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Israel Announces Rescue of Hostage; Trump Fuels Speculation over Debate; Harris Pitches Plan for Economy; Former Trump Officials Speak Out; Trump Uses Misleading Chart on Immigration. Aired 9-9:30a ET

Aired August 27, 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]

GEN. WESLEY CLARK, FORMER NATO SUPREME ALLIED COMMANDER (RET.): That they can't just fire a few more missiles. The more they fire, the more they're going to lose. So, Ukraine's got a ways to go. But it's not impossible.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: General Wesley Clark, thank you so much for being here this morning. As always, we appreciate your insight.

A new hour of CNN NEWS CENTRAL starts right now.

All right, breaking just moments ago, a hostage abducted by Hamas nearly one year ago, we are just learning he has been rescued by the Israeli military.

New this morning, Donald Trump using the word "if" about this debate, which is supposed to happen in just two weeks. Will this debate actually happen?

And a 24 hour delay of what was supposed to be the first spacewalk carried out by a civilian crew.

Kate is out today. I'm John Berman, with Sara Sidner. And this is CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: We are following the breaking news for you this morning. Israeli forces announcing they have rescued a hostage from Gaza who has been abducted when Hamas attacked Israel on October 7th.

Let's get right to CNN's Jim Sciutto.

It has almost been a year since this hostage situation has happened. What are you learning this morning?

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN ANCHOR AND CHIEF NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: Yes, Sara, some rare good news in this conflict. Some rare good news for those hostage families that have suffered so much as we approach the one-year anniversary of the October 7th terror attacks.

This is what we know. That a hostage was rescued in an operation involving both the IDF and the Shin Bet security service. He is an Israeli citizen of Bedouin Arab nationality, ethnicity. His name is Kaid Farhan al-Qadi, 52-years-old. He was working security at one of the kibbutz -- Kibbutzim (ph) in the southern part of Israel that was attacked on that day on October 7th, taken hostage that day. He is now known, according to Israeli officials, to be in stable medical condition. They continue to conduct medical tests. And we learned just in the last few moments that his family is with him now in the hospital. And you can only imagine that moment for this family that has waited so long to see and hear this news.

Operations like this one are few and far between and have been so since October 7th. You have to go back to June 8th when there was last an operation that freed live hostages from Gaza. Four rescued at that point from central Gaza. This operation taking part in southern Gaza.

This brings the total number of hostages remaining in Gaza to 108, though I should note that Israeli officials have acknowledged a number of times that many of those hostages are no longer alive. And we got a reminder of that just last week when an Israeli operation was able to recover the bodies of six hostages who were already dead. But this, of course, the kind of news you want to hear, and these hostage families want to hear, which is of a hostage rescued alive.

There is a statement in response to this from the hostages forum. This is a collection of families that have been pushing for a hostage release deal. They call this nothing short of miraculous news. But they do go on to say that operations alone, and I'm paraphrasing here, that military relations alone are not enough to free the remaining hostages. They want to see a ceasefire and hostage release deal that brings home, if not all those remaining hostages, but as many as possible. And, of course, those negotiations continue, though it's not certain now whether they will end with an agreement.

SIDNER: An Israeli citizen, a Bedouin, with 11 children. His family with him at the hospital, Jim. What a remarkable turn of events for him and his family. I'm sure they are so thankful to see him there alive and in stable condition.

Jim, I do want to ask you, as this has happened, we know what's been going on, on the northern border as well. That war continues there in Gaza. Is there any sense that these negotiations to create what you just talked about, what the families are asking for, a ceasefire, the return of the hostages, the stoppage of bombs falling on the Palestinians in Gaza, is there any movement that you are hearing about now, Jim?

SCIUTTO: I did speak to a U.S. official familiar with the negotiations yesterday who said that there was progress in these negotiations over the weekend to the point where mediators are discussing the final details, the final paragraphs of an agreement right down to the names of Palestinian prisoners held by Israel that would be released in exchange for those Israeli hostages.

Now, the fact that they're discussing final details does not mean that a deal will necessarily come through or indeed that it is imminent, but at least they are moving on to those sorts of topics. [09:05:08]

That said, there is still major issues of contention that largely center around two things. One being the duration of a ceasefire. Hamas wants a permanent one. Israeli has agreed only to a temporary one, at least in the first phase of an agreement. And two, where and how much of an Israeli military presence will remain in Gaza following an agreement, particularly during phase one. And you get down to the nitty-gritty there of what populated areas they would be in and what is defined as a populated area or an unpopulated area. So, those negotiations still have a lot of pitfalls to get over. But they are making progress according to a U.S. official that I spoke with over the weekend.

SIDNER: Making progress is better than nothing. And just to note, 326 days that the hostages, all of them, have been held captive.

SCIUTTO: Yes.

SIDNER: That means 326 days also of war there in Gaza. It is far too long for far too many of these families.

Jim Sciutto, thank you so much for your great reporting out there in Tel Aviv.

All right, happening now, the first Truth Social post of the morning by Donald Trump. Now in and so far across four truths. There have been zero mention of his upcoming scheduled debate with Kamala Harris. But we are closely watching to see if he says anything new after he again hinted that he may not debate her.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT AND 2024 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I shouldn't say this because if there is a debate, it would be nice to surprise her with that one.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SIDNER: For the record, there is a scheduled debate. It is whether or not he is going to show up.

CNN's Alayna Treene is joining us now.

He used the word "if," Alayna Treene. Is this just him sort of talking and trying to keep this in the news, or is this truly a possibility that he tries to step away from this debate?

ALAYNA TREENE, CNN REPORTER: Look, I think there's no question from my conversations with Trump's advisers that they believe Donald Trump does need to debate and that Trump himself wants to debate. He thinks he has an obligation to debate. I think the question of whether this debate will happen, you never know with Donald Trump. I could never say for certain. I'm not in that business. I'm just reporting on what they tell me. But I do think that they want this to happen. The big question is, how will it happen? And that's really what we

have seen played out over the last 24 hours or so, that there's been this behind the scenes jockeying for what the debate rules will look like. And both the Harris campaign, as well as the Trump campaign, want different things. And part of that is because they want their candidate to have whatever advantage they can going into what they both recognize is going to be a defining moment - one of the final defining moments, I should say, of this 2024 election cycle.

And so, I do think there will be a debate. But we are seeing this back-and-forth because they both care so much about what is going to happen here. I know from my conversations with Trump's campaign that one of the key things that they're thinking about as they look forward to this debate in 14 days or so is Donald Trump's demeanor, his tone, his rhetoric, whether or not he comes off looking aggressive. And the question of the mics, whether they will be on for the duration of the debate or shut off when a candidate has finished speaking, that is really something that the Trump campaign is paying close attention to. Of course, it's the same reason why the Harris campaign is also paying close attention to it as well.

Sara.

SIDNER: And I'm sure they've seen the new ad by Kamala Harris, which has chicken noises going on in the background, accusing him of being a chicken to debate her. We will most definitely -

TREENE: Yes, lots of taunting there.

SIDNER: Yes - see this debate happen.

Alayna Treene, thank you so much. Appreciate it.

John.

BERMAN: All right, this morning, a new ad from the Harris campaign in battleground Pennsylvania. It is part of a $73 million - part of that much in ad spending this week alone.

CNN's Priscilla Alvarez is with us now.

So, what's this ad say, Priscilla?

PRISCILLA ALVAREZ, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, this ad and many other ads. What we're seeing from the Harris campaign over the last few days is that they are doubling down on their economic message. The economy, of course, being a top issue for voters. And up until this point, Democrats, the campaign, the administration, has at times been quite vague about the economy, suggesting to voters that it's moving in the right direction. The administration is doing what it can to ensure that.

Remember, there was always that Bidenomics that we heard many times from the president himself. But what I'm hearing from sources close to the vice president is that she wants to talk to the individual experiences, acknowledging, of course, that people are struggling at times in this economy, even if there are assurances that it is getting better. And that is exactly what we're seeing come through in these ads.

Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KAMALA HARRIS, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE U.S. (D) AND U.S. PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We should be doing everything we can to make it more affordable to buy a home. Under my plan, more than 100 million American will get a tax cut.

[09:10:02]

I will help families, letting you keep more of your hard-earned money.

As president, I will be laser-focused on creating opportunities for the middle-class that advance their economic security, stability, and dignity.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ALVAREZ: So, you heard her there talk about economic opportunity. The ad's also talking about making sure that prices are not high, that they can be driven to be lower, as well as adds that speak to her own background coming from the middle-class.

Now, to throw more numbers at you, John, this is part of a $150 million ad buy in August. There's more to come on this though. Nearly $300 million already reserved between Labor Day and Election Day for more advertising by this campaign. They are clearly trying to take up as much space as possible to convey their message on this issue and many others going up to Election Day.

BERMAN: Seems like a good time to be an ad making consultant.

Priscilla Alvarez, thanks so much for being with us. Appreciate it.

The breaking news this morning, a hostage rescued from Gaza. We are getting new developments in.

The Foo Fighters message to Donald Trump, stop using our music.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:15:55]

SIDNER: The state of race - the 2024 race in a nutshell this morning. Two weeks from today a scheduled debate is supposed to happen. Over the next four days, a sit-down interview with Kamala Harris is supposed to be scheduled.

With me now to discuss all of this and a lot more is CNN political commentator and Democratic strategist Maria Cardona, and Republican strategist Matt Gorman.

Thank you both this morning. Looking lovely this morning. We are going to get into it.

MARIA CARDONA, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Thanks, Sara.

SIDNER: We're seeing this more than 200 Bush, McCain, Romney alums are endorsing Harris for president. We saw this happen with Biden. There was about 150. And then you hear some of these things from the Trump administration. Those people who worked with him. Here is some of what is being set out there.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEN. MARK MILLEY (RET.), FORMER JOINT CHIEFS CHAIRMAN: We don't take an oath to a king or a queen or to a tyrant or a dictator. And we don't take an oath to a wannabe dictator. We don't take an oath to an individual. We take an oath to the Constitution.

MARK ESPER, FORMER DEFENSE SECRETARY: I think he's unfit for office.

Well, look, it's - he - he puts himself before country.

His actions are all about him and not about the - not about the country.

JOHN BOLTON, FORMER U.S. AMBASSADOR TO THE UNITED STATES: I think he's dangerous enough he shouldn't get a second term.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SIDNER: Matt, do you think that this kind of thing, with a 200 Republicans coming out and saying they're endorsing Harris and hearing from his former administration officials will entice more Republicans to vote for Harris?

MATT GORMAN, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: You know, I actually don't. And look, I saw that list. I mean some of them are great people, friends, whom I really respect or have worked with and admirer. Some of them are interns, honestly. So, there's kind of a big variety of who these people are, number one.

And number two, I don't think, whether it's an Adam Kinzinger - I don't think people are weighted with bated breath to see who someone like he endorses or something like that. I think these things are going to be on other issues, whether it's the economy, immigration, or even abortion, if you will, if you're on the left, I think far more so than any political operative or congress person who they endorse.

SIDNER: And we're sort of seeing that in the polling as well because he was, at some point, in at least the swing states, beating Joe Biden. But now that has changed with Kamala Harris on the ticket.

Maria, you know, if the people who worked with him say this about him, say he's dangerous for the country, why do you think he is polling so tightly with Harris?

CARDONA: Well, I think a couple of things, Sara. I actually do think that this will have a big impact, not just on Republicans, but on independents out in the country, as everyone starts now paying attention to the race. When you have the closest generals that were in charge of all kinds of military strategy, our foreign defense, essentially the security of the country coming out to say that Donald Trump is dangerous, that they do not support him to be president again, that they actually support his opponent, a Democrat, that speaks volumes about the fitness of Donald Trump for another four years in office. And, you know, Matt can belittle that as much as he wants, but I think he and other Republican strategists know and are concerned that this is something that Donald Trump has to contend with. That the very people that he hired and worked for him are the ones that are saying that he is not just unfit but dangerous to lead the country another four years.

And I think the reason that the race is so tight is because of what we already know, Sara, this is a very divided, polarized electorate. But what you're seeing since Kamala Harris became the nominee is that the momentum is on her side. The polls are moving. But what I am telling the campaign, and what she says herself, which is really smart, is that she's still the underdog. They need to campaign like they're ten points behind because it's the only way that she's going to win.

SIDNER: Matt, I know you want to jump in there. What do you make of what Maria has said?

GORMAN: Yes, look, I wasn't belittling that at all. That's ridiculous, number one. But I worked on campaigns. Jeb Bush had over 13 Medal of Honor winners, generals, you know, coming out of their ears. We - we - I - I wrote one of his (ph) press releases.

[09:20:00]

I respect their service. They can vote - and any of these people can vote for whoever they want. They are private citizens. I respect it. I admire their service.

But I also think, when it comes down to it, whether its their grocery prices are their house, what they want to pay for a mortgage or interest rates, or a general endorsing, I think that the policies and their own lives, you know, affect it far more than a general's endorsement.

SIDNER: Let's move on to the debate. And this is to you, Maria. Why does Kamala Harris want there to be open mics during the debate with Donald Trump when Joe Biden did not want the same?

CARDONA: I think that Vice President Harris is being very strategic about this because she understands, like we all do, whenever Donald Trump is himself is - he becomes unhinged. And whenever he opens his mouth, he alienates key voters that he needs to win.

In addition to that, Sara, we also know that Donald Trump still has no idea how to run against somebody like Vice President Kamala Harris. And what I - what I mean by that is a strong woman, a woman of color, who we know is something that, you know, Donald Trump is afraid of. And so I think it's important for America and for president - or for Vice President Harris to hear everything that Donald Trump has to say during that debate and nothing should be muted.

I also think it gives her a lot more control in terms of how she responds and whether - and we know that she will have to do this probably very consistently and constantly throughout the debate - fact check him. If the moderators are not going to take the role of being fact-checkers - and we know that Donald Trump lies every time he opens his mouth, then Kamala Harris, being able to do that on the spot, the moment it happens, I think is actually a very smart strategy for her because that way she's not going to let him get away with anything, lying about her, lying about her record, or, frankly, insulting her, which we know is Donald Trump's go to move.

SIDNER: Matt, what do you think about Trump - Trump initially did not want those mics to be turned off when the person that was asked to speak is speaking. Now he wants the rules to say the same. Why is that?

GORMAN: Because that was what they agreed to, right? Just last week that Harris campaign was saying, quote, "the debate about debates is over." Then suddenly they wake up on Monday and they want to change the rules, renegotiate. And the real reason is this, right? Go back to her first debate against Joe Biden. She had a prepared - prepared attack lines, like she usually does, and then she had t-shirts and money raised ready to go. So, she wants to do her stock line, which is, I'm speaking. She used it with the protesters last month, with Vice President Pence during that vice presidential debate. She wants to find a moment that she can use for memes and raise money off of, create t-shirts that can kind of make her seem like a little bit stronger than Trump. And so it's all very calculated and very cynical candidly what this whole thing is.

SIDNER: Politics is politicking. Thank you both so much, Maria and Matt. Appreciate it.

CARDONA: Thanks, Sara.

SIDNER: John.

BERMAN: All right, we are getting breaking news and new details from Israel about how this hostage was rescued inside Gaza.

And then a fact check on Donald Trump's claims on immigration.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:28:04]

SIDNER: Donald Trump says it saved his life. The immigration chart he turned to look at just as a gunman tried to kill him at a rally in July. He still uses the chart to show monthly migrant encounters at the southern border. But a new CNN fact check shows the information he keeps sharing is deceptive, intentionally misleading and doesn't show the full story at all.

CNN's Daniel Dale is here now to fact check this for us.

Daniel, what are you seeing in this chart that is just wrong?

DANIEL DALE, CNN SENIOR REPORTER: Yes. So, Sara, we're talking about this, not because it helped save the former president's life, which we're all grateful for, but because he keeps deploying this chart to lie about border statistics in rallies, other speeches, and in interviews. And in fact the chart itself contains a lie.

So, if you look at that chart, you'll see some arrows. There's one chair - one arrow towards the right side pointing upwards. It points to a particularly small bar. So, a particularly low level of migrant encounters at the southern border. And the text beside that arrow says, Trump leaves office, lowest recorded - lowest illegal immigration in recorded history. And Trump himself keeps pointing to that arrow in his remarks.

So, listen to something he said recently.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT AND 2024 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: If you look at the arrow on the bottom, that's the lowest level, the one on the bottom, heavy red arrow, that's the lowest level of illegal immigrants ever to come into our country in recorded history right there. Right there. And that was my last week in office. And then you see what happened after I left.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DALE: So, here's the lie. That arrow does not actually point to when he left office in January 2021. And it certainly doesn't point to his last week in office. What does it actually point to? It points to April 2020. So, with more than eight months still left in his term when migration around the world plummeted because of the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic.

[09:30:04]

So, in that month, April 2020, the Border Patrol had about 16,000 encounters with.