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Source: Hamas Agrees To Attend Gaza Ceasefire Talks; Appeal For Jordan Chiles To Keep Bronze Medal Denied; Democrats Prepare For DNC In Less Than One Week. Aired 5:30-6a ET

Aired August 13, 2024 - 05:30   ET

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

[05:30:00]

KASIE HUNT, CNN ANCHOR: All right, 5:29 a.m. here in Washington, and a live look at New Orleans where later today will deliver remarks at a Biden cancer moonshot event. Good morning, everyone. I'm Kasie Hunt. It's wonderful to have you with us.

The White House preparing for a potential attack against Israel from Iran as soon as this week. Israel's defense minister says they are on high alert.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

YOAV GALLANT, ISRAEL DEFENSE MINISTER (through translator): We are in a period of vigilance and preparation at a time when the threats from Tehran and Beirut could materialize. In recent days we have been devoting our time to both strengthening the defense and creating offensive alternatives.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: It's a dangerous backdrop for Gaza peace talks, which are expected to resume Thursday with Hamas participating. The terrorist organization announcing it will attend the talks this week despite last month's assassination of its top political leader, which Hamas has blamed Israel for.

White House national security adviser John Kirby calling on both sides to talk before there's no turning back.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN KIRBY, SPOKESPERSON, NATIONAL SECURITY COUNCIL: We've seen the public statements that they put out there. We believe everybody needs to show up on Thursday and see if we can't wrap this thing up.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: In a rare move, the Pentagon announced it sent a guided missile submarine to the Middle East in an attempt to deter any attacks on Israel. The Pentagon says publicizing that is absolutely a message to Iran.

Let's bring in CNN military analyst and retired Air Force Col. Cedric Leighton. Colonel, good morning. Thank you so much for being here.

COL. CEDRIC LEIGHTON, CNN MILITARY ANALYST, AIR FORCE COLONEL (RET.): Oh, good morning, Kasie.

HUNT: We have been waiting for this possible attack for quite some time now. Why the delay? Is this due to Iran trying to surprise us or due to the behind-the-scenes diplomatic efforts, in your view?

LEIGHTON: Well, they're definitely not surprising us because we've been focused on this for quite some time now.

But what is happening is the Iranians have several things. They've got political issues that they have to deal with, diplomatic issues, and then they have military issues. So the key thing that they're really looking at is the military one, which is the planning perspective. They need to plan the kind of operation that they're going to conduct.

They need to -- in order to save face they need to do something to, in essence, avenge Ismail Haniyeh's death on their soil. But what that something is has to be calibrated and they also have to make an impact. Because when they did this last time on April 13 it was a lot of firing of missiles, and rockets, and UAVs, but it did not do any damage -- any real damage to Israel except for a few minor things. One key thing was hitting an air base that they -- that they have, but that was basically it. And that is what Iran wants to basically improve upon from their standpoint.

HUNT: How do you think the decision by Hamas to participate in peace talks this week is tied into this retaliation or lack thereof from Iran?

LEIGHTON: Well, I think it's very much tied into it. They're -- Hamas and Iran are probably working together to figure out how they are going to respond to all of these things. They know -- Hamas knows they need peace. They need at least some type of ceasefire in Gaza in order to survive.

But they also know that they want Ismail Haniyeh's death avenged. They will let Iran do a lot of that. But they also want to work in concert with Iran so as not to lose Iran's sponsorship of their activities, which is considerable.

HUNT: Colonel, I also want to, while you're here, talk about what's going on in Ukraine. We touched on this with Clare Sebastian earlier in the show and she showed what Vladimir Putin and how he was kind of handling a discussion about this in Russia, right, where the leader of the Kursk region, which is the place where Ukrainian troops have launched this offensive, was basically talking about it. Putin kind of shut him down and tried to talk about something else.

The New York Times frames what's going on in Ukraine this way. They say -- and actually, I should say what's going on in Russia because of what Ukraine is doing.

"The incursion into Russia marked a significant shift in the war's narrative. Since launching their full-scale invasion in February 2022, Russian troops have expanded their hold to more than 18 percent of Ukraine. A Ukrainian counteroffensive last year failed; this year, the war has been mainly slog in the country's east, with Russian troops grinding forward, sometimes a few feet at a time. Ukrainian morale has sunk, and pressure has built on Ukrainian leaders to negotiate a deal."

But suddenly, that seems to have shifted. What is your view of what Zelenskyy is doing here and how it's playing out?

LEIGHTON: So one of the key things Kasie that Zelenskyy is doing is he's actually taking the initiative and in war, initiative is a key component. All of a sudden, Ukrainian morale has increased. All of a sudden, Western leaders are going to Kyiv and they're saying things that are very favorable to Kyiv's position.

So what Zelenskyy is trying to do is capture as much territory as he possibly can in order to perhaps bargain with the Russians or at least put pressure on the Russians -- and in many ways, probably both -- to make sure that the Russians don't get any more territory eventually, but also to have something that he can exchange for the Ukrainian territory that the Russians have already captured.

[05:35:00]

HUNT: All right, Col. Cedric Leighton for us this morning. Colonel, thank you. Always wonderful to have you.

LEIGHTON: Oh, thanks, Kasie.

HUNT: All right, let's turn now to this. USA Gymnastics says its appeal for Olympic gymnast Jordan Chiles to keep her bronze medal has been denied.

Chiles won bronze for her floor exercise routine at the Games in Paris but only after coaches successfully challenged the difficulty of her routine, which had been judged incorrectly. That challenge added an additional .1 to her score and it bumped her into that bronze medal slot. But the Court of Arbitration for Sport ruled on Saturday, six days later, that the challenge to Chiles' initial score occurred too late, outside of the one-minute period that's allowed.

On Sunday, the International Olympic Committee announced Chiles would be stripped of her medal and it would, instead, go to her Romanian counterpart.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ALY RAISMAN, 3-TIME OLYMPIC GOLD MEDALIST: This is just so heartbreaking, and I'm just so gutted for Jordan. These gymnasts work their entire lives for this moment, and it's supposed to be a celebration. I think it's so unfair, it's so cruel, and I don't think that Jordan should have to give her medal back. The IOC has given more than one medal before, and I think that they should do that now. This is -- it's awful.

(END VIDEO CLIP) HUNT: USA Gymnastics say that they will continue to fight for Chiles' bronze.

Joining me now, CNN sports analyst Christine Brennan. Christine, good morning to you. Always wonderful to have you.

This is really heartbreaking for Jordan Chiles. My understanding is there still may be another turn here. Why did they turn down this appeal, and what happens next?

CHRISTINE BRENNAN, CNN SPORTS ANALYST, SPORTS COLUMNIST, USA TODAY (via Webex by Cisco): Well, there definitely is, Kasie, another turn and that's going to the Swiss tribunal. The last gasp basically in this -- in this awful, ridiculous, just idiotic decision making by the leaders of the Olympic world.

I've covered this -- you know, the Olympics -- I just got back from Paris a few hours ago -- for 40 years. And this is the group that just cannot make the right decisions. They continue always to do things that are just counterproductive for athletes and for the promotion of their sport.

Jordan Chiles deserves that bronze medal. She has it here in the United States and I don't think it's going to go back anytime soon.

But there is -- if you look at the Court of Arbitration for Sport, Kasie, as the Supreme Court for international sports, there's one level up and that is the Swiss tribunal. And my sense is that's all procedural over the years I've covered this. And so my sense would be that the procedure here -- the fact that they got this new video showing that the U.S. put in the appeal at 47 seconds, not one minute and four seconds -- my sense is that will play well with that Swiss tribunal.

HUNT: When Aly Raisman there, in that interview, said that the IOC has given out more than one medal is that do you think, a realistic scenario here?

BRENNAN: I do. I covered the 2002 Salt Lake City Games. You probably remember them -- the French judge. The cheating that went on with Canadian and the Russians in the pairs figure skating collusion to give the Russians -- the French the ice dancing gold medal back, what, 22 years ago. And I broke that story. I covered every second of it.

And what ended up happening about five, six days later -- the exact same timeframe we're talking about from the original bronze medal to this appeal and these decisions over the last week -- what happened was they gave two gold medals. The Russians got a gold medal and then the Canadians, Jamie Sale and David Pelletier, very popular in Salt Lake City -- they also got a gold medal.

And I asked the IOC specifically, while I was still in Paris, why aren't you doing that? You set the precedent in 2002 to give double gold in a case that exploded around the world. Why on earth are you not doing that here? And Kasie, the other part of this -- that was basically the weekend of the -- maybe the greatest games ever -- certainly, the best I've ever covered -- Paris. You think about this. You've got this controversy that just crash-lands on Saturday and Sunday as the Paris Games are ending. Why on earth would the International Olympic Committee not do the right thing?

By the way, the thing that the Romanians and the United States wanted, double bronze -- why the IOC would not do that and instead let this rain on their beautiful parade I have no idea.

HUNT: Yeah, it's a -- it's a really stunning question that we have to be asking.

Christine Brennan, so grateful for your deep expertise on this. I'm always happy to have you on the show. Thank you so much.

All right --

BRENNAN: Thank you, Kasie.

HUNT: -- coming up here on CNN THIS MORNING, less than a week until the Democratic National Convention in Chicago and all eyes are on Kamala Harris as she prepares to accept the Democratic nomination.

Plus, why an Olympic bronze medalist -- a different one -- is suing the WNBA. We're going to have that and more coming up on Bleacher Report.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[05:44:23]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KAMALA HARRIS, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I have fought for children and survivors of sexual assault. I have fought against transnational criminal organizations. I took on the biggest banks and helped take down one of the biggest for-profit colleges. I know a predator when I see one.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: That was Kamala Harris four years ago speaking at the 2020 Democratic National Convention as the vice presidential nominee. We are now less than a week away from this year's DNC in Chicago but, of course, this time around Harris will accept the Democratic nomination for president. And she's making a similar argument now to sell herself to the American people as a prosecutor who is fundamentally tough.

[05:45:05]

But Trump allies are trying to convince voters it's actually the opposite, trying to frame Harris as weak on issues like crime and immigration.

Here is part of a recent ad from the Trump-aligned super PAC MAGA, Inc.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SUPER PAC MAGA, INC. POLITICAL AD: Radical Kamala raised money for a fund that bailed out violent criminals. That freed murderers and rapists. They even bailed out a domestic abuser. Days later, he murdered a man. And defunded police.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: In a new piece for CNN, CNN senior political analyst Ron Brownstein writes that this tactic echoes in history and could be a problem for Harris.

He writes this. "Trump's plan for blunting Harris' momentum, some Democrats believe, could reprise elements of the 1988 presidential campaign that George H.W. Bush and his fearsome campaign manager Lee Atwater, ran to devastatingly portray his Democratic opponent, Massachusetts Gov. Michael Dukakis, as a weak, soft-on crime liberal."

And Ron Brownstein joins me now with more. Ron, good morning. It's always wonderful to have you --

RON BROWNSTEIN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST, SENIOR EDITOR, THE ATLANTIC (via Webex by Cisco): Good morning.

HUNT: -- on the show.

This frame that you are talking about is the fundamental one that the Trump campaign was using to great affect against President Biden. That Trump was --

BROWNSTEIN: Right.

HUNT: -- strong and Biden was weak.

Is it working in this case? How much risk is there to Harris here?

BROWNSTEIN: Yeah, I think it's going to be kind of a pivotal fulcrum of the race.

As you say, against Biden, there were many Democrats who believed that the party was locked into an extremely damaging contrast where Trump was strong and Biden was weak and diminished. And sort of the contrast between Biden's performance at the debate and Trump's response to the assassination kind of crystalized and symbolized that in a way that would have been very difficult to overcome.

If you look now, in just a few weeks, Harris has significantly improved on Biden's standing on a whole series of measures that voters look for in a president -- honesty, temperament, energy. And most significantly, far more voters now say that Trump rather than Harris is too old to be president.

But amid all of that progress the big hill that's still out there is will voters see her as strong enough to keep them safe. That has always been Trump's personal asset -- the sense that he is a strong leader. He still leads Harris on that, but the gap is much closer than it was under Biden.

HUNT: Yeah.

Ron, I can't help but think that -- I mean, one of the things we're not talking as much about with Harris as we did, for example, in 2016 is that she's a woman. If she's elected, she'd be the first woman --

BROWNSTEIN: Yeah.

HUNT: -- president.

Obviously, Hillary Clinton was the first woman nominated by a major party on stage at a convention. She ultimately went on to lose.

Historically, a big part of why women in America have often been challenged, or at least this certainly is the perception, is that sometimes there is this struggle about strength. This idea that men are fundamentally stronger than women.

Do you think that plays in here? Because I will also say covering the RNC, which was a triumphant --

BROWNSTEIN: Yeah.

HUNT: -- moment for Republicans, the word testosterone kept coming up over and over and over again. This, like, idea of hypermasculinity equally strength and kind of rolling them into the White House.

How do you think that angle plays out here?

BROWNSTEIN: Yeah, it's really important. You know, I think most people in both parties, especially Democrats, believe that the vast majority of voters who would vote against Harris either because she is a person of mixed race background or because she is a woman have already moved to the Republican Party.

But I think the question of strength makes that not so simple. As I point out in the story, Harris is, as I say, more competitive than Biden was on the strength dimension against Trump. But there is still an enormous gender gap on that question, right?

I mean, women were -- in a variety of polls that I looked at -- Marquette National poll, New York Times-Sienna in the key states, CBS, and others, women were slightly more likely to identify Trump as a strong leader than they were to apply that label to Harris.

But among men, it's a chasm. Like, in The New York Times-Sienna national poll from late July, only one in six non-college white men described Harris as a strong leader. In the Marquette poll --

HUNT: Hmm.

BROWNSTEIN: -- men were 30 points -- nearly 30 points more likely to describe Trump and Harris as a strong leader. So there are still some gender stereotypes that she probably has to overcome. But, of course, she now -- linked to the part of her identity that was so problematic when she was running in a Democratic primary in 2020. It was a negative then -- the meaning that Kamala is a cop. Now Kamala is a cop is a central part of how they I think -- how they are trying to cross the strength threshold.

[05:50:05]

And there is some evidence Kasie that if she can convince enough voters that she is strong enough to keep them safe, which I think she is on track to be doing, then the other element of the hypermasculinity surrounding Trump, divisiveness, ego -- you know, kind of belligerent can come to the fore.

It's just fascinating to watch this play out. She's not Hillary Clinton. It's a different dynamic. There are some similarities, but I think background as a prosecutor changes this in important ways.

HUNT: Yeah, it's -- that reality is kind of one of those reasons why not having to fight through a primary campaign to get to this point is so critical --

BROWNSTEIN: Clearly.

HUNT: -- for Harris' success. Very lucky for her.

Ron Brownstein, always grateful to have you, sir. Thank you so much.

BROWNSTEIN: Thanks for having me.

HUNT: All right, time now for sports.

A three-time WNBA All-Star is suing the league and her former team, alleging discrimination while she was pregnant.

Andy Scholes has more in this morning's Bleacher Report. Andy, good morning.

ANDY SCHOLES, CNN SPORTS ANCHOR: Yeah, good morning, Kasie.

So, the L.A. Sparks board and Olympic three-on-three bronze medalist Dearica Hamby filed a federal lawsuit yesterday against the WNBA and the Las Vegas Aces.

In a statement provided to CNN by a public relations firm hired by her attorneys, the lawsuit claims the Aces were unhappy that Hamby was pregnant and took away her team-provided housing. Hamby also alleges the head coach Becky Hammon questioned her dedication to the team, which Hammon denies.

The WNBA investigated Hamby's claims after she filed a complaint in January of 2023 and later suspended Hammon for two games without pay for violating league and team workplace policies.

A WNBA spokesperson told CNN that the league is aware of the filing and is reviewing the complaint. The Aces have not replied to CNN's request for comment.

All right, Mookie Betts, meanwhile, making his return to the Dodgers' lineup for the first time since June 16 last night and picked up right where he left off getting ahold of this one for his 11th home run of the season.

Then Shohei Ohtani joining in on the fun. He hit his 36th of the year right there. And Mookie at it again in the seventh inning, this time knocking in Ohtani with that RBI single. Mookie, two for four and three RBIs in his return.

The Dodgers beat the Brewers in that one 5-2.

Elsewhere, what a debut for the Blue Jays' Will Wagner, the son of former Astros' closer Billy Wagner. He got a hit in his first three at-bats. Wagner -- he became the fourth player in Blue Jays history to have three hits in his Major League debut.

The 26-year-old said well, he was nervous on deck, but he got confident when he got to the plate. And growing up in big league clubhouses certainly helped.

The Blue Jays beat the Angels in that one 4-2.

All right. Finally, golfer Aaron Rai won the Wyndham Championship on Sunday. But the tournament wasn't officially over until yesterday, and that's because Matt Kuchar refused to finish the 18th hole on Sunday, despite being halfway to the hole, because he felt like it got too dark. He took a lot of criticism since he had no shot of winning. And his playing partners -- they decided to finish that hole anyway.

So, Kuchar went back out on the course yesterday morning alone. He spent six minutes in action recording a par on the final hole to finish in a 10-way tie for 12th place that awarded him just under $135,000.

And afterwards, Kuchar -- well, he did apologize for making everyone hang out for three shots.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MATT KUCHAR, 9-TIME PGA TOUR CHAMPION: Nobody wants to be that guy that's showing up today -- one person, one hole. Not even one hole -- half a hole of playing. So apologies to the tournament and to everybody that had to come out. Like, I know it stinks. I know the ramifications. I know it stinks. But certainly, I apologize to force everybody to come out here.

SCHOLES: Yeah. And, Kasie, this was just bizarre. When it was happening, even like the broadcast -- Jim Nance was, like, never seen this before and by the way, we will not be here on Monday covering him playing that final hole. But just wild to quit mid-round or at the very end just because you think it was too dark.

HUNT: Yeah, very strange. I mean, I don't know. We've watched a lot of golf in my family and I agree, I've never -- I've never seen anything like that. And yeah, Monday -- Monday's not the day that you want to be finishing --

SCHOLES: And he had no chance of winning. No chance of winning, yeah.

HUNT: Oh, man, Andy. Thank you.

SCHOLES: All right.

HUNT: I really appreciate it. See you soon.

All right. Coming up on the next hour here of CNN THIS MORNING, as the Middle East braces for a response from Iran, Gaza peace talks are back on with all parties returning to the table. Former Defense Sec. Mark Esper joins us live.

Plus, Donald Trump still struggling to figure out how best to attack his opponent, Kamala Harris.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: Trump misspelled Harris' first name as "Kamabla."

JON STEWART, HOST, COMEDY CENTRAL'S "THE DAILY SHOW": I get Kamala. I get Kamala. Kamabla? Judges, are we taking Kamabla?

(Buzzer sounds)

STEWART: Oh.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[05:59:25]

HUNT: It's Tuesday, August 13.

Right now on CNN THIS MORNING --

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We cannot have her. She's incompetent. She's as bad as Biden.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: Personal and policy attacks from the former president as fellow Republicans urge Donald Trump to stick to the issues.

Plus, we are less than a week away from the start of the DNC where Kamala Harris looks to mark an exclamation point on her platform.

Plus --

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KIRBY: They're the ones that invaded Ukraine and Ukraine is defending itself against that aggression. This is Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: Ukraine seizes hundreds of square miles of Russian territory, pushing Putin's back against a wall.

And then --

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And certainly, when Biden was on the ticket, I was going to vote for Trump.