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Boeing's Starliner Lands Successfully without Crew on Board; Trump Dismisses Ex-VP Dick Cheney as "Irrelevant RINO"; Georgia School Shooter, Father Appear in Court; U.S. Activist Shot Dead by Israeli Forces in West Bank; Jenin Residents Bury Dead as Israel Pauses Military Operation; Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy Warns of "Significant" Shortfall in Vital Aid; Harris Prepares for Debate, Trump Insults His Accusers; Election May Be Decided by Economy; Veterans Win Major Legal Victory in Fight over Land for Housing; Pakistani Charged in Plotting Terrorist Attack; Jewish Students Speak after UPitt On-Campus Attack; U.S. Identifies First Case of Bird Flu Not Linked to Animals. Aired 4-5a ET
Aired September 07, 2024 - 04:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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KIM BRUNHUBER, CNN ANCHOR AND CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Welcome to all you watching us here in the United States, Canada and around the world.
I'm Kim Brunhuber. This is CNN NEWSROOM.
Starliner is back home but without any astronauts on board. We'll have details on the capsule's long awaited return to Earth and what happens now.
American voters will soon head to the polls, not knowing whether the Republican presidential nominee will be sentenced to prison time. Details on a busy day of legal developments for Donald Trump.
An alleged school shooter and his father both appear in court, the latest on the killings that have rocked yet another U.S. community.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): Live from Atlanta, this is CNN NEWSROOM with Kim Brunhuber.
BRUNHUBER: After a troubled flight to the International Space Station, Boeing's Starliner has arrived safely back on Earth with no crew on board.
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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Touchdown. Starliner is back on Earth. That landing coming at 11:01:35 seconds Central time, 10:01:35 seconds Mountain time at White Sands Space Harbor.
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BRUNHUBER: As you heard there, Starliner landed at White Sands Space Harbor in New Mexico. People at NASA's mission control in Houston, Texas, clapped and cheered.
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BRUNHUBER (voice-over): So here you can see Starliner just after it reentered Earth's atmosphere. NASA says the spacecraft made a bull's- eye landing.
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STEVE STICH, MANAGER, NASA COMMERCIAL CREW PROGRAM: It was a great day today to return Starliner. It was great to have a successful undock the orbit and landing of the vehicle. We're really excited to have Calypso back on the ground.
You know, Suni told the ground team, you've got this. Bring Calypso back. And that's what they did tonight. I am thrilled for our Boeing team and all of our colleagues have worked this mission across the country on the NASA team and the Boeing team.
They've put a lot of heart and soul into this mission over many years. And it's a testament to those people that we got the vehicle back safely today.
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BRUNHUBER: Starliner launched in June, then docked with the ISS. Now it was supposed to return to Earth a week later. But helium leaks and thruster problems along the way to orbit prompted NASA to delay the return.
Astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore were supposed to return on Starliner but they're staying on the space station for now. CNN space and defense correspondent Kristin Fisher has more.
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KRISTIN FISHER, CNN SPACE & DEFENSE CORRESPONDENT: Breathing a sigh of relief this morning after Starliner successfully landed in White Sands, New Mexico, shortly after midnight.
And all of the issues that Starliner suffered while in space -- the thruster failures, the helium leaks -- did not prove to be a problem when it did the deorbit burn, pumped the brakes and reentered the Earth's atmosphere.
Those were the critical maneuvers that NASA was so worried about if Butch and Suni Williams, which will more in (ph) Suni Williams Starliner's crew had been on board.
And so now, Boeing and NASA are going to be looking at all the data NASA needs to decide if it's going to require Boeing to conduct another crude flight test before it's fully certified to ferry NASA astronauts to and from the International Space Station.
As for Butch and Suni, they are going to be up there until February of 2025 before they hitch a ride back on a SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule. That's essentially the backup here. But NASA administrator Bill Nelson says that's what this program is all about, the commercial crew program.
Its about having a backup system, redundancy. If one spacecraft fails, there's another spacecraft run by a different company that can bring these astronauts home. So this is what the commercial crew program was designed for.
I just don't think anybody thought that this backup system would be tested quite as early as it was needed -- at the Johnson Space Center, I'm Kristin Fisher, CNN.
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BRUNHUBER: CNN aerospace analyst Miles O'Brien says Starliner made a good landing but with one caveat. Here he is.
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MILES O'BRIEN, CNN AEROSPACE ANALYST: It was a textbook landing. One detail, no passengers aboard, which, of course, blemishes that good landing by quite a bit.
So you could say all's well that ends well. But that would not be right in this case, because now begins a very thorough investigation as to what went wrong with this spacecraft months ago, as it approached the International Space Station.
And several of those thrusters, which seemed to work OK tonight, failed. And those answers are still open.
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BRUNHUBER: This was the first Starliner mission to carry astronauts. NASA plans to ship the spacecraft to the Kennedy Space Center in Florida for inspection.
U.S. voters will go to the polls on November 5 without knowing what Republican nominee Donald Trump's punishment will be in his hush money case. That's because the judge has delayed sentencing until November 26, well after the election.
Judge Juan Merchan wrote in a letter that part of his reason for the delay was to avoid any appearance of affecting the outcome of the election. The former president was found guilty on 34 charges of falsifying business records to cover up a hush money payment to adult film star Stormy Daniels.
Meanwhile, in the E. Jean Carroll sex abuse and defamation case, Trump was in New York for oral arguments on his motion for a new trial. After that court hearing, Trump spoke to reporters but took no questions. He lashed out at Carroll and several other women who have accused him
of sexual assault. And he made familiar accusations about his antagonists and their motives. Here he is.
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TRUMP: Every one of these cases, it's political interference.
Its a witch hunt, just like the fake Russia. It's a hoax. It's a scam, it's a political witch hunt.
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BRUNHUBER: CNN's Kaitlan Polantz has more on Trump's hearing in the defamation case and the hush money sentencing delay.
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KATELYN POLANTZ, CNN SENIOR CRIME AND JUSTICE REPORTER: A judge in the state of New York says he is not going to sentence Donald Trump 41 days before the presidential election.
Instead, Donald Trump will be sentenced on November 26, a couple weeks later, for the 34 criminal counts that a jury has found him guilty of for sending hush money payments to the porn star Stormy Daniels because of an alleged affair he was trying to keep quiet during the last time or two times ago that Trump ran for President.
This situation is one that has never been handled in any court before and Judge Juan Merchan in New York acknowledged this.
In a four-page letter on Friday moving the sentencing date, he wrote that this is a matter that stands alone and one of the most critical and difficult decisions a trial court judge faces that the proceeding should be so protected.
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The justice here should have so much integrity, the jury verdict should be protected and the independence of the judiciary should be acknowledged to the point where this sentencing cannot take place before the election.
Judge Merchan does not want to advantage or disadvantage any political party or candidate and thus is moving the sentencing date of Donald Trump.
So there is the possibility now that Trump either could be a criminal defendant with no special powers whatsoever at his disposal come November if he loses the election.
Or he could be the president-elect of the United States, a man with pardon power over federal protections -- federal convictions but not somebody who would have any pardon power in a state case like this, this hush money criminal conviction. So a lot is going to be happening over the next couple of weeks there. We also are very aware that his team is going to continue to fight, not just the fact that he is going to be sentenced here in this case in November but all of the cases. And to that point, on Friday, his team was in court on Friday, in an appeals court.
Trump attended a hearing that last about a half an hour before three judges, where they're trying to overturn a $5 million defamation verdict that a jury awarded to the columnist E. Jean Carroll for sexual abuse and defamation.
No decision was made on Friday but we will await that decision from the appeals court and whether the trial is conducted appropriately in the coming weeks or months -- Katelyn Polantz, CNN, Washington.
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BRUNHUBER: After hearing Donald Trump's verbal attacks against E. Jean Carroll on Friday, her attorney says, all options are on the table, implying they could sue Trump again for defamation two separate juries awarded E. Jean Carroll $5 million and $83 million in damages after finding that Trump sexually abused and defamed her.
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BRUNHUBER: Liz Cheney announced Wednesday that she will be voting for Kamala Harris in November. Now she's revealing how her father, former Republican U.S. vice president Dick Cheney, will be voting.
Here is the former Wyoming congresswoman speaking in Austin, Texas.
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LIZ CHENEY (R-WY), FORMER HOUSE REPRESENTATIVE: Dick Cheney will be voting for Kamala Harris. You know, my dad believes and he's said publicly that there's never been an individual in our country who is as grave a threat to our democracy as Donald Trump is.
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BRUNHUBER: Trump is now attacking Cheney for supporting Harris, a decision Cheney confirmed in a statement. Talking to Truth Social Trump dismissed the ex-VP as a, quote, "irrelevant Republican in name only."
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Well, the race for the White House is in a critical stage right now with just 59 days to Election Day.
Both the Trump and Harris campaigns are focusing on battleground states, even as they get ready for their first debate on Tuesday. Harris is in Pittsburgh this weekend preparing for the faceoff.
And with several states starting early in-person voting in about two weeks, the Trump team has been trying to chip away at the Democrats' so-called blue wall of Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin. Harris has been focused on the southeastern states of Georgia and
North Carolina. Meanwhile, her campaign is maintaining its blistering fundraising pace, bringing in $361 million in August. That's more than double Trump's $130 million haul.
So while Harris hunkers down to prep for the debate, President Joe Biden made his own stop in a swing state. He spoke to union members in Ann Arbor, Michigan, while signing a pro-union executive order.
The president highlighted the number of manufacturing jobs added during his administration. Here he is.
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JOE BIDEN (D), PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Now there are 1.6 million jobs in construction and manufacturing.
Where in the hell is it written that America can't lead the world again in manufacturing?
We are leading the world in manufacturing and will continue to.
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BRUNHUBER: CNN's Omar Jimenez is in Ann Arbor with latest.
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OMAR JIMENEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: President Biden very much in his comfort zone at this union hall in Ann Arbor, Michigan. He's described himself and his administration as the most pro labor administration in the history of the United States.
He even touted the fact that it was just last year when he was walking the picket line with United Auto Workers during their strike as well. But nonetheless, look, it's Michigan; it is a battleground state. We know that it's important.
But also he's here to sign an executive order, a labor related executive order, trying to increase protections for workers and increased benefits for workers as well. But he also went after the former president Trump in a pretty significant way.
Obviously, he's not running for president anymore, President Biden. Kamala Harris, who is running for that spot.
But nonetheless, Biden took the time to mention Harris as part of his accomplishments but also go after the former president, even getting emotional at times, talking about his son, Beau, and about previous reporting around the former president.
That's where he allegedly described those that have been captured and killed, military members, as suckers and losers. Now look, Michigan, as I mentioned, battleground state, a state that Biden only won by about 150,000 votes in 2020. And so every visit makes a difference. And obviously this time around, even though it's not his name on the
ticket, he knows that it's going to be a close one here in this state. And he spared no expense at union halls like this, a voting bloc that will likely be very significant come Election Day -- Omar Jimenez, CNN, Ann Arbor, Michigan.
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BRUNHUBER: Students at Georgia's Apalachee High School will not return to classes on Tuesday with the rest of the school system. They will take more time to grieve and recover from Wednesday's shooting that left four people dead and nine injured.
Suspected shooter Colt Gray has been charged with four counts of felony murder and could be sentenced to life in prison if he's convicted. The 14-year old's father also faces charges and they appeared separately in court on Friday. And CNN's Isabel Rosales spoke with one student who came face-to-face with the alleged gunman.
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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.
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 FINALLY 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 and 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: -- I couldn't help him. So I ended up having a seizure.
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ROSALES (voice-over): 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.
ROSALES: 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.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: 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.
(On camera): Do you think you'll be able to come back to school?
MITCHELL: Yes, because I'm not going to walk in fear.
ROSALES: Isabel Rosales, Winder, Georgia, CNN.
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BRUNHUBER: Still ahead, an international outcry for justice after officials and witnesses say Israeli forces shot and killed a Turkish American activist in the West Bank. We'll look at what we know about the incident next, stay with us.
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BRUNHUBER: The family of an American woman who was shot dead in the Israeli-occupied West Bank is demanding an independent investigation into her killing. The family of 26-year-old Aysenur Eygi says an investigation conducted by Israel wouldn't be adequate.
The Turkish American activist was participating in a weekly protest against a nearby Israeli settlement on Friday. That's when witnesses say Israeli forces responded by firing live rounds and tear gas at peaceful demonstrators. The White House is also calling for an investigation.
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ANTONY BLINKEN, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: I just want to extend my deepest condolences, the deepest condolences of the United States government to the family of Aysenur Eygi. We deplore this tragic loss. Now the most important thing to do is to gather the facts. And that's exactly what we're in the process of doing.
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BRUNHUBER: The Israeli military has admitted to firing at the demonstrators and claims the protesters were throwing rocks. The activist group says that's not true, that none of its members were throwing rocks and they were far away from the troops and didn't pose a threat, as Israel has alleged.
Palestinian residents in the West Bank are taking stock of what's left after more than 10 days of intense Israeli military operations. Witnesses compare it to Israel's actions in Gaza with widespread destruction. The Israeli military withdrew from the towns of Jenin and Tulkarem on Friday but says it's only a pause before it returns.
For now, the pause has allowed residents to bury their dead. CNN's Paula Hancocks reports.
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PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Reminiscent of the early days of the war in Gaza, airstrikes and raids have reduced small pockets of the occupied West Bank to rubble.
Israel's military has bulldozed roads, destroying buildings and infrastructure for the past 10 days, targeting what they call immediate terror threats in real time. It's the most sustained operation here in years.
A funeral procession in the town of Tubas Thursday was led by gunmen firing into the air. A clear sign at least some of the deceased were militants but not all. This funeral is for a 16-year-old girl killed as she looked out of the window.
Her father said she was shot in the head.
The United Nations accuses Israel of using, quote, "lethal war-like tactics in the West Bank," saying children are among the dead, with Israeli forces restricting ambulance movement, depriving residents of access to basic services. The IDF says it is forced to sometimes check ambulances, claiming they're used by militants.
The Palestinian Health Minister said no place in Palestine is safe, not just Gaza. Night raids in the Tulkarem refugee camp have damaged water, electricity and sewage systems. This resident says in 78 years I've never seen anything like this. From the wars of 1948, 1967, all the intifadas, everything I have witnessed, nothing was like this.
Palestinian journalists accuse the Israeli military of targeting them. Footage shows bulldozers driving toward a group clearly marked as press. Gunfire can be heard nearby.
One journalist was injured when the car he was traveling in was struck by gunfire. The Palestine Red Presence Society says it treated four journalists for gunfire and shrapnel wounds from just one raid.
CNN has reached out to the IDF for comment. Israel says it's targeting militants, planning or directing attacks against the country. Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said this week, Now we are mowing the lawn. The moment will come when we pull out the roots, an expression Israel historically uses for actions taken in Gaza.
On day one of the offensive, Israel's Foreign Minister suggested tactics deployed in Gaza should be transferred to the West Bank, including temporary evacuation of civilians. Fueling concern here that the 11 months of death and destruction they've watched in Gaza is now far closer to home -- Paula Hancocks, CNN Abu Dhabi.
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BRUNHUBER: Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy is warning of a significant shortfall in vital military aid.
He urged international allies to speed up deliveries of promised air defenses while attending a meeting of the Ukraine Defense Contract Group in Germany on Friday. He says they are essential to hold back Russian forces.
Poland's foreign minister spoke to CNN just days after Russia launched a deadly attack near its border with Ukraine. Here's what he said about Kyiv's push to use long-range weapons inside Russia, something the U.S. is resisting. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RADOSLAW SIKORSKI, POLISH FOREIGN MINISTER: Ukraine not only has the right, we have the duty to take countermeasures to help the victim to reestablish respect for international law and international borders.
So I would appeal to members of the international community to see what else they have in their inventories to help Ukraine defend people particularly ahead of the winter.
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BRUNHUBER: Meanwhile, sources tell CNN that Iran recently sent short range ballistic missiles to Russia. U.S. and Western officials had warned this was in the works for almost a year, marking it a significant escalation of Iran's support for Moscow.
The post-election unrest persists in Venezuela. On Friday, government security forces surrounded the Argentine embassy in the capital of Caracas. Two opposition members had sought refuge inside, according to a social media posts made by the duo.
Argentina is one of several countries that has questioned the validity of Nicolas Maduro's claims of reelection victory.
And just hours earlier, the Argentine foreign ministry requested the International Criminal Court to issue arrest warrants against Maduro and other senior officials. They cite possible crimes against humanity, allegedly committed during post-election protests.
All right, we'll take a quick break. For viewers here in North America, I'll have more news in just a moment. For our international viewers, "CONNECTING AFRICA" is next.
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BRUNHUBER: Welcome back to all you watching us here in the United States and Canada. I'm Kim Brunhuber. This is CNN NEWSROOM.
Three days from now, Donald Trump and Kamala Harris face off in their first and maybe only debate. The two campaigns could hardly be more different. Harris is in Pittsburgh this weekend, preparing for the debate. Her campaign wants to showcase her skills as a prosecutor, despite microphones being muted while the other candidate is speaking.
Meanwhile, Trump spent much of Friday in a courtroom, trying to overturn his sexual assault and defamation verdict and lashing out afterwards at his accusers. The Republican nominee did take time out to praise a decision by the judge in his hush money trial to delay his sentencing until November 26, well after the election. Now the latest CNN analysis shows the presidential race is, as it
stands right now, the tightest race in a generation. CNN's Harry Enten breaks down the numbers.
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HARRY ENTEN, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Sometimes we look at these seven close states and, you know, you see all these numbers that are up there and you go, I can't make heads or tails of it.
So I just want to sort of combine them and look at the Democrat versus Donald Trump in those seven closest battleground states. Look at the 2020 final margin and average across these seven states.
It was Biden plus 9 -- 0.9 points. You don't think that could get any closer. We can in fact, get closer. Look right now, Kamala Harris up by just 0.6 points on average, only about half a point, 0.6 of a point. My goodness gracious, that is how tight we are talking right now across these seven battleground states.
It is a race, Mr. Berman, that is well within the margin of error when you look across these seven key battleground states that will determine this election.
JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: You look at this, you go, 0.3 percent, then you know, nah, they're basically the same. But you're talking about actual vote margins that were so small. So show us the difference that a polling margin can make.
ENTEN: All right, so let's just say the polls match up perfectly to what the results end up being. Kamala Harris would win this election with 292 electoral votes at Donald Trump's 246.
But let's just say we move the current polls and let's say the result difference by them, by a single percentage point and Donald Trump is the beneficiary of it. Look at this.
If Trump outperforms his current polls by just a single point, you take that Kamala Harris win and look at this, Donald Trump gets 287 electoral votes because the bottom line is Pennsylvania would flip up here.
And you would also get this flip out in Nevada over here. And that, my friend, is what we're talking about. We're talking about the closest campaign in a generation where a single point could make all the difference in the world.
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BRUNHUBER: So as Harris and Trump get ready for their upcoming debate, they'll likely be considering stock market volatility.
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BRUNHUBER (voice-over): Shares closed down on Friday in New York with all three major indices having their worst week of the year. Now this after a mixed jobs report, in which the economy added jobs but below expectations.
Investors had hoped for a better sign of how much the Federal Reserve would cut interest rates, with a choice between 0.25 point and 0.5 point. Pessimists now believe 0.25 point is more likely.
Others are still holding out for a 0.5 point reduction.
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JULIE SU, ACTING SECRETARY OF LABOR: What we always want to see happen was a transition from the really rapid rate of job growth that we saw initially to a more steady and stable rate of growth.
And these current numbers reflect that. At the same time, we continue to see strong labor force participation.
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BRUNHUBER: Wall Street will look for more clues from the Consumer Price Index, due out in the coming week.
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BRUNHUBER: All right, for more on all this, let's bring in Natasha Lindstaedt, professor of government at the University of Essex.
Good to see you again. So listen, Democrats will have heaved a sigh of relief, no doubt, at the latest job numbers. It could have been much worse and, therefore, rung alarm bells about the economy and a possible recession just in time for the election.
So the numbers might not change how the voters actually feel about the economy but will at least stabilize the economic narrative, over which presumably this election might be fought and won.
NATASHA LINDSTAEDT, UNIVERSITY OF ESSEX: Yes, that's right.
I mean, the job numbers were good, not great.
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But it wasn't any kind of implosion, 142,000 jobs added in August. But you still have really low unemployment rates of about 4.2 percent and wages rose by about 3.8 percent from the previous year.
So overall, the economy is doing well. I'm sure that Democrats would like it to be doing better. And I think the biggest issue is really the way voters perceive the economy to be going.
And still at the moment, there's the issue of inflation. And this is something that plays into Donald Trump's hand. This is his -- this is the issue that is the best for him then he can pick apart the Democrats with.
And a lot of his ads have been talking about inflation and the cost of goods and prices and blaming it on Biden economics -- I can't even say it myself -- economics. But Harris is trying to fight back and she's trying to point out the aspects of Donald Trump's plan that are going to lead to even more inflation.
He wants to use terrorists levy terrorists, which are basically a tax on Americans. And that's going to raise the costs for consumers. And he wants to deport millions of Americans, which could affect the labor market. That again is going to raise costs.
And then he also wants to cut taxes on the rich, which is going to lead to an increase in the deficit. This has all led to actually Goldman Sachs saying that a Harris presidency would probably be better for the economy.
BRUNHUBER: Economics of a different kind now, what do you make of the fact that Kamala Harris is pulling a huge haul last month in terms of fundraising and seems to be pulling ahead of Donald Trump.
What impact might this have on the race, do you think?
LINDSTAEDT: So this is important. So August, she was able to pull in $361 million, which is a huge feat. A lot of it is coming from first- time donors. That also is important because it signals a lot of enthusiasm amongst new voters for the campaign.
And in these last weeks, as we're coming up toward November, you're going to see a huge campaign blitz, of course, in these swing states. Now both Trump and Harris are poised to spend about $70 million each in Pennsylvania, about $40 million or so in the state of Georgia. These are key states.
But she's trying to outspend Donald Trump with this campaign ad blitz, which she's hoping is just going to convince these voters who are still undecided. And there are still voters that are undecided in these swing states to vote for her to come out to vote to mobilize her base.
And that why she would be the better candidate. But she definitely has the campaign fund advantage.
BRUNHUBER: We just outlined how historically close things are. So looking, big picture, at the race, we have reporting that the Trump campaign is now pulling back from three states.
All that together, what does it say about where things stand right now for both Trump and Harris?
LINDSTAEDT: Well, Trump, when he was going against Biden, thought he could be basically win an Electoral College landslide, that he was going to try to play for Virginia, New Hampshire and Minnesota.
Now he knows that this isn't in play at all. He's going to be focusing all of his energy on the swing states that I mentioned, like Pennsylvania, like Georgia. I mean, Pennsylvania is obviously a must- win; North Carolina, he is putting a lot of energy into North Carolina as well. And we're seeing that this is going to be, as was already mentioned,
just one of the tightest races we've ever seen. And we're really looking at the polls and how accurate they are.
The polls were not very accurate in 2016 or 2020. They were a lot more accurate in 2022 and that has to do with the fact that Trump voters don't tend to vote in midterms. They do tend to vote in presidential elections and they don't tend to respond to polling.
But what is looking favorable for Kamala Harris is that there's a lot more enthusiasm on the Democrat side, according to a recent Gallup poll; 78 percent of Democrats are enthused to vote for their candidate, compared to 64 percent of Republicans.
And polls don't accurately capture enthusiasm or who is actually going to come out to vote on Election Day. That might be somewhere where the polls underestimate her support. And I think that's what she's hoping for.
BRUNHUBER: Yes, we'll see, we saw how important the last debate was. We'll see whether the next one on Tuesday tips the balance. Natasha Lindstaedt, thank you so much, really appreciate it.
LINDSTAEDT: Thanks for having me.
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BRUNHUBER: And be sure to tune in for our special coverage of the ABC News Presidential Debate simulcast here on CNN. It'll air this Tuesday at 9:00 pm Eastern in the U.S. That's 2:00 am Wednesday in London, 5:00 am in Abu Dhabi and 9:00 am in Hong Kong.
A private school, an oil driller and a parking lot operator had then kicked off some of the most valuable real estate in America. A federal judge has ruled their leases with the Department of Veteran Affairs are legal and the land should be used to help homeless veterans.
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CNN's Nick Watt reports.
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NICK WATT, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): UCLA's beautiful baseball field, a private school's manicured playing fields, parking lot, an oil drilling company, a federal judge just ruled all must go to make way for veterans who need a place to live.
ROB REYNOLDS, IRAQ WAR VETERAN AND ADVOCATE: And today marks the first step toward a long road in getting that land back to its intended purpose as a soldier's home for disabled veterans.
WATT (voice-over): Brentwood School has spent millions building a football field, tennis courts, a swimming pool on this land and around a million more lobbying to keep it. In today's ruling, this, the Brentwood school lease is void. The court will determine an exit strategy for the Brentwood School's 22 acres. The same applies to UCLA's baseball field.
MARK ROSENBAUM, PUBLIC COUNSEL: Today is the first real Veterans Day in America in a long, long time.
WATT (voice-over): Today's ruling comes after decades of activism, legal wrangling and media coverage from CNN and others. The plaintiffs, veterans who fought for their country, then fought their own government over this land given to the nation in the late 1800s as a home for disabled soldiers.
CHRISTINE BARRIE, FAMILY DONATED VA LAND: And it was a thriving community of 4,000 veterans at one point.
WATT (voice-over): There are currently just 233 permanent housing units in VA buildings here. More are under construction.
Today's ruling requires the VA develop around 2,500 units of temporary and permanent housing here and give the neediest easy access to medical facilities on the campus. During the trial, Judge David Carter, a Vietnam veteran, took lawyers and others on a 10-mile hike all over this land.
DAVID CARTER, JUDGE: So this is VA.
WATT (voice-over): And in his ruling lambasted Presidents Obama, Trump and Biden. Each promised that they would act swiftly to eradicate veteran homelessness in America. Yet today, approximately 3,000 homeless veterans live in the Los Angeles area alone. And the judge lambasted the VA.
Over the past five decades, the west L.A. VA has been infected by bribery, corruption and the influence of the powerful, he wrote. And the cost of the VA's inaction is veterans' lives.
WATT: Now the VA tell us they are carefully reviewing the judge's decision and will continue to do everything in our power to end veteran homelessness. They are doing better but as the judge points out, they're only doing better since this legal action began.
We're still waiting to hear from UCLA. Brentwood School tell us that they believe, they still believe that their lease complies with federal law. In a couple of weeks, the judge is going to meet to talk nuts and bolts of how to get UCLA and Brentwood School off that land -- Nick Watt, CNN, Los Angeles.
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BRUNHUBER: A Pakistani man living in Toronto has been arrested on terrorism charges. We'll have details on what he's alleged to have been plotting against New York. That's when we come back. Please stay with us.
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BRUNHUBER: Officials are working to account for dozens of grade school children who are unaccounted for after a deadly dormitory fire in Kenya. Authorities say at least 17 students were killed and 14 injured after the fire broke out in the male dormitory at an academy in the central part of the country.
The cause of the fire is still unclear; 70 children are unaccounted for. It's unclear if the death toll could grow. Officials say some parents did not inform school officials when they picked up their children. The cause of the fire is being investigated.
A Pakistani man who lives in Toronto has been arrested and charged with plotting to attack Jews in New York City. Officials say the attack was planned for the anniversary of the October 7 terror attacks in Israel.
The U.S. Justice Department alleges that 20-year-old Muhammad Shahzeb Khan was going to carry out the attack in the name of ISIS. Officials say Khan discussed his plans on an encrypted messaging app but, unknown to him, he was speaking to undercover law enforcement officers.
He was arrested in Canada on Wednesday while making his way toward the U.S. border. He faces terror charges in both Canada and the U.S.
Two University of Pittsburgh students are speaking out after they were attacked while on campus. The students believe they were attacked because they're Jewish at a time when heated protests are taking place over Israel's war on Hamas and its impact on Gaza. CNN's Gabe Cohen reports.
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ILAN GORDON, UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH STUDENT: I was like, oh my God, were just assaulted out of nowhere.
GABE COHEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This is the spot where Asher Goodwin and Ilan Gordon, two Jewish seniors, were attacked from behind at the University of Pittsburgh while walking to Shabbat dinner last week, struck with a glass bottle across their heads.
GORDON: All of a sudden, I just got hit.
COHEN (voice-over): Asher's neck was cut. Ilan says he suffered a concussion.
ASHER GOODWIN, UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH STUDENT: I haven't come to terms with it completely.
COHEN (voice-over): Police arrested a middle aged man with no connection to Pitt. And in their report noted that he was wearing a keffiyeh, a headdress worn across the Middle East that's commonly associated with support for Palestine, often seen at protests nationwide. But to be clear, we don't know any more about his motive. He's charged with assault, harassment and resisting arrest. But a letter from the school to the community says law enforcement determined no specific group was targeted.
GORDON: Asher and I were the only two students wearing yarmulkes, openly Jewish and were the only ones attacked by this man wearing a keffiyeh who came from across the street.
COHEN: So you think you were targeted because you clearly look Jewish?
GORDON: Yes.
COHEN (voice-over): That feeling comes from the tremendous tension on college campuses right now. The protests over the war in Gaza are back at schools like Columbia, Georgetown and here at Pitt, where demonstrators verbally sparred Tuesday night in an otherwise peaceful protest.
COHEN: What has it felt like to be a Jewish student on this campus?
GOODWIN: I feel like an alien. It's also now common rhetoric that if you go to Hillel, then you support genocide.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Shut it down.
COHEN (voice-over): Many of the people protesting are frustrated, too, some still facing fallout from the mass arrests during the spring demonstrations.
KARIM SAFIEDDINE, PROTEST ORGANIZER AND UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURH STUDENT: We completely reject any form of violence, particularly violence based on racial or bigoted narratives against any people.
COHEN (voice-over): Karim Safieddine is a grad student and protest organizer here at Pitt.
SAFIEDDINE: Keep in mind that the primary message of these protests is against occupation, genocide, murder and killing.
COHEN: Do you feel like that message has gotten lost?
SAFIEDDINE: We're seeing an imposed blanket assessment and assumption on all protests, on all protesters, on all demonstrators. And I don't think that's fair.
COHEN (voice-over): Dozens of schools are tightening security or adjusting school policy crack down on campus protests.
GOODWIN: The line that we need to draw is when what they are saying is inflammatory speech.
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That is inciting violence against Jewish students. GORDON: And the universities of America, not just the University of Pittsburgh, has to condemn this and has to do something against these organizations.
COHEN: So back to the case, it is very messy. The alleged attacker now facing charges for another harassment incident the day before. And authorities have not been able to tell us definitively if they think anti-Semitism was actually a factor in any of this.
So we're going to have to see where the investigation goes. But the response that we heard around campus clearly shows the tension there. And look, the students we talked to said they want to lower the temperature. And yet it only seems to be rising, especially ahead of the election -- Gabe Cohen, CNN, Washington.
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BRUNHUBER: Typhoon Yagi continues its tear through Northern Vietnam. When we come back, we'll have details on the storm's latest landfall and what's in store for the region. Stay with us.
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BRUNHUBER: A person in Missouri is the first U.S. case of H5 avian influenza, commonly known as bird flu, without a known exposure to a sick animal. That news from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The case also marks the first time H5 was detected through the National Flu Surveillance System.
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The CDC says its risk assessment of the virus remains low for the general public.
Just hours ago, Typhoon Yagi made landfall yet again, this time in northern Vietnam. The storm also reintensifying to the equivalent of a category four Atlantic hurricane before striking just east of Hanoi.
Yagi is now weakening as it moves over land but is still a major storm and its forecast to bring heavy rains throughout the weekend. And dozens of flights were grounded at Hanoi's airport ahead of the typhoon's arrival, the airport says it will resume operations in the coming hours.
Yagi made another landfall on China's Hainan island on Friday, killing at least two and injuring dozens in its wake. It's the strongest typhoon to make landfall on the popular holiday island in a decade.
The first NFL game in South America delivered a thrilling night for fans in Sao Paulo, Brazil. The landmark game featured two of the league's storied franchises. The Philadelphia Eagles hanging on to defeat the Green Bay Packers, 34-29. While it was a unique backdrop, some noted the field conditions at
these soccer stadium were slippery and less than ideal for rough and tumble American football. In the final moments, Packers' starting quarterback Jordan Love got twisted up during a hard tackle and had to be helped off the field.
American Jessica Pegula will play her first-ever grand slam final against two-time champion world number two Aryna Sabalenka in the highly anticipated U.S. Open women's singles final later today.
Meanwhile Taylor Fritz's thrilling comeback against fellow American Frances Tiafoe on Friday secured his first-ever grand slam finals appearance on Sunday. Fritz now has a chance to become the first American man to win a grand slam singles title in more than two decades. He faces world number one Jannik Sinner.
All right, that wraps this hour of CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Kim Brunhuber. I'll be back with more news in just a moment, please stay with us.
