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Trump Says He's Reached An Agreement To Debate Harris On Sept. 10; Israel Military Rescues Hostage Kaid Farhan Al-Qadi from Hamas; U.S. National Security Adviser Meets China's FM in Beijing. Aired 3- 3:30p ET

Aired August 27, 2024 - 15:00   ET

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

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[15:01:25]

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is CNN Breaking News.

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: We begin this hour with breaking news: Former President Donald Trump has just announced that despite hedging and saying that he potentially may skip it, he does plan to go ahead with the debate with Vice President Kamala Harris just two weeks from today.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: He made this official just moments ago, posting on Truth Social that he has reached an agreement to face off with Harris in their first head-to-head debate on September 10th on ABC. And for more on this, let's bring in CNN's Kristen Holmes.

Kristen, tell us what you're learning.

KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Brianna, what we are told is that this impasse between the Harris and Trump campaign appears to be over. And the big, remember, issue that both sides were having was over whether or not the mics would be muted. In that first debate that Donald Trump did on - with - excuse me, on CNN, they essentially had agreed to muting the mics while the other candidate was talking. And Donald Trump's team thought that that worked out well for him.

Well, then we heard from Harris' team saying they didn't actually want those mics muted. So this led to a sort of impasse. They were not happy with it. Donald Trump's team said they wanted the CNN rules. Now they are saying that they have come to an agreement with Kamala Harris and that it's going to be broadcast on ABC rules. As we know, the rules will be the same as the last CNN debate. This is what Donald Trump is saying, which seemed to work out well for everyone except Joe Biden.

And then he says, "The debate will be, quote, 'stand up,'" meaning they won't be seated. "The candidates cannot bring notes or 'cheat sheets.'" We've also been given assurance by ABC that this will be a fair and equitable debate and that neither side will be given the questions in advance. I did call a senior adviser after Donald Trump put this out to make sure about this issue on muting the mics. They said, yes, it does mean that the mics will be muted while the other candidate is speaking. So this would be a win for Donald Trump's team here. We have not gotten comment from the Harris side of things. But I did speak, as I said, to that senior adviser, who seemed very pleased with the fact that this debate was moving forward and with those same rules that we had had during our debate when it was Donald Trump and President Joe Biden earlier this year.

SANCHEZ: Kristen Holmes, thank you so much for that. Let's get the perspective from the Harris camp with CNN's Eva McKend.

Eva, the Harris team tried to box Trump in with having the mics unmuted. They even put out ads insinuating that he was too chicken to debate her. What are you hearing now?

MCKEND: Boris, they did. It seemed like the strategy was to mock him and try to get under his skin, as they often have, to push them to the terms that they wanted. We're still waiting to hear if this means the mics will, in fact, be unmuted for the duration of the debate like the Harris camp requested.

But ultimately, Harris' allies, they're telling me that they're eager for this matchup, because in their view it will show a stark contrast. They are banking on Trump interjecting, ranting, raving, airing grievances. We know that in his own words, in his own description, he's saying that he doesn't have to prepare much for this, that he can sort of just be his natural self. We, of course, know he is preparing and he does sort of downplay this.

But what we have seen from the vice president, especially over these last five weeks, is that she prepares intensely. We know that she is preparing intensely for this debate. And ultimately, she's a disciplined messenger and her activities are tightly choreographed.

So if you have that as a contrast up on that stage against the former president, that is something that they're really relying on will work out in their favor.

[15:05:06]

But we're still waiting to hear back from them on this whole muted mics issue.

KEILAR: All right, Eva, we'll look forward to that. Thank you.

Let's talk about this now with our political experts. We have former special assistant to President George W. Bush, Scott Jennings; former Republican congressman, Charlie Dent of Pennsylvania. He's also a senior adviser with Our Republican Legacy. And Jamal Simmons is back with us, the former comms director for Vice President Harris.

Scott, to you first, because the campaign for Trump had been clear, they wanted the mics muted, like we saw in the initial debate with Biden. Then you heard Trump on the campaign trail saying it didn't really matter. I guess it did matter. And I wonder what your reaction is to this news, Trump saying that the mics will be muted.

SCOTT JENNINGS, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, I - look, I think having a debate is good for Trump because if he doesn't pin Kamala Harris down on her record and what she's done as vice president and her previous statements when she ran for president before, I don't think anyone else is going to do it for him. So he needs this debate. So from a Republican's perspective, it's good that it's happening.

The CNN rules worked for him before. It seemed to be fine. And so, I - if this is the agreement and this is how they got it done, then good for Team Trump. I've never been all that interested in the minutia of the rules. I just wanted to make sure they had a debate because I think the American people deserve to see one. And so if we're going to have that on the 10th, that's a good thing.

SANCHEZ: Charlie, from your view, who stands to benefit most from the microphones being muted while the opponent is speaking?

CHARLIE DENT, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, I kind of agree with Scott, that they're having the debate is important. Rules are less significant. But I think Trump actually benefits from having the mics muted, because he's prone to outbursts. And with the mics off, you're less likely to hear them.

It's one way to keep him somewhat controlled. So I think that's a victory for Trump that they've muted those mics. Probably better for him. I see why Harris wanted the mics on. She thought she could, you know, she could probably trigger Trump to say something pretty outrageous and pick it up on the mic. So that's a victory for the Trump team.

KEILAR: Yes. She wants to show that he has an impulse control problem. And Jamal, I wonder what you think about this news when it comes to mics.

JAMAL SIMMONS, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, first of all, we're taking Donald Trump's word for it. So I'm going to just take that with a grain of salt, but let's assume that is true. It might just be true that the Harris campaign was trolling Trump, you know, looking for a way to get under his skin every day.

And it does seem like if you pay attention to some of the social media that's out there, that they are really doing a very good job at just needling him every single day, playing a lot of offense on this campaign. And that's the kind of thing that Democrats want to see. And it's the kind of thing that I think ultimately hurts Trump.

Look, Trump right now is zero for one when it comes to debates, right? Like he may think that he won that debate, but it might be that he actually lost the war because of that debate. Because after that debate, Joe Biden left - and Joe Biden left, he ended up with Kamala Harris. So he should be careful.

JENNINGS: Zero for one? Jamal. Jamal, my brother and colleague, zero for - he literally ran a man who'd been in politics for 52 years out of his chosen profession over a debate. I mean, look, I understand what you're arguing that you all traded in for a better candidate, but Trump won the debate. He is not zero for one. Are you saying he actually did so well that he did badly?

SIMMONS: But this is exactly the problem with campaigns. But this is exactly the problem with campaigns. Very often people are focused on the minutia of what it means in this tack or that tack. But the question is, are you winning the fundamental argument.

And for right now, Donald Trump may have tactically won the debate, but strategically it may have cost him the entire election because he ended up with a much better candidate than the one he was aiming for. And he's probably now a couple of points behind.

SANCHEZ: Charlie, I'm curious from your perspective, because Scott is presenting in a certain way. Obviously, Jamal is making the argument that he, you know, Trump may have won the battle, but he lost the war. But this idea that Trump won the last debate based on his own answers, based on his own responses, how much do you think his success had to do with what happened to Joe Biden rather than his own ability to stay on message and to drive points home to the American people?

DENT: Well, at the time, I thought that Trump did not lose the debate, I thought Joe Biden lost the debate. I don't know that Trump actually won it. I mean, it's not like he made a whole lot of great points and he got caught in a lot of lies and false statements. So he didn't do himself any damage. He looked reasonably controlled. But I wouldn't go so far as to say Trump won. I'd say that Biden just lost miserably because he demonstrated to the public that he did not seem to be fit and was incapable of serving another four years fully. I think that was the real issue, so I wouldn't go so far as to say Trump won.

KEILAR: Very interesting point. Jamal, interview with Harris coming up at some point here soon, we presume.

[15:10:03]

Talk to us a little bit about the stakes here when we find out who she's interviewing with, what that's going to signify.

SIMMONS: Well, the campaign is probably sorting through a lot of different questions, right? First of all, you do an interview not because they would love to make Boris and Brianna happy. They do an interview because they want to move forward some part of the campaign agenda, right? They've got something to advance. And so the question is, what voters are they trying to talk to and what outlet are those voters paying attention to.

So what you may see is maybe there's a mix, maybe there's local news, maybe there's national news, maybe there's radio and print mixed into this. So we don't exactly know how it is they're going to come up with this because they haven't told us yet. But I got to say, when you're doing this and you're thinking about this, you're not just thinking about doing an interview for interview's sake. You're doing it because you're trying to accomplish a strategic purpose. And the campaign just hasn't had a reason, a purpose to do an interview to this point. I would argue it's time for them to do something, because the American public needs to hear from the candidate on some of these issues. And I think we're going to see that based on what Vice President Harris said, which is that they're going to do something by the end of the month.

SANCHEZ: Scott, what would you counsel, if you were counseling Kamala Harris, how would you suggest that she approach an interview in which she's going to be asked about her positions morphing over time?

JENNINGS: Yes. I mean, first of all, look at the amount of hand wringing going on in the Harris campaign over one simple decision. They cannot figure out how to, where to, when to and who to do an interview with. One simple decision. We want to put her in charge of the country and make all kinds of complex decisions, they can't even decide when and how to do an interview. And so that concerns me.

If I were counseling them, I would say, pick somebody and go in and be prepared to face the discrepancies in your record. You've got all these anonymous press statements now saying you don't support any of the stuff you used to support. You're going to have to tackle it head on. That's number one.

Number two, she's going to have to say Joe Biden made some mistakes. I mean, she can't run on Biden's record. She can't run on his plan. She's going to have to show up and say he did this, this and this. I disagreed, but he's number one. I'm number two. I've learned from the experience.

If she's not willing to do that, she's going to wear Biden. It's going to make it hard to win, because if she isn't willing to separate on a specific policy issue or two or a decision, Trump's going to have her for the rest of the fall basically as a continuation of the Biden agenda. So those are my two pieces of advice.

KEILAR: Charlie, finally, I just want to ask you, how's it looking ...

SIMMONS: Guys, I'm looking to - Scott, on this one point. I can press Scott on this one point. It's not just one decision. She picked her running mate. She redesigned a convention. She pulled it off seamlessly and she's now running a national campaign and putting out policy. There's been a lot of decisions made in the last four or five weeks.

KEILAR: Charlie, I do want to ask you before we wrap this up, how's Pennsylvania looking right now?

DENT: Well, right now, Pennsylvania is a state that Harris must win. If she loses Pennsylvania, she loses the election. I would argue she is not as strong in Pennsylvania as Joe Biden was. She's certainly a stronger candidate than Joe Biden, but Biden has spent a lot of time in the Commonwealth.

Harris right now, I still think is - you know, she's in the game. She can win it. She'll need to run up numbers in the Philadelphia media market, particularly the collar counties of Philadelphia and the suburbs of Harrisburg and Pittsburgh, so she really need to do well in those areas as well.

But right now, it's still a game on. I think it's too close to call. But right now, I think Trump maybe has a slight advantage going into this, but she can easily make up ground. But she's going to have to do a lot of work there.

SANCHEZ: Former Congressman Charlie Dent ...

DENT: Shapiro would have helped her a lot, by the way.

SANCHEZ: Sorry?

DENT: I was going to say, Shapiro - that's why I thought you should have selected Shapiro as a running mate. He would have brought value. He could have really helped her in the Philadelphia media market where she needs to run up the score. So I was a bit surprised she didn't select him as vice president.

SANCHEZ: Congressman, Scott, Jamal, appreciate the conversation. Thanks so much for being with us.

JENNINGS: Thanks, guys.

SANCHEZ: Of course.

Still ahead this hour on CNN NEWS CENTRAL. After nearly a year in captivity, a Hamas hostage rescued alive from tunnels beneath Gaza. What we know about the complex operation to save him and the key pieces of intelligence that led to his location.

Plus, Donald Trump adding Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to his transition team as yet another bizarre tale involving RFK Jr. emerges. This one apparently involving a whale he wants decapitated with a chainsaw, a story coming from his daughter in just moments.

KEILAR: Yes, not the onion, but from his daughter.

And her case made national headlines. We're following new legal trouble for Karen Read, the woman accused of killing her police officer boyfriend.

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KEILAR: A dramatic new development in the war in Gaza. After 326 days held captive by Hamas, today, Kaid Farhan al-Qadi is back in Israel. IDF Special Forces completing a rescue operation earlier today. Israel says al-Qadi is the very first hostage saved from an underground tunnel. And just the fourth time that soldiers successfully rescued any hostages alive since the war began. The IDF says they're determined to bring all hostages home, even as ceasefire negotiations continue. CNN's Jeremy Diamond is live for us in Tel Aviv.

Jeremy, tell us what you know about this operation that - where the IDF was able to locate al-Qadi. JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, I'm told that the Israeli military had intelligence that there may be hostages in the area where al-Qadi was found.

[15:20:00]

Israeli special forces went into the network of tunnels in southern Gaza. And while they were there, they located al-Qadi, this 52-year- old father of 11 who has been held captive by Hamas for 326 days. When they found him, I'm told that he was alone without his captors. It's not exactly clear where his captors went before Israeli troops showed up. But he becomes the first Israeli hostage to be rescued by Israeli forces while he was in an underground tunnel.

In four previous instances or, sorry, three previous instances in which seven other hostages were rescued by Israeli forces, they were all found in above-ground locations. Al-Qadi was then taken in an Israeli military helicopter from Gaza to a hospital in southern Israel, the Soroka Medical Center, where we saw images of his brothers rushing, running to the helicopter to suddenly be able to be reunited with him.

They had started to lose hope, Brianna, that he would even emerge from Gaza alive. And then they got the call this morning that he was indeed alive and well, and out of Gaza on his way to that medical center. Doctors at the Soroka Medical Center say that he is in good medical condition, despite the fact that he has visibly lost quite a bit of weight in his nearly 11 months of captivity. And tonight, he was actually able to speak on the phone with the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu.

He thanked the Israeli prime minister for the rescue operation that got him out of Gaza. And he also reminded him that there are still more hostages in Gaza and that all of them must return home. The Israeli prime minister told him that all hostages will be returned home without exception.

We know, of course, that those negotiations to secure the release of the remaining hundred plus hostages still held in Gaza are very much still ongoing. U.S. officials saying that there was progress over the weekend to make - towards achieving a deal. But whether or not a deal will actually be brokered out of these negotiations still remains far from certain. Brianna?

KEILAR: Yes. It is so wonderful to see him with his brother, though, there at the hospital. Jeremy Diamond, thank you for the very latest there. Boris?

SANCHEZ: Still looking overseas, one of President Biden's top aides is now in Beijing. National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan is meeting with the Chinese foreign minister as part of a push by the White House to smooth over relations before Biden's only term as president ends. CNN Senior White House Correspondent, Kayla Tausche, joins us now live from the White House.

So, Kayla, do we know exactly what the two sides are going to be discussing?

KAYLA TAUSCHE, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Boris, there's a handful of topics that are on the agenda for these two days of meetings between National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan and China's foreign minister, Wang Yi. Among them discussing cracking down on the trafficking of illicit fentanyl into the United States, communicating between the two countries' militaries to de-conflict where needed and avoid any miscommunication, as well as safeguarding the development of artificial intelligence technologies.

Now, all of those are discussions that were started back in November 2023, when President Biden and President Xi Jinping held a summit outside San Francisco on the sidelines of the APEC conference in Woodside, California. The now-discussed Woodside summit is where the foreign minister first proposed to Jake Sullivan to make a return visit to Beijing, a reciprocal visit, as it's been discussed.

The two meet every six months or so to make sure those lines of communication are open and to provide a forum of sorts for the two global superpowers to bring discussions to the table on other thornier issues, too, like economic policy, with new tariffs set to go into place in the coming weeks, as well as rising tensions in the South China Sea and the Taiwan Strait.

But, Boris, there is also one other looming item on the to-do list, and that is the potential for another bilateral meeting this fall between President Biden and President Xi. There are two multilateral summits happening in South America in November, but a U.S. official tells me that any discussions to have the two leaders meeting again before the end of Biden's term are still in very early stages, with the possibility that one doesn't materialize still very real. Boris?

SANCHEZ: Kayla Tausche, live for us at the White House. Thank you so much, Kayla.

So can a 35-year-old self-admitted workaholic rescue Red Lobster? How the company's new CEO plans to save the struggling seafood chain and its Cheddar Bay Biscuits.

Plus, the company behind a popular weight loss drug has just made it easier for customers to pay for the injection. We'll explain how, next.

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SANCHEZ: When Red Lobster opened its doors back in 1968, its new CEO had not yet been born. That would happen about 20 years later, and his age is far from the only notable thing about him. Damola Adamolekun now has a mission to turn Red Lobster around. The iconic chain is in bankruptcy, and announced yesterday it's closing another 23 locations. CNN Consumer Reporter, Nathaniel Meyersohn, joins us with much more on the new CEO.

[15:30:01] Nathaniel, tell us about him.

NATHANIEL MEYERSOHN, CNN CONSUMER REPORTER: Yes, Boris, so we have a fascinating choice here for the next CEO of Red Lobster.