Return to Transcripts main page

CNN News Central

Allies Urge Trump To Focus On Crime, Economy, Inflation At Debate; Bloomberg: Supreme Court Appears To Side With Biden Admin In Abortion Case, According To Draft Briefly Posted On Website. Aired 1- 1:30p ET

Aired June 26, 2024 - 13:00   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:00:30]

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: Thirty-two hours, but who's counting, until President Biden and former President Trump face off for the first time in nearly four years. CNN has new reporting about how the President plans to target Trump directly. While Trump allies are urging the former president to forget the past and focus on three key issues that are impacting voters.

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: Plus, a Supreme Court ruling that could have major impacts on misinformation found on social media. Though Justice Alito says the court may soon come to regret today's decision. We'll explain why.

And for the first time in months, a glimpse of American journalist Evan Gershkovich, in a Russian courtroom. "The Wall Street Journal" reporters espionage trial beginning today. What we're learning about the hearing and a message from his family. We're following these major developing stories and many more all coming in right here to CNN News Central.

KEILAR: Well, it is almost here. Hello, I'm Brianna Keilar alongside Boris Sanchez in Washington. President Biden and former President Trump are set to face off tomorrow night in the highly anticipated CNN debate. And it will be on this stage right here that you're looking at. This is brand new video of the CNN presidential debate site in Atlanta, Georgia. And it's gearing up to be an historic showdown, the first between a sitting president and a former president. And we're learning new details about how both camps are preparing in these critical final hours.

For President Biden, we're told his campaign wants to focus on domestic issues like the economy and reproductive rights. But on foreign policy, Biden hopes to paint a sharp contrast and attack Trump as being unfit for office.

SANCHEZ: As for President Trump, sources tell CNN that there's ramped up urgency to get him prepared for the debate, and that allies are urging him to focus on domestic issues where recent polling shows he's ahead, like inflation, immigration and crime. We're getting the very latest from both campaigns. Let's start at the White House with CNN's Priscilla Alvarez. So Priscilla, it's been a very busy few days for President Biden at Camp David, going through these run throughs. What's the latest there?

PRISCILLA ALVAREZ, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Well, and today is another one. Another day of debate prep for the president at Camp David, where he's huddling with his advisors, and also doing those mock debates with his advisors preparing for multiple scenarios. Now, we're learning a little bit about what the President won't do during the debate, and that is make any policy or personnel announcements. But the campaign sees this as an opportunity to draw a stark contrast with former President Donald Trump on three defining issues being the economy, abortion and democracy.

But I'm now being told by sources that the President is very much preparing to go on the offensive on immigration. That has been a key issue for former President Donald Trump. He has slammed Biden time and time again. And the President is preparing to point to his recent executive actions. Officials have taken a victory lap today saying that it has led to a drop in border crossings, and also preparing to call out what they say is for President Donald Trump's extremist agenda on this very issue.

Now, the President is also expected to talk about foreign policy. This has been a key area of focus for the President amid instability across the globe, and one where they think it's very clear the difference between President Biden and former President Donald Trump, particularly in underlining one of the key arguments from the Biden campaign, which is that Trump is dangerous. that he can't hold a second term, that he would particularly pose a danger to democracy and to global stability, if he were to take -- if he were to win in November.

So all of these issues are going to be bundled together in this debate stage, the President preparing for all of this. But what they hope to make clear here is, again, that contrast between the two candidates on all of these issues preparing for those attacks from former President Donald Trump especially on issues like immigration, while also making point -- making clear the point to Americans who may be tuning in for the first time that they think that Trump poses a real risk and danger to democracy.

KEILAR: All right, Priscilla Alvarez live for us from the White House.

And for more now on former President Trump's preparations ahead of the big debate, we have CNN's Alayna Treene with us. What's he doing today, Alayna?

ALAYNA TREENE, CNN REPORTER: Well, look, as much as Donald Trump's team likes to argue that he is not doing as much preparation or really they don't like to use the term debate prep at all. They're really relishing that contrast with Joe Biden, who as Priscilla just laid out has been at Camp David for week, leading up to the debate. Donald Trump is of course preparing.

[13:05:04] And over the last few days, he's been in Mar-a-Lago. He's been continuing to have what his team has dubbing, quote unquote, policy discussions, more informal opportunities for Donald Trump to pick the brains of his advisors, VP contenders, his former administration officials, and really walk through a series of key areas that they want him to focus on.

Now, I'm told by Donald Trump's team, that they are really pushing him to talk more about kitchen table issues, than go on a rant about his grievances, something we've seen Donald Trump do time and time again, on the campaign trail. And really, there's three areas that they think he is strongest on, and also topics that he polls, you know, better on than Joe Biden, and that includes immigration, the economy, and crime.

And it's interesting, because those are some of the similar topics that Priscilla just laid out that the Biden team wants to focus on. But when I talk to Trump's team, they really think that those are the issues Joe Biden is the most vulnerable on when you look ahead to November. And so those are the key areas that they want to be pushing Donald Trump too.

Now, part of that conversation behind the scenes is also to rein in some of that aggressive rhetoric. Remember, back in 2020, during the first debate between Donald Trump and Joe Biden, Trump was very aggressive. He repeatedly cut Joe Biden off. He wouldn't really let him get a lot of words in at one point. And we did see Donald Trump fall in the polls shortly after that. It's actually something Trump addressed candidly, in an interview this week, saying, you know, some people say I lost that first debate, but that I won the second.

So this is something I know that his team has been talking with him about behind the scenes. And then the other thing I just want to point your attention to, is the expectation game, the way that they are trying to raise the bar. We've heard a lot of Donald Trump's surrogates over the past several days try to argue that sure, even though over the past several months, they've been essentially calling Joe Biden senile. Now, they're trying to argue that he's going to be jacked up and basically claiming that he's going to be taking something. Take a listen to what how speaker Mike Johnson said yesterday on CNN.

I'm sorry, I think we don't have that sound bite. But anyway, Johnson had told Kaitlan Collins that he thinks that Trump will be or excuse me, Joe Biden will be taking some sort of energy drinks kind of along the same rhetoric that we've heard in the language we've heard from Donald Trump himself over the past several days. Back to you guys.

SANCHEZ: I can't stand it when a sound bite doesn't fire any time soon.

KEILAR: It's the worst.

SANCHEZ: Such a weird feeling. But Alayna --

KEILAR: You did such a good paraphrase.

SANCHEZ: -- you handled it like a pro. Alayna Treene, thank you so much for that.

Let's discuss now with CNN political commentator and Democratic strategist Maria Cardona. We also have with us former Trump administration official, Matt Mowers. Maria, let's start with you because there's something that struck me about Priscilla's reporting as it relates to what Alayna was talking about. The Trump campaign sniffs an opportunity when it comes to the issue of immigration. They believe it's a weakness for President Biden, Priscilla was just saying Biden is going to come out aggressive on immigration. How?

MARIA CARDONA, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Yes. And I think that the Biden campaign has a terrific opportunity to not just flip the script, but to lay out for the American people that it is President Biden, his administration and Democrats, the ones who are responsible on this issue, the only ones who have actually offered a solution. Because when it came time for Republicans and Trump to be able to solve a big part of this, which was their border security bill, their own very conservative border security bill, Donald Trump told his people in the Senate, don't do this, don't pass this, don't give Biden a win, because I need this issue for the election in order to use it as a cudgel. That is very clear to the American people, the priorities for Donald Trump right now.

He cares about himself. He cares about using this issue to weaponize it. He doesn't care about solving this. He doesn't care about giving the American people what they deserve, which is a government that actually works. That's what President Biden stepped in with his executive action on border security. And we have seen with the numbers, they are drastically down 40 percent less border crossings. And now with the recent executive action on expanding legal pathways, that common sense, balanced approach is what most Americans we have seen polls show this, most Americans, Latinos, swing voters, that's what they want.

They understand that that is something that is focused on a solution. And so yes, I hope Biden comes out strong on this, because that is where the American people will really see that stark contrast between who's fighting for them, who's fighting for solutions, and who is in it for himself.

KEILAR: How do you think that, Matt, that former President Trump is going to address that topic and also address and certainly poll shows that immigration may be something that works for him, but he does have some vulnerabilities on it comes to family separation and some other policies. How do you see him addressing it?

MATT MOWERS, FORMER TRUMP ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: With all due respect from Maria, I'm not sure that as my friends from the South that say that dog don't hunt, right? I just don't see the American people and polls show this, are going to buy an election year conversion from President Biden. And the reason they're not is because they've seen what he's been doing, the actions he's been taking since the day he became President.

[13:10:08] I mean look, I worked in the State Department under President Trump. I was there when the Remain in Mexico policy was negotiated. And yet on day one, the executive order, executive action, President Biden rescinded the Remain in Mexico policy, it took additional actions throughout his presidency which is actually incentivize folks to come here illegally.

And the action he took last week and Maria calls expanded pathways to citizenship, a lot of folks will call that amnesty. He is now actually on the side of trying to talk and defend illegal immigration. At the same time, when you had President Trump just in the last two weeks talk about expanding legal migration when he's talking about providing visas to those who actually come to the United States to get educated. Those who have college degrees, giving them an automatic green card to stay here in the United States so they can then go into work, that's really set up a real big policy debate for tomorrow night.

Donald Trump talking about pathways for legal citizenship versus Joe Biden, the last couple of weeks doubling down on illegal immigration.

SANCHEZ: Can I ask you, you're talking about election year conversion? Well, what about that, could the same argument be made on that when it comes to the politics?

MOWERS: -- wouldn't because Donald Trump in 2016, he expressed some openness to this, and he and even some of the immigration hawks like Stephen Miller and his administration, were willing to talk about how you can attract high skilled labor to the United States, you know, they talked about --

CARDONA: They never did it though.

MOWERS: Well, they -- right. But they also --

CARDONA: They never did it.

MOWERS: But they also had a Congress as hamstringing them in the last two years. And they have said that this will be a priority. They want to get rid of what they call chain migration, folks who can come here just because a family member has already here. And they actually want to change and shift the paradigm of immigration policy here in the United States to make sure it's focused on those with high skills who can contribute to the economy.

CARDONA: But see, what you're saying is not credible, because of the language, you mentioned this, Brianna, the language that Trump uses when he talks about immigration, and I think he's going to go full bore on this in the debate. And I hope that he does, because President Biden can turn to him and say, you ripped babies from the arms of their mother, you separated families, there's a whole generation of immigrants that will grow up without their parents.

I am going to do this to make sure that families stay together. And that, frankly, our workforce is expanded, which is what our corporations and CEOs want. KEILAR: Let's put a pin in the immigration conversation, because we could dig in on that and be here for hours. And I'm sure we'll see some of those arguments at the debate. But I want to ask you, Matt, about temperament because Alayna was just talking about the expectations game, the Republican side sort of setting expectations for President Biden, they had been calling him senile, or all sorts of allusions to his mental fitness and his age. And now they're talking about him potentially being on some kind of drug. I think that sort of betrays and acknowledges that Biden is a bit sharper than they give them credit for.

MOWERS: Well, look, I mean, clearly President Biden can show up for big moments. You saw him do it during the State of the Union address. Now that was on a teleprompter. That was what the script. In fact, the one moment where he kind of got off script, which was when he had that back and forth with Marjorie Taylor Greene, he got Lincoln Riley's name incorrect. It wasn't the best moment for him. So we'll see how that parlays into debate setting.

But look, I think the truth is based on temperament, Donald Trump just needs to try keep it in between the buoys tomorrow night. And you know, when you go into debate, and I've run for office before at lower level, but, you know, you're on live television, it's a lot of the same human emotions. The goal is you've got some candidates go out there and try to write down every policy prescription that notepad they're given.

The smart ones go out and say, what are my guiding points? If you're Donald Trump, you should keep just a couple guiding points. I'm strong, he's weak. He failed, I won't. And honestly, I throw in one last thing, if I'm Donald Trump, right down Hunter Biden. I think he actually has a unique opportunity. It's something he's already put out there on Truth Social to say, you know, what, Hunter Biden would have been prosecuted for him for his last name the same way I would have been prosecuted if I weren't running for president. We need to unify this country. I'm going to go out and try to unify the country by pardoning Hunter Biden.

If he goes out and does those three things, keeps about weakness versus strength. He keeps about the track record under the Trump administration under the Biden administration, and it shows that he has a little ability to unify America. I think he knocks out the park tomorrow night.

CARDONA: Because Donald Trump is so good at keeping him between the goalposts, right? He is so good at keeping a good temperament. But the Biden campaign and President Biden does need to be prepared for a Donald Trump that shows up disciplined and they are. They will absolutely be prepared for that. And that way, I believe the contrast on policy and, yes, on temperament and on fitness for office will be even starker and will be a great thing for President Biden.

KEILAR: Well, this was a great debate. So we'll see how tomorrow goes.

MOWERS: Also on CNN.

KEILAR: Also on CNN.

SANCHEZ: We'll get podiums next time. That way it's more formal. Yes.

CARDONA: Please do. Yes.

KEILAR: And we don't need to mute your microphones.

CARDONA: There we go.

KEILAR: So, thank you heard that. Maria, Matt, appreciate it very much.

Be sure to watch the first presidential debate of the 2024 election moderated by our Jake Tapper and Dana Bash that will air live tomorrow at 9:00 p.m. Eastern on CNN and Max.

[13:15:01]

And ahead this hour on CNN News Central, the Supreme Court handing the Biden administration really an election year win. What this latest ruling allows the White House to do.

SANCHEZ: Plus, appearing inside a glass cage with his head shaved. We're following the first day of American, Evan Gershkovich's espionage trial in Russia.

And new concerns about critical drug shortages in the fight against cancer. These major stories and more are coming up this hour on CNN News Central.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:20:06]

KEILAR: All right, we have some breaking news. And this is some pretty big breaking news because we are learning that the Supreme Court is poised to allow abortions in emergency situations that are not life threatening. The justices were weighing a challenge by the Biden administration on aspects of Idaho's strict abortion law, which bans that procedure in nearly all cases. And what's really interesting about this is, we were not supposed to become aware of this today.

SANCHEZ: Right. Yes. The Supreme Court had announced their set of decisions for the day, we were waiting until tomorrow, possibly Friday, possibly even to Monday to get the rest of their decisions. It's been a blockbuster session for the court. And this was apparently inadvertently posted online. We should know that this may not be the final ruling. There may be some word changes, right? But it hasn't been released by the court.

Yet a copy of this opinion was obtained by Bloomberg Law. It appeared briefly on the courts website, as the justices were issuing two other opinions earlier in the day. What's notable about this, is that last year, to the month when the Supreme Court overturned Roe versus Wade, we all knew about it because it was leaked that decision to the press ahead of time, KEILAR: Two years ago, right?

SANCHEZ: Rather, yes, two years ago. Yes.

KEILAR: And that's right. And so we had this sort of preview of it different situation, of course, but that same effect, right, of the cat's kind of out of the bag, and as we await --

SANCHEZ: The issue that is so central to potentially the election.

KEILAR: Yes, that's right. And we have our Paula Reid here with us now to talk about this. Paula, what an unusual situation when it comes to a blockbuster ruling here.

PAULA REID, CNN CHIEF LEGAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Yes, truly astonishing. And this reporting comes from our colleagues at Bloomberg Law. They're reporting what they describe, as an opinion from the Supreme Court. Now, they also acknowledged and an updated version of their story that this may not be the final opinion. And this is the biggest abortion case that the Supreme Court would rule on, since it overturned Roe v. Wade. And they say what they saw briefly on the website would allow abortions to be performed in emergency situations in Idaho to protect the health of a mother.

Now, this case focused on the question of what you do when you have a very restrictive state law in this case in Idaho only had exceptions to allow abortion when the life of a mother is at risk. But that came up against a more permissive federal law that would allow abortions to be or to require abortions to be performed to protect the health or a catastrophic consequence for the mother. Now, again, this is one of the biggest abortion related questions to go before the Supreme Court.

And here the Supreme Court has issued a statement about what appears to be another leak saying that, yes, confirming a document was inadvertently and briefly uploaded to the courts website. They stress that they, quote, opinion in the case has not been released and would be issued in due course. But as you said before, what is truly astonishing, of course, the decision would be significant. What is astonishing is this is the second time that a massive abortion related decision would have been leaked out of the Supreme Court.

Now Bloomberg Law also reporting that what they saw would have been a six-three decision with justices Thomas, Alito and Gorsuch dissenting.

SANCHEZ: Paula, please stand by. We want to bring in CNN's Joan Biskupic, who tracks the Supreme Court closely as well. And Joan, the reporting here suggests the court is going to say that it shouldn't have acted so rationally, that it's going to let the litigation proceed in the normal course. I'm reading here some analysis by CNN Supreme Court analyst and professor, Steve Vladeck, effectively this means that the injunction allows emergency abortions in Idaho to go back into effect as the appeal to the Ninth Circuit continues.

So effectively, Joan, in layman's terms, this means that this is a temporary victory for the Biden administration. JOAN BISKUPIC, CNN SENIOR SUPREME COURT ANALYST: It very much is because the justices intervened in this case when lower court proceedings were still going on. They took it and they even put a pause on a district court's decision. A district court judge had said that the way that Idaho law was impinging on the federal protection of emergency room procedures was actually putting women's physical and emotional health at risk. So there had been a lower court judge who said, no, this Idaho law cannot surpass a federal law dating to the 1986 that guarantees needy people access to emergency rooms. And as the Biden administration said, even for women who would be suffering complications of a pregnancy and might need an emergency abortion.

So the justices went and intervened. Obviously they now realize they intervened prematurely. The law language that Bloomberg has reported is called dismissed as improvidently granted. Now Boris, that does sound legalistic but what it basically says is, we're not touching this, we took it. We should not have taken it. We should not have interfered with that lower court ruling that essentially was going to let the proceedings on the merits play out.

[13:25:21]

So two really important points here. The first is that women in emergency situations, as I say, from any kind of complications from pregnancy, or anything else that would require for their own health, to be able to obtain an abortion procedure in an emergency room, would still be able to obtain -- would now be able to obtain it. The Supreme Court has let that Idaho law take effect over federal protections.

The other thing that is so astonishing, and that is really laid at the feet of the Supreme Court more than the past abortion leak in the Dobbs case two years ago, is that this with the justices, their court personnel, apparently inadvertently putting up this decision on the website briefly today and seen by Bloomberg, seen by Bloomberg, and they obviously, were able to see it enough to know that those three far right conservatives were dissenting from this order, essentially throwing out the case, and probably writing something about why it should be thrown out.

And that that became public, out of the normal course. And one final thing just for politics and the fact that we've got our CNN debate tomorrow night is that, as you both know, Brianna and Boris, abortion is one of the most critical issues for the political campaigns that are under way. And what it looks like, again, just if we're just going to cut through how this came to light. And just think of substantively what's happening here is that it looks like the court is essentially kind of sidestepping, removing itself from the debate over abortion, at least in this chapter by saying they're not going to rule.

Of course, they still have out there their momentous decision of two years ago when they struck down constitutional abortion rights nationwide in that Dobbs case. But this means that there's not kind of a second chapter from the Supreme Court, if indeed it plays out the way it looks like it's playing out, according to the Bloomberg obtaining of this draft document.

KEILAR: Yes. It raises a lot of questions about that. Joan, if you can standby for us. We do have more questions for you.

BISKUPIC: Sure.

KEILAR: But I do want to bring Paul Reid back in. Paula, I understand you have some new information.

REID: We have a full statement from the Supreme Court. I referenced it earlier when we're breaking this story. But in response to the reporting from Bloomberg Law, the Supreme Court has issued a statement and I'm going to read it in full. They're saying, quote, the opinion in Moyle v. United States and Idaho v. United States, this case has not been released. The courts publications unit inadvertently and briefly uploaded a document to the courts website. The court's opinion and Moyle v. United States and Idaho v. United States will be issued in due course. So it seems in this statement, they are making a differentiation between documents, a document and an opinion, where he's in questions about whether what Bloomberg Law Reports that it saw was the final opinion.

Now in their story, Bloomberg also acknowledges that it's not clear if what they saw on the website is in fact, the final opinion here. Now, we will find out soon enough, we expect that these major opinions will be released in the coming days. But as you and Joan, were just talking about, a lot of folks that have been wondering and waiting for the Trump immunity decision. But this abortion related decision is one that could potentially have really the biggest impact on the outcome of the 2024 races in November, because it has been an issue that historically has galvanized a lot of conservatives, but after Roe v. Wade was overturned, it is something that Democrats have actually used to turn out their votes.

So the actual opinion in this case really matters. So it will be interesting to see over the next few days if the Supreme Court releases this and if it is indeed the final opinion or if what Bloomberg says that it saw was merely a draft. But it appears in the statement from the Supreme Court, they were referring to it as a document insisting that the opinion has not been released, but will be released in due court.

SANCHEZ: Joan, just a question about logistics here to the point that Paula just made in the statement that the court describing this as a document and not an actual opinion, if this document largely matches the opinion when it's released, why wasn't the opinion then just released today?

BISKUPIC: OK. I think that's a great question. And this is what sometimes will happen is that there'll be close to issuing it and someone feels like it needs to be pulled back. Opinions on occasion are pulled back for, you know, maybe, in this case, I bet it's something in the dissent.

[13:29:55]

When the justices dismissed the cases improvidently granted, often they do that just one sentence.