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Donald Trump And Kamala Harris Trade Barbs At Presidential Debate; SpaceX Crew To Attempt Historic And Risky Spacewalk; Haiti Condemns Trump's False Claims of Migrants Eating Pets; Blinken Assures U.S. is Committed to Ukrainian Victory; Taylor Swift Endorses Kamala Harris for President; Singer Jon Bon Jovi Helps Woman Off the Ledge of a Bridge; Georgian Daredevil Rides Motorcycle on Sea Surface. Aired 2- 3a ET

Aired September 12, 2024 - 02:00   ET

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

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[02:00:32]

KIM BRUNHUBER, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome to all of you watching us here in the United States, Canada and around the world. I'm Kim Brunhuber. This is CNN NEWSROOM.

Team Trump does damage control after a disappointing debate night while Vice President Kamala Harris is riding a fresh wave of momentum as she gets back on the campaign trail.

Delayed but undaunted, the crew of the SpaceX Polaris Dawn mission prepares for historic spacewalk, the first by an entirely civilian astronaut crew.

And with the high stakes election less than two months away, America's top diplomat reassures Ukraine that it will have the United States support no matter who wins the White House this November.

ANNOUNCER: Live from Atlanta, this is CNN NEWSROOM with Kim Brunhuber.

BRUNHUBER: We are 54 days away from Election Day here in the U.S., but the first absentee ballots are already in the mail in the state of Alabama.

Now, it comes after the first and possibly only debate between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump. The Harris campaign was so pleased with her performance, it's asking for a second debate in October. Trump says he's still deciding.

Allies of the former president are expressing concern, mostly in private, about his debate performance. Some tell CNN it was a wash at best, a loss at worst.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERT F. KENNEDY JR., FORMER PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Vice President Harris clearly won the debate in terms of her delivery, her polish, her organization and her preparation.

TREY GOWDY, FORMER SOUTH CAROLINA REPRESENTATIVE: I know the president listed several people that he had fired during his administration. He may want to add to that, the people that prepped him for the debate last night. He -- it was the land of missed opportunities.

MIKE BRAUN, U.S. SENATE REPUBLICAN: I don't think you should say stuff that maybe may make it harder for people to vote for you.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do you think Trump took the bait on occasions?

SEN. THOM TILLIS (R-NC): I do.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRUNHUBER: Now, both candidates are focusing heavily this week on battleground states. Harris will campaign in North Carolina in the day ahead, Trump will visit Arizona and Nevada. More now from CNN's Kristen Holmes.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN U.S. NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Former President Donald Trump playing defense trying to insist he won the debate.

DONALD TRUMP (R), U.S. PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: When you don't win it's like a fighter. When a fighter has a bad fight, gets knocked out or loses the fight, the first thing he says is, we want a rematch. I would do NBC. I'd do Fox too. I'd do Fox too. But right now we have to determine whether or not we even want to do it.

HOLMES (voice over): Earlier, a moment of civility among the rivals, Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris shaking hands as they commemorated the September 11th terror attacks at Ground Zero in New York. It came less than 12 hours after the handshake Harris initiated ahead of a fiery and tense debate in Philadelphia.

KAMALA HARRIS (D), U.S. PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Kamala Harris. Let's have a good debate.

That is why so many military leaders who you have worked with have told me, you are a disgrace.

TRUMP: She goes down as the worst vice president in the history of our country.

HOLMES (voice over): Harris successfully goading her Republican rival on a range of issues.

HARRIS: The values I bring to the importance of homeownership. Knowing not everybody got handed $400 million on a silver platter and then filed bankruptcy six times.

TRUMP: First of all, I wasn't given $400 million, I wish I was, but I was given a fraction of that, a tiny fraction, and I built it into many, many billions of dollars, many, many billions.

HOLMES (voice over): From his legal woes.

HARRIS: Well, I think this is so rich coming from someone who has been prosecuted for national security crimes, economic crimes, election interference, has been found liable for sexual assault.

TRUMP: Excuse me, every one of those cases was started by them against their political opponent, and I'm winning most of them, and I will win the rest on appeal.

HOLMES (voice over): To the size of his campaign rallies.

HARRIS: And what you will also notice is that people start leaving his rallies early out of exhaustion and boredom.

TRUMP: People don't go to her rallies. There's no reason to go. People don't leave my rallies. We have the biggest rallies, the most incredible rallies in the history of politics.

HOLMES (voice over): In that same breath, Trump also promoting false claims that immigrants in Ohio were stealing and eating pets.

TRUMP: In Springfield, they're eating the dogs, the people that came in, they're eating the cats. They're eating -- they're eating the pets of the people that live there.

HARRIS: Talk about extreme.

HOLMES (voice over): Trump taking aim at Harris's record as vice president.

TRUMP: So, she just started by saying she's going to do this, she's going to do that. She's going to do all these wonderful things. Why hasn't she done it? She's been there for 3-1/2 years.

[02:05:09]

HOLMES (voice over): On policy, the two candidates clashing over their stances on abortion rights.

HARRIS: The government and Donald Trump certainly should not be telling a woman what to do with her body.

TRUMP: They have abortion in the ninth month.

HARRIS: That is not happening. It's insulting to the women of America.

HOLMES (voice over): Afterward, both campaigns claiming victory.

TRUMP: It was the best debate I've ever had personally (INAUDIBLE).

HOLMES (voice over): But Harris emphasizing there's still work to be done.

HARRIS: Today was a good day. We got to work tomorrow. We got 56 days to go. We got a lot of work to do.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HOLMES (on camera): Now, Donald Trump's advisers are essentially saying the same thing you just heard there from Vice President Kamala Harris, that there is still a lot of work to be done. And those Republicans I spoke to who were disappointed in Donald Trump's debate demeanor on Tuesday night, say, they don't actually think is going to hurt him in the long run, but they do note that this is going to be an incredibly tight race with razor thin margins. There is a lot of work to be done.

Donald Trump himself, he'll be on the campaign trail really nonstop for at least the next week. He's going on the West Coast tour. Kamala Harris also hitting the ground running. There are just over 50 days left to go. Both sides realize how serious and how critical this time is.

Kristen Holmes, CNN, New York.

BRUNHUBER: I want to bring in Natasha Lindstaedt, who is a professor of government at the University of Essex, and she joins me now from Colchester, England. Good to see you again. Thanks so much for being here.

So, listen, too early to know definitively if the dynamics of the race have shifted, but what's your impression based on sort of the polls, from what we've seen about, you know, people thinking who they thought won, what effect might that have on the campaign going forward?

NATASHA LINDSTAEDT, PROFESSOR OF GOVERNMENT, UNIVERSITY OF ESSEX: Well, the Harris campaign has to be elated with her debate performance, because Trump just got himself into a mess of lies, and he seemed incoherent. And Harris really cornered him. She baited him. Of course, he took the bait. She dictated she was in control. She came across as very presidential, and the snap poll done by CNN showed that 63 percent of those debate watchers felt that she did win the debate.

Now, I would expect that she's going to get a little bit of a bump from this, but it's still early on. As the report already mentioned, there's still plenty of time for things to change.

And actually, the polls are still incredibly close, and one of the worrying things is those that were watching the debate are still a 20 point lead for Trump in terms of the way they feel he can handle the economy versus Harris.

So, she definitely has a lot of work to do in terms of winning over those last five percent of voters who I would imagine are Republican leaning, but don't like Trump and think that they were better off when he was in charge.

In addition to doing that, she's going to have to mobilize her base of supporters to actually vote on Election Day, getting them out with early voting, particularly in the state of Pennsylvania, where there's early voting, and then also trying to target these unlikely voters that would lean towards voting for her, getting them to the polls. This is something that Democrats have really struggled with year on year on out, getting people to vote that would normally maybe their views might be aligned with them, but that don't bother to vote on Election Day.

So, she definitely has a lot to do, but I'm sure her campaign is incredibly happy with her debate performance.

BRUNHUBER: Yes, given that, you know, one could make a case, I guess, for both candidates about why they might not want a second debate. Donald Trump might be afraid of a repeat of the last one, and Harris might have less incentive to do it again given how well the first one went. So, what do you think? Will there be a round two?

LINDSTAEDT: I think there might be a round two, but I don't think either of them should debate again. Now, in Trump's case, I don't think he should debate again, because it doesn't really matter that much for his supporters how he does in debates. They don't seem to really care, and he doesn't have the discipline to do what he would need to do, which would be to focus on immigration and the economy. He didn't really ask that question of you know, why haven't you done all these things you said you were going to do, until like, the hundredth minute.

He doesn't perform well in debates, in spite of the fact that I think he thinks he does, and so I don't think he should debate again.

And if I were Harris, because she just had an amazing debate, almost a master class on how to debate Trump, what does she have to gain by debating again? Could she sell her message, articulate her policy message in other forums?

If we look at what happened in the 2016 election, Trump versus Clinton, only 24 percent felt, according to CNN poll, felt that Trump had won the debate, that first debate, and you know, Clinton still lost.

[02:10:08]

So, Harris might be better off just going on the campaign trail. And trying to get through to people what her policies are, because that was one of the criticisms, at least of some of the undecided voters.

BRUNHUBER: Yes, speaking of undecided voters, maybe this will help Kamala Harris, a lot has been made of Taylor Swift's endorsement of her. Now, the data is kind of mixed about the effect of celebrities making political endorsements. In general, they don't actually convince anyone to change their vote, but it might encourage people to actually get out and vote.

I mean, you talked about sort of the turnout and unlikely voters. So, what effect do you think the endorsement will have?

LINDSTAEDT: That is really hard to say. And looking -- I've looked at the impact of celebrity endorsements and whether it matters, whether it backfires. And we do know, when Taylor Swift posted on Instagram several years back, she was able to get 35,000 people to register to vote, so she may impact getting people to voting.

She did say in her post she was trying to encourage people to make up their minds and make their own decisions, but she was clearly endorsing Harris. She has over 250 million followers on Instagram. We don't know how many of those are eligible voters in the U.S., so it's very difficult to tell, but that was something that Trump's campaign was actually fearing. And we know he was fearing this because he tried to insinuate that Taylor Swift actually was endorsing him erroneously.

So, it's this X factor that's hard to tell, but in a race that is so incredibly close, these types of things could matter.

BRUNHUBER: Absolutely, we'll have to see what difference it makes. Natasha Lindstaedt, thank you so much for being here with us. Really appreciate it.

LINDSTAEDT: Thanks for having me.

BRUNHUBER: All right, we're following developments along the U.S. Gulf coast where power outages are growing in Louisiana hours after Francine made landfall as a Category Two hurricane, it's now weakened to a tropical storm as it pushes further inland across Louisiana into Mississippi, but it's still bringing with it heavy rain and wind that's now spreading into parts of the Florida Panhandle and Alabama. The storm roared ashore Wednesday afternoon in Terrebonne Parish in southern Louisiana. Dangerous wind and heavy rain pounded the area, leading to flooding, downed trees and power outages.

So, right now, more than 380,000 homes and businesses across the state are without power.

And have a look images and -- images and video taken from One Marina (ph) in Louisiana show exactly Francine's fury. These are shots taken before the storm made landfall. The owners of CoCo Marina say it took just a few hours for flood waters to move in. A picnic table said to be at least three feet tall, was almost completely submerged.

Now, in New Orleans, a flash flood warning is still in effect. The National Weather Service says between six to eight inches of rain have fallen in the area, and that's more than a month's worth of rain over the past several hours alone.

Three wildfires in Southern California have burned dozens of homes and towns and cities east of Los Angeles. Relatives of a family of seven say they're devastated after the home they lived in for more than 30 years was burned to the ground in the airport fire in Orange County, the family had less than 10 minutes to grab their backpacks, laptops and pets, before the fire engulfed the house.

The bridge fire in San Bernardino County is now the largest in the state, scorching about 48,000 acres, or 19,000 hectares in two days. Thousands have been forced to evacuate as the flames tore through the area and the lifts at a nearby ski resort have also been damaged by the fire.

Now, one resident whose house was spared says he was stunned by how fast the fire raced through the community. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MIKE DEVESTERN, WRIGHTWOOD RESIDENT: Looking outside, looking in, it was pretty scary. A lot -- it's a lot more still (ph) than you realize. When you're outside looking at the flames, you don't realize how scary and how chaotic it is. It was like a movie yesterday. Everybody burning out, going to the gas station, gas in the car is up, trying to get out here before they got burnt. It was -- it was scary. A lot more -- a lot more real than you realize.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRUNHUBER: All right, still to come, SpaceX astronauts are getting ready to attempt the first commercial spacewalk in the coming hours, while details about this historic moment when we come back, stay with us.

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[02:18:52]

BRUNHUBER: An all civilian SpaceX crew will attempt a historic but risky spacewalk just hours from now, billionaire Jared Isaacman and SpaceX engineer Sarah Gillis are expected to take their first steps outside the Crew Dragon capsule in their new extra vehicular activity spacesuits. The capsule doesn't have an airlock, so the entire interior will be exposed to the vacuum of space during the spacewalk.

We're going live now to Washington and CNN's Space and Defense Correspondent Kristin Fisher. So Kristin, it was supposed to be actually happening like right now at this hour. Why the delay?

KRISTIN FISHER, CNN SPACE AND DEFENSE CORRESPONDENT: I know. We don't know, Kim, but this is a very risky sort of never been done before thing for SpaceX and for these astronauts on board, and so we just don't know what the exact reason is yet. It could be a variety of things.

And I don't have confirmation that it's any one of these. But just to give you a range of the reasons for the delay, it could be anything from, you know, the astronauts getting sick after getting, you know, space adaptation syndrome. It's a nasty little thing that many astronauts get, especially when you fly to space for the first time.

[02:20:03]

And, you know, a lot of astronauts throw up. And you can't throw up when you're about to put on a enclosed spacesuit and go out into the vacuum of space.

So, could be something like that. Could be something like, you know, the spacecraft has to depressurize. It has to do what's conducted, what's called a pre-breathe, and it's something that the spacecraft has been doing for about two days now.

So, it could be something to do with the interior pressure inside the spacecraft, or it could be something else entirely.

But whatever the case is, what's going to happen now is the spacecraft, the spacewalk is now expected to start more than three hours after when it was initially supposed to start. So, we're now looking at a start time of around 6:00 a.m. Eastern Time.

And just to put in perspective how big of a deal this is, this is the first time that any non-government, non-professional astronauts have ever ventured out into the vacuum of space. It's the first time that SpaceX has ever used this type of spacesuit, brand new, designed in under 2-1/2 years just for this mission. So, that's new.

And then it's also the first time that the Dragon spacecraft that they're in is going to be opened up and exposed to the vacuum of space, and spacecrafts need to be hardened all the interior electronics and components and avionics. They need to be hardened to make sure that they can withstand the vacuum of space.

So, all sorts of things that could go wrong here, which is probably why SpaceX being extra cautious right now and delaying the spacewalk a few hours. But hopefully it will still happen today.

If not, there is a backup opportunity tomorrow, and we can all wake up early or not, if you're overseas and do this all over again.

BRUNHUBER: All right, we will see a couple of hours from now whether they actually go through it. Kristin Fisher in Washington, thank you so much. Appreciate that.

FISHER: Thanks.

BRUNHUBER: All right, for more on this, I want to bring in CNN Aerospace Analyst, Miles O'Brien and also lending us his expertise as former NASA astronaut, Garrett Reisman, thank you so much for being here, both of you.

Garrett, I want to start with you. I mean, you've been on a couple of space walks before, so many unknowns and these further delays now. So, take me through the mindset of the astronauts as they wait. I mean, how nervous would they be do you think?

GARRETT REISMAN, FORMER NASA ASTRONAUT: I don't know if I'd use the word nervous, but they're excited. They're super excited. I remember, before my first spacewalk, my heart was racing, and I was just super hyper aware and focused. It's, you know, you're about to do something that's one of the most incredible life experiences, and the anticipation can really get to you.

Just waiting for that hash to open felt like it took an eternity, even though it was, you know, just a matter of minutes.

So, it's a super exciting thing they were about to do.

BRUNHUBER: Yes, and so, I mean, what is that moment like when you when you pull yourself clear of the vehicle and into space? REISMAN: When you first go out there, it's this surreal combination of the familiar and the outlandish. And what I mean by that is that the suit fits exactly like the one in training. Your tools are exactly the same as the ones you've been working with on the ground. The bolts are right where they said there would be. Everything that when you go outside is exactly how you expect it, because their training is so good.

But then you look over your shoulder and you see the entire East Coast of the United States go flying by at 17,500 miles an hour, and that you didn't see in training, and nothing can really prepare you for that.

BRUNHUBER: Unbelievable. Listen, I want to go to you now Miles. So, our reporter Kristin there talked to us about some of the differences that we've seen with other missions. This one, they're plugged in as well via the umbilical cord, essentially, literally, a life giving mechanism there.

So, take us through some of the differences about this spacewalk from what we've seen before.

MILES O'BRIEN, CNN AEROSPACE ANALYST: Yes, Kim, just listening to Garrett, I don't understand how anybody gets any work done on a spacewalk with that view. But that's -- put that aside for a moment. This actually harkens back to the first spacewalks in the 1960s, the first U.S. astronaut to do it, Ed White, Alexei Leonov of the Soviet Union in that same timeframe, they in both cases, they had to evacuate all the air from the spacecraft and were attached to the life support systems of the spacecraft with umbilicals, which is what is going to happen in this case.

So, it's a -- it's a stepwise kind of thing. The spacesuit that Garrett wore, the EMU extravehicular mobility unit, has a backpack on it, which allows the spacewalker to be untethered, although they hang on pretty tight to the space station, of course, and in other ways, are attached. But it has its own complete life support system. It's a mini space craft.

[02:25:13]

And what Elon Musk and SpaceX are attempting to do here is make these suits a little more less expensively. It's about a $15 million suit on the NASA side. And if Elon Musk and SpaceX are to achieve their goals of sending armadas of spacecraft and people to a place like Mars, they're going to have to drive down the cost.

So, part of this is this first step of understanding what these suits are like. And so, for the first one, it's a good idea to stay attached.

BRUNHUBER: Yes. And staying on that spacesuit, I mean, they have said that obviously, you know, things will be improved, and so on, so forth. But this could be basically an iteration of what we might see humans actually wearing on Mars. O'BRIEN: Yes. And it's not an easy engineering problem, when you think about it. Garrett can attest to this, that when the suit is pressurized, you know, it kind of blows up like a balloon and the mere act of closing your glove can actually, you know, cause you all kinds of problems and blisters and so forth.

So, you have to find the sweet spot between pliability, flexibility, having joints that operate in a way that you can do some work and still protecting the human being from the void.

I mean, we're talking about huge temperature swings, many hundreds of degrees plus and minus, whether you're in the sunshine or on the dark side of low Earth orbit. And you have to prepare for that, and you have to make sure that the astronaut is protected in every way.

So, this process of learning how to build with that kind of, you know, sort of rigidity and yet, pliability, if that makes any sense at all, is what you thereafter.

BRUNHUBER: Well, staying with you. I mean, this, success by SpaceX is in contrast with what we've seen from the Boeing Starliner. We saw that problems with this thrusters meant its return was delayed for three months and just came back now without the astronauts that it was meant to carry. So, a real contrast in perception here if this is successful.

O'BRIEN: Yes, I mean, SpaceX continues to overachieve. If you asked me 10 years ago, Kim, which of the two contractors selected to fly spacecraft to the International Space Station, which of the two would succeed soonest, I probably would have bet on Boeing, which is historically been involved in space missions with NASA since the beginning.

But that obviously is not what has happened. This is, I think, the 14th crude mission of a Dragon capsule, 14. And Starliner, as you know, ended kind of ignominiously without anybody inside in New Mexico just last week.

So, it's space is hard, and NASA is dealing with all kinds of issues of funding, brain drain. Recent report just came out somewhat scathing as to whether the agency just has way too much on its plate relative to the budget it has.

And so, there's a -- there's a lot of issues that are dragging down NASA, and meanwhile, SpaceX seems to be flying high.

BRUNHUBER: Garrett, I want to ask you about this. I mean, there are so many things to be looking for as we sort of watch this take place. Including how the vehicle itself will deal with depressurization and you know, being exposed to the vacuum of space. Take me through what you will be studying as we watch this coming up in a couple of hours.

REISMAN: Well, it should take about two hours total from depressing the cabin to repressing it back up again. So, it's going to be fairly quick compared to the spacewalk that I did and that we do on the space station, which typically lasts over seven hours. In fact, we have about nine hours worth of consumables in that suit, as Miles pointed out. And it is quite different, because it recycles the air, which is why we have so much more time.

These suits that they're using are open loop suit, so you have to constantly feed them with fresh oxygen. And the moment you start doing that, you're on a clock.

And so, it is a bit of a nail biter. And I would say that actually, the risk involved in this spacewalk is higher than the risk I faced on my three spacewalks.

So, I'll be watching them. You know, they're not going to do anything terribly difficult from a task perspective, but it has to go right, and there's not a whole lot of room for error because of this issue with the suits, because of the difference there.

So, I'll be watching them. I'll be -- I'll be -- look, Sarah and Anna are good friends of mine.

[02:30:00]

In fact, I hired both of them at SpaceX to work there, and until they get back inside and repress the capsule and have that hatch closed, I'm going to be a little nervous, to be honest with you.

BRUNHUBER: Yeah. I imagine so. You and the families and everybody else who will be watching, I hesitate to ask you this since you are friends with them, but you talked about the risk being higher. Now, I mean, what would your biggest worry be?

REISMAN: Well, I think the suits will do just fine. They've been very well-tested in vacuum chambers on the ground with people inside, in fact, with these crew members inside of them. Their training is excellent. I think they're very -- the crew is very well prepared. And what they're attempting to do is not physically terribly difficult necessarily. So, I'm feeling OK about all that. It's just that things during spacewalks often don't go exactly as you plan. Things happen, you know, it's difficult to work in suits like that. And just opening and closing hatches can be difficult.

And when we have problems and you have nine hours to deal with them, that's one thing. If you have a problem here and you only have minutes to deal with it, that's a bit more of a high-wire act.

BRUNHUBER: Miles, we'll end with you. Assuming this goes to plan, everything works, what happens next? Take us through the trajectory.

O'BRIEN: Well, the mission is a five-day mission and as we said, there is another opportunity for a spacewalk if they can't get this all to work, and feel comfortable about going outside. So there may be another chance at that. They'll continue series of experiments. They flew to a very high altitude, surpassing an altitude record set by Gemini 11 back almost 60 years ago, and that gave them a dose of radiation. They're trying to understand the radiation environment.

For any crew that heads out to Mars, it's an important issue that needs to be addressed to protect the crew from the radiation which exists in space. And then, subsequent to the spacewalk, they're going to test out a communications system that hasn't been tried in space before. Starlink, also an Elon Musk company, they are actually above the satellites which make that satellite-enabled communication system work. And they'll use a laser scheme to try to communicate with it. Yet another thing that's important if you're serious about colonizing the moon and mars is you want to have some good bandwidth as well. So, they'll step through them those over the five-day mission and hopefully, get this historic spacewalk done before too long.

BRUNHUBER: All right. Well be watching. We are expecting it in about, what, three-and-a-half hours from now. Miles O'Brien and Garrett Reisman, thank you so much both for being here with us. Appreciate it.

REISMAN: My pleasure.

BRUNHUBER: Well, during the U.S. presidential debate on Tuesday, Donald Trump pushed the false claim that Haitian migrants in Ohio are eating dogs and cats. I'll get reaction from people in the state; that's coming up next, stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[02:37:29]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, (R) FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES AND PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: In Springfield, they are eating the dogs, the people that came in, they are eating cats. They are eating -- they are eating the pets of the people that live there.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRUNHUBER: Haiti's government is condemning those false claims being pushed by Donald Trump during the U.S. presidential debate about Haitian immigrants. In a social media post, they said, it is not the first time Haitians are facing discriminatory remarks to serve political interests. CNN's Omar Jimenez went to Ohio to find out more about the allegations.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

OMAR JIMENEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: When you hear allegations of Haitians eating dogs and cats, and taking them off the street and stealing them from people's yards, what is your reaction when you hear that?

VILES DORSAINVIL, PRESIDENT, HAITIAN COMMUNITY HELP AND SUPPORT CENTER: It was shocking to me, honestly, because -- the first question I asked myself, where in the world of people are eating pets?

JIMENEZ (voice-over): Viles Dorsainvil is the Head of the Haitian Community Help and Support Center in Springfield, Ohio. He came to the United States about four years ago from Haiti, and he hasn't just questioned the nature of the recent rumors, he has questioned what they will do to his community.

DORSAINVIL: It's just like (inaudible), it's just like the bigotry, discrimination, and racist. And they do not normally take time to see the impact that can have on the mental health of the immigrants fleeing the country from all kind of chaos.

JIMENEZ (voice-over): To be clear, former President Donald Trump's claims are not supported by evidence. In a statement to CNN, a spokesperson for the City of Springfield said, there have been no credible reports or specific claims of pets being harmed, injured, or abused by individuals within the immigrant community. But all of this has also come as part of a very real surge in Haitian population in Springfield.

ROB RUE, SPRINGFIELD, OHIO MAYOR: We have realistically been saying 12,000 to 15,000 immigrants is what we probably have, counted through the health department and other agencies.

JIMENEZ (voice-over): And they are here legally under the immigration parole program. Once here, immigrants are then eligible to apply for temporary protected status. Haitian temporary protected status was recently extended and redesignated for Haiti, mainly due to violent anarchy in the country. But the total population of Springfield is around 58,000. So, that's around 25 percent Haitian, and the growing pains in the community have not always been easy. State officials say it is stressing resources.

[02:40:00]

GOV. MIKE DEWINE, (R-OH): That obviously represents a massive increase based upon percentage of the population in Springfield. It is unprecedented in such a short period of time. So, the government certainly has to be part of the solution. They have to step up. It is their policies that have created these surges.

JIMENEZ (voice-over): The influx of Haitians has also manifested itself in other ways, including a tragedy, specifically in 2023, when 11-year-old Aiden Clark was killed in a Springfield bus crash, one that involved a Haitian immigrant who had a driver's license that was not valid in Ohio, as reported by "The New York Times." Aiden's father declined to speak on camera, but as others have posted about the tragedy recently, he told CNN in a statement, we just want our family out of the news and for Aiden to not be mentioned in regards to politics.

Putting aside any unverified theories about cats and dogs, Vilbrun Dorsainvil, also Haitian, says he understands the criticisms about the strain on resources caused by the influx of immigrants.

VILBRUN DORSAINVIL, SPRINGFIELD RESIDENT: I agree with these people.

JIMENEZ (voice-over): But he also painted a harsh reality.

DORSAINVIL: If it was not for a matter of death or life in my country, it could be better to get back.

JIMENEZ (voice-over): Omar Jimenez, CNN, Springfield, Ohio.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BRUNHUBER: The Biden Administration is reaffirming the United State's commitment to supporting Ukraine. Now, it comes as Donald Trump cast doubts on what he would do if he were elected president in November. Now, just to remind you, here is what Trump said during Tuesday's presidential debate. Here it is.

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DAVID MUIR, ABC NEWS ANCHOR, PRESIDENTIAL DEBATE MODERATOR: Do you want Ukraine to win this war?

TRUMP: I want the war to stop. I want to save lives that are being uselessly, people being killed by the millions. It's the millions, it's so much worse than the numbers that you're getting, which are fake numbers.

MUIR Just to clarifying the question. Do you believe it's in the U.S. best interest for Ukraine to win this war? Yes or no?

TRUMP: I think it's the U.S. best interest to get this war finished and just get it done.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRUNHUBER: U.S. Secretary of State, Anthony Blinken met with the British foreign secretary and the Ukrainian leaders in Kyiv Tuesday. Blinken told his Ukrainian counterpart, the U.S. won't abandon them as they fight against Russia and Ukraine's new foreign minister is downplaying Trump's comments. Here it is.

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ANDRII SYBIHA, UKRAINIAN FOREIGN MINISTER (through translator): We will without any doubt have a new president of the United States. But we believe in steadfast support from the U.S. nation, from the American nation. We believe strongly in bipartisan support. We clearly believe, and are convinced that further comprehensive sustainable peace in Ukraine is also a strategic interest for the United States of America and that will be maintained because we are here to protect our joint values, common values of democracy. And we believe that strategic democratic leadership of the U.S. is here to stay.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRUNHUBER: Another major topic of discussion at the meeting in Kyiv was about easing restrictions on using Western-supplied weapons, so that Ukraine can strike deeper into Russia. CNN's Fred Pleitgen has more.

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FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice- over): Long-distance weapons for Ukraine and the use of those weapons certainly was topic number one as Secretary of State Blinken visited Kyiv together with his British counterpart in what can only be described as a diplomatic show of force and show of support for the Ukrainians. Of course, Ukraine now also has a new foreign minister as well. However, as far as that topic of those long-distance weapons is concerned, there really wasn't much in the way of substance.

One of the things that the secretary of state said is that he did have that discussion with Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and that he would take the points that were made in that discussion back to Washington, talk it over with President Biden, and President Biden would then debate all of this with his British counterpart when they meet later this week. However, the secretary of state did reiterate that the United States wants Ukraine to win and is in it for the long haul.

ANTONY BLINKEN, UNITED STATES SECRETARY OF STATE: We want Ukraine to win and we are fully committed to keep marshaling the support that it needs for its brave defenders and citizens to do just that. Our collective message to Putin is clear. Our support will not wane; our unity will not break.

BRUNHUBER: Both the secretary of state and his British counterpart announced substantial new aid packages for Ukraine, the Brits in terms of military support, the U.S. in terms of civilian support for Ukraine, especially in terms of repairing damaged energy infrastructure, which of course is going to be very important when the winter comes. But one of the things that is also clear is that this visit comes as Ukraine remains on the back foot, especially in the east of the country.

And one of the things that Ukrainian forces have been telling us on the ground is that, right now, they're not only outmanned by the Russians, but they are also outgunned. One of the big problems that they have is Russia's aerial campaign, not just against Ukrainian cities, but of course, also against Ukraine's frontline troops, and that's why the Ukrainian say it is absolutely important for them to be able to strike Russia deep inside Russian territory with those Western weapons.

Fred Pleitgen, CNN, Kyiv.

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[02:45:00]

BRUNHUBER: We'll be right back, stay with us.

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BRUNHUBER: Well, Donald Trump isn't reacting well to pop star Taylor Swift's endorsement of Kamala Harris after Tuesday's debate, have a look.

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TRUMP: I was not a Taylor Swift fan. It was just a question of time. She couldn't -- you couldn't possibly endorse Biden. You look at Biden, you couldn't possibly endorse him. But she's a very liberal person. She seems to always endorse a Democrat.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRUNHUBER: Well, close to 10 million Instagram users have liked Swift's post explaining her decision to back Harris and her running mate, Tim Walz.

[02:50:00]

According to the General Services Administration, more than 330,000 people have been redirected from Swift's post to the voter registration site, vote.gov. It's not clear how many of those people actually (ph) registered. And the Harris-Walz campaign is selling out of Taylor Swift tribute friendship bracelets after the singer's endorsement, a pack of two costs $20. More now from CNN's Brian Todd in Washington.

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BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The celebrity endorsement so many had been anticipating has landed, pop superstar Taylor Swift has thrown her support behind Vice President Kamala Harris. On Instagram, where she has over 280 million followers, Swift writes of Harris, "She fights for the rights and causes I believe need a warrior to champion them. I think she is a steady-handed, gifted leader. She also mentioned LGBTQ+ rights, IVF, and a woman's right to her own body." She signs it 'Childless Cat Lady', a rebuttal to Senator J.D. Vance's criticism of Democrats without children.

Swift also slammed Donald Trump for re-posting these fake images, implying she and her fans support him. So, what impact could Swift's endorsement have on Harris' campaign in a race where young voters and women voters are crucial?

MARIANNE LEVINE, NATIONAL POLITICAL REPORTER, THE WASHINGTON POST: Many of Taylor Swift's fans are women, young women, and those are votes that she definitely needs and wants to get. And so, I think that it could potentially play into that gender gap dynamic that we are seeing in 2024.

TODD (voice-over): Kamala Harris' running mate, Tim Walz, who was in the middle of an interview when he learned of the endorsement, immediately asked Swift's fans to volunteer for the campaign.

GOV. TIM WALZ, (R-MILLION) VICE PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: This would be the opportunity Swifties. Kamalaharris.com, get on over there. Give us a hand. Get things going.

TODD (voice-over): A year ago, when Swift urged her fans on Instagram to register to vote, registration saw a surge of over 35,000 in just one day, according to the group vote.org.

LEVINE: Maybe what the role she will play is helping with voter turnout, maybe not necessarily swaying people, but encouraging more people to come out to vote, who might not otherwise vote.

TODD (voice-over): For years, analysts say Swift was reluctant to get into politics.

MARC MALKIN, SENIOR EDITOR, VARIETY: Her dad was really scared for her to step into the political arena because we know that comes with a lot of backlash, no matter which side you're on.

TODD (voice-over): In 2018, Swift finally jumped in, endorsing two Democratic Congressional candidates in Tennessee where she owns property. In a Netflix documentary about her, Swift is captured in an argument with her father about getting involved in politics. She was critical of Republican Marsha Blackburn who ended up winning that Senate race in Tennessee.

TAYLOR SWIFT, AMERICAN SINGER-SONGWRITER: She votes against fair pay for women. She votes against the reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act, which is just basically protecting us from domestic abuse and stalking -- stalking.

TODD (voice-over): Harris has gotten a bump of new energy among young people with a wave of online memes and jokes this summer. Her campaign song is Beyonce's "Freedom." Swift's music is also often played at Harris' rallies, including the one after last night's debate.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

TODD (on camera): Donald Trump responded to Taylor Swift's endorsement of Kamala Harris by saying he was not a Taylor Swift fan and that she would probably pay a price for this in the marketplace. A Trump campaign spokeswoman sent CNN a statement saying, this is more evidence that the Democrats have become the party of the wealthy elite.

Brian Todd, CNN, Washington.

BRUNHUBER: Finally, this hour, Rockstar Jon Bon Jovi found himself in the right place at the right time to help save a life. Now, that place was a pedestrian bridge in Nashville, Tennessee where a woman was standing on the other side of the railing, appearing ready to jump. Bon Jovi was filming a music video when he noticed the woman and went to speak with her.

Police say he helped persuade her to come off the ledge. The singer and another unidentified person help lift the woman to safety and gave her a hug. Police say the woman was taken to hospital and they thank the singer for coming to her aid, and call it the best -- sorry, now we are going to a different store here.

More light-hearted story, we want to call it the best of biking and jet skiing. So, what you're looking at here is a motorsport competition from Georgia. Riding his bike on the water, kind of, used a modified motorbike equipped with small skis, but it only works if the rider maintains a high-speed and dodges any waves that topple can him. The Georgian daredevil rode 20 miles or 33 kilometers between two coastal towns on the Black Sea. And I'm Kim Brunhuber. I'll be back in just a moment with more "CNN Newsroom." Please do stay with us.

[02:55:00]

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