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Harris, Trump Cross Paths Commemorating 23 Years Since 9/11; Hurricane Francine Lashing Louisiana Ahead of Landfall; Inflation Falls to Slowest Rate in More Than Three Years. Aired 1-1:30p ET

Aired September 11, 2024 - 13:00   ET

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

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[13:00:00]

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN ANCHOR: You're watching CNN News Central and I'm Brianna Keilar alongside Boris Sanchez.

Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump set to cross paths for a second time today, both visiting Shanksville, Pennsylvania, to commemorate 23 years since the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

The two presidential candidates already came face to face this morning. They shook hands ahead of a ceremony at Ground Zero in Manhattan.

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN ANCHOR: This moment of civility comes after a fiery showdown at the debate last night, where the vice president went into the evening with a strategy, a plan, to try to throw the former president off his game. And Trump seemed to take the bait again and again.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KAMALA HARRIS, U.S. VICE PRESIDENT, DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: His former national security adviser has said he is dangerous and unfit. His former secretary of defense has said the nation, the republic, would never survive another Trump term.

DONALD TRUMP (R), FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT, 2024 PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: You take a guy like Esper, he was no good, I fired him, so he writes a book. Another one writes a book, because with me they can write books.

HARRIS: World leaders are laughing at Donald Trump.

TRUMP: Let me just say about world leaders, Viktor Orban, one of the most respected men, they call him a strong man, he's a tough person.

HARRIS: Donald Trump was fired by 81 million people. So, let's be clear about that, and, clearly, he is having a very difficult time processing that.

(END VIDEO CLIP) SANCHEZ: The big question now is how much last night's debate will impact the state of this very close race, especially in those seven battleground states.

Let's get the latest from both sides with CNN Senior White House Correspondent M.J. Lee, who's covering the Harris campaign, and we also have with us CNN National Correspondent Kristen Holmes, who is covering Trump.

M.J., let's start with you. Where does the Harris team now go from here?

M.J. LEE, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, what they would love is to try to ride the momentum that they were feeling last night and get back onto the campaign trail. They were obviously very pleased with everything that unfolded last night. They were happy with the vice president's performance. They felt like she delivered the messages that she had practiced. And they felt like she appeared in command of the important issues. They were also really pleased with how many times they felt like Donald Trump really took her bait on issues, including his crowd sizes.

But it's still something that they are making very clear that they do not believe that one debate is going to alter the course of the race. In fact, we got a fundraising note from the campaign earlier today. The subject line was, debates don't win elections. They know that there are only less than two months left now until Election Day. It has been an extraordinarily condensed campaign and they don't have a day to waste. And that for the vice president means getting back out on the campaign trail. She will be in North Carolina tomorrow. She is going to be in Pennsylvania on Friday.

And part of it is also just juggling her day job as well. We have seen her throughout the course of the day, visiting the various 9/11 sites alongside President Joe Biden. We also know that she is going to have a number of major fundraisers coming up. She's also going to have -- says, her team, that she's willing to do another second debate with Donald Trump, clearly trying to show that she's not afraid to do that again.

And make no mistake about it, they're going to try to capitalize on last night's debate as much as they possibly can. You know, one adviser I was texting with during the debate, they said that they felt like there was an embarrassment of riches when it comes to the debate moments that they would like to try to amplify clearly, including this moment. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HARRIS: You will see during the course of his rallies, he talks about fictional characters, like Hannibal Lecter. He will talk about windmills cause cancer. And what you will also notice is that people start leaving his rallies early out of exhaustion and boredom.

(END VIDEO CLIP) LEE: And that, as you remember, ended up really touching a nerve with Donald Trump. He ended up really defending the crowd sizes at his events.

The other thing I think that we should note is that the campaign will probably try to maximize the endorsement that she received after the debate last night from Taylor Swift. She, of course, posted on Instagram, signed the endorsement as childless cat lady. That explicit reference, of course, is the controversy created by J.D. Vance.

KEILAR: And the picture she posted was with her cat, alone, with her cat. M.J. Lee, thank you very much.

Kristen Holmes, how's the Trump campaign reacting today after the debate?

[13:05:00]

KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Brianna and Boris, no surprise, it depends on who you talk to and whether or not they're speaking on the record or not. Donald Trump himself has said that he did a great debate, that it was one of his best performances of all time, but he also kind of insulted the debate, a sign that he might not have actually believed that he was a winner. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: It was a rigged deal, as I assumed it would be, because when you looked at the fact that they were correcting everything and not correcting with her. So, I think ABC took a big hit last night. I mean, to be honest, they're a news organization, they have to be licensed to do it. They ought to take away their license for the way they did that.

Somebody that maybe even had the answers. I mean, I watched her talk and I said, you know, she seems awfully familiar with the questions.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: And that's clearly a baseless claim that she was given the questions ahead of time. Plus, ABC was very clear about the rules, and said that they would not be giving any sort of information out ahead of time. But Donald Trump reacting to that debate, kind of giving a moment of candor in all of the I did amazing, and it was my best debate performance yet.

The other thing to note is that Donald Trump had really been putting pushing this idea of a second debate on September 25th for an NBC debate. He had been asking Kamala Harris to do it, saying she didn't want to do it. The Harris team, yes, they had not agreed to it. But now, today, it sounds as though he's backing away from that. In that same interview, he said that the fighters come out, and when they win, they don't want to fight again. It's the people who lose who want a rematch. So, he wasn't sure if he wanted to actually debate again.

A lot of this is Donald Trump's spin. I will tell you, speaking to Republicans, even allies of Donald Trump's, a lot of them were disappointed in last night. They had spoken to him in the days leading up to the debate. They had told him to stay on the issues. They had told him not to let her, Kamala Harris, go to him, not to let her get underneath his skin, and even talk to him about ways to pivot to various issues like immigration, like the economy.

Obviously as we saw time and time again last night, Donald Trump did take the bait. He did jump in, particularly when he saw that sound bite there that M.J. pointed to during the conversation about rallies. He couldn't just let the comments go. And that's what you're hearing from a lot of Republican allies who like Donald Trump, who are going to vote for Donald Trump. But they were disappointed in the way he handled last night,

SANCHEZ: And we will see how he continues to respond and whether or not there is a third debate. Kristen Holmes, thank you so much.

Let's get some reaction now from voters. CNN actually conducted a new poll of debate watchers, and CNN Senior Data Reporter Harry Enten is here with those numbers.

Harry, was there a clear winner, according to this poll?

HARRY ENTEN, CNN SENIOR DATA REPORTER: Yes, I would say so, in my Southern California ways, with at least that sort of manner of speaking. Look, Kristen was talking about this, you know, in terms of Donald Trump's sort of debate history, and he said, you know, this might have been the best debate I ever had. Not according to debate watchers, it wasn't, all right?

So, you know, we're taking a look at the CNN polling of debate watchers, going through history, all of Donald Trump's presidential, first presidential debates. And what do we see? Well, first off, Kamala Harris won the debate last night by a 26-point margin, all right? She easily defeated Donald Trump in the minds of debate viewers. And I will note that the folks who are watching that debate actually leaned a little bit more Republican than the public as a whole. So, the fact that she came away with a 26-point win is quite something.

It's a significantly better performance than Joe Biden had against Donald Trump back in June. Donald Trump won that debate performance by 34 points over Joe Biden. So, this is almost like the inverse, right? This looks a lot more like what we saw in 2020 when Joe Biden defeated Donald Trump in that debate, according to viewers of said debate, by 32 points. And it is a double, it is double the margin that Hillary Clinton had over Donald Trump back in 2016 during that first debate, when Clinton won it by just 13 points.

So, the bottom line is, Kamala Harris easily won that debate in the minds of debate viewers despite what Donald Trump said actually occurred last night.

KEILAR: Does that mean that she'll see a bump in upcoming polling?

ENTEN: Ah, the great question, or one of the great questions. Will, in fact, there be movement? Because the bottom line is, if last night is just contained to last night, who gives a flying hoot? What matters is the polls and then the election result down the way.

All right, so do the folks who actually won the first debate see a polling bump? Well, if we go back since 2012, the answer in every single case is, yes, they do. All right, Mitt Romney in 2012, of course, won that first debate over Barack Obama. He saw a polling bump. 2016, we mentioned Hillary Clinton beating Donald Trump in that first debate, she saw a polling bump. The same in 2020 with Joe Biden over Donald Trump winning that first debate, he saw polling go up. And, of course, Donald Trump did so well in that first debate against Joe Biden back in June that he actually knocked Biden out of the race.

Now, in terms of the amount of bump we might see, look, all four of these folks saw a polling jump of at least two points. And given how close this race is nationally and in those key battleground states, I think Kamala Harris would more than welcome a two-point bump, but she couldn't fax in even larger bumps.

[13:05:08]

Sometimes you see three four-point bumps. Mitt Romney saw one of those back in 2012. So, we'll see if that holds. But the bottom line is, yes, I would expect to see a polling bump down the road if history is any guide.

SANCHEZ: And if history is any guide, Harry, what does this all mean come Election Day?

ENTEN: Ah, Boris Sanchez with a very pivotal question, right? The election is about two months away. Will, in fact, the debate bump actually foretell someone winning in November? Not necessarily.

All right, so let's go back through the debates of the 21st century. I feel like we're late enough into the 21st century where we can actually take a guide through walk through history. All right, lost the first debate and won the election, actually, that's happened three out of the last five times in terms of the winners. George W. Bush lost that first debate against John Kerry. He went on to win in November. Barack Obama lost his first debate against Mitt Romney in 2012. He went on to win in November. And perhaps the most important data point of all was Donald Trump lost that first debate in 2016 to Hillary Clinton and he went on to win in November.

So, the bottom line is, yes, Kamala Harris may see a polling bump come the next few weeks, but whether or not she actually sees a victory in November, only time will tell.

KEILAR: And Harry Enten, our favorite valley girl, will also tell, yes. Is that what you said?

ENTEN: Yes.

KEILAR: Yes. Yes, mom. All right, Harry, thanks so much.

Let's discuss a little bit more now with Democratic Strategist Chuck Rocha and Republican Strategist Erin Perrini. Erin was press communications director for the Trump 2020 campaign. She is now with Axiom Strategies. And Chuck was senior advisor on Bernie Sanders' presidential campaigns.

Erin, I think a lot of people connect with, look, it's easy to be drawn in when someone is baiting you, but I think what was kind of surprising about this one was that the reporting was out there that this was her strategy, that she was going -- that Harris was going to bait Trump. So, he knew it. It's like blinking red and yet he fell for it over and over again still.

ERIN PERRINE, TRUMP 2020 CAMPAIGN PRESS COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR: I think the American people didn't necessarily learn anything new last night. And I think that's true of both the candidates. I think they saw Donald Trump in his regular fighting fashion. This is very typical of what you would see from Trump in any debate. I think the American people saw a prepared Kamala Harris who can deliver a canned line. And her team prepped her well in the sense that when she got on tough topics, when she got asked about immigration, what did she do? She pivoted to goad him into going off on a tangent. There was strong preparation there on her part, which you would expect from a prosecutor and a litigator.

But at the end of the day, I don't think that this is necessarily going to move things, maybe a couple of points in the polls, but nobody would have been shocked to see Donald Trump last night.

SANCHEZ: And, Chuck, on the polling that CNN conducted, it showed that on issues, like the economy and like immigration, those that were watching still trust Donald Trump more than Harris. Do you think she adequately answered voters that have concerns on those issues last night?

CHUCK ROCHA, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: She had to have command of the stage last night. She touched on the topic, and then to Erin's point, she would pivot to try to goad him. For somebody who's actually done debate prep with a presidential candidate, that's exactly what you want to do.

Sometimes it works a little bit, sometimes, like last night, it works a lot. Last night, there was a small group of people who were looking for an excuse to vote for her or to not vote for her, and they wanted to see if she could hold her own against somebody who can be very combative, just like Erin said, because Donald Trump is used to being a bully. He's used to overpowering people. And you saw from the immediate point, which is 101 in debate, she chased him around the podium to shake his hand, to be like, I ain't scared of you, big boy. We're going to do this tonight, me and you, mano-a-mano. And then she went back over and stood there. That rocked him on his heels to begin with. That's like debate 101.

SANCHEZ: What did you think of that moment, Erin, when she walked over and shook his hand?

PERRINE: I mean, Chuck's right. That was a classic debate move. You know, I've done debate prep, not with presidential candidates, but with plenty of Senate and, you know, statewide candidates. And to go over there and to stand up and to shake his hand when what it hadn't been done since 2016, it clearly didn't expect it. He didn't expect her to come in her space. Although I will say 2020, it was the COVID era. So, there's a little bit that you can like add the asterisks there. But yes, coming into his space, kind of setting herself up definitionally as a stronger presence on that stage than I think people expected, especially in that earnest moment.

But that first 15 minutes, Trump really did a much better job in that than she did. It took her a little bit to get her legs under her, and that's when you started seeing her start to land those successful pivots.

SANCHEZ: There was a moment. Did you want to answer?

ROCHA: I was just going to say one thing that struck me last night that was really different is you never seen him look at her. Like we teach people in debate prep that you're on camera. We all four know we're on camera right now. We don't we making a scowl because people out there ain't going to like it. When you're looking at her, she was smiling and she would look at him and she was almost communicating with her face while he was just getting madder and madder. And I think that that mattered.

SANCHEZ: There, there was one moment that I want to ask you about, Erin, because I, you know, I immediately looked up at the screen and perked up, my dog looked up at the screen and perked up, and it was this sound bite.

[13:15:05]

Let's listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: In Springfield, they're eating the dogs, the people that came in, they're eating the cats, they're eating the pets of the people that live there. And this is what's happening in our country, and it's a shame.

I've seen people on television.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Let me just say here, this is --

TRUMP: The people on television say, my dog was taken, and used for food. So, maybe he said that and maybe that's a good thing to say for a city manager.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm not taking this from television.

TRUMP: But the people are on television saying the dog was eaten by the people that went there.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Again, the Springfield city manager says there's no evidence of that.

TRUMP: We'll find out.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Vice President Harris, I'll let you respond.

HARRIS: You talk about extreme.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: Just, it didn't feel like a good moment overall for him to be talking about people eating dogs.

PERRINE: What Donald Trump should have done in that moment is take what is a strong issue for him, immigration, and lean in on it and talk about how let's -- look, Democrats had a few, what, maybe two dozen immigrants that were sent up to Martha's Vineyard, and within two days, they said their community was overwhelmed and they needed to move them out to different facilities to get housing.

And this is a community with 20,000 additional migrants in it right now. That is overwhelming the community. Talk about this in a more positive way about what you're going to do, solve the solution, find the solution to solve the problem when it comes to the vast immigration problem that America faces and communities that are suffering, especially at the southern border in Texas, because there are so many people and the cities don't have the resources to keep up.

KEILAR: Yes, Chuck. Harris clearly won this debate. We'll have to see what that means on Election Day. But it wasn't without some moments where she could have had better answers on some questions. For instance, she was asked -- we were talking a lot yesterday before the debate, is this my values haven't changed, can answer going to be sufficient, to explain her changing position on fracking, which ultimately Donald Trump did hit her on yet again, and she didn't actually get a follow-up to that at the end, just the way the sort of the debate thing unfolded because he was hitting her again and again on the fracking thing. You're going to ban fracking. She had initially said no, but she didn't get to respond to that. She's in Pennsylvania. What about that moment where she's not responding maybe in the best way?

ROCHA: When you watch people do dial test, we do dial test for reason. And for those of you at home when we're dialing back and forth with live people watching, we say, do you like this, dial to the right. If you don't, dial to the left. And what we find is that debates are much like boxing matches for any of us. I grew up boxing as a kid in Texas and it's a long battle. And somebody don't remember one punch that kind of landed over the all they remember the fight of somebody that got beat up. And he got beat up last night verbally in the debate just like Joe Biden honestly got beat up in the first debate. That's what they remember. Did there and did Donald Trump land a few punches around things? Sure. But as you're training a fighter or a debater you train them to go in, land some punches and they'd be ready for the counter.

To Erin's point, there's so many things he could have countered on that are meat and potatoes, if I was coaching Donald Trump, which I never would, around something as basic as, this is how much bread costs when I was president, and this is how much bread costs right now. But she got in his head so bad he couldn't even do that.

SANCHEZ: He did articulate toward the end, during the closing statements, the idea that if she wanted to create the sort of changes that she's talked about, she could do it now. He said something to the effect of she's been in office three and a half years, why hasn't she addressed these issues? Talk about the challenges of running from the position that she's in. She's an incumbent, but she's not actually running things.

ROCHA: Right. I think that her whole team last night had her well prepared to say that I am a new generation. I'm a woman, I'm a woman of color, I'm 50, and he's an almost 80-year-old man. I'm the change candidate, even though she's been the incumbent. This ain't about who is actually factually not the incumbent. Donald Trump is a master at this, and he does it all of the time. He don't have to be right about everything. You just have to believe what he's saying, and that's what she's trying to do, is tell people, I am the change here. I am the one who looks different than these two old white guys who were running. Take a chance on me.

SANCHEZ: Chuck Rocha, Erin Perrine, we have to leave the conversation there. I appreciate you both. Thanks so much.

We are following breaking news today out of Louisiana. Hurricane Francine is forecast to make landfall in just a few hours.

Plus, inflation coming in at its tamest levels in three and a half years. We were just talking about the economy's effect on the election. Find out what this means for your gas and grocery prices and potentially interest rate cuts.

KEILAR: And later, Taylor Swift is in her Harris era. The superstar is supporting Vice President Kamala Harris, but will her army of fans move the needle at the polls?

You're watching CNN News Central.

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SANCHEZ: The Gulf Coast is bracing for impact from Hurricane Francine. The storm hit category 1 status last night, and it could strengthen into a category 2, as it barrels toward landfall just hours from now in South Central Louisiana, people along the coast are already feeling the effects.

These are live images from Lafayette, Louisiana, and you see the water slowly creeping up there. The storm could unleash up to ten feet of dangerous storm surge.

Let's get the latest from CNN Meteorologist Derek Van Dam, who's live for us in Morgan City, Louisiana. That's about as close as we can get to where the storm is expected to make a landfall this afternoon or this evening. Derek, what are you seeing there? DEREK VAN DAM, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes, Boris, that's right. We're in one of the more southern, most accessible points in the state of Louisiana, very low elevation and very prone to storm surge. We are staring at the eye of Hurricane Francine, which is about 100 miles directly to myself.

[13:25:03]

And it's likely that we will get a land falling hurricane here within the next four to five hours as a strong category 1 hurricane. This will be the third land falling U.S. hurricane this season, the first one in Louisiana since 2021.

There is a mandatory curfew in place here in Morgan City valid through 6:00 A.M. tomorrow morning. this afternoon with voluntary evacuation orders for some portions of ST Mary's Parish.

Now, the winds that are being recorded at some of the elevated oil platforms off the shoreline here are in excess of 100 miles per hour. It's very possible that some of those stronger wind gusts will get mixed down to the surface once we get the outer the most powerful rain bands around the eye of Hurricane Francine moving on shore in the next coming hours.

Now, what makes this Louisiana so susceptible is its low elevation. And when people consider whether or not to evacuate this area, they need not to think about how far away from the coast. As it stands right now, I'm about ten miles away from the actual Gulf of Mexico. What you need to consider is your elevation. We're only about six feet above ground -- above sea level, I should say. So, that makes this area extremely susceptible with a storm surge forecast of over eight to ten feet.

Now, this storm is likely reached its peak intensity, and I want to show you exactly why. So, take up my graphics and you could see the satellite imagery looking, kind of eroding at the northern side of that. That is because there's strong winds that is encountering in the upper levels of the atmosphere. We call this sheer. And this is so incredibly important because we no longer have that explicit category 2 hurricane that was forecast from the National Hurricane Center just a few hours ago.

Regardless, the hurricane warnings are in place. The threat of flooding and, of course, tornadoes and the storm surge with warnings that will extend all the way into Lake Pontchartrain as well as Mississippi. Boris?

SANCHEZ: A lot to keep an eye on there. Derek Van Dam in Morgan City, Louisiana, I hope you and your crew stay safe. Thanks, Derek. Brianna?

KEILAR: A little breathing room for your wallet. Inflation has dropped to its lowest level since 2021 in a new report out this morning, coming in at a tamer reading of 2.5 percent over the year ending in August for the CPI, the Consumer Price Index. That is cementing the betting that the Fed will cut interest rates, at least a quarter percentage point at its meeting next week. CNN Business First Move Host Julia Chatterley is here to break down what all of this means. Julia, tell us.

JULIA CHATTERLEY, CNN BUSINESS ANCHOR: Brianna, you pitched it perfectly. This is great news for American borrowers that are hoping to see a rate cut next week. Let me walk you through some of the details as well, because actually the changes in prices matter too. What we got overall, as you said, an inflation rate of 2.5 percent on an annualized basis. That's a huge step lower, even than what we saw last month.

What's still driving prices higher, and a lot of people out there know this already, is housing costs. That rose another half a percent last month. Other things adding to the pressure here, airline fares jumping 3.9 percent, that's after five months of decline. So, some late booking holidays, I think, playing into that. Motor vehicle insurance, another thing that people are coming to me and saying, hey, I'm trying to buy a used car, but the insurance costs continue to soar. And we saw that as well.

Helping us on the downside, it's all about energy. Gasoline prices fell again last month, and actually, according to AAA, the average price of a gallon of gasoline now, down double digits over the past year.

Final note that jumped out to me, food prices unchanged on the month, but online grocery prices are a totally different story. According to Adobe, prices, as you can see there, fell 3.7 percent last month, that is the biggest drop that they've seen in ten years since they started recording the data. So, for bargain hunters out there, check online for deals.

And what does this mean for the Fed? I think it means a quarter of a percentage point cut. Not more next week, but we'll see. September 18th is the date.

KEILAR: All right, we will mark our calendars. Julia Chatterley, thank you so much for the update.

And still to come, look what you made her do. Why Taylor Swift says she's endorsing Vice President Harris, and how quickly the Harris campaign responded with cat-like reflexes, next.

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