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Interview With State Rep. Lauren Ventrella (R-LA); Deadly Wildfires in New Mexico; Biden and Trump Prepare to Debate. Aired 1- 1:30p ET

Aired June 20, 2024 - 13:00   ET

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

[13:00:48]

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: So, no pressure, but, one week from now, Joe Biden and Donald Trump will face off in what could be the most important night before the election. History tells us that debates can make or break a candidate, so how is each side preparing? We have some new reporting.

And Alberto makes landfall in Mexico, lashing Texas with rain, as much of the U.S. is baking under a heat dome. Fires in the West also claiming another life, while a new report underscores just how badly we're facing -- we're failing to address the climate crisis.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: And Louisiana schools will soon have the Ten Commandments displayed in every classroom. It's the new law of the land in that state, and the lawsuits are already beginning.

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

SANCHEZ: The stage is set for what could be the most consequential event in this year's presidential race. Just one week from today, former President Donald Trump and President Biden are going to go head to head in Atlanta on the CNN debate stage.

It's going to be historic. It'll be the first debate ever between a sitting president and a former president, and it could potentially define a race that still has no clear front-runner.

Right now, we're learning new details on how both candidates are preparing, and, as you might imagine, it's in very different ways. Today, President Biden is traveling to Camp David, where he's going to huddle with a tight circle of advisers for several days of intense discussion and preparation, including mock debates.

Former President Trump, on the other hand, taking a less formal approach. He's holding -- quote -- "policy discussions" with some of his vice presidential contenders and other Republican allies.

Let's get the latest now from CNN's Alayna Treene.

And, Alayna, we just learned that, by virtue of a coin flip, Donald Trump is going to be speaking last at the debate.

ALAYNA TREENE, CNN POLITICAL REPORTER: Right.

SANCHEZ: How is the Trump team getting ready for Thursday night?

TREENE: Well, you mentioned that President Joe Biden is doing mock debates. Donald Trump's team is not. They have no plans to do any sort of role-playing or mock debates, even though, in the past -- and it's traditional of presidential candidates to have mock debates.

Donald Trump in the past has had Rudy Giuliani, Chris Christie stand in for his opponents. They are not doing this. You're right. They are dubbing his debate as policy discussions. I'm told that he's met with vice presidential contenders, senators, policy experts.

We know, earlier this month, Senator J.D. Vance, a top person under consideration for his running mate, they met at Mar-a-Lago and talked about the economy, trying to sharpen his message on inflation. We know last week he met with Senator Marco Rubio, another V.P. contender, and Senator Eric Schmitt. They talked about his handling of the January 6 Capitol attack and democracy overall.

So, in my conversations with Trump's team, they say that these meetings are really about sharpening his rhetoric on certain messaging, talking about and framing some of the more tough issues that Donald Trump is going to likely have to confront, things like his conviction, his guilty verdict in his Manhattan trial, all of that taking place behind the scenes.

Now, one thing I also just find very interesting that I know his camp is wondering about is the expectations. For months, we have heard Donald Trump and his team painting Joe Biden as someone who can barely stand up for more than an hour, who has mental and physical problems.

Now they're going into a debate, and it's a very low bar for Joe Biden to clear. So that's also some of the discussion that has been happening behind the scenes.

SANCHEZ: A lot going into the calculus of expectations there.

TREENE: Right.

SANCHEZ: Alayna Treene, thank you so much.

Let's get you to the White House now with CNN senior White House correspondent M.J. Lee.

M.J., what are you learning about how President Biden is prepping?

M.J. LEE, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Boris, the president has had such a busy stretch. He was out of the country for much of the last few weeks.

But, tonight, he is headed to Camp David, where we expect the most intense stretch of debate prep to really get under way. And he and his team have really gotten started already. And the first step really has been compiling these binders that contain all of the questions and potential topics that could come up on the debate stage and all of the answers too that the president could potentially give.

[13:05:04]

And back in 2020, aides had said that he tends to get very detailed and very into these topics and offering suggestions and possible answers that he might be able to give. And then, as we get closer to debate night, we do expect the team to hold these mock debates and run-throughs.

And you might recall that the president's personal lawyer, Bob Bauer, back in 2020, played the role of Donald Trump in these mock sessions. No word yet on whether he is going to be repeating that role-play.

But the campaign, I think, has this broader strategy of basically focusing on ways in which the president can hold Donald Trump accountable. We know that they want to draw sharp contrasts on issues like reproductive rights. They want to accuse the former president of promoting political violence, for example, as being a threat to democracy.

And I think the campaign ultimately will see the debate as having been successful if they can paint Donald Trump as sort of this chaotic and divisive figure and President Biden, next to him, as sort of the wiser and steadier alternative.

We know that the campaign believes that the president has been a little punchier in his recent remarks in going after Donald Trump. And they say that they expect that side of the president to show up on the debate stage. The debate sessions, we are told by the campaign, has been led by his former Chief of Staff Ron Klain.

But, really, his most inner circle of top advisers, like Anita Dunn, Bruce Reed, Jeff Zients, are expected to be involved in the coming days. One thing that I will finally note that the Biden team was very much prepared for back in 2020 are potential personal insults to come their way from former President Trump, including insults that are directed at members of the Biden family.

Certainly, we have no question that that is a possibility that they're going to be prepared for this time around. Biden aides certainly feel like that sort of comes with the territory when you're facing off against former President Trump.

SANCHEZ: Yes, we saw some of that during their first debate back in the 2020 cycle. We will see what it looks like this time around.

M.J. Lee from the White House, thank you so much -- Brianna.

KEILAR: All right, let's discuss this further now with veteran Republican debate coach, Brett O'Donnell. He has worked for multiple presidential candidates, including John McCain, Mitt Romney, and George W. Bush.

I'm curious what you think each of these candidates has to do, Joe Biden and Donald J. Trump. What do they have to accomplish in this debate? BRETT O'DONNELL, REPUBLICAN DEBATE COACH: Well, both of them have to

make this debate about the American people.

It's very clear from the polling data that the American people are feeling like their lives are in chaos, whether it's their personal finances, the world, the border. All of those things seem out of control to them. And so both of them have to make the case that they would be the best one to bring their lives back some order, whether it's financial stability or order in the world, not about each other.

But, for Joe Biden, he has to make this election a choice between him and Donald Trump. For Donald Trump, he's got to make this a referendum on Joe Biden and his policies. And I think those are the primary tasks. If they do that, they will stay focused on the American people, rather than each other.

KEILAR: I want to play some moments from past debates, moments where candidates really made the debate work for them. Here are some of those.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN F. KENNEDY, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I think Mr. Nixon is an effective leader of his party. I hope he would grant me the same.

The question before us is, which point of view and which party do we want to lead the United States?

QUESTION: Mr. Nixon, would you like to comment on that statement?

RICHARD NIXON, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I have no comment.

RONALD REAGAN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I am not going to exploit, for political purposes, my opponent's youth and inexperience.

(LAUGHTER)

BILL CLINTON, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I will tell you how it's affected me. Every year, Congress and the president sign laws that make us do more things. It gives us less money to do it with.

GEORGE W. BUSH, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: But can you get things done?

(LAUGHTER)

BUSH: And I believe I can.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: All right, clearly moments that work for one candidate and not the other there.

How can these candidates create moments like this? O'DONNELL: Well, that's exactly right.

Yes, those are the things that capture the attention of the American public and the media, and they get enormous coverage. And it's going to be on things that might be their weakness. For instance, obviously, in 1984, one of the big question marks coming out of the first debate was Ronald Reagan's age.

And when he was -- when -- as soon as that topic came up in the second debate with Mondale, he had that brilliant retort, which erased the issue from the public's mind. That's an issue in this election as well.

So, I think if Donald Trump were to attack Joe Biden on his age in the debate, my guess is, they will have some clever line. That could create a moment.

[13:10:03]

The same thing is true for Donald Trump and his legal troubles. If Joe Biden is going to attack Donald Trump over his legal troubles, I'm sure that Donald Trump will probably have some clever line, some way to respond to it that might capture the press' imagination.

So they have to take weaknesses and be able to turn them into strengths, their own and their opponent's. And those are the places you look for to create big moments in the debate, because you want to highlight not only your own competitive advantage over your opponent, but your advantage on the issue.

KEILAR: To that point, there is an expectation that Joe Biden may point out that there is the new development and that Trump is now a convicted felon as they are debating. And there is an expectation that we're hearing from reporting that Trump may fire back by focusing on Hunter Biden's conviction.

Do you think there are risks to Trump doing that?

O'DONNELL: I think there are risks for both of them.

I think, if Biden were to attack Trump over his conviction, I think that risks taking the focus off of voters and putting it on the personal, which I don't think voters have a big appetite for right now. The polling data doesn't suggest that the conviction is doing Donald Trump much harm. So I'm not sure what benefit it would be for Biden to focus on that.

The same thing is true for Donald Trump and the Hunter case. I'm not sure what advantage that gives President Trump, except to say, we both have legal troubles in our families.

And I think that what that does is remove the focus of the debate from where voters really want it to be. That's on them and what these candidates are going to do to fix the problems in the country. For Biden, it's a much bigger risk, because he's got a record to defend, and the public right now don't think that record is very good. KEILAR: Yes, I mean, I can totally see your point in that. I will say

right now the legal problems are in Joe Biden's family, but, for Donald Trump, it is for him, although I think we would expect that Trump would expand it and try to cast aspersions on Biden, and we'd certainly see that.

Brett, it's great to have you. Thank you so much for your insights.

O'DONNELL: You're very welcome. Great to be with you.

KEILAR: And Jake Tapper and Dana Bash will be moderating the CNN presidential debate. That is going to be live from Atlanta beginning at 9:00 p.m. Eastern and streaming on Max next Thursday. Tune in 9:00 p.m.

Still to come: deadly wildfires and dangerous flooding in New Mexico, while, in Texas, water levels are rising along the Gulf Coast from the first named storm of the Atlantic hurricane season. We're following the latest.

Plus: a pillar of religion or a historical memento? That is the debate in Louisiana after the state's governor signs legislation requiring the Bible's Ten Commandments to be displayed in large font in all public school classrooms. We're going to have the co-author of that law ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:17:37]

SANCHEZ: Crews battling those deadly wildfires in New Mexico will get some relief today, as scattered storms are moving in, though they come with a cost, dangerous mudslides and more flooding.

And adding to that threat, remnants of Tropical Storm Alberto could hit the region tonight.

CNN's Ed Lavandera is there and filed this report.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ED LAVANDERA, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: There has been extensive rainfall overnight and into this Thursday morning around the mountain village of New Mexico and Ruidoso.

And one local fire -- officials say that that is helping dramatically and helping to control the spread of these massive wildfires. Two different wildfires in the areas around this mountain village have burned more than 23,000 acres since Monday, but that rainfall is also causing another set of problems. That rain has fallen on the burn scar along the along these mountain ridges and canyons.

And that has triggered flash flooding intensely in some areas, also mudslides and that sort of thing. So it's really becoming a treacherous situation in some places for these firefighting crews that are in this area trying to combat this fire. But the good news is, is that, as this local official mentioned, that the spread of the fire seems to have slowed down a bit. And, hopefully, those rains will continue to help extinguish these dramatic fires that have caused so much pain and devastation.

Officials here have also announced the death of a second person. They have not identified the victim, but the person was found in their car presumably trying to escape from the wildfires. And the first person that was announced as a victim was 60-year-old Patrick Pearson. He was in the Swiss Inn Chalet, a hotel where he lived.

But his family says he had recently broken his leg and was unable to drive. And his family is talking about how painful this moment is for them.

ZACH PEARSON, SON OF FIRE VICTIM: He was trying to get away from the fire as fast as he could, but with a broken leg and a brace, using a walker, trying to carry what you could.

It's heartbreaking to know that he didn't make it, to know that he was trying to run for his life, trying to get away from the fire.

LAVANDERA: Getting into the city of Ruidoso is very difficult at this point. We were there yesterday, but it is essentially a smoke-filled ghost town, very few people left there; 8,000 in all have evacuated.

[13:20:12]

More than 1,400 structures have also been damaged and destroyed because of these wildfires, and many people simply waiting for the wildfires to get under control, so they can once again return to the area and begin assessing the personal damage in their own lives.

That is what so many people are anxious and desperate to find out about -- back to you.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SANCHEZ: Our thanks to Ed Lavandera for that report.

Brianna, summer kicking off with some intense weather all over the map.

KEILAR: Yes, that's right. We're keeping our eye on Southern Texas as well, where you see Alberto weakening to a tropical depression, but it could still bring some dangerous storm surges to that area.

We have CNN's Rosa Flores, who is on the scene in Corpus Christi, following all of this for us.

Give us a sense of what's happening there. We see obviously your feet at least underwater there, Rosa.

ROSA FLORES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, the water keeps rising, Brianna. We have changed our live locations three times. We have to keep on moving because the water is rising. Let me show you where the water is coming from, first of all. This is Corpus Christi Bay. But you can see that the bay has eaten the streets here, eaten the parking lot.

Normally, this is a beautiful beach that people enjoy with their families. Well, that is not happening today. And what we have been doing actually is moving up and up and up to higher ground. We were live probably about maybe like half-a-mile here to my left.

But you can see that all of that is underwater. We also saw the Texas A&M Task Force 1 roll into this area. We have video of this. They rolled in. We talked to a few of the members. They told us that they were doing welfare checks. They were making sure that the people that live in this community were OK.

I asked them if these were rescues or if they were evacuating people, and they said that these were just welfare checks, people who wanted to leave the area could leave the area. I have called the city of Corpus Christi to get more details. I'm waiting to get more information on that.

But that just gives you a sense of the situation here in Corpus Christi, given the fact that we are hundreds of miles of where the thunderstorm or Tropical Depression Alberto now hit in Mexico. We're very far away from that area, and yet we're still seeing these effects.

Now, we also have video of sun -- Surfside Beach here in Texas, because this scene is duplicated all along the Texas Gulf Coast. You can see those dramatic pictures. These are homes that are on pilings. They're designed for the water to roll underneath, just because these people are used to the water rising, especially during thunderstorms or other weather events.

But, Brianna, that just gives you a sense of the situation here, even though this storm is hundreds of miles away from where we are, and yet we are still seeing water rising here -- Brianna, back to you.

KEILAR: Yes, what photos, what pictures we have coming in there, Rosa. Thank you so much.

And we will continue to follow this as the water is rising there in Corpus Christi.

Still to come: Louisiana public schools and colleges will now be required to display the Ten Commandments in classrooms after a new bill was signed into law by the governor there. Civil liberties groups are vowing action. The state's governor says, bring it on.

We're going to talk to one of the co-authors of the bill.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:28:12]

SANCHEZ: Critics of a new law say that, in Louisiana schools, the line between church and state is getting blurred.

The Republican governor just signed a law making Louisiana the first state in the country to require the Ten Commandments be posted in every public school classroom, from kindergarten through state-funded universities.

The law specifies the commandments must be displayed on a poster or framed document that's at least 11 by 14 inches and in -- quote -- "large, easily readable font."

Opponents have now vowed to sue, and at least one high school teacher is saying he will defy that law, calling it nonsense.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JACOB NEWSOM, HIGH SCHOOL TEACHER IN LOUISIANA: It's just foolish legislation. I mean, what's going to happen? A third grader is going to walk in a classroom and see "Thou shall not commit adultery" on the wall and say, well, I was really planning on committing adultery today, but since I read that on the wall, now I'm not going to do it?

It's just nonsense. We have real issues and...

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: Joining me now to discuss is one of the co-authors of House Bill 71, Louisiana State Representative Lauren Ventrella.

State Representative, thank you so much for being with us to share your perspective.

Does the bill specify what kind of penalty teachers like that will face?

STATE REP. LAUREN VENTRELLA (R-LA): There's -- there's not any penalty under the law.

It's just a -- a requirement that the classrooms should post what we know and believe is the moral fabric, the moral fiber of our country that should be on public display, that the schoolchildren should have the opportunity to read and be exposed to.

SANCHEZ: So, when you talk about the moral fiber of our country, you realize that this country is an amalgamation of cultures, right, and different faiths.

And, even within Christianity, people don't interpret those commandments the same way.

[13:30:00]