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Trump Uses Economic Speech In North Carolina To Attack Harris, Dems; High-Stakes Gaza Ceasefire And Hostage Talks Get Under Way Soon; Ukrainian Forces Advance Deeper Into Russia; Zelensky: Ukraine Captured Dozens Of Russian Soldiers. Aired 5-6p ET

Aired August 14, 2024 - 17:00   ET

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

PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Live from Chicago. The lineup so far, President Biden will speak on Monday night along with Hillary Clinton, Tuesday, former President Barack Obama takes the stage, Wednesday's featured speakers, former President Bill Clinton, and Thursday, Vice President Kamala Harris will formally accept the nomination. Jake Tapper will help lead the coverage, starting Monday night at 7:00 Eastern, again, right here on CNN.

And of course, if you ever miss an episode of The Lead, you can listen to the show wherever you get your podcast. The news continues on CNN with Wolf Blitzer reporting live from Tel Aviv in the Situation Room.

[17:00:36]

WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST: Happening now, Donald Trump is on the campaign trail in battleground North Carolina using what was billed as a speech on the economy to attack Kamala Harris and the Democrats. We'll break down his message as some of his allies are pleading with him to focus on substantive policy issues. And here in the Middle East, the CIA director will be in the room when high stakes talks on a Gaza cease fire and hostage deal get underway soon. Is there any hope for a breakthrough without the participation of Hamas and as the threat of an Iranian attack on Israel still hangs very much over the region?

Welcome to our viewers in the United States and around the world. I'm Wolf Blitzer in Tel Aviv and you're in the Situation Room.

We begin with the presidential race as the battle for North Carolina is heating up tonight, Donald Trump speaking at a rally just a little while ago in Asheville two days before Kamala Harris campaigns in the state. CNN's Jeff Zeleny is joining us live from Asheville right now.

Jeff, what has Trump been saying?

JEFF ZELENY, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, the fight for North Carolina is coming into sharper view and it is really picking up where it left off four years ago, North Carolina was the state with the smallest margin of victory in any states that the former president won back in 2020, by some 1.3 percentage points. Now this race is extremely tight as well, with Vice President Harris at the top of the ticket, so the former president coming here to North Carolina, talking about the economy, of course, getting in several attacks and broadsides in the vice president as well, but staying on message, at least for a time highlighting inflation.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, (R) PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: Does anyone here feel richer under Kamala Harris and crooked Joe than you were during the Trump administration? Is anything less expensive under Kamala Harris and crooked Joe? Kamala has declared that tackling inflation will be a day one priority. Think of it for her, but day one for Kamala was three and a half years ago. Why hasn't she done it?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ZELENY: So the former president talking about inflation, but offering few policy ideas for what he would actually do on the economy, Wolf. In a very apprentice like moment, he says, Kamala, you're fired. Of course, that decision is up to voters here in North Carolina and elsewhere, Wolf. But he also had much more to say about President Biden as well.

BLITZER: He certainly sounded a little hung up on the previous candidate, didn't he, Jeff?

ZELENY: He did, Wolf. Of course, this is something that Donald Trump has been trying to campaign against. He's been hoping to run against Donald Trump -- I mean, excuse me, against Joe Biden. And in fact, he has for many months, and at that point, it looked like North Carolina would not be as much of a battleground, but with Vice President Harris at the top of the ticket, it is. So Donald Trump had a few choice words for President Biden as well today.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: Joe Biden is a very angry man. You know that right? Because they took it away from him. They put in a candidate, and we beat him badly.

How did he -- how did he do in the debate? We beat him. And they said, well, instead of letting it go, who knows what happens, right? It's the world of politics. They say, we want him out.

Joe, you getting out now, Joe. I want to get out. I have -- you getting out now, Joe, we can do it the nice way or we can do it the hard way. And he's getting out.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ZELENY: So Democrats believe that North Carolina is more competitive now, Wolf. And you only have to see what the Trump campaign is doing to prove that that is actually the case. He's campaigning here. I'm told he may come back next week. They're also running television ads here.

The Trump campaign and associated groups are planning to invest some $11 million trying to define Vice President Kamala Harris. Wolf, they have spent virtually no money up until now at this point against Joe Biden, that is making clear that they very much see a tough race on their hands. Of course, it has been 16 years since the Democratic presidential candidate carried North Carolina. He, of course, was Barack Obama in his first race in 2008. Four years later, he did not carry North Carolina in his bid for re-election.

[17:05:07]

Wolf.

BLITZER: All the current polls show it's going to be a very, very close contest. Jeff, stay with us as we bring in more of our political experts right now.

Erin Perrine is joining us.

Erin, this was billed as a substantive economic speech. Trump talked about that a little bit, but was this the economic address Republicans wanted to hear?

ERIN PERRINE, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST, AXIOM STRATEGIES: It's a step in the right direction. This was much more policy focused. There was contrast. There was a lot of good messaging that was throughout that speech, including hitting Kamala for being at the White house already. If this is her talking about what her economic policy or what her vision for the country is on day one, Donald Trump tying her closely to the Biden-Harris administration when Joe Biden was polling so badly previously is a good thing.

You're not always going to get a lot of substance and into the deep layers of policy in these campaign style speeches, but he did touch on the major economic factors that he is showing. There is a road map talking about the economy that he can take against Kamala Harris.

BLITZER: Erin, Trump spent a lot of the speech talking about Joe Biden rather than Kamala Harris, the Democratic presidential nominee. What did you make of that?

PERRINE: Donald Trump still very much likes talking about Joe Biden because that was a candidate he was beating very handily. The next step here is getting him to jump from Biden to Harris and tie the two together. The moment he starts really bringing the two of them together. He can hit Joe Biden. He can talk about the Democrats pushing him off the ballot.

There was Politico reporting today about the bad feelings between Pelosi and Biden relative to Biden getting off the ballot. But if he puts Kamala Harris and Joe Biden's policies together, and people start feeling that, hey, Kamala is much to blame as Joe Biden, that's going to be a really strong message, and he has to start putting that together now.

BLITZER: Let me bring in Jim Messina.

Jim, the economy is a good substantive issue for Trump right now. In a recent poll, 53 percent of Americans say Trump would do a better job with the economy compared to just 44 percent for Kamala Harris. How does the Harris campaign counter this? And did Trump help himself with his remarks today?

JIM MESSINA, FORMER OBAMA CAMPAIGN MANAGER: Wolf, I don't think Trump helped himself very much with his remarks, because he can't stay focused on one message. He was bouncing all over the place. Every moment he's spending attacking President Biden is a lost moment, because Erin's right, this has to be about Kamala Harris, and he just can't get there. The other thing is, like, he's been capped at 46 or 47 in all of these polls he's not able to move. And the reason he's not able to move is that he hasn't offered the country anything new, it's just more of the same attacks.

And we've kind of seen that for a decade, and voters sort of understand that. They want to know what he's going to do. And you know, on Friday, Vice President Harris is in the same state of North Carolina. Wolf, voters in North Carolina start voting 23 days from today on early ballots. So people are starting to make up their mind and have proof how close the state is. You have Trump there today and you have Harris there on Friday. North Carolina is definitely in play.

BLITZER: Certainly is.

Jeff Zeleny, Nikki Haley was on Fox last night and had this advice for Trump. Listen and watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NIKKI HALEY, (R) FORMER PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: 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. What they like about Kamala is that she's being hopeful. She's talking about freedom. She's talking about a way forward. They don't want a former president talking about the past.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: So it's very interesting. It doesn't seem like he was listening, does it? Because let me play another clip of how he was talking about this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: For nearly four years, Kamala has crackled as the American economy has burned. What happened to her laugh? I haven't heard that laugh in about a week. That's why they keep her off the stage. That's why she's disappeared.

That's the laugh of a crazy person, I will tell you. You have it. Too crazy. She's crazy.

You know why she hasn't done an interview? Because she's not smart. She's not intelligent.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: So Erin, let me ask your thoughts on this. Should trump listen to the advice we just heard from Nikki Haley?

PERRINE: It's not only coming from Nikki Haley, it's coming from former Speaker Kevin McCarthy, who's a very close ally of former President. It is important that we that we stop with the character attacks. This cannot be an election based on personality. It needs to be on substantive policy. And so for every time that Donald Trump is out there and calls her a name or belittles her, the more it turns him off to the American people.

[17:10:04]

The American people right now are telling the election -- are telling Donald Trump and Kamala Harris what they want. They want someone that's going to lower the cost of groceries, because it feels hard right now when it comes to deciding what you're going to purchase. Somebody who can bring down the cost of housing because even as inflation might be slowing, cost of housing is still incredibly high. Somebody who's going to make them feel safe and secure in their neighborhood. So when we get off that message, we are not winning the day as Republicans. We win the day to Nikki Haley's point when we talk about the policies that we believe can help get the American people on the right foot. Personality attacks don't do that.

BLITZER: Let me bring in Laura Barron-Lopez. She's with us right now as well. Let me get your thoughts. What do you think, Laura?

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, I think that to the point made earlier, Donald Trump has really had a lot of trouble, Wolf, trying to stay on message or stick to a message on the economy, as well as immigration, which is what a number of Republicans close to him say that they really want him to be focused on. He hasn't been able to do that. He's been scrambling a bit in trying to find his footing against Vice President Harris, and we see that in recent polls just out this week, she's gaining a lot of momentum in those key swing states.

I've also -- you know, she appears to be having an effect where the Democratic base is coming back to her, which was an issue that President Biden had. And I was just talking to some black organizers on the ground in states like Minnesota and Michigan, and they were saying that the base is much more enthusiastic with her. There's still work that she needs to do, which is why you're seeing her make a lot of stops in swing states, including going to North Carolina later this week, ahead of the convention, because she's still trying to make sure that she's able to get all of those Democratic voters, that base, back to her, because President Biden was really struggling with them.

BLITZER: And Laura, Trump also accused Kamala Harris of stealing some of his policies, like eliminating taxes on tips, for example, and calling her a flip flopper. How vulnerable is Kamala Harris to those attacks?

BARRON-LOPEZ: Well, I certainly heard from some of those double hater voters or those voters that are more middle of the road, centrist voters that Harris is also trying to win over, that they want to hear more from her about her record, about past statements that she made when she was running in the Democratic primary in 2019 about environmental issues, about energy, like fracking, you know. And that issue as well, are going to be things that she has to establish herself more on. And the campaign says that she is certainly going to be differentiating herself in the coming days on the economy.

BLITZER: As you know, Jeff Kamala Harris will outline her economic policies this week. What do we know about how she will try, if she does try, to distance herself from President Biden?

ZELENY: Wolf, that of course, will be a central challenge for Vice President Harris. In fact, tomorrow, she'll be appearing with President Biden, really for the first time in a policy address, talking about what they have done to lower costs for Americans on insulin and other products and price gouging and the like. But it is definitely a central challenge of any vice president trying to distance themselves or differentiate themselves from President Biden. So that, of course, will be a challenge for her, but she will be coming here to North Carolina on Friday to talk more about her economic policy.

Wolf, this is one of the unanswered questions of this campaign. She certainly has not been steeped in economic policy, and there are many blanks left to fill in, so we certainly will have our eye on that. And of course, voters here and in other battleground states will as well. Wolf.

BLITZER: Very important issue indeed, the economy. All right, guys, thank you very, very much.

Up next, we're following more news, including the Gaza ceasefire and hostage talks that will soon get underway right here in the Middle East. We'll take a closer look at the key players and their expectations. Stay with us. You're in the Situation Room.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[17:18:26]

BLITZER: We are live here in Israel, where it is now just after midnight on Thursday, already, the day those high stakes Gaza ceasefire talks are resuming in Doha, Qatar. The negotiations set to play out against the backdrop of the ongoing threat of an Iranian retaliatory strike against Israel. Let's get the latest developments from CNN's Nic Robertson. He's with me here in Tel Aviv.

Nic, what do we expect in these final hours leading up to these critically important talks?

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLAMATIC EDITOR: I think despite all the nerves or because of the nerves and the huge amount of pressure that's been applied on all sides to get these talks going, I think in the next couple of hours, probably not an Iranian strike. That would seem unlikely, as the diplomacy is actually in a run into work. The mandate that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has given to his team, Mossad chief, Mossad chief, the Shin Bet chief, Ronan Bar and Major General Nitzan Alon, who is the head of the intelligence around the hostages, th0e mandate that he has given to them, that's important. Will that be being fine-tuned and tweaked as we go into the final hours before they actually sit down with the mediators, with the Qataris, with the Egyptians and with CIA chief Bill Burns?

And of course, watching Hamas' position on this, they've staked it out very clearly. They said, we will only engage with the mediators if there is what we call positive progress at these talks in Qatar.

BLITZER: What do we expect the U.S. role in these critically important negotiations in Doha, Qatar to be?

[17:20:05]

ROBERTSON: Potentially helping find what has been sort of called a bridging mechanism, if you will, or to get to sort of bridge the gap that exists at the moment between the position Prime Minister Netanyahu who has -- which he has said until recently that he is clear that his government, his cabinet, the hard right members, will only support a tough position, which includes controlling the border between Gaza and Egypt, the Philadelphia corridor. They control the crossing, the Rafah crossing, controls the movement of people back to the north of Gaza. Those are going to be the key points that need bridging. So, that's where the U.S. diplomacy can come into play.

BLITZER: Nic, stand by.0 I also want to bring in two special guests who know this region well. CNN Political and Global Affairs Analyst Barak Ravid is with us, along with Nancy Youssef for the National Security Correspondent for The Wall Street Journal.

And, Nancy, welcome to the Situation Room. The U.S. is pushing the cease fire talks, but if Hamas isn't participating directly in the talks, maybe they'll participate after the talks in one way or another, indirectly. And Netanyahu is reportedly adding more conditions as we go along. How much progress realistically do you think will be made?

NANCY YOUSSEF, NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT, THE WALL STREET JOURNAL: I think it's challenging. I think ultimately, the prospects of a deal don't seem likely tomorrow. And even if they were to reach a deal, a lot of the technicalities that need to be worked out on, for example, who would conduct security, who would provide aid, also need to be ironed and that will take several days and weeks. The challenge is that without a deal, it's very hard to defuse the widening crisis throughout the region against Iran, against Hezbollah, against the Houthis, without this deal, and the administration knows it. And so what we're seeing is the U.S. send CIA Director Bill Burns, Brett McGurk, the special envoy, in a bid to try to push the parties closer to that bridging deal that Nic referred to earlier. But right now, it is hard to see a scenario where we'll get to something that really starts the process to a true ceasefire.

BLITZER: And Barak, how is Israel approaching these talks that are about to resume? And what are Netanyahu motivations here? BARAK RAVID, CNN POLITICAL & GLOBAL ANA: Well, you know, when you say Israel, it's a word that cannot really describe one position, because I think there is a gap between Netanyahu and many other members of his, you know, national security establishment, his minister of defense, Gallant, is in a totally different place, and he's much more keen to move forward with the hostage deal than the prime minister. The Israeli negotiation team pressed Netanyahu today in a five hour meeting to give more maneuvering space for the negotiators in the talks tomorrow in Qatar. And according to Israeli officials, Netanyahu did agree to give a slightly wider mandate to his negotiators, but the message the negotiators gave Netanyahu, both in the meeting and in writing, is that while he's stalling, delaying trying to get a better deal, the lives of the hostages are at risk, and every day that passes, some of them can die, and this is why this thing should move forward as soon as possible.

BLITZER: Nancy, what do we know about why Iran has now repeatedly delayed its possible attack on Israel, a retaliatory strike? Is Tehran waiting for the cease fire talks to bear out? Or do they have other motives right now?

YOUSSEF: It's a great question, and it's one that's sort of plaguing the Pentagon right now. It's where I am speaking to you from.

If you believe that Iran was embarrassed by the assassination of Haniyeh on their territory and needs to respond in such a way that goes up the escalatory ladder from their April 13 attacks, but not so much that it leads to a wider war, that's a very sort of thin area that they're operating in. And so some believe that they're trying to find that space. And others believe that one of the calculations that they're making is that they want to see if the ceasefire offers a potential off ramp just sort of having to confront that very challenging scenario.

And so, the current U.S. assessment is that they expect there'll be some kind of retaliation from the Iranians. Some have put it as close as this week. But one of the struggles you see with the United States is figuring out what those intentions are, because that answers what kind of strike we would see. Instead we're watching, I think U.S. officials really studied military movements by Iran to try to make some assessment of what that kind of response could look like. Iran has said that they will respond on a time and place of their own choosing.

I don't think they want to be seen as complicated or souring a potential deal. So that's also a factor. But can you really do something such that signals that these attacks won't be allowed to happen in your territory, but not do something that leads to a wider war that they're not looking for?

[17:25:11]

BLITZER: Yes, I've been told by various sources here in Israel, the Iranians are also very nervous about this major deployment of U.S. military assets in the eastern Mediterranean, and they're very worried that the U.S. potentially could respond, in addition to Israel making various Iranian targets in Iran very, very vulnerable. So that's why the sources I'm talking to tell me that Iran is going to continue to wait.

But Barak, I'm not hearing the same thing when it comes to the Iranian proxy Hezbollah in Lebanon. In fact, some sources are telling me that Hezbollah potentially could launch an attack, an air strike against Israel with their rockets and their missiles as early as this weekend. What are you hearing?

RAVID: I hear the same, but you know, we have to be honest, we've been hearing this thing for a few days now. And as at least from what I hear from my sources, it is hard to imagine that Hezbollah would just go ahead and will not coordinate it with Iran this way or another. But I think the Iranians are waiting to see what's going to happen tomorrow, and then they'll decide.

BLITZER: Let's see what happens.

All right, Barak Ravid, Nancy Youssef, to both of you, thank you very, very much.

Up next, Ukrainian forces say they've captured dozens of Russian soldiers. So does this mean a prisoner swap perhaps is in the works? Stay with us. You're live in the Situation Room.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[17:31:01]

BLITZER: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, says his forces are advancing even deeper into Russia today, and they've captured he says more than 100 Russian soldiers along the way. Let's bring in CNN Senior International Correspondent Fred Pleitgen. He knows the issue very, very well.

Fred, is Russia making any progress in slowing down Ukraine's military movements inside its borders?

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Maybe a little bit Wolf, but certainly not as much as the Russians would like to. And you're absolutely right. The Ukrainians today, and this was only at the halfway mark of the day, had said that they had already progressed further into Russian territory, about a kilometer, maybe two kilometers further than they were the day before. Now, the Ukrainians have said they continue to make that progress, and it's certainly been very difficult for the Russians to hold them up. One of the things that we've been doing over the course of the day is monitoring some of the things have been coming out of Russia. And the Russians keep showing videos of their planes allegedly bombarding Ukrainian positions and Ukrainian troops inside that Russian territory, that area of curse, and yet you keep seeing the Ukrainians advance. At the same time, Ukrainians are indeed saying that they are taking a lot of Russian ers as prisoners of war.

The Ukrainians have been very open about the fact that they want to exchange these prisoners of war against Ukrainians who are in Russian custody. In fact, tonight, the Ukrainians have come out and said they are still in touch with Russian authorities, and hope that deals can be made, despite the fact that the Russians, at this point in time, of course, are extremely angry at the offensive that's being conducted by the Ukrainians. Vladimir Putin, Wolf, continues to say that there will be a strong response from the Russian side. So far, it's very difficult to see any of that materialize.

Again, the Ukrainians continue to advance, and one of the other things that they've also said is that they've conducted the biggest-ever drone strike against Russian air bases. Of course, that also very important for the Ukrainians trying to take out some of Russia's air power in order to protect their own advances. The Ukrainians are saying their drones were effective, but they also say that they need additional weapons, specifically from the United States. Volodymyr Zelensky, the President of Ukraine, speaking about missile weapons, specifically, Wolf.

BLITZER: Yes. Specifically long range missiles that they want from the U.S. and the other NATO allies. Let's see if that happens. Fred Pleitgen, thanks very much for that report.

I want to bring in Democratic Congresswoman, Mikie Sherill of New Jersey. Right now, she knows the issue well as well. Congresswoman between these drone attacks and this incursion directly into this Kursk area of Russia, Ukraine is digging into this risky, pretty risky strategy. Should the U.S. pressure Kyiv to dial it back or continue to support it?

REP. MIKIE SHERILL (D-NJ): Well, I don't think so. Well, we should not have them dialing this back. We've been asking the Ukrainians, quite frankly, to fight this war with one arm tied behind their back. And then, you know when you see so much of the Russian projection of power, either from these air bases or from missile sites coming from inside Russia, and then saying that somehow the Ukrainians cannot attack those replacements. I just don't think that makes any sense.

So I think what we've seen is the Ukrainians making this move. I think they fought in accordance with international law, war, as you have heard, trying to form a deal to have an exchange of the prisoners of war. I think they have only attacked these air bases with missiles, not civilian areas, as I understand those. They've been done with ground troops. So I think they have done this in a very kind of surgical way, but it certainly is incumbent upon them to stop these outside attacks from coming into Ukraine and crippling many of their cities and attacking many of the people within.

BLITZER: Congresswoman, President Zelensky reiterated his call to use Western including us, long-range missiles inside Russia. Until now, that's been pretty much of a red line for the U.S. At what point should the U.S. reconsider that and allow Ukraine to use longer-range missiles to attack Russian targets inside Russia?

[17:35:15]

SHERILL: I think, as we are talking about, you know, if there are attacks coming from Russia proper into Ukraine, if there are air bases or missile silos that the Ukrainians want longer range weapons to attack, I really do think that should be a discussion that we have with the Ukrainians receiving, of course, some assurances and having more surgical strikes. But we have to stop some of the inflow of these attacks coming from mainland Russia.

BLITZER: On another sensitive, very important issue, the upcoming Gaza ceasefire talks scheduled to begin in a few hours in Doha, Qatar. The U.S. is pushing these talks, but the daylight between Hamas and Israel only appears to be growing, at least so far. Do you fear both Sinwar and Netanyahu are impeding this potential deal for a ceasefire and a release of the hostages?

SHERILL: Look, we have seen Netanyahu from the start, really undermining so many of these negotiations. I have been meeting with hostage families for months and months, ever since October 7, and most recently, met with hostage families. When Netanyahu was in the United States, canceling hostage negotiations at home and in the United States, and the family said he is not doing his job. We should not have to be here in the U.S. pleading with you to put pressure on these ceasefire negotiations to determine the release of the hostages. Sinwar is a terrorist. We know that, but we should be able to have a better relationship with the head of Israel, Netanyahu, so that we can move forward.

The United States has been working for months in an incredibly strong way to bring together allies of ours throughout the region, whether it's Egypt or Jordan or Saudi Arabia, to try to get people to the table, to come up with a path forward and from the start of this conflict and this is something that you know, veterans of the Global War on Terrorism have been stating strongly myself. I've been stating this strongly. There has been no path for what the plan for this war is. What is the achievement? What that they are trying to achieve to go forward? What is the vision for the future of the Middle East and Israel and Gaza in particular?

And I think it is such now that more and more people are seeing that Netanyahu has no plan going forward, and even his own minister of defense, Galant, is now saying that, you know, his plan is unrealistic. There is no day after. There's no forward view of how they come to the end of this. And that becomes even more problematic as Netanyahu continues to try to undermine these ceasefire negotiations.

BLITZER: All right, Congresswoman Mikie Sherill of New Jersey, thanks so much for joining us.

SHERILL: Thanks for having me.

BLITZER: And just ahead, we have new details coming in on a controversial legal battle why Disney is arguing a grieving husband's subscription to the Disney Plus streaming service should get his wrongful death lawsuit tossed out of court. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) [17:42:28]

BLITZER: Tonight, Hunter Biden is bringing on a high-profile new criminal defense attorney ahead of his trial on tax evasion charges next month, after negotiations over a possible plea deal stalled out. Our Chief Legal Affairs Correspondent, Paula Reid has more details for us. Paula, what is adding this new lawyer tell us about Hunter Biden's strategy?

PAULA REID, CNN CHIEF LEGAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Well, this will be Hunter Biden's second criminal trial this year. He was convicted on gun charges in Delaware back in June, and in that trial, he was represented by Abby Lowell, but going forward, they actually have a new lead attorney for this upcoming trial. They brought on LA based attorney Mark Geragos.

Now one of the reasons Lowell is stepping aside is because he spread pretty thin with all the other litigation that Hunter Biden has brought against some of his detractors, part of his new, more aggressive strategy that takes a lot of time and it takes a lot of money, something that Hunter Biden doesn't have much of. So as they go into this trial, it's important to report that they actually tried to resolve this with a plea deal. We learned that there were talks between the special Counsel's Office and Hunter Biden's lawyers about trying to negotiate a plea to avoid the second trial.

That is especially significant because all of these legal issues were originally supposed to be resolved with a plea deal that, of course, fell apart spectacularly when it was supposed to be signed off on by a judge, resulting in the president's son facing these two trials. But as of now, our source is telling us they do expect this case will go to trial in early September. But another question lingering out there Wolf is whether the President will pardon his son.

Now, he has said that he will not pardon him. He will not commute his sentence, but he said that before he decided to step aside and not run for re-election and a lot of questions about whether President Biden would really let his son go to federal prison, likely, especially when the two cases that he has faced, most experts say are pretty unusual, but at this point, he's on the record saying he won't do it. So far, my sources say there's been no final decision, and really, only the President knows what he'll do there.

BLITZER: All right. Paula Reid, reporting for us. Paula, thank you very, very much. Turning now to an eyebrow raising legal battle between Disney and the husband of a woman who died from an allergic reaction at one of the company's resorts. Disney is trying to get the widower's wrongful death lawsuit tossed out of court by arguing he signed a waiver when he signed up for the Disney Plus streaming service back in 2019.

I want to bring a CNN legal analyst, Joey Jackson. Joey, this man's wife died. He's seeking $50,000 tell us about the legal strategy Disney is pursuing and the message it sends.

[17:45:09]

JOEY JACKSON, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Yeah, Wolf, good to be with you. The legal strategy is to limit their monetary liability. When you get a case taken to an arbitrator, you have a person who's dispassionate, who just makes his decision predicated upon whatever the law would be. Arbitrations are favored because they're quick. They're generally final, and you have the matter that goes forward relatively quickly in a court of law.

I think what Disney is trying to do is to avoid a jury. And getting a jury, yes, they may be asking for $50,000 in compensatory damage, in English, it means perhaps they're out-of-pocket losses, but punitive damages, which are designed to punish for reckless and irresponsible behavior, could be in the millions. And so that's what the reality is.

However, I think what it comes down to also is an oppressive provision which in a contract that could not have been foreseen. What do I mean? You cannot, therefore, by having something as unconscionable as this, and in English, that means it's just so oppressive. You have something in an actual by the way, you've signed before streaming services, it's a trial period. But you know what? You can't sue us. It needs to go to arbitration first.

I don't even think that's enforceable. They will go to court to make that determination. Ultimately, I think this goes in front of a jury if it goes that far. But what I really think Wolf is that this will settle and settle for big numbers with regard to the negligence of providing his wife right with nuts and other food that she couldn't eat and getting assurances that it wasn't in there. So that's what it's all about, limiting monetary liability that dog is not going to hunt.

BLITZER: So Joey, what happens next in the immediate period?

JACKSON: So in the media period, what we're going to see is we're going to see both parties really preparing to get this matter heard before the court. This matter being whether or not Disney has a legal basis to provide for arbitration instead of a court proceeding. And again, we signed lots of contracts every day, but someone Wolf has to be put on notice of what they're signing, the essence of what they're signing, by the way, the husband signed, it should that be imputed to the wife who's now dead? So those are legal arguments that will ultimately be made. But another thing that's happening behind the scenes, you bet, is because of the bad publicity to Disney and people who are feeling at home, are you kidding that I think this will settle relatively quickly for high numbers? We may not know those numbers because I'm sure it would be subjected to a confidentiality agreement. But if I'm visiting, I'm keeping this way out of court.

I think this argument is beyond the pale. Attorneys make arguments every day. Those arguments are creative, but to take advantage of someone like this by saying it's an arbitration provision, you can't be in court, I think that's a bit much.

BLITZER: We shall see. All right. Joey Jackson, excellent, excellent analysis. Appreciate it very, very much.

JACKSON: Thank you. BLITZER: Coming up details on an expected celebrity appearance at next

week's Democratic National Convention in Chicago, which sources are now telling CNN will be a star-studded event.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[17:52:12] BLITZER: We're learning new information tonight about a celebrity appearance at next week's Democratic National Convention in Chicago. CNN entertainment correspondent Elizabeth Wagmeister has an update for us. Elizabeth.

ELIZABETH WAGMEISTER, CNN ENTERTAINMENT CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Wolf. Julia Louis Dreyfus, who of course, played the first ever female vice president on television on HBO Veep, is going to be at the DNC next week. I have confirmed with the actress publicist that she is going to be hosting a panel with the eight female Democratic governors in this country. On the panel, Julia Louis-Dreyfus hopes to shine a light on these female leaders and also on women's issues.

She spoke to The Hollywood Reporter about this panel, and here's what she had to say. Quote, "Throughout their time in office, Democratic women governors have made history, changed the conversation surrounding women in executive roles and gotten big things done for the good people of their states. They've shattered marble ceilings and demonstrated excellent leadership. Their voices are essential."

Now, as I said, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, she has spoken up recently about women's issues. Last week talking about abortion, let's take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JULIA LOUIS-DREYFUS, AMERICAN ACTRESS: Millions Yes, millions of Americans have lost access to abortion and other life-saving reproductive health care in the last couple of years. It's absolutely nuts. But we can change that.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WAGMEISTER: Now, reproductive rights will likely be one of the topics that comes up on this panel, among other issues that are affecting women in this country. Now, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, she has a long history with the Biden-Harris administration and a long history supporting democratic candidates. In 2020, she spoke at the DNC, and back in 2014 when President Biden was then the Vice President, she did a funny viral skit with him at the White House Correspondents Dinner.

Now, more recently, she has given her endorsement to Vice President Kamala Harris, and she's even gotten in on the viral memes and the fun with Gen Z recently posting on her Instagram that she's having a brat summer, giving a nod to pop star Charlie XCX.

Now Julia Louis-Dreyfus, there is dancing and lip singing to a song from pop star Charlie XCX, who went very viral when she tweeted three simple words, Kamala is brat, which is essentially the Gen Z endorsement of the vice president. Now Julia Louis Dreyfus, of course, who starred on Veep, recently spoke about the. Surgeons that the HBO show is having, she said that she's thrilled and that she hopes it gets people out to vote, Wolf.

[17:55:09]

BLITZER: Looking forward to seeing her at the convention in Chicago next week. Elizabeth Wagmeister, thank you very, very much for that report. Coming up, the race for the White House heads to battleground North Carolina, a state many Democrats had all but given up on just a few weeks ago. Donald Trump hitting Kamala Harris hard on the economy. Stay with us. You're in the situation.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: Happening now. Donald Trump preemptively attacks Kamala Harris's economic agenda as she prepares for the big rollout of her plan. This as new polls drive home the burst of enthusiasm among Democrats for their new president.