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CNN This Morning
Battle For The Midwest: Competing Campaigns Visit Michigan & Wisconsin; Sources: Hezbollah Plotting Israel Attack Independent Of Iran; Tornado Damages Home In North Carolina As Debby Moves In. Aired 5-5:30a ET
Aired August 08, 2024 - 05:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[05:00:39]
KASIE HUNT, CNN ANCHOR: It's Thursday, August 8.
Right now on CNN THIS MORNING:
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GOV. TIM WALZ (D-MN), VICE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Help me right now give a warm Midwest welcome to the next president of the United States, Kamala Harris!
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HUNT: Vice President Harris and Tim Walz kick off their battleground swing as Republicans ramp up attacks against Walz's past.
And --
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KAMALA HARRIS, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I ask, are you ready to make your voices heard?
CROWD: Yes!
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HUNT: Riding this wave of momentum, Kamala Harris sees a boost in polling among a critical group.
And Taylor Swift cancels a leg her blockbuster tour in Vienna after a terrorist plot is foiled.
(MUSIC)
HUNT: All right, 5:00 a.m. here in Washington. A live look at Capitol Hill on this Thursday morning.
Good morning, everyone. I'm Kasie Hunt. It's wonderful to have you with us. Kamala Harris and her newly minted running mate, Governor Tim Walz,
hitting the ground in battleground states, the duo holding rallies in two critical Midwestern states, Wisconsin and Michigan. The whirlwind campaign aimed at energizing the Democratic base, which just a few weeks ago was feeling a lot less confident, the unity on display now though, running into reality. Harris tasked with repairing ongoing fractures among Democrats, including the divide over the Israel-Hamas war.
Yesterday, the vice president was interrupted by a group who appeared good to be pro-Palestinian protesters. Here's how she tried to shut that down.
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HARRIS: You know what? If you want Donald Trump to win, then say, that. Otherwise, I'm speaking.
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HUNT: One thing of course the party is clearly united by is trying to beat Donald Trump in November.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CROWD: Lock him up! Lock him up! Lock him up!
HARRIS: Hold on, hold on, hold on. You know what? Here -- hold on, here's the thing. The courts are going to handle that. We're going to beat him in November. We're going to beat him in November.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: So, why are we showing you that moment? That was because she was shutting down chants that the crowd had gotten into where they chanted, lock him up, talking about Donald Trump, of course.
The battle for the Midwest engaged on both sides with J.D. Vance also making stops in Michigan and Wisconsin. This was his latest jab against his Democratic rival.
When the United States Marine Corps, when the United States of America asked me to go to Iraq to serve my country. I did it. I did what they asked me to do it and I did it honorably and I'm very proud of that service.
When Tim Walz was asked by his country to go to Iraq, you know what he did? He dropped out of the army and allowed his unit to go without him. CNN has reported that Walz retired two months before his unit received orders to deploy to Iraq.
Joining me now, "Politico" White House reporter Lauren Egan, and "Axios" Capitol Hill reporter Juliegrace Brufke.
Good morning to both of you.
Lauren, let me start with you.
Yesterday is in my view, is sort of the first day where this ticket actually faced some of the on-the-ground realities of what its like to actually be presidential candidates in the wake of this sort of honeymoon phase that Kamala Harris has enjoyed after the party breed this massive sigh of relief with what happened with President Joe Biden deciding to step aside.
How do you see how Kamala Harris handled this? She's going to face more tough moments with Palestinian protesters in some of these events. The president faced them as well, and then she also handled the lock him up chants that showed up at his rally in Philadelphia as well.
But again, these critical test for them, how are they handling them so far?
LAUREN EGAN, WHITE HOUSE REPORTER, POLITICO: Yeah. I thought the "lock him up" comment was especially interesting. That's clearly not something that she wants her crowd of supporters to be chanting. The Biden administration has been very careful to say, were not involved in any of these Trump cases.
But as for the pro-Palestinian protesters, that was super interesting. I think to some extent, she's still experiencing a bit of a honeymoon phase if we think back to just what President Biden was experiencing on the road, I mean, he could not get through a speech without every few minutes, protesters interrupting him.
So the fact that this is the first time that this is really happened to her in a significant way, I think is notable and its sort of going away, speaks out of the Democratic coalition is trying to hold itself together and say, we might have all these different pieces to us. But we got what we wanted. Biden stepped down. We're in a feeling really good about things, let's just make it through November. And we'll see how long that that's actually going to last for.
HUNT: But 90 --
EGAN: A lot can happen in 90 days.
HUNT: A lot can happen in 90 days for sure.
Juliegrace, lets talk about J.D. Vance for a second, because one of the other things that played out was his sort of rather odd walk across the tarmac. But we should we should be clear, both the vice presidents -- the current vice presidents plane Air Force Two and J.D. Vance's plane were on the same tarmac at the same time, and he walked outside the plane. He was apparently looking for her, did not run into her, but here's what he said. How are you explained what he was doing there. Watch.
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SEN. J.D. VANCE (R-OH), VICE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I figured I'd come by and one just take a good look at the plane, hopefully, it's going to be my plane in a few months, but I also thought you guys might get lonely because the vice president doesn't answer questions from reporters. And hasn't for 17 days.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: What do you make of a Vance decided to do this because -- I mean, let's be candid. He's had a rocky rollout.
JULIEGRACE BRUFKE, CAPITOL HILL REPORTER, AXIOS: That is true. And I feel like I've talked to some Republicans that have had a little buyer's remorse on kind of pushing for Vance there, but that being said, they're sending him out there to kind of be the attack dog on behalf of Donald Trump. And I think that's kind of going to continue to be his role there, whether that's going to be effective for them. We'll see.
I mean, I feel like keys kind of picked him to be able to resonate with some of these blue-collar voters. And I feel like Tim Walz also kind of brings that to the table. So it's good -- it's an interesting matchup.
HUNT: Lauren, one of the things obviously we mentioned it, it here was this attack against Walz's military service record. And this is something that first came up when Walz ran for Congress. He actually says that he retired from the guard in order to run for Congress.
So, back in 2009, this was how he explained his decision to leave the National Guard. Watch.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GOV. TIM WALZ (D-MN), VICE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I left in April of 2005 and this was what you know, for me, I was able to just short of 25 years and it was it was to run for this office. We were really concerned that we were going to try and do both. There's always the Hatch Act and some of the things that you have to be very careful of.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: So, of course, the Hatch Act is referring to the law that prevents government employees, service members from doing making political statements. What they're trying to say is that he got out right before his unit was going to go see combat and making the insinuations about that. How do you view how Walz is -- has the Harris team is handling this so far as well as the truth of what's actually underneath all this?
EGAN: Yeah, we saw yesterday some top Harris surrogates come out and defend Walz, like Pete Buttigieg, people with their own military experience. I don't think that the Harris team feels like this is really going to stick. They don't seem super concerned.
You know, obviously it feels a little bit like were swift boat. You can imagine how this could end up being super problematic for him. But again, he has been tested on this before. He's answered these questions before. So I think that they're feeling confident that he's -- he's on the
record as you just played that clip having explained it. But obviously, this is going to be a major line of attack that we're going to see from Republicans over these next few weeks.
HUNT: All right. Lauren Egan, Juliegrace Brufke, thank you both very much for starting us off this morning.
All right. Coming up next here on CNN THIS MORNING: Israel on high alert amid the threat of additional regional attacks, independent of Iran.
Plus, terrorists -- a terrorist plot hot forces Taylor Swift to cancel three European shows.
Plus, new numbers show Kamala Harris making gains with a key group of voters.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
INTERVIEWER: Are you confident that there will be a peaceful transfer of power in January 2025?
JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: If Trump wins, no, I'm not confident at all -- I mean, if Trump loses, I'm not confident at all. He means what he says. We don't take him seriously. He means it, all the stuff about if we lose, there'll be a bloodbath.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
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HUNT: All right, welcome back.
This morning, it's not just Iran posing a threat to Israel. The IDF now on alert from other sites as well, according to multiple U.S. officials. The Iran attack in retaliation for the assassination of a Hamas leader in Tehran is still in the planning stage.
A more imminent threat could come from Hezbollah in Lebanon. Sources telling CNN that Hezbollah is plotting to attack Israel on its own, independent of Iran.
Leaders from several Muslim nations in the region meeting in Saudi Arabia. They say it's up to Israel to bring down the temperature.
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AYMAN SAFADI, JORDAN MINISTER OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS: If we are to force Israel to accept a ceasefire, end the aggression in Gaza, ensure that we get that permanent ceasefire, then we would have created enough reason for everybody to say enough is enough. Now we have an opportunity at real de-escalation. And we should move towards that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: All right. Max Foster joins us now, live from London.
Max, good morning to you.
The U.S. is saying that Gaza peace talks are in their final stages, but obviously, there have been a series of developments here that seemed to cast doubt on some of that.
[05:15:01]
How do you view this latest twist in that context?
MAX FOSTER, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, it's probably going to stay in their final stages, isn't it, for a while. They've got this looming threats from Hezbollah, from Iran in Israel waiting for that to be resolved, utterly focused on that, also being told by her mass that the person now leading the negotiations in the peace talks is the person that Israel blames for the October 7 attacks. So its very difficult to see any sort of negotiation going on right now.
I could be wrong, but it would be an extraordinary situation where Israel and Hamas were going to agree something at this point was so much else going on and with a very, very difficult dynamic between those two groups. So, you know, its an imaginable that there'll be a peace deal in the current environment.
HUNT: And on this question about Lebanon and Hezbollah, we talked earlier this week about sort of fears of a wider conflict in the region emerging what is your sense from talking to officials there as well about how this plays into that overall sense of foreboding?
FOSTER: Well, it's waiting for the response and it's clear, you know, Hezbollah's leader spoke to this, keeping the threat looming and not actually carrying out the attack is part of the attack is to create this fear effectively in Israel. Part of the punishment for an attack on a Hezbollah military commander.
What we're trying to figure out right now is how Iran and their proxies, as we call them, these groups are associated with, are going to play this and we've got this news, obviously that you we're talking about that Hezbollah may go it alone position to, do that, they're an independent group, but they are massively supportive, very close to Iran. You know, the assumption had been there'll be a coordinated effort.
We just don't know what's going on. That's the reality here. Is this part of the psychological warfare, keeping Israel on the West or Israel in America confused by this, or is this some sort of tactic or some breakdown between Hezbollah and Iran? We just don't know what's going on.
HUNT: All right. Max Foster for us this morning -- Max, always grateful to have you. Thank you so much.
All right. Still ahead here on CNN THIS MORNING:
Protesters in the U.K. pushing back against anti-immigrant riots. We're going to have that in the morning roundup.
Plus, Tropical Storm Debby making landfall a second time, bringing huge amounts of rain, and causing flooding across the Southeast.
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[05:22:06]
HUNT: All right. Twenty-two minutes past the hour. Here's your morning roundup.
Not sure it won't happen again. That's what Boeing's quality director told investigators during a hearing into that door plug blow out, the Boeing executives saying that he can't guarantee there wont be another defect. The company is committed to making changes.
Thousands of anti-racism protesters filling U.K. streets Wednesday, holding off far-right rallies at immigrants operation centers. Throughout the last week, the U.K. has seen numerous demonstrations and riots targeting immigrants.
California Governor Gavin Newsom's declaring today, panda day in his home state. In just hours two pandas will make their public debut at the San Diego zoo. They've been there since June and were the first giant pandas to come to the U.S. from China in 21 years.
All right. Time now for weather. Tropical Storm Debby making another landfall this morning in South Carolina, bringing more downpours and flooding to the region.
Another threat, tornadoes. Two homes in Samson County, North Carolina, were hit by a tornado as Debby moved in. No injuries were reported, but it's just another reminder of the many threats that Debby brings the Carolinas and beyond.
Let's get straight to our meteorologist, Allison Chinchar, with more on this.
Allison, good morning.
ALLISON CHINCHAR, AMS METEOROLOGIST: And good morning, guys.
You can see the damage behind me from Wilson County, North Carolina. Again, this house, a lot of significant damage here on the one you can even note some on the second side.
Yes, this was one of the threats from yesterday and it's still going to be a threat for today. We have another tornado watch. This one valid until 1:00 p.m. eastern time today, this encompasses parts of North Carolina, but also spreading north into Virginia because this is where the storm is going to go. It's going to start to spread northward. We do have a tornado warning, two of the back-to-back right here, just north and west of Greenville, North Carolina. And again, you can see a lot of these heavier bands of rain really starting to spread into North Carolina not only in Greenville, but also around the Raleigh area, Charlotte also starting to get some heavier rain bands sliding in two.
Now, another thing too is this is rain is the last thing these areas need. So you still have all of these floods he watches, and all of these red ones here are flash flood warnings. This one outlined here in white. This is a flashflood emergency. They've already had up to eight inches of rainfall ready. Now, there's going to be even more warning people to just be safe in those areas.
Here's a look, of Tropical Storm Debby as it stands now, sustained winds of 50 miles per hour. So its come back down a little bit since yesterday, but now were really going to start to see that forward movement where it finally starts to take off and head in towards the mid-Atlantic as well as the northeast as we go through the rest of the day instead of the incredibly slow movement that we've really seen from much of the last several days.
But even with that said, even with the faster movement, it's still expected to dump at least two to four inches widespread. Some areas could see up to six additional inches.
HUNT: All right. Allison Chinchar for us this morning. Allison, thank you.
All right. Coming up next here on CNN this morning, Taylor Swift shows canceled in Austria after authorities uncover an alleged terror plot.
[05:25:06]
Plus, we'll speak live with Congresswoman Debbie Dingell as Kamala Harris appears to be trying to appeal to a critical group of voters.
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HARRIS: I do believe it is the highest form a patriotism, to fight for the ideals of our country and that's how we preserve the promise of America because after all, the promise of America is what makes it possible, by the way, for Governor Walz and me to stand on this stage today.
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