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CNN This Morning
Trump Criticizes Debate Host as Details in Flux; Republicans Speaking Out against Trump. Aired 6-6:30a ET
Aired August 27, 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 Tuesday, August 27. Right now on CNN THIS MORNING.
[05:59:37]
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP (R), FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT, 2024 PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: Now all of a sudden, they want to make a change in the rules, because she can't answer questions.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: The debate over the debate. Donald Trump and Kamala Harris's teams clashing over muted microphones.
Plus, more than 200 Republican reaching across the aisle to support Harris for president. We'll dig into that.
And this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
H.R. MCMASTER, FORMER TRUMP NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISOR: He couldn't stick with the decision. He didn't stick with the decision.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: The blame game as Donald Trump uses the anniversary of the withdrawal from Afghanistan to pin the blame on the Biden-Harris administration. His former national security advisor says Trump should take some, too.
And later, battleground Pennsylvania, the state that both parties think will decide the election. We're going to talk to former Pennsylvania congressman, Charlie Dent, and see who he thinks has momentum at their backs in the Keystone State.
All right, 6 a.m. here in Washington. A live look at the Washington Monument. The White House is in there, too. It's just hard to see. It's so dark, still. Getting towards fall; it's darker in the morning.
Good morning, everyone. I'm Kasie Hunt. It's wonderful to have you with us on this Tuesday morning. Will they, or won't they? New questions about the scheduled debate
between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump after the former president said this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do you still plan to participate in the ABC debate?
TRUMP: Well, you know, I watched this weekend, and it's the worst of all networks.
But when I looked at the hostility of that, I said, why am I doing it? Let's do it with another network. I want to do it. I think ABC is -- really should be shut out. I'd much rather do it on NBC.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: Scheduled for just two weeks from today. That debate could be voters' only chance to see and hear the candidates face off in person.
And even if the debate does go ahead, just what the voters can hear is the sticky point right now.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Would you want the microphones muted in the debate whenever you're not speaking?
TRUMP: We agreed to the same rules. I don't know. Doesn't matter to me. I'd rather have it probably on. But the agreement was that it would be the same as it was last time. In that case, it was muted.
I didn't like it the last time, but it worked out fine. I mean, ask Biden how it worked out. It was fine. And I think it should be the same.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: "Ask Biden how it worked out."
Trump, though, also saying it doesn't matter to me if the microphones are muted when it is not candidates' turn to speak. That, of course, was how it was at the CNN debate in June.
What he said there -- what Trump said there -- might have been news to his own campaign. Just one day earlier, Trump campaign adviser Jason Miller told Politico, quote, "We accepted the ABC debate under the exact same terms as the CNN debate. And we said no changes to the agreed upon rules."
The Harris campaign seizing on Trump's comments to say that now they think the matter has been settled.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MICHAEL TYLER, HARRIS CAMPAIGN COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR: I think what you have is both candidates themselves who agree on the debate format, right? We have both candidates who now agree that we should have a full-throated debate with live microphones for the duration that fully allows for both candidates to clearly articulate their visions for where they want to take this country.
I think we'll see whether not Donald Trump allows his handlers to overrule his decision that he made today.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: "Allow his handlers to overrule his decision."
The fight over the microphones is on center stage, because both campaigns think that the dynamic is really important in terms of creating breakthrough moments.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HILLARY CLINTON (D), FORMER PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: Personal emails, not official --
TRUMP: Well, with 33,000? No.
CLINTON: Well, we turned over 35,000. So, it was --
TRUMP: Oh, yes. What about the other 15,000?
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: Allow -- please allow her to respond. She didn't talk while you talked.
CLINTON: Yes, that's true. I didn't.
TRUMP: Because you have nothing to say.
KAMALA HARRIS, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES, 2024 PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: That is absolutely not true.
MIKE PENCE, FORMER VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: What's the math?
HARRIS: That's absolutely --
PENCE: Is the only cutting -- is he only going to repeal part of the Trump tax cuts?
HARRIS: If you don't mind letting me finish, we can have a conversation. OK.
PENCE: Please.
HARRIS: OK.
1861 --
PENCE: I'd like you to answer the question.
HARRIS: Mr. Vice President, I'm speaking. I'm speaking, OK?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: OK. Joining us now to discuss Mark Preston, CNN senior political analyst; Brad Todd, Republican strategist, a partner at the political strategy firm On Message; Ameshia Cross, Democratic strategist, former communications advisor for Barack Obama. Welcome to all of you. Thank you so much for being here.
Mark Preston, our friend of the show, Stephen Collinson, writes this about -- and this is why -- I mean, look, this is -- we're down kind of in the weeds on the rules of the debate, right? But there's a reason we are talking about it. Because the images that could come out of this debate could define the fall race, this incredibly compressed timeline.
Collinson writes this, right: "An open mic would test the Republican nominee's self-discipline in a debate with Harris, at a time when GOP strategists are pleading with him to stick to policy, quit his smash- mouth politics for the good of his campaign. Visuals of Trump talking over and openly disrespecting the woman who has a chance to be the first black woman president would speak for themselves."
He also says Harris would have a chance to demonstrate the strength in standing up to Trump by reprising her famous riposte, which we just watched in that debate with Mike Pence.
Where do you see all this going?
MARK PRESTON, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: But seems like steven spoke to Brad Todd last night when he was writing that. All of that is absolutely true.
I mean -- I mean right now, I mean, the debate over the debates is really an internal Washington. D.C. debate. When it becomes really an issue for the American people is if the Harris campaign is able to effectively cast Donald Trump as somebody who's afraid to take her on.
[06:05:02]
But everything that they just said that Stephen wrote, you know, in his piece and his analysis, is absolutely true. It's about image to have a man, let alone Donald Trump, trying to speak over another candidate. And we just saw the clips. They weren't pretty. They were funny, but they weren't pretty.
HUNT: Brad, what do you think about how they should be handling this?
BRAD TODD, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: Well, I think, first off, Kamala Harris should be very comfortable with the muted mic. We're on day 34 with her not doing any interview with a major journalist. Her mic's been muted for a month. So, she should be happy to have it muted after the questions in the debate.
You know, I always think that when you're the candidate trying to change the rules of the debate, then perhaps you're worried about how you're going to do in the debate. And that's how this looks to me with Kamala Harris.
HUNT: Ameshia, you want to push back on that?
AMESHIA CROSS, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: Absolutely. Because she's needling him because she can.
Kamala Harris has the wind at her back. She has out -- outsized fundraising. She has been able to amass, within a very short amount of time, historic levels of on-the-ground outreach. We're talking a campaign like none other we've seen in American history.
It's quite often compared to the 2008 Obama campaign, but Obama's campaign did not do this in record speed. That's what we're seeing here.
In addition to that, she is on the ground where it matters. She still has to introduce herself to millions of people across this country. She is doing that.
We know that many of those people aren't watching traditional news. That just is what it is. The numbers bear that out.
HUNT: So, should she walk away from the debate if they won't make this little change? That she wants?
CROSS: She's not walking away from the debate. She's already -- she's already said she's not walking away. She will be at that debate even if Trump is not there and just have the conversation with ABC News.
What she is doing is needling someone who has tried since the top of the ticket change for the Democrats to get out of this debate.
I was at the National Association of Black Journalists conference. He purposely verbally assaulted an ABC News reporter there, because he did not want to do this debate. He's been setting this up for weeks now. He does not want to debate her in general.
HUNT: Well, wait. Hold on. Brad -- I mean, Brad, do you see the world where not debating is good for Donald Trump?
I mean, is that -- I mean, if he is a little bit on his back foot, it seems like a debate is something that, you know, might be able to change things for them.
TODD: I think most people in the news media can't get to Kamala Harris to ask her a hard question. So, it may take a debate for her to have a hard question. So no, I think he needs a debate.
HUNT: Yes. I mean OK. That's fair enough. And we can -- we can dig into that. I want to -- I do want to dig into the interview question in a second.
But Mark Preston, do you see a world where this debate does not go forward? And do -- because it does seem to me that it is probably in both their interests to have it happen, regardless of this fight over the rules. PRESTON: You know, I know this sounds crazy, but in a convoluted way before September 11, you know, I -- after September 11, I should say, nothing surprises me anymore. And I really do mean that.
The -- and look, the odds of this debate not happening are very, very low. The odds of it happening are very, very high.
But in this political world we live in right now, I mean, things are not normal necessarily. And we can't follow, you know, the same script that we've followed over the years.
HUNT: If -- if you're Harris, would you go ahead and do this debate without this rule change?
PRESTON: Of course, because -- because she can't look like she's backing out.
But it will be interesting to -- if Donald Trump doesn't show up at the ABC debate. Does she still go on ABC? Does ABC still give her that time? And if that's the case, then that becomes another issue, and that becomes another big story.
CROSS: The campaign has already said that she's going to do it, whether he shows up or not. That's not in contention --
PRESTON: Yes, whether she wants to do it --
(CROSSTALK)
TODD: ABC's -- ABC's already in the hole, though, because the way they -- the way they're glossing over her policy changes or alleged policy changes, I think ABC's on the hook here, as well.
HUNT: Interesting. OK.
Let's talk for a second about the interview question, because yesterday we also learned an adviser said she's going to -- Kamala Harris is going to schedule an interview before the end of the month.
She has started to get some pressure from fellow Democrats, including Congresswoman Debbie Dingell and others, who say that, hey, she is actually going to have to answer some more questions. Let's watch.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. DEBBIE DINGELL (D-MI): Well, I think sometimes you all over- exaggerate what the importance of it. She knows what she's going to have to do. She's going to have to spell out her position and talk about policies more.
SEN. CORY BOOKER (D-NJ): From reproductive rights to lowering costs, she's been very specific. And as this campaign goes on, she'll be sitting for more interviews. She'll be engaging in debates.
GOV. J.B. PRITZKER (D-IL): The truth is that she's answered questions along the way. Youve seen her do that when she's getting on and off of Air Force 2.
Does she need to sit down for an interview? Of course. And they've said they'll do that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: So, Ameisha, have they let this go on a little too long, because it's now become this situation where the story is about whether she's going to do an interview.
I mean, I realize that there are countervailing strategies often in terms of when you sit a candidate down with the news media. Sometimes it can be counterproductive ahead of a convention, for example.
But on the other hand, if you let it go on too long, it can get out of your control.
CROSS: I think you're right. And that's also why her campaign has said that it's going to happen before the end of next month. And I think that that's very important.
Be mindful that the DNC just ended last week. She was -- just became the official nominee on Friday.
[06:10:01]
On top of that, we also saw that, you know, with the roll call, which was just a few days prior, the virtual roll call, that vote came through.
This is something where we've had Kamala Harris atop the ticket, officially, for just a few days.
So, this is not -- this is a very historic campaign, a very truncated campaign, but the pressure for her was to actually get out and talk to the voters.
She's been doing that. She had to build that capacity. She also just chose her vice-presidential -- her vice president as a running mate.
TODD: Hang on. Hang on.
CROSS: The press is not her top priority.
TODD: We're talking about the vice president of the United States. She'd been preparing to be president, allegedly, for three and a half years.
CROSS: She's also done a lot of interviews as vice president.
TODD: So how -- therefore, she should have been able to do an interview on the first day. Why is she not?
CROSS: It's not -- it's not a question of ability. It is one -- a campaign measure --
TODD: No, it's more that she doesn't want to answer --
CROSS: -- how much she needs to be out and busy.
TODD: She doesn't want to answer for the fact that she -- she was against fracking. She's against private insurance.
CROSS: She's advanced on that in ways that Joe Biden could not.
TODD: She was against gasoline cars. And she doesn't want to talk about it.
(CROSSTALK)
CROSS: -- having those conversations every day.
TODD: She --
CROSS: She's talking about it to the people who actually count when it comes to November.
HUNT: Let's push pause, because Mark, I will say that she -- this has been something that -- that people behind the scenes will acknowledge is something that is not her top strength. These unscripted moments where she's under pressure from interviewers.
If it was her strongest -- if it was her strongest move, they would have played it already.
PRESTON: They would have played it, no question.
Look, I hate to play the middle here, but they're both right. I mean, Ameshia and Brad, you're both right in the sense that right now, they don't have to do the interview. There isn't enough public pressure for them to do it.
But we are seeing these interviews start to pop up more and more. And then the question arises --
HUNT: So, the public pressure is building for the interview?
PRESTON: No, but I think it is. But remember, this is the first week, back to school for a lot of schools. Certainly, in the Northeast where, you know, kids are just back in the South right now.
But people are finishing their vacation. She's -- she is able to enjoy the cover of summer right now.
TODD: She's sawed off one-third of this campaign, and members of the news media have let her. She's not -- she's not answering questions about -- we know her positions.
She's against fracking. She's against private health insurance. She's against gasoline cars. That's what she told us when she ran for president last time.
She doesn't want to talk about those positions. That's why she's stalling.
PRESTON: And she should do an interview. I'm just politically saying, Brad, you have to note that it hasn't been that bad.
(CROSSTALK)
CROSS: And she will do one. She will do one. It's coming.
TODD: Oh, she's going to show up. She'll show up in NPR, somewhere like that. But she's not going to take questions --
CROSS: She's going to -- on a network and she's going to have a sit- down conversation. She's already said -- her campaign has already said that that's going to happen. If you're waiting for --
TODD: It's a month.
CROSS: -- waiting for the -- she's actually on the ground. She's doing bus tours across the state of Georgia. She is talking to the voters.
TODD: She's the last one in the room. Let's hear it.
CROSS: The voters are the one who's going to make this decision.
HUNT: We're going to -- we're going to have to take a break. I'm sorry to cut you off. But I do -- I don't think that doing softball interviews is going to put this to rest. I understand the point that you're making.
But I think the decision that I'm looking for from the Harris team is who are they choosing to sit down with? And is that going to be something where you come away feeling like she took the hard questions or, if this, you know, snowball continues.
All right. Coming up here on CNN THIS MORNING, another former Trump staffer turning against him as more than 200 Republicans pour their support behind Harris.
Plus, the Department of Justice is hoping to revive their classified documents case against Trump. We'll dig into that.
And later, on the anniversary of the botched withdrawal from Afghanistan, both Trump and Harris marking that day and the lives that were lost.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOHN KIRBY, SPOKESMAN, NATIONAL SECURITY COUNCIL: Neither going to Arlington nor any individual paper statement is ever going to be enough to repay these families.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COOPER: Would you work in the Trump White House again?
MCMASTER: No, I think Anderson, I will work in any administration where I feel like I can make a difference. But I'm kind of used up with Donald Trump.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: Hmm. Former Trump national security adviser, Lieutenant General H.R. McMaster, joined the long list of former Trump administration -- Trump administration officials who say that they would not be part of a second Trump term.
McMaster's comments come as more than 200 former Bush, McCain and Romney staffers endorse Harris in a new letter, writing that they, quote, "came together to warn fellow Republicans that reelecting President Trump would be a disaster for our nation."
Some prominent Republicans making the same case at the Democratic National Convention last week.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ADAM KINZINGER (R), FORMER ILLINOIS REPUBLICAN: The Republican Party is no longer conservative.
GEOFF DUNCAN (R), FORMER GEORGIA LIEUTENANT GOVERNOR: These days, our party acts more like a cult. A cult worshipping a felonist thug.
STEPHANIE GRISHAM, FORMER TRUMP WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: He has no empathy, no morals, and no fidelity to the truth.
OLIVIA TROYE, FORMER TRUMP WHITE HOUSE STAFFER: To my fellow Republicans, you aren't voting for a Democrat. You're voting for democracy.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: All right. Our panel's back.
Brad Todd, I'd kind of like to get your take on this, because obviously, there's a lot of layers, a lot of different stories in those soundbites, the people that spoke at the Democratic National Convention. But two people in particular I want to focus in on, which is H.R. McMaster, what he told Anderson and also a person like Geoff Duncan, who is legitimately -- like, he is conservative. He is not -- he is somebody that a lot of Republicans take very seriously. There's not, like, a personal grudge, other than the fact that, you know, his family came under death threats for him attempting to stand up for the election in Georgia.
I mean, how do you answer what they have to say here as you -- I understand you're running Republican campaigns across the country. Donald Trump is at the top of the ticket. I mean, what do you say to these folks?
TODD: Well, let's break it down a little further. And General McMaster, who everybody has a great deal of respect for, he's not in that 200-person list that you saw on the -- on the letter today.
[06:20:09]
And the first name on that letter today was a finance intern. So, let's not get carried away with exactly how broad this -- this list is. There are more -- more other -- others on the list who are of the same category. So not quite General H.R. McMaster.
HUNT: There are also some -- some more senior people who worked for McCain and Romney and others.
TODD: Well, in Washington, D.C., it's always going to be fashionable to move from right to left. Always. It's always good for your career to do that.
And so, some of that's going on, as well. Their new place of employment. This is more suitable to what they're doing. But look, it's a free country.
What else happened last week is RFK endorsed Donald Trump. He tried to run in the Democratic primaries. They locked them out. So, the counter to that is -- the way you counter-program this in campaigns is then you try to find other people who you can show have swapped sides. And that's really mostly what this is.
HUNT: Let's take a look at, Brad, members -- well, it's this one person who's a member of the military. Others who have worked in the defense establishment in very high-level roles at talking about whether or not Donald Trump is fit, from a national security perspective, to be president. Let's watch.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEN. MARK MILLEY, FORMER CHAIRMAN OF THE JOINT CHIEFS OF STAFF: we don't take an oath to a king or a queen, or to a tyrant or a dictator. We don't take an oath to a wannabe dictator. We don't take an oath to an individual. We take an oath to the Constitution.
MARK ESPER, FORMER SECRETARY OF DEFENSE UNDER TRUMP: I think he's unfit for office.
Oh, well, look, it's -- he puts himself before country.
His actions are all about him and not about -- not about the country.
JOHN BOLTON, FORMER NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISOR UNDER TRUMP: I think he's dangerous enough he shouldn't get a second term.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: I mean, what do you say to those folks who worked for -- I mean, worked for him, served in our military?
TODD: I agree with John Bolton on virtually every policy issue you can come up with. So, you put me in a tough spot on him. You know, I think I don't -- General Milley and former President Trump have a long running personal animus. I don't know that it's appropriate for him to be criticizing any commander in chief -- former, or future -- while he's in uniform. If he wants to do that, he has to step out of uniform, become a private citizen again.
But, you know, I -- I think there are differences between Donald Trump and some of the guys these have -- these folks have worked before -- worked with before.
And you go into the administration knowing that difference. And there's somewhat of an obligation when you do take the job to defend the boss. And then, when you -- you can have your differences when you leave, but you keep it, you have to do it while -- work for the team while you're in the team. I think that's an expectation presidents ought to have. It's one that Donald Trump hasn't always gotten.
And you can argue whether he's deserved it or not at times. But I think there is somewhat of an obligation when you take the job in the administration.
HUNT: Let me ask you. You work on a lot of down-ballot races is trying to get Republicans elected.
Does this kind of criticism -- does it resonate? Does it matter in those types of races?
TODD: No. No, because I think Donald Trump is very well-defined. Voters get what they like about him and what they dislike about him.
And the main thing they like about him is that he fights and that he fights against the far left. And they see the left and the Democratic Party today as way too far left.
They know his downsides. This isn't -- we've never had an elected official or a candidate for office who's been so well-defined and for whom Americans have conflicted emotions.
And yet, you know what? This is a tie race. It's a tie race. And I think we have to talk about what that says about where the Democrats are.
HUNT: All right. Still to come up after the break here, the election just 70 days away. Still one state, above all others, poised to determine who will take the White House.
Ahead, going to take a deep dive into the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.
Plus, how a dog trying to sneak some leftovers ended up starting a kitchen fire. Oh, no. This is one of -- yikes. This is one of five things you have to see this morning.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[06:27:55] HUNT: All right, 27 minutes past the hour. Five things you have to see
this morning.
Extreme flooding in Bangladesh in India. At least 44 people have been killed, and millions are stranded due to rising waters. In some places, the water now chest-high.
One hungry dog sets a kitchen fire. Security footage from inside the home shows the bulldog climbing up to the stove to get some leftovers, but his paw hit the knobs and lit the gas stoves, sparking the fire. Oh, my gosh.
The dogs were rescued. Thank goodness. Nobody was injured. Put your food away. Yikes.
All right. Then there's this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Whoa! Whoa! Whoa!
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Holy (EXPLETIVE DELETED), he just bit my boat. He just bit my boat!
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: Dear lord, I would have used swear words more intense than what guy was out there saying.
Two fishermen captured the moment a Great White Shark tried to take a bite out of their boat. This was off the coast of Australia.
One called it -- OK, there's Australians for you. One called it the best experience he's ever had on the Sunshine Coast. I do not agree. I would not -- I would not -- that's -- oh, my God. OK.
There was also this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Woo-hoo!
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: OK. Well, that's awesome. That's the British World War II vet, Minette (ph) Bailey skydiving on her 102nd birthday.
For her hundredth birthday, she raced a Ferrari at speeds topping 130 miles an hour.
Her secret to living a long life, she says: always look for something new to do, and don't forget to party.
I love this woman. How can you not love this woman? I would -- I'm way more down for the Ferrari, by the way, than the skydiving. I don't -- I don't know. That takes guts. That's amazing. All right. And it might be the middle of August, but it looked like the middle of winter on the Sierra Nevada Mountains. A rare summer snowfall hitting the area.
The local sheriff who posted the video says this is just a reminder of how unpredictable the weather in the mountains can be.
And speaking of weather, more than 90 severe storms reported across the U.S. yesterday. The majority hit Minnesota. A combination of the thunderstorm at sunset producing this --
