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Abortion Ballot Measures; Hunter Biden Asked State Department for Help; Keith Cowing is Interviewed about Astronauts on ISS; Walz Makes Appeal to Working Class. Aired 6:30-7a ET
Aired August 14, 2024 - 06:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[06:30:00]
DEREK VAN DAM, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Back together. The eye of Ernesto just north of Puerto Rico. But there is a lot of rain associated with this system. So, here is the latest radar. There is the British and U.S. Virgin Islands. And then I want you to focus your attention on this band of heavy rainfall over eastern sections of Puerto Rico. It's now edging closer to San Juan. That's why the National Weather Service office within this area has included San Juan within a flash flood warning just issued here moments ago for an additional three to five inches of rainfall. They've already had one to two inches per hour being recorded out of some of these heavier bands that move over the same location.
So, where is the storm going? Well, it's going to move over the open waters of the western Atlantic for the next several days, but it's warm. And that is the key word here, the operative word, because it's going to help fuel a stronger storm. It is going to get larger as it approaches, Bermuda this weekend. And a lot of wave action along the East Coast of the U.S. could cause rip currents. So, that's the indirect impacts from this storm here in the mainland of the U.S. But Bermuda needs to keep a close eye on this storm system because the potential here for a major hurricane is certainly in the cards as it approaches the island nation by early this weekend.
Kasie.
KASIE HUNT, CNN ANCHOR: All right, Derek Van Dam for us this morning. Derek, thanks very much.
All right, still ahead here on CNN THIS MORNING, the fight for abortion rights now looming larger over the 2024 election. Two more states are adding ballot measures about abortion in November. Could they tip key races?
Plus, a new report reviving the controversy over Hunter Biden's relationship with a Ukrainian energy company.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[06:36:42]
HUNT: All right, welcome back. This morning we have some new information about just how many American
women feel they're impacted by abortion bans across the country. According to a new study from the Kaiser Family Foundation, most women in the U.S. worry that abortion bans across the country could put them or a loved one in danger. And among women of reproductive age, about one in seven, 14 percent of Democrats and 12 percent of Republicans, say they themselves have had an abortion.
This data comes as two more states, Missouri and Arizona, announced that voters there will be able to decide this November whether to establish a right to abortion in their state's constitution. That brings the total number of states with abortion ballot measures this fall from - to eight, potentially influencing turnout in some key battleground states.
Our panel is back.
Isaac, when you look at that map, how do you see this kind of impacting the presidential race overall because we have seen that voters - when they have had a chance to weigh in on this, they have come down almost universally on the side of expanding or protecting, depending on the state, abortion access.
EDWARD-ISAAC DOVERE, CNN SENIOR REPORTER: Yes, look, I think just about everybody has underestimated how potent an issue abortion remains politically. It was true in 2022. It has remained true. When you look at that map, Nevada and Arizona, those are obviously presidential battleground states and also Senate races there.
Democrats were quite happy with the Arizona abortion ballot measure coming on earlier this week because of the effects there. Florida, maybe. In New York also it's not obviously a presidential battleground, but there are a lot of House races there. Enough House races that could decide the majority in the House.
The reason why that ballot measure is there is pure politics. It is Democrats in New York trying to gin up turnout. And it - because there's not -
HUNT: Because there's no real threat to abortion access in New York.
DOVERE: That - right. In New York, right.
HUNT: Right.
DOVERE: In these other states, it is an issue. But over and over again we have seen that not just women and not just Democrats respond really strongly to the possibility of preserving abortion rights.
Just go back to that Kansas ballot measure, which was the first one that kicked this off. In Kansas, it's not a place where Democrats look to, even though there is a Democratic governor, as a big play.
HUNT: Yes.
DOVERE: But there was a huge turnout in favor of preserving abortion rights.
HUNT: Well, David, seven states that have voted on this, I mean it's - it's pretty universal. Montana, Kansas, Kentucky all voted against restricting abortion access.
DAVID FRUM, STAFF WRITER, "THE ATLANTIC": Yes.
HUNT: There - there you can see, they're the ones in white. The ones in blue went farther in that they went to actively protect or expand abortion rights access.
FRUM: And here's how this shapes other party politics. In 2022, Democrats gained four state legislatures and picked up two - net two governorships. The party of the president has not made that kind of gain in state races since the new deal era. Normal - almost always in the midterm election, the party of the president loses state legislatures. And you - you almost always lose those governorships. But to pick up for legislatures out of the 99 and two governorships, that's amazing. And a lot of that was driven by abortion concern.
And, you know, there were probably - what - in the Roe v. Wade era, abortion politics were for the Republicans a check you could write that would never be cashed.
[06:40:04]
So, there you were. You were someone who had entered politics because you wanted to accelerate the depreciation schedule. And the pro-life groups would ask you, here, sign this crazy thing. It's like, sure, I'll sign it. This is - this is never - this is never going to be -
HUNT: Because you were going to never be held accountable for it.
FRUM: This is never going to be deposited. And then I can go back to work on the accelerated depreciation schedules.
Well, suddenly, all these checks are being presented and many Republican candidates are saying, well, I never agreed to that. And the question is, well then why did you sign the checks? Because that's your name co-sponsored this bill 20 times. It's been in the Republican platform since 1980. What do you mean you don't know anything about it. And it's - the data's here.
HUNT: One the thing, Maya, I think that really changes - has changed it - David's point is very well taken that in the post-Roe era, it's simply - the consequences are simply different and higher. But the way the Kaiser Family Foundation presented that question, will it hurt someone you know, these stories are about so much more than the stereotypes that many people would have you believe about who gets an abortion and why they get an abortion because fundamentally there is care involved in taking care of a pregnant woman that a doctor would officially say is abortion care, but it could easily be a woman who needs a lifesaving treatment, someone who desperately wants the baby. The circumstances are simply not as clear cut as a lot of politicians would have people believe. MAYA WILEY, PRESIDENT AND CEO, THE LEADERSHIP CONFERENCE ON CIVIL AND
HUMAN RIGHTS: Yes, look, abortion is health care. That really fundamentally is what it comes down to. And whether or not a woman is able to have a doctor help her make decisions about her health. We have women in Texas right now who have just brought a lawsuit because they had ectopic pregnancies that could kill them but you can't -
HUNT: Which you cannot survive and the baby's not going to survive either.
WILEY: Correct.
HUNT: Yes.
WILEY: There's - there's - and yet they almost - they actually had, because of the very highly restrictive anti-abortion law in Texas, the possibility of death. I mean - so, one -
HUNT: And destroying their ability to have children.
WILEY: One - no one should have any politician telling them whether or not their doctor is right or wrong and whatever that advice is about their health care, or their own ability to decide when and how they form a family, period.
What we're seeing in our politics is folks saying, yes, we actually think we should be a country of freedom. And while everyone is entitled to their viewpoints or their own decisions that they make with their own doctors and family members about how and when they form a family, I mean to watch a ten-year-old girl pregnant from a rape, not able to actually have an abortion or any of that is simply wrong. And what we're seeing as a country saying, yes, we actually are for freedom and it is fundamental to who we want to be as a country.
HUNT: Certainly you were hearing Democrats frame things that way.
All right, I want to turn now to this story.
Hunter Biden once asked the State Department to help him secure a deal for a Ukrainian gas company that was doing business in Italy. According to "The New York Times," the request came while Hunter's father was vice president in 2016. The report goes on to say that Hunter sent at least one letter to the U.S. ambassador to Italy requesting help for the company, Burisma. The company was reportedly having difficulty securing regulatory approval for a project in Tuscany.
Now, Matt Gorman, one of the other things "The New York Times" reports here is that this document was suddenly shaken loose from the U.S. bureaucracy the week that President Biden dropped out of the race.
MATT GORMAN, " Magic. Yes, it doesn't look good, I'll tell you right now. But, yes, right, we don't -
HUNT: They claim it's a coincidence, but - GORMAN: Of course. And we don't have the contents of the letter. The letter itself, the text of what Hunter wrote has not been released, just like the comments from the internal govern machinations of it.
But you're right, like - and again, he's still facing trial later this year for tax evasion around Burisma. And look, I think it's one of the many reasons Democrats are probably breathing a big sigh of relief. They don't have to worry about Hunter Biden in terms of a presidential campaign trail politics.
But you're right, this is in the background of this. And this certainly is not going away anytime soon.
FRUM: Can I promote a reform here that might have helped, both in the Trump era and in the Biden era. And this is an idea I've been banging the drum about for a long time. Any presidential relative who accept Secret Service protection, should file a financial disclosure report.
HUNT: That's interesting.
FRUM: And - and because there - it has been a problem. I mean every presidential family has a bad apple. And -
GORMAN: Go back to Jimmy Carter -
HUNT: Every family has a bad apple.
(CROSS TALK)
FRUM: There's always - there's always -
GORMAN: Yes.
FRUM: There's always a brother, there's always a nephew, there's always - sometimes a son. Franklin Delano Roosevelt's sons were very problematic. So - but in the modern era, what we've seen is scales of leveraging of family connection. I mean never as - as gross and extreme as in the Trump era, but other candidates too. And Hunter Biden certainly did not behave in a - in a proper way.
So, if you take the Secret Service protection, let us see your financial - let us see your tax return.
HUNT: Isaac, how do you think they're - I mean does this play? Does it - what does Harris do about this? Anything?
DOVERE: I mean it's not Kamala Harris' son, and so there's a little bit more distance than when it was the presidential nominee's son.
[06:45:06]
This isn't great. Hunter Biden, everybody in the White House has known for a long time is an issue. The way that the - that his lawyers responded to this disclosure to say, like, well, yes, he sent letters but did nothing wrong. It doesn't - this feels very strange to people that the vice president's son was sending letters or making requests to other government officials and saying, hey -
HUNT: Yes.
DOVERE: Will you meet with this company?
HUNT: Yes.
DOVERE: It may - it may have been legal. We don't know anything or otherwise at this point.
HUNT: It certainly (INAUDIBLE).
DOVERE: Like Matt said, we haven't seen the contents of the letter.
GORMAN: Yes.
HUNT: Yes.
DOVERE: It doesn't - it does look like he was at least making people say, you notice my last name, though, right?
HUNT: Yes. Right. See, this is signed, Biden.
All right, still ahead here on CNN THIS MORNING, NASA is still working on a way to get two astronauts home. Their eighth day test flight - this was planned - to the International Space Station is actually now lasting months and could last many months more. We're going to get an update from NASA today.
Plus, a look at Tim Walz's finances reveals he is not nearly as wealthy as other top nominees. Does this appeal to middle class voters?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GOV. TIM WALZ (D-MN), VICE PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: Can you simply picture Donald Trump working at a McDonald's trying to make a McFlurry or something?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[06:50:30]
HUNT: Seventy days. That is how long two NASA astronauts have been in space after what was supposed to be an eight-day test flight to the International Space Station. Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore blasted off back in June on the first manned test flight of the Boeing Starliner spacecraft. But a helium leak was detected in the ship, extending their stay on the ISS indefinitely while NASA tries to fix it. They are staying busy. They are helping out the crew with tests and experiments. They took a break to film a fun Olympics-themed video for all of us who are back here on earth. But the agency is still trying to figure out how they are going to get them home.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KEN BOWERSOX, NASA SPACE OPERATIONS MISSION DIRECTORATE: While they're up there, we have extra crews, we have extra hands. They can do a lot more work. But they're also using up more consumables, more supplies. So, we have to maintain that balance and - and - and -- and at some point we need to bring - bring those folks home and -
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: We are also expecting another update from NASA on this situation in a couple of hours.
Joining me now to discuss how this is unfolding is Keith Cowing. He is editor at nasawatch.com.
Keith, wonderful to see you again. Thank you for being here.
How on earth, that is not a pun but it's something, did they allow this to happen?
KEITH COWING, EDITOR, NASAWATCH.COM: Well, it reminds me of the "Gilligan's Island" theme song. They went out for a three-hour tour and, here they are, they're still on the island. And you're going to get an update today from NASA. And pretty much I can give you a summary.
They're still there. We don't know when they're coming back. Yes, you know, I mean, because they got chided for not giving the media updates, and now they're just going to say, yes, nothing's changed.
How did this happen? Well, then best intentions. I mean they had planned to go up there test the spaceship and come home. And they got up there and something didn't work. And then another thing didn't work. And then all the engineers got in on it and the safety culture says, oh, wait a minute, and here we are.
HUNT: So, Keith, what are the options? I know that they had said before that they might use a SpaceX rocket to try to get them back to earth. But at that point we may be into 2025 before they come home?
COWING: Yes, you know, this is sort of like, you know, arranging traffic on the beltway. You and I live in D.C., so you know you just have to arrange things. And they had planned for these guys to go up, do their thing, come home, than other flights were all lined up ready to go. Well, now that they're up there, and they're eating food, and they're taking up a seat, that means that they - if they can't come home on the Boeing spacecraft, they'll have to take somebody else's seat.
So, instead of launching four people soon, they may wait a bit and launch two - two empty seats with a spacesuit. So it froze everything off. And that's assuming that they cannot or will not or don't want to bring them home in the Boeing spacecraft. They may change their mind on that, but right now it's sort of like, we'll get back to you next week. HUNT: Yes. I mean I have to say, Keith, like, considering how I feel about getting on a Boeing airplane, I admire their bravery for getting on a Boeing spacecraft. I mean Boeing - how much trust have they lost here?
COWING: Well, you know, in their defense, it's a giant company. But on the other hand, at some point somebody's in charge of the company and there's a culture there. And, you know, the reason we have these two spacecraft goes back to losing Columbia and NASA said, hey, we need two different ways to get up to the space station. We're going to retire the shuttle.
We've got two companies, SpaceX signed up, got a couple billion dollars, and they've done a great job ever since. Flawless. They got - wanted to get option b, which was Boeing. They needed another billion or so to do it. And they've been dragging their feet. So now they're stuck with the option b as not really being an option. And so they're having to, you know, figure this out in real time. And nobody expected this.
Add in the fact, you probably asked about the safety culture, it's there. It's real. There are people that wake up every morning worried about the crew coming home, whether they're at Boeing or at NASA. The problem is, when you have a culture like that, anybody can raise their hand for any reason. And after a while you get more reasons why you shouldn't do something than you should, but it's all about crew safety.
HUNT: Sure.
COWING: So, NASA kind of builds this whole hornet's nest of, hey, what about, you know, in the meetings? And it just ends up with what we've got now.
HUNT: Right.
All right, Keith Cowing for us, thank you so much. I'm sure we'll be having you back to update on this. I really appreciate it.
COWING: Yes, next week.
HUNT: All right, let's turn now to this.
[06:55:01]
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Money, money, money. Always sunny (ph) in a rich man's world.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: All right, in a political world, that is a rich man's world, it's full of multimillionaires. One man is standing out for a different reason. A review of Tim Walz personal finances indicates the Minnesota governor is by far the least wealthy candidate on either party's ticket this year. Together, Tim and Gwen Walz earned about $166,000 in 2022. With his Republican vice presidential counterpart, J.D. Vance, raking in about $1.3 million according to "The Wall Street Journal." Walz's recent financial disclosure show he has no stock holdings, no bonds, no real estate. Something that his campaign hopes could give him some credibility with the working class. And Walz made a pitch along these lines to union workers yesterday.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GOV. TIM WALZ (D-MN), VICE PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: Vice President Harris grew up in a middle class family, picked up shifts at that McDonald's as a student.
Can you simply picture Donald Trump working at a McDonald's trying to make a McFlurry or something? It's - oh, he knows - he knows us. He knows us. He couldn't run that dam flurry - McFlurry machine if it cost (ph) him anything.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: I will say, I don't think I could run a McFlurry machine either, but -
GORMAN: Well, isn't that the problem, no one (INAUDIBLE) run the damn things. But that' only - that only (ph) the thing.
HUNT: Matt, how do you think this - this plays?
GORMAN: Look, I think one of the things that the Vance team, when they - when they announced his VP really hoped to set out was kind of the middle class roots. He worked in Ohio, kind of putting himself through law -
HUNT: And not just middle class roots, I -
GORMAN: Poor. Yes.
HUNT: (INAUDIBLE).
GORMAN: Like, yes, he put himself really through.
HUNT: Yes.
GORMAN: So, look, I - and that was, obviously laced all through "Hillbilly Elegy," which that $1.2 million or $1.3 million, a lot of it was that - that book.
I'm curious to see if that is something we hear more about, right? We've kind of gone a little bit off track with some of his bio. I'm curious if they reset and hear more about that in weeks to come.
HUNT: Yes. I mean I do think it's an issue big picture that, you know, you basically have - often you have to be rich to win elections.
WILEY: Well, no, you know, you have to be rich because of money in politics. It's actually one of the things we should fix. But the thing that is so important for anyone who's seeking voters votes is that they be relatable. That people say, I think this is a person who knows what I'm experiencing. So, I do think it matters, just like he has been able to use his bio as being a coach, you know, and the fact that people are just calling him coach now, and a teacher and have these images of kids hugging him. You know, all of those just are speaking to (INAUDIBLE).
HUNT: Well, it helps when the image lines up with the reality, I guess.
DOVERE: Yes. And, look, there are many politicians, Republicans and Democrats alike, who spend a lot of time in Congress, and somehow, despite making just the congressional salaries, end up with a lot of money in their bank accounts. Tim Walz was elected to 2006. He served until 2018 in Washington. Then the last six, seven years as governor here. It is - it is notable that he has not amassed much money, right?
HUNT: Yes.
DOVERE: And that he - it - it - he just was doing the jobs and not taking side things here. It also, I assume, made the vetting process a little bit easier for the Harris team looking at his finances.
HUNT: Much more straightforward indeed.
All right, I'll leave you with this. In the age of streaming music, guess what's making a comeback? Cassette tapes.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ARIANA GRANDE, MUSICIAN (singing): We can't be friends. But I'd like to just pretend.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: Ariana Grande, one of the popstars cashing in on this cassette tape revival. She's selling a tape of her new song, "We Can't Be Friends" for $7.00 online. Both side B and side A are the same song. They're different versions. Taylor Swift and Charli XCX also releasing their new album on the classic format from the '80s and '90s. Fans are flocking to the tapes. And I have to say, I thought we are going to say specifically that these are gen z fans, apparently, and they don't really fully know how to use them. One mom told "The Wall Street Journal" about the trend, saying, quote, "I showed my daughter how to wind it back using a finger." And, quote, "I told her we used to use a pencil to do this."
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TAYLOR SWIFT, MUSICIAN (singing): Best believe I'm still bejeweled. When I walk in the room, I can still make the whole place shimmer. And when I meet the band, they ask -
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: And it may come as no surprise, last year Taylor Swift was among the leaders in cassette tapes sales with two of her albums landing in the top five of cassette sales in 2023 according to Billboard. As "The Journal" notes, Swift wasn't even alive when the Walkman debuted.
I guess I should also admit neither was I, although I will say, so this is a picture of my cassette tape collection, which I - I actually owe a lot of people way cooler than me for the list of bands that you can see in that picture. They were not all originally mine. I did buy that copy of "Fearless" that you see there from Taylor Swift. I use these in my Corvette, which was from 1989, has a working cassette player. I'll be candid, if I didn't have one in this car, I don't know where the heck I would get one.
GORMAN: Yes, where the hell do you get a cassette player nowadays? Like, where do you get VCRs?
HUNT: I mean, so, according to this story - so, this is a (ph) head (ph) in "The Wall Street Journal" -
GORMAN: Yes.
HUNT: For those people who are not familiar with "The Journal" and how they do these great little vignette (ph) stories every day, it's amazing. And they said that they had to buy one on eBay for $40, a Walkman.
[07:00:04]
You had to Walkman.
FRUM: I had a - I had a sports Walkman. The other one that you - that would bang your -
HUNT: I remember those.
FRUM: You would bang your hip when you ran - ran with it beside you.
HUNT: I have to say -
FRUM: And the little - the little headphones that went over your head.
HUNT: The Walkman, definitely superior to the Diskman, which, like, the Diskman was my childhood. And those things, like, they skipped like crazy. Like -
GORMAN: Skipped. Then you had vinyl too, which has come back for ten years. So, all - yes.
HUNT: Yes, so, vinyl is great. Cassettes are great. I don't think CDs should ever come back. Not worth it.
All right, guys, thank you very much. I really appreciate it.
Thanks to all of you for joining us. I'm Kasie Hunt. Don't go anywhere. "CNN NEWS CENTRAL" starts right now.
[07:00:00]
