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CNN This Morning
Nikki Haley To GOP: "Quit Whining" About Harris; Israel Braces For Iran Attack On Eve Of Gaza Ceasefire Talks; Tropical Storm Prompts Flash Flood Warnings In Puerto Rico. Aired 5-5:30a ET
Aired August 14, 2024 - 05:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[05:00:49]
KASIE HUNT, CNN ANCHOR: It's Wednesday, August 14.
Right now on CNN THIS MORNING:
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DONALD TRUMP, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT & 2024 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We're being attacked. It's a new form of crime in the U.S. It's called migrant crime.
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HUNT: Donald Trump taking to Univision to tout his support from Hispanic voters while pushing his hard line stance on immigration.
Plus, this:
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GOV. TIM WALZ (D-MN), VICE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Can you simply picture Donald Trump working at McDonalds, tried to make a McFlurry or something?
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HUNT: Tim Walz out on his own for the first time, painting a contrast between Trump and the working class.
And later --
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JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: It's getting hard. We'll see what Iran does and we'll see what happens if there's any attack.
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HUNT: Iran vowed retaliation, but new reporting shows they may hold off if one thing happens, a ceasefire in Gaza.
(MUSIC) HUNT: All right, 5:00 a.m. here in Washington, D.C. A live look at Capitol Hill on this Wednesday morning.
Good morning, everyone. I'm Kasie Hunt. It's wonderful to have you with us.
More Trump allies joining the growing chorus of those providing unsolicited advice to the campaign as Donald Trump tries to pivot and face the new realities of this race.
Once a primary foe, Nikki Haley, appeared on Fox News and she had this advice for the former president.
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NIKKI HALEY (R), FORMER PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: And the one thing Republicans have to stop, don't -- quit whining about her. We knew it was going to be her. But the campaign is not going to win talking about crowd sizes, not what race Kamala Harris is. It's not going to win, talking about whether she's dumb.
It's not -- you can't win on those things. The American people are smart. Treat them like they're smart.
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HUNT: Trump does not seem to be heeding that advice. Here he was on Univision last night. He starts talking about immigration and then there's a bit of a turn. Watch.
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TRUMP: Yeah. We have people coming into our country from all over the world, not just from South America. Everyone thinks South Americans really from all over the world, they're coming from Africa, from the Middle East, from Asia.
We're being attacked. It's a new form of crime in the U.S. It's called migrant crime, and it's caused because of Harris -- Kamala, you know, Harris -- nobody knows her last name. It's Harris. No -- everyone thinks of her as Kamala. So it's Kamala Harris.
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HUNT: Okay. And then there was this -- a tweet from the official Trump campaign account. It shows this image with the captions "your neighborhood under Donald Trump and your neighborhood under Kamala Harris" with another message that says, import the third world, become the third world.
This messaging from the Trump campaign could be giving an opening for Harris to appeal to moderate voters. Some of them got together in a Republicans for Harris zoom call last night.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) CRAIG SNYDER, HALEY VOTERS FOR HARRIS: Our job is to present trusted Republican voices to Haley voters and other center-right folks in this country. And just tell them the truth, which is that Kamala Harris is a tough prosecutor who has been attacked in most of her career from the left not from the right, as being cop-mala (ph).
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HUNT: All right. Joining us now to discuss, Stef Kight, politics reporter for "Axios", and Michelle Price, she is national political reporter for "The Associated Press".
Welcome to both of you.
Stef Kight, let me start with you. This -- what Trump had to say about Harris's last name, nobody knows her last name. It's Harris.
Trump rarely, even though, can sound like he is meandering and occasionally he's all over the place, usually there's a place from whence it comes, right? There's some reason why he's thinking about this.
Do you have any insight into why that is? I mean, he clearly has had a very intense focus on her name.
STEF KIGHT, POLITICS REPORTER, AXIOS: Yeah. I mean, it's clear that he's, first of all, concerned about how much enthusiasm there has been behind Kamala Harris's campaign so far, he clearly is acting in a very vulnerable way. He is clearly concern.
There's been lots of reporting that he is very disappointed about where things stand in the race right now.
[05:05:07]
And we've seen in the past that Trump, when he feels cornered, tends to lash out in more personal ways. I think he is especially concerned about the idea of running against a Black woman, on the other ticket and he is once again kind of resorting to these -- these personal attacks that have sort of racist tones to them.
HUNT: Michelle Price, let me bring you in on that because I think Stef is also speaking to the -- what we saw in that tweet from the Trump team, where -- there are these pictures and I think it'd be helpful if we could put the pictures back up on the screen because you can just look at it and kind of understand the undertones, right? I mean, just the faces that are pictured there.
And we also remember back to when Trump used the phrase S-hole countries, they say third world countries here, but it seems to be pretty unclear what they're doing here. This is, of course, something that is more official than Trump, potentially, rambling in an interview or at least if not official, then something that campaign thought that they would put out and sort of -- and give their stamp of approval to.
What are they doing here and are there risks to this strategy?
MICHELLE PRICE, NATIONAL POLITICAL REPORTER, AP: I mean, there's certainly risks to the strategy. I think some of what the content that the campaign is putting online tends to reflect more of the fringier views that the comments that Donald Trump might make it, but that his advisers might not want him to make. It is an account. Generally, this social accounts that repeating some of those comments that his advisers are wishing he wouldn't focus on when you when you focuses on race, when he makes comments about Harris's name, rather than talking about issues like the economy.
You know, there is -- this is something that Donald Trump has done before. You remember in 2016, he launched his campaign by talking about Mexico is not sending their best. And he made these very race- based seeming appeals as he was speaking out immigration. And there is certainly a part of the American electorate that seems to connect with that, but there is a racial fears behind some of this messaging.
But there is a broad swath of voters, including Republican voters, Haley voters, who are concerned about the folks coming over the border. They're concerned about just is it chorus, who's being vetted. But they'll say that they want immigrants in this country. They want a diverse country and if Donald Trump starts to go too deep into that area, he's going to alienate some of these voters.
HUNT: Yeah. Michelle -- Stef Kight, excuse me, I mean, that -- we heard directly from Nikki Haley there as well, where she's saying like voters are smarter than this, go with the program.
KIGH: I mean, watching that clip from Haley, first of all, you know, she was -- she was a very good she just had a very good way of presenting that argument. It's something that I'm sure you and others as I have, we've been hearing from several Republicans, you know, both on background and sometimes on the record, they want to be focused on the policies.
And when I talked to Republicans, they feel like there is an argument for them to be making against Kamala Harris that is focused on policies that they can focus on some of the stances she's taken in the past that they deemed to be too liberal or too progressive, and they feel like it's unhelpful to their efforts to kind of turn to some of these more personal attacks.
You know, they were frustrated by Trump's comments to Black journalists, recently, they were frustrated by some of his posts on Twitter, and Truth Social. And so, they're hoping that he will get back on track. This is a campaign that for a month now we've been saying has been more disciplined and were kind of seeing that that fear take root in the Trump campaign.
We've seen a very different tone. We've seen them much more aggressive trying to bring the attention back to the campaign. But again, we're hearing from a lot of Republicans who would like to see the focus remain on policy issues like inflation, like the border, like these issues, they feel like actually matter to voters and they're worried about the direction Trump's taking it. HUNT: Yeah, we saw Trump hit those issues for sure in this Univision
interview that the thing was that he was always coming back around to those personal attacks.
Stef Kight, Michelle Price, thank you both very much for starting us off this morning. I really appreciate it.
All right. Coming up next here on CNN this morning, the world bracing to see if Iran will attack Israel. But new reporting shows they may hold off on their plans.
Plus, disturbing video shows the moment a police officer in Missouri was knocked to the ground, leaving him seriously injured.
And Tim Walz touts his pro-union stance as he makes a pitch to working-class voters.
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WALZ: Donald Trump and J.D. Vance, they see the world very differently than we do. The only thing those two guys knows about working people is how to work to take advantage of them.
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HUNT: All right. New CNN reporting indicates Iran may hold off on plans to attack Israel if a Gaza ceasefire deal can be reached this week. Iran has vowed to retaliate for the assassination of a Hamas leader in Tehran, that they blamed Israel for. Representatives from Qatar, Egypt, and the United States will meet tomorrow in the Middle East to try to finalize a ceasefire agreement.
Israel does plan to attend. Sources tell CNN that Hamas is taking a position of intentional ambiguity about whether they're going to appear. President Biden hoping Iran and its proxies will use restraint.
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JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: It's getting hard. We'll see what Iran does and we'll see what happens if there's any attack.
[05:15:03]
But I'm not giving up.
REPORTER: Are these two things tied together? Do you have any understanding that Iran could cease or stop doing an action if a ceasefire deal was possible?
BIDEN: That's my expectation, but we'll see.
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HUNT: All right. Let's get the latest from CNN's Paula Hancocks for us.
Paula, good morning to you. How certain are we that both Israel and Hamas are going to attend these talks?
PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Kasie, at this point, we are not certain. Certainly when it comes to the Hamas point of view and informed source within Hamas has just told CNN's Ben Wedeman that they are going for what they call, quote, intentional ambiguity about whether or not they will be at these talks in Doha on Thursday. Now, Hamas has said that they don't want to talk for the sake of talking. They say that any negotiation has to end in a cessation of the war in Gaza.
The Hamas statement over the weekend, for example, was saying that they have already agreed as far as they are concerned to a proposal so that was vocally supported by the U.S. president and also a U.N. Security Council resolution, and they're blaming Israel for moving the goalposts.
On the other side, Israel is blaming Hamas saying that they will send a delegation to Doha.
So this really is a case of we have to wait and see who turns up -- Kasie.
HUNT: Paula, what are the central disagreements right now? What are the biggest barriers to a ceasefire?
HANCOCKS: Hamas is saying that Israel is changing what it wants.
The Israeli prime minister has been accused by many of his critics as adding extra conditions to this particular deal. Now, a senior U.S. official said that the sequencing of hostage exchange is one key difference where there is no agreement at this point.
So they are getting into the real nitty-gritty of this and we understand that the U.S.-Qatar and Egypt, those key mediators are also wanting to have a bridging proposal, a final bridging proposal that will bring these two sides closer together. But there are still some key differences.
HUNT: All right. Paula Hancocks for us this morning -- Paula, thank you very much.
All right. Coming up next after the break, the latest warning for parents. Why states are trying to curb students' use of smart phones in schools.
Plus --
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REP. ILHAN OMAR (D-MN): We did it. We won. You did it. You did it. (END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: Ilhan Omar wins her primary, reversing a losing streak for the Squad.
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[05:22:11]
HUNT: All right. Twenty-one minutes past the hour. Here's your morning roundup.
Hunter Biden's dealings with a Ukrainian energy company are back in the spotlight. According to a "New York Times" report, Hunter reached out to a U.S. embassy in Italy in 2016, trying to secure support for a Burisma energy project. Hunter's lawyers telling "The Times" no meeting occurred, no project materialized, no requests for anything in the U.S. was ever sought.
Ferguson police releasing footage of the moment a suspect charges an officer, leaving him with a critical brain injury. It happened during Friday demonstrations honoring the tenth anniversary of the killing of 18-year-old Michael Brown. The officer is still in the hospital.
And this --
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BIDEN: I have spoken with my stuff on a regular basis probably every four or five hours from the last six or eight days. And it's creating a real dilemma for Putin and we've been in direct contact, constant contact with the Ukrainians.
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HUNT: The border area in Russia declaring a regional emergency as Ukrainian forces make advances nearby.
It's the second border region to announce evacuations as a result of Ukraine's attacks.
And this --
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OMAR: This campaign has been one of the ugliest, most disgusting campaign against me that I have ever, ever witnessed.
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HUNT: Congresswoman Ilhan Omar surviving a third straight primary challenge in Minnesota last night. She fended off Minneapolis Council member, Dawns Samuels to clinch the Democratic nomination. Her win breaks something of a losing streak for progressive members of the so- called Squad.
Jamaal Bowman and Cori Bush both lost expensive primary battles after pro-Israel aligned PACs spent money boosting their opponents.
All right. Time now for weather. Tropical storm Ernesto picking up steam, it's now just shy of a category one hurricane. Flash flood warnings are being issued for parts of Puerto Rico as the storm dumps heavy rain in the region.
Lets get to our meteorologist Derek Van Dam.
Derek, good morning.
DEREK VAN DAM, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Okay, Kasie.
So even though it's a tropical storm officially at the 5:00 a.m. update doesn't mean that it's not showing signs and characteristics of a hurricane. It will likely become a hurricane later this morning.
Here it is, moving across Puerto Rico, the U.S. and British Virgin Islands, getting absolutely pounded with large waves, strong winds and extremely heavy rainfall. That's led to flash flooding.
Here's the scene before the sunset on St. Martin yesterday and some of these peak wind gusts tell a big story here. That of course, above hurricane force, we need sustained winds above 74 miles per hour for this to be classified as a hurricane.
But the center now moving away from San Juan, but look at what's moving across eastern sections of Puerto Rico. This is what we call training rain. So the rain that moves over the same location for a long duration of time.
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That's why we have these flash flood warnings for eastern Puerto Rico, not inclusive of San Juan, but there's the British and U.S. Virgin Islands, just getting absolutely hammered with this rainfall that will easily exceed two to three inches per hour.
Where is the storm going? Well, fortunately, over the next couple of days, it will be over the open waters, but there's lots of warm water here that will allow for strengthening of the storm. And now, the National Hurricane Center officially has this becoming a major hurricane before reaching or approaching Bermuda by this weekend.
So all interests need to be watching this storm system closely in Bermuda for this weekend. This is a concerning trend and this also will expand in size. So large waves, rip currents will also be a problem along the East Coast of the U.S. -- Kasie.
HUNT: All right. Derek Van Dam for us this morning -- Derek, thank you very much.
Coming up next here on CNN THIS MORNING:
Donald Trump trying to land key endorsements from big labor unions, but one union leader just filed charges him. Plus, in just hours, a NASA news conference. We're going to find out maybe how to space agency plans to bring two stranded astronauts back home to Earth.
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SUNI WILLIAMS, NASA ASTRONAUT: It feels good to float around, it feels good to be in space and work up here with the International Space Station team. So, yeah, its great to be up here. So I'm not complaining. Butch isn't complaining that we're here for a couple of weeks, extra weeks.
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