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CNN International: Harris has Spent Several Days in Pittsburgh Preparing for Debate; Massive Protests in Tel Aviv Demanding a Ceasefire-Hostage Deal; Terrorism Case Against Edmundo Gonzalz Dropped; One Day Until Debate, Race is a Virtual Tie; Vietnam Assesses Damage in Wake of Deadly Storm; Jannik Sinner: "Nice for Tennis to see some New Champions". Aired 8-9a ET

Aired September 09, 2024 - 08:00   ET

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

[08:00:00]

AMARA WALKER, CNN HOST: Hi everyone, and welcome to our viewers all around the world. I'm Amara Walker. This is CNN Newsroom. Just ahead down to the wire Kamala Harris prepares for what could be a campaign defining debate just one day before she faces off with Donald Trump. We'll have all the details for you.

Also, a massive manhunt this hour, law enforcement officials in Kentucky are still searching for the suspect in a series of terrifying highway shootings. And Pope Francis welcomed with open arms to East Timor why his visit is one for the history books, we're live in the country's capital?

Just one day left until Kamala Harris and Donald Trump face off for the first time, and the race for president could not be closer. Recent polls show Harris' surge has slowed. In fact, it appears Trump may have gained a bit in the past week. So, what could change things and allow one of the candidates to gain some separation.

The debate, Harris has spent days hunkered down in Pittsburgh, preparing for Trump and aides say she knows she will face an onslaught of lies from the former president. Her challenge will be how to counter them and keep her cool.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PETE BUTTIGIEG, U.S. TRANSPORTATION SECRETARY: She is a very focused and disciplined leader, but it will take almost superhuman focus and discipline to deal with Donald Trump in a debate. It's no ordinary proposition, not because Donald Trump is a master of explaining policy ideas and how they're going to make people better off. It's because he's a master of taking any form or format that is on television and turning it into a show that is all about him.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WALKER: And as for Trump, as he has often said, he is not spending much time in debate prep, preferring to hold rallies and expecting that his freewheeling debate style will keep his opponent off balance. We're going to be checking in today with both campaigns. Let's start with Donald Trump, who spent the weekend making some

really ominous threats on social media. CNN's Steve Contorno is tracking all of this. Good morning to you, Steve. Let's start with those threats that Trump is making about jailing people when it comes to voting. Tell us more about that.

STEVE CONTORNO, CNN REPORTER: Well Amara, after spending the last four years attacking the 2020 election, Donald Trump is already going after the results of the 2024 election before any ballots have even been cast. Over the weekend, he posted a series of messages on social media that threatened people who cheat in the election that was the word he used with significant jail time.

And in case you think that he's only referring to people who may fraudulently cast ballots, of which there are a very few every election cycle. He said that it would also include lawyers, political operatives, donors and even election officials, saying, quote, he will -- they will be sought out, caught and prosecuted at levels never seen before.

In another post, he threatened to have the FBI investigate mail-in ballots in Pennsylvania, another fixation of the former president, and he continues to attack early voting, mail-in voting, even as his campaign is also trying to get their supporters to use those methods of voting.

And I'll also point out on Friday, I was with the former president in North Carolina, where he spoke before police. And he urged them to get out there themselves and start trying to look for election fraud and illegal voting, saying they're afraid of the badge, they're afraid of you people, and suggesting that it you know, if police were out there, people who want to cheat would be too afraid to do so.

WALKER: So, what do we know about any debate preps for Trump? Obviously, we've heard him say quite a bit that, you know, he's not -- you know preparing, at least the way Kamala Harris is. Do we have any hints about what he's been doing to get ready for this first in person face off?

CONTORNO: Yeah. Debate prep is a bit of a misnomer for Donald Trump, because he doesn't like to do mock debate sessions. He doesn't have a bunch of people there for hours on end, prepping him, battering him with questions. Instead, he's been largely out on the road.

He held, like I said, that event with police in New York. He had an appearance where he delivered an economic message in New York. And we're told that these are an attempt by his campaign to emphasize the type of issues that they want him to focus on, him -- getting him practiced in talking about them in front of the police.

It was a very focused message on public safety in front of -- you know the New York Economic Forum. He had a sort of mumbling, bumbling response to a question on child care and such. So, this is how they're trying to prep him at the same time, he has debated more than any modern presidential candidates in history.

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And therefore, they believe that he is going to go out there and just do what Donald Trump does, which is seize the spotlight and put pressure on his opponent to challenge his election lies, to challenge his falsehoods and to also try to -- you know seize the spotlight back from him. So that's sort of where their focus and emphasis on going into tomorrow.

WALKER: This would be his seventh general election debate, so he already has a lot of experience under his belt. Steve Contorno, tracking the Trump campaign. Thank you. Let's turn now to the Harris camp, and she faces the challenge of introducing herself to voters in a way that Trump does not have to.

CNN's Eva McKend is with the vice president as she is preparing for the debate in Pittsburgh. Eva, so we know Harris spent the day in debate prep mode. What is she focusing on? How is her campaign trying to set the tone for the week?

EVA MCKEND, CNN U.S. NATIONAL POLITICS CORRESPONDENT: Yeah Amara, we're just one day away from what could be the most consequential moment of the campaign. We know that the vice president and her team have been studying closely the former president's six past debate performances.

She's been poring over briefing books with his past comments and also the insults that he's made against her. They also have someone in standing in for Trump in these mock debate scenarios. She's also been in close conversation with Hillary Clinton and President Biden, who have both debated the former president many times.

And this all coincides with a new ad that they've got up playing in Pennsylvania, in Mar-a-Lago that seems to really be trying to needle the former president. Let's take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: In 2016 Donald Trump said he would choose only the best people to work in his White House. Now those people have a warning for America, Trump is not fit to be president again. Here's his vice president.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Anyone who puts themselves over the constitution should never be President of the United States. It should come as no surprise that I will not be endorsing Donald Trump this year.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: His Defense Secretary.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do you think Trump can be trusted with the nation's secrets ever again?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No. I mean, it's just irresponsible action that places our service members at risk.

(END VIDEO CLIP) MCKEND: So, the goal here for is -- for the vice president is not only to forcefully take on Trump, but to also argue that it is time to move on from the Trump era style of politics Amara.

WALKER: Eva let's focus quickly on "The New York Times" latest polling that we're seeing from "The New York Times" and Siena College, and it shows that Harris and Trump are basically tied. There's no clear leader in this race. It doesn't look like either candidate got that traditional post-convention bump. What has the campaign saying about these new numbers? I mean, it looks like she may Harris may be losing some momentum.

MCKEND: Well, at least publicly, they are really swatting away this. They have argued that from day one of the campaign, they have always viewed themselves as the underdog and have continued to operate as such, and that there's just going to be a lot of work to do in the 50 plus days until the election.

So, I don't know how much stock they're putting in all of this. She is performing better than President Biden was just a few weeks ago when he was going up against Trump.

WALKER: All right. Eva McKend with the Harris campaign in Pittsburgh. Appreciate it. Thank you very much. And we will have much more on tomorrow night's debate later in the show, and I'll ask a guest what is at stake for each campaign that's in about 20 minutes from now?

Well, just a few minutes ago, a massive manhunt in Kentucky entered its third day as authorities searched for a suspect accused of opening fire on a busy interstate. Police say this man, 32-year-old, Joseph Couch, shot at 12 vehicles with an AR15 from a cliff ledge on Saturday, wounding five people, and they say he is considered to be armed and dangerous.

Now, schools across the central part of the state have canceled classes today, and residents are being urged to remain on high alert. A local deputy sheriff said the attack appeared to be a random act of violence, though the motive remains unknown.

CNN's Gloria Pazmino joining me now live in New York. This has to be really unsettling for the people who live in the area. We know the search continues for this gunman. What more do we know about the search and the investigation?

GLORIA PAZMINO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, Amara. It's certainly a community that is on edge, because we are now going into day three of this manhunt and still no sign of him, and law enforcement officers not sure if they're getting anywhere near capturing him. They do believe that they have him cordoned off in one specific area, not far from where the shooting took place.

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But they haven't been able to find him, and they're not even sure if he's still alive. They are looking over two pieces of key evidence that they were able to recover, and that is the vehicle that Joseph Couch appears to have been driving in as well as a weapon which law enforcement officials believe was used in this shooting, two key pieces of evidence that they are focused on.

They say that he shot at the highway from a ridge, and as you said, five people were injured. This was a chaotic situation on Saturday night, when it first happened, a lot of traffic, cars moving at fast speed, and it's quite remarkable that no one was killed.

Now, what is making this search so difficult Amara is the fact that this took place in a very wooded rural area. This is terrain that's very difficult to navigate, and that's posing a challenge for these law enforcement officers who are going into the area during the day. They are pulling out at night because it is too dangerous for officers to be in that zone, considering just how wooded it is and how dark it is.

So, they are restarting again this morning. But take a listen to the Kentucky State Police talking about how people should remain vigilant until this situation is cleared up. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TROOPER SCOTTIE PENNINGTON, KENTUCKY STATE POLICE SPOKESPERSON: You need to lock your doors. You need to, if you have security cameras, make sure you're constantly watching them. Maybe keep your porch lights on. Have communication. Have your cell phone and make sure your phones are charged up, because you never know when you might have to contact somebody or law enforcement.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PAZMINO: Now we are learning just a few more details about Joseph Couch, the man who -- the man who police say is a suspect in this shooting. He does have a military background. He served in the National Guard, and that is certainly something that law enforcement is considering now as they search for him in this area, where it's very rugged, and perhaps a person who can, who knows how to survive in such a terrain, may be using that to their advantage.

But once again, Amara, they're going to be racing against the clock today because schools are closed. It's Monday morning, the week is getting started, and this is a community that is on edge and that doesn't want to be looking over its shoulder until they know that this person has been brought has been captured Amara.

WALKER: It's also incredible that no one was killed in this but what are you hearing about those who were shot at as they were driving down the highway?

PAZMINO: Yeah, it really is remarkable that no one was killed. Consider that you are driving at fast speed down an interstate highway, and all of a sudden you start hearing gunshots. I mean, people were confused about what they were hearing. We've spoken to some witnesses, as well as a woman who was injured in this shooting.

She said that one of the windows of her car was shot at. You're seeing it there. She was shot through the arm in the car was her four-year- old son and her husband, and she talked about just the panic of realizing what had happened and tried to get to safety. She was brought to a hospital by a state trooper that had responded. He put her in his vehicle and took her to the -- emergency room.

So pretty remarkable, but people have sustained really serious, critical injuries. The sheriff spoke about this yesterday, a woman that was shot in the face, another person that was shot across the chest. So even though we had no fatalities in this incident, people do have severe injuries that they're going to be dealing with for the rest of their lives.

WALKER: Wow. Wow. Just really incredible details there. Gloria Pazmino, thank you for being on this story. Well, here in the U.S. State of Georgia, students will be allowed to return to the Apalachee return to -- Apalachee High School later today, the school has been closed for lessons since a shooting there last Wednesday.

Students will be allowed to collect their belongings, but it is unclear when classes will resume again. Vigils have been held in remembrance of the victims. Today, reports say that the suspected shooter's mother called to warn the school about her son just minutes about half an hour before the shooting began.

All right still to come, Israel closed three border crossings into Jordan after a fatal shooting Sunday. We're going to look at the fallout and when that crossing will reopen? And crowds in East Timor gather to welcome Pope Francis in the world's second most catholic nation. Up next, why his visit is not without controversy?

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(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WALKER: Syria, state run news agency says Israeli airstrikes killed 16 people on Sunday. The agency says dozens were injured in several explosions and what it calls air defense engagements in Central Syria. Meanwhile, Israel says it will reopen three border crossings into Jordan. They were closed after a Jordanian gunman shot and killed three Israeli civilians at the Allenby crossing on Sunday. The suspect's brother says he may have been motivated by anger over Gaza.

This as Israel's Defense Minister says the military is ready to shift its focus to Israel's northern border. Yoav Gallant spoke with Israeli troops in Gaza Sunday. Also on Sunday, protesters once again filled the streets in Tel Aviv, demanding that the Israeli government secure a ceasefire and hostage release deal with Hamas.

CNN's Matthew Chance is joining us now from Tel Aviv, Israel. Matthew, let's start with the latest status of the crossing where that deadly shooting took place. There was some suggestion that it might reopen today.

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN CHIEF GLOBAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: It was that suggestion, yes, but since then, the Israeli authorities have said they're putting back that opening date until tomorrow, the opening time till tomorrow. I mean look, it's still a crime scene. There's still obviously intelligence that needs to be followed up to make sure the area is secure.

Because this is a location remember where a gunman, a truck driver from Jordan, sort of came across the border from Jordan into the West Bank, which is controlled by Israel, opened fire on three Israeli civilian workers who work at that sort of border checkpoint area, and killed all three of them before being shot dead himself.

It's been, of course, condemned across Israel. Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli Prime Minister, saying was the act of a despicable terrorist, and putting it in the context of other threats that Israel faces from across the region.

And so understandably, the authorities are not rushing to reopen that border crossing all the other two crossings that have been closed down as well before they know it's absolutely safe to do so Amara.

WALKER: And just to shift gears a bit -- a bit of good news when it comes to this polio vaccination campaign inside Gaza. It's been a monumental task to vaccinate over 600,000 children there. What more do we know about that?

CHANCE: Yeah. Well, there's been -- you're right. There's been a lot of progress towards getting those polio vaccinations distributed, at least in the first instance, something in the region of 450,000 children in Gaza, 69 percent or so, according to Palestinian health ministry officials, have been -- have been vaccinated now from the disease.

But of course, you have to remember that this is all as part of a context of the fact that for the first time, last month, the first polio infection was detected inside the Gaza Strip for 25 years with a young baby, who was one year old, who had been paralyzed by the disease.

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And so, it just gives you a very bleak picture of the health situation on the ground for the many Palestinians who have been affected by the war in Gaza and the security situation there, which is in a very dire state indeed.

WALKER: Matthew Chance, good to see you live for us there in Tel Aviv. Thank you. Pope Francis spoke with officials in East Timor today as he continues his tour through Asia and the South Pacific. The country's government spent $12 million on the Pope's visit, sparking controversy in the impoverished nation. Also looming over his visit is the issue of sexual abuse in the church after allegations were made against a Catholic Bishop in East Timor.

Now to unpack the post meeting with the President of East Timor CNN Vatican Correspondent Christopher Lamb joining us now from the capital city. Christopher, what can you tell us?

CHRISTOPHER LAMB, CNN VATICAN CORRESPONDENT: Well, hang on you saying, connect my --

WALKER: OK. It looks like -- Christopher, can you hear me?

LAMB: Yeah, through Bluetooth. If you Bluetooth.

WALKER: OK, Christopher Lamb is standing by in East Timor, but obviously he can't hear us, so we'll try to reconnect and bring that to you. Turning now to the court case against Venezuelan opposition figure Edmundo Gonzalez, that has been dropped. Venezuela's Attorney General has confirmed the case was closed because of Gonzalez's recent departure from the country.

Gonzalez was charged with crimes associated with terrorism. He denies them, and currently Gonzalez is seeking asylum in Spain after receiving threats. CNN's Pau Mosquera joining me now from Madrid. Hi there. What do we know about where Gonzalez is right now? And do you think we'll hear from him anytime soon?

PAU MOSQUERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: There is actually still little that we know about Edmundo Gonzalez after arriving here in Madrid. Actually, a few minutes ago, I got the chance to contact his daughter, Carolina, who has been living in Madrid for over a decade, to ask her if his -- her father was here in Madrid.

And she told me that it seems like he is not bad. Refused to give me any more details. So, for the moment, we are working to know a little bit more on where can he be? What we know at least as that he got to Madrid yesterday afternoon, around 04:00 p.m. local time, 10:00 a.m. Eastern Time.

We spent all the day in front of that military airbase where he landed, but we got no chance to get the first image of Gonzales -- in Madrid, because all the arrival was managed in such a low profile that it was very difficult seeing him leaving that place.

The only things that we know about Edmundo Gonzales so far is per the words that Spanish Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Alvarez shared in an interview with Television Espanola, where he said that formed Edmundo Gonzales once he arrived in Madrid, and he told him that he was tired.

I mean, it is understandable, because it was a long flight, all the way from Venezuela to Spain, as they had two scales over one stop in Dominican Republic and then the second one in the Azores Islands, also during the night, Edmundo Gonzalez team shared an audio from the opposition leader where he shared some details on how difficult was to get outside from the Venezuela.

How was this departure? Because he said in that audio that he suffered some coercion while he was trying to flee his country. Now we are waiting for his team to share more details over the next days, as is expected, press -- a presser from him to share more details on what are his future plans.

WALKER: -- that Gonzalez may still tried to influence the politics back at home in Venezuela from Spain. MOSQUERA: Well, it's so difficult now to see how does it work from now

on. But as Maria Corina Machado said in Twitter post yesterday, they will keep fighting to get democracy to Venezuela, and also to try Edmundo Gonzalez to keep working for Venezuela now from the exile, thousands of kilometers away.

Also, some other Venezuelan opposition leaders that are nowadays established here in Madrid are hoping that he has the chance to get again with his work and leave the voice to try to get as we said, democracy back in Venezuela.

WALKER: It's a tall order. Pau Mosquera thank you very much. At least 48 people were killed after a fuel tanker collided with a truck in Nigeria on Sunday. Emergency crews have been trying to clear the scene of the crash. Authorities say the truck was carrying both travelers and cattle, and at least 50 of the cattle died in that incident.

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Fatal truck accidents are not uncommon in Nigeria. In 2020 alone, there were over 500 deaths as a result of more than 1500 gasoline tanker crashes. Ukraine's Air Force says it shot down six drones and two missiles launched from Russia overnight. The cross-border attacks have become an almost nightly occurrence as the war continues to rage on.

Ukraine's military says at least two people were killed, four others injured in the Northeastern Sumy region on Sunday, while Russian media is reporting an attack in Belgorod wounded three people, including two children. Now this comes as Ukraine's military is facing low morale and desertion. The situation is particularly dire among infantry units near Pokrovsk and elsewhere on the Eastern Front Line.

All right, still to come, we will finally get to see the U.S. presidential candidates face off in their first debate. We're going to look at whether it could break the statistical tie that polls are showing. Plus, Donald Trump talks about the U.S. pullout from Afghanistan as a Republican led report blasts the Biden White House for the chaos in 2021, we'll have the details.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WALKER: All right, let's take a closer look now at our top story tomorrow's U.S. Presidential Debate. It seems remarkable, but the debate will actually be the first time Donald Trump and Kamala Harris will be meeting in person. Many Americans admit they too, need to get to know Harris a bit better.

A New York Times Siena College Poll over the weekend found that close to 30 percent of voters say they want to learn more about Harris. It presents the vice president with a dual task, requiring her to introduce herself to voters while also countering what is expected to be an avalanche of lies and attacks and mistruths from Trump.

Joining us now to give us a debate preview, is Natasha Lindstaedt. She is a Professor of Government at the University of Essex. Natasha welcome to the program. I want to first get your reaction to this polling from "The New York Times" and Siena College ahead of tomorrow's debate.

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I mean, there's no clear leader. They're virtually tied. What does this tell you in terms of Kamala Harris and her momentum? Does it indicate that support for her might be fading.

NATASHA LINDSTAEDT, PROFESSOR OF GOVERNMENT, UNIVERSITY OF ESSEX: So, it's hard to know whether or not support for her is fading. What we do know, at least, is on Donald Trump's side, he is incredibly resilient. His support is resilient. It just doesn't waver no matter what happens.

We see that on Kamala Harris's side, there's still a lot of enthusiasm. But as the poll revealed, and you already mentioned, there were 28 percent of the people polled that said they don't know her that well, that they still want to get to know her, and two thirds of those that said they didn't know her are saying that they want to know more about her policies.

So, this debate is going to be incredibly important for her. I mean, the polling revealed that the momentum isn't moving totally in the positive direction for her, there's a little bit of friction now. She's facing some headwinds, and she's going to have to win over those undecided voters, those moderate voters that still are not sure about her, and so that's why this debate, the stakes are just so high for her.

I mean, people already know who Donald Trump is. They know you know what he's about. They know all the threats he poses to democracy or on the positive side there are those that think that he did a good job running the economy. But she's going to have to make it really clear what her policies are.

WALKER: I mean, that's a tall order for Kamala Harris and for this debate, isn't it, because she's going to not only have to reintroduce herself to American voters and dive into policy so they understand where she stands, but also, she's going to have to remain on the offense and defensive.

LINDSTAEDT: Exactly because she's going to have to make sure she's fact checking Donald Trump. He doesn't tend to prepare much for debates in terms of understanding policies and articulating any kind of policy. He's demonstrated. He doesn't know much about policy, so he's just going to lie a lot try to overpower her, try to bully her, try to characterize her as a left wing liberal, a flip flop, or all these kinds of things, and cast doubt or call her a communist.

And she has to fact check and while at the same time articulating what her policies are and make it clear that she is offering something not only very, very different, of course, to Donald Trump, but different to Joe Biden as well. That's what the recent polling is also revealing, that they want a change, that Americans that have been polled want a change from the past administration. And so, while she doesn't want to denigrate her time as vice

president, she does want to articulate the way that she's moving the U.S. into the future, and it will be important that she attracts a lot of these moderate voters that don't want her to move too far to the left.

WALKER: And I definitely want to focus on those moderate voters, especially on the abortion issue in just a minute. But when it comes to the debate, there's so much uncertainty in terms of how it will go right, because this will be their first in person encounter.

And on top of that, Trump is obviously the much more experienced debater. This is going to be his seventh general election debate. Do you see it as Trump walking into this with the upper hand, and Harris the underdog as her campaign has been framing it, even though she has had much of the wind at her back.

LINDSTAEDT: So, I see her as the underdog, just because she is the underdog in the campaign. And as you mentioned, he does have more debate experience, but he's not a very good debater. I mean, as I already mentioned, he just lies the whole time, and more recently, his public appearances, he appears to be having a public meltdown.

He is just confused half the time and going off on tangents, bringing up all kinds of crazy things, just so she's going to have to stay focused and maintain her calm and try to get under his skin. I think that's going to be another one of the things that she's going to try to do with this debate. She's going to try to get him to implode.

And that's why she wanted the rules to be different, so that they would be open sort of mic. But that's what she's trying to do, get him to implode in front of America so that they can see who he really is.

WALKER: Yeah, let Trump be Trump, and perhaps try to get under his skin with the issue of abortion. As you know, Natasha Harris's campaign launched this new ad campaign just a few days ago focused on reproductive rights, some of which will air in these -- in these battleground states, on TV markets there.

And these ads tie Trump to the Supreme Court's overturning of Roe V Wade. I want to play just a clip of one of those ads where there's a really personal story from one woman and how abortion bans that played out after the fact really impacted these women's lives, listen.

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(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: 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 life- saving treatment sooner. I almost died. And that's because of the decision that Donald Trump made.

DONALD TRUMP (R), FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT AND 2024 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I was able to get Roe V Wade terminated, and I'm proud to have done it.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The doctors and nurses were afraid if they treated me in the incorrect way, that they would be prosecuted for that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WALKER: How vulnerable is Trump to this messaging? How vulnerable might he be to this messaging during the debate?

LINDSTAEDT: I mean, this is probably the issue where he is the most vulnerable. It's an issue that actually galvanized Americans to the polls in the 2022, midterms. We've shown great voter turnout when the reproductive rights issue is on the ballot, and we're seeing that it is on the ballot in some states, particularly battleground states.

So, in the debate, this is where Kamala Harris is her most and her most comfort, comfortable. She can very freely, easily talk about reproductive rights and connect with voters, and that's why she's still doing well with women, in particular in swing states where it's really important, and she's way ahead, in some cases, 15, 16, 17, points ahead of Donald Trump with women in some of these swing states.

And with younger voters, she's been able to connect with younger voters as well. So reproductive rights are an area where she's going to want to talk about and she's going to want to put him into a corner, because he's been flip flopping about what he actually believed in, whether he wanted a six-week ban or not want a six-week ban. That's demonstrating that he really does feel like he's in a corner on this one.

WALKER: And that he understands that this is a galvanizing issue for a key sector of the voters, Natasha Lindstaedt from the University of Essex. Thank you very much.

LINDSTAEDT: Thanks for having me.

WALKER: Excuse me, then be sure to tune in for a special coverage of the ABC News Presidential Debate here on CNN. Sorry about that, guys, we've got a frog in my throat. 09:00 p.m. Eastern on Tuesday, 09:00 a.m. Wednesday in Hong Kong, 2 in the morning here in London, I'm in Atlanta. Excuse me.

All right, here we go. The frog is out. The 2021 U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan is back in the spotlight. Donald Trump has been making it a campaign issue. And today, U.S. House Republicans and Democrats have released dueling reports about the deadly exit from Kabul three years ago.

13 U.S. service members were killed, and thousands of Afghans who'd worked with the U.S. were left behind when Afghanistan fell back into the hands of the Taliban. Well, now, after years of investigation, Republicans on the House Foreign Affairs Committee have put out a document blasting the Biden White House for the chaotic evacuation.

House Democrats, meanwhile, say the report and the timing of its release are politically motivated. I want to bring in CNN's Kylie Atwood. She's joining us now from Washington, D.C. Take us through the main points of this report, if you will Kylie.

KYLIE ATWOOD, CNN U.S. SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, so a lot of the withdrawal from Afghanistan, which happened, of course, more than three years ago now, has been widely reported, extensively reporting. There are some new details in this report out from the House Foreign Affairs Committee on the Republican side.

For example, what they do is they were able to pull some of the comments that were made publicly by Biden Administration officials and contrast them to some of the assessments that we have learned were happening at the time inside of the Biden Administration by top military officials claiming that they were misleading the public.

The Biden Administration officials were knowingly lying and misleading the public about the conduct of how they were withdrawing from Afghanistan. What was actually happening on the ground in Afghanistan? They also had an interview with Zalmay Khalilzad. He is a name that folks might not remember today, but he was very prominent at the time because he was the main U.S. negotiator with the Taliban.

And in that interview with the House Foreign Affairs Committee, he told them that eventually they were negotiating a power sharing agreement between the Afghan government and the Taliban, which favored the Taliban 70 to 30.

Now, obviously that set off some alarm bells among the Republicans who you know are trying to make the case that he was negotiating away the country to the Taliban, though we should note that that actual agreement never came to fruition because the Taliban overtook Afghanistan.

But some of these revelations are interesting. They don't paint necessarily a new picture of what we saw was that completely flawed and very traumatic withdrawal from Afghanistan during the Biden Administration.

[08:40:00]

But you have the Democrats on the same committee who set in for a lot of these interviews, all of them actually that were being conducted by the Republicans, claiming that the report out from the Republicans today, according to the Ranking Member on the Democratic side, is premeditated. It's a partisan narrative. And effectively saying that the demo -- the Republicans want to inject this topic back into the conversation right now as we head into the presidential election.

Of course, tomorrow we have the debate. So, it seems like there is no coincidence that this report is coming out today. But the Republican Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Michael McCaul, said yesterday has nothing to do with politics. It took them a while to gather this report, given how many documents, tens of thousands of documents that they asked the State Department for, how many interviews that they conducted? He also said that their work on this topic isn't done, even though they put out this final report today, and the Democrats are slamming it as partisan. He said there's more investigation to be done here, so it's a space we'll continue to watch, but it is one that the Trump Administration, excuse me, Former President Trump, really wants to focus in on, because they see it as a failure of the Biden Administration.

They want to put the feet to the fire of not just only Biden, but Harris. This report saying that Harris worked in lockstep with Biden throughout the course of the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan.

WALKER: It'll be interesting to see how she manages this issue, and perhaps distances herself from that withdrawal. Kylie Atwood, thank you so much. Still to come, at least two dozen people are confirmed dead in the wake of Typhoon Yagi. As recovery efforts begin, Vietnam braces for that number to grow. And high temperatures over the weekend did nothing to help stop those wildfires in California. Coming up we're going to look at whether firefighters will get any respite this week.

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WALKER: Typhoon Yagi is slowing down after it hit Vietnam this weekend, killing dozens of people on flooding towns. The storm tore through the Philippines in Southern China last week, giving Vietnamese communities time to evacuate, but many were still hit hard. CNN's Kristie Lu Stout has more on the typhoon's devastation.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KRISTIE LU STOUT, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): After battering the Philippines and Southern China, deadly Typhoon Yagi had lost none of its fury when it hurtled into Vietnam over the weekend. In hard hit Hai Phong, survivors felt the world had been destroyed.

BUI VAN THUY, HAI PHONG RESIDENT: It may take three to four years for this place to look the same again, because the damage is so terrible, the surroundings look like apocalypse day. Never before has a storm dealt this much damage to us.

ATWOOD (voice-over): Yagi was the equivalent of a category four hurricane when it made landfall in Northern Vietnam on Saturday afternoon. One of the strongest storms to ever hit the country and one of the most powerful anywhere on Earth this year. Now that the typhoon has passed, fallen power lines and flooded streets threaten the cleanup.

[08:45:00]

DANG VAN SANG, HANOI RESIDENT: It's a powerful storm that uprooted many trees, blew off roofs, many residents have been impacted, causing damages and deaths.

ATWOOD (voice-over): Yagi's trajectory gave Vietnam some time to prepare. Thousands were evacuated from the coastline as the country watched the storm hit Hong Kong and sweep across China's holiday Island of Hainan, killing at least four people. As of Monday, tens of thousands of people remain in typhoon shelters in the Philippines almost a week after Yagi killed at least 20.

ELENITA CERVANTES, RIZAL PROVINCE RESIDENT: Life is really hard, but there's nobody to blame since it was caused by calamity. There's not much we can do but pray.

ATWOOD (voice-over): Now as Typhoon Yagi moves inland and weakens its trail of destruction remains across these parts of Southeast Asia, Kristie Lu Stout CNN, Hong Kong.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WALKER: Raging wildfires in California and Nevada have forced thousands of people to flee. This as forecasters warn of record heat in the west over the next few days. There are some 14 active wildfires burning across California, with one so intense it has created its own weather system.

The line fire, which ignited at the base of the San Bernardino Mountains Thursday, has consumed nearly 20,000 acres. Hundreds of firefighters are struggling to get control of it. CNN's Camila Bernal, joining us now from San Bernardino, sounds like it has been a very tough firefight. What is the latest?

CAMILA BERNAL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Amara. It really has and firefighters saying that there's just multiple factors working against them, and that's why you have about 20,000 acres of the natural forest that look like what you see here behind me. It's been challenging for a number of reasons, one of them being the temperatures and the weather.

We've had triple digit temperatures here in Southern California over the last couple of days, and not only do you have triple digit temperatures, but you have the lows in the 80s. So, firefighters really not getting any sort of break and needing really good rest, because it has been physically challenging for them.

You mentioned that weather that the fire created, well that brought in some thunderstorms. And so, with that, yes, you do get some rain and some water that is helpful for these fires, but you also get lightning, and that starts new fires. And you also get wind.

And what officials were telling me is that that wind then spreads the flames into areas that they cannot predict, so they do not even know where to put their crews because of that unpredictability of the wind. Then you also have the terrain.

This is the natural forest, and so you have a lot of mountains. You either have to fly firefighters into some of these areas, or they have to walk in, and that, again, is not easy for them. So, at the moment, you have thousands and thousands of people who are under evacuation orders or warnings. And you have authorities telling people to be ready to go at a moment's notice. What they're trying to do is station some of those firefighters near homes in order to keep them safe, that has been the priority, and they've been able to keep the fire away from those homes. No structures have been destroyed. So, there's good news there.

And the other part of the good news is they were able to get a lot more resources into this area Amara, so they are hoping that this will help in terms of the firefighting efforts, but we are still at 0 percent containment.

WALKER: It's just incredible to see the pictures and the smoke and the flames just so close to these neighborhoods. Keeping our fingers crossed. Camila Bernal, thank you. Still to come, Italy is celebrating its new tennis champ after Jannik Sinner wins big at the U.S. Open. Why he is making history?

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[08:50:00]

WALKER: The wait is over for world number one Jannik Sinner, who took home his first U.S. Open singles title on Sunday. He defeated American Taylor Fritz in three straight sets to nab his second Grand Slam title. Sinner is the first Italian men's singles champion in U.S. Open history. Our Andy Scholes caught up with the newly crowned champ.

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ANDY SCHOLES, CNN WORLD SPORT: Congratulations on an amazing tournament. You're the first Italian man ever to win the U.S. Open. How does that feel?

JANNIK SINNER, TENNIS PLAYER: It feels amazing. Obviously, it's achievement for me and my team. Just happy to hold this trophy. You know, I think the final today was a very high-level final, very lucky or happy that I won the third set, because potentially could, could change a little bit the balance of the match. But you know, overall, I think me and my team, we can be very, very pleased about our performance for the -- for these two weeks.

SCHOLES: Yeah, you had a challenging season after being cleared of any wrongdoing, after testing positive for a banned substance. How are you able to play so well with that hanging over you?

SINNER: Well, it was -- first of all, I my mind I knew that I haven't done anything wrong, so that's already there. The biggest part for me mentally, that I am OK, not in other ways, it's me and my team. We know what we went through for four months. We know what we -- what we are feeling like in the last months.

And this is even more of a positive sign for me and my team, because -- you know we put a lot of extra work in trying to be as ready as possible mentally.

SCHOLES: First year since 2002 that none of the big three, Novak Jovovich, Roger Federer or Rafael Nadal won a Grand Slam. You and Carlos Alcaraz won them all. You feel like this is the changing of the guard in men's tennis.

SINNER: It's so -- it's tough to predict the future this year. But I think it's nice for tennis to see some new champions, some new favorites of tournaments.

[08:55:00]

And, yeah, so I'm happy to be -- to be part of this at least this year. So, let's see what's coming next year. Obviously, it's, they're all big, big challenges coming up. But you know, I'm just looking forward to improve as a player, and then we see what I can do.

SCHOLES: You're just 23-years-old, first man in 50 years to win your first two grand slams in the same year. How many more? How many are you going to win? How many you got?

SINNER: No, this is the question I could never answer. I'm for sure, we are aiming to be -- to become a better tennis player and better person daily and then we see what we can catch in the future. I mean, me and my team we stay always in the present moment, trying to be as ready as possible for every challenge. And then we see.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WALKER: All right, good for him. Thank you for being with me here on CNN Newsroom. I'm Amara Walker. "Connect the World" with Becky Anderson is next.

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