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Presidential Debate Fallout; Trump and Harris Trade Barbs at Presidential Debate; Francine Lashes the Southeast U.S. with Heavy Rain, Wind; SpaceX Crew to Attempt Historic and Risky Spacewalk; U.S. Lawmakers Urge Biden to Ease Ukraine's Strike Limits. Aired 4-4:30a ET
Aired September 12, 2024 - 04:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[04:00:00]
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. NANCY PELOSI (D-CA): He looked foolish last night. She looked presidential. I thought he looked silly.
DONALD TRUMP (R), FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT, 2024 PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: Are we going to do a rematch? I just don't know.
TAYLOR SWIFT, POP STAR: If you are over 18, please register to vote for something else that's very important to you.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is just complete whiteout conditions, and it stings your face.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Power outages are a major problem right now. Hunker down and stay indoors.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Risky endeavor, no question. They're going to learn a little something about these spacesuits very shortly.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANNOUNCER: Live from London, this is CNN NEWSROOM with Max Foster and Christina Macfarlane.
MAX FOSTER, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, a warm welcome to our viewers joining us from around the world. I'm Max Foster. It's Thursday, September the 12th, 9 a.m. here in London, 4 a.m. in North Carolina, where Kamala Harris will hold two campaign events today. The battleground state has been solidly Republican in the past few elections but is now thought to be in play. Harris is back in Pennsylvania. On Friday, her running mate Tim Walz will campaign in Michigan and Wisconsin.
Democrats and even some Republicans say Harris was the clear winner in Tuesday's debate.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. NANCY PELOSI (D-CA): I think she did great. As to baiting him and him taking the bait, you know, I don't even like to use his name, much less talk about him. But the fact is, I thought he looked foolish last night. I thought she looked presidential. I thought he looked silly.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FOSTER: Well, CNN asked debate watchers if they had a favorable view of the candidates. Kamala Harris' favorability rating gained six percentage points after the debate, while Trump dropped by two. CNN spoke with several Republican senators about the debate, including some outrageous claims by Trump and Harris' performance.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SEN. MITT ROMNEY (R-UT): Most people didn't know her terribly well, other than a few clips that were not flattering that you might see on the internet. And people saw, oh, actually, she's an intelligent, capable person who has a point of view on issues. And she demonstrated that time and again.
MANU RAJU, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: I mean, he is accusing them of eating pets. Should he be doing that?
SEN. RICK SCOTT (R-FL): Well, I don't know what's happened in Springfield. I can just tell you my experience with Haitians in Florida has been very positive.
RAJU: Were you comfortable with him continuing to say the election was stolen in 2020?
SEN. MIKE BRAUN (R-IN): I don't think you should say stuff that maybe make it harder for people to vote for you.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
FOSTER: Well, one of the most cringeworthy moments from the presidential debate came when Donald Trump made this outrageous claim.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT, 2024 PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: In Springfield, they're eating the dogs, the people that came in. They're eating the cats. They're eating the pets of the people that live there.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FOSTER: A Haitian community leader in Springfield, Ohio, says the claim isn't just false, it's racist and it's xenophobic. Here's what Ohio's Republican governor had to say.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GOV. MIKE DEWIN (R-OH): This is something that came up on the Internet, and the Internet can be quite crazy sometimes. And look, the mayor, Mayor Roux of Springfield says, no, there's no truth in that. They have no evidence of that at all.
So I think we go with what the mayor says. He knows his city. (END VIDEO CLIP)
FOSTER: Well, the first absentee ballots for the U.S. election are already in the mail, and that's in the state of Alabama. Others will go out in the coming weeks. More now from CNN's Kristen Holmes.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What did you say to Kamala Harris?
KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN U.S. NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Former President Donald Trump playing defense, trying to insist he won the debate.
TRUMP: 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, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE U.S. (D) AND U.S. PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: Kamala Harris, have a good debate.
HARRIS: 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 home ownership, knowing not everybody got handed $400 million on a silver platter and then filed bankruptcy six times.
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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.
HARRIS (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' 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 three and a half years.
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 personally that I've had.
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.
HOLMES: 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 this 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.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
FOSTER: We're following developments across the southeast U.S. where power outages are growing hours after Francine made landfall in Louisiana as a Category 2 hurricane. It's now weakened to a tropical storm as it pushes further inland, but it's still bringing with it heavy rain and wind.
That's now spread to Mississippi and into parts of Florida, the Florida Panhandle and Alabama. The storm roared ashore on Wednesday in Terrebonne Parish in southern Louisiana. Dangerous wind and heavy rain pounded the area, leading to flooding, down trees and power outages.
There are now more than 420,000 homes and businesses without power across the southeast with the bulk of those in Louisiana. Earlier, CNN meteorologist Derek Van Dam witnessed the strength of Francine firsthand.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DEREK VAN DAM, CNN METEOROLOGIST: My anemometer is just peaking with hurricane force gusts, and you can see some of the turbulent waves behind me. The Gulf of Mexico is still 10, 15 miles behind me to my south. This is actually part of a lake that we've been reporting from all day today.
But this is just complete whiteout conditions, and what I've noticed is that the water has come up, and it's approaching this berm, and if it does, every time I hit one of those strong bands, it feels like you're getting the backwash. I've said it before, the backwash of a jet engine, and it stings your face, those little, tiny wind droplets.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
FOSTER: Well, CNN meteorologist Allison Chinchar was saved from the weather. She's in the safety of the studio. It's not a hurricane, but it's still very dangerous, isn't it, as we can see?
ALLISON CHINCHAR, CNN METEOROLOGIST: It is, absolutely, and I think that's the key component here, is just because it's made landfall doesn't mean the system just automatically goes away. You can see more of that video yesterday from New Orleans. Again, just incredibly heavy rain bands coming down across these areas, and that water, the storm surge we talk about, the wind being able to push all of that water inland, covering roads and parking lots in some of these areas.
[04:10:00]
Right now, the tropical storm Francine sustained winds at 50 miles per hour, but we're still dusting up around that 85 mile per hour range. It's moving to the northeast at about 14 miles per hour, but you've still got significant rain bands with these. So you've got a lot of these areas, even as far away as Atlanta and Birmingham, well away from the coast, that are starting to pick up some of those outer bands from Francine.
The winds are starting to die down along the coast but beginning to pick up the farther north you go, starting to see those 30, 40, 50 mile per hour wind gusts.
Flooding is going to be a concern for several of these areas. That's why you have flood watches, many of them which are in effect throughout the entire day today. You've also got high wind alerts as well, some wind advisories for states like Georgia, Alabama, portions of Mississippi, and even Tennessee.
And a tornado watch is also in effect right there down along the coastal regions of Florida and Alabama and even Mississippi. This goes until 6 a.m. local time, central time there, to kind of account for some of those outer bands pushing some potential waterspouts or even tornadoes inland.
Here's a look at the estimated rainfall already. You can see a lot of these areas have already picked up 4 to 6 inches widespread, but numerous locations have already picked up over 8 inches of rain. Again, you can see this even in New Orleans International Airport picking up over 8 inches of rain, and there's still some rain coming down.
Now, to put this in perspective for those that don't really understand that that's more than they would normally see in the entire month of September, getting that in less than 48 hours.
Winds have also been incredibly strong. Take a look at some of these wind gusts. Eugene Island picking up 105 mph wind gusts, several others in the 70, 80, and even 90 mph range.
The concern for tornadoes and damaging winds also still exists today. We're going to start to see that threat again as we notice where the tornado watch was along the coast, but that is going to spread inland as we go throughout the day, and those outer bands begin to spread north as well. So places like Albany, Montgomery, Dothan, even around Birmingham, also looking at the potential there for some of those chances for severe weather.
That's because the system itself, while it is expected to weaken, is going to continue to move inland, really making it as far north as Memphis before we really finally see this system, Max, beginning to die back out. But a lot of impacts from now until then. We're talking still very strong winds, the potential for tornadoes, and also, yes, some very heavy rainfall.
FOSTER: OK, Allison, thank you so much for that update.
Now, just a short while ago, the crew of the Polaris Dawn mission is set to make history with their first commercial spacewalk. After an initial delay, billionaire Jared Isaacman and SpaceX engineer Sarah Gillis are expected to take their first steps outside the Crew Dragon capsule in 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 that spacewalk.
CNN's Kristin Fisher joins us from Washington with more here. And so aware of the risk, but the reason these spacesuits -- the reason they're not having this airlock, as I understand it, is because the spacesuits can operate inside and outside, and that's very new.
KRISTIN FISHER, CNN SPACE AND DEFENSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, so we're so used to watching NASA astronauts or Russian cosmonauts conduct spacewalks up at the International Space Station. And the space station is such a large structure that it is room for an airlock, a specialized room where the pressure can be rapidly decreased so that the astronauts going out into the vacuum of space don't experience decompression sickness. It's very similar to what scuba divers get if they rise to the surface too quickly. It's also known as the bends.
So because this spacecraft, SpaceX's Dragon spacecraft, does not have an airlock, in order to do a spacewalk, they're going to have to open up the entire spacecraft to the vacuum of space so everybody inside will be exposed to the vacuum of space. And so that's why this is a little bit different.
It's similar to what NASA has done way in the past during the Gemini missions, but it hasn't been done in a very long time, and it's never been done on this particular spacecraft.
It's also -- a spacewalk has also never been done by anyone other than NASA astronauts or Russian cosmonauts or Chinese taikonauts, meaning, you know, professional government astronauts.
These are private citizens. This is a private company, SpaceX, and so that's part of the reason why we don't fully know what's going on and why there was this delay. They are not required to share that information with us like NASA is, which is funded by taxpayers, of course. So a more than three-hour-long delay to this spacewalk this morning, the range of the reasons why, potential reasons why, are vast.
[04:15:00]
It could be anything from some of the astronauts getting space adaptation sickness, can't do a spacewalk if you're, you know, perhaps vomiting. That would not be good, going inside of a confined space when you still have space adaptation sickness. That could be one reason.
Another reason could be they're having trouble with that decompression process in the spacecraft itself. Maybe it's taking a bit longer than SpaceX had initially planned. Again, never been done before.
So a whole lot of reasons why there could be this delay. But as of now, we are just about under two hours away from this spacewalk officially starting. So fingers crossed this timeline holds.
FOSTER: Yes, we all wish them well. Hope it all works out and these tests, these suits really work in the way they're expected to work. But in terms of the mission, what might we get out of this? What's the research they're hoping to come back with?
FISHER: So this is what Jared Isaacman, who is the commander of this mission and also the financier of this mission, he describes it as a test and development mission, right? So he saw a need. SpaceX needs to test these spacesuits and get them developed quickly in order to someday be able to fulfill SpaceX's ultimate goal of landing humans on Mars and even colonizing Mars.
And so what the purpose of this spacewalk is, is for these four private astronauts to test out these spacesuits in the vacuum of space for the very first time and then bring that data back to the engineers on Earth so they can make the modifications needed to get an even better spacesuit that can someday be used on the surface of Mars.
So Jared Isaacman, if you talk to him, he really sees this as a chance to not just help SpaceX, a private company, but really, in his mind, all of humanity in order to achieve SpaceX's goal and his own personal dream of making humanity multi-planetary and not just all of us being beholden to living on planet Earth.
So it's a really exciting thing that we're about to see, something that's never been done before in terms of a private company and private astronauts doing this. So I'm looking forward to seeing it.
FOSTER: Every story you cover seems to be a moment in history. Kristin, thank you so much for joining us. And we look forward to seeing the video when it's beamed down to us.
Now, Antony Blinken makes a stop in Kyiv at a critical juncture in the war on Ukraine, the request Ukrainian officials are making of the top U.S. diplomat just ahead.
And later, Pope Francis will celebrate mass in Singapore. We'll tell you how he plans to wrap up his tour of Southeast Asia.
Plus how rock star Jon Bon Jovi reached out to a woman in need and helped save her life. We'll show you the remarkable video.
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(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
FOSTER: The White House is facing mounting pressure from U.S. lawmakers to remove weapons restrictions on Ukraine. Both Republicans and Democrats are urging President Biden to allow Kyiv to use Western weapons systems to strike military targets deep inside Russian territory. They say the current limits put Ukraine at a disadvantage, especially as Russia steps up its own long-range attacks on Ukrainian cities.
On Wednesday, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and British Foreign Secretary David Lammy visited Kyiv, where Ukraine's brand-new foreign minister echoed the appeals for fewer restrictions.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ANDRII SYBIHA, UKRAINIAN FOREIGN MINISTER (through translator): The key mission is to strengthen the air shield with all the necessary contributions. We must remove all obstacles and limitations on the use of British equipment and American weapons against military targets in Russian territory. We also need decisiveness when it comes to downing Russian rockets, missiles, and drones over the territory of Ukraine. That will provide sustainable peace and a strong position for Ukraine.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FOSTER: It's unclear, though, whether those pleas will move the needle in Washington just yet. We'll get more now from CNN's Fred Pleitgen.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: 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, that 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, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: We want Ukraine to win. And we're fully committed to keep marshalling 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.
PLEITGEN: 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's 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 Ukrainians say it's absolutely important for them to be able to strike Russia deep inside Russian territory with those Western weapons.
Fred Pleitgen, CNN, Kyiv.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
[04:25:00]
FOSTER: Well, NATO's outgoing chief says the mission in Afghanistan was a catastrophe for the military alliance. Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg spoke with CNN's Christiane Amanpour as he prepares to step down at the end of this month.
The U.S. and its allies pulled out of Afghanistan in August 2021 after almost 20 years of fighting the Taliban. The militant group is now back in power, despite all the efforts by the U.S.-led coalition and $2 trillion spent by Washington alone.
Stoltenberg says NATO's ultimate goal in Afghanistan was simply a step too far.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JENS STOLTENBERG, NATO SECRETARY GENERAL: Afghanistan that was -- that is the most painful because we tried something that we didn't achieve. We tried to build a democratic free Afghanistan with equal rights for men and women. We realized that after a few years that that was too ambitious. That was something that required too much. Because the reality was that we didn't have the resources, therefore we could there for decades.
CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: And yes, yet it was more than 20 years. There was like trillions of dollars spent, lots of people. And now we can safely say that it's gone 360 back to Taliban 1.0. I mean, that is a catastrophe, in fact.
STOLTENBERG: Yes, extremely bad and a catastrophe, not least for the people of Afghanistan, in particular women. And I met many women, members of parliament, journalists who begged us to stay. And for many years I promised that we will stay.
We were going to leave on a conditions-based approach. But after 20 years and after paying a high price in blood and pressure, we realized, NATO allies realized, the United States realized that we could not continue this and therefore we made the decision to leave Afghanistan.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
FOSTER: Tune in Thursday to see the full exit interview with NATO General Secretary -- or Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg. That's at 1 p.m. Eastern, 6 p.m. in London. Now, 54 days to go until Election Day in the U.S. Donald Trump and
Kamala Harris will hit the battleground states fresh off their debate. We'll check the schedule just ahead.
Plus, the Taylor Swift effect. How her online post inspired more than 300,000 clicks to a voter registration website.
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