'll be right back. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:37:10]

WHITFIELD: The athletics community is trying to come to terms with the shocking death of Ugandan marathon runner Rebecca Cheptegei. Just weeks after she competed in the Paris Olympics Games, police said Cheptegei died on Thursday as a result of being set on fire by her boyfriend. Her death is now raising attention to the wider issues of gender-based violence in Kenya and the threat to female athletes in particular.

Here's CNN's Amanda Davies.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

AMANDA DAVIES, CNN SPORT ANCHOR (voice-over): A grieving mother struggling to come to terms with the unthinkable.

AGNES NDIEMA-CHEPTEGEI, MOTHER OF REBECCA CHEPTEGEI (through translator): She was a good child. Very polite. And she didn't have a lot of issues. I just don't know.

DAVIES: According to police, Rebecca Cheptegei, a Ugandan athlete based in Kenya, was attacked by her boyfriend, who doused the 33-year- old in petrol before setting her alight at their home near the city of Eldoret.

Sadly, though, this is not an isolated incident. Just another that highlights the ongoing issue of gender-based violence and femicide in Kenya. According to government data from 2022, 34 percent of women in the country report having experienced physical violence after the age of 15, committed by anyone, with married women at particular risk. And a number of athletes have been victims.

JOAN CHELIMO, KENYAN-ROMANIAN RUNNER, CO-FOUNDED TIROP'S ANGELS: We didn't know that there was gender-based violence.

DAVIES: Joan Chelimo competed against Cheptegei in the marathon at the Paris Olympics and is one of a group of athletes who co-founded Tirop's Angels in 2022 in the wake of the killing of Kenyan Olympian Agnes Tirop.

CHELIMO: Agnes was my friend. You could not tell what she was going through because every time you could see her, she was just smiling. We felt like it was a wake-up call for everyone.

DAVIES: Tirop's Angels provides counselling and support to victims of GBV and aims to educate and empower young women in the region.

NANCY LAGAT, ATHLETE, TIROP'S ANGELS, KENYA: As more people came to us and report issues of GBV, we realized that it is a pandemic that is affecting everybody in our community and especially the whole country.

CHELIMO: Iten is a very small community. It has around 10,000 people. About 2,000 of them are athletes. And what happens is young girls come here after school, after high school or after primary school, and they end up being taken advantage of.

We heard about GBV all over the world. But setting up the foundation, more women came up, speaking up about what they are going through in their lives. Not only athletes but also the community.

[15:40:08]

DAVIES: Amnesty International Kenya launched a campaign in January calling for the country's government to prioritize the investigation and prosecution of femicide cases. A campaign that goes on, but sadly not enough to prevent the death of Rebecca Cheptegei as her family and the distance-running community come to terms with another of their members taken too soon.

Amanda Davies, CNN, London.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:45:18]

WHITFIELD: All right. Perhaps you found yourself saying these very words just like politicians, celebrities, and companies have been using it all because of this woman.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOOLS LEBRON, MAKEUP ARTIST: See how I did my makeup for work? Very demure, very mindful. I don't come to work with a green cut crease. I don't look like a clown when I go to work. I don't do too much. I'm very mindful while I'm at work.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Mindful, demure. Well, now it's at the center of a trademark battle because of the woman who coined the phrase. Makeup artist Jools Lebron. She started the trend when she shared the video on TikTok last month, and after her post went viral, Lebron quickly learned that a whole lot of other people had been using it, too, and actually tried to monetize it.

So others, including one other person, have tried to trade mark it and now it's kind of getting under her skin.

I want to discuss this now with Alexandra Robert, professor of law and media at Northeastern University.

Professor, great to see you.

ALEXANDRA J. ROBERTS, PROFESSOR, LAW AND MEDIA, NORTHEASTERN UNIVERSITY: You too. Thanks.

WHITFIELD: So what's interesting here is very demure, very mindful, I mean, these are not new words. They're common words, but it's how Jools has said it and how she has helped to monetize it. So how should she go about trademarking these words because of the way that she has used it?

ROBERTS: Trademark law is really not designed for, you know, staking your claim when it comes to phrases that you made go viral or that you popularized. But it has been in recent years one way that creators and influencers can kind of build a business off of what you described. You know, a really successful viral video.

So there are a couple of ways to stake that claim using trademark law. One way is to apply to register it with the USPTO as a trademark. And the other is to just start using it as a brand name for stuff that you sell. So for goods or for services, you have to do more than kind of use it in a TikTok. You have to actually begin selling some stuff that people buy. Either of those is a great way to establish trademark rights.

WHITFIELD: So what's interesting here is that it is she is now want to try and get a federal trademark, even though a Washington state person named Jefferson Bates already has filed, but one of the clear differences here is Bates has filed a $1 billion trademark application which declares an intent to use trademark. But Lebron has already used it. I mean, it's already documented, right, on TikTok. So does this give her kind of a leg-up?

ROBERTS: The fact that she is associated with the phrase, I think is what gives her a leg-up. So really, none of these four applicant, you got three other applicants in line in front of Lebron, nobody has actually started making use of the phrase as a trademark for stuff that they're selling. But in the sense that people see this phrase and they think, oh, I loved that video. I love that creator, I would like to buy some stuff and support her by doing that, they might be deceived if somebody else is able to register that phrase.

So that's one argument that Lebron can make to show that she actually has prior rights and that those applications should be refused and her application should be granted.

WHITFIELD: So in other words, U.S. trademark law would recognize the first person to actually use it but not necessarily the first person who filed for it?

ROBERTS: Right. So if nobody has used it, in theory, the first person to file that ITU based applications, so that's 1B, that was what you're referring to, an intent to use the mark in the future, that person would be first in line and could get prior rights. But this is kind of an exception to the rule where we would say, you know, even though the mark doesn't contain her name, it's so closely tied to her identity that somebody else's registration of it would be deceptive.

So you can be first in line in either of those ways with that creating that association, making that real use if that public facing use or filing the application first.

WHITFIELD: So how long is this process? How long might it take?

ROBERTS: It might take a while, and it could go a number of different ways. But one point I want to make is that Lebron's application is for some different goods and services than these other applicants. So, for example, if some of the people in front of her have applied to register similar marks for advertising services and for clothing, but her application includes things like cosmetics, hair care, online retail services, and so that application could be examined and those rights could be granted in, you know, six to 12 months.

[15:50:11]

She also is able to use her phrase and her mark in business without waiting for any of that to happen. So she does not have to sit around and wait to see what the USPTO does in order to move forward with monetizing her fame and her mark.

WHITFIELD: You want to make any predictions on how this is going to go for her?

ROBERTS: You know, a lot of the time when other people pop up and apply to register just kind of a popular phrase, a viral phrase as a trademark, they're not that serious about using it, and they tend to kind of fall away and eventually abandon those applications. So my prediction, and I think it could go either way, but I do (INAUDIBLE) come out of this whole process in pretty good shape hopefully within a year or so.

WHITFIELD: All right. Professor Alexandra Roberts, good to see you. Thanks so much.

Up next, the land in one California city seems to be crumbling away at a more rapid pace as gas companies shut of power for hundreds of residents. The latest on the devastating landslide crisis.

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[15:55:54]

WHITFIELD: All right. One of this year's strongest typhoons makes landfall yet again, this time in Vietnam. Forecasters say typhoon Yagi re-intensified to become the equivalent of a category four hurricane. The storm already killed four people and injured dozens more when it hit China. Yagi recorded maximum sustained wind speeds of 140 miles per hour, making it the world's second most powerful tropical cyclone of 2024 so far.

Landslides in a coastal California community about 40 miles from Los Angeles are ripping homes apart, buckling roads, and leaving hundreds without power. Governor Gavin Newsom has declared a state of emergency after people living in Rancho Palos Verdes urged him to step in and take action.

CNN's Stephanie Elam explains how officials say the area has experienced slow land movement for decades.

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STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It's as if the earth is wiping away what's been built upon it. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm no geologist. But when you see the road turning

into a roller coaster, you know, something is wrong.

ELAM: Here in Rancho Palos Verdes, an affluent community coveted for its expansive Pacific Ocean vistas, the land is sliding dangerously.

BARBARA FERRARO, RANCHO PALOS VERDES CITY COUNCIL MEMBER: This is unprecedented. No one knows really in a way what to do.

ELAM: While the land has always slowly shifted here, local leaders say it's accelerated tremendously.

GREG MONTGOMERY, RESIDENT, RANCHO PALEOS VERDES, CALIFORNIA: Unbelievable in the last four months, it's constant. I mean, it's just what do you do? We're sitting here on a keg of dynamite and we can't go repair anything because the ground continues to move.

ELAM: So much so some residents had their natural gas service discontinued in July with more shutoffs recently added. Then in the last week, more than 200 homes have their power cut indefinitely as the shifting ground threatens utility lines.

LARRY CHUNG, SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA EDISON: On August 29th, the fire that occurred near Narcisa Drive, the land movement caused a power line to fall to the ground and ignite a small fire.

ELAM: That fire was quickly extinguished, officials say, but the incident exposed the threat posed to basic infrastructure, including water and sewer lines.

MICHAEL CHEE, PIO, L.A. COUNTY SANITATION DISTRICTS: We are dealing with incomprehensible amounts of earth with unimaginable movement, pulling our infrastructure in ways that it is not designed or intended to move, or resist this level of dynamic activity.

ELAM: Allowing officials to funnel resources toward the emergency response, Governor Gavin Newsom declared a state of emergency in the city this week noting the land movement accelerated significantly following the 2023 and '24 severe storm events with the land now sliding at an average of nine to 12 inches per week.

JANICE HAHN, L.A. COUNTY BOARD OF SUPERVISORS: I think we're all learning that there is no playbook for an emergency like this one. We don't have a step-by-step guide to follow. But what we do know is that many families are struggling, are suffering, are feeling great anxiety about what is happening. They are watching their homes. They're watching their streets crumble around them.

ELAM: And for some residents, the only option is to remain in their damaged homes.

CRAIG CADWALLADER, RESIDENT, RANCHO PALOS VERDES, CALIFORNIA: Everybody must assume that people who live in Rancho Palos Verdes are infinitely wealthy. And that's not the case, especially for me. And so I literally don't know where I'm going.

MONTGOMERY: We've lost our ability to live normal lives. I mean, we have plans to go places and we can't go. We have to stay here.

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ELAM (on-camera): For some of the residents in these neighborhoods, it's not just their homes that are being impacted, but also their livelihoods as well, which is making the situation even more dire for them.

Back to you.

WHITFIELD: All right. Stephanie Elam, thank you so much.

And thank you for joining me today. I'm Fredricka Whitfield. The CNN NEWSROOM with Jessica Dean starts right now.