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1 Day Away: Biden & Trump Face Off Tomorrow Night In CNN Debate; Awaiting Key Rulings From Supreme Court On Trump Immunity, Abortion; Latimer Ousts Left-Wing "Squad" Member In NY Democratic Primary. Aired 9-9:30a ET

Aired June 26, 2024 - 09:00   ET

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

[09:00:00]

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: His desire to help people and inform people she says remains unchanged. She is not afraid, she said. She also said that he would be trying to get a pardon in the future. That was something they were looking to do some ways down the line. His lawyers saying that Assange, not under any kind of gag order, but clearly a beginning of a long process for them as they recover from all of it.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Nick Robertson, great to see you this morning. Thank you very much.

A new hour of CNN News Central stars right now.

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: History will be made on several levels when President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump take the stage for the CNN debate in Atlanta. With poll showing they're in a dead heat. We have new details on the candidate strategies.

And the U.S. Embassy in Moscow fighting back as Russia puts detained American journalist Evan Gershkovich on trial for what the State Department says is a sham espionage charge.

And cities swamped by a deluge of flooding, roadways washed out and river gouges still at major flood stage across the upper Midwest. When will that water subside?

And I'm Sara Sidner with John Berman and Kate Bolduan. This is CNN News Central.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: The big day is here, nearly here, basically here. Joe Biden and Donald Trump preparing to make history, the first time a sitting president debates a former president in this first debate of the 2024 presidential general election, all happening in Atlanta, Georgia, all happening on CNN.

This morning there's also new reporting on not just what the candidates hope to do on stage, but also what they plan not to do on stage. For Biden sources say that means going on the attack against Donald Trump but also not announcing any new policy. For Trump that means perhaps not interrupting so much during the debate, and instead allies are pushing him to focus in on issues they believe he has the upper hand on like inflation and immigration.

CNN's seen as Arlette Saenz and Kristen Holmes, they're speaking to the campaign and joining us now. Kristen, let me start with you. Talk about the approach and plan for Donald Trump. What are you learning today?

KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Donald Trump's approach to this entire thing has been completely untraditional. He has not sat in for any kind of real mock debate sessions. No one has played Joe Biden. No one has played our moderators, Jake Tapper and Dana Bash. It has been just a series of interviews and what they call, quote unquote, policy sessions, discussions. That is how Donald Trump picks up information.

Now, it was interesting, because he did a series of interviews of last several days, in which he has been very candid about his debate prep. At one time, he actually said the debate prep was hard. Yes, he did some reflections saying that in 2020, he thinks he was too aggressive with Joe Biden. He also talked about how he believes he's been preparing for this debate his whole life. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I think I've been preparing for it for my whole life, if you want to know the truth. And I'm not sure you can lock yourself into a room for two weeks or one week or two days and really learn what you have to know.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: Now, that's clearly a reference there to Joe Biden, who has been at Camp David preparing for this debate. But we are told by advisers that there was some concern, particularly around the fact that Biden was going to be really in this intensive prep. What did that mean for Thursday's debate? And it led to a lot of tempering of expectations from Trump's senior advisors after months of saying that Joe Biden was incompetent that he couldn't string together a sentence.

Yesterday, we had a call with reporters and senior advisors who essentially said that they believe that Joe Biden was going to show up on Thursday. So clearly, they are trying to manage the expectations while still getting at least attempting to get Donald Trump to stay on message particularly to talk about inflation, immigration and crime.

BOLDUAN: Arlette, talk now about the approach and plan for President Biden, in this debate. What are you learning?

ARLETTE SAENZ, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Kate, President Biden remains at Camp David running through these mock debates practicing at a podium as he is trying to prepare for every possible scenario in this matchup against Donald Trump. Now, as you noted, sources have told CNN, the President is now planning to unveil any new policy or personnel announcements, a strategy he did try to us back in 2020 during the Democratic primary debates. Instead, Biden's focus heading into tomorrow is trying to draw that stark contrast with Donald Trump. His campaign has said abortion rights, democracy and the economy are really key issues they expect that Biden could tee up in this debate. But they are also cognizant of the fact that foreign policy will loom large over this contest between the two men. The advisors say that they expect foreign policy to come up in some sort of manner in this debate. And they really believe that that is one of the key contrast points that they have between Biden and Trump heading into this debate.

[09:05:12]

Now, a campaign official said that, in the contrast that will be on display, he said, quote, President Biden stands up to dictators and defends freedom. Trump is a loser who is too dangerous and reckless to ever be anywhere close to the Oval Office again. So the President is expected if things do veer towards foreign policy to try to warn of what Trump's vision has been on the world stage, pointing to some of his comments when it comes to supporting or saying Russia can do things like do whatever they help they want to NATO countries, allied countries when they don't meet certain obligations.

It all comes as Biden, of course, is facing his own foreign policy pressure as well as there is frustration within the Democratic Party, progressive base of his party over the President's handling of the conflict between Israel and Hamas. But in addition to foreign policy, the President is also really expected to lean into making that democracy contrast with Trump. It is one of the central reasons why he ran in 2020 and 2024.

This morning, the campaign is rolling out an endorsement from former Republican Congressman Adam Kinzinger, who has warned that Trump is a direct threat to democracy. And so these are all efforts the Biden campaign is trying to highlight heading into tomorrow's debate against Trump.

BOLDUAN: Arlette, Kristen, thank you so much for your reporting, as always. And a reminder of this historic debate all happens here on CNN live in Atlanta, Georgia. See it on CNN and Max tomorrow night 9:00 p.m. Eastern. John?

BERMAN: So there's that tomorrow. But this morning, we are standing by at the Supreme Court where huge decisions could come down within an hour. More than a dozen cases are still outstanding, including immunity surrounding Donald Trump, and an important abortion case. CNN's Joan Biskupic is outside, no, she's not, despite what I was told she is not outside the court. I mean she's outside the court in so far as our bureau is technically set up somewhere outside the Supreme Court. It's not inside the Supreme Court building. But tell us what we expect to see. Oh, look, we don't know for sure. But the boxes are coming soon, right?

JOAN BISKUPIC, CNN SENIOR SUPREME COURT ANALYST: They are. And I'm about to rush over there, John. So that's why you thought I was probably already outside there. But I'll get there in a few minutes to be in my place in the courtroom for the 10 o'clock Eastern time announcement of opinions.

And John, we're about to see how the Supreme Court regards its place in American life. You know, we've got social policy dilemmas over abortion, homelessness. But, you know, the probably the weightiest case that we've got going is, you know, the one over former President Donald Trump's immunity, should he be shielded from criminal trial for some -- trying to subvert an election back in 2020.

We know that Special Counsel Jack Smith is trying to bring that prosecution on behalf of the U.S. Justice Department, essentially, on behalf of the American people. And that trial has been delayed. And we're expecting a decision on whether President -- former President Trump has immunity starting today or possibly tomorrow. We know the justices will be in, John, and also on Friday. And there's a chance that they will bust deadlines here and not finish up until early next week.

But we do not know yet what they're going to do just as we do not know how are they are going to rule on these cases, as well as other important pending ones on federal regulation of social media, and the environment. John?

BERMAN: We do not know what they're going to do. So it's hard to know which way the decisions go. But you're getting to such weighty cases here. Do you expect that there will be dissents read from the bench, which is relatively rare?

BISKUPIC: I do, John. This is the season for those kinds of oral statements from the bench. Usually, it's just the justice who wrote the majority opinion who reads excerpts. But first of all, they have shown so many divisions already. And the kinds of cases we have left, total 14, probably 12 rulings as they combine various cases. I expect maybe as soon as today to hear another dissent from the bench. So far, the only one we've had is when Justice Sonia Sotomayor really protested how the justices overturned a federal prohibition on machine guns that would have included bump stocks, dangerous bump stock. So I think we're going to hear some liberal dissents coming soon maybe within the hour, John.

BERMAN: All right. You will be there Joan Biskupic. Thank you very much. Sara?

BISKUPIC: Thank you.

SIDNER: All right. Ahead this morning, a big loss for a key progressive Democrat in Tuesday's primary race.

And today, American journalist, Evan Gershkovich's trial on espionage charges has begun. He's been in jail in Russia for more than a year already. The U.S. State Department and his employer is slamming the whole thing as a sham trial, the harsh reality he is facing ahead.

[09:09:57]

And a trail of devastation in the Upper Midwest, catastrophic flooding swallowing communities as multiple rivers reached their highest levels in 10 years.

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[09:15:01]

SIDNER: For the first time since a progressive so called Squad formed on Capitol Hill. A member has now lost at the ballot box. CNN projects New York Congressman Jamaal Bowman will not be reelected. Voters instead opted for Democratic challenger, George Latimer, a big win for him and the pro-Israel groups who backed him. Bowman has been an outspoken opponent of Israel during the war in Gaza and has had to apologize for some of his statements. But he did not back down after his loss.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. JAMAAL BOWMAN (D-NY): We will continue to fight for a free Palestine now. And God help us. God help us build a better world when everyone understands when we say free Palestine and is not anti- Semitic.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SIDNER: CNN senior national correspondent Miguel Marquez has more on the story. Miguel, the campaign was expected to highlight party divisions on Israel. What does Bowman's defeat signal to the Democratic Party?

MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Probably not a lot. This was a pretty moderate district. It became more moderate with redistricting over the last two cycles. And look, it wasn't just that Bowman was calling for free Palestine. It's that he -- it was the way he went at it and his take on it. He was calling it a genocide, 75 years of occupation. He was denying that there was any of the violence or the really extreme violence, the beheadings and the rape that took place on October 7th on Hamas's part. He doubted all that.

It really just set a very, very bad tone with, it's not a huge Jewish population in Westchester County, but it's a very moderate district. And George Latimer been around for decades. He's the county executive, a very powerful position there. Very, very well known. Here's how he put it to CNN last night.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE LATIMER (D-NY), CONGRESSIONAL CANDIDATE: When you lose touch with your district, when you're not on the ground enough, and when you're more concerned about your national profile that you're on, you know, the major media outlets, but you're not in the neighborhoods that you need to be in, all the neighborhoods you need to be in, then you lose the focus and you lose support in your district.

Well, let's be clear, I'm a progressive. I have done a number of things in my home county. We've passed a Clinic Access Law. We've done a wide range of things to help the LGBTQ community. We've had a Black Maternal Health Care Initiative. We've lowered the cost of childcare for people. We've electrified a bunch, all those are progressive goals.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MARQUEZ: And look, the progressive left is enraged over how much money AIPAC and its Super PAC put into this. It was a $25 million raise. AIPAC put in more than $15 million, just blanketing the airwaves in this district and the mailers just shoving them through the door. But what was most interesting is that both these candidates, none of those ads, none of those mailers mentioned Israel and Gaza, they talked about Biden and whether or not Jamaal Bowman could work with Biden. Latimer said he could work with him better.

What came back to haunt him was his vote against the infrastructure bill that Biden put forward because the Squad wanted something bigger, if you remember, so they voted against it as a way of gaining leverage in the House. And that at the end of the day, sunken. Back to you.

SIDNER: I'm just curious, because of that huge amount of money. And because this is one of the most expensive races, congressional races that we have seen in recent times. Does AIPAC have their sights set elsewhere?

MARQUEZ: Cori Bush in St. Louis, they will show -- her rhetoric has also been very, very strident and very angry over the conduct of the war in Israel. I think they'd like to see her. So it's a much different district. I think progressives are now beginning to raise money for her and looking for that fight as the next fight at -- where they believe AIPAC will focus its attention. Sara?

SIDNER: Miguel Marquez, thank you so much for that this morning. Kate?

BOLDUAN: A warning from 16 Nobel Prize winning economists about Donald Trump and inflation.

[09:19:07]

And a race to evacuate people living in Central Oregon now, a wildfire tripling in size overnight and still zero percent contained.

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BOLDUAN: A new warning from some of the nation's top economists who say a second Donald Trump presidency would, quote, reignite inflation. Sixteen Nobel Prize winning economists putting out this warning today worried that what it will mean if Donald Trump's promised policies become reality soon. CNN's Matt Egan has much more on this. He's joining us now. Matt, who are these economists and what are they most concerned about?

MATT EGAN, CNN REPORTER: Well, Kate, they're most concerned about what Trump's policies would do to inflation which by the way is also the number one concern among voters with this economy. Now these 16 Nobel Prize winning economists they're warning that Trump's policies wouldn't just failed to fix inflation, they would actually make matters worse. Let me read you the key line from this letter which was put out just yesterday. They wrote, we believe that a second Trump term would have a negative impact on the U.S.'s economic standing in the world and a destabilizing effect on the U.S.'s domestic economy. The letter which was organized by famed economist, Joseph Stiglitz, argues that the Trump policies would, quote, reignite inflation. They point to what they described as, quote, fiscally irresponsible budgets.

[09:25:19]

And research that finds that some of these policies would lift prices. In particular, there's the Trump tax plan. Remember, Trump wants to not just extend those 2017 tax cuts. He recently told CEOs in a closed door meeting that he wants to lower the corporate tax rate down to 20 percent. He says that this would make American companies more competitive on the global stage and it would help workers. But the nonpartisan CBO says it would also cost almost $5 trillion.

And the risk is that it would give the economy a sugar rush that it doesn't really need and then that would boost prices. There's also Trump's trade plan. He's calling for across the board tariffs of 10 percent in all U.S. imports, plus a 60 percent tariff on Chinese goods. He is trying to address these bipartisan concerns over China's trade tactics. But a recent report found that these tariffs would actually increase the annual cost for the typical U.S. family by $1,700 a year at a minimum.

There's also the immigration plan. Remember, Trump is calling for sweeping deportations and effectively an immigration crackdown. The problem there, of course, is that businesses they say they need more workers right now, not fewer. Now, the Trump campaign responded by blasting economists saying that the American people don't need, quote, worthless out of touch Nobel Prize winners to tell them which president put more money in their pockets.

And you look at the polling, I mean, voters do trust Trump more than President Biden on some of these issues. Trump is leading Biden by 18 points and an average of polling on inflation, which is the number one issue, 13 points on the economy. And Kate, again, that is despite the fact that some of these leading economists are warning that the Trump agenda could actually make inflation worse.

BOLDUAN: Matt, great to see you. Thank you so much for the reporting. John?

EGAN: Thank you.

BERMAN: What I love there is Matt talking to Kate in front of Matt talking to Kate in front of Matt talking to Kate there. It just goes on forever.

BOLDUAN: Exactly as it should be.

BERMAN: All right. It is an historic moment for our nation and for CNN. We have this debate tomorrow night right here on CNN, the earliest general election debate in history 9:00 p.m. for the whole world to see. And I'm joined now by CNN political commentators, Jamal Simmons and Scott Jennings. And the reason I say that I just spoke with the sometimes controversial Vivek Ramaswamy, a few minutes ago. But he said something that rang true whether you like him or not, which is, it's a good thing that America can look at both these candidates right now on one stage with none of the bells and whistles going on outside and make their judgment.

SCOTT JENNINGS, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: I totally agree. And I also think, especially it's happening early. I mean normally these things happen late, people have already made up their minds. I mean, the second debate in 2020 came so late in October, millions of people had already voted. So right now you can clear the clutter. Listen to the two candidates. You can do it on CNN. We're going to have the best anchors. We're going to have the best analysis. We're going to have the best questions. This is an amazing moment for American democracy, two presidents, the heads of their parties, articulating a vision for both parties. It's perfect.

JAMAL SIMMONS, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: You know, first of all, resign this guy. He's a promo foot for this. It's going to be awesome. I think it's absolutely right. We want to have these candidates standing on stage doing what they do. It's awesome, very helpful for President Biden, because as we all been watching the news and the polls, you know, he's been kind of struggling to get ahead of Donald Trump in these polls. And one of the pieces of logic of the Biden campaign is, the sooner people focus on Donald Trump, the more often -- the more they'll remember what they don't like about him, and maybe Joe Biden will have a stronger shot.

BERMAN: It's good for whoever does well, right?

JENNINGS: Yes.

BERMAN: It's good for whoever best articulates their vision, which is good for the American people, really. There is this historic, other historic aspect to it other than being so early, which is this is the Grover Cleveland, Benjamin Harrison thing, which is the first time first time you have --

SIMMONS: Tell me more.

BERMAN: -- first time you have a former president against the current president. Of course, they didn't debate on CNN, these guys are. But everyone knows both these candidates got so well. So what will they be watching for, for real?

JENNINGS: The definition of them, there's no to better define political figures probably in American history. So what are you looking for? Plausibility. One of the problems with Biden is that people don't think it's plausible that he could serve four more years. One of the problems with Trump is the way he left office last time, I thought, well, it's not plausible for him to ever come back.

[09:29:54]

So when you put them both on a stage, and even though some people don't like the choice, you're going to have to make a judgment, which of these two guys is a more plausible commander-in-chief for a four year period. So if you're Biden you're trying to beat back concerns about your, you know, your age.