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New Polling Shows Democratic Presidential Nominee Kamala Harris Leading Republican Presidential Nominee Donald Trump in Three Battleground States; Donald Trump Claims Crowd Sizes for Kamala Harris Campaign Rallies are Fake; Trump Campaign Says It was Cyber Hacked by Foreign Actors; Defense Secretary Austin Orders Guided-Missile Submarine to Middle East. Aired 8-8:30a ET

Aired August 12, 2024 - 08:00   ET

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

[08:00:00]

ROLAND GUTIERREZ, (D) TEXAS STATE SENATOR: We tried over 21 bills in the last legislative session. We'll go back in January and we'll reiterate many of those bills. But you have a Republican controlled legislature in Texas that simply doesn't want to move forward on even the most common sensical things, from accountability to transparency, or even raising an age limit which is all the families truly asked for, to 21 to access an AR-15, just like you would a handgun in Texas.

We are in a place where Republican leadership -- this will happen again because of the Republican leadership in Texas. And I hate to politicize this, but it's the truth. The lack of gun safety bills is what got us here, and it will continue again in Texas. We have to remember that what happened in Uvalde was a lack of leadership for certain, but it was a failure at every level before, during, and as you see now, it continues still today.

SARA SIDNER, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Texas State Senator Roland Gutierrez, thank you so much for joining us.

A new hour of CNN NEWS CENTRAL starts right now.

Momentum in some key states, the new numbers out today showing Kamala Harris gaining ground while the Democratic ticket is trying to ride the wave of enthusiasm now into the Democratic Convention.

And new overnight, the United States now sending a guided missile submarine to the Middle East as Israel braces for an attack by Iran that new reporting suggests could be large scale.

And so long Paris, hello, Los Angeles. Wrapping up the Summer Games and laying out the red carpet now for its next stop in L.A.

I'm Kate Bolduan with Sara Sidner and John Berman. This is CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

With the Democratic National Convention just a week away, can Donald Trump curb the Kamala Harris momentum? Can Harris keep it going? Key questions as new polling over the weekend finds a transformed 2024 race. Harris is now leading Trump among likely voters in three key battleground states, states that just weeks ago Trump was leading President Biden.

In the coming days, we will see Biden make his first joint appearance with Harris since he dropped out of the race. We will also see Donald Trump do something he has not done in weeks, host a midweek rally.

CNN's Isaac Dovere is leading us off. Isaac, Harris is sort of hunkering down today with her team after a cross-country blitz that we saw them go to many different important states. How are they going to keep this, or how are they planning to keep this momentum going? Because it certainly has shifted.

ISAAC DOVERE, CNN SENIOR REPORTER: Yes. Look, this has been a very good three weeks for the Harris campaign. Remember, it's only been three weeks. And so the goal here is over the course of this week to tee up what will, they hope, be a strong Democratic convention next week to continue this momentum. She's got that event with Biden on Thursday where they're going to talk about lowering costs and really connect her both politically to Joe Biden, but also to what they feel or the successes of the administration in making the economic case to Americans that they can feel in their lives directly.

But at the same time, the Harris folks are not getting ahead of themselves. Just yesterday, she was in San Francisco for a fundraiser, and she said about all these poll numbers that are coming out, she said, "I've never been one to really believe in the polls, whether they're up or they're down. What we know is the stakes are so high and we can take nothing for granted in this moment."

Of course, with all of this, most people believe that this election will, no matter what happens with the popular vote, come down to at most a couple of hundred thousand votes between a couple of states as it did in 2016 and in 2020. That may be enough to decide the Electoral College one way or the other.

SIDNER: Isaac Dovere, thank you so much for your reporting this morning. John?

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: This is all with the Democratic Convention just one week away exactly.

And how is Donald Trump responding to the new reality? Wild lies about crowd size. First, there was Trump saying that he drew bigger crowds than Martin Luther King Junior -- wrong. Now he is saying the crowds for Vice President Harris are A.I. generated, so outlandish it is almost hard to follow.

CNN's Steve Contorno is with us now. And I have to say, if you read the articles over the last three days, people inside the Republican circles are trying to send messages and Donald Trump is saying stop this.

STEVE CONTORNO, CNN REPORTER: That's right, John. They want him to focus on the areas where they believe that they have some traction against Harris and Walz, including immigration, the economy, inflation, crime. Instead, Donald Trump spent the weekend attacking Vice President Harris's has crowd size. Now, he has, of course, been caught in inflating his own crowd sizes

in the past. Well, now he's trying to diminish her crowd sizes, saying, quote, nobody attended her Michigan rally, and she should be, quote, disqualified over, quote, fake crowd pictures.

[08:05:08]

The problem is this is a rightwing conspiracy that is easily debunked by the countless photos and videos of that Michigan event that showed thousands of people in Detroit hangar waiting for her to arrive. And it's just sort of part and parcel of the scattershot of attacks that we have seen from the former president in the recent weeks. Over the weekend at his Montana rally, he was attacking, for example, Jon Tester, the Democratic senator in the state, over his weight. He said Walz was, quote, very freakish. He said the Harris supporters were pink-haired Marxists, looters, perverts, the flag burners, Hamas supporters, drug dealers, gun grabbers, and human traffickers. Just an example of how they have struggled to get Donald Trump to stay on message in attacking the vice president and this new enthusiasm around this Democratic ticket.

BERMAN: Steve, I'm old enough to remember 2016 when Donald Trump on the campaign trail used to proclaim I love WikiLeaks, calling on people not just to hack Hillary Clintons campaign, but to release more details there. Now his campaign, he says, or his campaign says has been the victim of a hack.

CONTORNO: That's correct, John. And there's still a lot we don't know at this point, but his campaign is saying that they were the victim of a hack at the expense of Iran. Now Iran has denying this, but they say that a high-ranking official, hackers broke into their accounts and took some emails and communications.

This all came to light because "Politico" reported it had received emails including internal communications and a research dossier on J.D. Vance that the campaign had put together. The campaign saying these documents were obtained legally from our foreign -- from foreign sources hostile to the United States. And they are saying if you use them, then you are helping foreign adversaries.

Again, as you said, John, though, back in 2016, Donald Trump was encouraging Russia and others to go after then candidate Clinton's emails, and he actually, during the race often talked about those emails even after it had been reported that they were the subject of a hack.

BERMAN: Steve Contorno, great to see you this morning. Thank you very much.

Kate, I think it was you and I who were on TV when Donald Trump said, I love WikiLeaks. I think we covered that in real time.

BOLDUAN: As with every important moment of that --

BERMAN: Yes.

BOLDUAN: -- of 2016. We lived it live on TV together.

Joining us right now is the former vice chair of the DNC Michael Blake, and Jesse Hunt, former communications director for the NRSC, the Senate Republicans' campaign arm. It's good to see both of you.

Jesse, let's start with what John and Steve Contorno were just talking about, this reporting that the Trump campaign says that it's been hacked and that an anonymous source, or hackers circulating vetting material on what the campaign had on J.D. Vance. If this all bears out, if Iran is behind it, this is dangerous for both campaigns, dangerous for all parties. Do you think the RNC and the DNC are ready for this this time yes.

JESSE HUNT, FORMER COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR, NATIONAL REPUBLICAN SENATORIAL COMMITTEE: Obviously, I've worked at several party committees. They've always hardened their cybersecurity defenses, particularly after what we saw in 2016. There have been other attempts since then. It happens pretty regularly in terms of threats. I do think it's quite important that we acknowledge that this is likely some sort of retribution after Donald Trump took out the Quds Force commander Qasem Soleimani back when he was in office. It's not too shocking to come to this conclusion after the Trump campaign came out and said that they believe the Iranians are behind it.

But obviously, everyone has to monitor their electronic communications whenever you're dealing with hostile foreign actors, and I'm sure the Trump campaign has taken the appropriate steps now.

BOLDUAN: Yes. And Mike, 2016 was a sad crash course for Dems on what hacking and influence campaigns can do in U.S. elections as John was just talking about. I want to read for you what Adam Schiff is saying about this, this time. He's saying "In 2016, the intelligence community moved much too slow to properly identify the hacking and dumping scheme carried out by Russia to divide Americans and benefit the Trump campaign. The IC has since made improvements but should act quickly here."

What are the lessons? What do the campaigns need to be doing now in talking to voters about now when it comes to this?

MICHAEL BLAKE, FORMER VICE CHAIR, DNC: Well, first, we have to recognize that you have to take it seriously, that if there is an actual hack that occurred, it is serious and it's a national security concern. We can't ignore that at all. Second, you have to communicate the protections that you will take in advance and communicate the seriousness of the situation, or in this instance, in some ways, the seriousness of the matter.

[08:10:08]

We do have to put into context, though, as was said at the beginning, that in 2016 when it was for his advantage, Donald Trump was encouraging Russia to hack Hillary Clinton's emails. Now it's being communicated that somehow he was hacked because he is a threat to others. This is the same man who had national security documents in his bathroom. I'm sure he probably wrote down his password on a piece of paper and then gave it to his friends.

So we've got to be clear about what steps are they actually taken. This is why it's important to find organizations that do this work every single day, Exelon in Maryland, Cyber Nation in New York, those that actually have those serious detailed steps that can be taken, because at the end of the day, if your leader of the free world can't protect their own security, how can they protect your own?

BOLDUAN: Jesse, I also want to ask you kind of the latest conversation where it is on the campaign trail. J.D. Vance doing a round of interviews. Dana Bash sat down with him and asked him for his take on what Donald Trump said, starting with what he said at the NABJ, questioning Kamala Harris has racial identity. Let me play this for you.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. J.D. VANCE, (R) VICE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I believe that Kamala Harris is whatever she says she is, but I believe, importantly, that President Trump is right that she's a chameleon. She pretends to be one thing in front of what audience, she pretends to be something different in front of another audience.

Look Dana, she's not running a political campaign. She's running a movie. She only speaks to voters behind a teleprompter. Everything is scripted.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: So this chameleon, the chameleon attack line, or trying to make it stick on Kamala Harris, Jesse, is something I find interesting because I actually thought that the Trump campaign would stick with what they had been trying kind as she -- right when she got into the race, was trying to label her a San Francisco liberal. Do you think this kind of idea of, the chameleon idea is a better label for an opponent?

HUNT: Well, after Kamala Harris has been in this race now as the nominee for three weeks and hasn't sat for a single tough interview, done a single press conference, it does leave a degree of ambiguity out there. She has no policy positions that she's advocated for. We've witnessed her try to reinvent herself a bit.

BOLDUAN: She has advocated for policy positions. I know that is also something I heard from J.D. Vance yesterday. But yes, you are correct. She has not sat for interviews. Keep going.

HUNT: Yes. And she's used staff to flipflop on key issues like banning fracking, Medicare for all. These are all things that are going to be very difficult to explain away to independent voters in a state like Pennsylvania, right? It was very clear where she was going with that policy flipflop. And I think right now, Kamala Harris could do the American people a huge benefit by actually sitting down and answering tough questions. She's obviously running from the fact that she inherited this ticket from Joe Biden. She's responsible for a lot of the disruption that we've seen here in America, 20 percent cumulative inflation, a porous southern border that's bringing fentanyl into the communities across the country. She has to answer for all of these issues because, as she's always said, she was the last person in that room with Joe Biden.

BOLDUAN: Mike, final word to you. Fold this idea in to also with the momentum we're seeing in the polling coming out from "The New York Times"-Siena College polling, showing the race is tight. There's no clear leader, but very clearly Kamala Harris has momentum in the polling, especially in battleground states. If she's not sitting for interviews, does that reflect that she is -- what do you think that reflects? Do you think this as, I know, Jesse has called it a sugar high is what he thinks he sees in the polling, but how do you see that playing here?

BLAKE: I think the Republicans are scrambling because they know they have a disastrous ticket. So their argument is that the vice president has just inherited this. So there's a lot of subtle sexism and nonsense within these kind of comments. She's the vice president. She was elected that if something happened to the president, she would step up. This is the reason why there's such support around it. And because of the supposed sugar high and the things that they say that are so concerning, as your own screen is indicating, she's up in the three battleground states.

So the reality is they can continue to have their nonsensical answers, and we will continue to see that people will stand in support of Kamala Harris. If the election were today, she would be elected president. And so the comparison is that they will say she hasn't rolled out policies. Not true. When she was in Las Vegas, she talked about what happened around tips for workers. When we talk about the vision of it, it's the reason why she stood up when it comes to maternal health. They don't have a vision while she does.

And they should also probably be concerned when J.D. Vance continues to talk. The other Vance being Chris Vance, the one who was the former chair Washington state who said Republicans with any conscience for the country would stand with Kamala Harris. If you actually want to do what's right, you have a vice president that is ready, who could probably protect her passwords, probably protect our national security, as opposed to the opposition who don't have a vision, don't have a policy, and don't have a platform.

BOLDUAN: A very good display of the battle of it all right here in this conversation.

[08:15:00]

Gentlemen, thank you both -- Sara.

SIDNER: Ukrainian Armed Forces pushing further into Russian territory. What that looks like and what's happened there.

And, a fast-spreading wildfire now burning homes near the ancient city of Athens.

Also, after Steph Curry led Team USA to the gold over France, French McDonalds is throwing shade, but they got the gold.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:20:12]

BERMAN: Breaking overnight, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin ordered a guided missile submarine to the Middle East and asked a carrier strike group to get there as quickly as possible.

Israel is bracing for a potential attack by Iran. An attack some anticipate could come within days. CNN national security correspondent, Natasha Bertrand is at the Pentagon and you get a sense of this new urgency everywhere -- Natasha.

NATASHA BERTRAND, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Yes, John, the US is really trying to send a very strong message here to Iran and its proxies to essentially back off. And the way they are doing that is by really increasing the number of assets that they have in the region right now, including as you mentioned, by signalling, that they are sending this guided missile submarine, this nuclear powered submarine to the region, something that is extremely rare for the Pentagon to actually announce.

Usually, these submarines operate in relative secrecy. And so, to announce that this submarine, which is armed with dozens and dozens of cruise missiles, is going to be deployed to the region really is sending a very loud signal here to Tehran and its proxies that the US is prepared to act on behalf of the Israelis to defend the Israelis if Iran decides to launch an attack on Israel.

And, in addition to that, the US has also announced that it is going to be speeding up the deployment of the USS Lincoln carrier to the region which is set to replace the carrier that is currently in the area, the Roosevelt. It has been operating elsewhere; now, it is going to move quicker to the region following this call that Secretary Austin had with Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant.

All of these deployments were made public last night following that call in which Austin reiterated to the Israeli defense minister that the US is prepared to do whatever it takes to defend its ally.

Now of course, this all comes as the region is bracing for this retaliation by Iran following the Israeli or presumed Israeli assassination of Hamas' most senior political leader in Tehran earlier this month. It has been really widely expected that Iran was going to retaliate somehow. Really, no one knows exactly when or how that is going to happen.

But the Pentagon now, placing a number of very strategic assets in the region to try to calm tensions, but also of course, be prepared to help Israel respond if necessary -- John.

BERMAN: A region on edge this morning.

Natasha Bertrand, thank you very much -- Kate. BOLDUAN: We also have new details on what investigators recovered from the scene of the plane crash in Brazil that killed 62 people falling 17,000 feet in under one minute, we've got that for you.

And, it was the most volatile week for markets since the pandemic. So, what is Wall Street going to do now? Will this be another week on the roller coaster? We'll see soon.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:27:19]

BERMAN: This morning, two people are dead after a house explosion in Maryland. Firefighters were originally called to the home for a gas leak. A spokesman person for the fire department called it one of the largest explosions he had ever seen.

New overnight, investigators have recovered all the flight data from the black boxes on a plane that crashed in Brazil, killing all 62 people on board. So far, authorities have no information on what caused the crash. Video shows the plane dropping 17,000 feet in just one minute.

Police say they have solved a 1987 cold case involving the death of a newborn who was found in a dumpster in Riverside, California. They've reopened the case in 2020 and used DNA along with genealogy to try to find potential relatives.

Police identified 55-year-old Melissa Jean Allen Avila as the baby's mother and accused her of murder. She was 19 when the baby girl was first discovered decades ago -- Sara.

SIDNER: All right, thank you, John.

Governor Tim Walz's journey from soldier to teacher, to coach, and suddenly the vice presidential nominee was a surprise to some. He learned some of those political skills at a weekend boot camp in Minnesota back in 2005 at the very beginning of what he'd hoped would be a long political career.

It is called Camp Wellstone and it helps aspiring progressive politicians. Joining me now is the Mayor of Saint Paul, Minnesota, Melvin Carter to talk us through this event.

Mayor, as I understand it. Thank you so much for coming on this morning. You one of the trainers at that political boot camp that Walz attended before he ran for office. What did you see during that training in Walz that was different from the other candidates?

MAYOR MELVIN CARTER (D), SAINT PAUL, MINNESOTA: Good morning. Thanks for having me on.

Yes, I was one of the trainers. We're part of a group of folks who after the plane crash that tragically killed former US Senator Paul Wellstone, spent some time travelling the country and just training progressive activists. We'd go around the country and try our best to inspire people over the course of a three-day training. And every now and then, we'd meet a participant who inspired us and there was this guy named Tim Walz at the training almost 20 years ago, who just was one of the most incredibly authentic people we'd ever met. Had a story just that they worked really, really well and came across really, really well.

He was running in a district that we all knew he couldn't possibly win. But he quickly learned, and built his stump speech, and built his campaign, and won that campaign, and of course the rest is history.

SIDNER: I do want to talk about that because Walz, who had never run for office before, managed to beat a six-term Republican incumbent. Why do you think he was able to do that and then hold onto that seat?

CARTER: Governor Walz has an approach to politics where we see all the time elected leaders and political figures, their goal is to essentially, other folks and say, you know, if they don't agree with me then they must be bad people, or if they don't agree with me then they must not love America, they must not love Minnesota or whatever it is.

Governor Walz has brought to Minnesota this brand called One Minnesota. It's what he says all the time to say listen, our goal has got to be to hear people. Our goal has got to be, to listen to people in a way that we hadn't before and ensure that they know that they are part of the vision that we have for our communities. I think he did that very effectively in the first, he's done it very effectively in Minnesota and we, Minnesotans are really excited that the rest of the country is going to see it.

[08:30:52]