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Poll: Trump And Harris Statistically Tied Going Into Debate; Senior Military Officials Voice Support For Harris; Police Handcuff Dolphins Star Tyreek Hill Before Game. Aired 5:30-6a ET
Aired September 09, 2024 - 05:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[05:30:00]
KASIE HUNT, CNN ANCHOR: All right, 5:28 a.m. here in Washington. This is a live look at the Sphere in Las Vegas. Sorry, it took me a second to figure out what on earth was going on here but that's what this is, you know. What a thing to wake up to.
Good morning, everyone. I'm Kasie Hunt. It's wonderful to have you with us.
Kamala Harris and Donald Trump in a statistical dead heat heading into tomorrow night's debate. A new national poll of likely voters conducted by The New York Times and Siena College shows Trump leading Harris 48 to 47 percent, well within the margin of error.
That same poll shows that a strong majority of likely voters, over 60 percent, think the next president should represent a major change from President Biden. Only 25 percent of likely voters say Harris represents a major change compared to 55 percent who say she represents more of the same. Fifty-three percent say Trump represents a major change. Only 34 percent said he represents more of the same.
This debate, the first and possibly only between Trump and Harris will be a critical opportunity for Harris to introduce herself and distinguish herself from Biden.
Former presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg spoke with CNN's Dana Bash about what exactly Harris needs to accomplish tomorrow night.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DANA BASH, CNN ANCHOR AND CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: So there is a new New York Times poll out this morning and it says 28 percent of likely voters said they still need to learn more about Harris. Only nine percent say that about Trump.
What does she need to do at the debate to fill in those blanks?
PETE BUTTIGIEG, U.S. SECRETARY OF TRANSPORTATION: Well, I think the main task will be to make sure Americans understand the difference in visions and are reminded that they already agree with her on the issues that matter most to them.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: All right, joining me now with more, Wall Street Journal White House reporter Catherine Lucey. Catherine, good morning to you.
CATHERINE LUCEY, WHITE HOUSE REPORTER, THE WALL STREET JOURNAL: Good morning.
HUNT: Seven weeks ago, 57 days and what has --
LUCEY: And we're counting.
HUNT: -- already been a completely unprecedented election. Let's talk about both the polling but also what each of these candidates needs to do on the debate stage tomorrow night.
I think some of the numbers in this poll help illuminate that the task ahead for Harris because they do seem to show that people think she represents more of the same, it's potentially a chance for her to differentiate herself from the administration that she is serving as a part of. It's also a chance to tell Americans what she believes. In many ways, she's still introducing herself to voters.
LUCEY: That's right. I mean, I think what we see in this polling and in other polling in the last few weeks is that she has improved her numbers greatly from where Biden was when he exited the race. She's seen a lot of momentum in the polling, but there are still gaps that have to be filled in. And she has been on kind of an introduction tour, right, with the convention and with the events that she is doing.
And so the debate really, though, is the most high-profile, high- stakes moment for her to tell people about what she represents and the kinds of policies that she wants to introduce. And I think that's the other thing you hear from voters is not just that they want to know more but they really want to know what kind of policies she's talking about.
And you've heard her talk a lot about the middle class -- economic policies that will help the middle class and that will help families. And I would expect to hear a lot more of that -- what she calls the "Opportunity Economy" that she wants to work on.
HUNT: There, of course, is this reality Harris has not necessarily leaned into the fact that she is -- you know, she would be the first woman president, first Black woman president, first Indian American woman president. It's not that -- she's not certainly rejecting it but she -- it was not a big feature of her convention.
The New York Times reporting over the weekend that she wants to steer clear of the strategy that Hillary Clinton's team used in 2016 where they painted Trump as a racist and a misogynist.
But the bottom line is the dynamics on the stage are going to be very much driven by how Donald Trump has interacted with women over the course of his career. I think that's something I'm going to be watching for on Tuesday night because obviously, Hillary Clinton talked about there was a town hall debate where he sort of followed her around the stage.
LUCEY: Lurked.
HUNT: You know, there is going to be something to how they interact with each other. And she -- I mean, she had that famous "I'm speaking" moment with Mike Pence. That's not going to be possible because the microphones are muted.
What is your reporting kind of understanding about how they're thinking about how these dynamics are going to play?
LUCEY: I mean, I think they would like to have an "I'm speaking" moment as we saw with their efforts to try and unmute the mics. And it does not -- obviously, it doesn't appear that is happening.
I mean, on the historic nature of her candidacy and should she become president, I think a lot of people around her feel like those things are evident, right? That voters know these things and that's not what they're going to lean into.
And they are making a different choice than Clinton made. And there was debate, you know, Kasie, in the Clinton campaign at the time whether the focus should be on sort of character issues and moral issues versus policy issues. And there was a leaning into sort of Trump -- the Trump character.
And Harris really has focused more heavily on sort of turning the page. I'm a new candidate. The kind of policies she wants to work on. And I think you are going to see more of that. They are trying to present a sort of positive forward-looking message and make that the focus going forward.
HUNT: One of the other things we saw in this New York Times polls is that 40 percent of people that they surveyed said that Kamala Harris was either too liberal or progressive for them. Not -- 41 percent said that she's not too far either way. If you look at Donald Trump's numbers on that, 32 percent said he was too conservative. Forty-nine percent not too far either way.
This kind of portrays people as seeing Donald Trump as closer to the center than Kamala Harris.
Is that part of her challenge?
[05:35:00]
LUCEY: Yes. I think some of that also is that she's still trying to tell people what kind of policies she's proposing and what she's about. There is I think some space for her.
But, yes, the right has spent a lot of time trying to frame her as too far to the left, and that's something you'll hear from Donald Trump tomorrow night, I think, is they really want to frame her as a San Francisco liberal. She's too liberal for a lot of mainstream America. And so that's something that she is trying to push back against.
HUNT: All right, Catherine Lucey for us this morning. Catherine, thank you very much for your reporting. I appreciate it.
And you may remember more than 51 million people tuned in to watch the first presidential debate of the 2024 election. That, of course, between Joe Biden and Donald Trump.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: They're taking Black jobs now, and it could be 18, it could be 19, and even 20 million people. They're taking Black jobs and they're taking Hispanic jobs.
JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Eligible for what I've been able to do with the -- with the COVID -- excuse me, with dealing with everything we have to do with -- look, if -- we finally beat Medicare.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: That, of course, was the beginning of the end for President Biden. He would leave the race weeks later.
And now, Trump is preparing to face a different opponent in Kamala Harris. I would be the first time that they have ever met in person. It's a moment the vice president says she's ready for.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REPORTER: Are you ready to face Donald Trump?
KAMALA HARRIS, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES, PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Yes, I am, yes.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: All right, joining us now to dig further into this made-for-TV moment is Sara Fischer. She is CNN senior media analyst and senior media reporter at Axios. Sara, good morning. Always wonderful to see you.
SARA FISCHER, CNN SENIOR MEDIA ANLYST, SENIOR MEDIA REPORTER, AXIOS: Good morning.
HUNT: Let's talk about how -- you know, we touched on it a little bit there with Catherine, but this is something you spend a lot of time thinking about and working with, which is so much of what can happen on these debate stages is simply how it is perceived, right? How the interaction between people comes across. If there is a moment, in particular. So much of our -- how we consume news now is in, you know, these little -- these little moments.
What are you watching for, and what have you seen before that helps you understand the challenges for each of these people tonight?
FISCHER: Yes. So those organic moments and inorganic, meaning that organically, there are going to be things that come up and go absolutely viral without either campaign trying to make them viral. Then you have the inorganic moments, which are things that maybe we didn't catch in real time as being as spunky or as interesting as they actually were, but the candidates catch it. A few seconds later they're cutting clips and blasting it out on TikTok and Instagram, right?
So it's up to the campaigns to figure out which moments are going to elevate and make big and which moments get big that they don't necessarily want to get big.
I think the Donald Trump side of things is going to have to make sure that they temper some of his moments down. We know that his campaign is trying to position him as being more rational and reasonable during this campaign and during this debate than he was last year.
The other big thing that we're going to be watching for is how many Americans actually tune in to this debate. You noted there was 51 million between Biden and Trump. Now that seems like a big number Kasie, but actually, compared to 2016 and then some of 2020 it's not. And so whether or not a lot of people tune in serves as a bellwether for where people are at in terms of interest with the election right now.
HUNT: Yeah -- no, it's a fair point.
So one of the things about this debate, of course, they were arguing about whether or not the mics would be -- the microphones would be muted for each person giving an answer. And a reminder of why the Harris team may have wanted to -- they were, in fact, arguing to leave them on because she has had a couple of moments where she's taken advantage of that technical reality.
Let's just watch that "I'm speaking" moment from her vice presidential debate with Mike Pence. Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HARRIS: This is not -- this is important.
MIKE PENCE, THEN-VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I have to weigh in here.
HARRIS: And I want to add -- Mr. Vice President, I'm speaking.
PENCE: I have to weigh in.
HARRIS: I'm speaking.
PENCE: Feel the Trump tax cuts.
HARRIS: Mr. Vice President, I'm speaking.
PENCE: Well --
HARRIS: I'm speaking. If you don't mind letting me finish --
PENCE: Please. HARRIS: -- we can then have a conversation, OK?
PENCE: Please.
HARRIS: OK.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: So that, on the one hand, is her kind of taking advantage of that for her own -- you know, it became iconic for her supporters, right -- that moment. There were t-shirts that read "I'm speaking."
But then, of course, there is what happens when Donald Trump's microphone is not muted. Let's watch the moment with Biden. This was back in 2020, which is a moment that certainly many Democrats feel was an important one in convincing voters that Trump was the wrong person to be president again -- watch.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BIDEN: The question is --
TRUMP: You're going to put a lot of --
BIDEN: The question is --
TRUMP: -- Supreme Court justices --
BIDEN: The question is --
TRUMP: -- radical left --
BIDEN: Will you shut up, man?
TRUMP: Who is your -- listen, who is on your list, Joe?
BIDEN: This is so --
TRUMP: Who's on your list?
CHRIS WALLACE, DEBATE MODERATOR: Gentlemen, I think we've ended this --
BIDEN: This is so unpresidential.
TRUMP: He's going to pack the court.
WALLACE: The event -- no, no.
TRUMP: He's not going to give a list.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: That, of course, Chris Wallace trying to get a word edgewise.
Sara, we thought it was going to be a big deal with Biden. Obviously, it wasn't because the way that he performed was the entire issue.
[05:40:00]
How do you think it impacts tomorrow night?
FISCHER: Well, I think a lot more focus goes onto the substance of the answers, not necessarily the performative gestures that can make you, again, go viral or not go viral. That, to me, presents a little bit more of an issue for Kamala Harris who has a lot of pressure and eyeballs on her right now in terms of how definitive she's going to be on certain policies.
For Donald Trump, him being muted I think actually helps him out. Even though we've seen he can be very quick on his feet, and he can have a lot of sort of one-liners and zingers, it also -- to your point with that clip -- demonstrates sometimes how loose he can be and how unpredictable he could be.
And I think this election, a lot of people are looking at democracy on the ballot, decency on the ballot. Whether or not somebody can be an upstanding person on a world stage on this ballot.
And so this I definitely think favors Donald Trump. Even though Kamala Harris wanted these unmuted, it's probably best for her that they are not.
HUNT: All right. Well, we will -- we will see just a day -- we're more than 24 hours out at this point at this hour on Monday morning, but it's coming up tomorrow.
Sara Fischer for us this morning. Sara, thank you.
FISCHER: Thank you.
HUNT: I appreciate it.
All right. As we've been discussing, Vice President Harris and former President Trump will share the stage for that debate we've all been waiting for. Follow CNN for complete coverage and exclusive analysis before and after the debate. The "ABC NEWS PRESIDENTIAL DEBATE" simulcast tomorrow night at 9:00 Eastern right here on CNN.
And coming up next, brand new this morning, a group of senior military officials endorse Kamala Harris for president. We're going to talk to Brigadier Gen. Steve Anderson up next.
Plus, in sports, soccer legend Alex Morgan bids an emotional farewell in the final game of her career.
(COMMERCIAL)
[05:46:00]
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HARRIS: As commander in chief, I will ensure America always has the strongest, most lethal fighting force in the world. And I will fulfill our sacred obligation to care for our troops and their families. And I will always honor and never disparage their service and their sacrifice.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: That was Vice President Kamala Harris criticizing Donald Trump before the reported confrontation, of course, between his campaign staff and an official at Arlington National Cemetery late last month. That -- well, that actually was her ad at her convention talking about previous remarks that the former president had made. Of course, then the Arlington National Cemetery issue became an issue.
Now a group of 10 senior military officials are defending Harris when it comes to the withdrawal from Afghanistan. Their previous endorsement of her following the lead of several high-profile Republicans, including former Congresswoman Liz Cheney who says that she and her father, the former Vice President Dick Cheney, simply don't see a choice this November.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LIZ CHENEY, (R) FORMER WYOMING REPRESENTATIVE: I've never voted for a Democrat.
JONATHAN KARL, CO-ANCHOR, ABC "THIS WEEK": Wow.
CHENEY: And it tells you I think the stakes in this election. I would expect that you will see far more Republicans and Independents, when the time comes and they've got to make that decision, make the right decision.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: All right, joining me now is retired Army Brigadier Gen. Steve Anderson. He is one of these 10 senior military personnel who signed on to this letter backing Harris. General, I'm so grateful to have you on this morning.
BRIG. GENERAL STEVE ANDERSON, (RET). U.S. ARMY, HARRIS-WALZ 2024 SUPPORTER: Thank you, Kasie.
HUNT: So, of course, we're expecting today this report on the Afghanistan withdrawal from Congress to come and criticize President Biden here.
Can you explain why you are defending Kamala Harris? Because obviously, that was a very difficult day, and we lost 13 brave Americans as that final withdrawal was happening. Tell us your view of Kamala Harris' role in that and kind of why you view her as the right person to lead.
ANDERSON: Well, thank you, Kasie.
I was in Afghanistan 2016 to 2018, so I saw firsthand the disaster of Donald Trump's leadership in Afghanistan. And he had four years to fix it and to get us out of Afghanistan, and he didn't. And he absolutely set conditions for the things that happened to happen.
For instance, he negotiated directly with the Taliban. He cut the Afghanistan government out of it. Now, you would never do that. I mean, the guy -- this is the guy that wrote "The Art of the Deal" but yet, one of the key players, he didn't even talk to.
He negotiated for the release of 5,000 Taliban fighters that have come back to haunt us now. And everything that he did to try to set conditions to make this happen, he left an absolute mess.
He also established a timeline, and that's something you would never do in military negotiation. You -- you're conditions-based, not date- based.
So the entire thing was a mess. So I think Kamala Harris and President Biden did the best that they could do, and they were handed an absolute disaster. And I feel that the Afghanistan withdrawal perhaps could have been done better but in light of the conditions that were set by Donald Trump we saw what happened.
HUNT: Do you think that Kamala Harris deserves a different level of blame for what happened than Joe Biden does, based on what we saw that day?
ANDERSON: Well, she was the vice president, you know, and she was part of the national security team. But ultimately, it's the president -- the president who makes the decisions, not the vice president.
But we believe that her as the president is going to make a remarkable change to this government. The thought of having Donald Trump in the Oval Office again -- I mean, he's totally unfit for office.
And what's why I've joined this group with 10 other officers, but part of a larger group of National Security Leaders for America, 500 strong, many of whom are like me -- former Republicans, like Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger -- that are no longer Republicans because Donald Trump has essentially ruined the Republican Party.
[05:50:12]
Many of whom were military like me. We were always raised to be agnostic. I didn't know if my boss was a Democrat or a Republican, or any of my people. I didn't care.
But since the sixth of January insurrection we've come up on the net and said hey, wait a minute, this has gone on too long. I mean, we -- if not now -- if we don't step up now and speak out to the American people about the -- our strong belief that Kamala Harris is the right person to be president -- if we don't do it now then when are we going to do it?
HUNT: Why do you think it is that so many people -- we've got this new polling out over the weekend, and it shows that people think that Donald Trump would be kind of the change candidate. There does seem to be a willingness from people even after January 6 to kind of -- you know, I've been out talking to voters and they're kind of like well, that happened. It's in the past. They almost don't want to focus on it, in a way.
Why do you think that is?
ANDERSON: Donald Trump has always focused on grievances and past issues that have come up. He has -- he has never been focused on the way forward like Kamala Harris is. She is all about hope and optimism, and making this country better again, whereas Donald Trump just wants to turn the table.
And unfortunately, there's tens of millions of people out there that believe Donald Trump -- that have been essentially deceived by his lies and his con game that he's played with the American people. We cannot let that happen again, Kasie. We've absolutely got to ensure that he never again comes up -- is President of the United States.
So many -- just look -- what's perhaps most telling is look at all the people that used to work for him that now not only won't vote for him but believe that he is totally unfit for office.
We cannot let his man -- this is a guy that coddles dictators. This is a guy that doesn't understand NATO. He thinks it's like joining a country club. This is many who will let the Ukrainians essentially dangle in the wind.
Kamala Harris is going to fight for America, and fight for the Ukrainians, and fight for our national security.
HUNT: All right, Brigadier Gen. Steve Anderson. Very grateful to have you on the show this morning, sir. Thanks very much for being here.
ANDERSON: Thank you, Kasie.
HUNT: All right, time now for sports.
Eight months after their playoff showdown, the Lions and the Rams square off in a hard-fought, overtime slugfest.
Coy Wire has this morning's Bleacher Report. Coy, good morning.
COY WIRE, CNN SPORTS ANCHOR: What's up, Kasie?
NFL saving its best for last on its first regular season Sunday of the year. And if you went to bed early you missed a thriller. Detroit going into halftime up by a touchdown, but the Rams and their quarterback Matthew Stafford, playing on his old team, come storming back.
Touchdown pass to Cooper Kupp in the fourth taking a 20-17 lead. Kupp had 14 catches, 110 yards. Game on.
Lions' rookie kicker Jake Bates sending the game to overtime from 32 yards out. Then it was the David Montgomery show. Detroit winning the toss and their battering Rams running for 45 of his 91 yards on that drive, including the game-winning score.
The Lions win 26-20. Miami-Dade police say they are investigating a traffic stop involving Dolphins' star Tyreek Hill. And one of the officers involved has already been placed on administrative leave. Video shows Hill being put in handcuffs, lying face down on the pavement one block from the stadium.
Hill was released in time for the game and against the Jaguars he went on to catch seven passes for 130 yards, including an 80-yard touchdown in the third.
Miami won 20-17 on a last-second field goal.
Hill breaking out the handcuff celebration afterwards. He said he wanted to shine light on the situation, questioning what would have happened if he wasn't Tyreek Hill, and that he was still confused by his encounter with the police.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TYREEK HILL, WIDE RECEIVER, MIAMI DOLPHINS: I have no idea, man. It's crazy. No idea. I wasn't disrespectful, you know, because my mom didn't raise me that way. I didn't cuss. I didn't do none of that. So, like I said, I'm still trying to figure it out, man.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WIRE: The new highest-paid player in NFL history, Dak Prescott, leading his Cowboys to a 33-17 win against the Browns. Dak agreeing to a four-year extension hours before the game for a reported $240 million. That's an average of $60 million per year, Kasie. He went 19 for 32, 179 yards, and a touchdown.
Taylor Swift and her boyfriend Travis Kelce rolling up to the U.S. Open for the men's final. Speaking of Taylor, American Taylor Fritz would end up falling to world number one Jannik Sinner in straight sets. The 23-year-old Italian won the Australian Open in January making him the third man and first since 1977 to win his first two Grand Slam trophies in the same season.
Our Andy Scholes caught up with him after the big win.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JANNIK SINNER, FIRST ITALIAN MAN EVER TO WIN U.S. OPEN: I think it's nice for tennis to see some now champions, some new favorites of tournaments. And yeah, so I'm happy to be -- to be part of this at this year's. Let's see what's coming next year. Obviously, it's -- there are big, big challenges coming up but, you know, I'm just looking forward to improve as a player and then we'll see what I can do.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[05:55:10]
WIRE: Finally, Kasie, one of America's all-time great soccer players, Alex Morgan, with her daughter Charlie by her side, walking onto the pitch for the final time as her San Diego Wave faced North Carolina. Then she was brought to tears as she walked off in the 13th minute having announcing her retirement last week and that she's pregnant with her second child. A legendary 15-year career that includes two World Cup titles and an Olympic gold.
Kasie, she's just been the face of U.S. Women's Soccer for more than a decade now and she is just such a great icon and advocate for the sport and for -- an inspiration for all the next generation to come.
HUNT: She sure is. Love to see it. A very sad day on the one hand, but good for her. Congratulations.
WIRE: Yeah
HUNT: Coy, thank you.
WIRE: You bet.
HUNT: Always appreciate it.
All right. Coming up next here on CNN THIS MORNING, Donald Trump threatening to prosecute election officials as he lays the groundwork to question the legitimacy of the 2024 election.
Plus, new polling underscoring just how tight this race is as both candidates look to try to move the needle tomorrow night on the debate stage.
(COMMERCIAL)
