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CNN International: Dozens Dead After Israel Strikes Safe Zone; Harris and Trump Set to Face-off in High-stakes Debate Tonight; Polaris Dawn Mission Begins Trek to Record Altitude; Ukraine Strikes Moscow Region in Biggest Drone Attack to Date; Pope Delivers Mass to Hundreds of Thousands in East Timor; Legendary Actor James Earl Jones Dead at 93. Aired 8-9a ET
Aired September 10, 2024 - 08:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[08:00:15]
AMARA WALKER, CNN ANCHOR OF "CNN NEWSROOM": Hi, everyone and welcome to our viewers all around the world. I'm Amara Walker. This is "CNN Newsroom." Just ahead, a desperate search for survivors in Gaza, dozens are killed and many more are feared buried under the sand after an Israeli airstrike hits what was deemed a safe zone. Plus, Kamala Harris and Donald Trump prepare to meet for the first time on a debate stage where the stakes couldn't be higher for both candidates. And more than a half-a-million people turn out to see Pope Francis leading mass in East Timor. We'll have a report from the capital.
Israeli strikes hit a crowded tent camp housing tens of thousands of displaced Palestinians in a coastal region of Gaza. Officials in Gaza say dozens of people were killed and injured. Eyewitnesses say at least five missiles struck the Al Mawasi area of Khan Younis. Gaza civil defense official say some 20 to 40 tents were destroyed and entire families have disappeared in the sand. The Israeli military says it struck Hamas terrorists operating a command center embedded in the humanitarian safe zone in Khan Younis. Hamas denies its fighters were present and calls Israel's claims a blatant lie. Listen to this eyewitness.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): All those here our relatives, our neighbors. It's poor people, people who ran away from airstrikes and bombardment . They said this area is safe. People come here and went (ph) lands. And this is what happened. Four to five tents here and four to five tents there, I swear I don't know them, but they are normal people. They're not resistance fighters or anything. There were so many martyrs. And this is a sand land. There must be so many others under the ground. They are mostly women and children.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WALKER: CNN's Matthew Chance is in Tel Aviv, Israel with more. Matthew, what more are you learning about this strike? And this is an area that the IDF has struck previously?
MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN CHIEF GLOBAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Yeah. I mean, I think what is most sort of striking about this latest airstrikes, these latest airstrikes by Israel is that this was meant to be a humanitarian area, a safe zone for people inside Gaza where they had essentially been ordered to go to, to avoid combat zones and to avoid exactly this kind of military action. But not for the first time, the Israeli military has carried out strikes on these, on these areas which are filled with people, of course. They are a very crowded, the shelters are very fragile. We are talking about tents and makeshift shelters, and things like that.
Back in August, there was something in the region of 90 people that were killed in an Israeli strike on exactly the same location when they said they were targeting Hamas militants. It's exactly the same explanation that's been offered by the Israeli Defense Forces, the Israeli military victory. This time, they say that they were kind of using a precise attacking strategy to target Hamas militants who were operating a Command and Control Center inside this humanitarian area. And Israeli military are condemning Hamas for choosing locations like this, in which to essentially hide and to use ordinary civilians as human shields.
But they've also made it pretty clear that that won't stop the Israeli military from carrying out strikes with big weapons, very powerful bombs, like the kind that we used on this occasion, the if they -- if a target presents itself. And unfortunately, it's civilians in Gaza who are continuing to pay the price of that.
WALKER: Yes, as we can see there in those pictures that we are showing. Separately, Matthew, we are hearing about another strike near polio vaccination centers east of Gaza city. What more do you know about that?
CHANCE: Not a great deal because much of the focus has been on this strike at the Al Mawasi humanitarian area. But you're right, there is -- there have been other strikes around the Gaza Strip. That one you're mentioning there is just near to Gaza city, taking place in an area where polio vaccinations have been taking place, one of the vaccination centers very close by. The strike appeared to have sort of caught up a food stall, a falafel stand or something like that, and the owner of that sand was killed and six people also died in that incident.
[08:05:00]
But again, it just underlines the fact that there's really no way in the Gaza Strip right now, and there hasn't been for some months where ordinary Palestinian civilians can be 100 percent secure, whether it's in humanitarian areas, whether it's food stand. The fact that Israel is ruthlessly pursuing Hamas and other militant groups there means that civilians are inevitably in the firing line.
WALKER: Matthew Chance, thank you so much for your reporting there from Tel Aviv, Israel.
Well, today could be the single most significant day in the U.S. presidential campaign. With fewer than two months to Election Day, Kamala Harris and Donald Trump will face off on the debate stage tonight. Harris is still introducing herself to the American people, so this could be a defining moment. And in a razor-thin race according to the polls, persuading even a tiny sliver of the electorate to pick you could be all that it takes for either candidate to win. Here is what the two players are saying about what to expect tonight.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KAMALA HARRIS, (D) VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES AND PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: He played through this really old and tired playbook, right? Where he -- there's no floor for him in terms of how well he would go, and we should be prepared for that. And he tends to fight for himself, not for the American people. And I think that's going to come out during the debate.
DONALD TRUMP, (D) FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES AND PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: Oh, they're waiting for the debate. You know, if I destroy her in the debate, they'll say Trump suffered a humiliating defeat tonight, no matter what.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WALKER: Let's begin with CNN's Eva McKend. She's covering the Harris campaign and she's live for us in Philadelphia. Hi there, Eva. So tell us more about the Harris team, what they're focused on, how they're preparing in these last few hours before the debate tonight.
EVA MCKEND, CNN NATIONAL POLITICS CORRESPONDENT: Amara, part of the strategy is to get under the skin of the former president, lean into his insecurities, and they're doing that with a new ad using former President Barack Obama needling the former president over his obsession with crowd sizes. And this is part of a larger argument the Harris campaign wants to make, that Trump is more concerned about his grievances, his issues, and not concerned with your issues, the issues of American voters. Take a listen to how this ad is playing out on the airwaves.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARACK OBAMA, (D) FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Here's a 78- year-old billionaire who has not stopped whining about his problems.
TRUMP: Oh, she had a big crowd -- oh, the crowd.
OBAMA: This weird obsession with crowd sizes.
(CROWD CHEERING)
OBAMA: It just goes on and on and on.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MCKEND: And so, they want to ensure that the former president sees this. So it's airing right here in Philadelphia and also in Florida, as well as on Fox News. But listen, the vice president won't only be tasked with this, she will also be tasked with outlining her policy vision. So many Americans, Amara, still getting to know her. Meanwhile, Governor Walz is going to be watching the debate from Arizona at a watch party, just an indication that they are still trying to use every single day to be in spaces with battleground voters as they continue to make their election argument. Amara?
WALKER: All right, Eva McKend, thank you very much, in Philadelphia for us. So with just hours to go before the presidential debate, of course, a lot of questions about how the candidates have been preparing. Of course, there's a lot of contrast as well between the two. Earlier on CNN, Lara Trump, who is the Co-Chair of the Republican National Committee and daughter-in-law of the former president was asked if Donald Trump has any concerns about facing off with Kamala Harris.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LARA TRUMP, CO-CHAIR, REPUBLICAN NATIONAL COMMITTEE: Well, I think Donald Trump is very focused on this debate tonight. He knows how important it is. He doesn't take anything for granted. He has been preparing for this debate. He's done traditional debate prep, but he also, Kasie, has been out talking with the media, whether that's in town halls. He did a town hall last year here on CNN, whether it's in press conferences where he fields questions from every reporter, or whether it's in the podcast or sit-down interviews that he continues to do.
He wants to engage more with the public, not less, and it is a start contrast, of course, to what we've seen from Kamala Harris. So, she has really upped the stakes for herself in this debate. I think that many people already know who Donald Trump is, and they can hearken back to how their life felt when he was in office. And so, he's prepared for this debate. He's ready for tonight and he's ready to talk about why your life was better when he was in office and why would you want to vote for four more years of what we are in right now, which is what you're going to get with Kamala Harris.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[08:10:00]
WALKER: CNN's Alayna Treene has been covering the Trump campaign. She's joining us now, live from Philadelphia as well. Hello, Alayna. I know that we have been getting a preview of some of potential attack lines that Trump may be employing tonight.
ALAYNA TREENE, CNN REPORTER: That's exactly right. Yesterday, Amara, many of Donald Trump's senior advisers, including Jason Miller, but also some people we know who have been helping him prepare behind the scenes. That includes Tulsi Gabbard, the former Democratic Congresswoman, who actually faced off with Kamala Harris on the debate stage during the Democratic primary in 2020, and also a Republican Congressman, Matt Gaetz. They held a call yesterday to preview some of those attacks and look, I think it was all what we could expect. They talked about wanting to focus on her handling of the U.S.-Mexico border, of her policy record from when she was a Senator, but also some of the tie-breaking vote she cast as the president of the Senate in her role as VP, and also going after her on the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan.
And a key theme that we heard throughout that call was really trying to tie Kamala Harris to Joe Biden and the policies of the Biden Administration. They were calling it the Harris-Biden Administration. Of course, she is vice president. She was not the president, but I do think you're going to hear him try to do that tonight, as well as here, Harris, try to distinguish herself from the current president (inaudible). When I talked to Donald Trump's senior advisers behind the scene, there's one thing, they argue that he's not doing formal preparation. They like to call it a more informal policy discussions.
But I can tell you, Amara, of course, Donald Trump has been preparing behind the scenes. He's been meeting with his policy team, with his policy experts, with outside allies and of course, many of his top advisers to really hone his policy and his focus on a key number of issues -- immigration, economy, and crime. Those are all areas that we've talked about for several months now, where they think Donald Trump does better, not only personally in some of his rhetoric, but also in polling against the Democrats.
But one thing I've heard consistently as well, is that a bigger concern of theirs is not necessarily how he talks about policy, but how his tone and temperament is. They say that that's even more important now with a candidate like Harris, one, given that she is more popular than Joe Biden was when he faced off with him in June during that CNN debate. But also given the optics of his attacks against her, particularly given she's a woman, we know Donald Trump can be very aggressive, be very personal in his attacks. They want him to stay away from that and really focus on the issues.
So, I think we'll all be watching of whether or not Donald Trump can do that this evening. Amara?
WALKER: All right. Alayna Treene in Philadelphia. Great to see you, Alayna, thank you. Joining us now is Larry Sabato of the University of Virginia Center for Politics. Hi, Larry. So were finally here, just hours away from the first face off -- in-person face off between Trump and Harris. Presidential debates don't usually win elections, right? But what about the reverse? Do they lose elections?
LARRY SABATO, DIRECTOR, CENTER FOR POLITICS, UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA: Oh, they can do that. Absolutely. There have been 37 televised general election presidential debates since the first four in 1960 between Kennedy and Nixon. And I went through each one of them and approximately a quarter of the time, they have an impact either because one candidate does spectacularly better as Kennedy did against Nixon, or because a candidate makes a terrible mistake or comes across very poorly. Well, we most recently saw that June 27th on CNN with President Biden, who is not even in the race any longer because that debate.
WALKER: So then, what should the strategy be for Kamala Harris moving forward tonight? Obviously, it seems like much of the pressure is on her, especially when you look at a polls showing that nearly 30 percent of likely voters say they want to know more about Harris. SABATO: Yes. She has more tasks to perform than Trump by far, she has to multitask and she's -- she can do it before -- this is something she's never faced before, presidential debate, whereas Donald Trump has been in seven of them. He is one of the most experienced variance presidential debaters in American history. So, I think what Kamala Harris needs to do obviously, is to fill in some of the blanks in her record for the American public watching, and it's going to be enormous. But she also has to make sure that she parries Trump's thrusts, his negative attacks, his insults -- not everyone, sometimes she can just shake her head or roll her eyes. But, she has to show that she is tough and that she won't take but so much guff, and that's what we expect from any president, male or female. So it's tougher for her.
[08:15:00]
WALKER: Yeah. It definitely seems like that. I want to read you a portion of what James Carville, a venerable Democratic strategist, said last week in an opinion piece in "The New York Times" about what kind of strategy Harris should employ. She basically -- he basically said that she should just let Trump be Trump. She should let him talk over her, not just let him, but goad him into spouting insane conspiracy theories about the previous election. She should use her sense of humor at key moments to get under his skin and show he's not getting to her, and she should welcome the personal attacks as a badge of honor. And each time, no matter how times he does it, respond with this refrain, is the same old tired playbook and I'm focused on a new way forward. What do you think?
SABATO: Great advice and James Carville, well, you should listen to him. I've known him for decades. But look, if she doesn't have to goad Trump into insult or attacks or conspiracy theories. Don't worry, he'll come prepared with those and will use them frequently, because he knows nothing he says or does will affect his base and the -- at least 45 percent of the American public, probably more, that will vote for him regardless. So that's why he's in a stronger position, but he can go too far. He can even Donald Trump can go too far and offend the tiny layer of, if there are any, undecided voters in this race and you don't want to do that. It's probably the only debate they'll have.
WALKER: When she gave that interview to my colleague Dana Bash on CNN, I'm talking about Kamala Harris obviously, and she was asked about her flip-flopping on certain issues, including fracking and decriminalizing illegal border crossings. And she gave that answer about how her values have not changed despite her actions being different. Do you think she's going to have to do more tonight to clarify that answer?
SABATO: Well, she can do it on the edges. Look, flip-flop thy name is politician. There isn't a politician alive who hasn't flip-flopped on a lot of issues because they try and reflect the public that they need votes from, and sometimes the public changes its mind on issues. So I -- that to me is a lower priority and you never want to get into too much detail in a debate because you could put people to sleep and the other candidate can score when his or her time comes.
WALKER: It's a good point, good advice. I hope she's listening. Good to talk to you, Larry Sabato, always a pleasure. Thanks.
SABATO: Thank you, Amara. Thank you.
WALKER: We will of course have much more on the debate later in the hour, including a look at past debate performances by both Harris and Trump. That is coming up in about 15 minutes from now.
Four astronauts are in space and possibly in the record books. SpaceX's Polaris Dawn mission is underway after that spectacular launch this morning in Florida. During the five-day mission, the civilian crew plans to conduct the first privately-funded spacewalk. They'll also enter the Van Allen belts. Those are two bands of trapped radiation particles that surround the earth like a doughnut. And if that weren't enough, they're also attempting to reach the highest orbit around earth by humans since 1966. That would be some 1,400 kilometers or 870 miles above earth.
Let's get some insight into the Polaris Dawn's mission. We are joined now by former NASA Astronaut Leroy Chiao. Leroy, good morning. It's good to see you. What are your thoughts on this? I mean it sounds quite risky. It'll be the first spacewalk conducted by non- professional astronauts.
LEROY CHIAO, FORMER NASA ASTRONAUT: Well, that's right. And it is a big deal, huge deal, in addition to that, they're testing a brand new spacesuit that's never been tried in space before. They're going to have to depressurize the entire spacecraft because there's no separate airlock. And so, everybody will be at vacuum in their suits and so it does entail more risk. But at the same time, I do know several of the folks -- the senior folks over at SpaceX, and I know they're very much dedicated to safety, so I have confidence that they have properly trained and taken care of -- managed the risks as much as possible. So, I would expect everything to go without any kind of significant incident. However, there's no denying the risk is there.
WALKER: They're going to test space suits that's never been used before in space? That sounds a bit jarring to me.
[08:20:00]
Tell us more about what will happen during the spacewalk, like walk us through what happens inside the capsule and who is going out and who is holding on to the umbilical cord.
CHIAO: Yeah, right. So, everyone is going to be going to vacuum inside the spacecraft. So, everybody will have to put on the space suits that were designed to operate in the open space environment. They'll depressurize the cabin; that'll take a bit -- take probably around, I would guess, around 20 to 30 minutes to go through the whole process. And then two of them are going to go out and basically, kind of translate around on some handholds and evaluate the performance of the suit, get some spectacular views of the earth. But as far as objectives go, it is really to get outside, get a little bit of experience moving around, and then evaluating the performance of the suits. So this is a custom suit has been designed by SpaceX, with some help I'm sure, but it is a brand new suit, so it would be interesting to see how it goes.
WALKER: So, 40 experiments they're going to be conducting before and after the spacewalk. Can you talk to us about some of these experiments and them attempting to take X-ray images with about an X- ray machine since they'll be out with natural radiation. That's fascinating.
CHIAO: Right. So, they are going to be brushing the Van Allen belts, the lower Van Allen belts. And so, they'll be exposed to the charged particles that are trapped there, basically particles coming from the sun. And I don't know the details of the science experiments they are going to be doing. But, you could conceivably do because some of what you're talking about, is trying to do imaging using the background radiation. But again, I'm not super familiar with their science package.
WALKER: So just big picture here, the fact that there are no professional astronauts onboard. I mean, what does a future hold then when it comes to private spaceflight?
CHIAO: Well, this is an interesting kind of a transition period because, of course, in the past, you had professional astronauts, then you had some former professional astronauts go fly on some of these missions or at least be the commander. And now, you're seeing an individual, Jared Isaacman, who is able to personally fund these missions and bring other people in to be trained. And he himself is a trained jet pilot. And so, he's had the resources to be able to do that.
But in the future, I would envision companies like SpaceX having their own astronauts (ph). In other words, not necessarily people who were former NASA, but eventually becoming -- bringing in and training their own astronauts. So, I think we are seeing just the very, very beginning of that kind of thing.
WALKER: Leroy Chiao, it's great to see you. Thank you.
CHIAO: My pleasure, thank you.
WALKER: Still ahead on "CNN Newsroom," fear hits the Moscow region in the middle of the night, along with a deadly attack of Ukrainian drones. We'll have the details next. And Pope Francis offers mass to almost half of a tiny nation's population as he nears the end of a tour through Asia and the South Pacific.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[08:25:25]
WALKER: U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and U.K. Foreign Secretary David Lammy just announced that they will be traveling to Ukraine this week. Blinken says, they will listen to the Ukrainians on what they need to further the war effort. The announcement comes after what may be Ukraine's biggest drone attack on the Moscow region since the Russian invasion began. This is video geo-located by CNN showing Ukrainian drone attacks in the areas surrounding the capital overnight. Russia says its air defenses thwarted the barrage, shooting down scores of Ukrainian drones in several areas, including the Moscow region. One person has been killed near the capital. Russian officials also say three Moscow airports were temporarily shut down. CNN's Fred Pleitgen joining us now from the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv.
Fred, tell us more about one of the biggest drone attacks on Russian soil since Moscow's invasion of Ukraine.
FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hi there, Amara. Well, it certainly appears to have been a pretty large-scale drone attack that the Ukrainians launched last night and also, seems to fit into a pattern where the Ukrainian certainly are showcasing that they do now have larger, long-distance drone capabilities at their disposal. It was about eight days ago that they also launched an attack of similar size where the Russian said that large parts of their territory were targeted by those Ukrainian UAVs.
And if we look at some of the regions that were targeted this time, the Russians are saying that it was nine areas in total, most of them are in the southwest of Russia, in the areas bordering Ukraine. But then of course, you also had a lot of drones being shot down in the Moscow region. And you mentioned that one person was killed on the ground in the Moscow region. That was in a place called Ramenskoye, which is a suburb of Moscow to the southeast of that city. And that area is right by one of the Moscow airports, it's called Zhukovsky Airport and a lot of people actually who live there know it as the Ramenskoye Airport. And it does appear as though possibly airports may have been one of the places that this drone attack wanted to disrupt.
That one hit coming close to that airport. And you also mentioned three other airports in the Moscow region, and those are the airports that are sort of to the south and the southwest of Moscow. Those are the ones that had to shut down for several hours, whereas the one airport that's to the north of Moscow, Sheremetyevo appears to have not shut down as that attack was going on. In any case, the Russians are saying that they thwarted that attack, but it certainly seems as though the Ukrainians are making a point that they can also strike very deep into Russian territory with the assets that they already have, showing how far their drones can fly, even towards the Russian capital and beyond.
And all this is coming as the Russians, Amara, have also increased their aerial campaign against targets inside Ukraine. In fact, late last night and early in the morning of this morning, there were pretty big drone attacks that also happened onto Ukrainian territory. The Ukrainian saying that they detected some 46 of those Shahed head drones flying over Ukrainian territory. They were able to take down 38 of those. So obviously, this drone campaign going into both directions as the Russians really, over the past couple of weeks, have drastically increased their aerial campaign against Ukrainian cities, against Ukrainian critical infrastructure but, of course, against the Ukrainian forces as well, Amara. WALKER: Fred Pleitgen, thank you very much. Live for us there in Kyiv and we will have much more from Fred later this hour as he takes us to Ukraine's frontlines.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): 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.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WALKER: An unlikely group of soldiers are seizing a chance at turning their lives around if they can survive. That is still to come later this hour.
Pope Francis delivered mass to almost half of East Timor's population today. Hundreds of thousands of people came out to celebrate his visit in one of the world's most catholic countries, as part of the pontiff's historic visit to Southeast Asia. Our Vatican correspondent, Christopher Lamb is an East Timor for the occasion.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHRISTOPHER LAMB, CNN VATICAN CORRESPONDENT: Huge crowds have gathered here in East Timor for a mass that Pope Francis will be celebrating. Authorities are estimating around 700,000 people here in the capital of East Timor.
[08:30:00]
That's almost half the population, extraordinary to see so many people here. I've just been amongst the crowd, I've spoken to one lady who was here since 4 a.m. for a mass that is starting almost 12 hours later. East Timor is the most catholic country outside of the Vatican City State and you can see that on display here. The Catholic Church playing a hugely important role in the country's struggle for independence. People want to be here to show that extraordinary commitment the Catholic Church has shown to the nation, to be here for Pope Francis on his trip to East Timor. This is really the high point of his visit to his country, a very new nation, only had its independence in 2002, and of course, it's part of Pope Francis' Southeast Asia and Pacific tour.
Christopher Lamb, CNN, Dili, East Timor.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WALKER: All right, Christopher, thank you.
Still to come, more on tonight's big face-off in Philadelphia. We'll look at how Kamala Harris is trying to get under Donald Trump's skin and what to watch for tonight. Plus, newly released bodycam footage shows the moment when traffic police detained Miami Dolphins Wide Receiver Tyreek Hill. We'll have the video and his reaction.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WALKER: All right, the stage is set for what could be the most important event of this year's presidential race. Tonight, Donald Trump and Kamala Harris face off in a debate and it is being held in what many expect to be the key swing state in the race, Pennsylvania. CNN's Jeff Zeleny has more.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JEFF ZELENY, CNN CHIEF U.S. NATIONAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT (voice- over): Donald Trump and Kamala Harris have spent months talking about one another.
TRUMP: If Comrade Kamala Harris gets four more years, you will be living a full-blown Banana Republic.
HARRIS: If you got something to say, say it to my face.
ZELENY (voice-over): On Tuesday night, they will talk to one another in a duel seen around the world, but with one of the most important audiences here in Pennsylvania.
GINA OLD, UNDECIDED PENNSYLVANIA VOTER: I don't know if I'll really know until it's time to actually vote.
[08:35:00]
ZELENY (voice-over): This will be Trumped seventh debate, more than any nominee in history. Harris and her team have studied all of the previous six, three with Hillary Clinton.
TRUMP: No puppet, no puppet.
(CROSSTALK)
HILLARY CLINTON, (D) FORMER SECRETARY OF STATE OF THE UNITED STATES: It's pretty clear --
TRUMP: And you are the puppet.
ZELENY (voice-over): And three with Joe Biden.
JOE BIDEN, (D) PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Will you shut up man?
ZELENY (voice-over): Which offer lessons for both sides. For Harris, it's a marquee moment to show Americans she is ready to assume the presidency, a question very much on the minds of voters and pivotal Bucks County just outside Philadelphia, where signs of support for all sides are inescapable.
OLD: By nature, I am a Republican, always voted Republican. Not sure this year.
JOHN BILLIE, PENNSYLVANIA VOTER FOR TRUMP: I'm going to go with Trump regardless. I don't know enough about Kamala and big deals with the border and inflation is my main thing. MARY SUE FRANK, PENNSYLVANIA VOTER: My hope is that they're going to tell us what they're going to do, not what the other person has done wrong.
ZELENY (voice-over): Pennsylvania is at the center of the presidential race with Harris, Trump and their allies spending more than any other battleground, $82 million from Democrats, $74 million from Republicans, as a fight to define the vice president dominates the airwaves.
HARRIS: It's a very different vision than Donald Trump's.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Dangerously liberal, Kamala Harris is no laughing matter.
ZELENY (voice-over): Harris has spent the last five days in Pittsburgh preparing for the debate.
HARRIS: Look, it's time to turn the page on the divisiveness. It's time to bring our country together, chart a new way forward.
ZELENY (voice-over): In a weekend rally in Wisconsin, Trump argued he is the true candidate of change.
TRUMP: Kamala Harris and the communist left have unleashed a brutal plague of bloodshed, crime, chaos, misery, and death upon our land, and it's only going to get worse.
ZELENY (voice-over): That rhetoric raises the question of what tone Trump intends to strike and whether it will be sexist, as he often was against Clinton in 2016.
TRUMP: She doesn't have the look, she doesn't have the stamina.
ZELENY (voice-over): Or seize upon policies of the Biden-Harris Administration as he did in June?
TRUMP: We had the safest border in history. Now, we have the worst border in history.
ZELENY (voice-over): Trump has been familiarizing himself with old Harris debates too.
HARRIS: Mr. Vice President, I'm speaking -- I speaking. If you don't mind letting me finish, we can then have a conversation, OK?
MIKE PENCE, (R) FORMER VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Please.
HARRIS: OK.
ZELENY (voice-over): Those stinging moments from a former prosecutor, now trying to make the case that she can turn the page to the presidency.
ZELENY: When Harris and Trump come together on that debate stage, it will be the first meeting that they've had and that is because Donald Trump did not attend the inauguration in January 2021 when Harris, of course, was sworn in as vice president. That is why they have never met before. But, they certainly have been sparring at long distance and they will come together at close range on Tuesday night. There is no question this is the most important moment so far in their brief presidential campaign.
Jeff Zeleny, CNN, Philadelphia.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WALKER: Let's bring in CNN Politics Reporter Stephen Collinson. And Stephen, we can't say it enough, can we, that the stakes are extremely high in this debate? Not only because it's the first time that the two will be having this in-person face-to-face, but it may also be the last presidential debate that we see before Election Day. Given that Trump is a known quantity, given that he is the more experienced debater and not necessarily better, but experienced. I mean, this is going to be his seventh general election debate. The pressure is on Kamala Harris, isn't it?
STEPHEN COLLINSON, CNN POLITICS SENIOR REPORTER: I think so. She has managed to corral the Democratic Party around her in her brief presidential campaign. She has injected hope into a party that thought it was doomed to lose this election. But all of her efforts so far, including the successful Democratic Convention have only pulled her into a tie with Donald Trump. In fact, if the election were held today, it's slightly more likely I think that Trump would win than Harris would win.
That said, there are some voters, about a third of voters in some polls suggest that they want to learn more about Harris before making up their minds. So there's potentially more upside in this debate, I think for the vice president than for Trump because I don't think there can be many people in America and around the world who don't have some opinion of him. So from that sense, I think she has the chance to build a platform to go after those voters. But if she has a bad debate, it's going to be very difficult to see how she can once again turn this campaign around.
WALKER: What do you think and what do you expect Harris' strategy to be? What should it be? Do you think we'll see her clarifies some policy positions, some of those flip-flops you've seen, or will we see her be more aggressive in calling Trump out for some of those racially tinged comments he has made?
COLLINSON: Well, the signals we are getting from her campaign is that she's going to try at least to fact-check what they believe will be a gusher of lies and attacks from Trump, but she doesn't want to get too bogged down that because she wants to make them more positive case to viewers that she understands their problems.
[08:40:00]
She has plans to address them, for example, in helping people into the housing market which has been very difficult for a lot of younger Americans. And also, to make this case that she wants to turn the page and that the country doesn't have to go back to the chaos and the bitterness and the division of the Trumpers if there is a choice. That's one thing to say going into the debate. And I think you obviously take with a pinch of salt, everything a campaign says going into a debate.
But she's going to have to be quick on her feet because you never know which Trump is going to show up, whether it's going to be the angry, wild, resentful Trump that we've seen in some debates. For example, with Hillary Clinton and President Joe Biden, or could he be slightly more restrained, at least for the beginning portion of the debate, which is what most people actually end up watching? We saw that version of Trump when he clashed with Biden and he allowed Biden the space to damage his own campaign.
WALKER: I'm curious to know your thoughts on this muted mic back-and- forth. Obviously, tonight, the mics will be muted when the other candidate is speaking, but our MJ Lee had been reporting this week that the Harris camp was very unhappy about the muted mics. Obviously, they want Trump to just be Trump because they see her biggest political strength in grilling her opponents and she'll need that interruptions, those interruptions in the back-and-forth. Is there -- do you think that they're going to try to remedy that? And if so, how?
COLLINSON: Honestly, I think a lot of this has been a little bit overblown. Yes, she wants to be able to interrupt Trump if he tries to interrupt her, to hold him to account. You saw that clip of how she did that with Vice President Mike Pence in 2020. But, if they're saying she wants to use her prosecutorial skills, courtroom exchanges, and back-and-forth between lawyers all the time. Prosecutors speak to juries, not anybody else. So I think it's a little bit overblown.
I think there was an extent to which the Harris campaign was trying to get into Trump's head to make him talk about microphones and arrangements to actually get him off his game, to stop him talking about the issues that could really hurt her in the run-up to the debate -- immigration, the economy, those kinds of issues where he has the advantage in the polls. To that end, the Harris campaign is running adverts on Fox News today which seemed to be specifically targeted at Trump, which feature former President Obama's speech at the convention, which was very critical about him, mocking about his crowd sizes. So there's a psychological angle to some of this stuff the campaign has been doing in the run-up to the debate.
WALKER: Yeah, on the debate day, we've been seeing these attack ads and exactly the question I was going to ask you about, if this was strategically made to get under Donald Trump's skin, but you already answered that, Stephen Collinson. Thank you so much. Good to see you.
COLLINSON: Thanks.
WALKER: And be sure to tune in for our special coverage of the ABC News presidential debate simulcast right here on CNN. It will air this -- tonight at 9 p.m. Eastern in the U.S. That is 9:00 A.M. Wednesday in Hong Kong, 2 in the morning in London. Well, police have released bodycam video of officers detaining NFL Star Tyreek Hill during a traffic stop in Miami-Dade County on Sunday. Hill was pulled over near the Hard Rock Stadium on his way to the Miami Dolphins game for what is described as a moving violation. The video shows Hill engaged in a dispute with officers over rolling down his window.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Why don't you have your seatbelt on?
TYREEK HILL, MIAMI DOLPHINS WIDE RECEIVER: Don't knock on my window.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Why don't you have your seatbelt on?
HILL: Don't knock on my window like that, no.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Like what?
HILL: Don't knock on my window like that.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Why you have it up?
HILL: Don't knock on my window like that.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Why you have it up? I have to knock to let you know I'm here. Now, you can lower it and talk to you.
HILL: Give me my ticket, bro, so I can go on and play a game. Do what you got to do.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Keep it down. Hey, keep your window down.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WALKER: After that you can see officers dragging Hill from the car, handcuffing him face down on the pavement. The local police union defended the officer's action saying Hill has not being cooperative. Hill says he was following directions, but he wasn't moving fast enough because of injuries. Now, during that game, he celebrated an 80-yard touchdown with this handcuff re-enactment. Speaking with CNN's Kaitlan Collins Monday, Hill said he's still trying to process what happened.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HILL: I was shocked, man. Like, it's crazy because it all happened so fast, man, but like for me, man, like it just all happened so fast and I really couldn't like gather everything that was happening.
[08:45:00]
So it was crazy, you know, and me being a father, me being a husband and all that, and I was just putting myself in that situation like, hey, I got to be smart you know, saying that -- that's why I really -- I wasn't on that kind of energy. (END VIDEO CLIP)
WALKER: Well, Hill's attorneys say the officer's actions were excessive and that they are exploring legal remedies. The team put out a statement saying it is "saddened by the overly aggressive and violent conduct directed towards Tyreek Hill." One of the officers involved has been placed on administrative duties and an internal investigation is underway now.
Still to come, we take you to the frontlines of Ukraine where former convicts are fighting for their country and for a chance at freedom.
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WALKER: After two-and-a-half years of war, Ukrainian forces are losing morale and many of them are losing their lives. The army is now bringing in convicts to reinforce their ranks. Fred Pleitgen has more and a warning, his report contains graphic video.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
PLEITGEN (voice-over): Ukrainian troops sweeping into a village on the eastern front. But these aren't career soldiers, they are ex- convicts who volunteered from prison, got some basic training and were thrust into battle. Vitali (ph), 41-years-old, ten years in jail for theft and violent assault, now assaulting Vladimir Putin's army.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): We have a goal. We have a task and we must do it. We are never confused, always focused. You need to be very quick there.
PLEITGEN (voice-over): The ex-convicts are part of Ukraine's Brigade. Their camp near the frontline rudimentary but a lot better than jail. Our conversations remain basic, about survival or death.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): He who has a strong spirit wins
PLEITGEN (voice-over): 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 Vitali (ph) admits they are suffering casualties as well.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): 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 (voice-over): Their deal is simple -- fight, survive and become free men.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): 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 (voice-over): Company Commander Oleksandr says his men perform 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 the traits that put them in jail now keep them alive.
[08:50:00]
OLEKSANDR, COMMANDER OF SHKVAL COMPANY, 59TH BRIGADE (through translator): The convict subculture is used to surviving. They survived in very harsh conditions. And they will make every effort to survive.
PLEITGEN: This unit is part of Ukraine's force defending the key logistic hub, 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.
PLEITGEN (voice-over): After major advances, the Russians are knocking on the door here. Shells and rockets constantly impacting, especially in the evenings. And that's when the medics to the 68th Mountaineer Brigade start receiving most of the heavy casualties. They show us this video of a 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 (through translator): 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 (voice-over): 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
Fred Pleitgen, CNN, Pokrovsk, Ukraine.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WALKER: A legendary voice on stage and screen has fallen silent. Actor James Earl Jones died Monday at the age of 93, according to his agent. Jones is known is the booming voice of Darth Vader in the "Star Wars" films and Mufasa in "The Lion King", as well as so many other on-screen roles. CNN's Randi Kaye remembers.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Tonight, he owns the most famous voice in America.
RANDI KAYE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): That most famous voice belongs to none other than James Earl Jones.
JAMES EARL JONES, ACTOR: This is CNN.
KAYE (voice-over): For decades, Jones was the voice of CNN. He first recorded those three words, "This is CNN" in 1989 to mark CNN's upcoming ten-year anniversary.
EARL JONES: It was so short. I mean, it took five minutes, right? And I forgot it.
KAYE (voice-over): But perhaps his most famous line is this.
EARL JONES: No, I am your father.
KAYE (voice-over): Darth Vader was originally played by a different actor, but the way Jones tells it, Director George Lucas decided he needed a more sinister voice.
EARL JONES: He called me and said, "You want to do a day's work?" And I say, yeah.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A day's work?
EARL JONES: 2.5 hours, yeah.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's all?
EARL JONES: Yeah.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All the Darth Vader language is in two-and-a-half hours?
(LAUGH)
EARL JONES: Yeah, few thousand dollars. I went home.
KAYE (voice-over): How did he master Vader's voice?
EARL JONES: The key to Darth Vader is a narrow band of expression, no inflections. He is not human.
KAYE (voice-over): His movie credits extend well beyond "Star Wars." Jones also appeared in "Field of Dreams", "The Lion King" and "Patriot Games" to name a few -- all of this from a man who struggled as a child to speak. He opened up to Larry King in 1993 about his childhood stutter.
LARRY KING, CNN ANCHOR: You were a stutterer?
EARL JONES: Yeah, a stutter and stammer. I still am. And you'll hear me tonight, sir. I'm sure.
[08:55:00]
I just -- I think it you --
KING: You stutter -- come on. And so you stayed silent? EARL JONES: It was so embarrassing and painful to talk because the kids in the back row would laugh and it was painful for the stutterer. And I just decided to go mum.
KAYE (voice-over): In fact, Jones hardly said a word from age six to age 14. But after a teacher helped him write and read poetry --
EARL JONES: And he discovered I wrote poetry and he got me to read my poetry in front of the class. And when I did, I didn't stutter.
KAYE (voice-over): Jones eventually found his distinctive thundering voice and those vocal cords of his launched a career he had never imagined. Not just Hollywood, but Broadway too. He won three Tony Awards, including one in 1969 for his role in "The Great White Hope".
EARL JONES: It is your wish coming true, huh?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Never this, never this, John.
KAYE (voice-over): He may not have done it all, but for James Earl Jones, he had done enough.
EARL JONES: That is OK. It is something that happens to all of us.
KAYE (voice-over): James Earl Jones was 93.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WALKER: And he will always be remembered. Thank you so much for being with me here on "CNN Newsroom." I'm Amara Walker. "Connect the World" with Becky Anderson is up next.
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[09:00:00]
