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Kamala Harris Presidential Campaign Makes Large Ad Buy in Battleground States; Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer Interviewed on Upcoming Debate between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump; Netanyahu Defiant as Protesters Demand Gaza Hostage Deal. Aired 8-8:30a ET

Aired September 03, 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]

FATHER EDWARD BECK, CNN RELIGION AND FAITH COMMENTATOR: Population there that he wants to shore up and say even though you may be in a minority, you're not forgotten, especially by me.

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: It's pretty incredible, because of his age, because of his health. Are you worried about him going on this long of a trip?

BECK: I always worry about him. I mean, when I look at him and he's at 87, he'll be 88 in December. He is frail. And yet what that smile and his -- I mean, he has this energy bout him even in his frailty that says, I am a man about a mission. He really believes interreligious dialogue, the environment, peace, the Ukraine right now. I mean, these are important issues to him.

So when you see that kind of inspiration, or he gives that kind of inspiration, I say, I don't know. I hope he has a few more years left in it because we need him. We need people like him speaking peace and dialogue, rather than all of the dissension that we've been seeing in the world.

SIDNER: There is a whole lot of that in the world. Father Edward Beck, you never bring that dissension to the set, so we so appreciate it. Thank you for being here this morning.

BECK: Great seeing you, Sara.

SIDNER: John?

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: All right, breaking news. We're just getting word of a Russian strike in Ukraine that has killed dozens. Hundreds might be injured. We have new information just coming in.

Runners, take your mark. The campaign sprint to the finish is on. What Donald Trump is trying this morning after previous attacks on Vice President Harris did not seem to work.

And four people killed on a subway train apparently while they were sleeping.

I'm John Berman with Kate Bolduan and Sara Sidner. This is the show you have been waiting for, CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

Labor Day was so yesterday. Now is the sprint to the finish in the presidential campaign, and this morning there is a whole lot of new, new proposals coming in from Vice President Harris in her economic plan, new TV ads targeting the middle-class, a new bus tour on abortion rights, a new defense against Donald Trump, who we might add, is newly on the attack.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KAMALA HARRIS, (D) VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES AND PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: As we fight to move forward, Donald Trump is trying to pull us backward. America has tried those failed policies before and we are not going back.

(CHEERING)

HARRIS: We are not going back.

CROWD: We're not going back! We're not going back!

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: All right, let's get right to CNN's Priscilla Alvarez on the post Labor Day push. Good morning, Priscilla.

PRISCILLA ALVAREZ, CNN REPORTER: Good morning, John. Look, this is a push that's going to include two of the top issues for this campaign and for voters -- the economy, fine-tuning their message there, and reproductive rights.

Now, on the economy, the vice president usually polls slightly behind former President Donald Trump. And this is an issue they know they have to make inroads on because it is top of mind for so many voters. And what we have seen is the vice president tried to fine tune that messaging, particularly focusing on affordability. And that is what they tried to do in an ad released today.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She'll make groceries more affordable by cracking down on price gouging. And she'll cut housing costs by taking on corporate speculators. Middle-class families build America. We need a leader who has their back.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ALVAREZ: Now, this is part of a $370 million buy that's going to be between Labor Day and Election Day, so certainly being aggressive on the airwaves. But in addition to that, it's hitting the trail. And what we saw yesterday was President Joe Biden, who has had appeal with labor groups and union workers, with the vice president. It was their first campaign event in the crucial commonwealth of Pennsylvania. And that is where they again are trying to appeal and boost the ticket on the economy. This of course, a place that former, or sorry, President Biden only won by less than two percentage points in 2020, but also a place where he had made the shift from candidate to surrogate.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, (D) PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Are you ready to elect Kamala Harris, our next president of the United States of America?

(CHEERING)

BIDEN: And in the process, are you ready to make Donald Trump a loser again?

CROWD: Yes!

(APPLAUSE)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ALVAREZ: Now, President Biden will be heading to Wisconsin and Michigan as well in the next few days. Of course, the campaign sees that he could help in the blue wall states, all states that he narrowly won in 2020.

[08:05:00]

Now, the vice president is also hitting the trail. She'll be going to New Hampshire tomorrow where she'll unveil more economic proposals. She teased some of this last week, saying that she wanted to propose tax credits for small business startups. So the focus tomorrow will again be on innovation and entrepreneurship. But again, John, we're a week from that debate between the vice president and former President Donald Trump. And they are going into it by focusing on the economy and the reproductive rights tour, which also kicks off today with surrogates, elected officials, and, the campaign says, celebrities along the way.

BERMAN: All right, Priscilla Alvarez tracking all this for us. Priscilla, great to see you. Thank you. Kate?

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: And all of this comes just after Harris was in battleground Michigan yesterday, campaigning for union support alongside Michigan's Governor Gretchen Whitmer.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. GRETCHEN WHITMER, (D) MICHIGAN: Look, if your most famous line is "You're fired," you sure as hell don't understand workers, right?

(APPLAUSE)

WHITMER: The words I want our next president to say to workers, whomever she might be, is "I've got your back."

(APPLAUSE)

(END VIDEO CLIP) BOLDUAN: Joining us right now is Democratic Governor of Michigan, Gretchen Whitmer. She is the author of the new book about her life and political career, and much more, called "True Gretch." It's good to see you, Governor. Thanks so much for coming in.

So the vice president is going to be rolling out --

GOV. GRETCHEN WHITMER (D-MI): Glad to be with you.

BOLDUAN: -- more of -- more detail on her economic agenda tomorrow. Our correspondent Priscilla Alvarez was just talking about that. And just this weekend, we saw kind of a new take on how voters are feeling nationally about the economy. And this new national poll from ABC News shows that more Americans still say they trust Donald Trump over Kamala Harris to handle the economy, 46 to 38. Why is that?

WHITMER: Right. You know what, I think that we all know that as soon as you get past Labor Day, kids are going back to school, people are starting to re-engage in the national conversation about elections. We know that whether it's reproductive rights or it is the economy, keeping more money in people's pockets, Kamala Harris has an agenda that supports Americans who want to just get ahead or make decisions about their own health care and their bodies and their families.

And so I think that now voters are going to start tuning in more. They're going to be asking themselves, who's really putting a plan on the table that is going to make my life better? All Donald Trump offers is anger and grievance, whereas Kamala Harris has actual plans that will help people keep more money in their pockets. She's got receipts because she's been on the front line of the fight to bring down the cost of insulin or just to protect a woman's ability to access health care.

So this is a stark choice in front of us, and I'm confident that as voters start to get more, you know, engaged in this upcoming election, that they'll see Kamala Harris's agenda is about making their lives better and Donald Trump's about making Donald Trump's life better.

BOLDUAN: And, Governor, it's not just nine weeks I think to the day is Election Day. You have absentee ballots going out, being mailed out in North Carolina this week. Pennsylvania, early voting starts in two weeks. So how much time does Kamala Harris have to make that case? Because it's even shorter than all the way to Election Day. I mean, is she running out of time?

WHITMER: Oh, no, I don't think so at all. But we're making use of every minute of every day. As you saw, she and Tim Walz were out there working their tails off in important states, sharing the message of how do we make people's lives better in this country, how do we recognize workers who just need a fair deal so that they can get ahead and take care of their families and keep more money in their pockets. So we're working hard. I don't even know where Donald Trump was yesterday.

And as we talk about understanding the average American's life, we've got two candidates who worked hourly jobs, had to scrape to get ahead, have gotten -- you know, lived their version of the American dream, versus a guy who was -- who was born on third base and thinks he hit a triple. This is I think a really stark choice between people who actually get it, who lived our lives and want to make more people -- you know, ensure more people have a path to prosperity, versus a guy who just -- who hasn't and doesn't get it, and care about winning an election, not necessarily what he's going to do once he does. And so I think this is such an important moment.

BOLDUAN: And when you talk about kind of who gets it and who doesn't get it, it's reminding me, you have a line in your book that you say, if there is -- make sure -- if there's any one motto I live by in my political career, it's get stuff done. You put it slightly differently, of course.

In terms of what Harris is promising to get done, is to improve the lives of the middle class. We've heard that in Michigan. I want to play for you, with that in mind, what J.D. Vance said on CNN about her promises to get things done.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. J.D. VANCE (R-OH), VICE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: If she wants to tackle the affordability crisis or close down the southern border, she should be doing it now.

[08:10:00]

And I think it takes a lot of shame -- shamelessness, I should say, to be able to stare at the American people's eyes and say, I'm going to fix your problems now when I've already been in power for three-and-a- half years.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: How do you make the case that you're going to get stuff done if you have three-and-a-half years that you haven't gotten it done? Does he have a point?

WHITMER: Oh, my gosh, when you look at just even in J.D. Vance's hometown, a steel mill that is now thriving, that was on the precipice of closing under Trump's last term. It's thriving now because of the Harris and Biden work to make sure that we are onshoring supply chains. This is about American manufacturing. And when you look at J.D. Vance's own state, how much people have benefited, good-paying jobs, we're seeing that here in Michigan and across the country, the resurgence of American manufacturing is thanks to Biden-Harris administration.

Is there more good work to do? Absolutely. But for J.D. Vance to show how little he understands the role of a vice presidency I think is very revealing and exactly why we need leaders who understand the jobs and can get stuff done and make our lives better.

BOLDUAN: You also write a lot about the -- all the -- all the points in your political career and kind of the models for your campaigns, when you were an underdog, when you were not, and what you faced throughout your life in your -- in your -- and in your political career, the challenges you faced. The next challenge for Kamala Harris is this debate next week with Donald Trump. Where do you set expectations? Who's the better debater?

WHITMER: Well, listen, you know, if you're -- if you're grading debates on facts and vision, there's no question that it's going to be Kamala Harris. I can tell you, you know, at the end of the book, I talk about being a happy warrior, and that was advice I got about debate prep when I was running for governor the first time. You know, if anything, I think the world has seen at the DNC and in Kamala Harris and Tim Walz, they are happy warriors. They're people who care about one another and care about all of us. They want to solve problems. They're tough and they're not going to go down into the pit with, you know, all the ugliness that's coming from the other side.

And I think that's what I want to see. I think that's what my kids want to see. I think that's what Americans deserve, happy warriors. And I think that's exactly what we'll see in that debate, and I'm looking forward to it.

BOLDUAN: We'll all see it together. Governor, good to see you. Thank you for coming on.

Sara?

WHITMER: Thank you.

SIDNER: Thank you, Kate.

We are following breaking news for you. Dozens of people are dead after a Russian airstrike on a military facility in Ukraine, and there's nearly 200 people that have been injured. We have a live report from Kyiv for you, up next.

Also, an urgent search for three missing people after all high-speed boat crash off the coast of Connecticut.

And a reported confession in a deadly shooting of a former Louisiana mayor and his daughter. Police say the assessment is just 10 years old.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:17:38]

BOLDUAN: Here are some breaking news coming in. This is out of Ukraine, at least 41 people have been killed, nearly 200 more are reported wounded after a Russian missile attack on a military educational facility in Central Ukraine.

Let's get over to CNN'S Fred Pleitgen. He is gathering more details for us from Ukraine.

Fred, what are you learning?

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hi there, Kate.

Yes, this is obviously all coming into us right as we speak. A lot of new information coming in, a lot of fresh information.

The Ukrainians literally just coming out with that, you mentioned some of it, at least 41 people have been confirmed to have been killed about 180 wounded in this attack. It happened in Central Ukraine in the city of Poltava in a military educational facility.

And what we are getting from the Ukrainians is they say that the telecommunications institute of that facility, the building of that was partially destroyed.

The Ukrainians are saying, and this is the Defense Ministry, that apparently there was an air raid alert, but the time between the alert and the actual two missiles impacting the site was so short that people were still on their way to air raid shelters and were obviously very much caught off guard.

And that is why you have this very high toll of people who were injured. And of course, people who were killed as well.

The emergency services though, Kate, were pretty quick to be on the scene. The Ukrainians say and were able to rescue 25 people, 11 of whom were trapped underneath the rubble.

As you can imagine, a lot of that operation is still very much going on. The Ukrainian president has come out and ripped into the Russians for this attack.

What we don't yet have, Kate, is anything from the official Russian places, the Russian government or the Russian military. There was however, a very prominent Russian military blogger who did come out and say that in fact the Russians had attacked this facility in Central Ukraine.

This of course comes as the Russians have really stepped up their missile attacks on cities really around Ukraine. One of the things that we had a couple of days ago was a big attack here in Kyiv. We have attacks happening in Kharkiv in the northeast of the country, pretty much on a daily basis.

That is something that the Ukrainians are dealing with very frequently. However, this specific attack is definitely one where the toll is extremely higher than we've seen anywhere in the past months -- Kate.

BOLDUAN: Yes, it absolutely has. Fred, thank you so much for being there and your reporting as always, thanks --Sara.

SIDNER: All right, new this morning, pressure is intensifying on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to make a deal to bring home the remaining hostages from Gaza, as he stays defiant.

Overnight, protesters gathered outside the prime minister's home and lit fires amid mass demonstrations over the killing of six hostages at the hands of Hamas.

The mother of one of these hostages delivered a tearful eulogy at his funeral yesterday.

[08:20:21]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RACHEL GOLDBERG-POLIN, MOTHER OF HERSH GOLDBERG-POLIN: If there was something we could have done to save you and we didn't think of it, I beg your forgiveness. We tried so very hard, so deeply and desperately, I'm sorry.

Now, my Hersh, I ask for your help as we transform our hope into grief in this new unknown brand of pain.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SIDNER: A mother talking to her dead son.

Moshe Lavi's brother-in-law, Omri Miran is still being held hostage in Gaza since he was taken captive on October 7th.

And here joining us now this morning. Thank you so much for being here. I know it's really hard to listen to these families and what they are going through.

But how have you been able to deal with this and have you heard anything about the status of your brother-in-law?

MOSHE LAVI, BROTHER-IN-LAW OF OMRI MIRAN HELD HOSTAGE BY HAMAS: Yes, thank you for having me. It is very difficult to hear Rachel's words.

We, the families of hostages have learned to know each other so well over the past year now. Unbearable to say that, 11 months.

And so, we feel that any lost hostage, those who were murdered by Hamas is part of our family. We are doing our best to keep strong, to hold on to the hope that we can still make a difference.

But as the war prolongs, as negotiations does not seem to lead anywhere, we are starting to lose the hope that we had only a few months ago.

SIDNER: It's horrible, it's been what, 323 days, I think now, that the hostages have been held, that this war has been going on, you know, Gaza is in rubble, Hamas is still there, the Israeli forces are still there.

Do you see any hope in the number of people out in the streets? This looks a lot different than what was happening in the beginning because there were demonstrations throughout this, since October 7th.

But this seems different. Do you think this is a potential game changer? Will it potentially change Netanyahu in the way he is thinking amid these negotiations? LAVI: On one hand, it is uplifting to see the images from Israel. I was last there in May, demonstrations or rallies then were very different, the numbers were much smaller.

And so, this gives us some kind of motivation and understanding that the Israeli public had enough of the sabotaging of the negotiations by so many different parties including our own government.

And so, that gives us kind of hope that perhaps we can make a difference. Perhaps we cross the Rubicon with the brutal murder of those six hostages, but it will be too late for them.

We have to ensure that it's not late for the other 101 hostages that still remain captive. Many of them are still alive. And so, I hope Israelis will keep going on the streets, keep demanding, but we also need other publics around the world to demand their own government to do more for the hostages who are held captive by Hamas, to pressure Hamas.

I think the US administration has completely failed in using its levers on Qatar since the beginning of the war, using its levers on Turkey, on Iran, on so many others who are sponsoring, funding, or involving Hamas, and the entire international community failed us as well, the families of hostages by emboldening Hamas.

But we are holding our government accountable. We want to make sure our prime minister is frank and honest with us.

We are not feeling he is sincere and so that's why so many Israelis are angry. We don't want to go on the streets in the middle of the war. It's so conflicting to do that because what happened on October 7th cannot happen again.

We cannot normalize Hamas, we cannot normalize hostage taking, but there are no other avenues for us to show our frustration, to show our anger with the lack of sincerity that we believe is part of this current government.

SIDNER: Do you think that Netanyahu is in a position to really get this deal done? Do you think that some of what he has done has harmed the possibility of a deal?

LAVI: I think on one hand, Israel principally agreed as the US administration said countless times to the deals that or on the table.

On the other hand, there are things that are not obvious to the American public, that are obvious to the Israeli public, things that are said in Hebrew, statements that are being stated anonymously by Prime Minister Netanyahu, by his close associates that are harming the negotiations.

[08:25:02]

So, yes, principally, Israeli is negotiating. I think it is trying to find a deal but also have a sense that Prime Minister Netanyahu has a Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde kind of complex. And so, while he really wants to bring home the hostages, he really wants to progress with the negotiations and agrees in English to terms of agreements that are difficult for us to process. When he returns home -- when he consults with his most radical ministers he is too frightened to actually take it forward.

I don't know if Hamas will agree to any deal that is on the table. Their goal is to survive. And I think their goal is also to create a regional conflict.

They have been failing and doing that to an extent. But they're still trying. I don't know if they'll agree to a deal, but I need my policymakers to show me that they are doing everything they can. And if they can't do it, they need to go out to the public and say, there are other interests that are overriding a deal that will save the hostages. And you have to understand we are the policymakers and we have to make those difficult decisions.

But I haven't received that answer, even yesterday in the conference Prime Minister Netanyahu held, he gave conflicting messages.

On one hand, he wants to bring home the hostages on one hand he is negotiating; on the other hand, he adds conditions that seems impossible to breach by the different mediators.

SIDNER: Moshe Lavi, I'm so sorry about your brother-in-law, still having to worry about how he is and all the other hostages there. Thank you so much for coming on. I appreciate you.

LAVI: Thank you.

SIDNER: John.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: A gunman kills four people on a subway while they were sleeping. How police managed find the suspect.

And new this morning, one man hospitalized after he gets infected with three different mosquito-borne illnesses at the same time.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:30:00]