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Trump Gives Rambling Press Conference to Announce Debate with Harris; Trump Compares January 6th Crowd Size to MLK's March on Washington; North Carolina Hit by Tornadoes from Debby. Aired 6-6:30a ET
Aired August 09, 2024 - 06:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KASIE HUNT, CNN ANCHOR: It's Friday, August 9. Right now on CNN THIS MORNING.
[05:59:28]
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KAMALA HARRIS (D), VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES, 2024 PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: Well, I'm glad that he's finally agreed to a debate.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: It's official. Donald Trump and Kamala Harris will meet on the debate stage. Will this debate be as consequential to the race as the last?
Plus.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP (R), FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT, 2024 PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: In history for any country, nobody's had crowds like I have.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: Across all of history? Donald Trump's obsession with crowd size hits a new peak.
And this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. NANCY PELOSI (D-CA) (via phone: His legacy will go right down the drain if that what's-his-name ever got in the White House.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[06:00:03]
HUNT: Nancy Pelosi weighing in on Joe Biden's legacy and how a Trump second term could impact that.
Plus, a little later, she won gold in Tahiti. Caroline Marks is here to reflect on her Olympic journey.
All right, 6 a.m. here in Washington. A live look at the White House on this Friday morning. Good morning, everyone. I'm Kasie Hunt. It's wonderful to have you with us. It's Friday. We made it.
Donald Trump, accustomed to a life in the tabloids and a presidency that completely dominated almost every news cycle. He's clearly feeling a little left out of the spotlight, with Kamala Harris securing the Democratic nomination in a whirlwind process; Tim Walz making a fiery entrance as her V.P. pick.
Even J.D. Vance, Trump's running mate, has been making plenty of his own headlines.
So, what is a former president and reality TV star to do? Throw a press conference, naturally, and talk about, well, everything.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: We're very close to a world war. Listen, I had 107,000 people in New Jersey.
In fact, I went down in a helicopter with him. We thought maybe this is the end. We were in a helicopter.
Even heard of heavy into the transgender world, heavy.
Everybody's going to be forced to buy an electric car.
He's not happy with Obama. And he's not happy with Nancy Pelosi, Crazy Nancy. She is crazy, too.
Even in sadness (ph) said -- that's a -- it's a mental institution on steroids. That's what it is.
Elon is a very different kind of a guy.
You have millions and millions of dead people. And you have people dying financially, because they can't buy bacon.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: That press conference lasted over an hour.
It also included a striking moment which Trump compared his crowd size to Martin Luther King Jr.'s. We're going to have a whole separate segment on that.
It wasn't all bluster and insults, though. Yesterday, both candidates did agree to a debate, now set for September 10.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: But I think it's very important to have debates.
The other side has to agree to the terms. HARRIS: I'm glad that he's finally agreed to a debate on September 10.
I'm looking forward to it, and I hope he shows up.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: The debate will be hosted by ABC. They will allow other networks to simulcast it. That's what CNN also did in June.
You may remember that that debate changed everything. After Biden's disastrous debate performance, CNN poll of polls found Donald Trump had a five-point lead over him nationally.
The latest CNN poll of polls has Trump and Harris tied, less than three months out from election day.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: Election? I keep talking about November 5, but the election really starts on September 6. That's when it starts, because it's early voting.
GOV. TIM WALZ (D-MN), VICE-PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: Think about this: 89 wakeups. I've been saying this; 89 days. We can do anything for 89 days. Telling people sleep when you're dead. We've got work to do right now.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: Joining me now to discuss, Toluse Olorunnipa, White House bureau chief for "The Washington Post"; Karen Finney, CNN political commentator, former senior adviser to Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign; and Matt Gorman, former senior adviser to Tim Scott's presidential campaign. Welcome to all of you.
Yesterday, quite a -- quite a show, Matt Gorman, in terms of, you know, what we saw from -- from Donald Trump. But I think the thing that I was struck by -- a couple of things.
I mean, one, it seemed like he is still acting like he is running against Joe Biden. That's sort of the posture.
And second, like the contrast, the energy contrast on display between Trump and Biden really worked in Trump's favor. But between Trump and Harris, it doesn't.
MATT GORMAN, FORMER SENIOR ADVISOR TO TIM SCOTT'S PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN: A couple of things.
I mean, yes, I think Republicans are going into this day saying, look, how do we find a way to arrest Harris's momentum? How do we find a way to kind of staunch that a little bit?
And also, how do we find a way to get her out of her bubble, right? Throw her off a little bit in a way to, you know -- we all -- we believe that she's best in unscripted, possibly more politically vulnerable scenarios, as supposed to the event. So that was going into this day. And I think there were the news the top, as we -- as you started with here, was OK, the plan is we're going to talk and do these three debates, one of which that we know she will agree to. The other two, we think we can at least try and jam in a little bit.
And then it kind of veered off into a bunch of different topics. And then I -- look, I think that the challenge now is, you know, with days like this, where it kind of -- the topics veered off to everything, there's -- we have a very clear playbook. Trump-earned media is doing it. Actually, Trump paid media is doing it with TV ads, talking about the back-and-forth, Kamala going back and forth on tons of different issues.
J.D. Vance is pushing a very clear message, whether it's against Kamala at first or Tim -- Tim Walz. The difference is now can Trump kind of support that?
[06:05:06]
KAREN FINNEY, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: But yesterday felt more for like Donald Trump said, OK, I know better than you all how to fix this, right? I'm not getting the press I want. Why am I not on the front page? I got this. I'm just going to go out --
HUNT: He's saying that to his own campaign team?
FINNEY: Exactly. But he says to his team, you know, no, what I'm going to do. I know what to do. I'm going to do a press conference.
I mean, you heard Stephanie Grisham, actually, yesterday said this is the playbook. This is what he does. He thinks he can fix it, fix it. Right?
So, he went out. And I think they did have an agenda to say, OK, we're going to put three debates on the table, and that probably was the news that they wanted to make.
However, when you have Donald Trump -- and as you pointed out, Donald Trump, in comparison to Joe Biden, different than Donald Trump in comparison to Kamala Harris, where he then goes veering off into all kinds -- there was just lots on his mind.
He felt like --
HUNT: We saw quite a bit of it, yes.
FINNEY: -- he needed to weigh in on. And this is the problem or a challenge when you have a candidate like that.
Because, yes, now on paid media, absolutely, they're driving their messages. And some of the things, the charges that we're hearing from J.D. Vance, we know that is also, you know, sort of underground, what they're pushing, as well.
But you know, I wouldn't -- when they said three debates, I sort of thought, well, I don't know. Maybe it wouldn't be bad for Kamala. Let him just do that. Three debates. But really the base maybe not so bad.
TOLUSE OLORUNNIPA, WHITE HOUSE BUREAU CHIEF, "THE WASHINGTON POST": Both sides did agree on one thing. They want their opponent having unscripted moments. They want Donald Trump out there -- Democrats do -- talking off the cuff, exploring the inside of his mind in a public fashion.
The Republicans also want to hear Kamala Harris speaking off the teleprompter, because they think a lot of the viral clips of her, you know, sort of doing word salads and doing things that Republicans have clipped and disseminated are times where she's not on the teleprompter.
She has done quite well, and I was at her rally in Michigan. She's done quite well when she's giving a set speech to an adoring crowd of thousands of people. And I think that's shocked a number of Republicans, including Donald Trump, that she's done so well.
And so, they're trying to find another way to get her in front of the public in a way that she's not as comfortable: maybe in an interview, in a press conference. And they're hoping that those unscripted good moments will reveal something that will help them.
HUNT: Yes, let's -- let's show everybody what, because this is a point that Donald Trump made in his news conference yesterday, that Kamala Harris says.
And look, he was there with reporters taking questions. It happens to be Donald Trump's basically favorite venue in which to operate.
But this is what he said about Harris and her unwillingness to do the same.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: She's not doing any news conference. You know why? She's not doing it, because she can't do a news conference. She doesn't know how to do a news conference. She's not smart enough to do a news conference.
She's incompetent. The reason she's not doing what I do, and she's not doing what she should be doing -- she won't even do interviews with friendly people. Because she can't do better than Biden.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: So, look, he's not wrong that it's not her best venue.
I mean, I think I take Toluse's point.
FINNEY: But here's the thing. I think folks have so underestimated Kamala Harris and were so used to not actually seeing her. Like, I'm not surprised she's been doing so well, because, you know, while --
HUNT: That's been helping her, that people have underestimated her.
FINNEY: A hundred percent. So please keep saying how incompetent you think she is.
The woman is a very effective prosecutor who went after transnational gangs like, you know, human trafficking gun smuggling. I mean, she's a tough woman in an unscripted moment. I think she'll be fine.
But this strategy right now -- first of all, it's two and a half weeks. Let's give her that. She had to secure the nomination, then get a V.P.
And so, I do think you're going to see her in more unscripted moments. I mean, you are going to see an interview. But again, I think what they're doing right now --
HUNT: Just to, like, let our viewers in. Like, you -- a lot of inside information.
FINNEY: I'm just saying maybe there will be something. But at the same time, I think part of the strategy is again, what we were just talking about: keep the momentum going, keep the joy and the contrast going.
GORMAN: If there's one, like, not really well-kept secret about Kamala Harris in Washington D.C., it's that she really absorbs a lot of the criticism.
Like, she's well-known to watch FOX very, like -- very regularly. And so, I think strip away all kind of the puffery and the bluster. What Trump was trying to do was get inside her head and trying to -- knowing that she will hear some form of this. You know, we know it's an open secret that she's probably agree to an interview already with one of the major networks.
And then the other thing is -- the other thing is, you know, get her out more wanting to kind of -- with Karen, like, prove something. I was watching kind of the FOX reaction. Well, you know what? I'm going to take a couple questions. Strip away all that; that was the point of it.
FINNEY: But this is the other thing I just want to say. You know, this is a woman who has been a historic first in lots of rooms where you had to prove yourself, where people, you know, discounted you or didn't think you were capable. And she has risen to the occasion time after time in this life (ph), from D.A. to A.G, to senator to the White House.
[06:10:13]
So again, please keep underestimating her.
HUNT: I will just say as -- you know, as I sort of have covered her rise, you know, she has stepped into these increasingly high-profile situations. Senator, presidential candidate, vice president. There has always been a learning curve for her.
She has eventually gotten to a place where she is. And we're seeing that as vice president, she got to a much stronger place than the one where she started. My question is, has she gotten to a point where -- how much learning does she have to do in these 90 days, in this crucible? And I think this is going to be one of the critical tests for her.
All right. Coming up next here on CNN THIS MORNING, President Biden, Nancy Pelosi have not spoken in weeks. Where the former speaker says their relationship stands today.
Plus, six people trapped inside a burning home. The daring rescue to get them out. That's one of the five things you've got to see this morning.
And why Donald Trump compared his crowd on January 6 to this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REV. DR. MARTIN LUTHER KING JR., CIVIL RIGHTS LEADER: I have agreed. And one day this nation will rise up, live out the true meaning of its creed. We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[06:16:02]
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEAN SPICER, FORMER WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY UNDER DONALD TRUMP: This was the largest audience to ever witness an inauguration, period, both in-person and around the globe.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: That was former White House press secretary Sean Spicer, the day after Donald Trump's inauguration back in 2021. That now infamous news conference was an early look at Trump's obsession over crowd sizes.
And actually, I should -- I should correct that. That was back in 2017.
It's an interest that has continued over for the years.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: We had the biggest audience in the history of inaugural speeches.
We have 7,000 people outside trying to get in.
Look at the people back there. Shoot it. You've got to shoot it. Turn around.
By the way, they never report the crowd on January 6.
She was here a week ago, lots of empty seats. But the crowd she got was because she had entertainers.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: Yesterday, Trump went so far -- This is -- this is why we're talking about this today. He compared the attendance of the rally that he held on January 6, 2021, which of course, was right before the Capitol insurrection -- Many of those people walked down the Mall to the Capitol -- to one of the most iconic speeches that's been delivered here in America.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: OK. Martin Luther King, when he did his speech, his great speech, and you look at ours, same real estate, same everything. Same number of people. If not, we had more.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: Matt Gorman, this is a whole new level. MLK. MLK.
GORMAN: And like I said, if you're going to do a lot of topics. A lot of topics.
Look, I will say this. I think this is -- it's weirdly -- this whole thing with crowd size is because I often say it was Trump. He didn't kind of change everything, is he took what was already happening and put it on steroids. Is you know, again, all of that.
But then the dirty little secret is politicians, at least the ones I've worked for and seeing, are obsessed with the size of crowds; because it's one of the few objective measures throughout the course of a campaign.
HUNT: But it's also one of the first things when you were a reporter covering him, you learned not to trust, I will say.
FINNEY: A hundred percent.
GORMAN: Oh, I mean, I will say we always give you B.S. numbers on the other there's always oh, yes. But the funny thing is, too, it's money raised, and it's crowd sizes. And those are the few -- two objective measures over the course of the campaign that pundits, operatives, press always can try and measure with it.
And so that is an obsession of politicians, and certainly, Donald Trump is taken that, too on, you know, on steroids.
OLORUNNIPA: On steroids and also on a scale of falseness that is far beyond anyone's --
HUNT: Scale of falseness. I feel like that's a good phrase. I'm going to have to borrow that.
OLORUNNIPA: -- of lies. But in terms of comparing to Martin Luther King, first, I think it's important just to say, like, that's completely wrong and misleading. Martin Luther King had a much larger crowd by several dimensions and, also, his crowd was peaceful.
Donald Trump's crowd ended up storming the Capitol and, you know, injuring police officers. And so that comparison, I'm not sure why he wants to make that comparison.
But it's clear that he's obsessed with crowd sizes. It's clear that he's rocked by the fact that Kamala Harris has been having these huge crowds.
I was with her in Detroit. She had a situation that was very similar to a Trump rally, where she pulled up in Air Force Two at an airport hangar to rockets --
HUNT: Lots of theatrics, yes.
OLORUNNIPA: Lots of theatrics. Music, people excited. People were waiting for hours, you know, fainting in the heat. It felt like a Trump rally. And I think Trump is surprised and shocked by that.
HUNT: Well, I mean, this -- this I will say, Karen, is I wonder if part of this is that this is the first time that he really has lost this edge.
Because I will say, having been at that rally on Tuesday, I wouldn't go so far as to compare it to the 2008 Obama campaign. But really, the last time I was at an event for a Democratic nominee with a crowd that big and that excited was when I covered President Obama running for reelection in 2012.
[06:20:03]
FINNEY: Yes, I actually -- when I did advance back in the olden days, I was a crowd person. And there is a whole -- there's a person that's whole job is to get the crowd there. About a 50,000-person crowd.
HUNT: I was going to say. Another reason why we don't always trust this, because they're not always organic, right?
FINNEY: Right.
HUNT: They can be built.
FINNEY: Yes.
HUNT: But I will say, Trump had organic crowds. And what's going on with Harris feels like there is genuine -- like an organic-ness to it.
FINNEY: The thing about his obsession with crowds is, you know, my mother always taught me when a man is arguing about size of anything, in this case crowds; where there's an obsession --
HUNT: It's a family morning show.
FINNEY: That's all I'm going to say, is he's probably insecure. That's -- I'll just put -- leave it there. I think women know what I'm talking about. Whether it's your car, it's your crowd, it's your, you know, whatever --
HUNT: You look deeply uncomfortable.
GORMAN: Six-twenty in the morning, ladies and gentlemen.
HUNT: She said it, not me. All right?
FINNEY: I'm just putting it out there.
HUNT: OK. Still to come on CNN THIS MORNING, more legal questions for the former president as Donald Trump's 2020 election case in Georgia nears another critical deadline.
Plus, an unwelcome back-to-school visitor in a California classroom. Oh, my goodness. It is one of the five things you have to see this morning.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[06:25:44]
HUNT: All right. Twenty-five minutes past the hour, five things you have to see this morning.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I need everyone just to get out. Please! (SPEAKING SPANISH)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: A dramatic house fire rescue all caught on body cam video. Police in New York helped rescue six people trapped on the second floor of this burning house.
The fire may have been sparked by a cigarette.
American sprinter Noah Lyles, capturing a bronze medal in the 200- meter dash after testing positive for COVID. He says he woke up Tuesday morning, feeling horrible, quarantined, and hydrated. He says he never considered dropping, and that he's never been more proud of himself.
This was a scary moment.
The world's largest community of 3-D printed homes is almost complete in Texas. The first completed house was just unveiled.
The walls are printed using a concrete based material. Wow. Look at that.
The homes cost up to $599,000.
People in Denmark partying on a boat to celebrate the return of spicy noodles. In June, the Danish government banned three products for being too spicy, but the ban has been lifted for two of the three products.
As you can see here, people appear to be thrilled.
One student showed up early to a Southern California classroom. A teacher says she went to her class Tuesday night to get ready for the upcoming school year, only to find this little guy. It's a bear. I think he's rather cute, honestly. Look, see?
Thankfully, no damage was done. See? Actually cute. The bear was safely released.
All right. Time now for weather.
Debby no longer a tropical storm, but the storm's deadly impact still being felt up and down the East Coast. North Carolina, dealing with a string of tornadoes spawned by Debby. One man was killed when his house was hit by the storm.
A tornado also hit a middle school, ripping off the roof, causing extensive damage there. Thankfully, nobody was in the building at the time.
North Carolina touring the damage with a warning for residents that this still isn't over.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GOV. ROY COOPER (D-NC): This system is still not out. There's still tornado watches out. We've seen this devastation that a tornado can cause. So, we're still concerned about that.
We want people to be on alert.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: All right. Let's get straight to our meteorologist, Elisa Raffa. Elisa, good morning.
ELISA RAFFA, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Good morning.
We are still seeing some of that damage out of North Carolina this morning. I mean, look at the flooding. You know, multifaceted. Heavy rain and then tornadoes, like you were mentioning some of that wind damage in those communities in North Carolina.
It is post-tropical right now, meaning it's losing some of the skeleton that it used to have as a hurricane. But it still is posing a flood threat and a tornado threat.
We have some tornado warnings there just South of D.C., because in some of these kind of what used to be outer bands, you can still get some little cells to spin.
A new tornado watch was just issued until 2:00 p.m. It includes places like Philadelphia, some of these suburbs there in Jersey and in parts of Eastern Pennsylvania, as we continue to see some of these little, again, nubs that continue to spin.
We do still have some flash-flood warnings North in the Charleston area for considerable flood damage. Again, where we have found ten to 20 inches of rain, parts of South Carolina and North Carolina.
The flood watches now stretch all the way up to the Canadian border. We're talking through Pennsylvania, upstate New York, parts of New England where we could still continue to see three to six inches of rain.
You can see what's left of Debby will continue to swirl through New England, but we are finally getting rid of this thing probably by tonight -- Kasie.
HUNT: All right. Elisa Raffa for us this morning. Elisa, thanks very much.
All right. Coming up next here on CNN THIS MORNING, counting down to the convention. The strategy being deployed by the Harris-Walz campaign in the next ten days.
Plus.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PELOSI: I think history will honor him as a selfless person.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: Nancy Pelosi speaking out about her feelings for Joe Biden and his decision to exit the race.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
