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Interview With Fmr. Rep. Jane Harman (D-CA); Kamala Harris Expected to Meet With Ukrainian President; Kamala Harris Set to Campaign With Oprah in Michigan. Aired 11:30a-12:00p ET

Aired September 19, 2024 - 11:30   ET

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

[11:31:18]

JIM ACOSTA, CNN HOST: Vice President Kamala Harris heading to Michigan today. She's bringing some major star power. Oprah Winfrey will share the stage with Harris tonight for a virtual reality -- rally, I should say, in the critical battleground state, the event co- hosted by an organization called Win With Black Women.

Meanwhile, former President Donald Trump will give a speech this evening here in Washington on fighting antisemitism in the United States. Both candidates are on the campaign trail as a new poll out just this morning shows they are locked in a dead heat nationally with 47 percent each.

Let's bring in our panel, CNN senior political commentator Ana Navarro, CNN political commentator and former nations director of Vice President Kamala Harris Jamal Simmons, and CNN political commentator and Republican strategist Shermichael Singleton.

I run out of breath just going through all those amazing titles. So thanks to all of you for being here.

But Ana wins because she's here in the studio with me, so I will start with you first.

How big is this Oprah event for Kamala Harris tonight?

ANA NAVARRO, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: I think it's really big because there's, frankly, few people who have the positive popularity, the positive name I.D. and perception of that there is of Oprah Winfrey.

She is a very well-liked woman who has incredible influence in this country. Any book she picks for her book club becomes an instant bestseller. Any item she picks for Oprah's Favorite Things becomes an instant bestseller.

ACOSTA: You get a car. You get a car.

(CROSSTALK)

NAVARRO: Exactly.

So -- but also, look, there's a lot of people that say that they want to know more about Kamala Harris. And nobody gets to the core of a person in an interview better than Oprah Winfrey. She's got this particular interview style, which is -- which reveals people and which makes -- sees -- let's you look into their identity and who they are.

And so I think for those people who say, we don't know enough about Kamala Harris, if after two hours of Oprah Winfrey, you don't, you still don't know...

ACOSTA: You're not listening.

NAVARRO: ... we can't help you.

(LAUGHTER)

ACOSTA: Yes.

And, Jamal, I want to ask, and Shermichael, you as well, I mean, we were just talking to Omar Jimenez before the break about the situation in Springfield, Ohio. And you're hearing Trump and J.D. Vance continue to describe the people there as being in -- the Haitian immigrants being in Springfield, Ohio illegally.

Those are lies. But, Jamal, how -- should the Harris campaign engage more on this? What -- how should they respond? What do you think?

JAMAL SIMMONS, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: I think the Harris campaign has been making a fundamental point about Donald Trump from the beginning, which is that he's kind of -- he's the chaos candidate, that he's somebody you can't really trust to have the mantle of leadership in the country.

The vice president made this clear the other day when she was at the National Association of Black Journalists, that this is not somebody we should trust with leadership. And here's the reason why. We saw in 2020, when we had the pandemic, that we were in the middle of a crisis.

The president, as someone said at the time, turned the crisis into a tragedy because he refused to do public announcements for several months. He refused to tell the American people how bad things were going for a long time. He refused to listen to the scientists and the experts about how to help solve the crisis.

So it went from being a crisis to a tragedy. More people died than it should have. At the same time, we see right now, we elect the president not just to do the things we know about, but to keep the peace, to keep order, to handle a problem when it arises.

Now what we have is a candidate for president who knows that his words are causing people harm. He knows that schools are being shut down, that people are being assaulted, that community meetings can't be held. And, instead, what's happening is, he's still talking about it. That is the fundamental problem.

You can't put somebody in the office who foments disorder who's supposed to be maintaining order. ACOSTA: Yes, I mean, sure, Michael, I mean, the mayor of Springfield

just issuing a proclamation in the last several hours granting himself temporary emergency powers because of these continued threats.

[11:35:08]

SHERMICHAEL SINGLETON, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: I mean, look, Jim immigration, as we talked in the last segment, it is a top issue.

And I do think there's a way in which political leaders, namely, the former president, should approach this issue. All data suggests that he still has a slight lead on it, although Vice President Harris is performing a whole lot better than President Biden. Voters appear to be giving her a bit of a pass on the issue, for whatever that reason may be.

And so, in knowing that and looking at the data that this is such a very tight and close race, the former president is going to need to win over some of those persuadable voters, a very small percent of them that remain in this contest.

And I'm not necessarily convinced that the rhetoric or the language or the critique overall is enough to move them. The critique, I get, because voters are saying that they're concerned. But then I think the next question to the critique or the follow-up to the critique should be, what are the possible solutions?

And I think that's what some of the voters are looking for.

ACOSTA: Yes.

SINGLETON: Again, I think there is a way to articulate what a Republican, what a conservative solution would be following the critique of this problem.

(CROSSTALK)

ACOSTA: And, Ana, go ahead. Yes, go ahead. Jump in.

NAVARRO: Yes, can we talk about -- a little bit about this Temporary Protected Status and what it is?

ACOSTA: Yes.

NAVARRO: It was created into law in 1990 and signed into law by George Herbert Walker Bush.

There have been Temporary Protected Status under Republican presidents and under Democratic presidents.

ACOSTA: For Haitians, yes.

NAVARRO: Listen, under Ronald Reagan -- for Haitians, for Nicaraguans, for Venezuelans, for Sudanese.

They are used for humanitarian purposes when there are people fleeing natural disasters, wars, things like that. I'm a Nicaraguan American. When I was here in the '80s, there was something called the Nicaraguan review program that was done by Ronald Reagan and the Republican Congress to help Nicaraguans fleeing communism and fleeing the Sandinistas.

So it's been done under Republicans and under Democrats. And for J.D. Vance to say that it is illegal it's just absolutely false. What they are doing is so irresponsible and so shameful. And I have got to think that it's going to backfire on them, because, look, so far, there's been something -- upwards of 30 bomb threats.

And, yes, people say, oh, but they're all hoaxes and they're coming from -- no matter, regardless of whether they're hoaxes, regardless of whether they're coming from, they were not happening before Donald Trump and J.D. Vance elevated this conspiracy theory by talking about it in the debate and by talking about it in the rallies.

And regardless of whether they are hoaxes or not, you have got to investigate and take them seriously.

ACOSTA: Yes.

NAVARRO: Just 10 days ago, the mother of the shooter called the Georgia school 30 minutes before the shooting happened. You have got to take these threats seriously, because that's the America we live in right now.

ACOSTA: Yes.

And I will say, Jamal, I mean, one of the things that surprised me this morning -- I don't mean to throw a curveball at the control room -- but, I mean, some of these polls that are that have come out just this morning showing a very tight race.

"The New York Times"' poll that's out this morning shows that they're tied nationally at 47 percent, 47 percent. That's despite the outcry after Trump said that Haitian migrants were eating cats and dogs, falsely saying that at the debate last week, and having a pretty catastrophic performance if you look at most of the polls.

Why is this race so tight? And is the vice president missing a moment to capitalize on the momentum coming out of the convention, coming out of the debate? Your thoughts.

SIMMONS: Oh, I don't think so at all.

If you take a look at the polls really over the last few years, Donald Trump is a 47 percent candidate, sometimes at 46, sometimes at 48. But he's basically a 47 percent candidate. And the people who support him don't really move.

What's happened, what we see not just in "The New York Times"' poll, but look at the Pew poll, look at the Emerson poll, there's several polls that are out there that show the vice president actually taking a lead in more of those polls, 52-46 in one poll.

ACOSTA: Yes.

SIMMONS: And including in the battleground, we're starting to see her take a lead in states like Michigan, and maybe it's still a little bit tight in Pennsylvania, but again in Wisconsin.

So I think we have got to see -- we have got to take a look at all of this together.

ACOSTA: All right.

(CROSSTALK)

ACOSTA: Yes, real quick, Shermichael.

SINGLETON: Just really quick, I take Jamal's point.

But I would caution that a lot of this is within the margin of error, 3 to 3.2 percent. We know historically speaking looking at 2016, looking at 2020, Donald Trump typically underperforms. And so when you quantify that and factor that in, mathematically, then you are getting that 47 percent, meaning this race could go either way.

ACOSTA: All right, Ana, Jamal...

SIMMONS: Yes, I will just say this really quickly.

ACOSTA: Yes, go ahead.

SIMMONS: I will just say this really quickly.

This is going to be -- let's look at this trajectory of these polls, and particularly the Iowa poll, which shows that it might be down to 4 percent.

ACOSTA: That's true, yes.

SIMMONS: If she's down to 4 percent in Iowa, that means there's something happening across the country we should pay attention to.

ACOSTA: Yes. And it's not a national poll on Election Day. It's a state-by-state Electoral College fight to the finish.

And, obviously, we're seeing a lot of trending in Kamala Harris' direction, but it's extremely tight. We will keep tracking it.

[11:40:02]

Ana, Jamal, Shermichael, thanks a lot for joining us this morning. We appreciate it.

SINGLETON: Thanks, Jim.

ACOSTA: Coming up, all right, take a look at this video right now.

The Ukrainian Security Service says one of their drones destroyed an ammunition depot in Russia. Both Kamala Harris and Donald Trump are vowing they're the candidate to help end this war. We will talk to an expert who's better suited to talk about that just a few moments. So we will get some facts on all of that reality check coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ACOSTA: Sources tell CNN Vice President Kamala Harris is expected to meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Washington next week.

[11:45:05]

The meeting comes amid concerns over how the November election will impact U.S. support for Ukraine in its war against Russia.

Jane Harman joins us now. She's chair of the National Defense Strategy Commission and a former Democratic congresswoman from California.

Congresswoman, great to see you, as always.

You traveled to Ukraine recently. We were just talking about this during the break. You had a chance to meet with Zelenskyy. How closely is he watching this election? I mean, he has to know that there is so much riding on this election for him.

FMR. REP. JANE HARMAN (D-CA): He didn't talk about that.

ACOSTA: Yes.

HARMAN: He did talk about his victory plan and his -- that he was looking forward to presenting it to President Biden next week in New York. He also said he wants to present it to both campaigns and to Congress.

He made a big point of Congress' role. Hint, hint. Congress funds whatever is coming next. Assuming Congress doesn't close down next week because they can't pass a continuing resolution.

ACOSTA: Right.

HARMAN: But, anyway, he -- I'm not surprised that he's meeting with her, but I haven't heard the meeting was confirmed.

ACOSTA: Well, and if this meeting comes to pass -- we think it will, according to our sources -- I mean, what -- how do you think that meeting should shake out? And what's in it for the vice president? I mean, this is an important meeting for her.

HARMAN: It's a big deal.

ACOSTA: Yes.

HARMAN: She made clear in the debate with Trump that she supports continuing aid for Ukraine and Ukraine has to win. I strongly agree with her.

And I think that's a defining issue in this campaign. Zelenskyy was saying there that he had a private phone call with Trump where Trump said that he supports Ukraine.

ACOSTA: Interesting.

HARMAN: But I -- and that was also -- Fareed Zakaria interviewed him, and it was on Fareed's show last Sunday. But I -- why should we buy that, given the rhetoric of him and J.D. Vance?

ACOSTA: Well, and that's what I was going to ask you, because, as you know, Trump is saying he will probably have a meeting with Zelenskyy next week. We will see if that comes to pass.

But in the debate last week, he would not say whether he wants Ukraine to win the war.

HARMAN: Right.

And he actually called into the conference. I was there in Kyiv. Boris Johnson, the former British prime minister, arranged that. And Trump was sitting in his plane and didn't say in that call that he supported continuing aid. So the audience was kind of surprised by the -- why he wouldn't even call in.

ACOSTA: Yes.

And, Congresswoman, I mean, I mean, it might sound simplistic to ask you this, but what are the consequences if Trump gets into office and essentially says, Russia, take what you want?

HARMAN: Well, that was his rhetoric about NATO countries paying their share of aid. He keeps raising the percentages, which I don't think is a bad idea.

ACOSTA: Yes. Yes.

HARMAN: I actually think that robust support for NATO by all countries in NATO is a good idea.

But, nonetheless, Putin winning, meaning taking over Ukraine or even taking over the parts of the Donbass that he's now partly occupying, plus Crimea, I think is a defeat for freedom. I mean, let's understand, he's not going to adhere to any agreement he makes. There already was the 1994 agreement where Ukraine gave up its nukes in exchange for Russian respect for sovereignty. Not.

ACOSTA: That's right. Yes.

HARMAN: And then we saw what came after that.

I was there in 2014 observing the fair and free election on a delegation led by Madeleine Albright, the late, great.

ACOSTA: Wow.

HARMAN: And I believe in Ukraine's sovereignty. And I think that if -- that part of Ukraine's winning is going to be a path to NATO membership, because I think that's the way to keep Putin back in the confines of Russia.

ACOSTA: Yes.

And I did want to ask you a quick question about the Middle East and what is going on in Lebanon right now with these exploding pagers and walkie-talkies. What's your take on all of that? Do you think there's a strategy going on there? What do you think?

HARMAN: I think Mossad is showing, if Mossad did this, how capable it is.

ACOSTA: Yes.

HARMAN: But, on the other hand, I don't see the strategy. I see the tactic, but not the strategy.

And the Middle East is unnerved. And I don't think a Lebanese -- a serious Lebanese Hezbollah, slash, slash, Iranian attack on Israel makes any sense. And I was very disappointed today to see that MBS in Saudi Arabia now says that there will be no progress on a Saudi-Israel trade deal, which is something the Biden administration has been working on, unless there is a Palestinian state, not a path to a Palestinian state.

But that just raised -- moved the thing back to the 50-yard line from maybe the 10-yard line. And that's -- I think that's a shame for the region.

ACOSTA: Well, and we were also getting some reporting that the prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, may not meet with President Biden next week at UNGA. That sounds like a very serious missed opportunity at a critical moment.

HARMAN: Well, I don't know if that's true or which side doesn't want to meet. But I think Israel...

[11:50:01]

ACOSTA: Yes. Maybe it'll get worked out. Maybe they will meet.

HARMAN: And maybe it will get worked out. I'd like Israel to get worked out.

I'd like to see the strategy to keep Israel safe. And I don't think that these tactics are really working. And I really would hope that, in some near future, there is a well-defined day-after strategy that leads to two states, not the next day.

But that's what Kamala Harris is supporting. I haven't heard that Trump is supporting that.

ACOSTA: Yes.

HARMAN: And, again, I think that's the goal, to protect Israel's security and respect the rights of the Palestinian people. ANNOUNCER: We will be watching that. I know you will as well.

HARMAN: You bet.

ACOSTA: Thank you very much, Congressman. We appreciate it.

We will be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[11:55:02]

ACOSTA: New video released this morning shows the aftermath of the disastrous Titan submersible voyage.

Here, you can see a large chunk of debris on the ocean floor with several other parts around it. The submersible imploded, killing all five passengers on board, in June 2023. And here you can see, if you look at this one right here, the company's name, OceanGate, which developed and operated the submersible, on this broken tail cone just several hundred yards from the location of the Titanic itself.

The videos are being released as part of a U.S. Coast Guard investigation into what caused the accident. The panel also released text messages of the final communications between the vessel and its mother ship, including this text reading: "All good here."

This was just 30 minutes before all communication was lost. The panel will also determine if misconduct or negligence needs to be raised to the level of the Department of Justice. We will keep following that for you in the meantime.

Thank you so much for joining us this morning. I'm Jim Acosta.

Stay with us. "INSIDE POLITICS WITH DANA BASH" starts after a short break.

Have a great day.