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Trump May Agree to Second Harris Debate, Losing Focus with Loomer; Pope Francis Advises Voters; Zelenskyy Urging Green Light for Deep Strikes on Russia; Funeral for Turkish American Activist Aysenur Eygi Killed in West Bank; Central Europe Braces for Heavy Rain and Floods; Harris Feeling Good about Pennsylvania; Astronauts Williams and Wilmore OK with More Time in Space; Timberlake Pleads Guilty; Sports Highlights. Aired 5-6a ET
Aired September 14, 2024 - 05:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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KIM BRUNHUBER, CNN ANCHOR AND CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Welcome to all of you watching here in the United States, Canada and around the world, I'm Kim Brunhuber. This is CNN NEWSROOM.
The former U.S. president ramps up his anti-immigrant rhetoric while his Democratic rival tries to sell voters on a new path forward. The latest from the campaign trail.
Pope Francis criticizes Donald Trump and Kamala Harris. Hear his message to voters.
And new details and 9-1-1 dispatch audio from the mass shooting at a high school in Georgia. What we're learning right now.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): Live from Atlanta this is CNN NEWSROOM with Kim Brunhuber.
BRUNHUBER: U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris is campaigning hard in the key swing state of Pennsylvania with 19 electoral votes. It's the biggest prize among the election battlegrounds.
While Harris spent Friday in Pennsylvania, former president Donald Trump was in Nevada, another state that could sway the election. Despite previously saying he won't debate Harris again, Trump told reporters after walking away from the cameras that he might change his mind.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: I did great with the debates and I think they've answered everything. But maybe if I got in the right road, I don't know right now.
(END VIDEO CLIP) BRUNHUBER: Alayna Treene was at Trump's event in Las Vegas and tells us they spoke repeatedly about what happened during the debate.
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ALAYNA TREENE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Former president Donald Trump's speech on Friday night in Las Vegas was billed by his campaign as an economic speech and one where he would also focus on immigration.
But at many points during the evening, he veered off script. He talked a lot about the debate on Tuesday night in Philadelphia, specifically mocking Kamala Harris' performance as well as attacking the moderators.
At one point, Donald Trump even repeated and promoted a conspiracy theory that has been circulating on the far right corners of social media.
He claimed without evidence that Kamala Harris had perhaps been wearing an earpiece on that debate stage Tuesday night and also, again, baselessly claimed that perhaps she had received the questions in advance. I want you to take a listen to how he exactly he put it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT: She can't talk without maybe getting the answers?
What's the story with that?
Did she get the questions?
(INAUDIBLE)?
So I hear she got the questions and I also heard she had something in the ear, a little something in the ear.
No, Kamala, do this. Say it this way, Kamala. OK. Be quiet. Too many people watching.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
So again and I just want to be very clear. There is no evidence that any this is true. These are baseless allegations. But it's notable because Donald Trump in recent weeks has been increasingly promoting some of these unseemly conspiracy theories, particularly ever since Kamala Harris replaced Joe Biden at the top of the Democratic ticket.
I also just want to mention that another reason it's notable is because it comes as there are a lot of questions circulating right now about Donald Trump's relationship with Laura Loomer.
She's a far-right conspiracy theorist, someone who had once said that 9/11 was an inside job. She actually traveled with Donald Trump this week on his private plane, something that has become far harder for people to do ever since his assassination attempt in July. But she had gotten one of those coveted seats and traveled with him to
Philadelphia for the debate and then again to New York the next day.
And many Republicans have argued -- and including people who are very close to Donald Trump have told me that they are concerned about their relationship and how she may be influencing Donald Trump.
They also have argued that she is very much behind some of the conspiracy theories we see Donald Trump promoting and resharing. And I want to note that she actually had shared this theory about Harris wearing an earpiece previously.
Now Donald Trump did talk about Laura Loomer on social media Friday evening as well, just before coming to his rally. He tried to distance himself from some of her more controversial posts. Here's what he wrote on Truth Social.
He said, quote, "Laura Loomer doesn't work for the campaign. She's a private citizen and longtime supporter. I disagree with the statements she made but, like the many millions of people who support me, she is tired of watching the radical left Marxists and fascists violently attack and smear me."
Now again, Donald Trump continues to says she supports him but it was notable there that he tried to distance himself as well.
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So I think stay tuned for some of that -- Alayna Treene, CNN, Las Vegas.
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BRUNHUBER: Across the country in Pennsylvania, Harris says she feels good about her chances of winning the state, which Biden took back from Trump in 2020. She stopped at a bookstore in Wilkes-Barre, where she spoke with voters and reporters.
And later at a rally with supporters, Harris addressed her plans for the U.S. economy
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KAMALA HARRIS (D), VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES AND 2024 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: When I talk about building an opportunity economy, it is grounded in that foundational belief that, when given an opportunity, people excel every day. Every day.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BRUNHUBER: CNN's Priscilla Alvarez was at that rally and has more.
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PRISCILLA ALVAREZ, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Vice President Kamala Harris, returning to Pennsylvania on Friday, where she visited two counties that were won by former president Donald Trump in 2020 and by double digits.
It's a glimpse into the strategy that the campaign has been deploying, looking at those rural red counties to try to build some of her support but also peel voters off from former president Donald Trump.
Now of course, the campaign has been looking at multiple pathways to get to those 270 electoral votes. But Pennsylvania is crucial in that calculus and in those strategy sessions.
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KAMALA HARRIS, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I am feeling very good about Pennsylvania because there are a lot of people in Pennsylvania who deserve to be seen and heard. That's why I'm here in Johnstown and I will be continuing to travel around the state to make sure that I'm listening as much as we are talking.
And ultimately, I feel very strongly that, got to earn every vote.
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ALVAREZ: Now the vice president here in Wilkes-Barre, trying to appeal to voters here by talking also about the economy and job opportunities, the campaign trying to make inroads, again, with those voters who may not be die-hard Democrats but are also uninterested in former president Donald Trump.
But campaign aides are also in discussion about how else they continue the energy and momentum seen in the early weeks of the Harris campaign outside of traditional media and big speeches and policy rollouts.
Now the vice president, again, expected to put a keen focus on Pennsylvania in the weeks to come, spending already most of her time over the last week in the state, trying to appeal to those voters -- Priscilla Alvarez, CNN, Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania.
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BRUNHUBER: Harris gave her first television one-on-one interview since becoming the nominee to a Philadelphia station on Friday. She said she thinks voters are tired of Donald Trump trying to divide America.
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HARRIS: Heart, I know in my soul, I know that the vast majority of us as Americans have so much more in common than what separates us. Most Americans want a leader who brings us together as Americans and not someone who professes to be a leader, who is trying to have us point our fingers at each other.
I think people are exhausted with that approach.
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BRUNHUBER: President Biden is weighing in on Donald Trump's lies about migrants eating people's pets in a town in Ohio. During Tuesday's debate, Trump told a nonsensical story about how Haitian migrants were eating dogs and cats in Springfield.
During a Black Excellence Brunch at the White House on Friday, Biden said the Haitian community is under attack right now. He strongly condemned the false claim.
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JOE BIDEN (D), PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: It's simply wrong. There's no place in America. This has to stop, what he's doing has to stop.
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BRUNHUBER: Trump's debunked claims are causing problems for Springfield residents. The Haitian immigrants aren't illegal but are living there legally under a special immigration program. And many of them are now concerned for their safety.
But Trump has refused to admit the story was a lie or to acknowledge the problems it's causing for the people living in Springfield. Here he is speaking to reporters on Friday in California.
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QUESTION: The mayor of Springfield, Ohio, the police chief, the Republican governor of Ohio all debunked this story about people eating pets and now there are bomb threats at schools and kids being evacuated. Why do you still spread this false story?
TRUMP: No, no, no. The real threat is what's happening at our border because you have thousands of people being killed by illegal migrants coming in.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BRUNHUBER: Trump is also promising that when he returns to the White House there will be large deportations from Springfield and he will send them to Venezuela, even though they're from Haiti. And he says he would deploy law enforcement to, quote, "liberate" parts of our country.
Meanwhile, Pope Francis' Catholic voters face a grim choice between the two candidates. He described it as coming down to a choice between what he calls the lesser of two evils. CNN Vatican correspondent Christopher Lamb has the latest.
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CHRISTOPHER LAMB, CNN VATICAN CORRESPONDENT: Pope Francis has made a forthright intervention into the U.S. presidential election campaign, criticizing both former President Trump for his anti-migrant policies and Vice President Harris for her pro-choice. Francis saying that both of these policies are against life.
And he said that Catholic voters had to make a choice between a lesser of two evils.
POPE FRANCIS, PONTIFF, ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH (through translator): You have to vote and one must choose the lesser of two evils. Who is the lesser of two evils?
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That lady or that gentleman?
I don't know. Everyone with a conscience should think on this and do it.
LAMB: The pope making these remarks on board the papal plane, taking him back from Singapore to Rome. Francis, very strong in his criticisms of
anti-migrant policies, talking specifically about migrant flows through Central America, saying it was evil and wrong not to welcome migrants, not to give them jobs.
Significant that he is equating anti-migrant policies with abortion. Of course, the Catholic church long opposed to abortion. Some of the church would like to see abortion be a single political issue. Francis not doing that here with his equating of anti-migrant policies with abortion.
A significant intervention from Pope Francis after what has been the longest trip of his pontificate during his tour of Southeast Asia and the Pacific. -- Christopher Lamb, CNN, Rome.
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BRUNHUBER: Officials in Georgia say officers were already looking for the suspect of the deadly Apalachee High School shooting when it started last week. They were dispatched after a warning call from Colt Gray's mother.
It comes as authorities release 9-1-1 calls and police dispatch records revealing how the tragedy unfolded and left two students and two teachers dead. CNN's Ryan Young reports.
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RYAN YOUNG, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We are getting new details about the Barrow County shooting involving the 14-year-old accused shooter. He tells investigators apparently he traveled in a school bus with the gun concealed in his backpack.
At some point he asked to leave the math class to go to the office, returned back to the hallway and started shooting. At this point, we have dispatch from 9-1-1 operators showing exactly what happened in the moments just after the shooting. Take a listen.
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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There's a shooter. UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Active shooter.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We have an active shooter at Apalachee High School.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What's the status of the shooter?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: In custody and uninjured.
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YOUNG: We've also learned from investigators that the accused shooter had a knife on him as well. We have to remember, four people were killed in this incident, two teachers and two students.
The community still trying to put pieces back together. But listen to the school system talk about the return to class.
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JESSICA REHBERG, PRINCIPAL, APALACHEE HIGH SCHOOL: We are working to make sure we have the right systems and resources in place.
We also want to ensure that we have the right mental health support on our campus, spaces for relocated classes and have thought through every detail of your return.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
YOUNG: We now believe the school will open September 23rd.
This weekend there'll be two funerals as this community struggles to put the pieces back together with so many questions about why the shooting happened and whether or not there were red flags that could have put them in place to stop it from ever happening -- Ryan Young, CNN, Atlanta.
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BRUNHUBER: The manhunt for the Kentucky Interstate 75 shooter is about to enter its eighth day. Authorities continue to scour the vast, rugged terrain of the Daniel Boone National Forest, an area larger than Los Angeles and New York City combined.
The Kentucky State Police are urging residents to refrain from outdoor activities amid the ongoing manhunt.
The suspect, 32-year-old Joseph Couch, is accused of wounding five people with an AR-15 rifle shortly after sending a text that said he was going to, quote, "kill a lot of people." The motive for the rampage remains unknown.
A paramedic who was convicted in the death of Elijah McClain, a young Black man whose name became a rallying cry in nationwide protests, has had his prison sentence vacated. On Friday, a Colorado district court judge reduced the five-year sentence in favor of four years probation. The Colorado attorney general's office, which prosecuted the case,
expressed disappointment with the decision.
The charges stem from the 2019 arrest of McClain, who was walking home from a convenience store when he was confronted and later rendered unconscious by officers responding to a call about a suspicious person.
The paramedics called to the scene injected McClain with a lethal dose of the powerful sedative ketamine.
Still ahead, the funeral for a Turkish American activist killed by Israeli forces in the West Bank. Loved ones are gathering today to remember Aysenur Eygi. We'll have the latest report from the region next.
Plus Ukraine's allies debate whether they should give Kyiv a green light to go after targets deeper inside Russia. But Moscow is warning NATO, there will be serious consequences if Volodymyr Zelenskyy gets what he wants. Stay with us.
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BRUNHUBER: Ukraine's top allies aren't showing their hand yet about Kyiv's requests for permission to use Western missiles to strike deeper into Russia. No announcements were made about any changes in the U.S. and British policy after President Joe Biden and prime minister Keir Starmer met in Washington on Friday.
Starmer said their talks focused on the bigger picture. Here he is.
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KEIR STARMER, U.K. PRIME MINISTER: This wasn't a meeting about some particular capability. That wasn't why we got our heads down today. It was to allow ourselves the space in which we took the time to have a strategic discussion so that tactical decisions can be seen within the wide stretch.
There was a really good invitation from the president. We've had a very productive and we've covered some strong positions. I'm very pleased that we've had this.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BRUNHUBER: The meeting came as Russia's ambassador to the U.N. reminded NATO that his country is a nuclear power and that there will be consequences if Ukraine gets a green light for those strikes.
He spoke a day after president Vladimir Putin raised the prospect of war between Russia and NATO over the issue. And as Russia ups the ante, NATO's defense chiefs are meeting in Prague at this hour.
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BRUNHUBER: Two funerals today are highlighting the rising violence in the West Bank in recent weeks. First, there's the memorial expected for a U.N. worker who was among 10 Palestinians killed during an Israeli military operation. The death marks the first UNRWA staffer killed in the West Bank in more than a decade.
Meanwhile, family and loved ones will hold a funeral today for a Turkish American activist killed by Israeli forces in a separate incident in the occupied West Bank.
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More than a week after her death, the body of 26-year-old Aysenur Eygi is expected to be laid to rest in Turkiye where her family lives.
Meanwhile, in Gaza, health officials say they vaccinated more than 560,000 children against a resurgent poliovirus. The head of the World Health Organization hailed the achievement as a, quote, "massive success." The second round will take place in less than four weeks.
CNN's Nic Robertson is following developments from Tel Aviv.
And Nic, as I said, not one and but two high profile funerals happening today. Take us through what was happening.
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SENIOR DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Yes. Aysenur Eygi will be buried in Turkiye today. Her body arrived back in Turkiye from the West Bank yesterday.
An autopsy was performed and her parents are deeply unsatisfied that the IDF, which has -- which is carrying out the investigation into her killing, is capable of carrying out an independent and fair investigation.
That's something that U.S. senator Bernie Sanders seems to echo, because he has called for the U.S. Department of Justice to carry out its own investigation into her killing and the killings of a number of other Americans over the past couple of years in the West Bank.
The IDF has said that she was shot when protesters that she was with presented a threat to the troops who were nearby. It doesn't really match with what the activists who were around her said.
And President Biden has weighed in on this very forcefully and very clearly, saying that there must be full accountability, that this was a tragic accident that resulted from an unnecessary escalation in the use of force, which is something that the secretary of state, Antony Blinken, has echoed.
He has said that there must -- these shootings must stop, that protesters must be allowed to protest without being shot. Now President Biden is saying that so far the IDF has shared the preliminary results from its investigation. But the United States will draw its conclusions over whether or not this is fully accurate, fully accountable.
As they say, only if the IDF continues to give the U.S., the embassy here, other officials, full access to all the steps to the investigation. Only transparency in the IDF investigation they're indicating will provide that accountability that the Eygi family so feels is lacking at the moment as they lay her to rest.
And the funeral in the West Bank today, the first UNRWA worker to be killed by the IDF there in 10 years in disputed circumstances. UNRWA says that this was a sanitation worker who was drinking coffee on the roof of his house when Israeli snipers shot him three times in the chest.
The IDF has said, this person has a track record connected to terrorism. And they've been on an increased number of operations inside the West Bank, particularly the past couple of days. The IDF saying they've killed 10 terror suspects.
Palestinian Islamic Jihad have said that five of their fighters were killed by the IDF as they were planning attacks for the IDF.
But for UNRWA, this is very unwelcome news, not least because they've lost a staff member but because it reflects a growing trend of what's happening in Gaza, where more than 220 UNRWA workers have been killed in controversial circumstances.
And again, the IDF, in some of those cases, most recently, six killed in a U.N. school a couple of days ago in Gaza, the IDF alleging that some of them were members of Hamas, something UNRWA rejects.
BRUNHUBER: I appreciate those updates, Nic Robertson, thanks so much.
What was Hurricane Francine is now a post-tropical cyclone. But even though it's dissipating, it still poses serious risks to the southeastern United States. Millions of people from Tennessee to Georgia remain under flood watches.
Francine battered Louisiana when it made landfall as a category two hurricane on Wednesday, flooding hundreds of structures across the state and bringing more than a month's worth of rain to New Orleans in a matter of hours.
Less than two weeks into this month, New Orleans has already seen its third wettest September on record. And even now, some 40,000 homes and businesses in the state are still without electricity.
Parts of Central Europe are on high alert as they brace for heavy rain and flooding through the weekend. Austrian authorities are preparing for flooding problems across the border with Germany. They say they're closely monitoring water levels of the Salzach River.
The Czech Republic could see a once in 100 year flood over the weekend. That's why city workers in Prague are putting up flood defenses in the historic center.
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BRUNHUBER: All Americans have the right to cast votes in the presidential election. But some votes will carry more weight than others. We'll take a closer look and explain why ahead on CNN NEWSROOM.
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BRUNHUBER: Welcome back to all you watching us here in the United States, Canada and around the world. I'm Kim Brunhuber. This is CNN NEWSROOM.
Voters will go to the polls across America in November but some states hold more importance right now than others. And Pennsylvania could well be the most essential of them all. Kamala Harris was there on Friday and said she feels good about how she's doing with voters there.
Donald Trump has spent plenty of time in Pennsylvania as well and will certainly be there again before the election. This week's presidential debate was held in Philadelphia, the state's largest city.
Just look at these numbers. The race in Pennsylvania couldn't be tighter.
Our Harry Enten told Anderson Cooper how the numbers have changed since the last presidential election.
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HARRY ENTEN, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Republicans have done an extremely good job of registering voters. You know, if you go back four years ago and you look at the party registration in the state, Democrats had about a 600,000 voter advantage. Look at where we are now in September of 2024.
Republicans have closed that gap significantly. That lead that Democrats have, it's still an advantage, but it's down by -- down to only 200,000 voters, 3.5 million to 3.3 million. Republicans have closed that gap by 400,000 voters.
So the bottom line is the electorate that Joe Biden won with four years ago is not the same electorate that Kamala Harris is going to have to win with in November if she wants to win in Pennsylvania. It's a significantly more Republican electorate, Anderson.
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN HOST: And what about the electoral map?
Let's take a look at that in terms of the importance of Pennsylvania. ENTEN: It's Pennsylvania, Pennsylvania, Pennsylvania. I feel like Tim Russert, but in 2024, talking about the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Because the bottom line is this. If you take the betting favorites in all the states and you give Kamala Harris Pennsylvania, she gets to exactly 270 electoral votes.
But, Anderson, if you take away those 19 electoral votes and you give them to Donald Trump, guess who wins the election?
It's Donald Trump with 281 electoral votes. The bottom line is Kamala Harris was in Pennsylvania today. She'll be going back over and over and over again, and she'll be joined by Donald Trump because the bottom line is whoever wins Pennsylvania is most likely going to win the presidency.
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BRUNHUBER: And Republican strategist and director of the group, Haley Voters for Harris, Craig Snyder joins us now. He's also the author of the new political thriller, "Guile," and he was the chief of staff to the late Pennsylvania senator Arlen Specter.
Thank you so much for joining us. So we saw there from the numbers just how vital the state you're so familiar with will be in this close election. Kamala Harris was in two counties that former president Donald Trump won in both 2016 and 2020.
So why would Harris bother spending time and resources there, do you think?
CRAIG SNYDER, DIRECTOR, HALEY VOTERS FOR HARRIS: Well, the centrality of Pennsylvania in the way that you just described in the lead-in, the fact that it's almost certainly going to be the tipping point for which of these candidates becomes president, makes it necessary to really try to persuade voters.
Try to motivate voters all over the state. The counties that she went to this time on this last visit are not the most fertile areas to pick up new votes but she needs to pick up every new vote she can all across the commonwealth. We have 67 counties.
I suspect we're going to see both candidates in at least -- at least 20 of those 67 where the population is higher between now and the election. They are going to have to really make this a game of inches.
BRUNHUBER: All right. So among some of the issues that are important in Pennsylvania, fracking chief among them, something Kamala Harris ran against in her first campaign for the White House five years ago. But then she supported it since as vice president. Here's Pennsylvania senator John Fetterman.
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SEN. JOHN FETTERMAN (D-PA): she's not going to ban fracking. And I know she's very supportive of the energy industry as well. But fracking is -- it is an issue, but it's not a defining issue.
It's talking about one significant, it's a very distinct -- it's the choice there in 24, as it's the same that kind of a choice. And it's going to be a gut check kind of a thing.
And a majority of people will decide that they want four years of Donald Trump kind of chaos and debasement?
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Or did you want a new way forward?
Like that's Harris.
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BRUNHUBER: All right. So is he right?
Is fracking going to be a decisive issue here or not?
Not a decisive issue, rather; just one among many?
SNYDER: I think the senator has it exactly right. There are issues much larger than fracking in Pennsylvania, even to the -- on most communities, most impacted by energy as well.
Let me put it this way. If the vice president was against fracking, wanted to ban fracking, that could be a decisively negative issue for her, given a close election.
But she's not. That position is something that she took five years ago, she changed the position as vice president. She actually cast the critical tie-breaking vote for the bill that increased -- dramatically increased the amount of domestic energy production in the United States.
We are now an all-time high. And so in that context and the context I would say of the actual facts, not what's being presented by the Trump campaign but the factual context, it's not a decisive issue.
People are going to vote on really, exactly as the senator said, the path they want forward for the country. This is a fork in the road kind of moment. These two candidates reflect very different visions and very different philosophies.
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BRUNHUBER: Yes, let me, let me ask you about --
SNYDER: -- part of it.
BRUNHUBER: Yes. Let me ask you about Donald Trump because you talk about certainly different philosophies. Donald Trump was in Las Vegas, hoping his promise not to tax tips will play well.
Presumably, if you were in the business of advising their campaign, you'd say more economy, less cats. I mean, he's been calling for mass deportations in Springfield, hanging around with far-right figures like Laura Loomer. I mean, he seems to be running an even more extreme campaign than he was last time.
SNYDER: I think you're right.
Look, I think that the two campaigns have very different strategies. And obviously we will see what --
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SNYDER: -- but the one campaign, the Trump campaign, has doubled down on mobilizing their base, what they consider to be their people, trying to get people to vote, maybe who haven't voted before, who are supporters of Trump.
But not reaching out to anybody who doesn't really like Trump. The Harris campaign, on the other hand, is a coalition campaign with a broad spectrum of support that goes from Dick Cheney to Bernie Sanders. It's the largest, the most diverse coalition of supporters in any modern presidential campaign.
So you have a coalition strategy on the one hand and you have a mobilize the base strategy on the other. It's like -- it's sort of like two languages being spoken.
BRUNHUBER: Let me ask you about that coalition. One can guess from the name of the group that you're campaigning for, Haley Voters for Harris, your group wants to turn voters from -- that voted for Nikki Haley to vote for Harris.
But Haley herself has come out against this.
She said, "Kamala Harris and I are total opposites on every issue. Any attempt to use my name to support her or her agenda is deceptive and wrong. I support Donald Trump because he understands we need to make America strong, safe and prosperous."
So I just want to get your reaction to that and also how you're hoping to influence this the subset of Republicans, who might, in the end, make a difference here.
SNYDER: Well, they certainly can make a difference.
Again, to focus on Pennsylvania, 158,000 registered Republicans voted for Nikki Haley, when in a state that was decided in 2020 by 80,000 votes; in 2016 by 40,000 votes. So this is a very large group of people that are, that are up for grabs.
They've already -- and I'm one of them by the way -- so I'll say we. We have expressed our strong disapproval of Donald Trump.
The question is whether or not you go the extra mile and you vote for the Democratic candidate, for the vice president.
We believe that many, many of those voters will do that because they want -- they want to clean out the scourge of Trumpism from the Republican Party, number one.
And number two, because they see the vice president and they see what she's offering in this coalition campaign as being really in the center of American politics, not extreme left but in the center of American politics.
And they may not agree on every issue but they can certainly find enough to agree on took to join the coalition.
The position of Governor Haley, it's fine. It's her personal view and she's entitled to it. But her voters are not going to be dictated to. They're independent minded people. They're going to decide for themselves what they think is better.
And when she says that her and the vice president are opposite on every issue, it's just not true. It's just not factual. For example, Nikki Haley campaigned on support for Ukraine and really opposes Donald Trump's approach to pulling the United States out of NATO.
And other quite radical foreign policy positions, whereas Vice President Harris is foursquare. Foursquare within the consensus about American world leadership that has existed in Republican and Democratic parties, going all the way back to World War II.
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So what she's saying about being polar opposites on many issues is just not correct.
BRUNHUBER: All right.
Well, listen, we'll have to leave even if there but it's been great to get your perspective on this. Craig Snyder, thank you so much.
SNYDER: Thank you.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BRUNHUBER: Family and friends of Ugandan Olympian Rebecca Cheptegei, who died after a brutal attack, are gathering for her funeral today. The runner competed in the recent Paris Olympics, finishing 44th in the women's marathon.
Weeks later, police say her boyfriend attacked her at her home in Kenya and set her on fire after a disagreement over land. Cheptegei is being laid to rest in her home in Uganda.
Soldiers carried her coffin into the ceremony with a military band playing in the background. She's the third elite female athlete to be killed in Kenya in the last three years. Amnesty International Kenya says her death highlights the urgent need to address femicide in the country. She was 33 years old.
We'll be right back.
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BRUNHUBER: NASA astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore, who flew to the International Space Station aboard that Boeing Starliner capsule, say they aren't upset about having to stay at the ISS months longer than they expected. But they did have to make some arrangements back on Earth. CNN's Kristin Fisher has details.
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KRISTIN FISHER, CNN SPACE & DEFENSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, this is the first time that we've heard from NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams since NASA made the decision to send their spaceship, Starliner, back to Earth without them.
The mission's commander, Butch Wilmore, who is also a Navy test pilot, said that you don't want to see your ship go off without you. But he also said that he understood NASA's decision.
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BUTCH WILMORE, ASTRONAUT: When you have issues like we've had, there's some changes that need to be made. Boeing's on board with that, we're all on board with that.
[05:45:00]
And I can tell you, when you push the edge of the envelope again and you do things with spacecraft that have never been done before, just like Starliner, you're going to find some things.
And in this case, we found some things that we just could not get comfortable with, putting us back in the Starliner when we had other options.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FISHER: And that other option is a SpaceX Crew Dragon, which means that Butch and Suni won't be returning to Earth until February of 2025. So I asked them, what has it been like for you mentally, to go from a roughly eight-day mission to an eight-month mission?
Here's what they said.
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WILMORE: The, things that I can't control, I am not going to fret over it. I mean, there is no benefit to it, at all. If there is nothing we can do, there's nothing we can do. So we march forward.
SUNI WILLIAMS, ASTRONAUT: I have to say, though, in the back of my mind, you know, there's folks on the ground who had some plans, right?
Like my family. And so to spend some time with my mom and I think I was fretting more about that, like the things that we had sort of all talked about and planned for this fall and this winter. And I think I was a little bit nervous to be honest with you to say like, OK, I am not coming home for it.
But you know what, like we both mentioned in the very beginning, everybody was on board.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FISHER: The other thing that they will be missing while they are in space is the election. And today, Butch Wilmore said that he put in his request for a ballot. Butch and Suni will be voting remotely from the International Space Station -- Kristin Fisher, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BRUNHUBER: U.S. federal mediators say Boeing will resume negotiations with its union members early next week as the troubled aircraft manufacturer deals with its first strike in 16 years.
The White House says the administration is in touch with both sides. About 33,000 workers walked off the job on Friday after rejecting a proposed four-year contract.
Union leaders had described the deal as the best it's ever negotiated with Boeing. But 95 percent of members voted against it.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Recognize whose building these planes out here on the floor and the quality that we put into our work every day to make sure that passengers and crew members that fly our airplanes are safe.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We definitely need more wage increase. That's for sure. More time off would be nice and if they bring back the pension, that would be really nice.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I believe we deserve way better because, without us, there is no Boeing.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BRUNHUBER: Boeing's CFO called the results disappointing, adding that strike will impact production operations and deliveries of planes.
The three main U.S. stock indexes had a strong week. The Dow, S&P and Nasdaq all closed up as investors anticipate a possible interest rate cut next week on the Fed's long awaited decision day. There were some small swings along the way but there is wide expectations the U.S. central bank will trim rates by a quarter point.
The current range is between 5.25 percent and 5.5 percent, a 23-year high.
The NFL concussion issues resurfacing for one of the league's bright young quarterbacks. after a scary scene earlier this week, many are voicing concerns about his future. That story coming up, stay with us.
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BRUNHUBER: Pop star Justin Timberlake has pleaded guilty to a lesser charge of driving while impaired, saying he failed to achieve a high standard of behavior. The actor appeared in a Long Island New York court on Friday following his arrest in June.
Timberlake was sentenced to 25 hours of community service, a $500 fine and a license suspension in New York. He must also make a public safety announcement.
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JUSTIN TIMBERLAKE, POP STAR AND ACTOR: This is a mistake that I made but I'm hoping that whoever's watching and listening right now can learn from this mistake. I know that I certainly have. And like I said, even one drink, don't get behind the wheel of a car.
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BRUNHUBER: The defense and prosecutors agreed to the softer sentence, much to the judge's dismay. He called the plea deal "surprisingly favorable" to Timberlake. The singer avoided a potential one year jail sentence.
All right. Turning to sports now, the concern continues for Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa after he left Thursday night's game with yet another concussion. Andy Scholes joins us now.
Andy, I was watching the game. I mean, I just held my head, my own head in my hands when I saw it.
So given his history, first of all, what more do we know about his status right now?
ANDY SCHOLES, CNN SPORT CORRESPONDENT: Tua is in the league's concussion protocol. But when or if we ever see him play again, that is certainly up in the air right now. The 26-year old suffering yet another concussion during Thursday night football against the Bills.
And this is another scary instance where he went into a fencing response with his arms and hands after taking that hit. Tua has had three diagnosed concussions in his NFL career. And many, including Raiders' head coach Antonio Pierce, think Tua should walk away from the game.
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ANTONIO PIERCE, RAIDERS' HEAD COACH: I'll be honest. I'd tell him to retire. It's not worth it. It's not worth it to play the game. I hadn't witnessed anything like I've seen. This happened to him three times. Scary. You can see right away the players' faces on the field. You can see a sense of urgency from everybody to get Tua help.
I just think, at some point, you know, he's only on loan he's going to play football. Take care of your family.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SCHOLES: Elsewhere, Caitlin Clark making more WNBA history last night, the rookie sensation recording her 317th assist in the second quarter, breaking the WNBA's single-season assist record.
Now this game with the Aces was close. Clark with the driving layup here, cuts Vegas' lead to two with under two to go. She'd finish with 18 points and nine assists. But Kelsey flung the dagger three with under a minute to go, Aces beat the Fever, 78-74.
U.S. men's soccer, meanwhile, introducing their new coach, Mauricio Pochettino yesterday. The Argentinian comes to the U.S. after managing Chelsea PSG and Tottenham over the past decade. And the U.S. hopes he will be the man to lead the team on a deep run when they host the World Cup in 2026.
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MAURICIO POCHETTINO, USNMT HEAD COACH: We love to win. We are so competitive.
[05:55:00]
And we need to think in that. We need to think in big and think that we can win. I really care for the women football, soccer. And of course, for us is a challenge to match them, you know, to match them. We need to work really hard to be in the level that the women are showing.
It's going to be difficult but that proof (ph) for us is a huge inspiration for us.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SCHOLES: Finally, baseball's Aaron Judge was in the longest home run drought of his career going into last night. It had been 16 games since he hit a dinger. But he ended the drive in a big way.
Yankees down three in the seventh of the Red Sort of, bases loaded and Judge crushes a grand slam, his 52nd home run of the season. Yankee Stadium just going bonkers when he hit that. Yankees would then hold on to win 5-4.
They now have a three game lead over the Orioles in the AL East. And I tell you what, Kim, there's so many tight races in baseball right now with two weeks to go, should be a final race to the end of the season.
BRUNHUBER: Fascinating to watch. Andy Scholes, thank you so much. Appreciate it.
All right.
Before we go, we want to leave you with this, the internet's next big star, a baby pygmy hippo.
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BRUNHUBER (voice-over): Meet Moo Deng, which means "bouncy pig" in Thai. Now at just two months old, she's already winning the internet's heart and you can see why. So cute.
The adorable and spunky creature has been catapulted to social media stardom since her keepers began uploading snippets of her life online. The zoo she calls home, located outside of Bangkok, has reported a 30 percent increase in visitors, a spike they attribute to her natural cuteness.
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BRUNHUBER: Although I must say they do get a little bit less cute when they get older.
That wraps this hour of CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Kim Brunhuber. For viewers in North America, "CNN THIS MORNING" is next. For the rest of the world, it's "AFRICAN VOICES: CHANGEMAKERS."
