Return to Transcripts main page

CNN This Morning

Karen McDonald is Interviewed about the Georgia High School Attack; Ian Sams is Interviewed about the Harris Campaign; U.S. Accuses Russia of Election Interference Campaign. Aired 6:30-7a ET

Aired September 05, 2024 - 06:30   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:34:09]

KASIE HUNT, CNN ANCHOR: All right, the latest now on the deadly high school shooting in Georgia, about 50 miles northeast of Atlanta. A 14- year-old student, using a semi-automatic weapon to kill two classmates and two teachers and to wound nine others. The suspect taken alive.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SHERIFF JUD SMITH, BARROW COUNTY, GEORGIA: The priority right now for us within this investigation is to gather all the facts, to make sure that we're accurate with it, because this is a murder investigation.

He has been taken into custody. He is - he will be charged with murder, and he will be tried as an adult.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: All right, let's go live to Michigan. I want to bring in Oakland County Prosecutor Karen McDonald.

Karen, good morning.

You, of course, prosecuted 15-year-old Ethan Crumbley for that mass shooting at Oxford High School outside of Detroit back in 2021 when four students were killed.

[06:35:02]

We are learning that this student in Georgia was actually questioned by police about a year ago after there were threats made.

Do you see parallels here with this student to what you dealt with in Michigan? And how would you, if you're looking at this, go about trying to prosecute the crime?

KAREN MCDONALD, OAKLAND COUNTY, MI PROSECUTOR: Good morning.

You know, I think the most important thing first is concentrating and focusing on the victims in this case, not just the four victims that were killed, students that were injured, and hundreds of others that were terrorized in that school and will never be the same.

Unfortunately, there are a lot of similarities. And this is what we see looking at the data in school shooters. We don't - we don't know, of course, at this moment what led up to this, but we see, based on the reported facts, there was absolutely some notice here that there was a concern. In fact, a visit by law enforcement to parent.

And just keep in mind, this is an AR-15 and a 14-year-old young man. That the - that the standard magazine holds 30 rounds and it's designed to be able to - to shoot quickly, repetitively, and - and - and cause as much damage as possible. So, it's a deadly weapon and it's a 14-year-old young man. The first question has to be, where did he get that gun? And the details that are coming out are very concerning.

HUNT: So, what role in - in this case you - you mentioned that the fact that they were - he was questioned before may be relevant here. Does that say that the parent may have more responsibility in terms of access to this weapon and - and potentially need to be held accountable as well? I mean how did that play into the case that you prosecuted, and how might it - it play in here?

MCDONALD: The facts in - in the - in the Oxford case with the shooter's parents are very egregious and hopefully very rare, which led to a conviction - two convictions of involuntary manslaughter. The - the core and the - the most critical point of that prosecution is whether it was reasonably foreseeable. And certainly when you have a 14-year-old who cannot drive and cannot purchase a weapon like that, and - and dad reportedly was on noticed that there was a concern and reportedly also said that the - the minor did not have any access to weapons, that was a year prior, there's - it's - it would be hard to argue that dad didn't know that there might - there might be a concern.

HUNT: Really very difficult.

What laws may or may not be on the books here that will be relevant going forward?? And we know that Georgia doesn't have a red flag law, which could have potentially played a role in - once the - the shooter - this now shooter was on law enforcement radar last year. What else do you think are - what other pieces of the law do you think are most important in both preventing these things from happening in the first place, and then also prosecuting them when they do happen?

MCDONALD: You know, I think it's too soon to tell with regard to what facts come out. I think it's imperative that the question is asked, regardless of whether it leads to a prosecution on - or a charge for parents. But we need to ask the question about where that minor got such a deadly weapon because we need to know that in terms of, how do we prevent this going forward.

But I do know this, responsible gun owners are taught and absolutely store their weapons safely. It takes ten seconds to install a cable lock. Ten seconds that would prevent tragedies like this. And - and responsible gun owners know that. So, we - it's too soon to tell. I don't know the - the details of this case. But my hearts go - my heart goes out to these victims. I - I can't tell you - I - I was in contact with Oxford victims all day yesterday and - and how terrible it is to watch this play out once again, not just for the parents who've lost their kids, but the kids that were in that school that day, the kids that were injured. This - this plays out and these kids will never be the same. And it would take ten seconds to prevent.

HUNT: Yes, so many lives impacted for so long after something that took just, as you point out, minutes to unfold.

Karen McDonald for us this morning. Thank you so much for your time. I really appreciate you coming on today.

MCDONALD: Thank you.

HUNT: All right, straight ahead here on CNN THIS MORNING, Hunter Biden on trial. Jury selection in the latest case against the president's son set to begin in just hours.

[06:40:05]

Plus, Kamala Harris breaking with her boss on a key economic policy. We're going to talk about that with her campaign's senior spokesman.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KAMALA HARRIS, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE U.S. (D) AND U.S. PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: But I think we should admire ambition in each other. So, I want to see 25 million new small business applications by the end of my first term.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HUNT: All right, 44 minutes past the hour. Here's your morning roundup.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DAMAR HAMLIN, BUFFALO BILLS SAFETY: I'm blessed in many reasons. And, you know, I have a second chance at doing things the right way in all areas of my life.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin named a starter for Sunday's game against Arizona.

[06:45:04]

It's going to be his first start since suffering cardiac arrest during a game in January of 2023. Doctors calling his recovery remarkable.

Donald Trump's legal team makes its latest move to delay the sentencing in his hush money case. The former president's attorneys asking an appeals court to stop his sentencing until judges hear their argument to move the case into federal court. The latest effort comes after a federal judge rejected Trump's motion to move the case out of the state level.

In just hours, jury selection begins for Hunter Biden's latest trial in Los Angeles. He is accused of not paying more than $1 million in taxes. Hunter Biden denies those claims, saying that he paid all his tax debts back. He could face up to 17 years in prison.

All right, let's turn back now to the 2024 campaign.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KAMALA HARRIS, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE U.S. (D) AND U.S. PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: If you earn $1 million a year or more, the tax rate on your long-term capital gains will be 28 percent under my plan, because we know, when the government encourages investment, it leads to broad- based economic growth.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: Kamala Harris breaking with President Biden on an economic policy, calling for a 28 percent long-term capital gains tax for wealthy Americans. The rate is eight points higher than the current 20 percent, but 11 points lower than what President Biden has proposed. Harris' announcement comes as she is trying to appeal to middle class voters with proposals aimed at boosting small businesses, and as she tries to address the economy, of course the most important concern among likely voters in must-win battleground states.

Donald Trump responded to Harris' proposal with this warning as he prepares to make an economic speech himself in New York later today.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT AND 2024 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: If they do that, the unrealized capital gain, it's - it's - you know, it's been (INAUDIBLE) a few years by ultra left Marxists only, like her father's a Marxist. This country will end up in a depression if she becomes president, like 1929. This will be in 1929 depression. She has no idea what the hell she's doing.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: And joining me now is senior national spokesperson for the Harris-Walz campaign, Ian Sams.

Ian, good morning. It's wonderful to have you on the show. Thank you for being here.

I want to ask you about this policy. She is breaking with President Biden, but she's also proposing raising taxes. Why is she doing this now? And how different do you think her proposals are from President Biden's?

IAN SAMS, SENIOR NATIONAL SPOKESPERSON FOR THE HARRIS-WALZ CAMPAIGN: Well, look, I think you mentioned that President Trump's speaking today on the economy. And I think that there's really a crystallized choice in the election between Donald Trump, who wants to give billionaires and big corporations more tax cuts because he thinks that they control the economy, and Kamala Harris, who's actually talking about creating more small businesses, lowering costs for the middle class, giving the middle class a tax cut and - and those sorts of bread and butter issues for regular people.

When it comes to the small business plan that you talk about, this week she's rolled out a really comprehensive set of ideas to try to dramatically expand the number of small businesses that start in this country under her administration. The Biden-Harris administration set a record with 19 million. She wants to go further with 25 million new small businesses created in her administration.

And how's she going to do that? Well, you have to help people afford to start a business. It costs on average $40,000 for a - for someone to start a small business. But the tax deduction is only $5,000. She wants to tenfold expand that to $50,000 to help those people afford to start a small business.

HUNT: OK.

SAMS: And when it comes to capital gains and the tax - and the tax code, I think that she understands that we can make sure that those at the top, the billionaires and the wealthy, pay their fair share with a billionaire minimum tax, with raising the corporate tax rate, with quadrupling taxes on stock buybacks, things that really make sure that those at the top are really paying their fair share, while also saying, look, I know there are some folks out there who want to jack up long-term capital gains to 40, 45 percent. Understand the impulse. But we still need to incentivize investing in start-up (INAUDIBLE).

HUNT: When you say some folks out there, I mean one of those folks out there is President Biden. He doesn't want to do it at 40, 45 percent, but he certainly wants it a lot higher. And this is a distinction that - that she is making with the president. So far it seems to be the most substantial one.

Should we expect her to go farther in breaking with the president?

SAMS: Well, I think she's her own candidate. She's the president's vice president. She's very proud of the record that they have accomplished together and she's been proud to support and be a key player in so many of the key achievements of this administration. But she's her own candidate and she has her own views of these things.

And when it comes to something like the capital gains tax rate, she thinks that 39.6 percent is too high and that we can come down a little lower to 28 percent to better incentivize the kind of investment in entrepreneurs that we want to see in this country -

HUNT: All right.

SAMS: To help achieve some of the broader economic goals.

[06:50:01] And so, I think as the campaign continues, you'll see places where there are distinctions because she's her own candidate.

HUNT: Ian, how do you explain why working class Americans, Americans without college degrees, a lot of white working class Americans, but also working class Americans of color, have decided that the Democratic Party isn't the party for them?

SAMS: Well, look, I think the pundits can kind of do the demographic analysis. And I think what we do as a campaign, and what the vice president does as a candidate, is take her message to the voters. I think that she has to be out there, and she is out there, explaining to people what she's bringing to the table.

She wants to help lower people's grocery costs and housing costs.

HUNT: But she's been part of the Biden administration. I mean she has been part of the Democratic - Democrats have been in control of the country for the last three going on four years, and you are still seeing this in the polling. I mean these working class voters are telling us right now that more of them are with Donald Trump than Kamala Harris.

Why - what is it about what you guys have been doing for the last three plus years that explains that?

SAMS: Well, I think, again, we're trying to talk to the voters and explain this message. We've got 60 days until the election. You know, we don't have time to sit around and think about why, over the last few years, certain things may have happened or may not have happened. We've got to go win an election. And the vice president's doing that by talking about her economic vision.

And it's - and it's really different - it's really different. It's a new way forward, not only for the Democratic Party, but for the country. It's the - that the - that the -

HUNT: It's really different. OK. Can you - wait, can you tell me what is really different? I got the capital gains rate, but what else on the list makes it really different from what was going on the past few years?

SAMS: Sure. She wants to take into effect the first national law to take on corporate price gouging. She's talking about holding bad corporate actors accountable for their role in taking up prices on people at the grocery store, at the gas pump, all across this country.

There are - there are distinctions here in this candidate's message that she is sharing with the country every single day. And she's out there on the trail doing it, while Donald Trump's talking about trickledown economics.

And so, you know, I understand the pundit class wants to sit around and maybe have these conversations. But at the end of the day, this is a campaign. And we're running to win. And she's running to win. And she's talking about the economy almost every single day on the campaign trail and her plans to lower costs, whether it's in housing or groceries, or plans to give small businesses the tax incentives they need to start and the resources they need just get off the ground, a tax cut for middle class families and working parents.

You know, these are the things that she's talking about that I think resonate with voters in their lives. I think we should have some more coverage and conversation about those actual substantive plans to help make sure that the country does hear more about the economic vision she's offering in contrast with Donald Trump's trickled down.

HUNT: All right, fair enough.

Ian, I do want to ask you about a different subject before I let you go.

SAMS: Sure.

HUNT: The Department of Justice, yesterday, came out and said that the Russians are trying to interfere in the election, in part by funding a media company that's behind some right-wing names that have, you know, hundreds of thousands, millions of followers on some of these YouTube platforms. And then we actually heard from Vladimir Putin, in just the last hour or two, talking about the U.S. election.

I want to play for you what he had to say and then ask you about it on the other side. He spoke in Russian, but the English translation is there. Watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VLADIMIR PUTIN, RUSSIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): As for the favorites, there is no need to define them. It's a choice by the people of America in the end. I've said that our so to say favorite was the acting president, Mr. Biden. He's been taken out of the race. We advise all his supporters to support Mrs. Harris. That's what we'll do. We'll support her as well. That's the first thing.

Secondly, her laugh is so expressive and infectious. That means that she's doing well.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: Ian, Vladimir Putin calls her laugh infectious, says that she is doing well and that he supports her. What do you, as the campaign, say back to Mr. Putin?

SAMS: Well, first I want to say, I think we reject any foreign interference in this election at all, on any side, from any country. This is an American election, and the vice president feels very, very strongly that only the American people should be deciding who is the next president of the United States. And any effort from foreign actors to interfere is completely inappropriate. Obviously, the administration will speak to their actions yesterday.

You know, I think - I think everybody knows who dictators and bullies around the world prefer in this election. They prefer President Trump. We reject the kind of divisive dictatorial leadership that - that - that are being offered from people like President Putin. Obviously, his invasion of Ukraine was horrible, and the vice president has been a leader, with the president, rallying the world against it.

I'm not going to play too much psyops with the Russian president here on your show this morning -

HUNT: Why not?

SAMS: But I think that anybody who's been paying attention for the last decade knows where President Putin stands in the election and who his preferred candidate is, regardless of what he may say.

HUNT: All right, Ian Sams for us this morning. Sir, very grateful to have you on the show. I hope you'll come back as this campaign is in its final sprint.

[06:55:02]

Thank you so much.

SAMS: Thanks, Kasie. I just got to get more coffee at this hour.

HUNT: Well, happy to send you some. It's - you do need a lot. You know, maybe an espresso machine for the office.

SAMS: That would be good.

HUNT: Thanks again.

All right, our panel's back.

And I actually want to talk about this - this question about Russian interference because, obviously, it is something that - and Donell Harvin joins us too as well, because his law enforcement background very relevant to this conversation.

But, Alex, I want as you about this specifically because the idea of the Russians in particular is something that's very triggering, I suppose, for Republicans who remember what happened to Donald Trump and who view it the - the - the last time there was a long national conversation about Russian interference in elections, they remember it very differently than Democrats do.

What did you make of this announcement that he made yesterday in terms of how it impacts - I mean there are some pretty well-known, at least on the right, commentators who are part of this company that was reportedly getting money from the Russians.

ALEX THOMPSON, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Yes. You already saw Democrats basically jump on this and say this is the latest example of Russia trying to interfere in our elections in order to help Donald Trump. And, you know, Republicans do remember 2016 differently, and that they feel that this was used as an excuse by Democrats to explain away their defeat. HUNT: But, Donell Harvin, let me ask you about sort of the mechanics of this, because basically the allegations are that this - this money went from - they were Russia Today (ph) employees involved in sending money to this there media entity. What do you know about how the Russians are operating in this space this time around, how it's different from what we've seen before, and what this action that the DOJ is taking might lead to.

DONELL HARVIN, GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY'S EMERGENCY AND DISASTER MANAGEMENT PROGRAM: Well, not quite sure about the DOJ part, but I will tell you, because I ran the cyber threat intelligence here for D.C. for many years, the playbook is not much different from 2016 and 2020, in fact. They use our civil liberties, our First Amendment against us. The mechanisms by which they get U.S. persons or U.S. actors to engage with them and post these things is obviously a lot more elaborate.

The fact that the social media outlets, there's no guardrails for them. We've seen X. We've seen all these things just take the guardrails down, makes really the playing field so much more vast for them. And so, so long as they can work out the financials, right, because we don't allow foreign operatives to really the influence financially our elections, it sounds like that's what they're doing. They really have a wide range of tools to use, and clearly the internet's one of them.

HUNT: Mike Dubke, two of the names that are associated with this company are Benny Johnson and Tim Pool. And they both put out separate statements yesterday saying that they were the victims of this scheme. That they maintained that they had their own editorial control of the content that they created. Johnson said, quote, "we're disturbed by the allegations in today's indictment which makes clear that myself and other influencers were victims in this alleged scheme." Pool said, "should these allegations prove true, I, as well as other personalities and commentators, were deceived and are victims."

Still, it is telling that the Russians seem to be interested in promoting the kind of content that these two guys create.

MIKE DUBKE, FORMER TRUMP WHITE HOUSE COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR: The Russians, the Chinese, the Iranians, they're all - and I applaud the DOJ for going after the Russians here - they are all trying to interfere with - with our elections, whether they're using means of social media, whether they're trying to find to want to - would be, want to be journalists and promoting their - their site to move that forward.

The one part, though, I do want to come back to that we don't talk about enough, at least from my time in the White House. In 2017, it was President Trump that use deadly force against Russian troops in Syria. It was President Trump who sent deadly weapons to Ukraine that the Obama administration did not want to send. So, when you look at what the actions were of the Trump administration, especially early on, there were - they were very anti-Russian actions in terms of deadly force.

So, we've got to - we've got to focus on this. We need to stay on this. I condemn all of that. But there's a lot more to this.

HUNT: Karen, (INAUDIBLE).

KAREN FINNEY, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Just, real quick. If I'm not mistaken though the - just to correct the record here, that the weapons that ends up going to Ukraine, that was after threatening to hold them up when he was asking for help.

DUBKE: Not the previous ones. That - that was on the early side.

FINNEY: Oh, the second time.

DUBKE: That was on the early side.

FINNEY: OK, on the early side. OK.

DUBKE: Well, it was something that the Obama administration, after the invasion of Crimea, refused to do. So, I - look -

FINNEY: Yes, I got you.

DUBKE: I'm just saying that there is more to this story than just, you know, a news conference in Helsinki that gets brought up every time.

FINNEY: Can - hold on. Can I just - having gone through this in 2016, Ian and I both on the campaign, it is triggering because we know it is a fact in modern campaigns, and it - you know, when you are inside a campaign and that is happening, there's nothing - and not much you can do. You're hoping that the FBI, you know, the DOJ, that there are resources being put to trying to stop it.

HUNT: Sure.

[07:00:07]

FINNEY: But it is coming at you from multiple countries.

HUNT: We have 30 seconds. Briefly, Alex.

THOMPSON: Yes. Well, and Mike - and Mike is right though, that basically what Russia did in 2016, other countries now are copying that playbook.

FINNEY: Yes.

THOMPSON: It's not just Russia. And the administration has been very out front trying to address the - like, the - send a warning signal very early on.

FINNEY: Yes, they have.

DUBKE: And they should be. And they should be.

FINNEY: Yes.

HUNT: All right, thanks to all of you guys for joining us this morning. I really appreciate it.

Thanks to all of you for being with us as well. I'm Kasie Hunt. Don't go anywhere. "CNN NEWS CENTRAL" starts right now.