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One Day Until Harris-Trump Debate Showdown; Syrian State Media: Israeli Strikes Kill 16, Injure At Least 36; U.S. Secretary of State Blinken Traveling To Ukraine This Week; Democrats' Fight To Hold Senate Runs Through Pennsylvania. Aired 3-4p ET

Aired September 09, 2024 - 15:00   ET

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

[15:00:35]

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN HOST: It is 8:00 p.m. in London, 10:00 p.m. in Kyiv, noon in Cupertino, California, 3:00 p.m. here in Washington.

I'm Jim Sciutto. Thanks so much for joining me today on CNN NEWSROOM, and let's get right to the news.

We are one day away from the first presidential debate between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump, not only will this be their first debate, but it will also so be the first time the two candidates have even met after the former president skipped Biden's inauguration in 2021. In preparation for tomorrow night's pivotal campaign moment, the vice president spent the last few days in Pittsburgh participating in mock debates Trump has said not to like debate prep, opting for what his team calls policy time.

More significantly this weekend, Trump warned, threatened, we should say that he'll jail any official he considers an election cheat. He also suggested voting in Pennsylvania is fraudulent.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT & 2024 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: This election, they're lying, cheating, thieving, hoaxing, and plotting will come to an end.

We got to stop the cheating. If we stopped that cheating, if we don't let them cheat, I don't even have to campaign anymore. We're going to win by so much.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCIUTTO: This, of course, is a regular pattern with Donald Trump in advance. He claims elections are fixed against him. Only then to resurrect that claim if he loses. With 57 days until the election, the race remains too close to call. The latest CNN poll of polls shows Harris averaging 49 percent, Trump 47 percent. That is, we should note within the margin of error.

Let's bring in CNN's Kevin Liptak and Stephen Collinson.

Kevin, begin with you, Harris, is there for some voters and some of this is in the polling data that a lot of voters open to her, but don't know enough about her. And if the campaign is aware of that, I wonder how they're preparing to answer those questions for such voters.

KEVIN LIPTAK, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Well, they are very much aware of that and they do realize heading into tomorrow nights debate that her task will really be to introduce herself to that slice of the electorate in a way that she has not done so, so far.

And when you talk to campaign officials, they recognize that the people viewing tomorrow nights debate will be a larger slice of undecided voters than have, for example, watched her Democratic convention speech clear this month.

So I think when she heads to Philadelphia, that will be her task. And as she has prepared for the debate over the last couple of days, what her advisers say, she's doing is trying to come up with answers that melt both her agenda and her policy proposals with aspects of her biography because they really do think that that combination is a winning one when they're talking to that slice of the electorate that is still deciding between herself and Donald Trump.

And I think part of the task that you will have on the debate stage is trying to separate herself from some ways, from the Biden administration policies. Of course, she's a member of the Biden administration. She's the vice president while also projecting, as she calls it, a new way forward and making herself out to be the change candidate. So it is a needle that she's trying to thread.

And, you know, at these debate prep sessions that she's been holding in Pittsburgh for the last couple of days. Part of what she's trying to do is find ways to remain cool amid an onslaught of expected attacks from Donald Trump on the debate stage. She has tried to come up with arguments and retorts that won't sort of throw her off balance in a way that would look sort of unpresidential on a stage.

And so it is kind of a large combination of things that she's trying to do in this debate tomorrow night.

SCIUTTO: Stephen, I know the Trump's campaign says that he does not like to do debate prep, but there have been some signs that he's not quite clear how to respond to Kamala Harris and how to weaken her from a campaign perspective.

So do we have a sense of how the Trump campaign is approaching that, might approach that tomorrow night?

STEPHEN COLLINSON, CNN SENIOR REPORTER: That's right. It's interesting because if you watch the campaign advertising, if you listen to vice presidential nominee J.D. Vance, there is a clear and succinct argument that the campaign is making against Harris on the economy, basically saying that she is complicit in the surge in prices and supermarkets in high interest rates that were required to bring down inflation.

[15:05:03] On immigration, they tackled her role as they see it, as their fate, as the failure of the Biden administration patient to crack down on undocumented migration. Trump has not found it very easy for whatever reason, to stick to those attacks is not on message. He doesn't like to be on message as we saw from his rally this weekend. And a very unhinged press conference which he spent about an hour rambling about his legal problems on Fridays.

So I think it will be interesting, as you say, to see whether the former president can come up with a clear critique of the vice president or will he sort of stoop to his normal trade of insults and falsehoods and lies?

The Harris campaign is clearly braced for that, and that was one reason why they wanted the mics and the debate to be unmuted. And one reason why the Trump campaign, I think did not want that to happen because they didn't want Trump to be fact-checked in real time and they don't want to play into the desire of the former vice president to show Americans on primetime TV before millions of viewers exactly what kind of volcanic temperament that the former president still has.

SCIUTTO: So, Kevin, why did the Harris campaign agree to that given that they see it as an advantage for the viewers to see the way Trump talks in forums like this, and the way he often attacks particularly women who've run against him?

LIPTAK: Yeah, I think their calculation was that one debate with a rule that they didn't necessarily think favorite them was better than no debate at all and at the end of the today was the proposition that the Trump case campaign was putting out.

I do think it's interesting when you talk to Harris campaign folks. Certainly this is the last debate that's currently on the schedule, but they're not ruling out the possibility that there could be further debates down the line depending on how tomorrow night goes. Of course, this debate, the rules for it had a lot of ways already been determined because this was a debate that originally were supposed to feature Trump and President Biden. Any future debates would have to have new rules debated and decided upon. So certainly, depending on how tomorrow night goes, a future debate could have a very different look and feel.

I do think it's notable when you talk to the Harris campaign folks, the one fact that they keep repeating over and over is that Donald Trump has now or will now have participated in seven general election debates. That's more than any candidate in modern history, because he's been the Republican nominee for the last three cycles.

And they do think that that puts Harris at a disadvantage. She has not been on a debate stage in four years. And so they do think they're heading into this as an underdog. So you do see this expectation games very much being played.

SCIUTTO: Oh, yeah, lots of expectations, management going on from both directions.

So Stephen Collinson, Kevin Liptak, thanks to both you.

All right. So let's bring in our political panel, Democratic strategist, Antjuan Seawright, Republican strategist Rina Shah.

So, Antjuan, first with you, if it is true as polls seem to indicate that a fair number of American voters aren't quite sure about Kamala Harris, where she stands at cetera, open to her but not quite sure they want to know more, how, in your view, does Harris address that tomorrow night, given that this is one to be possibly the biggest viewership moment, at least for the final two months of the campaign?

ANTJUAN SEAWRIGHT, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: One thing the campaign has been crystal clear from day one that she was coming into this as the underdog. And if you do a job through history about Kamala Harris, his career, you would know that she's always had to punch above her weight and she's always had to defy a political gravity, if you will, and exceed expectations.

So she's not new to that. She's used to that. I think everything she does is an opportunity to introduce herself further to the American people.

The difference between other opportunities and tomorrow night, she will have her opponent on this stage. You would get an opportunity to talk about her record. His record pushed back on the lies that he we know he will regurgitate as well as paint a picture for the American people going forward and given them something to vote for, not something to vote against.

SCIUTTO: Rina. In fact, is American voters should have a pretty good idea of where Donald Trump stands on things given we've had eight years or more of him, including four years in office and he's been quite public with some fairly dramatic policy proposals in a second term, if he were to win.

I wonder, does the campaign see it as an advantage for Trump to lean into those hard line positions in a debate like this, or attempt to do what he's tried to do here and there in recent weeks he is attempt to moderate positions even if in a way that's not convincing, for instance, on abortion, given he was the man who appointed the justices who overturned Roe v. Wade.

[15:10:09]

But do they look at this as an opportunity to lean into those harder right positions or to attempt to convince voters he's more centrist than they might imagine?

RINA SHAH, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: First things first, we still have such a long way to go after tomorrow night. To me, the campaign begins tomorrow night in some ways, but it's also a moment in which the possibilities become seemingly the summer really showed us what is again to expect the unexpected, and we know that in politics.

But when you're talking about how the Trump campaign games out this moment, a moment in which they're coming in a bit weak, you know, look, there's no question about it. There was a really successful DNC in Chicago just last month and the Walz and Harris campaign are coming off of that because Walz has had a good reception, but J.D. Vance is not and Donald Trump is right at the door waiting.

So we need to be very clear. This is a man who's in cognitive decline and we see that in how he exhibits his sentiments every day of the week. He's a serial flip flopper, but lately, Jim, I've seen him behave in a manner that isn't just angry and unhinged because it's like palatable right to his base. It's because he's scared and doesn't know what's going to work.

And so after tomorrow night, I think we'll see the campaign do what it's tried to do for many weeks, which is thread that needle of moderation while at the same time saying, hey, right wing, we got you, we'll enact a lot of Project 2025.

I mean, he's quite public, is he not with his plans for a second term? Let's just take case in point. His post on Truth Social this weekend about going after election officials he called cheaters. I'm going to quote from it here. The 2024 election, where votes have just started being cast, that's not true yet, will be under the closest professional scrutiny. And when I win, those people that cheated will be prosecuted the fullest extent the law which will include long term prison sentences. Those involved in unscrupulous behaviors will be sought out, caught prosecuted at level, unfortunately, never seen before in our country.

Just a brief fact check, Antjuan, I mean, it is Trump himself who was indicted multiple times for attempting to overturn the 2020 election, much -- much of which was public, right? And in public pressure on Republican campaign officials not to honor the results of that election how concerned should we be as we read these words as a menu of what he intends if he were to win?

SEAWRIGHT: Well, we should be scared as hell. Forget about Democratic versus Republicans for a second. Just from an American standpoint, Donald Trump's campaign of revenge and retribution is live and in color, and it's happening right before our eyes. His policy agenda, the most extreme we've seen in modern day history and the people he has around him, his disciples are unapologetic about their efforts to implement Trump's project 2025, if given the opportunity.

That's why I remind folks that for people who look like me, this election is they survival election. This -- we are cast in a survivable, but for every other constituency falls under the American, American umbrella. This is a generational election because whoever wins this election will ultimately have a large say so in what happens in this country for the next 46 to 56 years when you think about the courts when you think about the policy agenda, and when you think about protecting the progress that has already been may particularly in these past four years.

SCIUTTO: So, Rina, if going too far, right. And sometimes saying things that sound a little crazy is one of Trump's main weaknesses, how big a win is it is it for his campaign to have the mics muted? SHAH: This mics meeting issue is I think a little confusing for me on

the one hand because I don't really know who it serves. On the one hand, you want this guy to reveal to be unstable Trump, if you're not for him and you want to say, look with pain him out to be completely chaotic, unhinged, unable to control himself because that's not leader life.

But we're dealing with a guy who has already been in the White House known to the public. So we just have to come back to again, what are the values here? And Harris has gotten promulgate those at every turn she gets on that stage. So mics muted or not, would she's able to put out there about what she's for can counter this balance of what he begets lets be clear about what he's against.

You know, it seems like almost everything when we talk about writes, he wants to limit our voices and our votes. He wants to restrict bodily autonomy almost entirely. So I'm talking about abortion here, but he wants to exit the rights of gun, these inanimate objects that are killing people. And I'm a big supporter of the Second Amendment. I've been a gun owner are responsible one in the past until my spouse and I both decided I'm not going to own a gun anymore.

[15:15:07]

So, you're not going to hear this anti-gun rhetoric from me, but I really do believe we need a ban on assault weapons, and a real sense of leadership on this issue because kids are getting gunned down in schools. As American mother, I'm not all right with that.

And so Trump needs to speak to the American mother as does Harris. But more than anything, Harris needs to paint the picture of -- well, more prosperous promising America for all of us.

SCIUTTO: You know, I mean, three shootings, what they had in common, the Apalachee shooting, the one on the Kentucky interstate and the attempted assassination of Donald Trump, AR platform rifles. They're all the same, the same weapon.

Rina Shah, Antjuan Seawright, thanks so much to all of you.

Well, please do tune in for special coverage of the ABC News presidential debates simulcast here on CNN. It airs Tuesday, 9:00 p.m. Eastern Time. CNN will replay the debate on Wednesday at 2:00 a.m. Eastern 7:00 a.m. London, again, 2:00 p.m. eastern on Wednesday, 7:00 p.m. in London, 10:00 p.m. in Abu Dhabi.

Lots of chances to see it.

Still ahead. What were learning from a video update released by Kensington Palace about Catherine, the Princess of Wales, and her ongoing fight against cancer.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SCIUTTO: Welcome back. Kensington Palace has released a smoothly produced video update on the health of Catherine, the princess of Wales. In the video, Catherine narrates an update on her life and health, announces she's completed her chemotherapy treatment. The princess of Wales says she's looking forward to resuming her public royal duties. Catherine announced in March, you may remember she had been diagnosed with cancer, which came after undergoing abdominal surgery just after Christmas. She was last seen in public in July at Wimbledon.

Also overseas, Israeli airstrikes killed at least 16 people, injured, dozens more in central Syria on Sunday.

[15:20:02]

That according to Syria's state-run news agency. This comes, as Israel says, it will reopen a key border crossing through Jordan Tuesday, three crossings were closed after a Jordanian gunman shot and killed three Israeli civilians at that border point on Sunday. The suspect's brother says he may have been motivated by angry over the war in Gaza.

CNN international diplomatic editor, Nic Robertson, is in northern Israel for us this afternoon.

Nic, these latest attacks happening while Israel says, and this is notable, right? Because we've had the war in Gaza. You've had the escalating tensions in the West Bank and you've had a heck of a lot of cross border fire in the north. Israel is saying it seems that it's going to be some begin, some sort of major operation in southern Lebanon to target Hezbollah.

Do we know to what degree and how far they're talking about going?

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: It's not clear at the moment. And what is clear and just as you said, the defense minister just a couple of days ago over the weekend, was briefing troops in Gaza when he talked about, we could redeploy you at a moments notice to the north, and we've got everything in place to do it.

There's a sense up here in the north that two things. One is, there is a slight up tempo in the military activity, IDF activity they see around them, not significant enough to indicate that there's any major, major operation about to start now. But I think what there's a deeper sense of here it's a real frustration that as you say, there's been an up tempo in the number of strikes here. In fact, a drone flying into a civilian building just inside northern Israel, a building, by the way, in a town that has not been evacuated. So there are civilians living there. Luckily, no one was injured in that particular strike, but apparently some troops were injured elsewhere by missiles coming across from -- from Lebanon today.

So, the other sense you get from speaking to people here is that the government isn't doing enough, that some people are already so frustrated here. They're talking about moving their families back in here, despite the evacuation orders, so that they can try to get on with their lives here. They know it's going to be a massive rebuild, but that's the level of frustration.

So I think at the moment, people here would tell you at the moment what they're hearing from the government in terms of deeper military actually in Lebanon. It's still talk. Let's see where the defense minister goes with this in the coming days.

SCIUTTO: When I've asked folks in the north about it, they laughed and said, I'm sure you've heard the same thing is that, you know, eventually Israel has to deal with the problem of Hezbollah fire, otherwise, folks won't be able to live safely up there. And some will say, well, listen you know, if the military path is the only way, then we'll have to suffer through it.

Is there any diplomatic path? I mean, is there any negotiations underway that could resolve that issue without another war on another front, pushing, for instance militants back further from the Lebanon border? I mean, these solutions have been discussed for years, but is there any substantive process?

ROBERTSON: I think what is the scene here as the potential for opportunity. Hezbollah continues to claim that it's only doing what it's doing on the border here to support Gaza. So, in essence, if there's a ceasefire in Gaza even if it's just a short one, that presents an opportunity here.

But real diplomatic movement? No, there's a lot of talk about it, a lot of pressure from the United States, from the U.K., from the French as well on Israel not to have a deeper military exercise or operations up here in the north. But, you know, the frustration a and you'd probably pick this up when you were here as well, Jim, the frustration is that the movement that they need to see by Hezbollah on the other side is at least ten kilometers back from the border, and the removal of all the weapons.

And there just isn't the sense that even in the current diplomacy that that's taking shape at all.

SCIUTTO: Yeah. Nic Robertson up n the north, thanks so much.

Well, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken is traveling to Ukraine this week as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is pushing forward for his own plan for victory against Russia. Six Ukrainian military commanders and officers spoke to CNN, said desertion and insubordination are becoming a more widespread problem -- problem after two years, two-and-a-half years now fighting.

CNN's Fred Pleitgen joins us now live in eastern Ukraine.

And, Fred, I mean, listen, the costs impose on the Ukrainian population are enormous. Civilian deaths, deaths -- soldiers deaths, and, of course, the families who suffered through those deaths and injuries as well.

[15:25:05]

You don't often hear about what that means about morale, right? Because the country has united so well too fight off this invasion.

But it sounds like what you're hearing is that those costs are becoming more visible.

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, I certainly think so. It certainly seems to us as though morale is, its quite an issue actually especially where I am right now, the eastern part of the front where, of course, right now, the Ukrainian forces that are on the ground here are facing a pretty tough Russian push. I think one of the things that lifted morale, at least for the general population was that incursion and ease that incursion by Ukrainian forces into the Kursk region.

But here on this front line, down where the troops are fighting a really tough Russian invasion force. It certainly is a bit of a different picture. Right now, by the way, I have air raid sirens going off behind me. That, of course, is also one of the big tolls that we've seen here on Ukraine, that aerial campaign by the Russians.

But definitely, manpower issues are huge problem for the Ukrainians, Jim. They've come so far that the Ukrainians are now recruiting people out of jail to fight on the front lines. And here's what that was looks like.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PLEITGEN (voice-over): Sweeping into a village on the eastern front.

But these aren't career soldiers. They're ex-convicts who volunteered from prison, got some basic training and were thrust into battle.

Vitaly, 41-years-old, ten years in jail for theft and violent assault now assaulting Vladimir Putin's army.

VITALY, EX-CONVICT, SHIKVAL COMPANY, 59TH BRIGADE (translated): We have a goal. We have a task and we must do it. We're never confused, always focused. You need to be very quick here.

PLEITGEN: The ex-convicts are part of Ukraine's 59th Brigade. They're camped near the frontlines, rudimentary, but a lot better than jail.

Our conversations remain basic about survival or death.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (translated): He who has a strong spirit wins. He who has a weak spirit dies.

PLEITGEN: Many are dying here on both sides. The 59th brigade gave us this video showing Russians fleeing a burning house as the ex-convicts attack. But Vitaly admits they are suffering casualties as well according position.

VITALY: We were moving into a position and my buddy was blown apart as soon as we went to the field. He was dismantled. It's hard to watch, but what can you do? You can't help.

PLEITGEN: Their deal is simple -- fight, survive and become a free man.

VITALY: I need to turn the page of my life. I have five children after all. I need to think about my kids a little bit and about myself. My life was a mess.

PLEITGEN: Company commander Oleksandr says his men performed some of the most dangerous assaults around here. Oleksandr was a jail warden and many of those here, his inmates. He recruited them and says that traits that put them in jail now keep them alive.

OLEKSANDR, COMMANDER OF SHIKVAL COMPANY, 59TH BRIGADE: The convict subculture is used to surviving. They survived in very harsh condictions. And they will make every effort to survive.

PLEITGEN: This unit is part of Ukraine's force defending the key logistic hub of Pokrovsk.

Pokrovsk is now one of the main frontline towns in the war in Ukraine. As you can see, the streets here are virtually deserted. At the same time, the Russians are hitting this place with really heavy munitions, everything from artillery shells to large rockets.

After major advances, the Russians are knocking on the door here, shells and rockets constantly impacting, especially in the evening.

And that's when the medics to the 68th mountain near brigade start receiving most of the heavy casualties. They show us this video of U.S. supplied MaxxPro armored vehicle hit by a Russian drone. Two killed, four severely injured, casualties Ukraine's military already badly outmanned, cannot afford, the medic who goes by the call sign "Barbarian" tells me.

"BARBARIAN", MEDIC 68TH BRIGADE: There are fewer of us. One of us matches 20 Russians. But we lack training. The training period is very short. We lack equipment. They took the initiative in the sky. I mean drones.

PLEITGEN: And Russian drones are also lethal at night, so we leave Pokrovsk as darkness falls, Ukrainian troops heading towards the front, hoping to keep Putin's army away from this key city.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PLEITGEN (on camera): And, Jim, the Ukrainian forces are doing that badly outnumbered. Some of the Ukrainian units that we've been speaking to on the ground said in some cases, the ratio is actually for each Ukrainian, that there's ten Russians who are assaulting the positions and the impression that we got as we were down there on the ground in the town of Pokrovsk, is that they Ukrainians appear to have halted the Russian advance towards the actual city of Pokrovsk.

But certainly in that region, there are still a lot of places where that very large Russian invasion force continues to advance.

[15:30:03]

But at the same time of course, cities like this one there are suffering from missile attacks on almost a daily basis -- Jim.

SCIUTTO: No question. None of those missiles get through.

Fred Pleitgen, thanks so much.

Well, there are dueling reports out now on the 2021 U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan. House Republicans and Democrats both released reports about the deadly exit from Kabul. Thirteen U.S. service members were killed, thousands of Afghans who had worked with the U.S. were left behind when Afghanistan fell to the Taliban.

The Republican report from the House Foreign Affairs Committee blames the Biden White House entirely for the evacuation. House Democrats called the timing of that report politically motivated. Former President Trump is using the Afghanistan withdrawal as an attack line on Vice President Harris in the final weeks before the presidential election.

We should note that Trump himself plan to withdraw U.S. forces from Afghanistan as well. And the Doha agreement, which he signed in 2020, formed the basis of the withdrawal timeline, so say Biden administration officials.

CNN's Jennifer Hansler joins me now from the State Department.

And I wonder, Jennifer, have there been any useful nonpartisan findings from these reports? There's a lot of blame to go around here. The cost has been enormous. Did the reports uncover anything?

JENNIFER HANSLER, CNN STATE DEPARTMENT PRODUCER: Well, Jim, these reports are largely not regulatory in their overall takeaways. There are some new details that were released in this 350-page Republican report. But overall, the takeaways are what we have seen in from pass reports on that 2021 withdrawal.

Now it is notable how blistering the condemnation is in this Republican report. It blames the withdrawal and the chaos around it exclusively on the Biden administration and it makes some pretty inflammatory claims that the administration misled and at times lied to the American people about that withdrawal. Now, of course, that is coming from the Republican side here now.

And the Democrats are saying that is completely false, that this report is entirely politicized, that it had a predetermined conclusion there, and they are saying that the facts from that years-long investigation were cherry-picked.

Now, Jim, we have to note the timing of this report. It's coming out in the heat of the election season, just a day before the presidential debate and it does the Republican one does aim to implicate Vice President Kamala Harris in the chaos of the withdrawal. This is opposed to a preliminary report that barely made any mention of her. This report mentions her dozens of times as being part of the Biden/Harris administration says that she was in lockstep with President Joe Biden on that withdrawal. Now, McCaul, the chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, the Republican chairman there, said it was not meant to be a partisan report and that he is just seeking accountability here. But it is seeming to fall along these lines that we have seen from the past with Republicans blaming just Biden and Democrats saying that but this goes back to the Trump administration. They say that withdrawal started under him, not under the current administration -- Jim.

SCIUTTO: Jennifer Hansler, thanks so much.

Coming up next, Pennsylvania is a massive prize in the U.S. election this November, perhaps a decisive one. But the Keystone State holds more than just the key to the White House. We'll have a look at the race there, coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:36:55]

SCIUTTO: The state of Pennsylvania is taking on particular importance in this year's U.S. presidential election. Tomorrow, the state will be the site of the first presidential debate between Donald Trump and Kamala Harris. The state is important though beyond that debate, and the presidential race, Pennsylvania could be a key and decisive state in the race to control the Senate. There, the Republican challenger is threatening to flip the seat.

The Democrats need to hold on to the state Senate seat to keep their slim majority.

Here's CNN's Manu Raju on the race there.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SEN. BOB CASEY (D-PA): Hello, Pittsburgh.

MANU RAJU, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Senator Bob Casey is sounding the alarm.

CASEY: I need your help in this race.

RAJU: As a three-term Democrat campaigns with Vice President Kamala Harris, Casey is locked in a dead heat against Republican David McCormick, and about to get swamped by a GOP bombardment on the airways.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If the border was secure, chances are my son would be alive today.

AD NARRATOR: Harris and Casey, dangerous radicals.

RAJU: McCormick and his allies are preparing to spend more than $100 million on air in just the final two months of the campaign. More than half from an outside group designed solely to help the Republicans. All giving Republicans a roughly $40 million on-air advantage over Democrats, an edge bigger than any other Senate race. CASEY: I think I'm the underdog. I don't have a personal super PAC funded by Wall Street billionaire. I don't care what they spend. I'm going to going to win this race, but it's going to be a really difficult race.

RAJU: With the West Virginia seat almost certain to turn red, Democrats must hang on to Pennsylvania and seven other seats simply to keep the Senate at 50-50.

KAMALA HARRIS, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES & 2024 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Bob Casey will help us do that.

RAJU: But a new CNN/SSRS poll finds that Casey-McCormick race at age 46-46 tie. And since 2016, the GOP has cut into Democrat voter registration advantage in the state.

DAVE MCCORMICK (R-PA), SENATE CANDIDATE: I'm the underdog, there's no doubt about that. But the reason the race is closing is that Senator Casey is just out of touch with Pennsylvanians. He's been a weak senator.

RAJU: As he stumped in rural Pennsylvania last week, McCormick aligned himself with Donald Trump up to a point.

Trump had said that he'd won Pennsylvania in 2020, that it was stolen from him. Do you agree with him?

MCCORMICK: I don't believe the election was stolen. So President Trump and I don't agree on everything but we agree on a lot of things.

RAJU: Do you consider yourself a MAGA Republican?

MCCORMICK: You know, I consider myself a Dave McCormick Republican. My positions are very much in line with what President Trump has said on policies. I'm a guy that's put America first his whole life.

RAJU: After serving in the military and then working in the Bush administration, McCormick ran a major hedge fund, Bridgewater Associates.

Now fodder for Democratic attack ads like this.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Dave McCormick got rich --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Really rich.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: By investing in China.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: China.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: China.

RAJU: McCormick defended his tenure.

MCCORMICK: When you're the -- one of the biggest global investors in the world, 3 percent of its holdings were in China. RAJU: That's a lot of money though.

MCCORMICK: That's what we're talking about. There's no global firm in the world that doesn't have exposure to China.

[15:40:00]

RAJU: As Casey attacks McCormick's character, the Republican turning his attention to Casey's ties to Harris.

MCCORMICK: He's voted 98 percent of the time for Biden-Harris.

RAJU: Why are you aligning yourself with her?

CASEY: Look, in this state, her campaign already has brought a real lift to the turnout dynamics.

RAJU: Would you consider yourself a Biden-Harris Democrat?

CASEY: Oh, I don't -- I don't put a label on it.

RAJU: Well, what issues do you break from her on?

CASEY: Oh, I'm not going to try to itemize issues that we might have not a total agreement.

RAJU: In 2022, McCormick lost the Senate primary to a Trump-backed opponent, Dr. Mehmet Oz.

DONALD TRUMP, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT & 2024 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Dr. Oz is running against the liberal Wall Street Republican named David McCormick, who I've known.

RAJU: But now McCormick has been stumping with Trump and was about to go on stage at the July rally where Trump was nearly killed.

Did you ever think back to that day, think that could have been you?

MCCORMICK: Yeah. I didn't think that at the time then I got home that night and talk to all six of my daughters, and they were freaked out.

RAJU: But McCormick's positions in 2022 are inviting fresh scrutiny, including comments at a debate when he did not mention his support of abortion exceptions for rape or incest.

MCCORMICK: I believe in the very rare instances, there should be exceptions for life of the mother.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Dave McCormick praised the Supreme Court.

RAJU: Now, turned into a series of attack ads.

You only talked about life of the mother. Why did you always talk about that?

MCCORMICK: I said before the debate, after the debate, over and over again that I support all three exceptions. In the debate I didn't say I was against the other exceptions. I simply said that I was for that exception.

RAJU: You wouldn't codify Roe v. Wade if you had a chance to vote for it, would you?

MCCORMICK: My position is very clear. I think the state should decide, voters should decide.

RAJU: Casey had previously harbored anti-abortion views, including saying this in 2002.

CASEY: My position has always been a pro-life position. Well, my position has always been the favoring the one exception for the life of the mother.

RAJU: Now, Casey says the Dobbs decision overturning Roe has changed the dynamic.

Do you still consider yourself pro-life?

CASEY: I don't think those terms mean much anymore. I really think that the choice now before -- before the American people is if you support a ban, which means you support the overturning of Roe and all that comes with it. Or you support this right? And I do.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

RAJU (on camera): And what you're seeing in the Pennsylvania race and really states across the country are Democrats trying to make this a race about character? You've seen this in candidates, Senate Democratic candidates in Montana and Ohio and across the board, going after what they'll oftentimes have been facing very deep-pocketed of wealthy Republican candidates.

Republicans on the other hand, as they're doing in Pennsylvania, trying to nationalize the race, tried to tide incumbent Democratic senator to issues like inflation, immigration, and the top of the ticket. And what is notable, too, is that Senator Bob Casey making clear that he is very much aligning himself with the top of his ticket, not concerned about getting tied to Harris and some of our more liberal positions there.

But, Jim, already some Republicans jumping on that comment that he made, that saying where he breaks from Kamala Harris. We'll see if that position and those comments change in the weeks ahead.

SCIUTTO: I mean, the candidates will always pick the stuff that they think is popular, there in line with the candidate at the top of the ticket and try to find distance elsewhere. It remains unclear whether voters will make that separation.

Manu Raju, thanks so much.

Coming up, apple intelligence, the unveiling of the first generative A.I. iPhone. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:46:42]

SCIUTTO: Today, Apple is introducing the first iPhones built specifically for generative artificial intelligence. The company is hoping to prove to fans that A.I. system, or Apple intelligence as it calls it really works. Company had been teasing the event with a cryptic motto of its glow time. One major question was, not just how much it will cost, but does it work?

Joining me now to discuss, technology expert Stephanie Humphrey.

Good to have you on, Stephanie.

First question is, I mean, is there anything truly unique to Apple A.I. here and truly new because everyone claims right to be on top of the A.I. wave. That is there evidence that Apple actually is.

STEPHANIE HUMPHREY, TECHNOLOGY EXPERT: I don't know if they're ahead of the curve as far as what their intelligence, what Apple intelligence is going to be able to do. I will say however, I did appreciate the fact that they are far ahead of the curve in terms of privacy.

There was something they had been called the private cloud compute. So if you need to actually use Apple servers to accomplish any of those A.I. tasks, it stays on that server and they have what they call verifiable -- a verifiable privacy promise, where they will be allowing third parties to make sure that they're holding to that stands that your data will always be private. So that is definitely something that we're not seeing anywhere else in the industry in terms of artificial intelligence.

SCIUTTO: Okay, that's good. I've watched a lot of new iPhone rollouts as I'm sure a lot of people watching and sometimes you're wondering what's actually different about this one. And does the difference justify the costs? So I mean, it is this one fundamentally different, or only incrementally different?

HUMPHREY: It's feeling incrementally different. I mean, you know, we have titanium now, if that matters, if aesthetics matters to you, there are new colors. There is a new titanium version than the iPhone Pro, iPhone 16 Pro. So there is some of that.

There is a new chip. The A18 is allegedly the fastest in any smartphone. So if you're getting the pro model, you are supposedly going to have the fastest chip available in any smartphone for that. The customizable action button, I think someone other smartphones have that.

The camera control button is a little new so that could be a thing if people are into taking photos on their phone. But I think overall, there's not a ton of difference between the iPhone 16 and 16 Plus, and the iPhone 16 Pro and Pro Max. There's some camera upgrades, some audio upgrades. But yeah, I don't know that you're getting a ton that's going to be revolutionary.

SCIUTTO: Yeah. You're not quite selling this, so I'm wondering how much does it cost?

HUMPHREY: I don't believe the price has changed. The iPhone 16 is $799. The Plus is $899, the Pro is $999, and the Max is $1,199. So I think those are the same pricing are very similar pricing that we've seen in the past.

SCIUTTO: Alright, Stephanie Humphrey, thanks so much. Appreciate it.

[15:50:02]

And we'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:51:39]

SCIUTTO: Typhoon Yagi is slowing down after it hit Vietnam this weekend, killing dozens of people, flooding entire towns. The storm tore through the Philippines and southern China last week, giving Vietnamese communities time to evacuate in advance, 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 hurdled into Vietnam over the weekend.

In hard hit Hai Phong, survivors felt the world had been destroyed.

BUI VAN THUY, HAI PHONG RESIDENT (through translator): 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 stormed dealt this much damage to us.

STOUT: 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, threatened the cleanup.

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

STOUT: Yagi's trajectory gave Vietnam some time to prepare. Thousands were evacuated from the coastline as the country watch the storm hit Hong Kong. And sweep across Chinas holiday island of Hainan, killing at least four people.

As of Monday, tens of thousands of people remain and typhoon shelters in the Philippines, almost a week after Yagi killed at least 20.

ELENITA CERVANTES, RIZAL PROVINCE RESIDENT (through translator): 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.

STOUT: Now, as Typhoon Yagi moves inland and weakened its trail of destruction remains across these parts of Southeast Asia.

Kristie Lu Stout, CNN, Hong Kong.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SCIUTTO: A spectacular fireworks show illuminated the sky above the Stade de France on Sunday, closing out the Paris Paralympic Games. Athletes from 169 delegations paraded to music before 24 French DJs took over and transform the stadium into an electro party. There was rain during the event, but thousands of spectators brave the soggy conditions anyway, reminds me of the star to the Olympics earlier this summer.

Attention now turns to Los Angeles, which will host the next edition of the Olympics and Paralympics all the way in 2028. I'm sure it'll come faster than we can imagine.

Thanks so much to all of you for joining me today. I'm Jim Sciutto in Washington.

And "QUEST MEANS BUSINESS" is up next.