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One Week To Go, New Details On Harris' Preps For Debate With Trump; Trump Pleads Not Guilty In Revised Election Subversion Case; Heated Protests Over Hostage Strategy Rock Israel For Third Day; Biden Returns To Campaign Trail As A Top Surrogate For Harris; World Health Organization Says Gaza Polio Vaccination Campaign Is Ahead Of Targets. Aired 6-7p ET

Aired September 03, 2024 - 18:00   ET

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

[18:00:00]

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Happening now, Kamala Harris and Donald Trump are now just one week away from their first pivotal debate. Stand by for new details on how Kamala Harris is getting ready to go head to head with Donald Trump.

Also, this hour, there's breaking news. Trump just pleaded not guilty to a revised indictment in the federal election subversion case against him. This as the former president's new attempt to delay his criminal sentencing in the hush money case was just rejected.

Plus, Israel is rocked by a third straight day of very heated mass protests. CNN, of course, is on the scene as demonstrators demand that Gaza ceasefire and a hostage deal with Hamas, as the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu remains defiant.

Welcome to our viewers here in the United States and around the world. I'm Wolf Blitzer. You're in The Situation Room.

We begin this hour with the presidential race moving into overdrive just ahead of next week's very high stakes Harris-Trump debate. We have new information on how Kamala Harris is preparing for the face off.

CNN's Eva McKend is joining us right now. She has details reported first right here on CNN. Eva, where will Kamala Harris do her debate preparation?

EVA MCKEND, CNN NATIONAL POLITICS CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, we know that she's going to return to Pittsburgh for the second time this week. She, of course, was there for that rally to rally up the labor community with President Biden this week. Well, she's going back there in the critical days ahead to essentially prep. We're not going to see her do any big rallies, but we could see her pop up at a restaurant or two for community events.

Her campaign has deduced that she has to prepare her over the coming days, but instead of doing that here in Washington, D.C., they're trying to make the most of this time in this compressed schedule and put her in a battleground state. BLITZER: So, she's going to be working a lot of hours getting ready for this debate?

MCKEND: She sure is. And this comes as she is centering in on an economic argument. She's really trying to characterize herself as a champion for the middle class. A new ad today came out that speaks to this. Let's watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We all know costs are too high, but while corporations are gouging families, Trump is focused on giving them tax cuts. But Kamala Harris is focused on you.

KAMALA HARRIS, U.S. VICE PRESIDENT, DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: Building up the middle class will be a defining goal of my presidency.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She'll make groceries more affordable by cracking down on price gouging, and she'll cut housing costs by taking on corporate speculators.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MCKEND: Now, Wolf, in a direct appeal to the middle class tomorrow, she is going to be in New Hampshire, where she's going to roll out a slate of additional economic policies, including expanding tax deduction for costs associated with starting a business, removing regulatory hurdles for businesses of a certain size. Clearly, she is trying to appeal to a very specific part of the electorate.

BLITZER: And that debate next Tuesday could be a pivotal moment in this entire campaign. Eva McKend, thank you very, very much.

Also tonight, Donald Trump is making a new push to tie Vice President Harris to President Biden's record.

CNN's Kristen Holmes is covering the Trump campaign for us. Kristen, Trump is off the campaign trail today, but he released a new video and did a radio interview.

KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Wolf. I mean, if you talk to any of Donald Trump's senior advisers, they all believe that their pathway to win in November is by essentially making Kamala Harris the incumbent president. They believe it's not a stretch to link her to President Joe Biden since she is, in fact, the current vice president, they've tried to do this over and over again, specifically on policies in which most voters care about, like inflation, like the economy, like immigration. And also these are the same issues that Biden himself had not polled as well as Donald Trump on.

So, we saw this in a video that was put out today. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KARINE JEAN-PIERRE, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: This is the Biden- Harris administration. Are you aware that this is the Biden Harris administration? And she is indeed the vice president.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Not only does she inherit these numbers and contribute to them, she was the tie-breaking vote on $3 trillion of spending bills. So, she is almost personally responsible for the massive inflation that you just showed on that chart.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: President Biden taps Kamala Harris, Vice President Kamala Harris, to be the border czar.

[18:05:01]

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The criminal cartels are running the entry into America and the numbers are at a 21-year high.

JOE BIDEN, U.S. PRESIDENT: Challenges that we're seeing at our southward border, no one knows this better than the vice president.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: Now, again, those issues, economy, inflation, immigration, crime, especially. Now, Kamala Harris obviously has said that she wants to have a campaign that is the future, that is forward-looking, as Donald Trump ties, tries to tie her to the past.

This is likely going to be something you see time and time again, particularly at that Tuesday debate. It is something that his team have been discussing, how to pivot back into the future to that record, that record that is unpopular with a lot of voters, particularly on those three issues.

It's part of how Donald Trump is preparing. Although his team doesn't use the word, preparing, they say that they are having, quote, policy sessions, which are sit-down blocks of time where they can go over various policies, talk about specific questions they think will be asked, and how to respond to them.

Obviously, we are now in that final crunch time before the debate. We'll see how much they squeeze in before that. We'll see also on the stage what that ends up looking like on Tuesday.

BLITZER: Yes, Trump has said he doesn't need to prepare. He says he's been preparing his whole life for this upcoming debate. Kristen Holmes reporting for us, thank you very much.

Joining us now, a co-chair of the Harris-Walz campaign, Democratic Senator Laphonza Butler of California. Senator, thank you so much for joining us.

As you know, the Harris campaign is spending at least, what, $370 million on T.V. and radio ads from now until Election Day. But in a new ABC/Ipsos poll, voters say they trust Trump more to handle the issue of inflation and the economy than they do Kamala Harris. Is this historic add by a recognition that you're losing when it comes to dealing with the U.S. economy?

SEN. LAPHONZA BUTLER (D-CA): Thanks so much for having me, Wolf, such a pleasure to be with you. Look, I think that what we see from the Biden Harris team and the investment in communicating with voters, wherever they may watch or receive information, is a demonstration of a recognition that we are a -- this race is running as an underdog, and that there are voters out there that are open to Vice President Harris' plans and policies. They're curious about who she is. And we want to make sure that we're spending every resource that we can, dollars, bodies, people, campaign infrastructure, to communicate to those voters and talk about what the Vice President's new way forward really means for everyday working families.

BLITZER: It's interesting. Kamala Harris and Donald Trump will take the debate stage one week from today, next Tuesday. Democratic Strategist James Carville has a New York Times op-ed that he's written with some debate advice for Kamala Harris, saying she should help Trump hurt himself, and I'm quoting him now, she should let him talk over her, not just let him but goad him into spouting insane conspiracy theories about the previous election. She should use her sense of humor at key moments to get under his skin and show he's not getting to her. And she should welcome the personal attacks as a badge of honor.

Do you think, Senator, that's the right advice? And how do you think Kamala Harris will approach this really critical upcoming debate?

BUTLER: Yes, Wolf. James Carville is one of the top Democratic strategists of our lifetime, mine in particular. And so I appreciate his debate advice and I think there are elements there that are to be warranted. I think that President Trump has demonstrated that he has a disdain for people who present themselves as strong, if not stronger, than he is.

And I think that it's important that we are able to -- that the American people are able to see as well as hear all of the things that is the true Donald Trump. I think the vice president, the great thing about her candidacy in this moment is that this ain't her first rodeo, being the first woman to lead the San Francisco D.A.'s Office or to be the attorney general in the state of California. She has faced the personal attacks time and time again. And I think it's important for the American people to be able to see and to hear all that Donald Trump actually thinks about her preparation, her policies.

But most importantly, I think the vice president is going to be using this moment to communicate her vision to the American people to communicate, to communicate and to continue to introduce her story and her lived experience, to which so many American people can identify. And so I think it's a bit of both and, but she's going to be mainly focused on what it is that she's got to do. And Donald Trump is going to continue to show the American people that he's still trying to figure out the difference -- the connection between bacon and wind.

BLITZER: The Harris campaign, as you know, Senator, is launching what it's calling its reproductive freedom bus tour in Florida today, which is one of ten states where abortion rights measures are on the ballot coming up in November.

[18:10:05] Will these measures help drive turnout for the Harris campaign?

BUTLER: Yes, Wolf. Time and time again since the fall of Roe and this Supreme Court decision in the Dobbs case, when presented the opportunity, the American people have chosen freedom, whether we're talking about states like Kansas and Ohio or California and Vermont and everywhere in between. This is continues to be a top issue for women and men, families all across the country. And I think it is going to continue to be a generator of energy and commitment and determination to stand in line when Election Day comes, and it's going to continue to be a top motivating issue.

And the people know who is standing with them and their freedom versus those who want to have federal monitors of their reproductive care.

BLITZER: Senator Laphonza Butler of California, thanks so much for joining us.

BUTLER: Thank you.

BLITZER: And coming up, a CNN exclusive, the son of the late Republican Senator John McCain speaks out against Donald Trump after his controversial visit to Arlington National Cemetery.

Plus, Donald Trump just entered a new plea in his revamped election subversion case. Stand by, we have new information.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:15:00]

BLITZER: There's breaking news we're following right now. Donald Trump has just entered a not guilty plea in the special counsel's reworked election subversion case.

Let's get the latest from our Crime and Justice Reporter Katelyn Polantz and our CNN Senior Law Enforcement Analyst Andrew McCabe. Katelyn, what does Trump's new plea mean for this case?

KATELYN POLANTZ, CNN SENIOR CRIME AND JUSTICE REPORTER: Well, Wolf, it's only one page, it's just a couple sentences of Donald Trump saying he doesn't want to show up at a hearing that's happening on Thursday. And at that hearing, that's when he will have to be arraigned. He will have to enter his pleading to this new indictment that the special counsel's office has brought through the court system against him the former president.

Now, Wolf, what's important about this is that it puts things back into trial mode, right? In the federal court, you put that not guilty pleading in, and then things progress toward a trial. There are all kinds of legal arguments that have to take place before a trial, before Judge Tanya Chutkan. On Thursday, she's going to be talking about the schedule and the plan moving forward.

But what this piece of paper does, it means that Donald Trump doesn't have to show up in person. The first time he was indicted in federal court related to the 2020 election, he did go to court in person, raised his right hand, and told the judge he pleads not guilty to the four charges he was facing. He's facing those same four charges, a new version of the indictment, but he's saying, my lawyers are going to take care of this for me. Here's the paperwork with my signature on it. I plead not guilty.

BLITZER: So, Andrew, there's this hearing coming up next week. What do you think the timeline will look like and how the election potentially could impact things?

ANDREW MCCABE, CNN SENIOR LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: I think, well, the timeline of the review of this new indictment and the process that Judge Chutkan will set out and with the lawyers to kind of make sure that the evidence that's currently required to prove the case does not go within the scope of those matters that the Supreme Court has said can't be used against President Trump because of his presidential immunity, this newly recognized presidential immunity.

There's been a lot of speculation as to what that process will look like and how long it'll take. We don't really have clear answers to those questions yet. I think it's unlikely that we'll see something like a mini trial or witnesses actually testifying, providing testimony in court. I think it's much more likely that the special counsel will try to do as much of this process and the back and forth arguments on the papers, so through motion filings. It's possible they'll have some oral arguments around those things as well.

But this is Judge Chutkan. And what you're going to see from her is a very streamlined, focused, no nonsense procedure that's designed to figure out what evidence can be used in this case as it goes forward and what evidence and potentially charges need to be left behind.

BLITZER: And we're just being told that this next hearing will actually be taking place this coming Thursday. So, we'll watch that very closely.

Katelyn, I know you're also following news in Trump's New York case. Give us the latest information.

POLANTZ: Well, in that case, he is convicted and he's set to be sentenced on September 18th, but Donald Trump doesn't want that to happen. And so what he has done, especially now that the Supreme Court weighed in on presidential immunity in this case, in New York, the hush money case, he went to a federal judge and said, the Constitution should prevent me from being sentenced. You should put things on hold. You should move this out of state court in New York into federal court.

And the judge, the federal judge, Alvin Hellerstein, up in New York, he said, no, not this time. You asked me once before. Nothing's changed, really. I'm not taking this case into federal court. This is a case with private schemes and private actors. The state judge is going to handle it.

But, Wolf, we are still waiting for things in this hush money case about Donald Trump and how he was making payments to Michael Cohen to reimburse Stormy Daniels. He is convicted by a jury there. The sentencing is set. But we're waiting to see if the judge moves that date until after the election.

BLITZER: I'm anxious to hear, Andrew, what you think. Do you expect that we will see Trump sentenced in just a few weeks?

[18:20:00]

MCCABE: I do, Wolf. I think we're going to see that. I think the rejection by the federal court to take this case essentially out of New York was entirely predictable. It's what they did the first time he asked them to consider that. I think Judge Merchan is very well aware of his responsibilities having had this trial in his courtroom, seeing the jury convict him. The next step in this process is a sentencing. I think there's no reason that this isn't going to go forward.

Despite all these constitutional arguments that Trump and his lawyers have, they can raise those arguments later. But New York state courts have their own processes and procedures, and I expect to see Judge Merchan see those through.

BLITZER: Interesting. All right, Andrew McCabe, Katelyn Polantz, to both of you, thank you very much.

Coming up, Why the son of the late Senator John McCain could no longer stay silent about Donald Trump. Stand by for details on CNN's exclusive new interview.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:25:00]

BLITZER: Tonight, a CNN exclusive, new criticism of Donald Trump's controversial visit to Arlington National Cemetery from the son of the late Republican senator and war hero, John McCain.

CNN's Natasha Bertrand reports on the new interview with Jim McCain and his decision to go public with his take on Trump.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NATASHA BERTRAND, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Tonight, Jim McCain, the youngest son of the late Senator John McCain, is speaking out for the first time, exclusively to CNN, about Donald Trump and his conduct last week at Arlington National Cemetery.

JIM MCCAIN, SON OF SEN. JOHN MCCAIN: The people who are buried there don't have an opinion. The point of Arlington Cemetery is to go and show respect for the men and women who have given their lives to this country. When you make it political, you take away the respect of the people who are there.

BERTRAND: The former president and his campaign have denied reports that they pushed aside an Arlington Cemetery staffer who tried to prevent them from filming in Section 60, where recent U.S. casualties are buried. The cemetery cited rules that prohibit political activity on the sacred ground.

DONALD TRUMP (R), FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT, 2024 PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: And then they took over that disaster, the leaving of Afghanistan.

BERTRAND: The Trump campaign releasing this video and pictures of the former president posing with gold star families whose loved ones were killed in the Abbey Gate bombing during the Afghanistan withdrawal in 2021. Trump today posted on Truth Social calling it a, quote, made up story after Vice President Kamala Harris weighed in on the controversy with a lengthy statement on X saying Trump, quote, disrespected sacred ground all for the sake of a political stunt.

Some of the gold star families who accompanied Trump again defended the visit in a video.

DARIN HOOVER, FATHER OF STAFF SGT. TAYLOR HOOVER: The events that happened on August 26, 2024 with President Trump at Arlington National Cemetery were solemn and in keeping with the reverence and respect that is given to all members of our military that are buried there. We invited President Trump.

BERTRAND: Jim McCain, who enlisted in the Marine Corps at the age of 17, had already been moving away from the Republican Party before Trump's visit to Arlington. He recently changed his voter registration to Democrat and says he plans to vote for Kamala Harris in November.

MCCAIN: I feel that Kamala Harris and Tim Walz embody A group of people that will help make this country better, that will take us forward.

BERTRAND: It's a significant move for the son of a former GOP presidential candidate, and it follows years of attacks by Trump on his late father.

TRUMP: He's not a war hero.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He's a war hero.

TRUMP: He is a war hero. He is a war hero because he was captured. I like people that weren't captured, okay? I hate to tell you that.

BERTRAND: McCain now telling CNN he still hasn't gotten over those comments.

MCCAIN: When I hear those things said about him, I can never forgive. You know, the one thing about John McCain is that he cared about his country.

BERTRAND: There are several generations of McCains buried at Arlington. McCain points out that not every service member whose gravestone is visible in the video that Trump posted gave consent to being used in a political ad.

MCCAIN: The least we can do is when they're gone, if they, you know, when they're in Arlington is to respect the rules and regulations that are in place, like not politicizing the fact that these men and women are there.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BERTRAND (on camera): In a separate interview with me earlier this weekend, Jim McCain actually said that he is now willing to get involved with the Harris-Walz campaign in any way that he can, saying that he is essentially going to wade in directly into this election cycle. And he said that he changed his voter registration when he got back from a recent deployment to Democrat from independent as soon as he got back because it is, quote, the right thing for him to do. And at this point, the Kamala Harris and Tim Walz campaign, they are already starting to blast out emails highlighting Jim McCain's support for their campaign, Wolf.

BLITZER: All right. Natasha Bertrand, thanks for that report. I want to get some reaction right now from CNN Political Commentators Scott Jennings and Karen Finney.

Scott, Jim McCain says, as you heard, Trump violated a sacred area. Do you think this kind of criticism of Trump's handling of the U.S. military from the family of someone who has been on the receiving end of it will resonate with skeptical Republican voters?

SCOTT JENNINGS, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: I mean, my opinion is that it will probably resonate with people who are already voting against Donald Trump or who already want to believe the worst about Donald Trump. I don't begrudge Mr. McCain his political views and he served our country honorably just like his father did, and I deeply respect the McCain family service to the United States.

But, look, he's a political figure here. He's obviously endorsing Kamala Harris. He wants to be a surrogate for Kamala Harris' campaign. I still don't think Donald Trump deserves to be pilloried the way that he is. He was invited by gold star families. He honored their requests. He made a social media post. He's not making a T.V. ad here. And although there's a lot of talk about him violating a sacred area, the gold star families who issued videos about this particular event are more than happy that he was there and they are more than angry with Kamala Harris, her role in the Abbey Gate debacle, and the fact that she has never ever given these people the time of day.

[18:30:14]

So, I'm still siding with Trump on this one, but Mr. McCain is certainly entitled to his opinion.

BLITZER: You know, Karen, McCain also talked about why he recently switched from independent to Democrat, saying it was about putting country first. First of all, what's your reaction and what's your reaction to what we heard from Scott?

KAREN FINNEY, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, obviously, I think we both agree in honoring the McCain family. I have deep respect and was horrified by the way the former president spoke about John McCain during the campaign. Like many, I was just shocked that anyone would criticize a man who served as honorably as he did. But I think there's something on this, in this whole issue that we have to sort of take a step back and look at. I think the question is, what does this tell us about Trump and how he would behave again as president? We know he has a record, so we need to start talking again about his record as president. He was disrespectful to our military. We have heard, you know, that over and over and over again from people who were there with him in some of those moments, and they, too, no longer support the former president. He's also said that he would be comfortable using U.S. military on American soil for law enforcement and to carry out his, you know, sort of do his whim of retribution, which, again, should frighten all of us and is just despicable.

So, what does it tell us about Trump? How he would lead? I think it's important, personally, and I think that, you know, I don't want to politicize these gold star families and the pain that they're feeling. The last thing I would note is that President Biden did meet with them when their loved ones came back to Dover and met with them for several hours. And so the U.S. government, our president met with them.

BLITZER: Scott, Republican Senator Lindsey Graham has a new op-ed in the New York Times, I don't know if you read it, but he's advocating for Trump to focus on policy in the campaign, writing, and I'm quoting Senator Graham now, the road to the White House runs through a vigorous policy debate, not an exchange of barbs. The more he compares his successes with Ms. Harris' failures, the more likely it is that he wins.

Trump has, of course, heard all this advice before and actually polled his supporters about it during a recent rally. I want you and our viewers to watch this. Watch this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: Don't get personal, talk about policy. Let me ask you about that. We're going to do a free poll. Here's the two questions. Should I get personal? Should I not get personal? Ready? Should I get personal? Should I not get personal? I don't know if my advisers are fired.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: All right. So, what do you think, Scott? Would Trump actually benefit from focusing in on substantive policy issues?

JENNINGS: Well, of course he would. I mean, every day that he is not engaged in a debate, a comparative debate about how people felt about the economy under him versus the economy under Biden and Harris is a lost day.

Now, obviously it's a campaign, so there are going to be personal barbs exchanged. But by far the most positive ground from which to fight here is when people are thinking about, well, when he was president, he did this well. And when Biden-Harris were in, they're not doing this well. If they're thinking about that on election day, he's probably got a really good chance to win, and if they're not, it's going to be dicey. BLITZER: You know, Karen, do you think the focus on substantive policy has ever been a large part of Trump's appeal?

FINNEY: They've gone up against him in 2016. No. I mean, he appeals to -- it's an emotional appeal and you know, that's what he plays to. And here's the truth about Donald Trump. He can't do it. He can't deliver a policy debate. I guarantee you next week on the debate stage, we're going to hear more hissing from Trump and more sort of nonsensical statements and attacks than real policy. So, he just can't do it, is the problem.

BLITZER: We'll see how that debate goes next Tuesday night. Karen Finney, Scott Jennings, to both of you, thank you very, very much.

Just ahead, CNN, of course, is on the ground in Israel, where very angry protesters are taking to the streets once again, demanding a hostage deal.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:35:00]

BLITZER: There's breaking news just coming into The Situation Room. The U.S. Justice Department has just charged several top Hamas leaders over the October 7th attack on Israel. Prosecutors accused the defendants of terrorism, conspiracy to murder U.S. nationals, and conspiracy to use weapons of mass destruction. All this as Israeli protesters are taking to the streets once again now for a third straight day, demanding a hostage deal.

CNN's Nic Robertson is joining us live from Tel Aviv right now. Nic, what message do the protesters have for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu?

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: They're continuing to demand that he make a deal with Hamas get the hostages home now. In fact, one of the wives of one of the hostages was talking to the crowd, addressing the crowd. Her voice was hoarse because, of course, she's talked to so many of these protest rallies and rallied support for her husband and all the others, and she read out the list of names of all the hostages.

[18:40:01]

And after each name the crowd said, now, meaning get them home now. People were asking, why are we still fighting in Gaza?

But I talked to people there and I was asking them about what the prime minister had said on television the day before, when it offered an apology to the families of the six hostages killed last week, apology because he couldn't get them home and save them. And he also had talked about the importance of the Philadelphia corridor. And what I found talking to people they just don't trust the prime minister. This is what they told me.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) ZOHAR AVIGDORI, PROTEST LEADER: He's a liar. That's it, all fraud. I don't believe one word he says.

ROBERTSON: And how long will you keep protesting?

AVIGDORI: As long as it takes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: As long as the hostages are in Gaza, normal life in this country and normal governing of this country will not be allowed to happen.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERTSON: So, what people told me is that they will keep protesting. They don't think that they will change the prime minister's mind overnight, it'll take time, but they say it'll encourage other politicians to come out and speak against them. And they say, and if the protests alone don't work then they will, quote, shake the country, meaning they'll find other ways to try to get the prime minister to listen more.

BLITZER: Huge crowds of protesters on the streets of Tel Aviv and elsewhere in Israel as well. Nic Robertson, thank you very much for that update.

Meanwhile, Ukraine is reeling tonight from one of the deadliest Russian attacks since the start of the war. Officials there pleading once again for additional anti missile capabilities as Putin's forces are clearly dramatically stepping up their assault against Ukraine.

CNN Senior International Correspondent Fred Pleitgen has our report from Kyiv.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Parts of the military educational facility almost completely destroyed. Dozens killed here, the Ukrainians say, when two Russian ballistic missiles struck, leaving those on the ground with no time to get to bomb shelters.

More than 200 were also wounded and a nearby hospital damaged. Ukraine's president, irate.

VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT: The Russian scum will undoubtedly be held accountable for this strike. And once again, we urge everyone in the world who has the power to stop this terror. Air defense systems and missiles are needed in Ukraine, not in a warehouse somewhere. Long range strikes that can defend against Russian terror are needed now, not sometime later.

PLEITGEN: Russia's been accelerating its aerial bombardment of Ukraine's cities and infrastructure. A massive barrage aiming for the capital Kyiv early Monday, just as children were gearing up for the first day of school after summer break. One of the places damaged, a management college. ANASTASIYA, STUDENT: We got up and it had already started to boom. We ran out into the yard near the dormitory. We heard something flying and something being shot down.

PLEITGEN: On Sunday, more than 40 people injured after Russian airstrikes on the northeastern city of Kharkiv. Responders desperately trying to save the victims.

There's an ambulance on the other side, the photographer says. We won't be able to carry him there, she answers.

While Ukraine's air defenses often take down Russian missiles, the consequences can be devastating when they don't.

The strikes on Poltava were one of the deadliest single attacks since the start of the war. We were on hand when a ballistic missile annihilated a funeral wake in Eastern Ukraine in October of last year, killing 59 people. And 46 were killed in Dnipro in January 2023 when a heavy cruise missile blew a giant hole into an apartment block.

The Ukrainians say the reason why the damage here is so extensive is that this building was hit with a cruise missile called the KH-22. That's designed to destroy aircraft carrier strike groups. And obviously, when it hit the building, it completely annihilated it, burying dozens of people underneath.

Now, yet another mass casualty strike leaving Ukraine's leadership angry and vowing revenge.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PLEITGEN (on camera): And, you know, Wolf, the Ukrainians say those powerful ballistic missiles that the Russians use today can almost only be taken down by the Patriot surface-to-air missile system that, of course, is provided by the United States. The Ukrainians say they don't have enough to put those in various places in the country and they're calling for deliveries of more of those surface-to-air missile systems.

They are also calling on the U.S. to lift restrictions on the use of some of the longer distance weapons that they've given to Ukraine to strike deeper into Russian territory to try and hit some of those missile launch sites before the Russians can fire off those missiles. Wolf?

BLITZER: Fred Pleitgen reporting for us from Kyiv, in Ukraine, thank you very much.

And we'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:49:03]

BLITZER: President Biden is heading to Wisconsin and Michigan this week, this a day after his debut in Pennsylvania as a new surrogate in chief for the Harris-Walz campaign.

CNN's Brian Todd is taking a closer look.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Wolf, this isn't just a new role for Joe Biden. It could also be a pretty tough role for the president, considering everything that's happened in the campaign and the way he exited. But the Harris campaign is counting on Biden and publicly, at least he seems to be embracing it.

(voice-over): Joe Biden in an unfamiliar but critical new role.

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: She has a moral compass of a saint. This woman knows what she's doing.

TODD: The president pivoting from candidate to campaign surrogate, hitting the campaign trail, stumping for Kamala Harris.

BIDEN: We made a lot of progress. Kamala and I are going to build on that progress and she's going to build on it. I'll be on the sidelines, but I'll do everything I can to help.

TODD: The president traveling this week to Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, and Michigan. Critical so-called blue wall states that the Democrats will likely need to win and where Biden has a good track record.

[18:50:06]

MARIANNE LEVINE, NATIONAL POLITICAL REPORTER, THE WASHINGTON POST: He did well in the blue wall states when he ran in 2020, I think it speaks to the appeal that Biden has among a very specific group of voters namely blue collar workers and also aging voters.

TODD: And this comes as Donald Trump seemingly can't let go of Joe Biden.

DONALD TRUMP, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT & 2024 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Look at him with a plains and the stairs and the falling all over the place. And he had no idea what the hell was happening. He couldn't find his way off a stage. A stair here, stair there, stair -- I got stairs all over the place. He finished his speech and look around. Where am I?

TODD: It's been about a month-and-a-half that Biden has been in Donald Trump's political rearview mirror. But at rallies, in news conferences and in interviews, the former president still constantly ridicules Biden. He even did an impression of the president, sort of.

TRUMP: The question like what did you have for dinner tonight? Remember, Joe, what kind of ice cream is your favorite? Vanilla. Oh, we like to know.

TODD: Trump gloats over Biden's exit from the race, but also expresses frustration over that.

TRUMP: They took them out and it was a bad thing to do, but also unfair to me. I spent $100 million fighting against the man that won.

TODD: Trump also seems obsessed with the way Biden ended his candidacy.

TRUMP: This is the coup. This was a coup of a president of the United States. He didn't want to leave and they said we can do it the nice way, or we can do it the hard way.

TODD: Trump's barbs over the June 27th debate, analysts say, give a clue to his fixation.

TRUMP: If we didn't have a debate, he's still be there. Can you imagine? If we didn't have a debate. Why the hell did I debate them?

LEVINE: I think he feels personally frustrated and that there was a change at the top of the ticket and that there is now a tight race.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

TODD (on camera): We reached out to the Trump campaign to ask why the former president has kept mentioning President Biden following Biden's exit from the race. A Trump campaign adviser replied, outlining what they characterize as the failures of the Harris-Biden team on issues like the economy and the border and saying Trump talking about Biden is simply a reminder that there's no daylight between Biden and Harris -- wolf.

BLITZER: Brian Todd reporting for us, Brian, thank you.

And we'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:56:40]

BLITZER: Officials in Gaza now say an urgent campaign to reach 640,000 children with the polio vaccine is doing well, at least so far.

Let's get some more from a spokesperson for one of the key organizations involved in this critically important effort, UNICEF's James Elder.

James, thank you very pretty much for joining us. Thanks for all that UNICEF is doing.

More than 161,000 kids have been vaccinated, we're told. So far, that's slightly ahead of target, but this is a very complex campaign. What do your colleagues in Gaza say about how this is going, at least so far?

JAMES ELDER, UNICEF SPOKESPERSON: Yeah, exactly that. It's -- it's a good -- it's a good day. It's a good start, if you will. A rare positive, a very rare positive.

Of course, Gazans have a high acceptance rate of vaccine. So, this in some ways is, is unsurprising. They bring their children out, they are relying on these temporary pauses in localized pauses. They're relying on those holding.

We've got thousands of health workers and volunteers out there. Families need to trust that these warring parties, they're not going to be bombed. So, yeah, it's a rare bright spot. But, of course, this bright spot in vaccine nationwide was only come about because of the wreckage to the health system. This is why we have polio for the first time in 25 years in Gaza.

So my colleagues on the ground think it's a very, very tough campaign. They are seeing children who really are, have been on the edges of a war in the heart of it for a long, long time. And normally you do this door to door, that can't be done in this case quite simply because most people have had their homes shattered.

So people are coming to health clinics. They'd been mobile services, whatever can be done. And this is a start we needed.

This is a sign as well I think, Wolf, when there is a little bit of sanity, and when we do get a pause in bombing, this is what can actually happen.

BLITZER: Gaza officials say amidst all of this, though, 33 people have been killed by Israel in the last 24 hours or so.

How do families and health care workers, for example, navigate all of these various challenges to complete these vaccinations? And these kids are going to need two -- two doses.

ELDER: Yeah, it's a great question.

This is that -- this is one of the brutal realities. All of these ongoing what UNICEF has called for a long time a war on children, we do not say that lightly. We say that based on evidence. We say that based on the sheer percentage of casualties who are children, how that is doubled, most other wars and conflicts that we've seen.

So, in this war on children, at the moment, the last few days, yes, we are listening one form of suffering, getting his polio vaccination out to children. But we're all too aware that then those children return home to their homes that are very much in the threat of bombardment, bombardment has killed 15,000 children, 15,000 children is a number we nearly at now.

Now, this polio campaign, Wolf, is necessary because we have seen a systematic devastation over health system. We've not seen polio for a quarter of a century in Gaza because families do vaccinate their children every chance they get. But the primary health care, that basic health care that vaccination has been devastated in the first case, we saw of this poliovirus, wild virus, was a child who was meant to be vaccinated on the seventh of October when these attacks first happened, when Hamas launched those attacks, when this all began.

But then, since then, because of the ferocity of the response that we've seen, that family moved five times. So there's just simply be no way for that child to be vaccinated. And that's why we have this and it's very important and I think that the warring parties understand is that polio does not see borders. So this is a very real threat to children who already under threats from lack of hygiene, sanitation, disease, and of course, relentless bombardments. But this is a threat for children around the region.

BLITZER: It certainly is.

James Elder of UNICEF, thank you so much for joining us. Thanks for all that you and your team are doing.

I'm Wolf Blitzer in THE SITUATION ROOM. Thanks very much for watching.

"ERIN BURNETT OUTFRONT" starts right now.