Return to Transcripts main page

Inside Politics

Harris Defends Changing Her Stance On Fracking Ban; Harris Blames Trump For Killing Border Security Bill; Trump Proposes Insurance Or Government Cover IVF; Walz On Seeing His Son's Emotional Convention Moment. Aired 12:30-1p ET

Aired August 30, 2024 - 12:30   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[12:32:14]

MANU RAJU, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome back. So how are Republicans responding to Vice President Harris's high profile interview with Dana Bash last night? Well, let's ask a top Republican right now. Joining me from Tulsa is Oklahoma Senator Markwayne Mullin. Senator Mullin, thank you so much for joining me this afternoon. Really appreciate it.

So one of the --

SEN. MARKWAYNE MULLIN (R), OKLAHOMA: Absolutely. Good to see you.

RAJU: -- big -- great to see you as well. One of the big questions that Kamala Harris faced last night was how she has reversed her stance on some key issues, like the issue of fracking. Of course, that's the fossil fuel extraction method that environmentalists oppose. This is how she explained why she no longer wants to ban it. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KAMALA HARRIS (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: As vice president, I did not ban fracking. As president, I will not ban fracking.

DANA BASH, CNN ANCHOR: In 2019, I believe at a town hall, you said, you were asked, would you commit to implementing a federal ban on fracking on your first day in office? And you said, there's no question I'm in favor of banning fracking. So, yes. So, it changed in the -- in that campaign?

HARRIS: In 2020, I made very clear where I stand. We are in 2024 and I've not changed that position nor will I going forward. I kept my word and I will keep my word.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

RAJU: So, Senator, she says she won't ban fracking. So, she's in line with your position, is she not? MULLIN: Well, I -- you can -- there's several ways to ban fracking. I mean, you can ban fracking outright, which she said in 2019. And, by the way, all of her actions and everything she's done the last 1,300 plus days she's been in office, has showed that she's not in favor of oil and gas industry at all.

She's pro-green. She talks about the green new deal, how she supported it moving forward. And so she wants to get rid of all combustible motors. She's made that very clear. She supports California's rule on that. And then she -- the -- remember, this is administration that also kicked out the permits for LNG exports to moving forward to go to our allies.

And so, when you start talking about her position on fossil fuels, it hasn't changed. She's right. It hasn't changed. She can say all she wants about it. She's not, you know, OK with outright banning the the fracking. But she's also not saying what she's going to do through the regulatory environment.

Is she going to actually embrace it? Is she going to take the Republican position by saying, drill, baby, drill? Let us become energy independent. Let the consumers choose what type of energy they want to buy. If she's serious about bringing down inflation, she's got to be serious also, then about drilling and making sure that we have all the energy that we need inside the United States without importing energy like her state does from Saudi Arabia.

RAJU: All right. So she said last night if she wins, she would push to pass the bipartisan border security bill that the GOP blocked earlier this year. As you know, your fellow Republican from Oklahoma, James Lankford, a fellow conservative, worked for months to cut this deal. But it was Trump who publicly and privately tried to kill it even before it was introduced.

[12:35:09]

So Senator, when you look back at that episode, shouldn't Trump have given the senior senator from your state a chance to make his case before effectively killing it?

MULLIN: No, it wasn't Trump that killed that bill. Trump's not in office.

RAJU: He lobbied senators to kill it. He lobbied House members to kill it.

MULLIN: No, no, no. That was after the fact that the Biden administration refused to actually negotiate with the Republicans. Chuck Schumer not -- didn't one time reach out to the Republicans to try to talk to us. They never had a working group together.

Biden and the White House never reached out to us. And at the same time --

RAJU: What about James Lankford and the Democrats? MULLIN: Hold on. You -- James Lankford said the same thing. James Lankford was frustrated because the fact that the Biden administration, the Democrats who started saying they wanted a border deal, did everything they could to kill it.

Look at actually what was in it. Tell me one single meeting that we had. Tell me one debate that we actually had about on the floor. Tell me how Chuck Schumer one time allowed it to be open for amendments. He didn't. He absolutely closed it, and at the end of the day, it was a take it or leave it, and what the left media has done, including yourself, has said, it's the Lankford bill.

It wasn't the Lankford bill. Lankford was trying to negotiate on behalf of Republicans. The Democrats, not one single time, try to actually negotiate with Republicans. And so, President Trump didn't kill it. The Biden administration killed it because they knew they wanted to try doing something because the administration has been awful on the border and that hasn't changed.

RAJU: Well, the former president did come out and tried to kill it before it was introduced and Lankford probably had a disagreement with you on how you'd characterize that bill. But, nevertheless, I want to move to what the former president did pledge yesterday, that IVF treatments would be covered, he said, by insurance companies or the government under this proposal he announced if he actually wins in November.

So, you know, Republicans have fought tooth and nail to prevent health insurance mandates, including under Obamacare. Are you OK with Trump seeking to cover the cost of IVF treatments or mandate insurance companies to do so?

MULLIN: You know, my wife and I, we have six kids, you know that. And we -- it took us seven years to have our first child. Obviously, we got it right because, you know, we have six now. Of course, three came through adoption and three came naturally.

But I will tell you, it's tough on every family. Any family that's went through issues with trying to get pregnant, they know that it's not just stuff on the person, but it's stuff on the family, it's stuff on the marriage. Every month, it's a difficult conversation that you have.

And so, anytime we can bring more babies into the world, I want to do that. It's interesting to me, though, how the Democrats are making such a big deal about this. I mean, the Democrats who are for literally killing babies all the way to full term, now all of a sudden are trying to make a big position and try to think that IVF, something that Republicans haven't been for, we've always been for bringing more babies into this world. Always.

That position hasn't ever changed. That's why we're pro-life. It -- but we're getting distracted by this and we're not talking about the real issues that's facing the country because for some reason, the left has said that has tried to put a narrative out there that Republicans aren't for IVF or not for fertilization treatment. We're -- that's absolutely not true. We'd never have been in that position. There's never been a vote taken on that. That was a court that made that decision and Republican state legislature actually fixed it.

RAJU: But, Senator, I'm --

MULLIN: We need to be talking about real issues that the country's facing.

RAJU: I'm asking you about the issue about mandating the IVF treatments. Trump said that they would --

MULLIN: Right.

RAJU: -- insurance companies would be mandated, if not the government, would cover the cost. Are you philosophically someone who has opposed these kind of government mandates on healthcare issues, are you OK with the former president pushing for mandating these treatments?

MULLIN: That -- that's the president's position, and he has the right to have his position on that.

RAJU: And I'm asking your position.

MULLIN: At the end of the day, what's going to end up happening is we're going to have to debate this in Congress. And we're going to debate it, and we're going to go through it. But this is the president's position and I, I mean, his position is something he has a right to.

RAJU: Do you agree with that position?

MULLIN: Well, I haven't talked to him all the way through with it. I think there's a -- there's going to be an issue on how you pay for it. There's always that issue, but I -- we, the Republicans, are 100 percent for making sure that we can bring more babies into this world. That hasn't changed our position. And however we can do that, we're going to be for it.

RAJU: One last question as we wrap up here, sir. I just want to know if you're concerned about Harris's momentum. Ever since she jumped into this race, Trump has had a hard time stopping her momentum. Is he -- but he has been, you know, attacking her, raising questions about her racial identity, insulting her, sometimes questioning his intelligence. Is the Trump campaign and the former president himself, do they have the right strategy to try to stop her candidacy here?

MULLIN: One thing that President Trump knows how to do is win. And one thing he hates worse than anything in the world is losing. And so, I believe President Trump has a good team together and we're going to run a great race. We're working with him.

And, I mean, I tell you what, he's taking on more heat and he has to fight the media every day on his positions why, you know -- you got Vice President Harris out there that hasn't even answered her positions.

[12:40:09]

Yesterday was the first time she even sat down for an interview and she couldn't do it by herself. She had to do it with the Vice President, or the Vice President nominee, Tim Walz, beside her. And so, and even then, the questions that were asked, Dana does a great job in it, but you guys gave her a lot of leeway.

You didn't pin her down one time on actually her issues. I mean, if she starts flip flopping, people start talking about where her positions change, why is her positions change. That's what the debate is for. And so we're looking forward to the debate because she needs to explain that.

She's changed her position. All of a sudden, she's going to be the person that's going to fix the border. She hasn't fixed it yet. And she was the border czar. All of a sudden, she's going to be the one that fixes inflation, that she was the one part of the administration that caused the inflation to go through the roof the way it is.

And so it's interesting to me on how she can actually explain that position out, change from the time she was a VP candidate to all sudden being the presidential candidate. And --

RAJU: All right.

MULLIN: -- so I believe that President Trump and the Trump bans ticket is the winning ticket, and they're going to run a strategy to make sure they win November 5th.

RAJU: All right, we'll see. Senator Mullin from Oklahoma, thank you so much for joining me this afternoon. Really appreciate your time.

MULLIN: Absolutely. Thank you, sir.

RAJU: And good news, if you're hitting the road this holiday weekend, how prices at the pump and across the board could swing the vote in some key swing states this fall.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[12:45:50]

RAJU: If you're hitting the road for the long holiday weekend, well, guess what? You're in luck. Gas prices will be the lowest we've seen on Labor Day since 2021. That's just one of the big economic headlines today as the presidential campaign kicks into high gear.

CNN's Matt Egan is here to break it all down for us. So, Matt, let's start with gas. Millions of us are hitting the road. So what can we expect?

MATT EGAN, CNN BUSINESS REPORTER: Well, Manu, happy Friday. And listen, good news for you. If you want to make the drive to visit me in New Jersey this holiday, it's not going to cost you as much on the road as it did last year. Because GasBuddy is projecting the national average will be $3.27 a gallon on Labor Day. That's down $0.50 from last year, $0.52 from two years ago.

And look at this, not much more expensive than in 2021. Now it's true, gas prices, of course, were cheaper in 2019 and during 2020, that was during COVID. But this is clearly all moving in the right direction. And it's a far cry from that spike to $5 a gallon gasoline.

This is also going to mean people are saving a lot of money. GasBuddy is projecting Americans are going to spend $750 million less on gasoline this holiday weekend alone. That is very good news, especially at a time when people are still spending more money at restaurants and hotels and elsewhere. Manu?

RAJU: Be careful what you wish for, Matt. Many people may visit you, including myself, because it's so much cheaper. But this is Inside Politics, so we can't overlook the impact of gas prices on the election. So, especially in those all-important swing states. So, what can you tell us?

EGAN: Well, Manu, no secret that voters do not like high gas prices. It's so easy to see how this could be a factor in the election. What's interesting is that we are seeing much lower gas prices, including in major swing states. Look at this, almost $1 cheaper than a year ago.

In Arizona, $0.55, in Nevada, Wisconsin, Michigan, North Carolina, Georgia, all of them seeing much cheaper gas prices than a year ago. And even in the all-important state of Pennsylvania, they're paying on average $0.39 less than a year ago.

Now, this is happening for a number of reasons. Some of this is seasonal, some of it's because there's a little bit less demand. Some of it is because there's more supply record setting U.S. oil production in part because, yes, of fracking, which we know is a major issue in the state of Pennsylvania.

Now everyone wants to know what's going to happen next, and some of the industry analysts that I'm talking to, they're saying that we could see the national average continue to drop, and eventually maybe even fall below $3 a gallon by the end of the year, which would mean that no matter who wins in November, the next administration could be starting with relatively low gas prices. Manu?

RAJU: That would be something to see. Of course, a political impact of energy prices. Not the first time it would have potentially a profound impact. We'll see if it happens this time.

Matt Egan, thank you for breaking it all down for us. Really appreciate it.

EGAN: Thanks, Manu.

RAJU: And coming up, Tim Walz's family took center stage at last week's Democratic convention. So how did Governor Walz feel about watching this iconic moment?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[12:53:27]

RAJU: Dana Bash pressed Kamala Harris on her record, policy reversals, and plans if she becomes the 47th president. But there were also more personal moments of the interview, like when Tim Walz spoke about his son, who, frankly, stole the show at the Democratic convention last week.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: A moment that you shared, that the world shared, with your son, Gus. You were speaking, the camera caught him, so incredibly proud of you, so emotional, saying, "That's my dad."

GOV. TIM WALZ (D), VICE PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: Yes. I don't know, as a father, I could have ever imagined that. I am grateful for so many reasons to be on this ticket, but that moment, to understand what was really important to have my son feel a sense of pride in me that I was trying to do the right thing.

And it was -- you know, you try and protect your kids, you know it brings notoriety and things, but it was just such a visceral emotional moment that I'm just -- I'm grateful I got to experience it. And I'm I'm so proud of him. I'm proud of him. I'm proud of Hope. I'm proud of Gwen. She's a wonderful mother, and these are great kids.

And I think the one thing he's talking about the era we're in is our politics can be better. It can be different. We can show some of these things, and we can have families involved in this. And I hope that there was -- I hope people felt that out there, and I hope they hug their kids a little tighter, because you just never know, and life can be kind of hard.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

RAJU: And one more thing, Dana has had a very busy year. She'll be back in this chair on Monday, but before then, you'll want to pre- order her new book. It's called, "America's Deadliest Election: The Cautionary Tale of The Most Violent Election in American History." It's by Dana and her co-author, David Fisher. It's out on Tuesday, and you can pre-order it today.

[12:55:07]

Thanks for joining Inside Politics. I'll be back here for Inside Politics Sunday. That's Sunday morning at 8:00 a.m. Eastern and 11:00 a.m. Easter. CNN News Central starts after a quick break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)