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The Situation Room
President Biden Joining Vice President Harris Battleground State Pennsylvania; Israeli Protesters Wants Hostage Deal in Gaza; Netanyahu Apologized to Deceased Hostage's Family; Rep. Josh Gottheimer Weighs In on the Current Situation in Israel. Gaza Polio Vaccination Campaign Reaches 87k Children On First Day; More Than 10,000 U.S. Hotel Workers Strike During Holiday Weekend; Biden Campaign With Harris In Key Battleground Of Pennsylvania. Aired 5-6p ET
Aired September 02, 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]
UNKNOWN: -- in the 2022 midterms and being very unpopular with voters as Trump approaches 2024.
KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR, THE SOURCE WITH KAITLAN COLLINS: He doesn't know how to talk about it. Hello everybody. Does he tout it? Does he distance himself from it? He seems to choose a mixture of both.
(CROWD CHANTING)
PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN HOST AND CNN CHIEF DOMESTIC CORRESPONDENT: Those back-to-back episodes of "The Whole Story with Anderson Cooper" start tonight at 8:00 Eastern here on CNN. The news continues on CNN. Alex Marquardt in for Wolf Blitzer in "The Situation Room."
ALEX MARQUARDT, CNN HOST AND CHIEF NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Happening now, we are standing by for President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris to speak together at a Labor Day rally in the key battleground state of Pennsylvania. The president stepping up his new role as a top Harris campaign surrogate.
Also this hour, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowing Hamas will pay a heavy price after the bodies of six hostages were recovered in Gaza. And he's asking for quote, "forgiveness" amid huge protest over his failure to secure a hostage release deal. Welcome to our viewers here in the United States and all around the world. Wolf Blitzer is off today. I'm Alex Marquardt and you're in "The Situation Room."
We begin with the race for the White House as Labor Day marks the unofficial kickoff to the final sprint to Election Day. We're standing by for Kamala Harris to make her pitch to working class voters in Pittsburgh with a high profile assist from President Joe Biden. CNN's Kayla Tausche is on the ground for us and joins us now. Kayla, Pennsylvania is a must win for Kamala Harris.
KAYLA TAUSCHE, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Alex, it is a must-win state for either party in November, and Kamala Harris will have as her top surrogate the leader of the free world. Just a few moments ago, she and President Joe Biden were mingling with many union members here in Pittsburgh, a variety of unions, leaders from different unions, as well as state lawmakers, including Governor Josh Shapiro and Senator Bob Casey, as they tried to shore up support in this critical state where Joe Biden has seen his popularity remain strong among this critical constituency, even as his approval rating overall has remained fairly low throughout his presidency.
Since exiting the race in Pennsylvania and across those blue wall states, his approval rating has ticked up by a few points, but it's still hovering in the low 40s, which is one of the challenges for Vice President Harris as she tries to figure out how to leverage Biden. But because he is so popular with working class and older voters, that is the reason why this is the first time that you will see the two of them together and the first time that you will see President Biden officially campaigning in front of a Harris-Walz banner.
Now, for her part, Vice President Harris is also expected to leverage some of the Biden administration's legacy policy positions. One in particular is going to be relevant today and that is the position that she is expected to take on a takeover of U.S. Steel, a Pittsburgh based company that is currently the subject of a $15 billion takeover by a Japanese rival.
A campaign official says that she is expected to announce her opposition to the deal and support that company remaining under American ownership. The fate of that deal currently rests with the federal government. Now it's a singular issue, but it's emblematic of the overall feeling that American manufacturing should be immune from the control of other foreign countries, even allies and even deep- pocketed companies. And it's something that we expect Vice President Harris to embrace as she tries to shore up the rank and file support from these union members who are here today. Alex?
MARQUARDT: Yep, not just about soaring campaign rhetoric, but very important policy issues as well. Kayla Tausche in Pittsburgh for us. Thanks very much. Let's get more on this with our panel of political experts. Vivian Salama, I want to start with you. President Biden and Kamala Harris just about to take the stage any moment now there in Pittsburgh.
But I want to take a look at a recent, our CNN poll of polls when it comes to Joe Biden's popularity. A majority of Americans, 41 percent to 53 percent disapprove of Biden's performance as president. So, Vivian, do you think there's danger here for the Harris campaign to have the president out there on the campaign show with her?
VIVIAN SALAMA, NATIONAL POLITICS REPORTER, THE WALL STREET JOURNAL: Alex, they're very cognizant of the fact that President Biden was waning in the polls through the end of his campaign and even now as he has exited the race.
[17:04:50]
So what they've been trying to do is on the one hand demonstrate that this is a new future that Vice President Harris is essentially paving a path forward for a new era for the Democratic Party, while also toeing the line and trying to remain staunchly loyal to President Biden.
And right now she's in Pittsburgh, and this is one place where it actually may come to her advantage to be by President Biden's side. President Biden, according to many experts, is one of the most pro- union presidents ever, probably since FDR. And so, you know, he was notorious for going out with auto workers last year in Michigan on the picket line. He was the first president ever to do that.
And so they're really going to try to build on that and show that, you know, because of the fact that he was a friend to union workers, most union leaders tend to support Democrats. The rank and file, the support for Democrats has been waning in recent decades. And so they're really trying to build Joe Biden's popularity with this particular group having Vice President Harris stand by his side and say, I stand for you, I stand for jobs, and for union workers in general.
MARQUARDT: And Charlie Dent, former congressman from Pennsylvania, you know Pennsylvania politics as well as anyone here. President Biden, of course, he likes to tout his Scranton roots, he's often called Scranton Joe. How helpful do you think he is to Harris on the campaign trail in Pennsylvania?
CHARLIE DENT, FORMER U.S. REPRESENTATIVE: Well, I think he could provide some limited benefit, but you know I I've heard people say that Joe Biden was Pennsylvania's third senator. The only person I ever heard say that was Joe Biden to be honest with you and I'd served 28 years of elected office in Pennsylvania. Hey, but if you're out in Pittsburgh and you want to talk about helping American manufacturing and American workers you really shouldn't oppose this deal between Nippon Steel and U.S. Steel.
The Japanese are going to invest huge amounts of money in technology to make steel better in America, and what we're witnessing is just people talking nostalgically about steel. I'm from a steel family, 30 years, Bethlehem Steel, my dad. And I got to tell you, you want to do harm to America steel, kill this deal. And I really would discourage Vice President Harris and other elected officials from, you know, trying to undermine this thing at a time when we need to make steel better in America, so.
You're really not helping your message too much as far as I'm concerned. I get it. They're playing to the USW. They're reflexively against deals like this. But Pennsylvania has been the beneficiary of direct foreign investment for years in basic industry manufacturing, biotech, and it's provided a lot of work for American workers in very good settings. So, I think they're really stomping on their own message today.
MARQUARDT: And Maria Cardona, Western Pennsylvania, very different from Eastern Pennsylvania. So they're out West today. Pittsburgh is where Biden launched his 2020 campaign where he held his final rally in 2020 as well. What do you think the Harris campaign is hoping that Biden will help them with there?
MARIA CARDONA, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: I think it's actually very strategic Alex because, you know, we've heard it from the panel and the report that we heard earlier just now which is that Joe -- Scranton Joe as you mentioned, is still very popular in these pockets of union worker cities and towns. And he is somebody that can absolutely speak to the struggles, speak to the worries, speak to the anxieties that workers have across the board.
He can also speak to not just what he has done in the Biden administration to help all of these workers, but what the Kamala Harris and Tim Walz administration would continue to do for them. And I think he speaks from a place of credibility that Donald Trump or J.D. Vance would never have.
And I think he can be somebody who will compare and contrast what they have done for workers versus what Donald Trump and his administration both has done when he was in the White House for four years and what he will continue to do if he gets another four years in office, which is he was the most anti-worker president that we've ever had.
He sides with the billionaire CEOs and corporations, talked lovingly to Elon Musk about how great it was that he could fire workers on a whim. Talk to his billionaire CEOs about how if they give him money, if he gives them millions of dollars, he gives them millions of dollars that he will take away all those pesky regulations so that they can do whatever they want.
And so I think that is something that not just Joe Biden can underscore, but with Kamala Harris at his side, they can make a real point in how union-friendly, worker-friendly authentically a Harris- Walz administration will be compared to the horrific worker record that Donald Trump has.
MARQUARDT: Erin Perrine, on the Trump side of things, the former president has struggled to refocus his campaign against Kamala Harris after Biden dropped out of the race. He's even publicly complained on the campaign trail, on his Truth Social posts about Biden leaving the race.
[17:10:04]
Do you think Biden's re-emergence now on the campaign trail next to Harris will make it easier for the Trump campaign to tie Harris to Biden?
ERIN PERRINE, AMERICAN STRATEGIST, AXIOM STRATEGIES: Absolutely. This is actually a pretty perilous strategy by the Harris- Walz campaign to bring in President Biden. The more that there are visuals and the imagery and the audio of the two of them standing together talking about how Kamala is with Joe Biden, it shows more of the continuity. Everything that the Trump team has been arguing, which is that Kamala Harris is more of the same.
A reason why you're seeing a surge in polling right now for Kamala, she is picking up steam certainly over where Joe Biden's numbers were, was because people right now in polling are believing she is a change candidate. That's an emotional vote. Politics is so fiercely based in emotion. It's how you can drive a voter. When you look at her as a change candidate, the more events they do with Joe Biden, the harder it is for the American people to believe that she is an actual change.
And this is actually also perilous for her, especially with that hardcore pro-Palestinian group that sits within the Democratic voting base that we saw Joe Biden have issues with in the primary. If they start to believe that Kamala Harris is in fact the same foreign policy person that Joe Biden is, that can depress Democrat-based turnout.
And so while she might be picking up in other pockets, this strategy of campaigning with Biden really could put her at a larger deficit than it could to be helpful in the long run, even if there are small pockets because right now it's September, there's still plenty of road ahead. I would have picked this strategy for more of a get out the vote game and not right now.
MARQUARDT: Interesting. When it comes to their stances on their union records, the Harris campaign on this Labor Day touting her pro-union record, but the Teamsters president, Sean O'Brien, he spoke at the RNC convention back in July. He says that he is not ready to endorse any candidate just yet. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEAN O'BRIEN, TEAMSTERS PRESIDENT: We want the opportunity to sit down with Vice President Harris. I mean, I said to someone the other day, you don't hire someone unless you give them an interview. And this is our opportunity to ask her about teamster-specific issues and also labor issues. So until we have that meeting, you know, obviously we will wait to make that determination.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MARQUARDT: Vivian, how critical do you think it is for Kamala Harris to maintain the level of union support that President Joe Biden has enjoyed?
SALAMA: Oh, Alex, it's extremely critical. Union support in three key states mainly Pennsylvania, Michigan and Nevada, all swing states could really determine the election and the Democrats know that, Vice President Harris knows that. And so they have been courting, trying to court union workers and union leadership to the best of their ability. They did get the support from United Auto Worker president Shawn Fain, but Sean O'Brien, the Teamsters president has been flirting with a GOP endorsement, though he hasn't gone ahead and done that yet.
He has met with President Trump and as you said, he spoke at the RNC. So we are already seeing cracks in the sort of once impenetrable support for Democrats from union leadership. And that is making a lot of Democrats very worried because, you know, the rank and file has already -- we've already seen those cracks.
You know, just to give you a quick example, in 2016, Hillary Clinton won union support in the exit polls by about 8 percent over Donald Trump. That was an 18-point drop in the margin from the 2012 election to show you that Democrats have been losing labor union workers over the recent years and so they're going into this election very worried.
Inflation has been high in recent years, and that has been being felt by the average household, but especially these union workers who are making, you know, union salaries. And that's been a major source of frustration. And so it'll be interesting to see whether Vice President Harris and President Biden addresses that issue tonight.
MARQUARDT: Maria Cardona, how much of President Joe Biden's appearance with Harris is about trying to shore up that union support that Vivian was talking about in the Blue Wall states, Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylvania, where a significant percentage of the voters are indeed union members?
CARDONA: I think a lot of it is about exactly that, Alex. And, you know, let's be real here. Joe Biden was also very good at getting support among older white voters, which is something that Democrats writ-large have had challenges with. He was very good at that. He was winning the older white vote. And so I think that that's another place where Joe Biden can be strategic and can help the Kamala Harris-Tim Walz ticket.
[17:14:59]
But I also think at the end of the day, Alex, you know, it's fine for union leaders to sit down with Kamala Harris. I think they should to talk about what she's going to do. I think that's smart. I think at the end of the day, however, when they compare and contrast the records of the Donald Trump past administration, what he's already said he would do and what the Biden administration with Kamala Harris at his side and what Kamala Harris has said she will continue to do, there's going to be no comparison.
Donald Trump wants to repeal the Affordable Care Act. Millions of workers depend on the Affordable Care Act, Alex. Donald Trump has talked about how he wants to mess with Social Security, increase the retirement age, mess with Medicare. How many workers in this country, millions of them, working families depend on Social Security and Medicare? And Donald Trump in his past life has not just denied the workers who even worked for him, he's been paying them, but he has busted unions.
And so this is a contrast I think that over and over again Kamala Harris will win and I think going into November it's going to be a point of underscoring that strategy with workers in this country.
MARQUARDT: A lot of dynamics at play here as the president joins Vice President Kamala Harris on the campaign trail in Pittsburgh. We are waiting for them to take the stage. Everyone, stand by. Coming up, we are waiting for Biden and Vice President Harris to get on that stage in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. You can see Pennsylvania Senator Bob Casey right there.
But first we're gonna be going live to Israel where hundreds of thousands of protesters have flooded into the streets demanding that the Israeli government make a deal to save the remaining hostages after six were killed in captivity. Stay with us. You're in "The Situation Room."
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[17:20:00]
MARQUARDT: In Israel, hundreds of thousands of protesters have been taking to the streets pleading with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to make a deal to save the remaining Gaza hostages after six were killed by their Hamas captors. Let's bring in CNN's Nic Robertson live in Tel Aviv for us. Nic, you have been in the middle of these protests since they erupted. Tell us what these demonstrators are telling you and what they're demanding.
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Yeah. They're energized, they're angry, there's still a lot of anguish out there, and I think today, the second day of the really big protests, there were fewer people on the streets, and I think in part they had a chance to reflect, and today was the day of funerals as well.
They had a chance to reflect about the impact of what actually the killing of these six hostages means. The Prime Minister today spoke for the first time essentially rejecting their calls, all these protesters' calls, to cut a deal with Hamas. He rejected it.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ROBERTSON (voice-over): In the face of growing demands to get all the hostages home, Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu doubling down on his defiance.
BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, PRIME MINISTER OF ISRAEL: We're asked to make concessions? What message does this send Hamas? It says kill more hostages, murder more hostages, you'll get more concessions.
ROBERTSON (voice-over): Explaining he won't remove Israeli troops from the Gaza-Egypt border, a compromise Hamas demands. His only concession, rare contrition for the six hostage families.
NETANYAHU (through translation): I told the families and I repeat and say this evening, I'm asking for your forgiveness, that we didn't manage to bring them back alive.
ROBERTSON (voice-over): Pressure for him to back down rocketed Sunday. Hundreds of thousands of Israelis took to the streets, demanding he make the deal, save the other hostages. That energy and anger still alive on Monday. Although the tempo and numbers down, their demands not changing.
UNKNOWN: I'm here because I feel the government has neglected the hostages. They don't care about the hostages.
MICHAEL HADAS NAOR, PROTESTER: We want this government to cease to exist. We want elections. And first and foremost, we want them to sign an agreement to release the hostages. ROBERTSON (voice-over): The whole nation watching what's at stake.
Hersh Goldberg-Polin's poignant funeral, testament to that.
RACHEL GOLDBERG-POLIN, HERSH GOLDBERG-POLIN'S MOTHER: And I beg your forgiveness. We tried so very hard so deeply and desperately. I'm sorry.
ROBERTSON (voice-over): Not the cathartic homecoming his family believe to be in reach.
GOLDBERG-POLIN: We became absolutely certain that you were coming home to us alive, but it was not to be.
ROBERTSON (voice-over): An American, but a son of Israel. His family's pain, the nation's too. Goodbyes, the country craves end here.
GOLDBERG-POLIN: Okay, sweet boy, go now on your journey. I hope it's as good as the trips you dreamed about because finally my sweet boy, finally, finally, finally, finally is free! I will love you and I will miss you every single day for the rest of my life.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ROBERTSON (on camera): And this evening we're learning from Hamas. They plan more of the same. They threaten more of the same. They said if the IDF appear in any tunnels on a rescue mission to try to rescue hostages, their guards will shoot those hostages first. Alex?
MARQUARDT: Just heartbreaking to hear from the mother of Hersh Goldberg-Polin. Nic Robertson in Tel Aviv, thank you very much. I want to bring in now Congressman Josh Gottheimer of New Jersey. Congressman, thank you very much for joining us. Your constituent, Edan Alexander, is also --
REP. JOSH GOTTHEIMER (D-NJ): Thanks for having me.
MARQUARDT: -- is also one of the hostages who is being held in Gaza right now.
[17:24:58]
His parents have written in "The New York Times." In an op-ed, they wrote, quote, "our window to rescue the hostages is closing and the prime minister is fastening the latch." Do you agree, Congressman, that Netanyahu is obstructing a deal?
GOTTHEIMER: I agree that -- and I've spoken to Alexander, you know, multiple times a week and just yesterday again and I just can't imagine the pain they're in right now. And in talking to them, they have a right to be very angry because Edan Alexander who is my constituent, they haven't heard from him and he's not home.
And I think, you know, everyone we must do over -- double down all efforts to make sure we do everything we can to get the hostages home to their -- I know the parties are back at the negotiating table on Doha. They have to stay at that table, work 24/7. I know it's what we are doing as Americans, we're at the table.
Everyone's got to be there. We've got to get this done. We've got to (inaudible) home. We got to get a pause. And of course we've got to make sure that Hamas is no longer able to do what they did in the last days, the unspeakable -- what they did in brutally murdering six hostages after what they did October 7th including, obviously, Hersh and whose funeral we just saw images of. And I just can't imagine the pain that all these families go through every single day.
MARQUARDT: But Congressman, you're seeing this anger, frustration, sadness boiling over, hundreds of thousands of Israelis in the streets. We all know that Hamas is ultimately responsible for the deaths of these six hostages and so many others. But to what extent do you think Netanyahu bears responsibility here for not agreeing to a deal?
GOTTHEIMER: Well, I think until the deal is done, that the hostage families and frankly the citizens of Israel and I think everyone has a right to be angry until the deal is done. However, let's not lose sight of one reality and I just don't think we should brush this aside. Hamas is to blame. Iran and their proxies are to blame for what happened on October 7th.
And listen, today they could lay down their weapons and the free the hostages and this would be over. They've chosen not to. The Israelis as you know time and again have agreed to the American position here and the framework and Hamas continues to do what they're doing including saying today that they'll do what they just did over the last days, shooting hostages by killing them in cold blood as they did in October 7, they're doing it again.
So I think our anger, my deep-seated anger is that the hostages who continue to attack Israel, continue -- that the other proxies, the Houthis, (inaudible) the Jihad. Hezbollah continue to fire rockets in Israel. You see the Houthi continue to attack United States of America, and I know our position, so we shouldn't ever lose sight of that. But I think everybody has a right to be really frustrated because the deal has not gotten done and everyone's got to stay at the table until this deal gets done and I understand the anger.
MARQUARDT: The Biden administration, U.S. officials involved in these talks, they have been reluctant to criticize Prime Minister Netanyahu during the course of the negotiations, but President Biden making it clear today that he does not think that the Israeli Prime Minister is doing enough to get to a ceasefire. If the U.S. wants a different outcome, to get to a pause in the fighting that will eventually become a permanent ceasefire, what pressure would you like to see from the Biden administration?
GOTTHEIMER: Well, I think the fact that they're speaking out is a lot of pressure. I also think the president also said that Hamas needs to be held accountable. Right? I mean, I think let's not -- I think there has to be pressure on all parties to get a deal done, right, to get this paused, to make sure that Hamas stops using innocent Palestinians in Gaza as human shields, to make sure that Egypt seals the border so that there aren't more tunnels so that more reinforcements don't go to Hamas to kill more, right?
And I think we've got to make sure we do everything we can to keep the pressure up and not lose sight of actually who led to this, right, and never lose sight of the fact that terrorists here are Hamas, Hezbollah, Palestinians on a Jihad, the Houthis, all Iranian-backed proxies. Iran is our number one enemy working closely with China, Russia, North Korea by continuing to attack the United States of America, our democracy. And so let's not lose sight of that fact that we ought to know who actually the -- who's committing evil here and what -- and don't forget the fact that they --
MARQUARDT: Right.
GOTTHEIMER: -- literally brutally murdered six this week including an American, right? They've killed 46 Americans on October 7th and since then. Seven Americans remain hostage. We've not, you know -- and they need to come home.
MARQUARDT: Right. Well, I think --
GOTTHEIMER: And we should not -- and I guess I don't ever lose sight of that fact. We got to keep pressure on all sides all the time.
[17:29:58]
We as Americans as we've been doing it, to work 24/7 --
MARQUARDT: Right.
GOTTHEIMER: -- the administration needs to work 24/7. And I think that's the key here.
MARQUARDT: Congressman, before I let you go back here at home, of course, we are now in this final sprint towards Election Day. Today, we're seeing the President joining Vice President Kamala Harris at this event in Pittsburgh. How much do you think that the President will help her candidacy in Pennsylvania, and -- and then, more generally, on the campaign trails, as a prominent surrogate?
GOTTHEIMER: I mean, listen, he's incredibly popular in a lot of places, and -- and brings a lot of great good -- a lot of goodwill and great right, and -- and great accomplishments. And like, let's not forget, if you look at this administration, how much has gotten done, whether you're talking about infrastructure, supporting the hard marking men and women of labor, which obviously is what we're celebrating and recognizing today, right, supporting the building and the CHIPS Act, and making sure we build semiconductors here, common sense gun legislation.
You know, there's been one accomplishment after supporting veterans, one accomplishment after another under this administration. And I think reminding people of what's gotten done is a coming attraction to how much more will get done, of course, under the Vice President's administration. So I think it's -- it's great, and I like to see it, and now we've got to bring it home in November.
MARQUARDT: All right, Congressman Josh Gottheimer of New Jersey, thank you very much for joining us today.
GOTTHEIMER: Thanks for having me.
MARQUARDT: And just ahead, the latest in one of the most urgent and dangerous vaccination campaigns in modern history as the race to immunize hundreds of thousands of children in Gaza now enters its second day. And we're standing by for President Biden and Vice President Harris to campaign together in Pittsburgh. We'll be right back.
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[17:36:01]
MARQUARDT: The United Nations says its unprecedented, extremely ambitious polio vaccination campaign has reached 87,000 children in Gaza on just day one. It is a good start, but still just a fraction of the population which needs the vaccine. Joining me now is Arwa Damon. She's the president and cofounder of INARA, the International Network for Aid, Relief and Assistance. And she just returned from her third trip to Gaza since the war began. Arwa, thanks so much for being with us.
In terms of this vaccination campaign, the goal is to vaccinate 640 -- 640,000 Palestinian children in Gaza. From what you saw on the ground on this most recent trip, tell us what these aid workers are up against?
ARWA DAMON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: They're up against a plethora of challenge, the vast majority of us can't even begin to imagine, from getting the vaccines into Gaza itself, to ensuring cold chain to then all of the trainings that had to happen for all of those people that are actually administering the vaccine and then trying to get the population to these vaccination points.
You have to remember it's not like you can hail a bus in Gaza or even drive your car to get to where you're going. The main mode of transportation right now is either your own two feet or a donkey cart, not to mention the sheer congestion that exists in some of these places, it means that a road that would normally take you 15 minutes takes you around three hours.
But there's also the point to be made, Alex, and that is why and how did polio reemerge in Gaza, and that is quite simply, because the Israeli bombardment campaign utterly decimated all of Gaza's infrastructure. You have sewage running in the streets, you have piles of garbage, and you have a severe lack of hygiene because we aid organizations, due to Israel's restrictions, have not been able to get in sufficient levels of hygiene kits to distribute to the population. In fact, we're at a stage where we're barely even able to get in a bar of soap.
MARQUARDT: And polio, Arwa, as you know, is just one of the many, many health risks that children are facing in Gaza. We have some of your video of children suffering from impetigo. How dire are the conditions? DAMON: It's absolutely horrific. Look, you talk to people, and you ask them how they're trying to keep themselves and their children clean, and a lot of them are having to mix sand with salt and lemon because there's no soap. It's one of the first things people ask you as an aid worker, do you have a hygiene kit? Do you have soap? And it's -- it's gutting, because it's so ridiculous to say, you know, no, I'm sorry, I -- I don't.
And what this has done is not just resulted in this huge spread of cases of that skin disease impetigo you were talking about, which actually, Alex, has the potential to be deadly, because in the most severe instances, children need to be hospitalized, and if they're not, they can risk kidney failure, which means they can risk death. You also have the spreading of illnesses like meningitis, which can also prove to be fatal, and then hepatitis A.
And just in Nasser hospital alone, the head of the pediatrics department, was telling me that two children per week are dying because of hepatitis A. And you really get the sense being there that even if the bombs were to stop dropping tomorrow, if Israel does not allow more aid into Gaza, and if Israel does not facilitate and secure the roots that it designates that aid organizations must use to pick up the aid, Gazans are going to continue to die at a horrific rate because of the widespread illnesses that we're seeing, because of these types of diseases that we're seeing.
MARQUARDT: There's going to be so much aid agencies say disease beyond this war when -- whenever it ends. Arwa more broadly, in terms of the impact on the youth of that population, we've just gotten video in of a young girl saying goodbye to her father, who was killed in an air strike. I want to warn our viewers that they may find this disturbing. And I should note that this is in the Deir al-Balah area where the same area where the vaccination efforts are currently underway. What does that tell you? And what kind of psychological toll is this taking on the people of Gaza, particularly the youngest among them?
[17:40:18]
DAMON: And they're crushed, Alex. They are completely and totally psychologically crushed and obliterated. This isn't life. It's pure survival under inhumane conditions, and you see trauma manifesting itself in many different ways, whether it's in the adults. So there's one father his wife was killed as she was cradling her daughter, the daughter and son survived, but the father was so traumatized by everything that he has forgotten his name, and he has forgotten that he has children.
I have met numerous children who have simply lost the ability to speak. I have met children who have lost certain levels of motor functionality, and doctors can't find anything physically wrong with them, and so they say it's the psychological impact of all of this. You see, you know, signs of aggression in children. You see bedwetting. You see all the different ways that trauma can manifest itself. And the reality is that while the triggers are ongoing, while the trauma is ongoing, the kind of work that needs to be done to help these children begin to process everything that they have been through, quite simply, cannot materialize because there's too much instability that is just continuously happening all around them.
But that's the next big fear that people will tell you about, Alex, it's when these bombs drops off and they have to face the psychological devastation that has been wrecked upon them as well.
MARQUARDT: Arwa Damon, founder of INARA, thanks so much for joining us and sharing your experiences. And we'll be right back.
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[17:46:02]
MARQUARDT: New tonight, more than 10,000 U.S. hotel union workers are on strike across 25 cities during one of the biggest travel holidays of the year. Several hotel chains are facing striking workers, including Hilton Hyatt and Marriott. CNN's Gloria Pazmino has the latest. So Gloria, why are these workers striking.
GLORIA PAZMINO, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Alex, it's Labor Day, and the union, Unite Here, which represents these hotel workers, thinks that this is the perfect day to send a message. And the message is they want better wages, better working conditions, and specifically, a restoration of many of the cuts that were made during the pandemic. They say that travel has bounced back, tourism has bounced back, but their wages are not reflecting those earnings.
Many of the workers that are on the strike today and yesterday have told us that they can't make ends meet, that they're working more than one job in order to pay their bills, and that they want to send a message, especially on -- on a holiday like today, a day where hotels are expecting to make more money because people are traveling, and a day where a lot of people are either checking in or checking out of a hotel due to the holiday. Take a listen to a -- a worker who was walking the picket line today.
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JEFFREY BARNER, UNION STEWARD, HOTEL EMPLOYEE: And you know, I've had a lot of people with tears in their eyes who don't have enough money to even go back and forth to work, to pay for Uber, to even pay for a bus. And it's really hard to be in this business and smile and greet the guests when in the back of your mind you're trying to figure out where your next meal is going to come from, or whether you're able to keep your lights on.
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PAZMINO: Alex, the strike is authorized through tomorrow, but the contracts remain unsettled, and it's not clear if they will have more labor action in the coming days. Alex?
MARQUARDT: Gloria Pazmino, thank you so much.
And President Joe Biden has just taken the stage in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania at a joint rally with Kamala Harris, let's take a listen.
CROWD: Thank you Joe. Thank you Joe. Thank you Joe.
JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Thank you.
CROWD: Thank you Joe. Thank you Joe. Thank you Joe.
BIDEN: Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
CROWD: Thank you Joe. Thank you Joe. Thank you Joe.
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BIDEN: Folk, I've celebrated many Labor Days in Pittsburgh.
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BIDEN: And it's always good to be back for so many great friends.
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BIDEN: Many who flew with me on Air Force One today represents the units been with me since the beginning of my career. They not that old, but they just --
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BIDEN: -- since I was a 29 year old kid. I want to thank Liz Shuler, the AFL-CIO.
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BIDEN: And Kenny, the IBEW --
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BIDEN: -- for that strong endorsement. By the way, we have an expression in Delaware, IBEW, when I ran for President, they're the ones that bring me to the dance starting off, not a joke.
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BIDEN: And Dave McCall, Steelworkers.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.
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BIDEN: David in 1972, Steelworkers, are the first union endorsed a 29- year-old kid named, Joe Biden, what no want to be Senator when he got elected, it mattered.
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BIDEN: Guy named Yui Scarcella (ph) was a district president because we step one of the largest labor forces in claim on Delaware North, over 4,000 workers, and -- and it was anyway all went law, it went south. But Yui -- Yui (ph) went to the national president I -- I. W. Abel, and he said he wanted me -- he wanted me to just -- get endorsed. Everybody thought he was crazy. I literally wasn't old enough to be sworn in the day got elected. But guess what? President Abel stuck with me.
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[17:50:07]
BIDEN: And they got stuck with me for the rest of their -- my career.
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BIDEN: Eric Dean of the iron workers, Tim Driscoll, a big player.
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BIDEN: -- the SEIU.
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BIDEN: Lee Saunders, Rashman (ph) and a great friend. Where are you Lee (ph)?
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BIDEN: And Jimmy Williams, the Painters and Allied Trades and his dad. His dad is a really good man. Mike Coleman, a sheet metal worker.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.
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BIDEN: We also got some of the best elected officials in America, Governor Josh Shapiro is doing an incredible job.
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BIDEN: The great Lieutenant Governor Austin Davis.
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BIDEN: And one of America's best words, Ed Gainey. Ed, you're doing a hell of a job.
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BIDEN: He's serving a motto, county executive, I think, is the hardest job in American politics. Everybody knows we live and I think you can solve all the problems you don't have enough money. But I tell you one thing, I'm the first President ever. I used to be a county official when I was 26 years old, and always bothered me to count the state -- the federal government would send money to the state to be distributed to the county. What the hell the state going to send to the county for? All state reps need the money.
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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Right.
BIDEN: But guess what? Under my administration it go straight to this county.
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BIDEN: And one of my best friends. My name is Joe Biden from Scranton, Pennsylvania.
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BIDEN: Bobby Cage (ph) has been a great friend. His dad was a great friend as well. And by the way, we grew up three blocks from one another, three blocks. And they still worry about us by showing up.
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BIDEN: And guess what? I was on North Washington Avenue. He was in Adams. Guess what? They've renamed North Washington Avenue down where I live, Biden Way.
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BIDEN: For the record.
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BIDEN: Bobby -- Bob, will make sure we get -- you get reelected again. And while we couldn't be here, I want to thank his partner in the Senate, John Fetterman. But --
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BIDEN: -- if you're in a foxhole, you want Fetterman in there with you.
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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That's right.
BIDEN: He couldn't be here today, but guess what? He sent the best part of the family, Gisele, she's here.
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BIDEN: Let me just say, it mean so much to be with a true friend, a true friend, the Vice President and the next great president of the United States of America, Kamala Harris.
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BIDEN: Look, folks, I come from two neighborhoods where it's not hard to say the word Union. But you know what? Fact of the matter is, an awful lot of politicians have a trouble saying union. I got working people. Guess what? I'm not one of the Nina's (ph) Kamala. We know the simple truth. Wall Street did not build America. The middle class built America, and unions built the middle class. That's a fact.
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BIDEN: By the way, that is not a slogan. That's a fact. I asked the Treasury Department to do a study, and it shows that when unions do well, all workers in America do better.
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BIDEN: That's a fact. That's a fact.
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BIDEN: It's the biggest reason why our economy is the strongest economy in the world today, without question, because of unions. You know --
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BIDEN: -- my dad, like many of his generation going into World War II, wasn't able to go to college or college. My dad was a really well read guy, and he was always engaged, and he'd come home from work before he'd go back close up the shop and for dinner. And a dinner is a place where we had discussions, and, incidentally, ate, you know. My dad taught me because my dad would say this all the time, remember Joey a job, and I give you my word to this, a jobs is about lot more than a paycheck. It's about your dignity. It's about the community. It's about your place in the community. And it's about being able to look your kid in the eye and say, honey, it's going to be OK, I mean it. Well, that's why --
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[17:55:12]
BIDEN: -- that's why Kamala are so proud, so proud of the greatest job creation record of any president in a single term in American history.
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BIDEN: Sixteen million new jobs so far.
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BIDEN: Eight hundred thousand manufacturing jobs.
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BIDEN: Eight years ago, how many times you hear about we can no longer be the manufacturing capital, where -- where the hell is that written?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Right.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes. BIDEN: We are the greatest manufacturing city or county in the world, state in the world -- state in the world.
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BIDEN: And it remained that way. And I'll tell you something, Kamala, are damn proud that we protected the pensions of over 1 million workers and retirees.
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BIDEN: Remember all those years of promise, we're going to do something about it, well, damn what we finally did he do with the Butch Lewis Act.
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BIDEN: Over 52,000 workers and retirees across Pennsylvania loan or benefit of that, not only to restore the full amount, we got them their back pay as well.
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BIDEN: We made them whole again. As I once said to Barack, that's a big deal.
(LAUGH)
BIDEN: That long story.
(LAUGH)
BIDEN: Yes sir, and Liz and Kenny describe another big deal. Union workers rebuilding American infrastructure and building new factories here in America, they told me we couldn't get anything done in infrastructure, $1.2 trillion we got done.
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BIDEN: Remember Trump for four years, promised every month infrastructure week, for four years he promised that. He didn't build a damn thing, nothing.
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(APPLAUSE) BIDEN: I mean it. Not nothing.
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BIDEN: Well, thanks to our infrastructure law, Pennsylvania so far, has received $17 billion, $17 billion.
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BIDEN: Over 2,000 projects from clean water to affordable high speed internet for every Pennsylvanian, the projects that include $858 million to expand the Montgomery lock better accommodate bigger barges to get millions of tons of goods and sell shelves faster, more reliable, and create 1,000 union jobs.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Thank you. Yes.
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BIDEN: I was working on the Great Lakes, and I got a call from Bob and from Senator Casey. He's been no bigger champion than Casey for this. You know what I call him? I call him the Casey locks, not Goldilocks, the Casey locks.
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BIDEN: Bobby's also a champion of Pennsylvania's energy communities. We pass what's called the Casey credit available of 45 Pennsylvania counties where energy jobs such as coal or coal mining, and had been before it disappeared before we came to office, the Casey credit provides major incentives for companies to build new battery factories, wind turbines and more, create high paying jobs, and those coal and natural gas communities. And on top of that, there's over $4 billion in private companies have committed to invest in clean energy advanced manufacturing here in Pennsylvania, $4 billion.
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BIDEN: And guess what? For your support, I signed an executive order to make sure large federal construction projects all use project labor agreements.
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(APPLAUSE) BIDEN: Folks at home who maybe watches and tell them know what a project labor agreement is when contractors, subcontractors and unions put in place before construction begins, what the rules are, before it begins. These agreements make sure construction is top notch, on time, on task, and, by the way, on budget.
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[18:00:03]
BIDEN: There's another big deal, buy American that's been the law since --
