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Biden To Announce $150M In Grants As Part Of Cancer "Moonshot" Program; Biden To Deliver Primetime Address On First Night Of DNC in Chicago; Sources: Hackers Target Trump Ally Roger Stone And Campaign Officials; Police Investigate Break-In At Trump Campaign Office In Virginia; New Data Proves U.S. Cities Becoming Unbearably Hot. Aired 1:30-2p ET

Aired August 13, 2024 - 13:30   ET

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

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[13:34:10]

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: Right now, President Biden and the first lady are on their way to promote the Biden Cancer Moonshot Initiative that aims to cut the nations cancer death rates by at least half over the next 25 years.

The White House says that President Biden will announce $150 million in research grants this afternoon at Tulane University.

CNN's Kayla Tausche is in New Orleans for us.

So, Kayla, what else can we expect from the announcement?

KAYLA TAUSCHE, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Boris, Tulane University, where I'm standing right now, is going to be one of eight organizations that is going to be receiving part of that $150 million award.

This is all part of the funding that the Cancer Moonshot has received in the last two years since President Biden restarted it after taking office, most recently.

[13:34:59]

It's long been a personal priority of his, launching that Cancer Moonshot, initially in 2016, immediately following the death of his son, Beau, from brain cancer at age 46.

But it has now come back into the forefront of President Biden's to-do list as he looks at what he wants to accomplish on his final six months in office.

The Cancer Moonshot has been part of his unity agenda, one of those initiatives that he believes could get bipartisan support because of the desire of both Democrats and Republicans to end cancer and to limit the number of cancer deaths in the decades to come.

But it's also so part of his administration's own shortlist, which also includes gun reforms, Supreme Court reforms, addressing the climate crisis, as well as lowering costs for the American people and bolstering alliances overseas, that he's really going to be focused on in these next few months.

White House officials acknowledged that, with Congress ground to a halt as it focuses on a highly charged election going into November, that there really won't be much legislative action.

But they say it's still very important for President Biden to put his own stake in the ground, in their words.

That's why, just a couple of weeks ago, you saw the president announce proposals to reform the Supreme Court. He called for term limits, for a binding code of ethics, and also for a constitutional amendment that removes the presidential right to immunity.

But of course, that's an uphill battle, if not impossible, to get that across the finish line. But even so, the White House says these are important issues for Biden in the homestretch of his single term and to cement his legacy going forward -- guys?

SANCHEZ: And, Kayla, President Biden has also set to address the DNC in Chicago next week. What are you learning about that?

TAUSCHE: Well, we know that the discussions around plans for Biden to helm the first night of the convention were really based on a desire to cement Biden's legacy, to focus that first-night on what his administration has done.

In particular, the way that the country has evolved over the last four years. With one person involved in the planning noting that, four years ago, the country was in the middle of a pandemic. The convention itself was virtual. Schools were closed. Vaccines were barely in people's arms.

And they want to shine a light on how much has changed in Biden's four years in office.

But the purpose of him appearing on night one is for the programming then to evolve to support Vice President Harris' candidacy and bringing the country into the future. And President Biden will be going on vacation after that -- Boris?

SANCHEZ: Kayla Tausche, live from New Orleans, where we are waiting for the president's remarks, thank you so much.

Jessica?

JESSICA DEAN, CNN HOST: Let's take a look at some of the other headlines we're watching this hour.

The site of the deadliest church shooting in us history reduced to rumble. Crews tearing down the sanctuary of the First Baptist Church of Sutherland Springs, Texas, where a gunman killed 26 worshipers in 2017. Some families sought to preserve the building, which was being used as a memorial. But last month, a judge cleared the way for it to be demolished.

In Arizona, abortion will be on the ballot this November. The secretary of state's office saying it has his certified more than 570,000 signatures supporting a ballot measure that would enshrine the right to an abortion in the state's constitution.

Right now, Arizona bans abortions after 15 weeks. That proposed amendment would allow abortions up until fetal viability, which is around 24 weeks.

New data out today showing wholesale inflation is slowing. The closely watched Producer Price Index, which looks at the average price changes seen by producers and manufacturers, was 2.2 percent for the 12 months ending in July.

And that's better than expected. It's also a stark pullback from the 2.7 percent increase registered in June. Economists will be closely monitoring other crucial data this week as many Americans remain worried about the economy.

[13:38:48]

Still to come, longtime Trump operative, Roger Stone, hacked. What we're learning about how it happened, who is possibly behind it, and the overall effort to target the Trump campaign. We'll break it all down for you, next, on CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

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[13:43:25]

SANCHEZ: Sources tell CNN suspected Iranian hackers breached the personal email of Roger Stone, hoping to use it as a backdoor into the Trump campaign's networks.

DEAN: Stone, a top ally and political adviser to Donald Trump, was apparently targeted for his connections to a senior Trump campaign official. It's not clear who that person is.

But officials suspect it was part of a larger phishing scheme that would have given hackers access to the computers of campaign staff.

SANCHEZ: Senior justice correspondent, Evan Perez, is here.

And, Evan, what are investigators sharing with you?

EVAN PEREZ, CNN SENIOR JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Well, right now, the focus is on trying to figure out how big of a damage -- how much of a damage is there in this hacking operation.

Now it's a thing that -- this -- this actually began, it appears, back in June. And the hackers we're trying -- we're targeting both -- both people associated with the Trump campaign and people associated with the then-Biden-Harris campaign.

And it appears only one of those two, it was successful, right? In this case, Roger Stone. It appears they did get access to his -- his email and then they used that to sort of hopscotch and get to people he knew inside the Trump campaign.

And that effort, according to investigators, was successful. And so we know that in the last few days, news organizations have reported receiving documents that appear to come from inside the Trump campaign.

The question is, how many more documents are out there? When are we going to see that? And what is this, the purpose of this?

It's clear, according to the FBI and investigators, they believe this is part of an Iranian effort to try to influence the election. This is a playbook that, of course, we've seen in 2016 with what the Russians were able to do.

[13:45:07]

And so the question is, how widespread is this and how much damage will this end up doing to the campaign?

DEAN: Yes. And there's also another investigation of a break-in at a Trump campaign office in Virginia. What's that about?

PEREZ: Yes, this was on Sunday night that this burglary was reported at a campaign office. It also serves as the headquarters for a local Republican campaign office in Loudon County, Virginia. This is in Ashburn.

And what -- I think police have shared a photograph of someone they're looking for associated with this this reported break-in. At this point, they said they've received a lot of tips.

Not clear what this person was after. It's also not clear what they stole or if they took anything from the office.

But obviously, it is an important thing for police to get to the bottom of. Anybody who tries to break into a campaign, you know, it brings up all kinds of comparisons, right, to the Nixon era.

DEAN: Yes.

PEREZ: -- and all of that stuff. So they want to make sure to get to the bottom of it.

At this point, police, it's not clear -- they say they don't -- it's not even clear that this person was -- that this was a politically motivated thing.

But obviously, they want to try to resolve this and make sure this doesn't happen again.

SANCHEZ: Yes, no doubt, they're probably getting inundated with tips, giving up clear.

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DEAN: -- yes.

SANCHEZ: Evan Perez, thank you so much for the reporting.

Still ahead, scorching temperatures hitting across the country, though large cities are bearing the brunt. Where we're feeling the heat is just moments away.

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[13:51:18]

SANCHEZ: It's a trend people in Las Vegas, San Antonio and Nashville can feel virtually every time they walk outside. American cities are getting hotter. And those three have been in the broiler more than any others so far this summer.

This is according to new climate data, which says the nation's 50-most populous cities have gotten hotter over the past half-century.

CNN's Bill Weir joins us now, live.

Bill, walk us through these hotspots, where they are nationally.

BILL WEIR, CNN CHIEF CLIMATE CORRESPONDENT: Well, it's interesting, Boris, some you would predict the hot places we associate with scorching heat are getting even hotter for longer periods of time, making them less survivable.

But at the top of the list is Las Vegas, which has shattered records this summer as well. They've had 83 days above 95 degrees so far. That's 18 more than average over the past decade. Every day in July was above 105 degrees, topping out at 20.

San Antonio is way up there, too, as well now, jumping from a median age, they have an extra 15 days now of this excessive heat. Nashville, Jacksonville are there.

But this is just compared to the sort of the average of the last decade, Boris. But if we widen out to my lifetime, since the 1970s, mid '70s, a place like Nashville had maybe a weeks' worth of temperatures over the course of a scorching hot summer.

Last year, they had -- or last year they had 13 weeks, a 1,200 percent increase. You can see the San Antonio line with a huge jump there.

At the top of the list, you have Phoenix, Mason, Tucson, the three Arizona cities, which started as hot places but have seen even more dramatic pushes into survivable temperatures there as well.

But it's more of a just a lesson that, while it seems like it's in our machination some days, boy, this summer seems worse than ever. The data shows it is, indisputably. So it's a product of an overheating planet.

SANCHEZ: Yes, obviously, the planet, as we've seen the data point, over and over again, the planet is getting warmer. But do we know why these particular cities are now registering hotter temperatures?

WEIR: Some of it's geographical, of course, for the air temperature. But then cities, in general, have this urban heat island effect, where all that concrete radiates heat throughout, not only the daytime blazing hours, but holds onto it like a big thermal battery in the overnight hours.

It's why Phoenix had its first 24-hour cooling center. And it's why they're struggling with -- they have now fire trucks and ambulances all carrying body bags full of ice to cool people off.

This is the trend line over the last 50 years or so. And you can see there's an extra 800 days or so above 95 degrees temperatures in those 50 biggest cities.

So it's really about vulnerability. The older folks, younger folks we've seen fall victim to this, outdoor workers. You have the unhoused, of course, who are especially vulnerable. And those wrestling with addiction, who don't know better. They don't know when they need to cool themselves off.

SANCHEZ: Sure. You mentioned that cooling center that's open 24 hours in Phoenix. What are other cities doing? What can they do to try to cool off?

WEIR: Part of it is a mindset, it's realizing that the heat waves of today are much more severe than the ones you remember from years ago.

There are infrastructure ideas. You can move buildings closer to the streets, create these sorts of canyons of shade and, you know, breezeways with infrastructure. There are tree planting programs.

About a billion and a half dollars in the Inflation Reduction Act that came out of Washington is now being spread around the states and they're trying to plan them. But these ideas take time. They could take decades.

You know, the trees -- the cities with the densest tree cover are the coolest and people have it much more pleasurable. But that is down the line.

[13:55:03]

Right now, it is survival day to day as these heat waves drag on. And it's a matter of dealing with first responders, health care systems, creating these cooler systems, some of its neighborhood infrastructure. All-hands-on-deck.

SANCHEZ: Bill Weir, thanks so much for that update. Appreciate it.

Still ahead, consumers hitting the pause button on major home renovations. Why Home Depot says this is a warning sign for the larger economy.

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