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The Situation Room

The Camps of Harris and Trump Dispute on Debate Rules; Trump to Have Ramped Campaign; Rep. Debbie Dingell (R-MI) is Interviewed About Trump and Harris Campaigning in Her State of Michigan. Justice Dept. Seeks To Revive Trump Classified Docs Case; Israeli Students Uprooted From School Near Lebanese Border; Four Civilians To Attempt First-Ever Commercial Spacewalk. Aired 5-6p ET

Aired August 26, 2024 - 17:00   ET

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

[17:00:00]

NICK WATT, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: -- to where they came from about a hundred people so far have taken them up on that offer. The city of course is also trying to build more housing which takes a long time and is very expensive. You know, I ask the mayor, is this political what you're doing? She said no. She's up for re-election. She said no. I said are you trying to be tough. I'm not gonna look tough, I am tough. Phil?

PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN HOST AND CNN CHIEF DOMESTIC CORRESPONDENT: Nick Watt, critically important reporting. Thanks so much. Well, you can follow all the show on X, @TheLeadCNN. If you ever miss an episode on "The Lead" you can listen to the show wherever you get your podcast. The news continues on CNN with Alex Marquardt in for Wolf Blitzer in "The Situation Room."

ALEX MARQUARDT, CNN HOST AND CHIEF NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Happening now, the race for the White House heats up as the debate over the debate now takes center stage. The Trump and Harris campaigns battling tonight over crucial details as Trump once again casts doubt on whether he'll even show up for the showdown on September 10th.

Plus, breaking news, the Justice Department just filed a brief urging a federal appeals court to revive the classified documents case against Donald Trump while defending the role of special counsel Jack Smith.

And we're also keeping an eye on the Middle East tonight after a major flare-up in tensions there. Israel intercepting hundreds of Hezbollah drones and rockets while striking back at targets in southern Lebanon. Welcome to our viewers here in the United States and all around the world. Wolf Blitzer's off today. I'm Alex Marquardt, and you're in "The Situation Room."

Our top story tonight, Donald Trump back on the campaign trail and taking aim at the Democratic Blue Wall amid new questions over his upcoming debate with Vice President Kamala Harris. CNN's Kristen Holmes is traveling with the former president in Detroit. So Kristen, what is all the back and forth over these debate rules about? KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Alex, these two

campaigns seem to have come to an impasse over whether or not they are going to mute or unmute the mics when the other candidate is talking. So just to go back in time here, when the Donald Trump's campaign agreed to the first debate with President Joe Biden on CNN, the rule was both sides agreed to mute the mics while the other person was talking.

Now, the Harris campaign in this debate on September 10th on ABC says they don't want those mics muted. Donald Trump's campaign is saying well, that's what we agreed to. And they do seem to be at somewhat of a standstill at this time.

Now, interesting point here in all of this is that this is all just a little bit of flexing as they try to figure out who is going to do what on stage, what is going to be best for their candidates. And Donald Trump, after all this with his campaign, seemed to kind of undercut what they were saying. Listen to what he said in Virginia.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: So we're thinking about it. We're thinking about it. They also want to change the rules. You know, the deal was we keep the same rules. Now all of a sudden, they want to make a change in the rules because she can't answer questions.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: Now I do want to just add one thing here. A reminder of just a few weeks ago when Harris's campaign was sent -- essentially, she rose to the top of the ticket and Donald Trump pulled out of the debate. The Harris campaign saying it's the exact same debate. You have to agree to it. You already did. Now Donald Trump's team is saying well that's what we agreed to was that those rules and the Harris campaign is saying well it's different now because I'm at the top of the ticket.

So a little bit of a flip flop on both sides, again, as they're trying to figure out what is best for their candidate. Now the other part of Donald Trump's strategy as you noted, whether or not he appears on the stage. We know he's going to appear in multiple swing states. Today he's in Michigan. Later in the week, he's in Michigan, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, traveling, really pounding the pavement.

They say he's going to have a ramped up campaign schedule. He certainly is this week, but we'll see if this continues. It's something they've been saying for quite some time, but it's happening at a time in which Kamala Harris's ascension to the top of the ticket has really struggled -- the campaign has really struggled with that and trying to find footing.

We saw him earlier today in Virginia. He was commemorating the three- year anniversary of the Afghanistan withdrawal. That is something that has become a main talking point for Donald Trump against the current administration. He has now linked Kamala Harris to that. It used to be an argument against President Joe Biden. But whether or not this kind of ramped up campaign continues is something we'll be keeping an eye on.

MARQUARDT: We certainly will. All right, Kristen Holmes, stay with us. We're going to be coming back to you in just a moment. But for now, I want to get to CNN's Eva McKend. So Eva, on the Harris campaign side, how are they navigating this?

EVA MCKEND, CNN NATIONAL POLITICS CORRESPONDENT: Alex, the debate is the next race-defining moment on the calendar, and that's why we see both campaigns trying to jockey for the best conditions possible for their respective candidates. We see the Harris campaign needling Trump trying to get under his skin.

[17:04:56]

In a statement, a Harris advisor says, in part, our understanding is that Trump's handlers prefer the muted microphone because they don't think their candidate can act presidential for 90 minutes on his own. And Alex, they picked this up on social media, continuing to mock the former president. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LAURA INGRAHAM, FOX NEWS HOST: Why not debate her?

TRUMP: No way. But because they already know everything. They say, oh, Trump's, you know, not doing the debate. That's the same thing they'll say now. I mean, right now I say, why should I do a debate? I'm leading in the polls. And everybody knows her. Everybody knows me.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MCKEND: So you see the former president there saying that he has no issue debating. So, this just going back and forth. The vice president though, she has a pared down schedule this week. I'm learning from the campaign. She's gonna be on the campaign trail doing a bus tour in Georgia. But ultimately, the Harris campaign pushing this because they believe that Trump will interject rant, rave and air grievances. That's why they don't want these muted mics, Alex. They ultimately want to show contrast.

MARQUARDT: As we have seen him do in the past. Eva McKend, thanks very much for that update. Our political experts are joining me now. David Chalian, I want to go to you first. What do you make of Trump earlier today, seeming to take this bait from the Harris campaign, kind of contradicting his own campaign, saying that he actually would rather have microphones on? All right, well, we're going to fix David Chalian's audio.

Shermichael Singleton, let me go to you on that same question. What do you make of Donald Trump at that campaign stop today, essentially contradicting his campaign, which had said that they wanted to stick by those earlier rules of each side muted, but now in fact Trump's saying, well, actually maybe we'll have the mics open? SHERMICHAEL SINGLETON, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, I mean, I

watched that entire clip and there's a longer part where he continues to say, however, we had already agreed to the rules, why are they attempting to change the rules now? And I think that the Trump campaign is probably accurate. I mean, look, the American people deserve the opportunity to hear from both candidates on the issues, whether it's Trump interjecting against Harris or Harris interjecting against Trump.

It's really difficult to do that when candidates are jumping in interrupting the other person when they're trying to answer these questions We're talking about the most consequential job of the country. The rules that any one of these individuals will make if given this job will be consequential for years and decades to come. So keep the microphones muted, everyone benefits. We've benefited in the previous debate. I think we'll benefit in the next debate.

MARQUARDT: And Jamal Simmons, how is this not a reversal from the Harris campaign because they said, you know, we agree to this debate that had been agreed to by the Biden campaign on September 10th?

JAMAL SIMMONS, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Here's what I don't know, Alex. I don't know if this is coming up because they're actually angling for something else. You know, I've -- there are people who've been -- who've managed the debate on debates and very often what you're claiming you want in one negotiation is only the thing you really give up the next part of the negotiations. So we'll see where they actually come down this.

Here's the fundamental point though. Donald Trump should not want to debate Kamala Harris on stage. I think he has spent a lot of time, a lot of legal money that he could raise from his donors. He's used a lot of campaign cash to get lawyers to keep him out of court in a bunch of these cases. And what he would do is put himself on a national stage in the middle of, effectively, the biggest courtroom he's ever seen, to be prosecuted by one of the best prosecutors in the country, by Kamala Harris.

Now, the Democrats should keep ourselves in a little bit of check here, too, because, you know, Donald Trump is, frankly, right now, had more debate experience recently than Kamala Harris. He's had two, you know, debates since the last time. She had one. She debated Mike Pence four years ago. It's been a long time. So as much as I think she's a very good prosecutor, she's a very good arguer, you know, Donald Trump has some experience with this.

And even the best case scenario, it's not like Donald Trump will be left in the corner crying, you know, yelling out loud, I ordered the code red. You know, he's not going to do that. So, Democrats need to have a little bit of -- a little bit of patience here, a little distance about how they think this debate's going to go. But if I'm Trump, there's no way I would want to face her on a national stage.

MARQUARDT: And David Chalian, the reason that those mics were muted when the other candidate was speaking during our CNN debate back in June was because of what we saw in 2020. Trump repeatedly interrupting Joe Biden during that debate. So, do you see danger here in Trump behaving that way against Kamala Harris who's now, of course, is the candidate?

[17:09:54]

DAVID CHALIAN, CNN POLITICAL DIRECTOR: Well, and you'll recall, Alex, in 2020, after that first debate, the one you're describing that was so chaotic in nature, the Commission on Presidential Debates adjusted for their second debate between Biden and Trump at the end of that cycle where microphones were muted for their initial responses to a question, but then the microphones were opened up for an exchange of ideas back and forth.

So yes, we carried some of that forward into our CNN debate. We'll see what, if any of that carries forward into this ABC debate. Obviously, there is danger for Donald Trump if he shows up in sort of a hotheaded kind of way. We saw that didn't work well for him against Biden. It will not work well for him against Harris.

Now, that's not how he showed up to the CNN debate in June. And so I would imagine he is likely not to show up in that kind of a manner with Harris, but we have seen him rattled over these last five weeks about how to position himself against Harris and how to frame and define Harris for the American people. So he's got to sort of settle on what that is before he gets on the debate stage with her.

MARQUARDT: When it comes to what we're seeing on the campaign trail, Kristen Holmes, one advisor told CNN that the Trump campaign's plan is to aggressively ramp up his schedule. This advisor is saying that we should be seeing, think Trump on steroids, it'll be all hands on deck. So what's that actually going to look like, Kristen?

HOLMES: Well, that's a good question because they've been saying this for quite some time that they're going to ramp up his travel. Now, obviously, we're seeing a couple of extra stops this week. We know he traveled every day last week is sort of a counter-programming message to the Democratic National Convention. Some will argue it was successful. Others will say it wasn't so much. This week he still has two down days and then he's back on the road, back in these swing states, Michigan, again, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania.

I think what's really interesting is actually that event in Wisconsin. They are clearly trying new things here to get him interacting with voters as they try to find their footing, as David said, with Kamala Harris at the top of the ticket. On Wednesday in Wisconsin, he's not doing a rally and he's also not doing one of these smaller messaging events. He's doing with their billing as a town hall.

Essentially, he's going to speak for 15 minutes and then he's going to take questions from the audience, which are supposed voters, something we actually haven't seen him do. Particularly, we haven't seen him do it in a setting without a media organization kind of running the shots there. So we'll see how that goes with him interacting with voters. But again, really going back to what David was saying, it's been in sort of a scramble for his team trying to figure out what comes next, how exactly they're going to run this campaign. We'll see if they do escalate that, but the all hands on deck, we've

already seen it. They brought on his 2016 first campaign manager, Corey Lewandowski. They brought on a GOP consultant, Alex Bruesewitz. They took over Taylor Budowich, who was at the MAGA Inc, the Super PAC, brought him over as a senior advisor. They are bringing over Trump loyalists, people who have been with Trump for the last several years.

They are trying to get people to be part of the campaign. They are trying to get all boots on the ground. We'll see what it looks like in terms of travel and actual execution.

MARQUARDT: Shermichael, in terms of Trump's ability to have figured out Kamala Harris and how to go after her, we have seen in recent days the former president using his Twitter account. Normally, of course, he posts on Truth Social, the company that he owns a very large part of. And now we've seen more than a dozen posts on Twitter. So to what extent do you think that's a recognition that he's got to reach out beyond that Truth Social ecosystem to a broader audience? Recognition that he's in a very tight race with Harris.

SINGLETON: Yeah, but look, you cannot compare the volume of daily users on Twitter to Truth Social, right? Maybe you're looking at a couple hundred thousand, maybe a million there compared to Twitter. I think there is a recognition when you look at the Harris campaign, they have been very effective in their messaging, their targeting, posting videos, engaging with content creators on Twitter, on Instagram.

I've even seen some very interesting posts on Facebook attempting to target older voters. So it absolutely makes sense for the former president to be able to be in those spaces, giving a message directly to potential voters, particularly low propensity voters. If you look at Twitter today, Alex, compared to Twitter maybe six years ago, I would argue that the shift is more to the right if you look at some of the engagement.

And so I think that also is potentially a part of the calculation. If you look at some of Trump's engagement on TikTok, he is absolutely engaging with younger men in particular. So the campaign recognizes that this is not going to be the sort of traditional race that you would run on mainstream outlets, although that is going to be a part of the calculus.

You also have to target and engage with some of those individuals on social media who are not watching the news 24/7, who are on X and Instagram and other places engaging over other content, who may see a post by Trump and say, oh, wait a minute here, this is interesting. Let me click to see more.

MARQUARDT: Yeah, it's all about those independents, those undecideds. Everyone, thank you so much for joining me on this very busy Monday.

[17:14:57]

Coming up, we're joined by a key lawmaker from the battleground state of Michigan, Democratic Congresswoman Debbie Dingell is with us standing by.

Plus, breaking news, prosecutors are trying to revive the classified documents case against Donald Trump. We're getting new details from a brief that was just filed in federal court.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MARQUARDT: Donald Trump is in Michigan as part of his battleground blitz this week. Let's get a reaction from Democratic Congresswoman Debbie Dingell of Michigan. Congresswoman, thank you so much for joining us this evening. The former president campaigning heavily in your state this week while Harris has scaled back her schedule in part for debate prep. Do you think that this is a missed opportunity by Harris not to bring more of the DNC momentum from last week out onto the campaign trail early this week particularly in your key state of Michigan?

[17:19:55]

REP. DEBBIE DINGELL (D-MI): No, Alex, it's good to be with you. I think one we need a candidate who's doing debate prep and needs to make sure that she is rested and doesn't make mistakes. She's getting right back out on the road this week. She going to a number of other battleground states. They were here. Donald Trump wants Michigan. I have said that to everybody. I have told people (inaudible) he could win Michigan and I think he's hoping that he's going to do that again.

But I can tell you that There were a lot of us out working this weekend. We had our state conventions, so a lot of people were focused there. We had surrogates in this state. We're having record numbers of people that are doing the canvases and the phone banking. And I know we will see both candidates in Michigan on our side as well. I mean, we're seeing Trump advance here how many times? Three times this week. Michigan's at play. You're going to see the candidates.

MARQUARDT: And Congresswoman, whether it's on the campaign trail or in a future debate, Trump is certain to go after Harris on the economy. I want to play a bit of sound from Senator Lindsey Graham arguing against Democrats in an interview with CNN. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM (R-SC): This whole joy, love fest doesn't exist in the real world. The world is on fire. Your grocery bill is up, your gas bill is up, your mortgage payments are up, and the worst is yet to come if you re-elect these people yet again.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MARQUARDT: So, Congresswoman, Graham there speaking about some very practical implications for the American people. How does the Vice President counter that line of attack?

DINGELL: I think she just talks the truth. I mean, first of all, I really think that this is a very easy comparison between what the administration of former President Trump was and what the administration of Vice President Harris will be. And we do not need any more hate or division. The place that the former President Trump chose to go last week was where there was a KKK march. only a month ago and it's known as the home of KKK. That's spreading hate and division for me.

We do need to worry about the economy, but she is very focused on it. President Trump didn't do anything about affordable housing. He didn't do anything to help people make their living costs. COVID was a nightmare for everybody. We've come out of COVID, the economy is recovering, we're creating more jobs, we're bringing our supply chain back to this country.

I think that there's a vision of looking forward. And, you know, what's wrong with like, okay, let's not be pitted against each other, let's work together. Let's try to have some joy or happiness or hope as we work together for a stronger united America.

MARQUARDT: Congresswoman, we have seen a lot of Harris since she became the candidate but she has not sat down for an interview since the president left this race. Now, of course, we in the press would love to see her do that, but how important do you think it is for actual voters in your state, for example, to hear her answer, tough questions from journalists about key policy issues?

DINGELL: Well, I think sometimes you all over exaggerate with the importance of it. She knows what she's going to have to do. She's going to have to spell out her vision and talk about policies more. You can start to see that. You know we forget that we -- if yes, like, in the last three weeks or weeks we've seen a year or two or three years' worth of what's happened. She's only had a vice president or a vice presidential nominee for two weeks.

She had to go into a convention. They had to orchestrate it. She turned a whole campaign over from one person to another. So Labor Day's coming. The fall is here. I think we're 72 or 71 days left in this election. We're going to see some of those things that you want to see happen. We can't get it all squeezed into one day. We've got to remember this hasn't been a long time of candidate Harris.

MARQUARDT: Congresswoman, before I let you go, the DNC denied a speaking spot to any Palestinian-American. What are you hearing from your constituents about that and how damaging do you think that is for the vice president?

DINGELL: I've heard a lot of anger from some of my constituents. They -- look, this is a horrific, tough issue. There are people that are hurting on both sides. And you know, I'm going to tell you that the Arab-Americans, the Palestinians, the Muslims that I represent did not resent the parents of one of the hostages speaking. They understand their pain.

What they're looking for is people that understand their pain. More than 40,000 civilians have been killed in this war. I have a lot of Lebanese, not just Palestinians. They're afraid that Lebanon is going to blow up any minute. They're worried about war in the mid-east. We don't need to understand there are a lot of people hurting. [17:24:58]

And I don't like the way that Donald Trump talks about world war three. I think we need to prevent further violence, but we want peace in the Middle East and we got to work towards peace.

MARQUARDT: Alright, Congresswoman Debbie Dingell of Michigan, thank you very much for your time.

DINGELL: Thank you.

MARQUARDT: Up next, the new effort to revive the Trump classified documents case one month after a Florida judge tossed the case out.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MARQUARDT: Breaking news, the Justice Department is trying to revive the classified documents case against Donald Trump, asking a federal appeals court to bring back the charges that Judge Eileen Cannon dismissed last month.

[17:30:00]

Our senior crime and justice reporter Katelyn Polantz has all of the details. So, Caitlin, could this case against Trump now be reinstated?

KATELYN POLANTZ, CNN CRIME AND JUSTICE REPORTER: It could, if that's what the appeals court and then potentially even the Supreme Court after that, want to do. But Alex, what is happening right now in this

appellate argument that the Justice Department is putting on the books, it's going to be a lot of other arguments before we finally get to a decision. But what they're doing is they're doing something bigger too.

They're arguing that the structure that the Department of Justice uses to investigate highly sensitive, politicized cases, special counsel appointments, that that should be allowed. What Judge Cannon did in Florida was not just dismissed the Trump case, she said this prosecutor, Jack Smith, he shouldn't be able to bring any case like this. And so that question is, what is going to be before the appeals court? Cannon whenever she said that, she also said that she didn't believe that the Justice Department had constitutional authority to allow the attorney general to give someone like Jack Smith a special counsel, any autonomy or authority or even funding.

And so the Justice Department is going really hard to say that is just wrong. One of their quotes, if the attorney general lacks the power to appoint inferior officers, that conclusion would invalidate the appointment of every member of the department who exercises significant authority and occupies a continuing office. So they're saying what Cannon is doing here is so dangerous. It could cut out the attorney general's ability to have people like deputy solicitors general, deputy attorney -- assistant attorneys general, and then even allow people like the Secretaries of Defense, Labor, State, the Treasury Department, to appoint other people. So they not just want to revive the Trump case here, they want a full throated endorsement of the special counsel's office and the use of those sorts of appointments from the Appeals Court as this moves forward. Alex?

MARQUARDT: All right, Katelyn Polantz with this late breaking news. Thank you very much.

Let's bring in CNN legal analyst Carrie Cordero and our senior law enforcement analyst, Andrew McCabe. Andy to you first, how strong is the Special Counsel Jack Smith's argument here? Do you think that this classified documents case will ultimately be reinstated?

ANDREW MCCABE, CNN SENIOR LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: I think it's likely that it will, Alex. The brief is extensive. It's over 50 pages long. It's assiduously researched and supported by numerous precedential cases. And they also do a really good job of attacking not just the law, the errors of law that they believe the district court and Judge Cannon applied, but the -- the kind of offense of it all. The -- the fundamental case that -- that the special counsel argues controls this issue is, of course, U.S. v. Nixon.

It's the case that every court who's ever heard this kind of a challenge has used to valid -- to validate the appointment of special counsels. And Judge Cannon dismissed the whole -- the Supreme Court's holding in Nixon as -- as mere dicta, essentially ignored it. And by doing so, kind of refuted this entire judicial hierarchy in the United States, where lower courts are bound by the decisions of the Supreme Court and other higher courts. So they really are hitting a resounding note here, pointing out just how far she strayed, not just from the law, but in her entire approach to this issue.

MARQUARDT: So Carrie now with this brief filed, what does the timeline look like, not just for the appeals, but for this case, eventually, maybe actually getting to trial?

CARRIE CORDERO, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Well, it's really hard to predict how long the 11th Circuit will take with the case. It's an appellate court. There's really, from the appellate court's perspective, not a particular urgency. So they're not working on the political calendar like the campaign is. And so those are really, you know, very separate things. So it really will just be up to the 11th Circuit, how they want to continue this case.

And -- and then there is a piece that potentially could be affected by the election, because if former President Trump were reelected, then that would introduce a new amount of uncertainty, whether or not he would allow the Justice Department to continue to make these arguments to courts, or if Vice President Harris is elected, then presumably this case goes on, and then we have the 11th Circuit, and then potentially even the Supreme Court.

But I think there's -- there's no question that the Justice Department was going to make these arguments, both from the perspective of the strength of the classified documents case and the importance that they place on that case, and then also for the other reasons that Katelyn and Andrew were describing in terms of the precedent of the special counsel, authority of the attorney general.

MARQUARDT: And then meanwhile, in -- in Arizona, Andy, that from the 2020 election interference case, or there's a judge who decided that several Trump allies will face trial in January, not of next year, but January of 2026 so walk us through the significance of this case, especially in these last 70 or so days before the November election.

[17:35:06]

MCCABE: Well, I think it's a poignant reminder to folks that the legal resolution of the many issues that -- that were created around the lead up to January 6th, and of course, in the events on January 6th are -- are far from being completely resolved. You have 18 co- defendants in this case, not including, of course, the former president. He's not indicted. He's referred to in the indictment as unindicted co-conspirator number one.

But these are important matters. They've already had guilty pleas in this case. The judge has referred to the -- to the trial date as a moving target. So I think we can all assume that it'll probably shift even more before we get there. But nevertheless, this case goes on at a moment when the case of the federal case about -- about the attempt to overturn the election has been jeopardized by Supreme Court rulings.

And then, of course, the Georgia case appears to be in a bit of a mess. You still have the same issues are being tried in -- in other jurisdictions, in Arizona and in other places we know as well, Michigan and -- and other spots.

MARQUARDT: All right, a reminder tonight that despite all the action on the campaign trail, Donald Trump is still facing a lot of legal trouble. Carrie Cordero, Andrew McCabe, thank you both very much.

And just ahead, how Ukraine is vowing to respond to Russia after a massive, deadly attack from the air.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[17:40:34]

MARQUARDT: Russia launched deadly missile and drone strikes at Ukraine overnight. Ukrainian officials say that it is the biggest air attack since the war began, more than two years ago, causing power outages in several Ukrainian cities. Let's get straight to CNN's Fred Pleitgen who've been tracking all this. So, Fred, how extensive were these Russian attacks?

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, they were massive. And in the end, the Ukrainian said that seven people were killed and 47 were people -- people were injured across the country. And all those span pretty much all the areas of Ukraine, some 15 different places inside Ukraine. If we look at some of the numbers, they are really big.

The Ukrainians are saying that the Russians used about 127 missiles and more than 109 drones to attack Ukrainian territory. And among them are some pretty tough missiles. One of them is one that's actually designed to take out whole aircraft carrier strike groups. Now the Ukrainians say they were able to shoot a lot of these missiles down, but some of them obviously did hit their targets as big power outages, Alex, in Ukraine right now. They say there's going to be rolling power outages going on over the next couple of days.

The Russians, for their part, actually confirmed that they conducted these strikes and that they were going after energy infrastructure, they say, to stop the Ukrainians from producing weapons that obviously the Ukrainians are using in defense against the -- the Russian assault on Ukraine. At the same time, we still have the Ukrainians inside the Kursk province of Russia, where they apparently are still making gains.

At the same time, the Russians are pushing in Pokrovsk in the east of Ukraine, gaining some territory there. Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the President of Ukraine, has urged Ukraine's western partners, specifically the -- the United States, to give Ukraine long distance weapons to be able to take out some of the air bases that those bombers take off from that launch, those missiles, Alex.

MARQUARDT: Yes. A very dynamic battlefield. Fred Pleitgen, on the latest from Ukraine, thanks very much.

And Israel is on edge after it intercepted hundreds of drones and rockets launched by Hezbollah. And for now, it is actually easing some fears about a wider war between Hezbollah and Lebanon and Israel, but still Israel wants -- waits for a another potential threat to transpire. Iran has also vowed revenge for the killing of a top Hamas leader recently in Tehran. CNN's Jim Sciutto is in Tel Aviv. So Jim, what is the feeling on the ground now there in Tel Aviv with these twin looming threat -- that -- threats.

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: There's certainly a sense of relief after events yesterday, because, as you know, there was a tremendous amount of anticipation fear of a major Hezbollah attack on Israel. It appears that Israel, along with the help of the U.S., got wind of that through intelligence, and was able to strike preemptively and neutralize most of it, although Hezbollah did manage to file -- fire several 100 missiles.

That said, because there's been, in effect, a low grade war on the northern border going back to just the wake of the October 7th attacks. As you know, a large portion of the north of Israel has been evacuated for 10 months now. More than 60,000 Israelis forced to flee south, same true north of the border, more than 80,000 Lebanese forced to flee north because of that fighting.

We went to Northern Israel earlier this week because the school year is approaching here, and that evacuation has forced entire schools to move south. We visited one of them.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SCIUTTO (voice-over): On kibbutz Dafna, less than two miles from the Lebanese border, students at the Har VaGai School fled just after October 7th, quickly abandoning their lockers. Those mandatory evacuation orders came almost a year ago now, yet the threat remains more present than ever. Last month, a rocket burst through the roof of the school's gym.

And just this past weekend, the most intense crossfire along the border this year.

RAVIT ROSENTAL, HEAD OF HAR VAGAI SCHOOL IN NORTHERN ISRAEL: This is the sign of our school. It's written Har VaGai School, and those three buildings are ours.

SCIUTTO (voice-over): Now, as a new school year begins, Head of School, Ravit Rosental, has built an entirely new school 20 miles south for more than 1,000 displaced students. Instead of a tree lined campus set around the Babbling Brook, classes will take place this year in once empty warehouses. On September 1st they hope, a new school year will begin here.

[17:45:12]

ROSENTAL: A lot of students are depressed, teachers are not in a very good situation, and they are waiting to come to school to see each other because they want to fill back our community in Har VaGai.

SCIUTTO: The school is outside the evacuation zone in the north, but it's still within range of rockets and missiles and drones from Lebanon. So it has air raid shelters like this one. In fact, 18 of them surrounding the school, like all these shelters, reinforced walls, reinforced doors like this, and close enough to the classrooms, so the students can get here very quickly in the event of incoming fire.

SCIUTTO (voice-over): But the shelters cannot shield the students and teachers from the stress of war.

ROSENTAL: We're afraid. I cannot say that not afraid. But I know that me and my team will do the best to make a good for the kids.

ZIV ZINGER, HAR VAGAI HIGH SCHOOL SENIOR: A few days ago, I -- I woke up at 8:00 a.m. from the rockets, and they were very close.

SCIUTTO (voice-over): Seventeen-year-old Ziv Zinger is going into his final year of high school.

ZINGER: If you kind of cheated how you feel, you -- you feel very connected to the old school. You know, we had grass and we had the river flowing through the school, and it doesn't feel like home.

SCIUTTO (voice-over): The goal, then, is some measure of stability, the same classmates, same teachers, same subjects, even without the same sense of safety. Meirav Atmor is sending her 12 year old son.

MEIRAV ATMOR, MOTHER OF HAR VAGAI STUDENT: This routine, it's something that keep them safe in their mentality, but -- but you go to school every day, you see your friends, you see your teachers. I think it's very important.

SCIUTTO (voice-over): One promising sign of that routine, Matan, just beginning seventh grade, tells us he's more nervous about his classes than the rockets. For Ravit the school is her contribution to a way forward.

ROSENTAL: Very angry about a lot of things going on in Israel, but I have a mission now to take care of more than 1,000 students and 130 teachers. So I must do the best now.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SCIUTTO (on camera): One thing the construction of a school like this shows, and keep in mind it's with the help of government funding, is it's an indication that no one expects folks to be able to return safely to their homes in northern Israel for some time. It's not certain how long it will be, and the attacks, of course, in the last 24 hours show how real the threat from Hezbollah in southern Lebanon continues to be to those communities in northern Israel. Alex?

MARQUARDT: All right. Jim Sciutto, thanks very much for that report.

Coming up, SpaceX tomorrow will attempt to pull off two major things that even NASA has never done before. Why this mission carries major risks? That's just ahead.

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[17:52:15]

MARQUARDT: We are just hours away from witnessing the launch of a mission that aims to pull off the world's first ever commercial spacewalk. Tomorrow morning, the SpaceX Polaris Dawn mission is set to launch four private citizens into space higher than any SpaceX crew spacecraft has ever flown, including missions with NASA astronauts on board. CNN's Kristin Fisher sat down with all four crew members ahead of that risky trip to space.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KRISTIN FISHER, CNN SPACE AND DEFENSE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It's one thing to fly to space. It's another thing to do a spacewalk. Until now, only NASA or government astronauts have dared to venture out into the vacuum of space. But that is all set to change with SpaceX's Polaris Dawn mission, funded in part by billionaire businessman and philanthropist, Jared Isaacman, who first flew to space three years ago as commander of SpaceX's Inspiration4, the first all civilian mission to orbit.

FISHER: Jared, some people are going to see the headlines and say, you know, this is just another billionaire going on a joyride to space. But what you are doing is actually quite different.

JARED ISAACMAN, SPACEX ASTRONAUT: The connotation is often negative, but in reality it -- it's just people taking that resources that they're lucky enough to accumulate in life and try and do something positive with it for the benefit of everyone.

SARAH GILLIS, SPACEX ASTRONAUT: SpaceX has these huge objectives, and to get there, there is so much that we need to go and solve. And so Polaris is all about accelerating the technology development.

FISHER (voice-over): Technology like the first new American made extra vehicular activity suit or EVA suit in more than 40 years. NASA has been trying to get new ones for its astronauts for two decades. SpaceX developed this one in just two and a half years, and now the entire Polaris Dawn crew will be testing it in space for the first time.

ISAACMAN: We are all really confident that, you know, some iteration of it is going to be worn by somebody walking on Mars someday, and -- and that just makes it even more of a privilege to be part of it.

FISHER (voice-over): While only two members of the Polaris Dawn crew will actually leave their Dragon spacecraft, all four will be exposed to the vacuum of space when the Dragon opens its hatch.

SCOTT "KIDD" POTEET, SPACEX ASTRONAUT: Space is literally right there as you open the hatch. And --

FISHER (voice-over): Scott "Kidd" Poteet is the mission's pilot, a retired Air Force Lieutenant Colonel and test pilot.

FISHER: So you've been wanting to go to space your whole life.

POTEET: Are you calling me old?

FISHER: No.

POTEET: I'm glad I have this crew.

FISHER (voice-over): Mission specialist, Sarah Gillis is SpaceX's lead astronaut trainer for all astronauts that fly on a Dragon, including NASA astronauts and Jared on his first mission.

ISAACMAN: The person who's in charge of training all the astronauts for it should have that experience themselves.

FISHER (voice-over): The final crew member is mission specialist and medical officer, Anna Menon, also a SpaceX employee whose life is now in the hands of her coworker.

[17:55:00]

ANNA MENON, SPACEX ASTRONAUT: These are not just engineers, these are also my friends. So I know the people that are putting us on that rocket and supporting us from the ground, and I have just the utmost trust in every single one of them.

FISHER: Anna, your -- your husband is a NASA astronaut. You're beating him to space, essentially. How -- how does that family dynamic play out?

MENON: Oh, he is the most supportive person ever. I'm incredibly grateful to have him on my side. And honestly, I think he's doing the hard job right now.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FISHER (on camera): And that is the job of being the loved ones of one of those astronauts as they embark on one of the most daring space missions in modern times. You know, Alex, it's not just the spacewalk that's so risky, it's also the fact that these astronauts are going to be flying all the way up to the radiation belt, something that no humans have done since the Apollo astronauts back in the 1970s. This mission all kicks off very early tomorrow morning. The launch window opens right around 3:30 a.m. Eastern. Alex?

MARQUARDT: What a cool experience. Good luck to all of them. Kristin Fisher, thanks very much for that report.

Coming up, will the September 10th presidential debate actually happen? Former President Donald Trump has been casting doubt on whether he will participate. Hear how the Harris campaign is mocking Trump over that. That's next.

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