Return to Transcripts main page

CNN News Central

Democrats Kick Off Four-Day National Convention in Chicago; Sources: Former Rep. Santos Expected to Plead Guilty to Federal Charges; Uncommitted Delegates Arrive at DNC, Push for End to War in Gaza; New Poll Shows Harris with Slight Lead Over Trump Ahead of DNC. Aired 3:30-4p ET

Aired August 19, 2024 - 15:30   ET

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

[15:30:00]

KAREN FINNEY, SENIOR ADVISER, HILARY CLINTON PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN: ... still sounds dangerous to women because that says it's not that you agree with us or believe that our bodily autonomy matters. It's youth. It's a math equation.

SCOTT JENNINGS, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: There aren't 60, but there aren't 50 votes for anything.

JACKIE KUCINICH, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, I just I keep on hearing the same message. I think Trump's staying on message is the real challenge here. I mean, can't he talk about the economy without turning off voters and talking about as you said larded up with other things. Because that seems that seems to have been he's his own worst enemy. They having a, you know, clear concise message on the economy is not what's happening here. And as Democrats come out and if this is a convention that comes out with a clear message, you would think that that would be even in bigger challenge for that campaign

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: Yes, Trump's allies, you know, If I had a dime for every time we heard his allies and supporters saying stick on message I would have a lot of dimes.

FINNEY: A hundred air.

KEILAR: A hundred air. I'd have ten eighty nine dollars. Karen, Scott, Jackie. Thank you so much, appreciate it.

And still to come sources tell CNN that Former Republican Congressman George Santos is expected to plead guilty to federal charges. He's in court this hour. We'll be live there for the latest. Stay with CNN.

[15:35:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: Breaking news into CNN this hour. Former Republican Congressman George Santos is in court and sources tell CNN he's expected to plead guilty to multiple federal campaign fraud charges. These charges stem from his 2022 campaign and they are what led to his expulsion from Congress last December. Let's get right to CNN's Brynn Gingras who joins us live from outside the courthouse Islip, New York. Brynn, what's happening in the courtroom?

BRYNN GINGRAS, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Boris, look, I have my head on a swivel right now because we are expecting that hearing to wrap up any moment now. Our colleague Mark Morales inside that courtroom where you just said it, the former Republican Congressman expected to plead guilty to at least some of those 23 charges that were handed down to him from the U.S. Attorney's Office last year. Now listen, Boris, he, George Santos, has been adamant that he would never, ever, ever take a plea deal when these charges came down in two separate installments.

Even last week when he was in court for a pretrial hearing, that trial expected to start just a couple of weeks from now when the U.S. Attorney essentially said they had dozens of witnesses that were going to come forward against him, he still maintained his innocence. So something has changed.

Now we're not sure which charges he might be pleading guilty to. We're waiting for that. We don't know when sentencing could happen and we don't know what that punishment will look like. So those are all questions that we are waiting to find out.

What we do know is that we expect him to give some sort of allocutions, some detailed explanation of what he is pleading guilty to. So we are, of course, waiting for that.

But what a dramatic fall from grace from this former congressman of the third district here in New York. Of course, he has been charged with stealing the identities of donors and using that money to buy lavish things for himself. He's been accused of lying about his employment record so he could reap the benefits of some COVID benefits among a number of charges.

So we'll see exactly what the U.S. Attorney's Office has to say. We possibly could hear from them as well as possibly George Santos once this hearing all wraps up. But we are standing by at the moment. Again, that is happening right now in the courtroom and we'll continue to bring the very latest -- Boris.

SANCHEZ: He's not been shy about getting in front of a camera. We'll see if he does it after pleading guilty. Brynn Gingras live in New York. Thanks so much.

There are still dozens of uncommitted delegates going into the Democratic National Convention. Some are waiting to hear what Vice President Harris plans to do about Gaza. We're going to speak to one of those delegates in just a few minutes. Stay with CNN.

[15:40:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KEILAR: Welcome back to our special live coverage at the Democratic National Convention here in Chicago. Among the sea of delegates here to support Vice President Kamala Harris, there is also a contingent of 30 so-called uncommitted delegates. And they represent more than 700,000 Democratic primary voters nationwide who voted uncommitted as a protest to the U.S.'s involvement in the war in Gaza and the U.S. support of Israel in that war.

Here with me now is Abbas Alawieh. He is the co-founder of the Uncommitted Movement, and you're also a delegate from the state of Michigan. Tell us what you want to hear from Vice President Harris this week, Abbas.

ABBAS ALAWIEH, MICHIGAN UNCOMMITTED DELEGATE: Thank you so much for having me, Brianna. I am proud to represent the over 101,000 Michigan voters who voted uncommitted as a pro-peace anti-war vote, specifically because they want to see a different policy on Gaza. Because the current policy, unfortunately, is that our government is sending weapons that the Israeli military is using to kill civilians, and that actually goes against both U.S. law and international law.

So, as an uncommitted delegate, I am desperately trying to get the Harris campaign, the DNC leadership, to urge Vice President Harris herself to articulate a new approach on Gaza so that we can save lives and so that we can re-engage key voters in Michigan and in swing states across the country who need to hear an updated approach so that we can beat Donald Trump in November.

KEILAR: How would you describe her approach right now?

ALAWIEH: So right now, Vice President Harris has shifted her tone, has shifted the tone coming from the administration when she's talking about Palestinian lives and Palestinian human rights. I think that's a positive step, but I think what we need desperately right now, as U.S. weapons are helping kill Palestinians to the tune of over 16,000 Palestinian children and over 40,000 Palestinian civilians, what we need to hear from her is a plan, a plan for how she plans to implement U.S. and international law that actually outlaws the use of U.S. weaponry to harm and kill civilians.

That's what's happening right now. It's illegal. It's immoral.

[15:45:00]

And Democratic voters don't want that.

KEILAR: But you've heard activists who have met with her campaign, they've come out of meetings saying that they were hopeful that they were heard on what they were saying about an arms embargo for Israel, and then very quickly the campaign coming back and saying that Kamala Harris does not support an arms embargo when it comes to Israel. Anything short of that will you accept?

ALAWIEH: So I actually asked Vice President Harris herself when she was in Detroit last week, I asked her if we could meet so that we can discuss this demand, not because I think that she's going to support an arms embargo, but because I want her to hear us out, because we're in touch with folks on the ground who are losing not just one or two family members, who are getting -- who are having 100 family members at a time wiped out. And so what I want to hear from Vice President Harris is, if she doesn't support an arms embargo, then I want to know what she does support.

And at the very least, I want her to support implementing existing U.S. and international law that prevents U.S. weapons from killing civilians. That's what's happening right now. It's illegal. It's immoral. Democratic voters don't want it to happen. And Democratic voters in Michigan, especially, 101,000 of us have raised our hand and said, this is a top issue for me.

So as someone who desperately wants to beat Donald Trump, I was in the Capitol on January 6th. I was a Capitol Hill staffer. I know how dangerous he is and how dangerous his white supremacist agenda is. I want to beat Trump.

I want to help Vice President Harris do that by urging her to adopt a policy that will allow for us to reengage those voters who feel deeply betrayed by the Democratic Party's support for the Israeli military killing civilians.

KEILAR: You are not the only delegate who is a member of the uncommitted movement. And then we've also seen outside of the United Center many people protesting in support of the Palestinian people as well. The folks with the uncommitted movement have not been given a chance to speak to the convention.

This is certainly a place where the party would like there to be a picture of unity. Is it necessary, do you think, that they hear from someone from the uncommitted movement during this convention? And what does it mean that they're not?

ALAWIEH: Thank you so much for asking that, Brianna. Actually, one thing that the uncommitted movement helped secure, working with longtime leaders like Jim Zogby and others, is a panel that's happening right now at 3 p.m. Central Time that for the first time in Democratic National Convention history will be a discussion of Democrats organizing around Palestinian human rights. I'm proud to be one of those Democrats for Palestinian rights.

An outstanding request that we have with the DNC that we're hoping to hear back about, that we haven't heard back about yet, is that we need to see a Palestinian American leader speak from this stage. It's important that Palestinian American leaders are plenty of excellent Palestinian American leaders. Right here in Chicago, there's a state representative, Abdelnasser Rashid, who is a strong progressive leader who we need to hear from.

Or Representative Ruwa Romman from Georgia. Or Representative Iman Jodeh from Colorado. Or delegate Sam Rasoul from Virginia.

We've floated all of these names to the DNC, and we tell them, hey, these all would be excellent folks to hear from, from this stage, so that they can speak about their own experiences in this party and speak about the need to value Palestinian human rights. We haven't heard back yet from the DNC. We're hoping that they'll honor that request.

KEILAR: All right, Abbas Alawieh, thank you so much for speaking with us. We appreciate it.

And we'll be right back.

[15:50:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SANCHEZ: Breaking news into CNN. This video we got just moments ago of Air Force One arriving in Chicago. President Joe Biden deplaning alongside the First Lady.

He is expected to deliver the first night of the Democratic National Convention's closing speech in prime time. Sources tell CNN that he will use it to argue for his administration's policies. And then symbolically pass the torch to his vice president, Kamala Harris.

Of course, you can watch all of it tonight right here on CNN.

Poll after poll shows that after Biden dropped out of the race, his party has been re-energized by Harris' campaign. And as momentum continues to grow, in ABC News, Washington Post's Ipsos National Poll shows the vice president ahead by six points among likely voters.

Let's break down the numbers with CNN's Harry Enten. Harry, take us through them.

HARRY ENTEN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL DATA REPORTER: Boris, I wish you were here with me. We could enjoy this little song together. But look, at the end of the day, what we're seeing in the polls right now with Kamala Harris is clear momentum.

Just take a look at my aggregate of polls compared in the month of August to compare it to what was going on in July. And you see that Harris was down a point a month ago. And now nationally, she's up by three points.

And more than that, Donald Trump has actually dropped back a little bit. It's not just that she's gaining from undecided voters. She's even taking a little bit of Donald Trump support.

Definite momentum for her coming out of this, going into this convention. And who knows what momentum she might get coming out of this convention, Boris.

SANCHEZ: That is a good point. We often see a bump in numbers after a convention. How much, how dramatically has this race changed in the month or so since Biden dropped out and Harris jumped in?

ENTEN: Yes, I mean, you know, it's just been such a different race. You know, Joe Biden was trailing and trailing and trailing. It was months on end in which he was trailing.

And then you go into this convention, right, and we see the momentum that Harris has. And the question is, as I alluded to, what is the bounce that she could potentially get coming out of it? So let's just look at some historical bounces, right?

And what do we see? We see on average, a candidate gets a two point bounce. That would be pretty good for her.

[15:55:00]

How about the largest bounce in record? That was eight points, Bill Clinton, back in 1992. He exploded out of that convention.

Of course, it is possible that you could see some deflation in her numbers. That happened to Hubert Humphrey coming out of the 1968 Democratic Convention. One that I think a lot of people have been trying to draw some historical analogy to, given the protests of the Vietnam War.

And then obviously we've seen some protests over how the United States government has been handling the relations with Israel. So there's been a wide range. But generally speaking, conventions do provide a bounce, which obviously Kamala Harris would certainly welcome coming out of this convention.

SANCHEZ: And quickly, Harry, how could a bounce change her standing right now?

ENTEN: Yes, I mean, if she got the normal size bounce, she'd be getting a majority of the vote. If she got a Bill Clinton type bounce, look at that. She'd jump up to 57 percent.

I don't think that's necessarily going to happen. But I think the clear thing that we should take away from this is she could be commanding a majority of the vote coming out of this convention. Of course, if it turns into 68, she could actually be trailing coming out of the convention. I just not thinking that's the most likely scenario for us.

SANCHEZ: Harry Enten, thanks so much for walking us through the numbers. Look forward to having that wall some other time. Harry Enten from Chicago. Thank you.

CNN special coverage of the Democratic National Convention continues on "THE LEAD" with Jake Tapper starting after a quick break. Don't go anywhere.