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Israel And Hezbollah Exchange Fire Before Pulling Back; Does RFK's Trump Endorsement Alter The Race?; Congressional Task Force Investigating Trump Assassination Attempt On Scene In Butler, PA. Aired 12:30-1p ET

Aired August 26, 2024 - 12:30   ET

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

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[12:30:42]

MANU RAJU, CNN ANCHOR: Israel and Hezbollah appear to be ratcheting down their rhetoric a day after exchanging heavy fire across Israel's northern border. Over the weekend, Israel struck southern Lebanon in what it called a preemptive strike targeting Hezbollah's rocket launchers. And the Iran-backed terror group says it still fired 320 rockets towards Israel.

CNN's Jeremy Diamond is in Haifa. So Jeremy, is there a sense that both sides actually want to avoid further escalation?

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: You know, there really is, Manu, and that's despite the fact that yesterday what we saw was really one of the most intense barrages, intense exchanges of fire between Israel and Hezbollah since the beginning of this war.

And yet in the span of a few hours, you saw not only heavy strikes by the Israelis carried out in what the Israeli military has described as a preemptive strike, 100 plus fighter jets in the air, striking dozens of targets, dozens of rocket launcher targets in Southern Lebanon. That was then followed by a volley of rocket fire, hundreds of rockets, as well as some drones fired by Hezbollah towards targets in Northern and Central Israel.

But then very quickly, what you saw is both sides really climbing off of that escalation ladder that could have sent this region into a far, far darker place. Part of that stems from what the Israeli military says they believe they accomplished. And that is to say that no Israeli bases, according to them in central or in Northern Israel were actually hit by any of these drones or missiles.

The Israeli prime minister even said that all of the drones that Hezbollah fired were indeed successfully intercepted. Meanwhile, Hezbollah for its part, despite the fact that it appears that almost all of its rockets and drones were actually intercepted, they've still sought to kind of tout this as a victory, that they accomplished what they wanted to accomplish in terms of retaliating over the killing of Fuad Shukr, a senior Hezbollah military commander about a month ago in the Lebanese capital.

And now both sides are saying that at least for now, this current phase of escalation is over. And that's obviously promising for this region, and it's giving more space for those ongoing ceasefire and hostage deal negotiations to continue. And that's exactly what we saw yesterday.

Despite the significant uptick in the attacks between Israel and Hezbollah, the negotiators still met in Cairo, still sought to continue to hash out a deal to try and release the hostages and lead to a weeks long ceasefire in Gaza. The question is, are those negotiations actually going anywhere?

And that's because what we saw yesterday is a U.S. official claiming that progress was made, but all of the senior officials left Cairo without a deal being in place. Technical lower level negotiations are still ongoing, but at this hour, it's still very hard to see how a ceasefire deal can be reached right now, as there are still several key sticking points and whether or not these negotiations are actually going anywhere. Manu?

RAJU: All right, Jeremy Diamond live on the ground from Haifa, Israel. Jeremy, thank you for reporting. We're grateful for your time and your reporting. Thank you.

And up next for us, does RFK Jr. dropping out help or hurt Donald Trump? And an urgent fact finding mission about a near miss that would have altered history is happening right now.

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[12:38:28]

RAJU: It's a big name, but will equal a big change in the 2024 contest. Friday, RFK Jr. suspended his presidential bid and threw support behind Donald Trump's candidacy. Now, RFK Jr. said there was no quid pro quo, but then he said this about a, quote, "unity government."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERT F. KENNEDY JR. (I), FORMER PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: He invited me to form a unity government. We agreed that we'd be able to continue to criticize each other on issues on which we don't agree. But these issues are so important in their way of unifying our country.

No, there was -- there's been no commitments. But I, you know, I met with President Trump, with his family, with his closer advisers, and we just made a general commitment that we were going to work together.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

RAJU: No commitments, but unity government.

HAN NICHOLS, POLITICAL REPORTER, AXIOS: I didn't know we were living in a Western European style democracy where, like, you bring your seats over and you get the finance ministry and the other party gets the environmental ministry.

RAJU: You didn't realize that, that happened overnight.

NICHOLS: I didn't -- yes. I just need to know who our sovereign is so that we can pay our respects and honor to the sovereign. They probably have some agreement.

RAJU: There have -- I mean, like Trump said to Kristen Holmes last week that, of course he'd be open to giving him some position --

NICHOLS: Let's play it out. How much fun is that Senate confirmation going to be? Actually process stories (ph).

RAJU: I assume he's not going to get confirmed. Maybe it's because of headlines like this, if he were to be appointed to a position. Over the weekends, about "RFK Jr. was my drug dealer," one report from The Atlantic.

[12:40:03]

There was another one about a dead whale that he apparently had decapitated, put on the roof of his car, brought home, according to his daughter. And, of course, that comes on the heels of what got a lot of attention just a few weeks ago about RFK Jr., saying he left a dead bear in Central Park as a prank.

Look, I mean, if you're the Harris campaign, you kind of -- they haven't really engaged a ton about all of this, but they're fine for Trump owning some of RFK Jr.'s baggage.

JASMINE WRIGHT, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Yes, and I think that they actually feel quite vindicated of their claims that they've been making, of course, when Biden was heading the ticket, that RFK Jr. was a plant, that he was there to siphon off Democratic votes and give them to Trump, and that he was really just there for chaos, not because he had a real reason to be in the race. So I think it's a bit of vindication.

I talked to one campaign adviser who kind of downplayed the impact, at least electoral impact, of that 6 percent in some places that RFK could potentially give to Trump. I think that they potentially don't even know if those 6 percent of people would actually vote, right? Or whether they would feel so aligned with Trump that they would vote for Trump.

So I think that they are both feeling vindicated. They're downplaying the seriousness of it. And they also want to talk about different things, right? They want to talk about the former president. They don't necessarily want to talk about RFK. They haven't really ever wanted to talk about RFK.

And so I think that any time where they can tie them together is good. But ultimately, their focus is on taking down the former president.

RAJU: And this is how J.D. Vance talked about this. The Republicans believe this will be -- could have an impact on the margins in these close battleground races for RFK supporters. Maybe they jump into Trump's side. Maybe they push him over the finish line in November.

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SEN. J.D. VANCE (R), VICE PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: I think what his endorsement represents is that Donald J. Trump's Republican Party is a big tent party. So I think what RFK's endorsement really shows is that the Kennedy Democrats are actually more at home in the Republican Party of Donald Trump. And, unfortunately, Kamala Harris's party, higher prices, doing nothing to fight back against the Chinese, to say nothing of a wide open border, that is not JFK's Democratic Party. It's not RFK's Democratic Party.

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RAJU: Can we expect to see RFK Jr. on the campaign trail this fall and a lot -- will there be a lot of RFK Jr. appearances?

ALAYNA TREENE, CNN REPORTER: I don't know about how much, but you can definitely expect to see him. We -- and we reported this, that they are planning to use him as a Trump surrogate to send him out on the campaign trail, have him, you know, try to appeal to some of his own supporters.

Look, I will say, despite, you know, all of the media stories about him, some of the opposition research that people have been sharing about RFK Jr., he did have some polling. Like if you look at Arizona where they had that announcement on Friday, he was pulling at 6 percent. Of course, that is completely different from the low to mid 40 percent that both Harris and Trump are seeing right now in Arizona.

But in a race, particularly in states like Arizona, where they're expecting it to be so close, if Trump's campaign can even siphon some of those voters away, they're thinking that that could make a difference.

RAJU: Yes.

TREENE: And something that is going to be such a tight election. I also can tell you just from having from my conversations with Trump's advisers that they're thinking on wanting to bring RFK Jr. into the fold really started to change once Harris became kind of the person to succeed Joe Biden. Before there were questions about who -- whose candidacy does RFK Jr. hurt more.

But we've been having this question for months. You know, does it hurt the Democrats more? Does it hurt Trump more? They decided once it became clear that Harris was going to top the Democratic ticket, that it would only benefit them to pull, to have RFK Jr. --

RAJU: Yes.

TREENE: -- end his candidacy.

RAJU: And polling does suggest that too, that Harris has consolidated his support and those so-called double haters who don't like either candidate are starting to come a little bit more to her side now. But there's still an impact potentially of these third party candidates and a number of battleground states that their names will appear. Chase Oliver, Libertarian Party candidate, a number of those battlegrounds and seven of them. He's on the ballot.

Jill Stein, the Green Party candidate, of course, who had a profound impact in the 2016 presidential race will be on the ballot at six states. And then Cornel West in North Carolina. So if you're the -- yes, so this could have an impact on the race, it could have an impact on the Harris campaign, but, you know, they, just like they're not engaging.

The Democrats are not really engaging on the RFK Jr. of it all. They really are not engaging on the Jill Stein of it all. Even though in 2016, Hillary Clinton will say, that cost her the election.

MERIDITH MCGRAW, NATIONAL POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT, POLITICO: They're not, and they seem to be sort of ignoring it right now at the moment. I will say with the RFK, you know, endorsing Trump, one of the big questions I have is just how motivated those Kennedy voters are.

I was looking at some research on them earlier, and they skew younger, they're a little less motivated to come out and vote, and they have unfavorable views of both Harris and Trump. So, while Trump's pollsters said that this could make a difference, especially on the margins in some of these states with Trump, I think the big question is how motivated are these Kennedy voters actually going to be to show up?

RAJU: Yes.

[12:45:06]

WRIGHT: I think that that's Harris -- the Harris campaign's point. They just don't know how many of that 6 percent in Arizona. Sure, crucial state, a state that now she feels that she can play in in a way that President Biden wasn't able to plan when he was still on the ticket. A crucial state, but they just don't know how many of those 6 percent are actually going to go out to the polls, particularly are actually going to go out to the polls for Trump.

RAJU: Yes. One of the major ungranted questions left in this very hotly contested election.

All right, next, so many things went wrong on July 13th. Now members of Congress are on the ground in Butler, Pennsylvania right now with the monumental task of making sure it does not happen again.

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[12:50:04]

RAJU: Right now, members of Congress are on a fact finding mission in Butler, Pennsylvania, where a would-be assassin's bullet came within inches of killing Donald Trump. A bipartisan task force is there to focus on and try to fix the security failures around that July 13th shooting. And the chairman of the task force, Pennsylvania Republican Mike Kelly, was there with his wife, son, and grandkids as the bullets were flying. He spoke to CNN a short time ago from Butler.

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REP. MIKE KELLY (R), CHAIRMAN, TRUMP ASSASSINATION ATTEMPT TASK FORCE: I think there's one thing that everybody should be concerned with. This has happened in the past and people have walked away from whether it be the Kennedy assassination or things that have happened after that with never having a clear picture of what happened, who was in charge that day and how do we make sure it doesn't happen again.

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RAJU: CNN's Danny Freeman is in Butler. And Danny, this of course was just six weeks ago and now they're in the middle of this investigation. What are you hearing from on the ground?

DANNY FREEMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Manu, just six weeks ago here at the Butler Farm show, it was a very, very different scene than it is today. There was fear, there was chaos. And now today, we're expecting these members of Congress, these lawmakers to be on the ground to understand or at least try to understand exactly what went wrong and prevent this from ever happening again.

Now, like you noted, Manu, this is going to be a bipartisan group who are leading this official task force for Congress. And it's -- I should note, one of many investigations that are ongoing into exactly what happened on July 13th when it comes to the assassination attempt against former President Donald Trump.

We're going to see, like you noted, Republican Representative Mike Kelly. He's actually a representative who represents this area of western Pennsylvania. We're also going to see Democratic Congressman Jason Crow who is from Colorado. They're leading this delegation and the goal really is to lead a fact finding mission. Jason Crow telling CNN that there really is no substitute for being on site when it comes to finding out more facts here on the ground.

And also, Manu, I can tell you that part of this particular visit is going to involve meeting with local law enforcement officials as well to better understand their response to what happened on that day. But meanwhile, Manu, we keep learning in really a drip, drip fashion more troubling details about the planning and the lead up to that particular rally here in Butler.

Late last week, our team at CNN reporting that Secret Service actually did not pick up radios that local law enforcement officers had left out for them. Perhaps that would have been able to streamline communication between the two groups of law enforcement officials who were here on scene, especially as those local law enforcement officials were radioing to their colleagues that there was someone on top of that roof with a gun in the minutes or in the seconds, really, before he opened fire. Plus, we're also understanding that multiple Secret Service personnel from the Pittsburgh field office and one member of former President Trump's security detail, they've been reassigned to administrative duties in this meantime. So what we're looking forward to seeing today, Manu, is really just the first step, though, of this particular task force coming on the ground and trying to do their own assessment of just what went wrong here six weeks ago.

RAJU: Yes --

FREEMAN: Manu?

RAJU: -- and as you say, Danny, so many details dribbling out over the last six weeks and learning so much more every single day and we'll keep apprised of what's happening on the ground.

Danny Freeman, thank you for that report from Butler, Pennsylvania.

Alayna, you were, obviously, you were there. You witnessed all this go down. It's remarkable that this was just six weeks ago in a lifetime has happened in the past six weeks. So how do you reflect on that?

TREENE: Well, there's a few things. One, I think obviously they're there because there needs to be accountability. I think a lot of people want to make sure that this is still in the news. It's actually crazy to me that this was just six weeks ago.

RAJU: Yes.

TREENE: So much has happened. And an assassination attempt on a former president, also one of, you know, a presidential candidate, the fact that this hasn't been more in the news, that so much has happened, that people have kind of moved on from that, is kind of remarkable to me. And I do think, I mean, there's no question that what happened that day was a security failure.

I remember reporting on the scene after going to the location where the shooter was, seeing how close it was. I mean, it was just incredible to me that this was able to happen. And I think it'll be really --

RAJU: And miscommunication between the two sides.

TREENE: Right.

RAJU: Various law enforcement agencies, Secret Service, obviously played a big role in that security failure as well.

TREENE: Absolutely. And I mean, it is funny because, you know, I often say this, but when I go to these Trump events, I mean, not many are outside anymore and we know Donald Trump wants to start holding them outside again. We saw that last week, but my mother, I mean, this is just personal, but my mother and my grandmother was like, be careful, like know where the exits are.

And I always felt like this is the safest place you can be. It's safer than an airport.

RAJU: Yes.

TREENE: You're going through mags. You can't bring certain things in. You have Secret Service everywhere.

RAJU: I felt the same way on January 6th when I was in the Capitol.

TREENE: Right. Well, exactly. And the fact that something like this could happen, I mean, there's no question that there needs to be more accountability. That Congress needs to be getting involved. That there's so much still to do on this front.

[12:55:03]

RAJU: How much has this affected Trump, the way he has campaigned, if at all? I mean, he have obviously mentions it a fair amount in his rallies, but how much has this affected Trump over the last six weeks?

MCGRAW: Well, he was deeply rattled by this. And so were members of his campaign, his senior staff, He was traveling with a smaller group of aides that day. For the first lady, it was -- or the former first lady, Melania Trump, I was told that she was really obviously shaken up by this.

And when you look back to that moment, it could have been even more tragic than it actually ended up being.

RAJU: Yes.

MCGRAW: I mean, just literally the movement of his head could have totally changed the course of things here, but they've talked about how they have, you know, they're rethinking how they do rallies, if they're going to hold things outdoors.

RAJU: Yes.

MCGRAW: But it really did shift things for them.

RAJU: Yes.

MCGRAW: But at the same time, after the RNC, you know, something that was talked about then --

RAJU: Yes.

MCGRAW: -- Trump has really brought it up.

RAJU: Yes. OK. All right, we'll see what happens this investigation. Thank you guys so much for joining me.

And thank you for joining Inside Politics. CNN News Central starts after a quick break.

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