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71 Days to Campaign: Trump Stepping Up Appearances, Casting Doubt on Debate; Harris & Trump Campaigns Release Dueling Border Ads; Severe Storms Threaten Midwestern U.S. Aired 6-6:30a ET

Aired August 26, 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 Monday, August 26. Right now on CNN THIS MORNING, the sprint to November. Donald Trump's campaign taking an aggressive new approach in the race against Kamala Harris. And --

[05:59:41]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

J.D. VANCE (R), VICE-PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: I don't want a border czar who makes it more efficient for illegal immigrants to come to this country.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: One of Trump's main lines of attack against Harris continues to be the border. What Democrats now say she needs to do to try to go on offense.

And later --

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. ELIZABETH WARREN (D-MA): American women are not stupid.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: Elizabeth Warren not buying J.D. Vance's claim that Trump wouldn't sign a national abortion ban.

Plus, a leading election forecaster now clarify -- classifying North Carolina as a toss-up. Is the South back in play for Democrats?

All right, 6 a.m. here in Washington. A live look at the Washington Monument on this Monday morning. Good morning, everyone. I'm Kasie Hunt. It's wonderful to have you with us.

There are 71 days until election day. That is just over two months between now and November 5. The election entering a critical phase, because the first ballots can be cast in just 11 days. That's the start of mail-in voting in North Carolina. And less than a week after that, Kamala Harris and Donald Trump are scheduled to face off at what is currently the one and only debate between them on the calendar.

The week after that, Trump could face sentencing for his 34 felony convictions in his New York hush money trial. He has requested that that be postponed.

Just a few days later, the first polling sites will open as early voting gets underway in Virginia.

And as these days tick by, both campaigns, trying to build momentum.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KAMALA HARRIS, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES, 2024 PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: So, let's get out there. Let's fight for it. Let's get out there. Let's vote for it. And together --

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: The Harris campaign announcing on Sunday they've raised a staggering $540 million since Biden dropped out of the race.

And this week, Harris and her running mate, Tim Walz, will campaign together in the key state of Georgia.

The former president, meanwhile, still adjusting to this changed election. CNN has learned Trump can -- Trump's campaign is trying to aggressively expand his schedule.

A source says that he's likely to hold several events every week, including regularly visiting two states in a day. One adviser telling CNN, quote, "I [SIC] think Trump on steroids" -- "Think Trump on steroids. It'll be all hands on deck."

For weeks, Republicans have pressured Trump to focus on policy on the campaign trail. Here's how that landed in Arizona on Friday.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT, 2024 PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: They lied so much. They lied about everything. They were really -- were nasty, and then they say to me, Sir, please stick to policy. Don't stick to personality. You should be nice to people, sir. You have to be nice. I have to get personal, don't I? I have to get personal. I have to get personal. They get personal. But I'm going to do my best.

So they're allowed to get personal with me, but I'm not allowed to get personal to them.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: OK. The panel's here. Alex Thompson, CNN political analyst and national politics reporter for Axios; Meghan Hays, former director of message planning for the Biden White House; and Matt Gorman, former senior adviser to Tim Scott's presidential campaign.

Alex, I should formally welcome you to the CNN team.

ALEX THOMPSON, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Thanks.

HUNT: Thank you so much for being part of it. We're thrilled to have you on board.

Let -- let me start with you, because again, I mean, we are entering this critical phase. It's the last week of August. You know, the Labor Day sprint starts a week from today. Early voting, as we noted, really very close -- really very close here.

And now you have Trump raising questions about whether or not he's going to participate in the ABC News debate, right? He posted on Truth Social, criticizing Jonathan Karl, some -- one of the interviews he did on Sunday; said, why -- "Why should I do a debate against Kamala Harris on that network?"

Do you think this debate is actually going to happen? And what are you looking for as the sprint starts?

THOMPSON: I mean, it'd be irresponsible for me to predict what Donald Trump will do with regards to this debate.

You know, a lot of this is him working the refs, and that's typical of his -- just the way he goes about it.

Part of the reason -- I sort of remember, like, this one great line from back in 2015. As he says, "I whine, I whine, I whine until I win."

And I feel like that's often, like, his modus operandi. He's trying if he's trying to be build -- build, leverage.

But at the end of the day, you never know. He could just say, you know, no thanks. When we'll try to do it somewhere else. But I do think there's going to be at least one, if not two debates this fall.

HUNT: I have trouble buying the idea that he's actually going to drop out of this, but --

MATT GORMAN, FORMER SENIOR ADVISOR TO TIM SCOTT'S PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN: No, he's not. He's not. He likes to "will they or won't they," right? He knows how to work, not only to rouse (ph) the media a little bit. He wants them kind of having a little bit of intrigue around it.

And look, to your point go back to Father's Day, June 16, the same time from Father's Day to now is from now to the election day, 71 days on each side.

HUNT: Wow. And you think about the number of things that happened in that period of time.

GORMAN: In that period of time. So, I love -- you have to remember, like, go back and look at your calendar, what you're doing on that day.

So, you're right. Like he loves the intrigue around this. And you're right, I've heard that exact same thing from the Trump campaign.

They're going to step up the events. There's going to be a lot more of them. You're going to see both J.D. and Trump doing separate events on the road where, I think, you know, the -- at least right now, Kamala and Tim Walz tend to do events together.

[06:05:06]

So that also, as you know, it hampers their ability to go to multiple places in day. If you're a little -- you're separated, you could be a little bit nimbler, since you have all the folks coming in at once. So, watch for that, as well.

HUNT: Meghan Hays, I was reading Maureen Dowd's column over the weekend. And as she concluded it, I mean, she -- I thought she did a nice job of capturing -- you know, Harris has had all the momentum at her back, right? She's coming out of the -- the convention. Trump still is kind of struggling to figure out how to criticize her.

But this is how Maureen put it. She says, quote, "Kamala came across as tough talk talking about the military and foreign policy in her speech. But there are many tests yet to come, including vicious Trump attack lines, eventually a difficult interview, and next month's debate. She has to show she has what it takes once she steps away from the teleprompter. Can she manage to get through a minimum of policy stuff with no viral blunders? Kamala holds the hopes of a lot of people in the country who are praying that she doesn't fall on her face in the next 72 days. She can take heart that she's driving Trump crazy. He's jealous of her looks, her crowd sizes, her star power, and her vivacious, bodacious vibes." There's some morning words for you. "That's a good start."

It seemed to me to capture. I mean, there are still potentially some major tests for Harris ahead of us.

MEGHAN HAYS, FORMER DIRECTOR OF MESSAGE PLANNING, BIDEN WHITE HOUSE: Yes. She has to continue doing what she's been doing since she became the top of the ticket. She has to carry that for the next 71 days.

The good thing is it's only 71 days and that she has the momentum right now, and she is under Trump's skin. So, the more he's out there, the more stuff he's going to say, which will just be more evidence for people to contrast with the kind of person he is, and the president that he was and will be again; versus her.

So, if she can continue doing what she's doing for the next 71 days, we will be in good shape.

THOMPSON: One thing to just add that, some Democrats were surprised that Kamala Harris did not do the traditional barnstorming right after the convention. Usually, you finish just after the convention. You do a ton of rallies. She took the weekend off.

And I think some Democrats were a bit surprised that why not -- you know, keep your -- keep your foot on the gas?

HUNT: Yes. Alex, what -- what is your latest reporting, digging into the Harris and Biden -- I mean, we've seen Biden is taking another week of vacation. The Harris team is going to -- there's been these kind of rumors floating around that they're setting up to do a major interview.

Are they going to do that? Like, are we going to see her out there in that way? Are they thinking they might be able to survive for weeks without it?

THOMPSON: I mean, they're definitely going to do an interview. Now, the question is, who is it with? Is it with a much more friendly host? Is it with a more serious, like a serious in-depth interview? How long is it? Is it edited? Is it live?

Like, all of these questions are -- are what -- and you know, part of Harris's caution, extraordinary caution when it comes to interviews is why some Democrats were nervous about making her the nominee. It's why people like Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer were more in favor of like an open process.

Because the fact is that every -- almost all of her worst moments as vice president have come in live interviews.

GORMAN: She needs to do an interview. I get it. And the political operative in me, I understand why she's hesitant.

However, the other side of this is that, look, I've seen this with candidates after candidate. Debate prep is also media prep, and media prep is debate prep.

You hear the lines. You can refine your arguments. You get better. Every candidate I've ever worked with gets better the more they do interviews, because they get sharper and they know what really outside of the bubble, what the people are going to attack them on or question them on.

HAYS: It's just a comfort level. You get more comfortable about the policies. You get more comfortable speaking and having those rapid- fire questions.

So, where I'm always -- don't think she needs to take -- do sit-down for major interview, she needs to start, to your point, doing those types of things for debates.

GORMAN: You can't replicate -- can't replicate the debate prep. You really cannot. There's always a -- unless you have somebody who's really going to drive you hard. And that's key. Like Philippe Reines was really good at this. And --

HUNT: Hopefully, Reines is apparently playing Trump.

GORMAN: Exactly, right. And there are people who are really good at this. And you need to be.

But too often, people hold punches back in debate prep, even unknowingly, just right. It's a -- you're working for the candidate. They signed your paycheck. You pull a few punches, and you do a disservice to the candidate.

HUNT: Meghan, I know you -- you've advised candidates on how to handle all of this, how to deal with interviews, what -- when they -- when you need to do them, when you don't. And you have said -- you know, you often argue that they don't need to do them.

Where do you come down on whether this is something Harris needs to do and why? Like, what are the pressures on her?

HAYS: So, I think that it's a media story, right? And I think that, if you don't take control of it, it will just continue to snowball in the media. And then it becomes more of a high-stakes thing than if you just did the interview.

So where now, she's past the convention. She has the momentum. They've raised a ton of money. I think she should probably sit down for an interview to your point, and too. They should be really strategic in that.

And maybe they do go for a morning show, a softer interview at first, and then they built keep building.

But to your point, as well, it is good practice for debate prep. But I did not think she needed to do on leading into the convention, why -- why even do anything that might blunt the momentum that you had going into that?

[06:10:00]

HUNT: Yes, it's interesting. I mean, Alex, there's also this argument that if you do a lot of interviews, then any one potential mistake becomes less of a big deal.

THOMPSON: Yes. I mean, that's certainly J.D. Vance's strategy. You're seeing him really sit down for tons of interviews.

And, like, the questions have been tough, right? And the thing is that, as she has waited, it's been July 21st was when Joe Biden came out. It's been well over a month. The fact is now, like, we're now talking about every -- it is now a story. The stakes of this first media interview are much bigger.

Any one mistake she's going to make is going to be, like, immediately seized upon by Trump and his campaign.

HUNT: Yes. Well, and some of the J.D. Vance strategy also seems to be setting up a contrast so that he can actually say, oh, hey, look, I did all these interviews.

GORMAN: There was also Trump, like -- If you remember, '15, '16 Trump was everywhere, everywhere. And so, I remember telling candidates, too. You don't like the headline, let's make a new one. Let's go on the next show.

And now look, she's winning. I understand. You're not going to be doing -- calling into three morning shows a day. I'm not saying that but you're right, there is something to be said for that -- that scrutiny. That first interview. As we saw, Joe Biden, just like a month-and-a-half ago, everyone picked the first one apart, so they did another one. You have to be very careful of that.

HAYS: I would just say one, I don't think we're winning. I think it's all very, very up in the air and very tight.

And the other thing, just like we did in '20, we did a local media strategy. And she should probably start doing local media interviews, as well as the national.

GORMAN: Because you can intimidate them. Obama would bring them in the White House and intimidate them. It is true.

HAY: How does that --

(CROSSTALK)

GORMAN: I know.

THOMPSON: I mean, the Biden White House did this just month ago right after the debate. The first two interviews where the black radio stations. And they basically bullied them.

(CROSSTALK)

HUNT: I don't want to talk about that.

HAYS: Very effective, because you sit down with three networks. You sit down with the three major stations in each market that you go to, and it drives the story in, the markets that you're trying to go.

HUNT: I know. And I mean -- and a local interview is very different --

GORMAN: It's very. It's very different.

HUNT: -- than a national interview. A hundred percent.

All right. Coming up next here on CNN THIS MORNING, the crisis at the Southern border still very much a focus, definitely for the Trump campaign. Some Democrats worry Kamala Harris not doing enough. We'll dig into this.

Plus, Donald Trump is back on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, sending out a flurry of tweets reminiscent of the final days of his presidency.

And Israel and Hezbollah trade fire as fears of a wider conflict continue to grow there.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We have been concerned about the conflict escalating into an all-out regional war since October 7.

And our hope is that the events of last night do not spill out into an escalation that leads to regional war.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:17:09]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

AMANDA, CRIME VICTIM: He was laughing as he fractured my skull.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Amanda's attacker was an illegal immigrant drug dealer. If Kamala Harris hadn't let him out, this never would have happened.

Kamala put violent illegals, convicted felons, back on the streets.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: More lies from Donald Trump. The truth: on Kamala Harris's watch, violent crime went down.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Under Donald Trump, a violent crime wave. And Trump ordered MAGA extremists to kill the bipartisan border security bill.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: All right, expect plenty more of that between now and November 5. Wall-to-wall political ads focused on immigration and the crisis on the Southern border.

Democrats are urging Kamala Harris to physically go to the border to try to grab the reins of this conversation. She hasn't been there since 2021.

Here was Trump's running mate, J.D. Vance, honing in on that to try and criticize her. Watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VANCE: It's millions upon millions of illegal immigrants that have come in just since Kamala Harris became the border czar a few years ago.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She was put in charge of the root causes of migration.

VANCE: One of the root causes of migration, I would say, Chris, is that Kamala Harris refuses to do her job as border czar.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: All right. Panel is back. There's that "border czar" title again, Alex, from Republicans.

But the reality is here that this issue has shifted aggressively in Republicans' favor. "The Times" has a long story on this. They write that "the overall message on immigration from the

Democratic Party in the past week, as it has been since Harris announced her candidacy last month, has been decidedly more hardline than it has been in decades, and it reflects just how much of a political vulnerability the issue remains for Harris."

I think the question seems to be, like, can the Trump team get on offense on this issue?

THOMPSON: I mean, if you look at all their paid media -- and I, unfortunately, have watched every single TV ad airing on air right now. It is all immigration, all the time. From the Trump campaign. It's border czar, border czar, border czar.

It is using instances of, you know, crime committed by undocumented immigrants.

And they really believe that they can -- that they can really paint her as responsible for this problem.

And really, the problem for Democrats, too, is this is a late offensive push. The Democratic Party, yes, they introduced a border bill the very first day of his administration but basically spent no political capital during the first two years of doing it.

Finally, they embraced the border bill in January or February of an election year. You know, how much credibility are voters going to give them for this sort of late embrace of border security? It's really unclear.

HUNT: I mean, that is -- that has been my question about this, Matt Gorman, the entire time. That -- I mean, the Democrats are correct, that Trump killed a bill that would have made dramatic security -- or dramatic policy changes around the border.

However, the reality is that when you have Trump out there as the "build the wall" guy, how -- how do you message on that?

[06:20:03]

GORMAN: You always -- watch their actions always, right?

If Democrats truly thought that attacking that -- you know, that bill and the breakdown of the bill, was a political winner, they wouldn't have then had Biden do the executive orders that tried to kind of short-circuit that. They would have just used that as a cudgel.

And the same thing also with Republicans. If we felt like it was a little bit of danger in immigration, we wouldn't be going headlong into this right now.

[06:20:28]

Now, look if I worked the Harris team, I wouldn't send her to the border, because look, they've had this, you know, revisionist history that's like, well, she really wasn't borders czar. She was in charge of this, but not that.

Going down there, you are owning it again, and you are putting a visual there that I wouldn't want.

So, I think you -- she's walked a line. You're not going to win this issue. Can you get a little bit back? That's the goal, maybe.

HUNT: Meghan, you're doing the messaging. What do you think?

HAYS: I agree with you. And I also think that they need to be -- people need to understand what the root migration -- those issues are. And they need to know that the Obama administration put a ton of money into the Northern Triangle. Trump got rid of that money.

And Kamala Harris had to get public-private partnerships to rebuild that. You have to get people a reason to want to stay. They have to -- security -- you know, different issues with the Northern Triangle.

So, there's like -- it's more nuanced than I think people want to know. And it's not as talking point-y as we would like.

I agree with you. She should not go to the border. I don't -- I think that's a terrible message. But I also think that there are 71 days. And it has to be who is -- what issue No. 1 is this for people.

GORMAN: Look, the way I think of this always is there's an issue on the right that we want to push, and Democrats really don't want to talk about writ large, right? That's immigration.

That's an issue in the left. That they want to talk about Democrats, abortion, that Republicans want to shy away from. And each has your own actively -- base of singular voters, whoever wins that issue -- whoever issue wins out among that, is a tell sign about them.

THOMPSON: It really is extraordinary how fast the politics of this, of this has shifted, honestly in Trump's favor, the Republicans' favor, in that Kamala Harris, when she was running in 2019, raised your hand and said that we should make crossing the border a civil offense, not a criminal offense.

Now, she's on TV talking about how she's a border state prosecutor; that she's gone after international gangs. Like, the Kamala Harris team knows that this is a huge vulnerability, and that's why you're seeing them move so fast.

GORMAN: Yes.

HUNT: Yes. All right.

Still ahead here on CNN THIS MORNING, Donald Trump and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. with the latest twist this election season.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERT F. KENNEDY JR., FORMER INDEPENDENT PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We just made a general commitment that we are going to work together. (END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: How RFK's endorsement of Trump might change the race.

Plus, monsoon rains turning the Grand Canyon into a deadly raging river. That's one of five things you have to see this morning.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:26:59]

HUNT: All right, 26 minutes past the hour, five things you have to see this morning.

The Arizona National Guard rescued more than 100 people out of an area in the Grand Canyon after monsoon storms caused flooding. They rescued both tourists and tribal members from the area after local authorities closed it down.

An Alaskan community is under mandatory evacuations after a deadly landslide on Sunday. One person was killed by the disaster in the coastal city of Ketchikan. And there are fears that a second landslide could be imminent.

This dolphin could possibly make the 2028 Olympic gymnastics team. Wow, look at that. The video showing a dolphin off the coast of San Diego jumping 20 feet out of the water.

Some are comparing this to a Simone Biles style jump. It's amazing.

All right, a really scary moment for the home plate umpire in the Yankees-Rockies game on Sunday. A broken bat hit Nick Mahrley in the neck, sending him to the round. He sustained a concussion and was carted off the field. He will undergo more testing in the coming days.

And this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He gets it down. Oh, it's (UNINTELLIGIBLE)! He's going all the way.

Right there, he's going to win! The Little League World Series championship!

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: That's Florida defeating Chinese Taipei two-to-one to win the 2024 Little League World Series in Williamsport, Pennsylvania.

An errant throw to first base decided that outcome in extra innings.

All right, time now for weather. Hawaii dealing with a glancing blow from a tropical storm, bringing heavy rainfall to the islands. The Midwest dealing with the threat from storms and heat. Let's get to our -- straight to our Weatherman Van Dam, our

meteorologist, Derek. Good morning. Nice to see you. What do you got today?

DEREK VAN DAM, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes, good morning, Kasie.

Listen, if you're in Chicago, you need to prepare yourself for this heat that is coming today, peaking for the day tomorrow.

So, there's about 55 million people under heat alerts, and this stretches from Minneapolis, just outside of Indianapolis. So, Chicago, you have an excessive heat warning for the day today.

But again, tomorrow will be the hottest day. Look at the mercury in the thermometer, 95. But heat indices ranging from 95 to 105 today. And then from tomorrow, it could feel like up to 115 degrees in some of those outer suburbs away from Lake Michigan.

So, this is the NOAA extreme heat risk map. And I want you to show the advancement of the heat. This is for the day on Tuesday. Anywhere you see that shading of purple, that's where we expect the extreme heat wave conditions to be felt.

And, of course, when it gets this hot in the summer time, somethings is bound to give, right? Well, severe weather will be the result of the heat today.

Just North of Chicago, Minneapolis, to Milwaukee, damaging winds and large hail threat for the afternoon as we get those daytime heatings from the sun.

And I want to take you to Hawaii really quickly, because this was the scene from what is now Tropical Storm Hone, moving away from the Hawaiian islands, causing some flooding, still flash flood warnings.

But the good news is that the system is pulling away from the Hawaiian islands as we speak -- Kasie.

HUNT: All right. Sounds good. Derek van Dam for us this morning. Derek, thank you. I appreciate it.

VAN DAM: All right.

HUNT: Coming up after the break, Donald Trump's latest --