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Laura Coates Live
Allies Plead For Trump To Stay On Message; Walz Defends Military Record As New Controversy Bubbles Up; NYT: Hunter Biden Sought Help From State Department For Burisma Project; Workers Allege "Nightmare" Conditions At Startup Vance Helped Fund; Arkansas Police Officer Fired After Assaulting Detainee In Patrol Car. Aired 11p-12a ET
Aired August 13, 2024 - 23:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[23:00:00]
TRICIA MCLAUGHLIN, FORMER TRUMP ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: My prediction is that Mark Ruffalo is going to play Joe Biden.
LZ GRANDERSON, OP-ED COLUMNIST, LOS ANGELES TIMES: Oh.
ABBY PHILLIP, CNN ANCHOR AND SENIOR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: That took a turn.
GRANDERSON: That's not a bad selection at all. Um, I have to call out the former president, President Obama, who's trying to be Switzerland when it comes to summer music and took a nice neutral approach. You did not have a Drake song during that, President Obama. You did not have a Kendrick song. Choose a side. And it should be Kendrick because that's the song of the summer. What you can do is pretend like those two men do not exist this summer and not include them on your summer playlist. Pick a side.
PHILLIP: Message received, everyone.
(LAUGHTER)
Thank you very much. And thank you for watching "NewsNight: State of the Race." "Laura Coates Live" starts right now.
JIM ACOSTA, CNN ANCHOR AND CHIEF DOMESTIC CORRESPONDENT: A messaging meltdown from Donald Trump has his allies freaking out, but will they do anything to flip the script?
Plus, Tim Walz says he's damn proud of his military record, that's a quote, as he tries to fend off a new controversy. And it was a startup backed by J.D. Vance meant to employ local Kentucky workers, but those workers allege nightmare conditions as the company went under. We've got the CNN investigation.
Good evening, everybody. I'm in for Laura Coates. I'm Jim Acosta. Tonight, a plea from Trump allies to Trump himself. New CNN reporting shows that those closest to the former president are alarmed he cannot stay on message. They acknowledge Trump's race baiting insults and conspiratorial rants are unproductive and the campaign has wasted an early opportunity, they say, to blunt the momentum of Kamala Harris.
One source close to Trump saying this: "This is a different race now. The Democrats are energized. They have a massive machine -- and she's raising money, and she can put a coherent argument against him. It should be easy. Talk about the economy and talk about immigration."
So, what's the campaign for Donald Trump doing tonight? They're talking about immigration, except it's leaning into an old strategy that those same Trump allies are worried about, race baiting and dehumanization.
His campaign war room sharing this anti-immigrant meme online. It shows side by side images, one with an American flag flying outside of a house labeled "your neighborhood under Trump," the other shows a 2023 photo of Central American and African migrants in New York City waiting to get temporary housing labeled "your neighborhood under Kamala." And the headline reads, "import the third world, become the third world." It goes without saying illegal border crossings, we've reported this over and over, are significantly down the last six months.
The numbers also show violent crime has dropped across the U.S. during the first quarter of this year. But Trump is clearly eager to exploit what he sees as a weakness for Kamala Harris and it fits with the same divisive language he has used to talk about immigration throughout this campaign.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES, PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: They're coming from Africa, from the Middle East, from Asia. They're coming from all over the world. And they're coming in because we have a very, very stupid people running our country. They allowed it to happen.
What has happened is unbelievable. You have from Africa, uh, from the Congo they're coming. From the Congo.
They're rough people, in many cases from jails, prisons, from mental institutions and sane asylums. You know, insane asylum. That's silence of the lamb stuff.
(LAUGHTER)
These Hannibal Lecter. Anybody know Hannibal Lecter? We don't want him in this country.
They're poisoning the blood of our country. That's what they've done.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ACOSTA: All right. Many of those things that he said, of course, are -- are not true. Politics reporter joining us now from Semafor, Kadia Goba, friend of Governor Tim Walz and former Democratic congressman, Patrick Murphy, and Trump 2020 press communications director, Erin Perrine. Guys, ladies, gentlemen, thank you all, all of you for being with us tonight.
Erin, let me go to you first. I mean, what do you make of some of this reporting that we're getting here at CNN, New York Times? Other folks have been kind of reporting the same thing, that Trump -- there are folks inside Trump world who are kind of freaking out that over the last several days, the former president cannot stay on message or the message that they think he should stay on.
And instead, he sorts of going off the cup at press conferences on Truth Social during this Elon Musk thing that they did on X last night and saying all sorts of wild things, getting himself in trouble.
I mean, we can just put this up on screen. Went down in a helicopter with Willie Brown. Didn't happen. Harris only recently identified as Black. Didn't happen. January 6th crowd was bigger than MLK. It's not true. Biden will try to reclaim the democratic convention nomination. No, that's not happening. Biden faked COVID. That didn't happen either. Erin, your thoughts?
ERIN PERRINE, FORMER DIRECTOR OF PRESS COMMUNICATIONS, TRUMP 2020 CAMPAIGN: I think that this campaign would be best served staying targeted and staying on message. It's very clear that the American people right now feel better about the Harris-Walz ticket than they did about the Biden-Harris ticket. So, they are in a honeymoon and it's going to continue for a little bit.
We're going into the Democratic National Convention right now. Democrats are going to maintain the speed they have at this point. And that is closing the polling gap and putting her ahead in some states. If he stays focused and on message, it's what every Republican is saying on air right now.
[23:05:03]
And we talk about the economy. Right now, the American people are living off these vibes' mentality going into the midterms. Oh, things feel good with the Democrats. Oh, we really like Kamala.
This is what the Trump campaign needs to be doing, talking to people where they are, about how they feel because people still don't feel that great about the economy, they don't feel great about safety in their communities, and they don't feel great about the border. Talk to people where they are, about what matters to them, and they'll show up and vote for you. It's hard.
ACOSTA: Yeah. You know -- but Erin, I just -- because you know, because you worked for Donald Trump for a little while. I mean, the fact that some of these folks like -- where's the script? Again, I should try to find it here. They're alarmed that he can't stay on message. Is that -- I mean, you worked -- how many years ago did you work for Donald Trump?
PERRINE: Five years.
ACOSTA: Is this -- is this alarming? I don't know. Are there alarm bells going? It sounds like the same Donald Trump. PERRINE: There is a lot of the same stuff that you're going to see from Donald Trump. This is a man well into his 70s who has a pattern of behavior, and that's continuing out in this campaign.
ACOSTA: Yeah.
PERRINE: But that bombastic, brash style, that is what kind of brought people into the fold in the first place to him. They're like, oh, we believe that this man is telling us the truth, even if we don't love the delivery all the time.
Fast forward, we're almost a decade down this rabbit hole and to stay on message now would mean the opportunity for there not to be the distraction and noise that dampens your message when voters are starting to tune in right now as we get into the homestretch.
ACOSTA: Well, and speaking of rabbit holes, Patrick, let's show this meme again that the Trump campaign's war room shared on social -- social media earlier today. I mean, it's pretty ugly. This is what they've been doing. I mean, he has been doing this over and over again. Import the third world, become the third world. Your thoughts?
PATRICK MURPHY, FORMER PENNSYLVANIA REPRESENTATIVE: It's more of the same with Donald Trump. I mean, that's why there's such a contrast in this race, that you have on one side fear and loathing of fellow Americans and other side joy and hope about moving this country to move in the right direction.
Jim, I think, you know, I served in the military. I was in Iraq in the evasion. I lost 19 of my brothers in the 82nd Airborne Division. One of them was not actually a U.S. citizen yet.
ACOSTA: Hmm.
MURPHY: He was trying to earn his citizenship. He was just as American as you and I were on this table. So, we are a nation of immigrants, and we have to make sure we do it the right way. But for him to be divisive like he is, I don't think Americans want to go back. I think they saw how he acted for four years, they fired him for a reason, and they're not going to rehire him this November 5th.
ACOSTA: And Kadia, I mean, Nikki Haley was talking about this earlier tonight on Fox. Let's watch this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
NIKKI HALEY, FORMER SOUTH CAROLINA GOVERNOR, FORMER U.S. AMBASSADOR TO THE UNITED NATIONS, FORMER PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I want this campaign to win. But the campaign is not going to win talking about crowd sizes. It's not going to win talking about what race Kamala Harris is. It's not going to win talking about whether she's dumb. It's not. You can't win on those things. The American people are smart. Treat them like they're smart.
(END VIDEO CLIP) ACOSTA: Yeah, I mean, this gets back to -- I mean, this is not so much on the immigration thing but on what Trump has been doing over the last several days, which is -- I mean, for all -- I mean, Erin heard this time and time again, this whole notion of let Trump be Trump. Well, they're letting Trump be Trump. And it's not working, and it's freaking out his own people.
KADIA GOBA, POLITICAL REPORTER, SEMAFOR: Yeah, I think, just in general, it's very difficult to message on Kamala Harris for Republicans. I saw it in 2020 when she was Joe Biden's running mate. What we see now, coupled with that is a very unprepared part, a very unprepared campaign.
ACOSTA: Yeah.
GOBA: I don't think they were ready for this switch. They did not pivot in time. And what you see is their main guy also not pivoting. Even if the campaign is ready to make that change, he's not there yet. It's like they're not even prepping him, although I'm sure they're cringing every time he makes those statements.
But, you know, to your point, we were talking earlier at the NABJ interview the other day, the conference the other day, I'm sure the message was hit Kamala Harris on her point of not -- inconsistencies. That turned into, well, she's not really, you know, a Black woman. She has message on being like an Indian woman. It's -- it's --
ACOSTA: Yeah.
GOBA: -- but I think part of that was him and not somewhat -- something coming from the campaign. I guess we'll see more of that down the line. Who knows?
ACOSTA: Well, and last night, Patrick, on X with Elon Musk, he praised Elon Musk for being the greatest cutter of jobs. Let's listen to that. Oh, this is Shawn Fain reacting to Trump saying that. I'm sorry. Let's listen to that.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SHAWN FAIN, PRESIDENT, UNITED AUTO WORKERS: You know what? That ticket is just completely weird. If you listen to Trump and Musk, how they laugh, how they laugh about how Musk fires people, and how Donald Trump loves to talk about his favorite two words, you're fired, I mean, who enjoys that? Who takes pride in firing workers?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ACOSTA: Yeah, I mean, last time, Patrick, I'm sure you saw this, that, you know, Trump on X with Elon Musk, praise Elon Musk. You know, saying, well, if workers go on strike, you get rid of them, and so on.
[23:10:00]
And the Harris campaign has immediately seized on it. And one of the things that is sort of self -- getting back to this notion of Trump just being self-destructive lately, the Trump campaign and Trump himself have been trying to make inroads with labor unions, with union workers, in places like Michigan, Pennsylvania, places they're going to need.
MURPHY: Right.
ACOSTA: Here, you have Shawn Fain going ballistic.
MURPHY: Yeah. As he should, by the way, because here you have two billionaires, you know, cutting a fad on X, on Twitter, and basically saying, oh, we don't have to follow the law. It's the law that you cannot fire workers if they're striking.
ACOSTA: Yeah.
MURPHY: It's part of the Constitution. The freedom of Istanbul. You know, Donald Trump doesn't believe in freedom. He doesn't believe in a woman's right to choose.
ACOSTA: Yeah.
MURPHY: He doesn't believe the workers' right to strike. And, you know, luckily, in America, we have the rule of law and it's not billionaires doing what they want to do all the time.
ACOSTA: Yeah. And Erin, I mean, the Teamsters president, Sean O'Brien, who spoke at the RNC, told NBC News in a statement, "Firing workers for organizing, striking, and exercising their rights as Americans as economic terrorism."
Okay, that's -- that is strong stuff. But that is somebody who spoke at the RNC. And it just goes to show you -- I mean, they're listening. The workers out there are listening. Their representatives, their organizations are listening. And this -- I mean, this could be a problem. I mean, I have to -- I have to imagine that the Harris campaign is going to bottle that sound and put it on.
PERRINE: Yes. I will give the Harris campaign great credit for that. They've done a very good job of being very quick and very reactive and being able to push the negatives they want to and get good coverage of it. Absolutely.
There is a disconnect between the leadership of unions and the rank and file. And you do see that in voting as well. There has been movement in rank and file labor members coming over to the Republican Party. And when you see that, it's really important that we continue to deliver the economic message, remind people of how they felt four years ago when they thought, man, the economy feels stronger now.
It's not as expensive to buy groceries. It's not as hard. I don't have to choose between maybe this item at the grocery store and that and a little bit more gas in my car. We have to talk the way people live.
And that means not making fun of them or belittling them. It means having an earnest and honest conversation about the fact that, hey, if you think the country is going in the wrong direction, this is the economic policy. The tax for tips, hey, you know what? Kamala liked it so much. She liked that no tax for tips. She's taking it and running it with her. These are good policies. Talk about them with people.
ACOSTA: Yeah.
MURPHY: I think -- I think the American people are smart because they were put through the ringer during COVID. The whole world was put through the ringer. I mean, in America, we lost a million people. And we did have double digit unemployment in America when Donald Trump was a president.
And Joe Biden and Kamala Harris brought back 25 million new jobs. The stock market at the highest rate it has ever been in history. No, there's a lot of new jobs. But guess what? You still got to bring them back. You just can't leave them there. They were being left there.
PERRINE: It's true, but there's a difference between new jobs and those that were brought back on board.
MURPHY: Yeah, and there's also a lot of new businesses going back.
PERRINE: Yeah.
MURPHY: And I would say to you, and also the stock market, the highest it has ever been, especially when you have 56% of Americans have their pensions and their retirement locked in the stock market. So, it's helping people. Now, again --
ACOSTA: Yeah.
MURPHY: -- no one is spiking any footballs. We got a lot of work to do. But people sure as hell don't want to go back to how it was for four years.
ACOSTA: Yeah, whether it's new jobs or old jobs, nobody likes a couple of rich guys talking about firing people. I mean, that's just -- that's --
PERRINE: That's right --
ACOSTA: -- that transcends politics. Yeah.
MURPHY: Yeah.
ACOSTA: All right, guys, stand by. We'll have more on this coming up in just a second. Tonight, a rare sight in politics, a coalition of Republicans not rejecting Donald Trump, but actively campaigning for his defeat.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNKNOWN: Kamala Harris and Tim Walz, they're the future. We can't look back.
UNKNOWN: I did not come to poison our country. The blood of our country. UNKNOWN: An election is a choice. And in this election, there is no choice.
ADAM KINZINGER, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL COMMENTATOR, FORMER ILLINOIS REPRESENTATIVE: Keep the label of Republican, but vote to defend this democracy.
UNKNOWN: You have to publicly out yourself. I am a Republican, I'm a conservative, and I'm supporting Kamala Harris.
ACOSTA: All right --
UNKNOWN: It takes courage.
ACOSTA: Oh.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ACOSTA: All right, let's bring in CNN political commentator, former lieutenant governor of Georgia, Geoff Duncan. He's a member of the Republicans for Harris coalition who took part in tonight's virtual reality.
Geoff, good to see you. You know, here's a question I have. Earlier on my morning show, I asked Ray LaHood, who is a Republican Obama cabinet secretary, Olivia Troy. Are these the folks who are taking part in these calls, you know? And, obviously, they think they're doing the right thing. But are they simply just the never Trumpers who weren't going to support Donald Trump anyway, and at the end of the day, it may not make a huge difference? What's your sense of it? What was the reaction you got from this call earlier tonight?
GEOFF DUNCAN, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR, FORMER GEORGIA LIEUTENANT GOVERNOR: Yeah, I think the 10% in the middle that are going to determine this election are all types of makes and models. There are some lifelong Republicans like me that are extremely conservative, but just have seen Donald Trump act in ways that should never be rewarded with another job called president, and some folks that are just moderates and everything in between.
The vibe on the call was positive. It was a bunch of Republicans, in my opinion, that were trying to figure out ways to share their story, why they're not voting for Donald Trump, but why they are supporting and voting for Kamala Harris.
[23:15:04]
And also looking for ways to give some air cover. You know, one of the suggestions I gave was, you know, I don't want Donald Trump to win, I want to get my party back and be able to build a GOP 2.0., and the only way to do that is to let the Democrats win this election.
But also, I think it's important to reinforce the fact to Republicans around the country that just because you vote for Kamala Harris in 2024 doesn't mean you're a Democrat. It just means you're a patriot. You're doing your duty as an American to step up to the plate and reclaim this country's future.
ACOSTA: And Geoff, I don't know if you heard earlier on in this program, we were just playing some of that Nikki Haley sound. She was on Fox earlier tonight sort of, you know, saying, why is Trump talking about all of these other things besides the issues? We have this reporting coming into CNN tonight that his advisers are alarmed that he can't stay on message.
Correct me if I'm wrong. It's a little -- it's a little strange to me that folks would expect anything else from the former president. I mean, this is what he does. This is what we've seen him do. And I wonder if you detected any frustration when you're on this call earlier this evening or did you think, okay, nope, that's Trump, that's par for the course.
DUNCAN: No, what I sense on the call was a bunch of folks looking around saying, hey, we finally got some momentum to beat this guy. We finally have a candidate that is 59 years old, energetic, doing all the things that she needs to do to win the race.
Now, certainly none of us agree with 100% of these policies that Kamala Harris or Tim Walz support, but I think the number one policy that we do all support is democracy. Without democracy, none of this other stuff matters.
And so, you know, one of the stories I told was, what story do you want to tell your kids and grandkids about this election? Do you want to tell them that you voted for a womanizer, a convicted felon, a morally bankrupt individual just because he had an R next to his name on the ballot? Or do you want to vote for a decent person that has a steadier hand to get us through the next four years?
For me, that decision is easy, and I think it's becoming easier and easier because Donald Trump continues to just be an ultimate train wreck. I mean, he's his own worst enemy. And the guy that got beat in 2020 is back on the scene now doing and saying all the wrong things. You can't explain it.
ACOSTA: And is there something about being on one of these calls where you're with like-minded folks, you're talking to fellow Republicans? I mean, I suppose most of the folks on the call had not -- have not left the party. They're --they're planning on staying as Republicans. Is there -- I mean, is there kind of a therapeutic thing going on there?
DUNCAN: Yeah, for me, yes. I mean, certainly, like-minded individuals. But you know what? The conversations I have, I was just at my son's football game earlier, folks are talking about, you know, these are hardcore, lifelong Republicans that are just sick and tired of making excuses at the water cooler, at church, even at the kitchen table for Donald Trump.
And you're starting to see the soil soften. The trajectory of Kamala Harris, although we don't agree, you know, lockstep on policies, the trajectory of stability is outpacing Donald Trump exponentially right now in suburbs just like I live in here in Forsyth County, Georgia. ACOSTA: All right. And those counties are going to be vitally important come November. Geoff Duncan, great to talk to you. Thanks so much. Really appreciate it.
Coming up next, Democratic V.P. pick Tim Walz defending his military record from Republican attacks, saying he's -- quote -- "damn proud of his service." But now, he's facing some new questions for once praising a Muslim leader who shared antisemitic propaganda. We'll talk about that in just a few moments. That's next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[23:20:00]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ACOSTA: Minnesota governor and Harris running mate, Tim Walz, putting up a fierce defense of his military record during his first solo address in L.A.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
WALZ: I'm going to say it again as clearly as I can, I am damn proud of my service to this country.
(APPLAUSE)
And I firmly believe you should never denigrate another person's service record. To anyone brave enough to put on that uniform for our great country, including my opponent, I just have a few simple words: Thank you for your service and sacrifice.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ACOSTA: Walz emphasized his 24-year service record that started when he was 17. Republicans have blasted Walz for retiring and running for Congress before his unit was deployed to Iraq in 2005. But Walz says he didn't know about that deployment that was coming.
As Walz tries to put the controversy to bed, a new one is bubbling up, though. Videos revealed by "The Washington Examiner" show Walz appearing with an imam in Minnesota who has shared antisemitic posts on Facebook in the past and defended the October 7th terror attack by Hamas. Walz appeared with Imam Asad Zaman at several events since 2018 and praised his work in the community.
But Walz has not met with Zaman since October 7th. A campaign spokesperson said that Walz and the imam do not have a personal relationship, adding -- quote -- "Governor Walz strongly condemns Hamas terrorism." Zaman saying tonight that he shared the posts -- quote -- "without fully looking at them," adding, "desiring harm to people is against my faith and my personal convictions."
The panel is back with me. Kadia, what do you -- what do you make of this issue with Walz? I mean, we knew this was going to happen. It was relatively unknown nationally. Obviously, the opposition research is going to kick in, and anything that they find, they're going to -- they're going to put out there.
GOBA: I mean, it's a good attack, right, on a person's military background, veterans, people who have served or take that very seriously. But also, to his point, how do you denigrate someone who served more than two decades in military service -- who has served more than two decades?
At the same time, I think a lot of his peers and former combat -- not combat, but former military personnel had come out in support of him. So, I mean, it's tricky. It's a really good talking point. Not sure if it's going to go away.
ACOSTA: I do want to talk about the item about the imam. Patrick, you're dear friends with Tim Walz. You've served.
MURPHY: Yeah.
ACOSTA: Your thoughts?
MURPHY: We both served. We were roommates in Congress together. Let me tell you something. Our nation just got done the longest wars in American history, two decades. Tim Walz, who joined the Army in '17, served his country.
[23:25:00]
After his first enlistment, he enlisted again. After 20 years, he could have retired. He stayed in because our nation was attacked. And then he deployed under Operation Enduring Freedom. The Army made him leave his wife, his kids, his job to be an assistant soldier in the National Guard to go overseas. For J.D. Vance or any veteran to attack his service after he deployed, less than 1% of America answered the call. Tim Walz answered the call. It's shameful.
ACOSTA: And Erin, you worked in republican politics for a long time. We all remember the 2004 campaign. They went after John Kerry on some of these allegations. By the way, a lot of that was a crock. But getting back to what's happening today, does this -- do you think this is going to be effective, going after Tim Walz in this fashion? I mean, this is somebody who served in the National Guard for 24 years.
PERRINE: So, two points on that one. One, Chris LaCivita is one of the chief people over at the Trump campaign, and he was a senior individual behind swift votes against Kerry.
ACOSTA: Yeah.
PERRINE: So, I mean, this is something that they have seen succeed before. And I thought that Senator Vance did a very good job over the weekend when he was talking about it, says, I'm not criticizing his service, I have questions about him embellishing on things, and he did do that on the Sunday shows. I thought that was a good measured tone to say, no, no, no, I'm not criticizing the service, I have questions, because they have updated the website regarding what his actual title was. It's easy to perhaps embellish a little bit as a candidate running for
Congress. That's the kind of stuff that Apple researchers will find and will come after you about. Do I think that this is the ultimate chink in the armor that's going to take Tim Walz out and make him not the likable guy that people seem to really -- I mean, Patrick can't be saying nicer things about him right now --
ACOSTA: Yeah.
PERRINE: -- like just even as we're off air chatting, you really are.
MURPHY: By the way, I said nice things about J.D. Vance.
(CROSSTALK)
But, veterans -- combat veterans like myself, you don't attack other combat veterans, right?
ACOSTA: Yeah.
MURPHY: And for J.D. Vance to do that and then him to look the other way and the guy who works, Chris, who you mentioned, who worked for, you know, former President Bush, he did this football act, so both veterans for truth against John Kerry, who earned --
ACOSTA: He was a war hero.
MURPHY: A general war hero, right?
ACOSTA: Yeah.
MURPHY: The same guy who, by the way, who's working for Donald Trump --
ACOSTA: Yeah.
MUEPHY: -- who when he was a young man, got five deferments. He got a health care deferment for his foot, for his family doctor. He didn't remember what foot it was. So, I have a hard time.
ACOSTA: J.D. Vance is not letting it go. We showed this tweet to our viewers.
MURPHY: Right.
ACOSTA: We were just showing this a few moments ago.
(CROSSTALK)
MURPHY: J.D. Vance should know better. J.D. Vance should know better to attack another veteran, especially one who deployed after 9-11. He should know better because J.D. Vance deployed. And people like me don't criticize his service.
PERRINE: But didn't -- didn't Kamala stand up there and criticize him and come after him about his service? MURPHY: No, you could --
PERRINE: And then he stands up and said, I -- it's -- how dare some -- how dare anybody question my loyalty to this nation and who I would be loyal to. And I actually think this is his best line so far in the campaign, is when J.D. has stood up, Senator Vance, let me be respectful here, when he stood up there and he said, I -- you know, I deployed in service of this country, I built a business in service of this country.
Those are great lines for him to talk about his service. It has come from both sides. And it's completely unacceptable on both sides.
MURPHY: But -- but -- but I disagree with it because I think we're complicating (ph) things. It's okay to criticize J.D. Vance on his policies and what he has done. It's not okay to question his military service.
PERRINE: To question his loyalty?
MURPHY: I think --
PERRINE: To the country that he served?
MURPHY: No, no, no. I think she's criticizing him on doing a flip flop on -- he said that -- he referred to Donald Trump as Hitler and private messages and some other things. I'm not trying to recreate --
PERRINE: She said he would -- he would only be loyal to Donald Trump. The man has already shown his loyalty to the nation.
MURPHY: That is not attacking his military service. I don't think that's complaining (ph). No, no, no.
PERRINE: That's how -- but if that's how Senator Vance, the veteran, took it and that's how he perceived it and he wanted to talk about it, then that's --
MURPHY: Well, he's a snowflake. He's a sensitive sally. Because that's not what she said and that's --
PERRINE: It is what she said. We can pull it back up.
MURPHY: Okay.
ACOSTA: Maybe we'll do that another segment, at another time. But that's all the time we have for you, guys. But thanks. It was a spirited discussion. Kadia, thanks for coming in as well. We really appreciate it.
We do have some breaking news to tell all of you tonight. "The New York Times" is reporting that President Biden's son, Hunter, asked the U.S. government in 2016 to help the Ukrainian energy company, Burisma, with an energy project in Italy. Biden was vice president at the time. The White House says tonight he knew nothing about it. Hunter Biden's attorney, Abbe Lowell, called the request proper and added --quote -- "No meeting occurred, no project materialized, no request for anything in the U.S. was ever sought and only an introduction in Italy was requested."
Kenneth Vogel of "The New York Times" broke this story. He joins me now. Ken, what are the implications here? I mean, obviously, there's not as much of a focus on Hunter Biden now that President Biden is no longer the candidate, but there are still these -- these stories and folks like yourself digging them up. What can you tell us?
KENNETH VOGEL, REPORTER, THE NEW YORK TIMES: Yeah, so we actually requested these documents back in 2021 when this was, as you point out, Jim, a lot more politically relevant.
ACOSTA: Yeah.
[23:29:55]
VOGEL: But because Republicans were spotlighting Hunter Biden's foreign business dealings as a way to try to sort of bring down President Biden -- President Biden's presidency, trying to impeach him, actually, but also because of his reelection campaign, we were seeking this information, then we didn't get it.
We actually sued the State Department for it, alleging a violation of the Freedom of Information Act. They started dribbling out this information. And it wasn't until after President Biden dropped out that they actually released the particular information, these records that led to this story.
And so, while that timing seemed coincidental and certainly was worth us noting, if you talk to folks who specialize in the Freedom of Information Act, they will tell you that these -- these processes sort of take on a life of their own, tend to be quite glacial in their progress, and it would be unlikely for them to be able to turn it around quickly enough to be able to peg it to his dropping out.
Nonetheless, it's frustrating for us as journalists to be unable to get this information more quickly. And certainly, this will be frustrating for Republicans who no longer have this as an issue to use against President Biden in his reelection campaign.
ACOSTA: And so, what does this all mean for Hunter Biden? I mean, you heard what Abbe Lowell -- you're reporting what Abbe Lowell is saying in a statement. Where does it go from here?
VOGEL: Well, he stands trial -- he's set to stand trial next month in Los Angeles on charges that he evaded taxes on millions of dollars in foreign income, including income from this Ukrainian gas company, Burisma. That is the -- the entity for which he sought this meeting in Italy that we write about in this story tonight.
That said, prosecutors are not currently charging him with violating the Foreign Agents Registration Act, which requires that anyone who lobbies the U.S. government on behalf of a foreign principal register as such with the Justice Department.
Now, the prosecutors have suggested that they have evidence that he reached out to the U.S. government on behalf of foreign clients. They didn't specifically mention this one. Instead, they were focused in a filing last week on his work on behalf of a Romanian real estate magnate reaching out to the U.S. embassy in Romania.
So, it's really unclear as to whether any of this stuff is going to make its way into the case against him, which really focuses narrowly on taxes.
ACOSTA: Yeah. And Ken, I can just hear the Biden people saying, you know, well, Donald Trump is no longer on the hook all that much legally because of the Supreme Court. And yet Hunter Biden is still sort of going through the legal meat grinder here. I suppose that -- that isn't really going to help Hunter Biden all that much legally now that his father is no longer the candidate or might it? What do you think?
VOGEL: Yeah, I mean, he said -- President Biden has said that he would not pardon his son regardless of the results of these cases. He already has a conviction on a gun case out of Delaware. This is the second trial that he's facing. And, you know, it does seem as if some of this -- some of the legal jeopardy that he faces is a result of the politics.
You remember, there was a plea deal that would have made all this stuff go away, and it seemed to have been scuttled, at least in part, because new information came out that -- that led to and was incorporated in some -- in some of these new charges.
And so, you know, whether this -- there's no evidence that we've seen that the stuff that we reported tonight is in any way part of any of these legal proceedings. But again, the prosecutors continue to suggest that they have this evidence. Even as they're not including it within the four corners of the case, they will introduce evidence that nonetheless could.
I mean, if you're looking from the outside, you're like, that seems to me like it could support a FARA charge. They say that is not their intent to bring a FARA charge. But, you know, we have this request outstanding and we're going to continue to get documents from it. We'll continue to report them if they're newsworthy.
ACOSTA: All right, Ken, we know you'll keep chasing those documents. Thanks a lot. Really appreciate it.
Just ahead, it was supposed to be a high-tech startup employing local workers from Kentucky that J.D. Vance helped fund. But workers say they were left out to dry. A CNN investigation. You have yet not seen this yet. You want to stay tuned. That's next.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNKNOWN (voice-over): He has gotten away with a lot of money and fame for pretending to be one of us. (END VIDEO CLIP)
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[23:35:00]
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ACOSTA: Donald Trump's V.P. pick, J.D. Vance, has proclaimed he is a champion for the working class. A new CNN investigation finds that before entering politics, Vance was an early investor in a farming startup. That company promised to provide jobs for local residents in Kentucky. Ultimately, it failed. Workers allege they experienced -- quote -- "nightmare conditions" and were eventually replaced with foreign migrant laborers.
CNN's Kyung Lah has a story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ANTHONY MORGAN, FORMER APPHARVEST EMPLOYEE (voice-over): A nightmare. It was a nightmare that should have never happened.
KYUNG LAH, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): That nightmare happened here at this nearly empty greenhouse in eastern Kentucky. AppHarvest, a failed high-tech startup, promised local workers a future that spiraled into broken promises.
Anthony Morgan bought into the company's public pitch that it was for Appalachia by Appalachians.
MORGAN: We were being told that, hey, guys, he's from here.
SEN. J.D. VANCE (R-OH), U.S. VICE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Thank you. Wow!
LAH (voice-over): He is J.D. Vance, the Republican nominee for vice president.
VANCE: I will be a vice president who never forgets where he came from.
LAH (voice-over): Leaning on his personal rise out of poverty to reach swing state voters as Donald Trump's running mate.
TRUMP: I chose him because he's for the worker. He's for the people that work so hard and perhaps weren't treated like they should have been.
[23:39:58]
LAH (voice-over): But before politics, Vance was a venture capitalist, an AppHarvest's first outside investor, eventually steering millions of dollars to the company.
Vance was a lead pitchman for the vertical farming startup, tweeting he was a supporter and investor, writing, I love this company.
VANCE: It's a great business that's making a big difference in the world.
LAH (voice-over): The company's investor presentation pledged a commitment to Appalachia, estimating thousands of new jobs to a poverty-stricken area.
MORGAN: A major emphasis with them was we want to bring work to eastern Kentucky. This is why we are here.
LAH (voice-over): Morgan left a stable job to join AppHarvest as a crop care specialist, pruning the greenhouse grown vegetables.
UNKNOWN: (INAUDIBLE).
LAH (voice-over): A single father with six-year-old twins, the job rapidly turned when production fell behind under what a dozen workers described to CNN as mismanagement, including dangerous conditions. Employees filed multiple complaints to the state and federal government, alleging heat exhaustion, working in extreme temperatures, and lack of water breaks. But the cases were all closed with no citations.
MORGAN: I think about the hottest that I experienced was around 128 degrees.
LAH: Inside?
MORGAN: Inside. A couple of days a week, you'd have ambulance show up and you seeing people leaving on gurneys to go to the hospital.
LAH (voice-over): The cuts came next to promised worker benefits. And then foreign workers came in to fill those so-called local jobs.
MORGAN: The second round of folks they brought in was folks on work visas. And they didn't bring just a van full. They brought bus loads.
LAH (voice-over): Documents show AppHarvest hired contract workers from outside the region. At one point, as many as 500. The majority of its workforce, not locals.
(APPLAUSE)
But that's not the image AppHarvest wanted the world to see. This is Kentucky Senator Mitch McConnell visiting in 2021.
Mitch McConnell coming through. Were the migrant workers --
(LAUGHTER)
-- there at the time? You're laughing. I mean, I look at the video. It doesn't look like there's any --
MORGAN: They hid these guys. They took them out of the plant. They were gone. And then Mitch McConnell was giving a speech about all this work that AppHarvest has brought Eastern Kentuckians.
SEN. MITCH MCCONNELL (R-KY): I like the idea of taking the tomato market away from the Mexicans. How about that?
LAH: So, they were trying to hide the migrant workers?
UNKNOWN (voice-over): Specifically, yeah.
LAH (voice-over): This worker, who asked not to be identified, says the hiring of migrant workers became part of a mirage that AppHarvest was helping the region. He took this video as his co-workers clapped for visiting investors.
UNKNOWN (voice-over): And anytime they did that, they kept workers off the floor doing our like stationary parade while people come through. And yeah, it was -- it was awkward having to stand there and just be a prop.
LAH: A prop for what?
UNKNOWN (voice-over): You know, look at all of these poor folks we're employing.
(LAUGHTER)
LAH (voice-over): The worker says it's impossible to forget about his time at AppHarvest as J.D. Vance ascends to national politics.
UNKNOWN (voice-over): He has gotten away with a lot of money and fame for pretending to be one of us.
VANCE: (INAUDIBLE).
UNKNOWN (voice-over): He's just another grifter, just another carpetbagger, another tourist who wants to tell us what we are.
LAH (voice-over): Vance left the board in April 2021 to run for the Senate. Shortly after, shareholders filed suit claiming they were misled. By 2023, AppHarvest had filed for bankruptcy, a little more than two years after its public launch. But the workers in this failed startup say they are the real people in the Vance story.
Do you blame J.D. Vance for any of this?
MORGAN: I blame all of the original investors at AppHarvest. The original board of directors know what was coming. You would have had to have been an idiot not to.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LAH (on camera): CNN's review of documents and interviews with a dozen former workers show problems emerged while Vance was still a member of AppHarvest's board. Now, after he departed, he was still an investor and had more than $100,000 invested in the company, according to disclosures. Now, spokesman for Vance says to CNN in a statement, "J.D. was not aware of the operational decisions regarding hiring, employee benefits, or other workplace policies which were made after he departed AppHarvest's board. Like all early supporters, J.D. believed in AppHarvest's mission and wishes the company would have succeeded."
[23:45:00]
Jim?
ACOSTA: Kyung Lah, thank you very much for that excellent report.
Just ahead, an Arkansas police officer is fired after physically assaulting a detainee in the back of his cruiser. Now, the police department is communicating with the FBI. We'll show you the dramatic footage. That's coming up in just a few moments. Stay with us.
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ACOSTA: And Arkansas police officer has now been terminated by the Jonesboro Police Department after video surfaced of him assaulting a detainee in the back of a police cruiser.
In the video, the detained man, who appears to be handcuffed and wearing a hospital gown, tells the officers he swallowed a bag of fentanyl, adding that if he is not taken back to the hospital, he will die.
[23:50:01]
Later in the video, the man is seen with the seatbelt wrapped around his neck, at which point the police car pulls over. We have to warn you, what you're about to see is incredibly disturbing. Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
(CRYING)
UNKNOWN: (Bleep). Idiot. (INAUDIBLE). Sit down (ph).
UNKNOWN: You all right?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ACOSTA: What you saw there was a detained man beaten to the point of losing consciousness. The police department saying in a statement following an internal review of the incident, "It was determined that the officer involved, Joseph Harris, should be terminated effective immediately."
Now, the police chief is saying he has been in communication with the FBI. The bureau's Little Rock field office is going to be opening a case.
Let's get right to CNN senior law enforcement analyst Chief Charles Ramsey. Chief, good to see you as always. I mean, talk about this video if you can. I mean, it's remarkable to me. You and I had these conversations many times, that these things happen even with the body camera footage, even with the police cruiser footage. It's extraordinary to me.
CHARLES RAMSEY, CNN SENIOR LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: It is. I mean, there's absolutely nothing in that video that follows any acceptable police procedure at all. I mean, the moment he says that he ingested fentanyl or any drug for that matter, even though he's in a hospital gown, you take him back to the hospital. I mean, you know, you have to protect life above everything else.
He's not properly seat-belted in the car. When you watch the video, it looks like the seat belt is actually tied around him as opposed to being properly buckled in. And somehow, he's able to get this around his neck and begin to strangle himself.
ACOSTA: It's unbelievable. And there was another officer on the scene. He's seen in the video checking on the detainee. I suppose he might face some disciplinary action, too, because he's not stopping the other officer from doing what he's doing.
RAMSEY: Well, he should face disciplinary action. In my opinion, he should be terminated as well. I mean, a duty to intervene is something that's critically important. If you observe a police officer acting outside of policy, using excessive force or any kind of inappropriate behavior, you have to intervene. That is your obligation.
And he is clearly assaulting this individual who is already choking. He may have ingested fentanyl. You could very -- he could very well have killed him, doing what he did in terms of punching him and striking him with his elbow and the things that took place.
ACOSTA: Yeah, we've seen cases like this where the person does die. And Charles, the police department says the officer received a 20-hour suspension without pay for excessive force complaints. He has also been named in a wrongful death suit filed in June. It sounds like this officer should have been pulled off the force sooner. And again, you and I had this conversation in the past. These are bad cops, and they just -- they don't get -- they don't get dealt with.
RAMSEY: Well, they take the entire profession. I mean, it's individuals like that with that kind of history. And you can tell from his actions, that's not the first time he has done something like that at all. And for him to still wear a badge and be a police officer, I mean, somebody needs to be held accountable just for allowing that to take place. Now, whether or not they terminated him in a union, got his job back, whatever it may be, he had no business being a police officer.
And when you see cases like this, it really points to a big problem that we have in policing, and that is a chief's ability to really be able to hold an individual accountable or keep an officer from moving from one department to another.
ACOSTA: Right.
RAMSEY: They get fired or almost fired from one, and they wind up in another police department. It should not happen.
ACOSTA: And how do -- how is -- is there a way to solve that problem? I know I'm probably tilting at windmills here, but shouldn't there be a database, a national database, where police departments can say, hang on a second, I'm going to type this name in and see if this guy has had complaints in other departments? That should exist.
RAMSEY: That's what's needed. There needs to be a national database where an individual's name can be entered. And if there's a problem anywhere else, it doesn't mean that you might not necessarily hire, but at least it's a red flag, and you contact that agency and you find out exactly what took place for that individual to be in the database to begin with. That doesn't exist.
So, we have people that just move from one jurisdiction to another. That was the case in Sangamon County in Illinois with that particular shooting.
[23:55:01]
You had an individual who had gone -- had been in four different police departments in about a six-year period. I mean, you have to wonder, what are you thinking when you hire people like this? You know --
ACOSTA: Yeah.
RAMSEY: It's just -- it's bad for the entire profession.
ACOSTA: And as you said, it highlights the problem that exists in a lot of these departments where you have supervisors, you have chiefs of police, you have sheriffs who just aren't dealing with the problem the way that they should, and it's causing the entire profession to suffer as a result.
Charles Ramsey, I suspect we'll be talking about this again. It's a shame that we have to keep talking about this, but we'll keep doing that. Chief, thanks very much for your time. We appreciate it.
In the meantime, thanks to everybody for watching. "Anderson Cooper 360" is next. Have a good night.
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