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Harris Wrapping Georgia Swing After Exclusive CNN Interview; First Trump Reaction to Harris' CNN Interview; Trump Defends Arlington Cemetery Visit After Rare Army Rebuke; Palestinian Officials: At Least 16 Killed In Occupied West Bank Since Israel Launched New Operation; Biden On Pace To Appoint More Federal Judges Than Trump, But Trump's Overhaul of Influential Appellate Courts Is Unmatched. Aired 6-7p ET

Aired August 29, 2024 - 18:00   ET

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

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[18:00:00]

ALEX MARQUARDT, CNN ANCHOR: Happening now, breaking news. Kamala Harris is wrapping up a campaign swing in Georgia after sitting down for an exclusive interview with CNN along with her running mate, Tim Walz. We're breaking down what the Democrats told our Dana Bash and we're getting a reaction from a top official in the Harris-Walz campaign.

Also this hour, Donald Trump is on the trail in Midwestern battleground states and he just reacted to the Harris-Walz interview. We'll tell you what he's been saying about his opponent and how she faced this new test.

Welcome to our viewers in the United States and all around the world. Wolf Blitzer is off today. I'm Alex Marquardt and you are in The Situation Room.

We begin this hour with breaking news on the presidential race, Vice President Kamala Harris giving her first formal interview as the Democrats' presidential nominee, talking exclusively with CNN, along with her running mate, Governor Tim Walz.

CNN's Priscilla Alvarez joins us live from Savannah, Georgia, where Harris has been rallying voters shortly after sitting down for that highly anticipated interview. So, Priscilla, what did Harris tell CNN's Dana Bash?

PRISCILLA ALVAREZ, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Yes, that rally just ending here in Savannah, Alex. Now, the vice president offered her most expansive explanation to date about her shifting policy decisions, saying that her time as vice president has offered her new perspectives.

Now, some of those positions that have come under questioning as now the Democratic nominee is fracking. When she was running in 2019, she said she would ban fracking. Of course, that is a key issue in the crucial state of Pennsylvania. So, that is an issue where she said or talked about changing her perspectives there, but also noting that the investments of the administration has made have combated climate change, also border security. She was one of those candidates that raised her arm back in 2020 where she talked about decriminalizing border crossings. That's when they opposed that question, whether they would do that.

There, she talked about her days as California attorney general and how that has shaped how she thinks about border security, but take a listen to the exchange.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DANA BASH, CNN ANCHOR AND CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Generally speaking, how should voters Look at some of the changes that you've made that you've explained some of here in your policy? Is it because you have more experience now and you've learned more about the information? Is it because you were running for president in a Democratic primary? And should they feel comfortable and confident that what you're saying now is going to be your policy moving forward?

KAMALA HARRIS, U.S. VICE PRESIDENT, DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: Dana, I think the most important and most significant aspect of my policy perspective and decisions is my values have not changed. You mentioned the green new deal. I have always believed, and I have worked on it, that the climate crisis is real, that it is an urgent matter to which we should apply metrics that include holding ourselves to deadlines around time.

We did that with the Inflation Reduction Act. We have set goals for the United States of America, and by extension, the globe, around when we should meet certain standards for reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, as an example. That value has not changed. My value around what we need to do to secure our border, that value has not changed. I spent two terms as the attorney general of California prosecuting transnational criminal organizations, violations of American laws regarding the passage, illegal passage of guns, drugs, and human beings across our border. My values have not changed.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ALVAREZ: Now, the key phrase there, her saying that her values have not changed, the ideas might not have -- the ideas may have, I should say, but the values have not. That's something that we may hear more of on the campaign trail.

Now, here at the rally, she talked about her proposals, talking about the opportunity economy, expanding Medicaid in Georgia, taking on bad actors. We often talk about, or the campaign talks about, how she's going to prosecute the case against Donald Trump as a prosecutor. Well, today she was talking about how her time as a prosecutor is informing the policies that she would take if she were to be elected. But the key part of this, Alex, too, is that she told the crowd not to pay attention to the polls, that they are running as underdogs.

[18:05:00] And she noted that in 2020, Georgia delivered for Democrats. Remember, they did that for President Biden and she said they need to do it again, so clearly still trying to gin up that support in this crucial battleground state before continuing on the campaign trail.

MARQUARDT: And the polls indicate the candidate support is tightening in that critical state. Priscilla Alvarez in Savannah, Georgia, thank you very much.

Let's break all this down with our political experts. Jasmine Wright, I want to go to you first. You've been following Harris and now the Harris campaign closely for a long time. You've seen these shifts, these changes on policy positions. What do you make of this explanation to Dana Bash that her values have not changed?

JASMINE WRIGHT, REPORTER, NOTUS: Yes, Alex. Well, the vice president's words to Dana today were actually in line with what I've been hearing from her own allies as they've sought to really explain away some of these major shifts that we've seen her take over the last four years.

First, that being Biden's number two, being the vice president and learning from him, somebody who was known to be kind of a pragmatic politician in D.C. for so long, has had a huge impact on her and seeing the way that policy is made. Obviously, Biden is a president who says that he always tries to see a consensus, and so her studying under him. Her allies have told me time and time again it had a major impact. And ultimately, in 2019, she was really trying to find her lane in this really vast Democratic Party between Biden and Bernie Sanders. And so now she has seen the way that laws are built in this country. And so that has had an immense impact and how she views it today.

Ultimately, though, I think that idea of these values that we hear from her, right? They go into the larger point, which is that this campaign doesn't necessarily see the need to put percentage by percentage, point by point policy agendas that we saw candidates in the Democratic Party layout in 2019. Instead, they feel that the broad strokes that speaks to where her values are, speaks to where her experiences, both in D.C., also in California, fills in those type of policies, that is what they want to focus on. And so I think that when you're hearing the vice president say those words to Dana Bash, that is the really origin of that, Alex.

MARQUARDT: And, Ameshia Cross, in addition, on top of what Harris mentioned about the green new deal and the border, she's also come under some fire for changing course on fracking and Medicare for all. Do you think her answer was enough of an explanation?

AMESHIA CROSS, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: I think that she's going to continue to expand on an explanation. It is not unheard of in politics, especially when you move beyond the primary stage, in this case, she is the official nominee, to moderate your ideas. We've seen this across multiple sides of the aisle. I think that because she has been there, she has been under the tutelage of Joe Biden and has been a part of the environmental policy there. She has seen how these policies can work without eliminating things like fracking.

I also think that she recognizes that the expansion model that her campaign has created has a lot of legs. That means that she wants to create policies that are inclusive of multiple ideologies. And I think that that's the lane that she has decided to take. But also that when you're running in a primary, you run very differently than when you're running in a general.

She was in a primary that included some of the likes of the far left, as well as many moderates, as well as some people who may not even consider Democrats at this point, and I'm thinking of folks like Tulsi Gabbard. That was a very different race. Here, she is trying to do something that America has not ever seen, run an extremely truncated campaign, but also she is admitting that her ideas have changed to a certain extent, but her values have not. And she's not -- she's by far not the first political entity to ever make that decision.

I'm old enough to remember when Barack Obama was for civil unions, but then when he was in office, fought extremely hard to ensure that people had the right to gay marriage as well. That was something that he did not necessarily run on, but it was something that we saw happen when he was in that office. This is not something that is unheard of in American politics.

MARQUARDT: Yes, appealing to the middle, where this election's going to be decided.

We have now just heard reaction from Donald Trump to this CNN interview with Harris and Walz. He responded at his campaign rally in Michigan. I want to play a little bit of his response. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT, 2024 PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: She didn't want to go in alone. How do you think President Xi is going to do with this? Oh, he's just savoring it. So she went in with this vice president guy that nobody ever heard of. And she did an interview with a very friendly reporter. We'll see, maybe the friendly reporter, not friendly to a lot of other people, They were -- she was very fair to me, Dana Bash, very fair to me.

And the people just want to see if she can get through the interview. Nobody knows what's going on. I've done so many interviews in the last couple of months. Every time I go out, I have an interview. I have people, reporters, we talk to them and they ask me every question in the book and we answer them and you don't see any scandals brewing, nothing. We answer them properly.

[18:10:00]

As president, you have to be able to do it. You're dealing with the toughest, smartest, most ruthless people in the world. If you can't do an interview, we get the wrong person to get more relief to working class citizens and seniors on fixed incomes.

(END VIDEO CLIP) MARQUARDT: Alyssa Farah Griffin, we've heard Trump time and time again saying that Harris hasn't sat down for an interview, that she's not smart enough. Now she has done this and we know that Dana has pressed her on a bunch of different issues. What are your thoughts on what he just said?

ALYSSA FARAH GRIFFIN, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, first I'm dying to know how hot it is in Michigan today because he looks very warm.

Listen, there was an unforced error here by the Harris-Walz campaign to just wait so long to do an interview and to allow this attack line to build up from the Trump campaign and this narrative to kind of be set of can she get through it. Of course, she got through it. We're going to see some answers tonight. But I do think this, and I'm somebody who worked in political communications my entire career. Media engagement matters. It is fundamentally different than a stump speech, than an ad that you cut, because it's how voters seed and read authenticity.

And what she needed to set out to do tonight was to convince skeptical voters on the margins who haven't decided yet that her changes in positions, these evolutions, are, in fact, authentic that she's going to govern how she's saying she's running now, not revert when in office back to her 2019 positions. So, there'll be paying attention to kind of the authenticity that she speaks to.

I thought this answer around values was very good, but she's going to owe voters more than that. She's going to have to get into the specific policies, whether it's fracking, Medicare for all, she touched on the green new deal.

And for what it's worth, I actually think it's very powerful if someone says, I've been the vice president of the United States for four years now. I've been the number two. My positions simply have evolved. I have seen more things. I have experienced more things and it's moved me to the center. I think that would really resonate with voters.

MARQUARDT: And that's what everyone's waiting to see, is whether how much new ground she stakes out for herself and any daylight with the president.

Matt Mowers, now that argument that she hasn't done an interview is off the table in listening to Trump today. He didn't exactly go after her for changing those positions that we've discussed, but he did focus on the fact that this was a joint interview with her vice presidential nominee. And then he criticized her for not being tough enough in front of someone like President Xi Jinping of China. What did you make of that?

MATT MOWERS, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: Well, the Trump campaign also just put out a video and actually turned it around very quickly, given that the clip came out, what, maybe two hours ago or something like that, saying -- using exactly that phrase that Vice President Harris said, saying, I haven't changed my values and then just playing the litany of clips from 2020, when she's running for president, where she talked about stripping away quality private health insurance from middle class families or. banning fracking or saying it's not illegal to be in the country and that you would give them taxpayer funded health benefits.

And I think that's a really big strategic problem for the Harris campaign. You have now had almost a month of her campaign through anonymous campaign staffers saying, well, she's moderating, she's moving to the middle. She understands that when she's trying to outflank Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren four years ago, that was one race, but she understands it's different now and now just today on video.

And we'll see the whole interview. I mean, this is only one clip, but in that clip, she's saying, well, my values haven't changed. Well, those values said that building a wall was unAmerican. Most Americans say border security is one of the number one issues. A number of those hosted different lenient issues. I think it was a mistake that she made so far. And we'll see if the whole interview comes out.

MARQUARDT: And, Jasmine, what about that? How do you think that the Harris team is going to counter those attacks from the Trump side?

WRIGHT: Look, the Harris team is trying to be on the offensive. I think that you saw that from the vice president today in Savannah, really trying to put forth her own vision for the country, talk about Harris first, not Trump first, not be on the defensive to what they're trying to say and how they are framing their arguments.

I also think that you're seeing the Trump campaign kind of move the goalpost. First, it was doing an interview. Then it was why are you doing an interview with Governor Walz? So, I think that you're going to see them try to again, get on the offensive, put out policies, maybe not down to the percentage points, but put out policies that, again, go to what she says her values are, which are the care economy, Medicaid expansion, lowering prices on medicines and other issues like that, things that she can speak to those kitchen table issues that she's frankly been talking about for since 2019 in the national political space.

And so I think that that is what you're going to see, her try to put forward a really offensive future forward-looking platform.

MARQUARDT: And let's not forget there's still the debate over the debate, those debate rules that is still being fought over by those two sides. That's something we're going to discuss later on.

Everyone stand by. We will be coming back to you a little bit later in the show. And you can see all of Dana's exclusive interview with Kamala Harris and Tim Walz. The primetime special airs tonight at 9:00 P.M. Eastern Time, only here on CNN.

[18:15:00]

Just ahead, a top Harris campaign official will be joining us live with reaction to the vice president's CNN interview and how it may play with voters.

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MARQUARDT: We are getting new reaction to the breaking news on CNN's exclusive new interview with Kamala Harris and Tim Walz, the vice president attempting to explain her shifts on some key policy positions since her first run for president back in 2020.

Joining us now is the principal deputy campaign manager for Harris- Walz 2024, Quentin Fulks. Quentin, thank you so much for being with me after this wide ranging interview, again, airing tonight at 9:00 PM., but I want to focus on one of the clips that we've put out so far. What does it mean for the vice president to essentially be saying now overlook these various policy changes that that she's -- you know, that we've seen in the past, from one position to another, and essentially look at my values instead?

[18:20:03]

QUENTIN FULKS, PRINCIPAL DEPUTY CAMPAIGN MANAGER, HARRIS-WALZ 2024: Well, yes. Look, I think that the vice president generally starts by talking about the fact that she would go into the courtroom and raise her hand and say Kamala Harris for the people. And so she is still fighting for the people. This election to the vice president is about making sure that we are charting a new way forward for America, one that strengthens our democracy, protects reproductive freedom, and make sure that everybody has a chance not to just get by, but to get ahead. And that's in stark contrast to Donald Trump and J.D. Vance, who are focused on an extreme and unstable 2025 agenda that is going to continue to rip away rights and freedoms from people.

And so the vice president is extremely grounded in making sure that she is fighting for the middle class, making sure that they're not being ripped off by big businesses and corporations. And that's what she's going to continue to do and make sure that everybody has an opportunity in her administration.

MARQUARDT: One of the other notable things that she told Dana is that she would be willing to appoint a Republican to her cabinet. She said that she'll be a president for all Americans. There are obviously different types of Republicans. We saw a number of them at the Democratic National Convention, standing up and speaking in favor of her candidacy. Does this mean, in pledging that she would appoint a Republican, that she would consider a Trump supporter?

FULKS: Look, I think that, you know, the vice president isn't really focused on partisanship. Obviously, I think that there's a big fixation on that. But I think that former Lieutenant Governor of Georgia Geoff Duncan had a really powerful quote at the convention when he said that if you're Republican and you vote for Kamala Harris, it doesn't make you a Democrat. It makes you a patriot. And there are a number of Republicans supporting the vice president because they see how extreme Donald Trump is and the disaster that he has been for this country. And so I think that this is who the vice president is. She's not looking at partisanship or red and blue. She's focused on building consensus to make sure that she is delivering for the American people, and so that's what she's going to continue to do. And so when she says that she would appoint a Republican, that's what she means. But I think that the vice president routinely looks for people to who disagree with her because that's how you get to the best results. She's not a dictator like Donald Trump or looking to be a dictator like Donald Trump. She's looking to build consensus and deliver for the American people.

MARQUARDT: And she did highlight a diversity of opinions that she would look for in a future candidate.

When it comes to campaign strategy and this two-day bus tour in Georgia, you're a Georgia native, you're the architect behind Senator Raphael Warnock's 2022 win in Georgia, in part thanks to this strategy that we're now seeing Harris use as well, visiting deep red strongholds, rural areas, in essence, to lose by less there. Do you think that in such a compressed election timeline, less than 70 days before Election Day, is that the best use of resources rather than focusing on more competitive counties?

FULKS: Absolutely. You don't make counties competitive unless you go there. And so I am a really big supporter of Democrats doing this, not just the vice president. But you can't say you're building consensus in that you're going to be a president that represents all of America when you only go to places that you know you have 90 plus percent support.

And that's one thing that's very important to our campaign. It's a piece of the strategy. And I think even beyond that, we have policies, we have proposals, we have accomplishments that benefit people that live in these Republican strongholds. And we have to go there to talk about them. We're not always going to be loved and admired every time we go somewhere, but I do think it is very important that we are communicating with all Americans about an agenda and the opportunity economy that the vice president is bringing in.

That is her new way forward to make sure that they have an opportunity not just to get by but to get ahead. And she's going to continue to fight for all Americans, and we have to go there to communicate that.

MARQUARDT: And one of the next really high profile settings in which we will see the vice president is this debate with Donald Trump on September 10th, just under two weeks from now. On the question of the microphones and whether they will be muted or not, your campaign has said today that Trump's team wants to keep the mics muted or they'll back out of the debate and that your team is still discussing the final rules with ABC, which is moderating, of course.

So, is muting -- is this issue over muting the microphones and your desire to have them open, is that a deal breaker for your campaign?

FULKS: Look, what I will say is that the American people deserve to hear from both candidates. In such a compressed timeframe that you mentioned, I think every detail matters. I think what they're hearing from the candidates on stage, especially when they're face to face, is really important. And that's what this is about. But I think it's comical because we thought that this issue was closed, but, unfortunately, Donald Trump's handlers are telling him that his mic has to be muted.

So, we hope that he shows up. He said himself that he didn't care. He wanted the mics to be unmuted, and then his team backtracked that. So, we really don't know what the problem is. But I also find it very comical, too, that at the end of the day, they have been pushing the vice president won't do an interview, the vice president won't do an interview, but Donald Trump won't get on the stage without a mic unmuted. I think that that is very funny considering the lot of attack that they've had the last two weeks against the vice president.

[18:25:05]

And so we look forward to Donald Trump showing up and the vice president looks forward to having a substantive conversation with him about why he continues to rip away freedoms from people in this country and about the things most Americans care about.

MARQUARDT: All right. Well, we'll see if this issue does eventually get resolved. Quentin Fulks of the Harris-Walz campaign, thanks so much for joining us.

FULKS: Thank you for having me.

MARQUARDT: And coming up, new fallout in the controversy between Donald Trump's campaign and Arlington National Cemetery, with the U.S. Army going public today in really a rare and stunning statement.

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[18:30:00]

MARQUARDT: We have more breaking news this hour. Donald Trump is now defending his visit to Arlington National Cemetery after the U.S. Army rebuked his campaign over an altercation with a cemetery staffer. Here's what Trump said a short time ago.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: While we were there, they said, could you take pictures over the grave of my son, my sister, my brother? Would you take pictures with us, sir? I said, absolutely, I did.

I go there, they ask me to have a picture, and they say I was campaigning. I don't need -- the one thing I get is plenty of publicity. I don't need that.

MARQUARDT: Let's bring in CNN's Brian Todd. So, Brian, you've been taking a closer look at this altercation that is at the center of this controversy.

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Alex. We have new information tonight on this incident and on the fallout among military families whose loved ones are buried near where the confrontation took place. Despite the efforts of the Trump campaign to get ahead of all of this, they're getting some serious brush-back.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TODD (voice over): A very rare, stinging rebuke to the Trump campaign for the incident Monday at Arlington National Cemetery.

The U.S. Army, which always tries to steer away from politics, implicitly criticizes the former president and his team, who the Army says abruptly pushed aside a female cemetery employee who tried to stop them from filming the former president's appearance in Section 60, largely reserved for the graves of soldiers killed in Iraq and Afghanistan.

In a statement, the Army says Donald Trump's team was made aware of federal laws against political activities on cemetery grounds. An Army spokesperson saying, quote, this incident was unfortunate, and it is also unfortunate that the ANC employee and her professionalism has been unfairly attacked, a statement backed up by the Pentagon today.

SABRINA SINGH, DEPUTY PENTAGON PRESS SECRETARY: There are nearly, I think it's like 3,000 public ceremonies that are conducted at Arlington National Cemetery every single year without incident. The rules and regulations are very, very clear. What happened earlier this week is very unfortunate.

TODD: NPR, which first reported the story, says there was a physical and verbal altercation when the cemetery employee tried to prevent Trump's staffers from filming in Section 60, that Trump's people verbally abused her in addition to pushing her aside.

PATRICK MURPHY, FORMER ARMY UNDER SECRETARY: President Trump dishonors time and time again, my brother and sister veterans. He knows better, but he's so callous.

TODD: The Trump campaign disputes the account of a physical altercation. Trump was there to honor 13 U.S. military service members killed in the attack at the airport in Kabul, Afghanistan, three years ago. Trump shared a statement from relatives of those service members, saying they'd given permission for Trump's team to take photographs at the gravesites. But in one picture, next to one of those graves, is the grave of Army Master Sergeant Andrew Marckesano, who served multiple tours in Afghanistan, received silver and bronze stars, and died by suicide in 2020. Marckesano's family didn't give permission for Trump's team to photograph his grave.

In a statement to CNN, the Marckesano family said, quote, we hope that those visiting this sacred site understand that these were real people who sacrificed for our freedom, and that they are honored and respected accordingly.

Analysts say while Trump has tried to damage Vice President Harris politically for the chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan, the incident at Arlington could negate that.

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: It could hurt Donald Trump with those independent, disenchanted Republicans. There are a number of veterans voters that are undecided as well across swing states, and this could very well impact them.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

TODD: The Army spokesperson says the incident was reported to police at the military base adjacent to Arlington National Cemetery. But the spokesperson also said the cemetery employee in question has decided not to press charges, so the Army now considers this matter closed. Alex?

MARQUARDT: Brian, thanks very much, a very, very sensitive issue for good reason.

Our political experts are now back with us, and I want to change gears here. Just moments ago, Donald Trump made a remarkable policy announcement on in vitro fertilization or IVF. Take a listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: I'm announcing today in a major statement that under the Trump administration, your government will pay for or your insurance company will be mandated to pay for all costs IVF treatment, fertilization for women, IVF treatment, because we want more babies, to put it very nicely.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MARQUARDT: Alyssa, there has been a lot of debate within the Republican Party over IVF. What's your sense of why he's announcing this now?

GRIFFIN: Well, listen, Trump obviously realizes that the vast majority of Americans support IVF. Some of us are here because of IVF, but this is such an absurd policy proclamation. So, now Republicans are going to argue for government mandates on insurance companies or the federal government is going to pay for IVF, which the first round can cost between $10,000 and $20,000.

[18:35:04]

This goes back to this you know, this whole argument they've been attacking the Harris campaign about not being transparent, not answering enough questions. Donald Trump is going to have to explain how on earth he plans to pay for this.

It feels like as a lifelong conservative Republican, this is a Bernie Sanders-like policy, as though the money is going to fall out of the sky and we're going to be able to give everyone free things to get their votes. I don't know a traditional Republican that would think that this is sound conservative policy.

MARQUARDT: Matt, when it comes to mandating insurance companies, this is largely something that blue states do. What's your take?

MOWERS: Well, you know, look, anyone who understands the insurance industry right now knows there's a lot of mandates out there. I'll put the philosophy of it all aside and talk about the politics of it. The politics of it are smart. I mean, look, Donald Trump was taking some incoming when you had certain states that were trying to take action on IVF. He and his campaign made a smart decision to go out there very quickly. If you remember, it was probably either the same day or within a day, saying he supported IVF, and now this takes it a step further.

And I will say also this. Donald Trump is not one who often likes to play defense on any issue, and so clearly has seen that the Democratic Party and the Harris campaign has been trying to weaponize this issue across the board and wants to go back on offense. And that's probably among the reasons you see him talking about the way he is today. And I imagine it's actually going to be pretty smart politics at the end of the day as well.

MARQUARDT: And that he may be losing support over this issue.

Jasmine, do you think that this fits into a pattern of Trump changing his tune specifically on reproductive rights? Because it really is an issue, as Matt was just saying, that has been so central to this campaign, central to what Kamala Harris has been talking about on the trail.

WRIGHT: Yes, Alex. Well, first, I would like to say I would love to see the Trump campaign's internals before this new proclamation, particularly when it goes to women or suburban women.

But, yes, I mean, I think that the former president has really gone back and forth. First, before the primary, we saw him really try to position himself more to the center on abortion, understanding just the impact that it had in the 2022 midterms.

But then I think choosing J.D. Vance as his V.P. was a doubling down on the need to not necessarily have to expand the tent in the Republican Party when it came to abortion, really trying to double down on the Republican base that so far supports the former president.

And now you see, as the vice president is at the top of the ticket, as she's moving on abortion and really putting that on the offensive, he's now coming around on IVF and all these other issues. So, I think that there is a bit of back and forth that, again, as Alyssa said, that the former president is really going to have to answer for.

MARQUARDT: And we just heard the former president weighing in on the abortion amendment in Florida. We should note, that's a state where, of course he is a resident. He suggested that he wouldn't vote for it. Let's listen to what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: There has to be more time, and so that's -- and I've told them that I want more weeks. REPORTER: So you'll vote in favor of the amendment?

TRUMP: I'm voting that -- I am going to be voting that we need more than six weeks. Look, just so you understand, everybody wanted Roe v. Wade terminated for years, 52 years. I got it done. They wanted to go back to the states. Exceptions are very important for me, for Ronald Reagan, for others that have navigated this very, very interesting and difficult path.

MARQUARDT: So we should note that Trump has previously called the Florida six-week abortion ban a terrible mistake when he was running against Ron DeSantis, the Florida governor, in the GOP primary. And he's not stating clearly in that clip about how he would vote for the Florida ballot measure that is on the ballot this fall, which would make abortion legal in that state for up to 24 weeks.

Ameshia, what are your thoughts on what you just heard?

CROSS: That Donald Trump is trying to play very cautiously with words here. This is somebody who recognizes that the abortion debate is a lightning rod. It is one that has galvanized women, regardless of their partisan stripe. And with an abortion initiative on the ballot in November, all that is going to do in Florida and several other states where we've seen it happen, it's going to bring out a higher demographic of women who are going to also vote in the down ballot races as well.

I think that what he's trying to do is basically lie to women to try to gather support, because he recognizes that women roundly are not fans of anti-abortion policies. They don't want to see these limits. And I think that he recognizes that it brings out various demographics of women. It also has been something that has been a sticking point for the Republican Party.

What he also does in turn is turn off what I believe is a larger portion of those extreme conservatives who supported him initially because he did appoint Supreme Court justices who overturned Roe v. Wade. So he's trying to, you know, burn the candle at both ends here, so to speak, because he recognizes that it does not help Republicans to continue pressing the abortion rights issue because it is a losing one for them.

[18:40:01]

But on that same token, he knows that if people are dumb enough to believe him this time, he's going to get into office and do the exact same thing he did before.

MARQUARDT: He has some really remarkable comments on what has been and certainly will be a lightning rod issue in this election.

Thank you all for joining me and for your thoughts.

Just ahead, new CNN reporting on the special counsel's election interference case against Donald Trump.

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MARQUARDT: We are getting new insight into Special Counsel Jack Smith's election subversion case against Donald Trump.

CNN's Katelyn Polantz has been following all these developments. So, Katelyn, what are you learning?

KATELYN POLANTZ, CNN SENIOR CRIME AND JUSTICE REPORTER: Well, Alex, things are moving slowly because since that Supreme Court ruling, giving some immunity around the presidency in this case against Donald Trump, the special counsel's office has had methodical and very careful work to do. So, anyone expecting there to be witnesses taking the stand, major evidence being presented in court, or even meaty legal arguments that could take place before Election Day in this 2020 election case against Donald Trump, don't get your hopes up because it's not going to happen, very likely before election day.

[18:45:16]

Now, the judge could do a lot of different things but what Evan Perez here and I here at CNN have learned from sources is that over the last eight weeks, the special counsel's office has methodically been going line by line through their case, the allegations against Trump, to get to the point where they could file that superseding indictment against Donald Trump on Tuesday. They did have some sort of briefing or discussion with Attorney General Merrick Garland and other top Justice Department officials about it before filing that indictment against Trump. And now, there's another filing due tomorrow in court.

In that filing, they are very likely to not be asking the judge to put any major hearings on the calendar before Election Day because there's so much discussion that's going to need to take place first, briefing, filings, other planning regarding presidential immunity before it can be determined.

So, there is going to be a relative quiet period. Yet, Alex, there's going to be a hearing next Thursday so that Judge Tanya Chutkan in D.C. can talk it all out with parties and have a plan going forward.

ALEX MARQUARDT, CNN HOST: Yeah, there'd been so many twists and turns in this case. Katelyn Polantz, thanks very much.

Coming up, we take you inside the occupied West Bank where Israel soldiers and border police are conducting one of their largest operations since October 7th.

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[18:50:47]

MARQUARDT: The Israeli military is stepping up its operations inside the occupied West Bank tonight.

CNN's Jeremy Diamond has our report.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN JERUSALEM CORRESPONDENT: For the second day in a row, bursts of gunfire cut through the city of Jenin in the occupied West Bank. Israeli soldiers and border police are raiding the northern West Bank in one of the largest operations in years, triggering clashes with Palestinian militants who are deeply embedded here.

Israeli forces have killed at least 16 people in 48 hours, according to health officials. Israel says 16 were militants Palestinian militant group said just eight of their fighters had been killed.

In Jenin, Israeli forces have surrounded several hospitals, ambulances must stop and be inspected before taking patients in for treatment.

Markets and bustling downtown streets have been turned into a ghost town, one where streets, water and electrical lines will need to be repaired.

This is the aftermath of an Israeli military operation in the city of Jenin, streets torn up by those D9 bulldozers.

And we've seen scenes like this across this city. Those bulldozers as well as armored Israeli military vehicles came rolling down this street, clashes with gunmen we're told ensued.

Suzanne Jalad and her grandchildren were woken by the sound of bulldozers and gunfire at 7:00 in the morning.

It was loud, very loud. Everybody was terrified.

She says this Israeli operation is different from the regular raids this city has grown used to. They want to take revenge, she says. From who, I ask. From the resistance, we stand with the resistance, and hopefully, we will stay standing and steadfast.

Israel says, it is targeting militant groups who have mounted dozens of attacks against its soldiers and civilians.

In the Palestinian city of Tulkarem, Israel killed one man it says was behind some of those attacks, Muhammad Jabber, an Islamic Jihad commander.

But at Al-Razi Hospital in Jenin, the victims of Israel's raids are also children, like 15-year-old Ousama, who tried to leave his home to buy bread.

I took two steps and they started firing at me, Ousama says. Two rounds of gunfire, one bullet came here and one bullet came here.

And did you see any soldiers before you got shot?

No, he says.

He now faces a long recovery and the life trapped in this seemingly endless cycle of violence.

(END VIDEOTAPE) DIAMOND (on camera): And while there's currently no end in sight for those Israeli military operations in the West Bank, Gaza is expected to see some brief reprieve, at least in certain areas, there will be humanitarian pauses in order to try and allow for the distribution and administration of the vaccine for polio where we just learned that there has been a confirmed case in the strip for the first time in 25 years -- Alex.

MARQUARDT: All right. Jeremy Diamond, thanks.

We'll be right back.

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[18:58:13]

DIAMOND: By the end of President Biden's term, he may very well have appointed more judges to the federal bench than former President Trump.

And yet, Biden is not even close to matching the scale of Trump's overhaul of appeals courts.

CNN's Jessica Schneider is here.

So, Jessica, explain why this is significant.

JESSICA SCHNEIDER, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Well, you know, as we saw from President Trump's presidency, it really is the lasting consequence for a president to nominate these judges because, of course, these are the judges who determine whether these policies and laws can take effect. And to be sure, you know, Biden has really made a big push throughout his presidency to nominate judges. In fact, just yesterday, the White House announced three new nominations to the district court level. And at the end of Biden's term, it is quite likely that he will actually nominate more federal judges than President Trump.

But as you mentioned, Trump's picks are likely more consequential. And why is that? Well, it's because Donald Trump was able to nominate about ten or so more judges to the federal appellate court, the circuit court level. That is a very influential level of courts because they're the ones who determine laws and policies and often are the last stop before the Supreme Court if those cases even get to this Supreme Court.

So in many cases, they're the last word on any given case. In fact, Donald Trump was able to flip three of the federal circuit courts from Democratic leaning to Republican leaning when President Biden got an office, he flipped one back. But overall, Donald Trump was really able to make the appellate court level. And then, of course, he was does able to nominate three justices to the Supreme Court, whereas Joe Biden only nominated one.

What the White House, the current White House is pointing to though, is they have been very focused on their diversity of nominees. They're saying that they're looking to get more women onto benches, more women of color.

In fact, there's one interesting stat. President Biden been named more black women to circuit court judgeships than all other presidents combined. So they're pointing to quality over quantity. But in the end, when Biden leaves office, it may be President Trump who is the more influential when it came to -- came to judicial picks.

MARQUARDT: Really remarkable.

SCHNEIDER: Yeah.

MARQUARDT: Thanks so much for breaking that down.

Jessica Schneider, thanks very much.

I'm Alex Marquardt in "THE SITUATION ROOM". A reminder that CNN's exclusive interview with Kamala Harris and Tim Walz airs in full tonight at 9:00 p.m. Eastern Time right here on CNN.

"ERIN BURNETT OUTFRONT" starts right now.