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Harris Today: "Feeling Good" About Changes In Pennsylvania; Trump Defends Far-Right Conspiracy Promoter And Ally Laura Loomer; Soon: Harris Campaign Rally In Battleground Of Pennsylvania; Rep. Jasmine Crockett, (D-TX), Is Interviewed About Vice President Kamala Harris, Campaign; Harris Camp Assessment: P.A. Rough But Possible, N.V. And G.A. Possible, N.C. Looks Better Thank A.Z., Best Hopes In M.I. And W.I. Aired 5-6p ET

Aired September 13, 2024 - 17:00   ET

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

PAMELA BROWN, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: It is a new episode of the whole story with Anderson Cooper, Sunday night at 8:00 Eastern on CNN. O you can follow me on X and Instagram at Pamela Brown. CNN, follow the show on X at The Lead CNN. And if you ever miss an episode of The Lead, you can listen to the show wherever you get your podcasts. The news continues now on CNN, with Wolf Blitzer in the "Situation Room."

Have a great weekend, everyone

[17:00:39]

WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST: Happening now, Kamala Harris is on the trail in Pennsylvania saying she feels good about her prospects there as she's turning to Oprah Winfrey in hopes of getting a new campaign boost. This as Donald Trump is heading to the key battleground state of Nevada and defending a far right promoter of conspiracy theorist who's entered his inner circle.

Also tonight, there's breaking news we're following. A one-on-one interview with U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson. She opens up to CNN about the role public opinion plays in writing a high court decision. Plus, a CNN exclusive, we'll take you inside a life- saving hospital train that's transporting injured from the front lines of the war in Ukraine.

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 with the intensifying fight for the swing states that will decide the presidential election just ahead of a Harris rally in Pennsylvania in the next hour. We're in a Trump event in Nevada later tonight. Our correspondents are out there on the campaign trail covering both candidates. First, let's go to CNN's Priscilla Alvarez, she's in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania for us. That's where the Vice President will be speaking to supporters soon.

We'll have live coverage. Stand by for that.

Priscilla, what is the Harris campaign strategy behind today's stops in Pennsylvania?

PRISCILLA ALVAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, the Harris campaign is trying to pick up voters in these rural red counties, and in attempts to try to peel off that support from former President Donald Trump. Now, a campaign adviser tells me just minutes ago that her remarks here tonight are going to be focused on jobs and job opportunities, especially for those jobs that don't require a four years of education. Now, this is part of that strategy to try to win support among voters who might lean toward former president Donald Trump.

And to give you a sense of just how important this state is going to be for this campaign, this is the seventh time over the last eight days that the vice president has spent time here, so clearly, a campaign -- or state that they are paying very close attention to. Now, when she was asked earlier today at a local bookstore how she's feeling about the state, this is what she had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KAMALA HARRIS, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I am feeling very good about Pennsylvania because there are a lot of people in Pennsylvania who deserve to be seen and heard. That's why I'm here in Johnstown, and I will be continuing to travel around the state to make sure that I'm listening as much as we are talking. And ultimately, I feel very strongly that got to earn every vote, and that means spending time with folks in the communities where they live. And so that's why I'm here. We're going to be spending a lot more time in Pennsylvania.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ALVAREZ: So you heard it from the vice president herself. She plans on spending more time here, having face time with voters. And today, having face time with voters in two counties that former President Donald Trump won by more than double digits in 2020. Wolf.

BLITZER: Priscilla, Kamala Harris is going to get yet another big celebrity boost next week. Tell us about that.

ALVAREZ: Yes, she's going to be participating in a live stream event with Oprah Winfrey. Of course, Oprah was at the Democratic National Convention as well. And it is these types of events that the campaign is trying to do more of, outside of traditional media and big speeches or remarks, because they want to keep the energy going that this campaign has had since President Biden stepped out of the race. Now, in addition to this, Democratic officials also hoping that they can try to get something on the calendar with Taylor Swift. Now, when I asked a senior campaign spokesperson about whether or not she would be on the trail just immediately following her endorsement earlier this week, they said they would welcome her on the trail. Whether or not that comes to fruition still to be seen. Wolf.

BLITZER: Right. Taylor Swift, Oprah Winfrey, pretty big celebrities. Priscilla, stand by. I want to bring in CNN's Kristen Holmes as well. She's covering the Trump campaign for us. Kristen, the former president, spoke with reporters out in California just ahead of his rally in Nevada later tonight. You were there. Tell our viewers what he said.

[17:05:03]

KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, a lot of it was stuff we have heard before, Wolf. He was talking about the state of California, obviously linking to the fact that he was here. He is here for a number of fundraisers saying it was crime ridden, blaming Kamala Harris for her time as a prosecutor here. He talked about crime, he talked about immigration, and he doubled down on what we know are debunked rumors about Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio, and who's particularly asked about these bomb threats that have occurred since this ramped up rhetoric in Springfield at schools. This is what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Now there are bomb threats at schools and kids being evacuated. Why do you still spread --

DONALD TRUMP, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: No, no, no.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: -- that this was school?

TRUMP: The real threat is what's happening at our border. Because you have 1000s of people being killed by illegal migrants coming in and also dying. They end up being sex slaves and everything else. Those are your real problems, not the problem that you're talking.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: Well. And he also went on to say that if he were elected, they were going to have mass deportations in Springfield, Ohio. There is one problem with that, Wolf, is that many of these immigrants that you're talking about are legal immigrants. But again, this is all part of the rhetoric that we have heard from Donald Trump as he tries to link this fear to immigration part of his strategy, because they do believe they being the campaign and Donald Trump that immigration is a winning issue for them ahead of November.

BLITZER: And Kristen, I know you had a chance to ask Trump about whether he agrees with Laura Loomer, the far right provocateur who he was been -- he has been seen traveling with in the course of the several past days. Tell us about that.

HOLMES: Yes, I asked him about what he would say to his Republican allies who have clearly expressed concern, both publicly, as we have heard from Lindsey Graham and Marjorie Taylor Greene. And privately, as sources have told me, they have reached out to Trump or Trump's campaign about their concerns about Laura Loomer, who is a far right activist. He did not denounce her in any way. In fact, he seemed to almost praise her, calling her a supporter and asking me why I was asking that question, or at least explaining or having some skepticism as to why I would ask that. Take a listen. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: I don't control Laura. Laura has to say what you want. She's a free spirit. I don't know what she said, but I'll go take a look, and I'll put out a statement later on, but I really don't know.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: Now, Wolf, we could wait for that statement. But again, we know that at least some Republican allies have called him directly. Have called those close to him on his inner circle to question this decision to have Laura Loomer around him talking about recent posts that she has had where she questions the validity of 9/11 where she makes racist remarks about Kamala Harris being in the White House. So, this idea that he doesn't know anything about what she has said and he's just around because she is a supporter seems at least the baseline here pretty suspect.

BLITZER: Pretty suspect, indeed. Kristen Holmes and Priscilla Alvarez covering both campaigns for us. Thank you very much.

Let's get some more on this presidential race. Our panel of political experts is joining us. Isaac-Dovere, you've been doing a lot of reporting. You're speaking to Harris aides, and I know they're talking about what they see as their path to victory. What are you learning?

EDWARD ISAAC-DOVERE, CNN SENIOR REPORTER: When they -- look at the breakdown of the states at this point, the battleground states, what they're seeing is Pennsylvania, where Harris is today, looking possible, but really still very tough. Michigan and Wisconsin, those other blue wall states, looking better for them in their minds. North Carolina, a state that hasn't gone for a Democrat and presidential election since Barack Obama in 2008 looking actually better for them than Arizona, which is a state that Joe Biden won in 2020 narrowly, and Nevada and Georgia both kind of in between there.

One of the things that that reflects is that there is a sense that these states may not move as blocks in the way that they have in recent presidential elections. So North Carolina could go one way, Georgia and the other. Harris folks looking at this and saying, if the election were held today, they are not sure that Kamala Harris would win. That doesn't mean that they don't think that they will win in the end, but they see a lot of work that needs to be done, a lot of effort that needs to be put in to keeping up that good vibe and energy that was there the beginning of her campaign, and making it to the people who are undecided in the states feel like they are comfortable with her, because undecided voters are not undecided about Donald Trump. They're just undecided about whether they will stick with Donald Trump.

They know what they think of him.

BLITZER: Important reporting. Thank you very much.

LaTosha Brown is with us as well. LaTosha, I know you understand what Harris is trying to do, this new strategy going to some of the more rural areas in Georgia, for example, where you're from. How much does this potentially help her campaign, instead of just going to the populated areas where Democrats are majority?

LATOSHA BROWN, CO-FOUNDER, BLACK VOTERS MATTER: No, I think it's a brilliant strategy. We saw that in the last campaign, that part of what brought about Georgia is it that wasn't just the metro Atlanta area for Biden, but he was able to shave off some of those votes in the county areas that part of what we saw, and part of our strategy with the work that we're doing on the ground. That part of the strategy is really to be able to shave off votes, that we know this is going to be a close election. And so I think part of what's going to happen, I think the strategy to go into rural areas, and both in Georgia to go to rural areas and Pennsylvania, she's sending a message. She's sending a message that she cares about those voters in that area.

[17:10:25]

I think she's sending a message that she understands that there's opportunity, that even if a county is red, if you can actually shuffle you can make that margin smaller than that actually gives you an advantage as well. So I think that she's actually being aggressive at going at voters and saying that she wants to fight and earn the right for voters to vote for her.

BLITZER: Yes, I think that's a pretty smart strategy, indeed.

Frank Luntz is with us. Frank Luntz is a pollster. What's your sense, Frank, of what's more effective with undecided voters, the kind of retail politicking or big breakout moments like this event that's coming up with Oprah?

FRANK LUNTZ, POLLSTER & COMMUNICATION STRATEGIST: And I would say that it's really neither. The key here is inflation, affordability, housing, health care, food and fuel, and that that message, where they stand and what they say about it matters more than everything else. Immigration is second, but it's a distant second. And if they don't get the message out, just because they show up doesn't mean anything if they're not heard. And if the coverage is all negative, and frankly, wherever Trump seems to be going, he brings negative coverage with him.

When Harris goes somewhere, she brings positive coverage with her, and that, in the end, is going to make a difference. This is the opposite of 2016. In 2016 the Democratic nominee, Hillary Clinton, brought a great deal of negative or at least skeptical coverage. Harris is not doing that at all, and that's why she continues to gain a pointer to, in these key, swing states.

BLITZER: Charlie Dent, you're a former Republican congressman from Pennsylvania. What do you make of Kamala Harris's focus on these two rural Trump strongholds in your state? What will it take for that strategy to wind up paying off?

CHARLIE DENT, (R) FORMER U.S. REPRESENTATIVE: Well, what Colin Harris is trying to do, I think she's trying to pull, actually, a page out of Joe Biden's playbook. There are 67 counties in Pennsylvania, and if you look what happened from 2016 to 2020, Donald Trump underperformed in 66 out of those 67 counties, meaning that he did slightly worse in 66 to 67 counties, including counties he won by big margins. She's going to Luzerne County tonight. That's where Wilkes-Barre is. I believe she was just in Johnstown, Cambria County. She's going to lose in these places, but she's trying to cut the margins back.

Donald Trump only performed marginally better in one county in 2020 than 2016, that was Philadelphia, believe it or not, even though he lost big. So Harris is trying to cut the margins down in these areas, because Harris is going to lose the overwhelming number of counties in Pennsylvania. She'll win the big ones where the population is, but it's really tight right now, so she must absolutely be in these red areas to close the gap a little bit.

BLITZER: You know, Isaac, I'm curious you heard Trump, once again, call far right conspiracy theorist Laura Loomer today a supporter and a, quote, "free spirit." A woman even far right people like Marjorie Taylor green simply say is way too extreme for the mainstream of the Republican Party. Why isn't Trump distancing himself from her?

ISAACE-DOVERE: Because this is what he does. Donald Trump often associates with people. You go back to about two years ago when he had dinner at Mar-a-Lago with Nick Fuentes and Kanye West. When, after all the anti-Semitic stuff was coming out of Kanye West, he has people around him who are promoting these things. He enjoys having some of that around.

He talks about it himself. He was the one who talked about this made up story about immigrants eating dogs on the debate stage. And sort of reminds me of that scene in "The Hangover," the first "Hangover" movie, where they've got the Mercedes Benz going down the road and the tiger wakes up in the back seat. Whatever the Trump campaign has tried to build here to keep things very professional and capable, they always have to deal with Donald Trump being Donald Trump and scratching at things in the way that he's going to.

BLITZER: Interesting. Frank Luntz, Loomer also is doubling down on her 9/11 skepticism, she did so once again today. How damaging is this association do you believe for Trump?

LUNTZ: It's certainly not helpful when you're trying to win undecided voters. They're not ideological and they're not political that they're judging a candidate's character traits, not character but character traits and attributes. And this is not someone who is regarded as sensible, reasonable and responsible. Trump should be surrounding himself with people are on the mainstream, people who know about the key issues of substance, and those who don't play with conspiracies because he's got those voters already.

You know, I think, Wolf, that Donald Trump's greatest opponent isn't Kamala Harris and it's not Joe Biden, it's actually Donald Trump.

BLITZER: What he is doing. A lot of people agree with you on that.

[17:15:01] All right, guys, thanks very, very much all of you. Coming up, a Harris campaign co-chair joins us with her take on the broad of the 2024 battleground states underway right now. Representative Jasmine Crockett is standing by.

And later, there's breaking news, a rare interview with a member of the United States Supreme Court. CNN's Abby Phillip talks to Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: Vice President Kamala Harris is heading to a rally in the pivotal battleground state of Pennsylvania tonight. We're standing by for that. We'll have some live coverage. Right now we're joined by national co-chair of the Harris-Walz campaign, U.S. Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett of Texas, a Democrat.

Thanks very much, Congresswoman, for coming in. What do you think of her strategy now in Pennsylvania and Georgia, other states, not just going to the major Democratic strongholds, the big cities, but going out into the country a little bit trying to appeal to other voters?

[17:20:05]

REP. JASMINE CROCKETT (D-TX), HARRIS-WALZ CAMPAIGN NATIONAL CO-CHAIR: I think it's what we all should do. Listen, this administration has proven that they are not focused just on blue states, but they are focused on taking care of Americans, no matter if you voted for or against them. It is important for us to start to share the stories of not only our vision of what it will look like to carry us forward, but also to remind people of who it is that decided. You know what, we want to make sure broadband access is a reality, whether you're in urban America or rural America. We want to make sure that you have access to health care, whether you're in urban or rural.

We want to make sure that if that plant shuts down in your community, that you still have access to economic opportunities, if that means being able to work from home. We want to make sure that we are sharing this message and letting you know that we have not forgotten about you. And so I think that it is important that if you want to be the president of the United States that you talk to everyone. And what you're seeing out of this particular campaign is how aggressively they will work to earn the vote. They aren't expecting anyone to give them anything, and they're not taking anyone for granted.

BLITZER: And you do that in your district in and around Dallas, I'm sure --

CROCKETT: Yes, absolutely.

BLITZER: -- when you're busy. CNN is learning that the Harris campaign, at least right now, doesn't have a clear path to the 270 Electoral College votes needed to be elected president of the United States. What do you see as your path to victory?

CROCKETT: I think we have to meet people where they are, number. One a lot of times, the strategy is, let's go after those people that are double D's or triple D's or, you know, those that we know always show up and cast our votes. This is a very different election, and so I think that we need to approach it differently. So one of the things that I've been doing is, when I'm on the road, I've gone to a number of music festivals with over 50,000 attendees at each festival, and I get on the stage before their favorite singer or comes on stage, and I talk to them about voting. And I'm making it very short and quick and saying things like, hey, whatever your one top issue is Google that and Project 2025 and if you like what it says about that, then you know who to vote for.

If you don't like what it says about it, then you need to vote the other way. And so I think Project 2025 has been a gift for us, number one. Number two, I do recall a time in which no one thought that Donald Trump could become the president of the United States, but he did. And so, the reality is that we are seeing a swell of excitement from people that typically aren't engaged in the process. The thing is, we need to continue to build that swell, and we can't get comfortable, we've got to work.

BLITZER: You're a national co-chair of the Kamala Harris-Walz campaign right now.

CROCKETT: Yes.

BLITZER: Which states you see, are totally critical in a victory?

CROCKETT: All of them, you know, all the battlegrounds that is. And so I've spent a lot of time in Michigan. I've spent a lot of time in Pennsylvania, Wisconsin has been trying to get me there. I was just in Nevada. I'm going to be going back here shortly.

I've got to go back to Arizona again. I've been in all these states no less than three times. I'm headed to North Carolina. I will do three cities on the 21st alone. Georgia is critical.

I'm going there two times in the next two weeks. So all of these states really do matter. Michigan, I went there right after DNC and did about five different cities in Michigan. So yes, we are going beyond just Detroit and going out and exploring other cities.

BLITZER: She's lucky she has you. There's no doubt about that.

The Harris campaign is launching a new ad that deals with her plans for the economy, which is, of course, a critically important issue --

CROCKETT: Absolutely.

BLITZER: -- for so many voters out there. Let me play a little clip.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HARRIS: I'll lower the cost of insulin and prescription drugs for everyone, and I will work to pass the first ever federal ban on price gouging on food. More than 100 million Americans will get a tax cut. We will end America's housing shortage by building 3 million new homes and rentals.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: The criticism she's getting is that she's been vice president for three and a half years --

CROCKETT: Yes.

BLITZER: why hasn't she tried to do all that so far?

CROCKETT: Yes. So, most people don't quite understand all the roles that we play. A vice president is a supporting cast member. It's kind of like when I used to be out on the trail, even for the Biden-Harris ticket, people would say, well, I voted because I was really voting for Kamala, but we haven't seen her, and I'm trying to let them know, listen, she is supposed to be a supporting cast member, and I think that she was, as well as being an amazing partner, but it is the President's administration. He is the leader.

And now that they're being given an opportunity to see what it looks like to have a Kamala Harris commander in chief, as she is out there on the campaign trail, I think people are becoming very confident in her ability to do things, but she gets to direct the ship, and then it'll be Tim Walz that will support her agenda.

BLITZER: So critical. It's the economy, stupid, as they used to say. So many voters are looking at the economy --

CROCKETT: Absolutely.

BLITZER: -- right now. Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett, thanks very much for coming in.

CROCKETT: Thanks so much.

[17:25:00]

BLITZER: Appreciate it.

CROCKETT: Good to see you.

BLITZER: Up next, CNN has rare access inside the narrow strip of land between Gaza and Egypt that has become a major sticking point in Israel cease fire talks with Hamas. We're going to take you there right after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: Breaking news tonight, we're getting a rare look at a disputed corridor on the border of Gaza and Egypt. Control of the area is a major sticking point in talks aimed at trying to reach a cease fire in the Israel Hamas war. CNN's Matthew Chance, went to the area escorted by the Israel Defense Forces at all times, but he has full editorial control of what he is about to report. Watch this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, we're being taken by the Israeli military into the Gaza Strip, and they've loaded us all, as you can see, into this metal sided truck. We're going into the south bit of the Gaza Strip, which the Israeli military say they have under full operational control, but it's not entirely secure. They brought us to this place called the Philadelphia corridor. It's emerged as a sticking point in the negotiations to get a ceasefire and to get the hostages released.

As you can see, it's right up against the Egyptian border. And it's important, because the Israelis say this is an area which has been used over the years as a way of smuggling weapons into the Gaza Strip. Some of the smuggling has taken place over land, through, presumably, holes in the fence and through other border crossings. But a lot of it has been taking place right under our feet.

OK. Well, this is one of those tunnels. It's right on the border with Egypt. And you can see it is absolutely huge, wide enough to drive a car right, right the way through it. The Israeli military say that this tunnel, because it's so close to the Egyptian frontier, has been used by Hamas and other militants to store weapons in and to fire rockets from.

You see here the -- the back of the wall, it's completely collapsed down. Apparently it was closed for some time now. We're driving now through the neighborhood of Tal as Sultan. Every one of the buildings here has been totally destroyed. You know, this was obviously a residential area with many people living in it. And the Israeli military say those people have moved, for the most part, to safe zones, humanitarian areas not far from here, but look what they have left behind. Look what has happened to Gaza.

Thank you. Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari is the chief spokesperson for the Israeli military. How can you justify causing so much, you know, damage, devastation, destruction in -- in -- in pursuit of your objectives?

REAR ADMIRAL DANIEL HAGARI, IDF SPOKESPERSON: The only reason is because Hamas has built his military capabilities in that way that there is no other possibility. There is -- there is a town underneath Rafah. If you don't demolish it, then Hamas will go back and have a stronghold, a military stronghold. He is using the population, embedding in the population. He is creating this destruction and also the death of the population.

CHANCE: Well, this has been a very tightly controlled bit of access into Gaza with the Israeli military. There's such a lot we haven't been able to see, but it's incredible. They've showed us what they have. It's definitely a -- a narrow view. But it is also the only view right now that we can get first hand.

Matthew Chance, CNN in the southern Gaza Strip.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST: And since Matthew Chance filed that report, the Israeli military tells CNN it has effectively defeated Hamas militants in southern Gaza dismantling there, we're dismantling what's known as the Hamas Rafah brigade and destroying nearly 200 tunnels in the Philadelphia corridor.

At this hour, President Biden is meeting with the British Prime Minister Keir Starmer over at the White House. The two leaders discussing potentially easing restrictions on Ukraine's use of long range weapons provided by the U.S. and other Western allies inside Russian territory. And tonight, CNN has exclusive access to medical evacuation train, a medical evacuation train used by the Ukrainian army to transport injured soldiers from the front lines to hospitals around the country. CNN's Christiane Amanpour brings us this incredible look inside Ukraine's hospital on rails.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR (voice-over): On a hot late summer morning, departure time is fast approaching at this railway station in Ukraine. But this is no ordinary train. It's a hospital on wheels, evacuating dozens of wounded military personnel away from the eastern front as Russia's brutal offensive grinds on.

Paramedics carefully loading patient after patient, many of them unconscious, onto repurposed carriages. It's a highly organized special operation and it's never been seen before. CNN gained unprecedented and exclusive access to what so far has remained a closely guarded military secret.

Before the train moves off, I meet 35-year-old Olexandr, wounded by a drone strike, which has caused him to go deaf in one ear. His call sign is Positive, but he doesn't feel it.

[17:35:09]

OLEKSANDR, UKRAINIAN SOLDIER (translated): I'm very tired, but these are hard times. And we must keep fighting no matter how it is.

AMANPOUR: Do you feel that you have enough people, enough weapons to defend?

OLEKSANDR: No.

AMANPOUR: You don't have enough?

OLEKSANDR (translated): Not enough, no. There are not enough people. And there definitely are not enough weapons.

AMANPOUR (voice-over): As the train rolls on, we make our way to the intensive care unit, where several soldiers are on life support. Bed after bed of broken and battered bodies, lives shattered in an instant, 90 percent of the wounds being treated here are from shrapnel.

And yet, many of these patients know they'll be patched up just to be sent back to the front as soon as possible. This train and its cargo sum up Ukraine's state of military affairs, mostly ordinary citizens who've answered the call, outmanned, outgunned by Russia, and yet still putting up a hell of a fight.

Nurse Yulia makes this journey twice a week.

AMANPOUR: How do you feel being in here with these very badly wounded soldiers? How does it make you feel?

(voice-over): I'm an empathetic person, so it's difficult, she tells me. But you have to switch off your feelings at the moment of work, and later you can reflect.

And the story of frontline morale is on display here too. If electrician Oleksandr was feeling down after 18 months fighting this brutal war, Stanislaw, who signed up in March, is still full of patriotic fervor. He can still summon a smile, even though he has shrapnel in his body and damage to his lungs.

STANISLAW, UKRAINIAN SOLDIER (through translator): Personally, I was ready for it. I was ready to trade the shower stall, the good sheets and the bed, the good conditions that I had at home for a foxhole. I knew where I was going and what I was doing.

OLEKSANDR, UKRAINIAN ARMED FORCES MEDIC (through translator): The most difficult part is evacuation from the front line. Combat medics who work on the front are dying, just like soldiers.

AMANPOUR (voice-over): As these carriages rumble on through fields of gold, think for a moment of history repeating itself in Europe, when thousands of ambulance trains evacuated casualties from World War I's trenches, more than a million to the U.K. alone.

Tonight, darkness descends as we arrive at the destination and suddenly there's activity everywhere again. As ambulances line up, collecting and dispatching to hospitals across the country. On the platform, the railway chief describes his pride and his sorrow.

OLEKSANDR PERTSOVSKYI, CEO, PASSENGER OPERATIONS, UKRAINIAN RAILWAYS: You see these kids who are saying goodbye to their dads who are heading towards the front lines. So seeing those same guys coming back, effectively unconscious or with amputations, it feels like the -- the -- the price of the war is incredible.

AMANPOUR (voice-over): Like a conveyor belt, industrial scale conversion of healthy young men and women into this. And yet as one of them told us, Ukraine is strong and motivated. While Russia has quantity, we have quality and we will win.

Christiane Amanpour, CNN, Ukraine.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: Our thanks to Christiane for that excellent report.

[17:39:00]

Just ahead, the U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson sits down with CNN for a very revealing interview. That's next. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: Tonight, we're getting new insights into the inner workings of the U.S. Supreme Court, and how the justices work together behind the scenes to reach some of their most consequential opinions. Here now is CNN's Abby Phillip, who sat down with Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson earlier today. Abby in this conversation, Justice Jackson touched on the dynamics, for example, with Justice Clarence Thomas. Let's watch what she told you. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ABBY PHILLIP, CNN ANCHOR: In the time that you've been on the court, because you have written your own dissents in some pretty big cases, there -- there's disagreement, obviously, among your colleagues over the law. In one case, Justice Thomas devoted roughly seven pages of his concurring opinion on affirmative action to critique your opinion and your dissent. He also read that opinion out loud just feet away from where you're sitting. What was that experience like?

JUSTICE KETANJI BROWN JACKSON, SUPREME COURT: Well, you know, dissents are common on the court. One of the nice parts about the collective decision making model is that the justices have the opportunity to express their views, and then, when you're in the majority, there's a majority opinion that you can sign on to. You can write separately to express your particular take on an issue. And of course, you can dissent. And Justice Thomas, in his concurring opinion, decided to talk about my dissent in one way. I think I was flattered. I was flattered because it meant that I must have been making points that were worth responding to. But it's a dialog. It's always a dialogue with the justices.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

[17:45:08]

BLITZER: Abby, what stood out to you from her response?

PHILLIP: Well, Wolf, there is a lot of confidence there. She is maybe the newest justice on the court, but she's been a judge for a long time, and she told me, you know, she -- she said, I've been a district court judge. I'm used to running my own courtroom. I am used to having my opinions known. And even on these tough cases, even as the newest justice, she has stood out as someone who's been willing to put pen to paper on these dissenting opinions in a very conservative court. But -- but it's not personal, per se.

She talked about how this is about disagreements over the law which reasonable people can and do have. It -- it sounds very much like even in those moments when, you know, a more, much more senior justice is from the bench reading an opinion that that critiques yours. She felt like that was actually a point of pride, that she had said something so worthy of being critiqued that he had to say something from the bench.

BLITZER: And Abby, as you and I well know, the court is facing immense scrutiny right now. How does Justice Jackson think about Americans' trust in the Supreme Court?

PHILLIP: Yes, Wolf, we talked a bit about this, because this is something that is really overshadowing the court, all these concerns about ethics, a lot of rulings that overturn longstanding precedent, most notably on the issue of abortion, it really has called into question how much trust the American people have in the court, and I asked her, do you think about that when you write your dissent, when the court is handing down an opinion, is it right for justices to consider public opinion? And here's what she said.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIP: How much when you are writing these opinions, are you factoring in what the public is going to think of your dissent, the public perception of you or the court?

JACKSON: You know, when you write any opinion, you're doing so in part for the public, because we are a government entity. We are public servants, and it's our obligation to make sure that not only our colleagues, but also members of the public have an understanding of what's going on in the court. So I am taking into account public opinion as -- as are my colleagues when they're writing.

PHILLIP: And there are many, perhaps, who might think quite the opposite, that the justices should not consider how the public might interpret what they do. But she told me, Wolf, that the confidence of the public really is all the court has, and that that has been front of center for her. And she believes for the rest of her colleagues on the Supreme Court. Wolf?

BLITZER: Abby Phillip, thank you very much. Very interesting stuff.

And to our viewers, be sure to watch the entire interview with Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson on news night with Abby Phillip only on CNN later tonight, 10:00 p.m. Eastern, and we'll be right back.

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[17:52:19]

BLITZER: Tonight, North Korea is offering a very rare glimpse inside its secretive nuclear program, releasing photos of Kim Jong-un touring a uranium enrichment facility. Let's bring in CNN's Brian Todd. Brian, take us through these truly extraordinary images.

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, these pictures show Kim walking alongside what a prominent expert tells us our centrifuges used to make nuclear bombs. They show us that Kim seems now less concerned with secrecy than with rattling his sword at the U.S.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TODD (voice-over): From North Korea's aggressive 40-year-old dictator, an audacious display of nuclear ambition in new pictures just released by the regime, Kim Jong-un is seen walking along rows of what experts say are gas centrifuges and being briefed by scientists. Analysts say it's extraordinary for the secretive, paranoid leader to let the world see inside one of these covert facilities.

ANKIT PANDA, STANTON SENIOR FELLOW, CARNEGIE ENDOWMENT FOR INTERNATIONAL PEACE: It's incredibly rare. I think it speaks to Kim Jong-un's confidence today. He's more capable with his nuclear capabilities than he's been in a long time. And I think he wants the world and the United States to know that.

TODD (voice-over): Nuclear analyst, Ankit Panda says these centrifuges are used to separate uranium to isolate material to manufacture nuclear bombs, while the North Koreans did not disclose the name or location of this facility, Panda believes it's a place called Kangson, a secret facility just south of the capital that he discovered in 2018. What can U.S. intelligence glean from these new images?

PANDA: That the types of centrifuges that the North Koreans are using are now more advanced than what we thought they had in the past? That's just to make them a lot more efficient at sizing up their nuclear weapons stockpile.

TODD (voice-over): But why now? What message does Kim want to send to the U.S. and its allies by releasing these images now?

PANDA: They don't want outsiders asking questions about whether their weapons work and whether they'll have the ability to continue sizing up and maintaining their stockpiles. They want to remove all doubt that they have these weapons capabilities.

TODD (voice-over): Indeed, in recent days, Kim pledged to, quote, exponentially expand North Korea's nuclear arsenal.

PATRICK CRONIN, HUDSON INSTITUTE. Kim Jong-un is trying to build up a nuclear force on a par with not Pakistan, but with the United Kingdom or France. He's trying to change the future, and he's trying to telegraph that to us right now.

TODD (voice-over): Panda believes North Korea will soon conduct another test of a nuclear bomb. The regime has done six of those tests, all massive explosions underground, but they haven't conducted one since September of 2017. As for their current stockpile, Panda estimates Kim has between 60 and 100 nuclear bombs already made, but believes that will increase significantly in the next decade, which a former Trump National Security adviser says puts the U.S. in a diplomatic bind.

[17:55:01]

ROBERT O'BRIEN, FORMER TRUMP NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISOR: to excuse the North Koreans and say, OK, it's OK for North Korea to have a bomb. It's pretty hard then to say, well, no, Iran can't have a bomb. And -- and Saudi Arabia can't have a bomb to deter Iran. It -- it can't just be that the bad guys can get the bomb with impunity.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

TODD: How can the U.S. counter Kim Jong-un's nuclear buildup at this point. Analyst Ankit Panda believes the U.S. now needs to focus simply on deterrence, mitigating the risks of a nuclear confrontation involving North Korea. That's how dangerous the situation has become. Wolf?

BLITZER: Very dangerous indeed. Brian Todd, thank you very much.

Coming up, the pope shares his unique take on the U.S. presidential race. We're also standing by for a Kamala Harris rally in Pennsylvania, and we're going to bring it to you live.

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[18:00:08]

BLITZER: Happening now, we're standing --