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Biden & Trump To Face Off In CNN Debate On June 27, 9PM ET; Inflation Cooled Off Slightly In April In New Report; Fighting In Kharkiv Region Intensifies As Russia Makes Gains; Israel Intensifies Operations In Northern Gaza, Parts Of Rafah. Aired 3-3:30p ET

Aired May 15, 2024 - 15:00   ET

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

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[15:00:43]

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: Biden and Trump agree on a time and the place, the stage now set for two presidential debates, including the first one just six weeks from now, right here on CNN.

Plus, the Dow flirts with 40,000 after a new inflation report sends stocks higher. Traders optimistic the Fed will finally cut interest rates, making car and home buying more affordable in the coming months.

ALEX MARQUARDT, CNN HOST: And the war with Russia and Ukraine takes an ominous turn. Putin's forces making significant gains in the northeastern city of Kharkiv, prompting a sobering announcement from Ukraine's president. CNN will take you to those front lines in Ukraine.

We're following all these major developing stories and many more all coming in right here to CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

KEILAR: Get ready, because next month you're going to see history right here on CNN. President Biden and former President Trump have accepted CNN's invitation to debate on June 27th, making it the earliest general election debate in modern history.

MARQUARDT: That's right. And then both candidates also accepted a second invitation from ABC News to debate in September. This comes after Biden challenged Trump earlier in the day to two debates in both June and September. CNN's MJ Lee and CNN's Kristen Holmes join us now.

First, I want to go to MJ at the White House.

So MJ, what more do we know about this first faceoff, a 2020 rematch that CNN is going to be hosting next month?

MJ LEE, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, it's amazing, honestly, how quickly all of this came together in just a matter of hours. Joe Biden and Donald Trump agreeing to two presidential debates. The first one will be hosted by CNN, as you said, on June 27th. Both campaigns agreeing basically to shun the presidential debate calendar that was set forth by the Commission on Presidential Debates, basically arguing that the idea that the first debate wouldn't take place until September is just too late, that both campaigns are set on trying to reach voters much earlier than that. And in fact, we are told that there were some informal backchannel conversations between the two campaigns described to us as having been largely about the mutual disdain for the CPD.

Now, what is unusual about the CNN debate is that the Atlanta studio where this will take place is not going to have a live audience. That, of course, is unusual if you look back on previous years. And what the Biden campaign had said is that they saw the past debates as having become spectacles, that they didn't think that having a live audience was actually conducive to a lively and helpful debate.

And one person we are - that we are learning who is going to be joining the Biden campaign's debate sessions is Ron Klain. That, of course, is the President's former chief of staff. One of his closest and most trusted advisors. He tells me that he is going to be taking some vacation time to help the President with his debate prep. I don't know how relaxing a vacation that's going to be.

The other question, of course, that we don't know yet is who is going to be standing in for Donald Trump at these debate prep sessions. Remember, last time around in 2020, that role was played by Bob Bauer, the President's personal lawyer. But I'm told that it's just too early to be talking about those debate prep details.

But I think what is clear in the big picture is that the Biden campaign did want to use this issue to try to go on the offensive. We saw that they wanted to be first to put these two debate ideas out there and have the Trump campaign accept that idea. And we also saw president - the President saying earlier, I hear you're free on Wednesdays in one of these social media videos. That clearly is a reference to the fact that Donald Trump has been stuck in a courtroom for a number of weeks now in New York City.

KEILAR: Yes. He really sort of tried to stick it to him on that one. MJ, thank you so much live for us at the White House.

Kristen Holmes, I wonder what you think of, you know, there's long been this question and Trump has sort of played it up about whether Biden was going to debate him. But it all sort of happened pretty fast and furious today. Biden comes out sort of jabbing Trump, and then there's the acceptance. Trump jabs. Now then he accepts a Fox invitation, but now Biden's not.

KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, a third and other debate, yes.

KEILAR: Yes. What's going on with this? So Biden will not do a Fox debate.

HOLMES: Right. So we're told that Biden is not going to and I'll read that statement from the campaign in just a second.

[15:05:03] But just to give an overall view here, talking to Trump's senior advisors and those in his orbit, they're a little bit irked right now. The fact that Joe Biden somehow took over the debate narrative, despite the fact that Donald Trump has been really using this as a narrative at all of his campaign rallies. He's been up on stage with an empty podium next to him no one there saying, come debate me. He's often said, I will debate anywhere, anytime. This has been kind of a rallying cry for Donald Trump and for some of his top advisors.

Now what we saw today was Joe Biden really taking control of the narrative and now Donald Trump trying to take it back. So after we saw this announcement from Biden, after Donald Trump had accepted these two debates, he then got on Truth Social to say he was going to accept a third debate at Fox on October 2nd. So this is Truth Social here.

Well, the Biden campaign is saying, well, you already agreed to our terms. That's not happening. They wrote - the actual statement was "President Biden made his terms clear for two one-on-one debates, and Donald Trump accepted those terms. No more games, no more chaos, no more debate about debates. We'll see Donald Trump on June 27th in Atlanta - if he shows up."

This is also a big thing between both campaigns now that they continue to goad each other, oh, you're not going to show up. You're not going to show up. It sounds to me like they're both going to show up.

KEILAR: It's like schoolyard stuff.

HOLMES: Yes.

MARQUARDT: It is schoolyard stuff, but remember the Biden campaign made clear they're trying to get under Trump's skin and you're - it sounds like it's working.

HOLMES: Mm-hmm.

MARQUARDT: All right. Kristen Holmes, thanks very much.

I want to talk more about this with former White House chief of staff in the Clinton administration, Leon Panetta. He also served as Defense Secretary and CIA Director under President Obama.

Chief Director, Secretary Panetta, you wear a lot of hats, but I do want to talk to you today with your political hat on. What was your reaction to this announcement, to the Biden video saying that he's ready for two debates? We now in very quick succession have plans for a CNN debate and an ABC debate. It's really not every day that we see also candidates sidelining the Commission on Presidential Debates. So what do you make of all this?

LEON PANETTA, FORMER OBAMA CIA DIRECTOR: Well, I think it's great. I think it's great for the American people. Frankly, I think it's great for the candidates to be able to do a debate without an audience present, focusing hopefully on substance of the issues that are impacting on America. Look, the reality is both campaigns up to this point have not been very effective. I think Trump, of course, has been stuck in court. Biden has been trying to get a message out on the campaign trail, but hasn't been doing too well.

I think this is really important to be able to give the American people a firsthand view of these two candidates and the tremendous differences that exist between them.

MARQUARDT: I mean, obviously, President Biden wants to talk about the issues in these debates. But as Brianna was just saying, he kind of phrased it in schoolyard taunts. He said, make my day, kind of like Clint Eastwood referenced. And he talked about the fact that - he made a reference to Trump's legal troubles. So what do you make of that strategy?

PANETTA: Well, look, I think I would love it to be a debate on substance and issues, because there's a lot of problems facing our country and our world that really need to be fully debated. But as always, in these debates, and we remember it from the last one, Trump tends to be a bullying person in these debates. And he interrupts, he interferes, he's going to try to create chaos, which is his strength, very frankly. And Biden is going to have to be able to develop the right kind of talking points that hit back on what Trump is trying to do.

So they are going to have to prepare for it, no question. And they're going to have to be ready to be able to react, because this is going to be a debate in which the unknown could really hurt one candidate or the other.

MARQUARDT: And you heard MJ Lee just say there that he's bringing in his former chief of staff to help him get ready. If you were Ron Klain, how would you be counseling President Joe Biden to go after Trump?

PANETTA: Well, I think Ron Klain is a tremendous choice to be able to do that. He knows Biden. He knows politics. He'll be great at helping the President. I think the most important thing is that President Biden has to be who he is. He can't be somebody else.

You make a bad mistake when you try to convert somebody into playing another role that he's not accustomed to.

[15:10:00]

And Joe Biden is Joe Biden, you're going to have to let him be who he is. But you're also going to have to be able to prepare him so that he is ready to deal with a lot of the kind of spontaneous reactions that Trump is going to present.

Trump doesn't operate in order, and he doesn't operate in substance. He operates by bullying, and that's what he's going to do. And the challenge is going to be how do you handle that and how do you turn it back on Trump? That's going to be the challenge that Joe Biden is going to have to face.

MARQUARDT: Well, Trump is certainly much more of a known quantity this time around than he was when Biden faced him last time and when he really appeared on the national political stage as a presidential candidate back in 2016. Leon Panetta, thank you very much. Appreciate it.

PANETTA: Good to be with you.

MARQUARDT: We are now less than an hour away from the closing bell on Wall Street, and stocks are rallying back near record highs. Now, look how close the Dow is to 40,000. That's a milestone that it has never crossed.

KEILAR: Investors are responding to today's key report on consumer prices, which shows inflation cooling slightly in the 12 months ending in April after several months of inflation coming in hotter than expected. Let's get to CNN's Matt Egan to dig into this new government data on the economy.

First, Matt, let's talk about the markets, how they're responding.

MATT EGAN, CNN REPORTER: Well, Brianna and Alex, I think investors are relieved, relieved that inflation is finally moving in the right direction again. Of course, that direction being lower, so we do see the Dow is just about 150 points away from that 40,000 milestone on track to close at record highs. Also, record closes possible for the S&P 500 and the NASDAQ.

Now, today's inflation report showed that consumer prices were up by 0.3% between March and April. That is cooler than expected, cooler than the month before. Annually, consumer prices up by 3.4%.

Now, that's not great. That's above pre-COVID trends. But this is an improvement from the month before, and it is miles away from that 9% inflation reading from two years ago. And when you dig into this report, you do see some positive trends here. Consumers are catching a break on food prices, finally. We saw month over month price drops for groceries, new cars, used cars and airfare. Also, core inflation, which excludes food and energy prices, that is now increasing at the smallest rate in three years, so that is a positive trend.

Now, I think when you take a step back, it's clear that inflation has not been solved, right? The cost of living remains a major problem for millions of Americans and frankly, a political liability for this White House. But these do numbers - these do - these numbers do point to some progress.

I think the point, though, is that we're going to need to see further progress in the months ahead before Americans really start to feel better about things.

MARQUARDT: So Matt, what do you think this report means for what the Fed's going to do when it comes to interest rates?

EGAN: Well, Alex, I do think this keeps alive the hope that the Fed is going to be able to start lowering interest rates later this year. Remember, entering 2024, there were hopes for up to six rate cuts this year. Now it's not even a sure thing there'll be one.

Now, in the last 24 hours, we have seen investors mark up their bets for interest rate cuts, not in June, probably not in July. But look at that, and this chart shows that there's now a 74 percent chance priced into the market for an interest rate cut at the meeting in September, which, by the way, is the last meeting before this election.

Of course, interest rate cuts would be great for consumers, right? It would mean lower mortgage rates, credit card rates, car loans. But the problem is the Fed, they need to see real proof of progress, not just one month of improvement, but a series of months where inflation is ticking lower. They don't want to cut interest rates too soon because that could make inflation worse.

So we need to see whether or not this is the start of a new trend where inflation does move decisively lower.

KEILAR: All right. We'll be looking for that. Matt, thank you for that report.

EGAN: Thanks.

KEILAR: Still ahead, the U.S. is preparing a major weapons sale for Israel as the country's military steps up its attacks in northern Gaza and also parts of Rafah in the south. Coming up, we'll speak to an ICU doctor in Gaza about what he's witnessed.

MARQUARDT: Plus, Trump's defense in the hush money trial gears up for another round of cross-examination of Michael Cohen. The testimony so far and what we could learn tomorrow from Trump's former fixer.

And new fallout from Ms. USA and Ms. Teen USA now relinquishing their crowns, allegations of bullying and a toxic work environment. Ms. Colorado USA, who also just gave up her crown, will be joining us live, stay with us.

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KEILAR: Right now, Ukraine is struggling to hold on in the war against Russia as Moscow makes significant advances in the Kharkiv region and also other parts along the front lines. Today, Russian troops launched another round of ground and air attacks. The fighting so intense, Ukrainian President Zelenskyy has been forced to cancel all of his upcoming foreign trips. CNN Chief International Security Correspondent Nick Paton Walsh is live from Kharkiv for us.

Nick, Russia's bombardment of the region not letting up, tell us about the situation on the ground.

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Yes. Look, it's important to put in context exactly what we've been seeing here in the past five days. It's not a small incremental shift on an established front line by Russia.

[15:20:00]

They've begun essentially a whole new invasion of Ukraine from the northern areas here in the second city at Kharkiv. And they're seeing significant success, it's fair to say.

They claim they've got nearly double digit villages in that recent push. But really, it's a key border town called Vovchansk, which we heard from Ukrainian military officials. Their troops have had to take different positions in that town. That's really a euphemism for a tactical withdrawal. And we heard from a police chief saying that they had fighting in the streets of that border town itself.

One woman evacuated spoke to me today, she said that she'd basically been in a basement for about four days and seen Russian troops in the street next to her, as the whole town on fire, she described. This is important because it marks Russia, firstly, trying to push down towards Kharkiv here, a city which since 2022, when Russian forces rapidly withdrew from the areas around it, felt perhaps life might be getting back to normal.

But now, in the last hour or so, had a missile landing near the city centre, has had airstrikes repeatedly hit it, and faces the prospect, if Russian troops continue to push forwards, that their artillery might be in range of this population centre. Again, a horrifying development for people who thought really the war was not over for them, but certainly not continually waking them during the night.

Secondly, what we're really seeing too here is Russia stretching already heavily fatigued Ukrainian forces further more thin. Now we heard from Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy that he was cancelling his travel abroad to see allies, to get more aid fast. He also reassured people they would definitely not allow the pressure being put on the north here, and the fact they're having to send reinforcements to reinforce their front lines, to allow other areas where Russia's seeing progress and success to suffer yet more.

But there are reports from the east and the south that gains Russia's been making, they're making yet more. And I have to say, it looks to me, Brianna, like this is probably the worst moment for Ukraine since the war began, the early days of the invasion. The weapons aren't here yet from the U.S. It may take a month or so. Russia is coming at them with the manpower, the weaponry, and really pushing forwards in ways that were frankly unimaginable six months ago. Brianna?

KEILAR: Yes. They're capitalizing on this moment of weakness here for sure. And Nick, Secretary of State Antony Blinken just wrapped up a visit to Kyiv earlier today. Tell us a little bit about that.

WALSH: Yes. It's interesting signaling we see from Ukraine's allies, because being no doubt the damage that was done to their military posture is the reason why Russia is advancing, and that's because the $61 billion of USA aid was held up by Republican congressional dysfunctionality. No doubt about it, it created morale back in December when we first knew there was going to be a delay, and it's really causing ammunition to not be there.

So Blinken has gone to Kyiv, given very clean signals, we're standing with you. At times saying Ukraine needs to improve on governance. We had (INAUDIBLE) display yesterday in a Kyiv bar where he played during a Neil Young song. But also today announcing two billion dollars worth of assistance, some of that to buy weapons immediately, some of it for weapons from the U.S., and some of it to invest in future mechanisms so Ukraine can develop its own technology too and resilience.

So a certain effort for a long-term gain here, but this positive messaging of we're with you and we'll stay by you, I think really belies how utterly awful it is to be in a city like this, Kharkiv, and see a renewed Russian invasion, them seeing a gap here, Moscow seeing a weakness and seizing on it. Brianna?

KEILAR: All right, Nick Paton Walsh, thank you for that report from Kharkiv, we do appreciate it.

MARQUARDT: And turning now to Israel's war against Hamas. Sources telling CNN that the White House is moving forward with a potential plan to send $1 billion of weapons to Israel. This is still in the early stages, but the deal could include tank ammunition, mortar rounds, among other weapons.

Of course, just last week we learned that the Biden administration had paused a separate shipment of large bombs to Israel over concerns they could be used in the densely populated city of Rafah.

For more on the rapidly evolving situation on the ground, we're joined now by American Dr. Sameer Khan, who's a cardiac anesthesiologist and a critical care medicine physician currently at a hospital in Gaza.

Dr. Khan, thank you so much for joining us. Of course, it's late at night where you are. You're near Rafah. What has been the situation in and around that hospital where you are as Israel steps up its military operation in Rafah?

SAMEER KHAN, CARDIAC ANESTHESIOLOGIST: The situation's been pretty dire - has been very dire. Thank you for having us, by the way. We have seen patients come in with acute trauma injuries, blast wounds, gunshot wounds, crush injuries. And in addition to that, we see acute community conditions like cholecystitis, appendicitis.

The people have been very scared, afraid of what's going on. And they look to us on numerous occasions to see what we will be doing, if we're going to be staying longer, if we're going to be going.

[15:25:00]

And that we've been running short on medical supplies and it's just extreme poverty. The system is essentially crippled.

MARQUARDT: Tell me more about the supply levels. What are you lacking? What kind of injuries are you seeing that you're treating?

KHAN: So we see, again, blast wounds, gunshot wounds. We had a patient today that we were transporting from the ICU to the operating room. And to give you an idea as to what the supplies are like, we - en route - transporting from the ICU to the OR is - anything can happen. It's dangerous just to make that transport going into the elevator. The elevator gets stuck. We run out of oxygen in the oxygen tank. The patient's no longer - their pumps are - stop working in the elevator. We have to do a makeshift bag of epinephrine and vasopressin and estimate the amount that they require as we rush to the operating room.

The supplies are very, very limited. And we see patients who should survive, but - for example, this very same patient had an acute kidney failure, and we were unable to put them on dialysis or CRT in order to rescue them.

MARQUARDT: Doctor, there's been so much concern about Israel's intentions in Rafah, the possibility that they could step up their operation. We've seen warnings from the Israelis to Palestinians in Rafah to leave parts of eastern Rafah. What are people there telling you about their concerns and what their plans are?

KHAN: So when we first arrived at the hospital, we noticed that there were patient tents that were crowding all the hallways. Since then, in the last week or so, all these tents are gone. And I'd say about 50 percent of the people that have been around the hospital have left the - this region.

Again, those who are staying, we work with some wonderful professionals. They have somehow managed to maintain order and etiquette in this war-torn environment, and they've miraculously managed to keep their malnourished and maimed bodies clean and presentable. But they're professionals, just like us, and they care about how they look. They care about their education, their learning, and they are reasonably afraid and concerned about the situation. And they are reasonably looking to us to see whether we will be able to assist them further, whether we can continue to provide medical and humanitarian support.

But remarkably, they've made - been able to maintain a level of order around the hospital.

MARQUARDT: And doctor, what about your status? I understand that you're part of an international team. You guys have been trying to get out. What's preventing you from leaving?

KHAN: My understanding, and this is probably a better question for the team leader, is that there has been an issue at the Rafah crossing, and we're essentially at the mercy of the military units in control of the Rafah crossing. But more importantly, it's - that crossing is essential for aid to get in and supplies to enter in order for us to provide the medical and humanitarian support that we need. The details of that I'm not really too familiar with.

MARQUARDT: And we know that Israel has taken over that side - of the Palestinian side of the Rafah crossing. And so, of course, anything to come in or out would have to be agreed upon by the Israelis and by the Egyptians. Dr. Sameer Khan, thank you so much for joining us. We know it's late there, and these are some very difficult circumstances, so we really appreciate it.

KHAN: Thank you.

MARQUARDT: And still ahead, Donald Trump's former fixer blasted by the defense in a tense cross-examination. And Trump's lawyers are now gearing up for round two.

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