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CNN This Morning

Harris & Trump Campaigns At Odds Over Debate Rules; Russian Strikes Damage Critical Ukraine Infrastructure; Heat Alerts From Midwest To Mid-Atlantic. Aired 5-5:30a ET

Aired August 27, 2024 - 05:00   ET

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

[05:00:41]

KASIE HUNT, CNN ANCHOR: It's Tuesday, August 27th.

Right now on CNN THIS MORNING:

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT & 2024 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: She's not a good debater. She's not a smart person. She doesn't want to debate.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: The debate over debates. Fourteen days from the first scheduled presidential debate, the two campaigns are needling each other about how to negotiate what will happen on stage.

And Russia launches what Ukraine says is the largest air attack since the beginning of the war, leaving over half the country in the line of fire.

And the state that may decide the outcome of the election battleground Pennsylvania. We're going to break down where both candidates stand in the commonwealth just a few weeks out from early voting.

(MUSIC)

HUNT: Five a.m. here in Washington, a live look at the nation's capital on this Tuesday morning. Good morning, everyone. I'm Kasie. It's wonderful to have you with us.

We're now just 70 days away from election day and just two weeks out from the first scheduled presidential debate between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump. But the two campaigns are currently already debating before the candidates take the stage.

CNN reporting that the Harris team wants microphones to be kept on throughout the debate while the Trump team wants the microphones to be muted when it's not a candidate's turn to speak. That would mirror what happened in the first presidential debate earlier this year between Trump and President Biden, that is until Trump told reporters this yesterday. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: Doesn't matter to me. I'd rather have it probably on, but the agreement was ever would be the same as it was last time. In that case, it was muted.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: Trump now saying he probably rather have the microphones turned on. That's prompted this response from the Harris team.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MICHAEL TYLER, HARRIS-WALZ COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR: I think her position is the same as Donald Trump's position on this because he went on to say in that same interaction that he doesn't care, doesn't matter to him whether or not the mics are hot, and frankly, that he would prefer if they were hot.

So I think this issue is resolved unless Donald Trump allows his handlers to overrule him. We'll have a fulsome debate between the two candidates with live microphones, where both candidates will be able to lay out their vision for where they want to take this country.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: All this, of course, also playing out on social media with both campaigns, posting videos, looking ahead to this planned September 10th debate.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

INTERVIEWER: Why not debater her?

TRUMP: Well, wait, but because they already know everything. They say, oh, Trump's not doing the debate that's same thing now. I mean, right now, I say, why should I do a debate? I'm leading in the polls.

KAMALA HARRIS, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES & 2024 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: There is not much left at the end of the month. Bidenomics is working. The price of housing has gone up. It feels so hard to just be able to get ahead, and we are very proud of Bidenomics.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: All right. Joining me now, national political reporter for "The Washington Post", Sabrina Rodriguez, and "Axios" Capitol Hill reporter Juliegrace Brufke.

Good morning to both of you. Wonderful to see you.

JULIEGRACE BRUFKE, CAPITOL HILL REPORTER, AXIOS: Good morning.

HUNT: Sabrina, you can see the Harris campaign literally trying to push Donald Trump's buttons in the statements that they are making. They are calling him a chicken in this ad. The way that the spokesman, Michael Tyler, talk about this that started yesterday morning about this time with a statement from Brian Fallon. Basically saying that Trump should -- he didn't use the phrase "man up", but that was the implication, right?

This, of course, it has them both going back and-forth. Donald Trumps also criticized ABC News, saying he doesn't want it to be on that network necessarily, questioning why he might go on that network.

How does this all resolve itself? And ultimately, what difference does it make to have the microphones on during a debate?

SABRINA RODRIGUEZ, NATIONAL POLITICAL REPORTER, THE WASHINGTON POST: I mean, I have to laugh because it feels like we always have this conversation about the debate over the debates and its just fascinating to see. I mean, at this point, were a month into the Harris campaign and you can just see that they are enjoying this. They are leaning into to it.

I mean, the video with calling him a chicken and everything that is coming from that, but the reality is, I mean, they do want to see a debate because they feel like they have such a contrast to drive home in a debate with Donald Trump.

[05:05:02]

And part of what they were saying yesterday with all of this news around the debate, around the debates, was this the idea that, you know, Trump can't be presidential for 90 minutes and that's why they don't want the mics on. That's why the Trump side of the camp does not want the mics on. They would like to see the mics on because they feel that it is going to turn into Trump trying to speak over overheard, Trump making little comments, them having back-and-forths that they feel that she will be able to handle better than he can.

So I think at this point it's like again, this back-and-forth about the debates. I think we ultimately will have a September debates. I would say fingers crossed that I hear voters talk about so much, then wanting to see them on a stage and I would like to get to cover it, but it is just this open question because he keeps going back and I think clearly is showing that that she is getting under his skin.

HUNT: Well, I will say to your point about the debate over the debates, there had been sort of this long running narrative that debates don't matter or why do we spend some time focused on this? And then this debate with Joe Biden and Donald Trump happened. And reprove to all of us that.

Well, no, actually debates matter and are very much, or at least they can matter very, very much and Juliegrace, one of the reasons why the Harris campaign is pushing this behind the scenes is because they remember moments from when she debated Mike Pence when she was the vice presidential candidate. And it works to her favor, some of the moments that really sparked the most viral were all attention, if you will, was written out on T-shirts in the aftermath. This was when she of course, told Mike Pence, eventual Vice President

Mike Pence, quote, are actually a human, excuse me, he was vice president at the time that I'm speaking, let's watch the I'm speaking moment.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HARRIS: He said because the president wanted people to remain calm.

MODERATOR: Well, let's go --

HARRIS: No, but, Susan, this is important.

MIKE PENCE, FORMER U.S. VICE PRESIDENT: Susan, I have to weigh in here.

HARRIS: I want to add -- Mr. Vice President, I'm speaking.

PENCE: I have to weigh in.

HARRIS: I'm speaking.

Four hundred thousand dollars a year --

PENCE: You see, this will repeal to Trump tax cuts.

HARRIS: Mr. Vice President, I'm speaking.

PENCE: Well --

HARRIS: I'm speaking. If you don't mind letting me finish, we can then have a conversation, okay?

PENCE: Please?

HARRIS: Okay.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: Okay. That moment is impossible if the microphones are cut.

BRUFKE: Absolutely. And I mean, I think speaking to people in Trump world and GOP lawmakers, they felt that the mics cut off for Trump worked to his advantage last time around, but I mean, he's facing a very different opponent. I mean, I feel like there have been a lot of concerns on their end about him attacking her personally and making comments that could be perceived as sexist are going -- making comments about race that they're worried about interrupting him there. I guess we'll see if he does show up to the ABC debate.

But I think there's a lot at stake. She just a very different dynamic than him going up against Joe Biden.

HUNT: Yeah. So speaking of him going up against Joe Biden, let's watch a little bit from back in 2020 when Trump was periodically interrupting Joe Biden. Again, this was an a situation where the microphones were open as the candidates were able to have these back- and-forth and it led to another moment for Biden.

Now, obviously, Biden was a different candidate at the time. Let's watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The question, the question is --

(CROSSTALK)

TRUMP: -- the radical left --

BIDEN: Will you shut up, man?

TRUMP: Listen, who is on your list, Joe? Who's on your list?

BIDEN: This is --

MODERATOR: All right. Gentlemen, I think we've ended this --

BIDEN: This is --

(CROSSTALK)

TRUMP: -- pack the court.

MODERATOR: We have end -- no, no.

TRUMP: You're not going to give a list.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: That was, of course, my now colleague Chris Wallace trying to kind of get things back on the rails a little bit there.

But when they went into this debate back in June between Trump and Biden, it was actually the Biden team that thought, well, this might work to our advantage, you know, as they're thinking about the candidate they were trying to manage then. It's really interesting how that is kind of been flipped on its head.

RODRIGUEZ: Absolutely. I mean, the Biden team really thought that it was their opportunity for Biden to shine. They thought, you know, earlier this year with the State of the Union, they thought if they could just give him an opportunity to squarely be addressing the American people and answering the questions, that would be better than risking crosstalk with Trump, where then he might lose the train of thought or it might just not land well.

But now with Kamala Harris, it's -- I mean, it's a complete shift. She wants to engage with Donald Trump and especially around the sexism and racist attacks and him questioning her intelligence and stuff. It's obviously not that she wants to hear those things, but she is prepared to address those things.

And in a setting like a debate, if those mics are on and that is happening, she gets to engage with it in a way she wouldn't alone.

HUNT: Juliegrace, does the sort of poking the bear that is Donald Trump is going to work on this question?

BRUFKE: I mean, it could, I mean, we've seen just during the DNC how he's responded to things on Truth Social, on going after Mike Walz, calling him an assistant coach instead of coach and putting out, where's Hunter? And I think he's kind of struggled to kind of find a line of attack that's kind of clearly worked on going after Kamala Harris.

So I think there's still kind of trying to figure out how to figure out their strategy on how to define her in these months moving forward, that's going to be important for them as they head into the debate.

HUNT: Yeah. And of course, referring to Tim Walz -- Tim Walz, the vice presidential nominee.

[05:10:01]

BRUFKE: Yeah.

HUNT: Juliegrace Brufke, Sabrina Rodriguez, thank you both very much for being here.

All right. Coming up on CNN THIS MORNING:

Volodymyr Zelenskyy vowing a response lets to Russian attacks after Moscow launches what Ukraine describes as the largest airstrikes since the beginning of the war.

Plus, special counsel Jack Smith making a push to revive the federal classified documents case against Donald Trump.

And campaign zero in on pivotal swing states. We're going to take a look at how both candidates fair in battleground Pennsylvania.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. JOSH SHAPIRO (D), PENNSYLVANIA: She's marched 49 yards down the field. But you all know Pennsylvania really well. That last yard and a half to get to the other side of the field, that's a hard yard and a half.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[05:15:06]

HUNT: All right. Welcome back.

A dramatic escalation in Russia's war on Ukraine. Ukraine's air force says swarms of Russian attack drones were followed by volleys of cruise and ballistic missiles overnight targeting over half the country. At least five people were killed, extensive damage now reported at critical energy facilities. Ukraine's president making the case that his military needs to be unshackled.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, PRESIDENT OF UKRAINE (through translator): Every leader, every partner of ours knows what strong decisions are needed to end this war and to end it justly. There should be no restrictions on the range of weapons for Ukraine while terrorists have no such restrictions. Defenders of life should face no restrictions.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: Explosions were heard overnight in the capital of Kyiv. Residents taking cover in train stations. The mayor confirming that power and water supplies have been disrupted.

Our Max Foster joins us now, live from London.

Max, good morning to you. I thank you so much for being here.

So what's Putin hoping to achieve here, Vladimir Putin? And also can dig into what Zelenskyy means by no restrictions on their weaponry?

MAX FOSTER, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Well, I mean, a massive -- you know, we had one wave of attacks from Russia and is one of the biggest waves as attacks, there's been on Ukraine, that we had another wave attacks the next day.

So it feels like its ramping up, but this is all part of a pattern that Russia has been falling into, which is attacking key bits of civilian infrastructure inflicting broad pain across Ukraine effectively. So is it part of a pattern? Has it been ramped up because of Ukraine's incursion into Russia? It's not entirely clear, but what Zelenskyy is talking about here is his inability he feels it to defend Ukraine because he isn't allowed to fire long-range missiles into Russia to take out some of these places where Russia is attacking from.

And in terms of the defenses, he can't go into Russian airspace under the current agreements with the U.S. for example, he's looking for more flexibility on that so he can attack back harder effectively.

HUNT: So, Max, we basically looking at a situation where the balance is between avoiding escalation -- I mean, that seems to be the goal here, right, of the policies that prevent him from using these weapons in the way he says, he wants to. He's implying, well, if he was allowed to, he could win the war outright but clearly there's some greater fear from Western countries.

FOSTER: Yes, it's just purely, you know, the U.S. is wondering, you know, if you allow him to go into Russian air space, deeper into Russia. Does that escalate tensions with Russia? And what are the wider repercussions? How does Russia respond to that?

So that is the big concern, but I think there is an acceptance but has been all along that Ukraine doesn't have the advantages of Russia has because it doesn't have the same restrictions, or Russia doesn't have the restrictions that Ukraine has.

So, but there has, as you know, Kasie, throughout this whole war, Zelenskyy has always been asking for more and the U.S. has often adjusted to it using certain types of weaponry for example, the planes, for example. And, of course, he didn't go into Russia on his own accord, and he got away with it. We didn't have a big backlash from the U.S. and the European states.

So that's if he does want to go deeper into Russia. I'm not saying it won't happen because the Americans may agree to at some point, he may just do it in America allows him to get away with it.

HUNT: Really interesting way of looking at it. Max Foster for us this morning, Max, always grateful to have you. Thank you so much for being here.

FOSTER: Thanks, Kasie.

HUNT: All right. Ahead here on CNN THIS MORNING: new details on Trump's classified documents, legal battle, why Jack Smith wants to the reopen that case?

Plus, we can't really win the White House without Pennsylvania. Trump and Harris going toe to toe like Balboa and Creed just nine Tuesdays from now.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[05:23:39]

HUNT: All right, 23 minutes past the hour. Here's your morning roundup. The DOJ and special counsel, Jack Smith, are trying to revive their classified documents case against Donald Trump. In a brief filed Monday, Smith argues the Judge Aileen Cannon's decision to dismiss the case has no merit. Cannon ruled the DOJ doesn't have the ability to appoint or fund special counsels.

Remember them? The British rock band Ooasis, that is the iconic "Wonderwall", will get this: they're getting back together. They're announcing a reunion tour for next year. The group's website stating they will perform for a total of 14 dates across the U.K., are going to start on July 4 in Wales. Tickets go on sale Saturday morning. I really never thought I'd see the day.

And then there's this, SpaceX pushing the launch of the Polaris Dawn mission to tomorrow morning at Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The mission which had been set for today was postponed to take a closer look at a ground-side helium leak on equipment that is designed to detach from the rocket during take-off.

All right. Time now for weather. Nearly 75 million people from the Midwest to Mid-Atlantic under heat alerts this morning. Temperatures expected to hit a high of 100 degrees in some areas. Potential heat index is reaching up to 115 degrees. [05:25:04]

Let's get to our meteorologist, the weatherman, Derek Van Dam.

Derek, good morning. It sounds like it's going to be a tough day for some folks.

DEREK VAN DAM, AMS METEOROLOGIST: So, Kasie, it's so hot in my hometown of Grand Rapids, Michigan, that some school districts are closing their schools completely for the day today, even calling it a half-day for some other locations as well. They say that there are two and three story buildings just cannot handle the strain on the air conditioning system that will take place today when you have the heat and humidity as high as it will be.

So that's the big story. There's also the chance of severe storms. Well get to both. But here's the millions of Americans under some sort of heat alerts today, we have heat warnings for Chicago, portions of southwest Michigan, and there's the advisories for western Michigan and even some heat alerts stretching across the mid-Atlantic as well.

So you factor in the humidity, it will feel like 103 in my hometown of Grand Rapids, 109 in Chicago. That's downright dangerous. You need to take those extra precautions.

We often talk about this time of year in the middle of summer. That is extreme heat on this heat risk scale from the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration. That is going to continue through the course of the day, and start to settle a little further south and east as we head into the rest of the week as well.

So we drop our temperatures along the East Coast, but we see the mercury in the thermometer climb across places like Atlanta and into Charlotte. Here's a cold front that's going to trigger off a few showers and thunderstorms later today, and then towards the Eastern Seaboard for the day tomorrow, there's our severe weather chances, large hail, damaging winds, a possibility.

Also, we're keeping a close eye on Cape Canaveral. Of course, we've got our SpaceX launch. You just talked about, Kasie, Wednesday morning at 3:38, well, the forecast looking generally dry with a few showers and storms just off the coast.

HUNT: All right. Derek Van Dam for us this morning, Derek, thank you so much.

All right. Still ahead here on CNN THIS MORNING:

The power of speaking up for yourself. How one young author is encouraging kids to use their own voices when it comes to speaking up about their health.

Plus, the state that might be the biggest battleground prize of all of them come election day.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) TRUMP: You know why? Because bad things happen in Philadelphia, bad things.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

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