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Biden War Chest Unleashes on Trump, Character Matters; Wildfire Rages in Southern California, 15,000 Acres Burned; Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu Disbands War Cabinet. Aired 10-10:30a ET

Aired June 17, 2024 - 10:00   ET

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

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JIM ACOSTA, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning. You are live in the CNN Newsroom. I'm Jim Acosta in Washington.

We begin with President Biden unleashing his campaign war chest as he argues that voters have a choice between a felon and a commander-in- chief.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This election is between a convicted criminal who's only out for himself and a president who's fighting for your family.

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ACOSTA: That's part of a new $50 million ad buy taking aim at Donald Trump's hush money trial conviction. Also today, House Speaker Mike Johnson is making the MAGA pilgrimage down to Mar-a-Lago. The meeting comes days after Trump met with Republican lawmakers up on Capitol Hill for the first time since the January 6th insurrection.

Before that assault on democracy, Trump sowed doubt about the election results for months on end. Now, in 2024, he is doing that again.

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DONALD TRUMP (R), FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT, 2024 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We need to watch the vote. We need to guard the vote. We need to stop this mail. We don't need votes. We have to stop it. Focus. Don't worry about votes. We've got all the votes. We've got to watch the vote. Because they destroy votes, they terminate your vote, they do all sorts of things. Watch your vote.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: President Biden is calling rhetoric like that, quote, outrageous this weekend at a star studded fundraiser with former President Barack Obama. Biden delivered a stark warning about what he thinks could be the, quote, scariest part of a second Trump term.

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JOE BIDEN, U.S. PRESIDENT: The next president is likely to have two new Supreme Court nominees. Please, two more, two more. He's already appointed two that have been very negative in terms of the rights of individuals.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Could this be the scariest part of all of it?

BIDEN: Well, I think it is one of the scariest parts of it. Look, the Supreme Court has never been as out of kilter as it is today.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: All right, lots to talk about. Let's discuss with Democratic Strategist Chuck Rocha and CNN Political Commentator and Republican strategist Shermichael Singleton. Guys, thanks so much.

Let's take a little bit more of a look at this new Biden ad just came out this morning, huge $50 million ad buy. Let's watch.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: In the courtroom, we see Donald Trump for who he is. He's been convicted of 34 felonies, found liable for sexual assault and he committed financial fraud. Meanwhile, Joe Biden has been working, lowering healthcare costs and making big corporations pay their fair share.

This election is between a convicted criminal who's only out for himself, and a president who's fighting for your family.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: Yes, Chuck, I'm old enough to remember when the president, his campaign were reluctant to go and talk about the legal problems for the former president. Now they're diving right into the deep end here with this ad buy.

CHUCK ROCHA, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: Contrast, contrast, contrast. I teach this when I talk to kids who want to run campaigns all the time. We rely too much on looking at GOTV universes and too much in data and analytics. It's just a contrast, especially with the presidential contest. Folks all the time are like, well, what's the biggest strategy, Chuck? I'm like, part of the time it's just showing up and drawing a contrast. There's a whole bunch of people we've talked about it on the air that are far to the right and far to the left. They're both going to show up. They're going to wave their flags. They're going to drive their trucks. They're going to show up in their Birkenstocks, pick your side. But the difference is actually showing up and showing a contrast between this guy and this guy. Who do you like the best?

ACOSTA: Yes, I wanted to keep my flip flops on from the weekend, but it's a Monday. They don't allow that around. Shermichael. I mean, Chuck has got a point because this is really going to come down to those independents, that small number of independents who can be moved one way or the other in this race and there might be enough of them to fill this room. There aren't that many of them. But does this ad work? Is it effective?

SHERMICHAEL SINGLETON, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: In some states, Jim, you're talking about a difference of 11,000 votes, 10, 000 votes in Arizona, I believe, for example. It does matter, and this is going to be a race where the contrast is, I think, going to be important for both candidates. Biden, as we saw in that ad, just made his point about why he thinks he's a better option than the former president.

And then I expect sometime soon, because the Trump campaign is raising a lot of money as well, we're likely going to see ads focused on the immigration, focused on the economy, perhaps even focused on some of the foreign conflicts, where the former president will attempt to draw a contrast to Biden, saying, I can make the economy better, I can secure the border, there weren't so many national or international conflicts when I was in office compared to now.

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And so I think we're going to see a lot of this as the process heats up.

ACOSTA: And, Chuck, what about what the president was doing over the weekend, this big fundraiser out in Hollywood talking about, you know, the stark choice between Biden and Trump and the Supreme Court? How much of that is going to resonate? And what was your sense of, I mean, this glitzy fundraiser, all these celebrities, there's Jimmy Kimmel?

ROCHA: Look, I don't care how he's raising it as long as he's raising it. And up until a couple weeks ago, he had dramatically outraised President or former President Trump because Trump has spent all his money on legal defense. So, it's one thing's never changed in politics and that is money is the mother's milk. You've got to be able to go out and advertise over and over again.

ACOSTA: It's all about the ad wars?

ROCHA: Absolutely. Because it's just a competition of who can talk most of the folks to get contrast, contrast, contrast. And going back, you know, to what you said earlier, thinking about what those ads look like and making sure that they're getting to the right people is the real key to that. And that gets down to the targeting and the minutia of the backend of politics and money drives all of that.

ACOSTA: Yes, we saw that in the last election.

SINGLETON: And, Jim, just to touch on that point, it's also important to open up field offices in some of these critical battleground states. A penetration of those voters in the middle will be consequential for both sides in terms of trying to maintain your ground if you're Biden and trying to pick up ground with some of those new voters if you're Trump.

ACOSTA: And, Shermichael, we showed a little bit of Trump earlier, you know, obviously he's casting doubt about the upcoming election, the last election, it seems to do with every election. In addition to that, what we saw over the weekend, we saw Steve Bannon, Trump's former chief strategist, talking about inauguration day 2025 as being, quote, accountability day. Let's watch that.

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STEVE BANNON, FORMER CHIEF STRATEGIST: November 5th is judgment day. January 20th 2025 is accountability day.

We are going to go and we're going to get every single receipt. And to the fullest extension of the law, you are going to be investigated, prosecuted and incarcerated.

We got to go back to Andrew Weissmann and MSNBC and The New York Times and all of it, right? They stole his (INAUDIBLE). We got to go back there.

Victory or death.

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ACOSTA: What's going on there? I mean, you know, do people take Steve Bannon seriously? I mean, they should take him seriously. I mean, there's a segment of the base that eats that stuff up and it just sounds dangerous.

SINGLETON: I mean, look, I, I think it's important as we think about the next several months and beyond, if the former president wins again. People want a statesmanship. Tone matters. I think one of the reasons that this election is so close is because there are some voters out there who believe the former president can handle some of the issues that I mentioned before better than the current president, focusing on those things, I think, are really critical.

We're divided enough, Jim.

ACOSTA: But do people want revenge, retribution?

SINGLETON: I think it sounds good for the base, but to the point that I'm trying to make here, you need the folks in the middle that are going to make the difference. And those folks don't want this type of language.

ROCHA: Let me say this about this. If the same people that voted in the last presidential election show up, we're going to win, the Democrats are going to win. What they're, what they're counting on is he wants to use this crazy talk to get folks who normally aren't involved, who think that they're too crazy that voting doesn't matter, to actually show up and vote for Donald Trump. That didn't work. That didn't work last time.

SINGLETON: But, Chuck, I don't --

ROCHA: There's a lot of new people that are going -- there's 4 million new Latinos. Not that they're going to run to this messaging, but they're hoping to get just enough. SINGLETON: But, Chuck, I would I would look at this differently. I would say to move the needle for those individuals, you need to talk about some of the plight that those folks are facing. If it's some of the new younger voters, it's being able to get a job and buy a home or get married and start a family. If it's some voters of color who are now a voting age, you're talking about making sure that they're secure financially in the marketplace.

ROCHA: There are so many millions of people that's come of age under Donald Trump that we see in focus groups now who have turned 18 to 25 who the Democratic Party hadn't reached out to because they're just young and haven't voted, those are the ones that's most susceptible to misinformation. That's what I'm talking about.

SINGLETON: But I think there's a much more palatable message that should come from Republicans to mobilize those --

ROCHA: I agree with that 110.

ACOSTA: All right, Chuck, Shermichael. Guys, thank you very much, really appreciate it.

We're just ten days away from the first presidential debate of the year hosted by CNN. Don't miss President Biden and former President Trump going head to head on June 27th. That's at 9:00 P.M. right here on CNN.

Right now, a wildfire is raging in Los Angeles County. The so-called post fire has already scorched nearly 15,000 acres and is only eight percent contained. Look at this dramatic video right here. The blaze has forced hundreds of people to evacuate a state park about an hour north of Los Angeles. This incredible video from the scene shows the spreading wildfire and weather conditions are likely to make it much worse.

Let's go to CNN's Allison Chinchar tracking this from the weather center. Allison, that video does not look good and it is early in the season.

ALLISON CHINCHAR, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes, I think that's the other key point too, but it's really been the winds that have been driving this particular fire again. You can see the video behind me here showing, you know, overnight what a lot of this fire looked like.

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It was able to spread very quickly.

For those who don't really know the area, this is the location of the fire. So, you can see just to the northwest of Los Angeles right there. Still only 2 percent contained until we get another update from the folks out there on the ground.

But the wind, that's what we talked about, this was really the driving factor for this particular fire. Look at these wind gusts that were recorded over the weekend, 50, 60-mile-per-hour wind gusts. So, it's no wonder why this fire was able to spread so quickly and why it's been so difficult for these firefighters to enhance those containment numbers.

And, unfortunately, that's going to be the case going forward. You look at these numbers, there are still a lot of 40, 50, even up to 60- mile-per-hour winds really up until we get to about Wednesday. By Wednesday, we will finally start to see those winds die back down. But the question becomes how much more improvement can we make in the containment numbers until we get that relief on Wednesday. And can we really keep it from spreading too much more? That's going to be a very big concern.

And, again, when you look at the fire weather forecast, really much of the Western U.S., obviously in places like Arizona, New Mexico still looking at it, but, yes, this does also include that area of California where we're currently dealing with that fire. You're talking about very warm temperatures, very low humidities, and then, again, yes, the bigger component, certainly those very high wind gusts.

ACOSTA: All right. Allison Chinchar, thank you.

And joining me now on the phone is California Fire Captain Robert Foxworthy. Captain, can you give us an update on where the containment efforts stand at this point?

CAPT. ROBERT FOXWORTHY, SPOKESMAN, CAL FIRE (voice over): Yes. So, on the fire that I'm on the point fire, which is roughly hour to an hour half north of San Francisco, we currently set at 1,100 acres and 20 percent contained as of this morning.

ACOSTA: And do you expect any more evacuations to be needed? What about homes and communities in the path? What can you tell us about that?

FOXWORTHY (voice over): So, there's always the chance. We're feeling confident with the strong work our crews put in overnight, but we are expecting an increase in some winds and temperatures and lowering humidity. So, there is the chance and there are still homes in the path of the fire should it grow from where it currently stands.

ACOSTA: And can you tell us, is this a little early in the season for this to be flaring up like this? Does this tell you that this may be a bad fire season? What can you tell us about that? What's your biggest worry right now?

FOXWORTHY (voice over): So, I wouldn't say this is earlier than we've experienced in the past, but we did receive a considerable amount of moisture over the winter, and we have large amounts of fuel that's available to burn. So, that's what kind of led to what we have, coupled with those strong winds and low humidity. That's why we're seeing what we had happen yesterday.

ACOSTA: Yes. So, as long as those winds keep going, this is going to be a problem? FOXWORTHY (voice over): Absolutely. Winds always cause challenges and concerns for firefighting. That's the biggest influencing factor on fire behavior. So, hopefully, those winds will lessen up, which they're expected to be lighter today than they were yesterday in the fire area. So, hopefully, that should help those crews gain more containment of the fire.

ACOSTA: All right. Best of luck to all of you, I really appreciate all the work that you do. Robert Foxworthy, thanks very much for your time. We appreciate it.

All right, still to come, cigarettes have them. So do so do alcoholic beverages. But could warning labels end up on social media sites? The new push from the surgeon general coming up.

And Hell's Kitchen Host and Celebrity Chef Gordon Ramsay taking a much softer tone as he opens up about a very scary cycling crash.

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GORDON RAMSAY, HOST, HELL'S KITCHEN: It really shook me and, honestly, I'm lucky to be here.

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ACOSTA: New this morning, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has dissolved his war cabinet. The move comes just days after a senior member of that cabinet resigned in a dramatic show of no confidence in Netanyahu and his strategy for the war in Gaza.

CNN's Paula Hancocks is in Jerusalem for us. Paula, what's the impact of all this?

PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Jim, the question that everybody's asking is what does this do to the day-to-day decision- making and the strategy when it comes to Gaza? I mean, the war cabinet itself, there were really three main members, which was the prime minister, the defense minister, and then Benny Gantz, who has since resigned, because he said that Netanyahu didn't have a day after plan.

So, really, what we've heard from the officials within the office itself is that there will be now the security cabinet. So, a wider group will be making the key decisions. And, if necessary, Netanyahu will form his own smaller groups.

The assumption among some is that he's done this to make sure that the far right elements who wanted to replace Benny Gantz wouldn't become part of the war cabinet. He wouldn't have to reject or accept them. So, it's avoiding that. But at this point, there is a message being given out that this doesn't change anything when it comes to actually deciding on the tactical and the military strategy in Gaza. Jim?

ACOSTA: And Paula, a short time ago, you spoke with an IDF spokesman.

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Israel has begun a daily tactical pause, as they're calling it, for the flow of aid into southern Gaza. What can you tell us about that?

HANCOCKS: Yes. So, we were just down at the Kerem Shalom crossing. This is the crossing between Israel and Gaza. It's the one where the IDF says they have this tactical pause, so there will be no fighting along the road from Kerem Shalom into Gaza and then up the Salah al- Din Road, which is effectively the north south artery of Gaza. They said there will be military trucks along the way, trying to make sure that distribution of aid is possible as well, because they said there's more than a thousand trucks on the Gaza side of the Karem Shalom crossing that simply haven't been picked up.

Now, we've spoken to the we've spoken to the groups inside Gaza who say it is simply too dangerous sometimes to get to that crossing because of the lack of law and order. It's something I put to the IDF spokesperson.

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HANCOCKS: Are you going to escort these trucks? The military will escort them?

DANIEL HAGARI, IDF COMMANDING OFFICER: Well, this is a war zone and we need to act inside a war zone and to find inside the complexity, the way that find solutions.

The first step is to make sure that the road is safe. The road will be safe. Military-wise, it will be safe in our planning in our attacks, et cetera, et cetera.

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HANCOCKS: So, he said that there will be a safe road from the Israeli point of view, but, of course, with a lack of law and order with looting on the likes, it is very difficult for those humanitarian aid groups to distribute safely. Jim?

ACOSTA: Very difficult, very dangerous. Paula Hancocks, thank you very much.

In Northern Israel, the cross border hostilities are escalating with Hezbollah in Lebanon. And Israel's military is issuing a warning.

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HAGARI: Hezbollah's increasing aggression is bringing us to the brink of what could be a wider escalation, one that could have devastating consequences for Lebanon and the entire region.

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ACOSTA: CNN's Ben Wedeman is in Beirut. Ben, what can you tell us? BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Jim, oddly enough, the last two days have been relatively quiet on the border, coinciding with the holiday, the Muslim holiday that follows the annual pilgrimage to the holy city of Mecca. But, certainly, what we saw before that, the weeks leading up to it, was intense -- real intensification, certainly.

And I've been following this from the beginning of the war, the situation on the border, and it definitely is more than we've seen before in terms of the depth of the attacks by both sides. And, for instance, with Hezbollah is using weapons we haven't seen before which are more effective than the ones they were using at the beginning of the war. So, concern is high. And when the holiday is over tomorrow, we could see a resumption.

Now, we do know that, for instance, Hezbollah has conceded that one of its fighters was killed in a drone strike about 14 or 15 kilometers north of the border with Israel. So, the Israelis have been following their normal pattern of strikes within Lebanon. But Hezbollah has for now been holding its fire. And I stress, for now. Jim?

ACOSTA: Right. And, Ben, I wanted to get your take on Netanyahu dissolving the work cabinet. What do you think?

WEDEMAN: Well, in terms of its impact on the situation in Lebanon, it's hard to say. But, certainly, one thing that we see that most Israeli political leaders seem to agree on is that there needs to be more assertive action against Hezbollah, where Yair Lapid, one of the opposition leaders, in addition to Benny Gantz, as well as the hardliners in the Israeli government, are pushing Prime Minister Netanyahu to take more vigorous action to end Hezbollah's fire into Northern Israel, which has resulted in tens of thousands of Israelis having to leave their homes.

So, now that Prime Minister Netanyahu is going to be discussing matters of war in the broader security cabinet, he's going to be dealing with the likes of Itamar Ben-Gvir, the hard line national security minister who has really been vigorously pushing for Israel to take more drastic action against Hezbollah.

So, it could mean that Israel will perhaps act. But we do know that Amos Hochstein, the U.S. -- the White House senior energy adviser, who's the point man for questions Israel and Lebanon is in, Israel at the moment trying to work or rather convince the Israelis perhaps not to do anything. And we're expecting him to come to Lebanon where he will indirectly be passing messages to Hezbollah that they should also cool things down as well.

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Jim?

ACOSTA: All right. Ben Wedeman, thank you very much.

Meanwhile, today, Vice President Kamala Harris will hold an event on the Israel-Hamas War. She plans to shine a light on sexual violence, like the horrific acts Hamas committed on October 7th. According to the Association of Rape Crisis Centers in Israel, men, women and Children were all victims of abuse that day.

CNN's Arlette Saenz is at the White House for us. Arlette, what more can you tell us about the vice president's event on this?

ARLETTE SAENZ, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Jim, Vice President Kamala Harris will host an event really aiming to put the spotlight on conflict-related sexual violence, including that which occurred in the Israel-Hamas conflict. The vice president will be delivering remarks a bit later today before hosting a panel discussion that's gathering experts from around the world and survivors as well to talk about sexual violence in conflicts. There will also be a partial screening of a documentary which specifically focused on that October 7th attack and the sexual violence that occurred around that.

It comes at a time that the Biden administration has really spoken out against the sexual violence that was committed by Hamas in the midst of that October 7th attack, and it's also coming at a time when the administration has been publicly pressuring Hamas to accept a hostage release and ceasefire deal. This is something that President Biden last week said he does not believe will happen anytime soon, but remains hopeful that that could potentially be reached at some point.

At the same time, while the vice president will be focusing today on trying to shine a spotlight on this conflict related sexual violence, including that perpetrated by Hamas, President Biden will also be focusing on a different conflict today when he hosts the NATO Secretary-General Stoltenberg here at the White House a bit later in the afternoon. The two men will hold a bilateral meeting in the Oval Office. And this meeting comes at a time when the U.S. and its allies are really trying to safeguard aid for Ukraine as the prospect of a second Trump presidency looms.

Last week, Biden signed a ten-year security agreement with Zelenskyy over at the G7, but officials acknowledge that this is not necessarily Trump-proof. This is something that could be undone by the next administration.

So, the president in this meeting with the NATO secretary-general is hoping that they can find further ways to cement aid for Ukraine, even if a different administration comes into office next year.

ACOSTA: All right, a busy day at the White House. Arlette Saenz, thank you very much.

Coming up, social media is being called a mental health emergency for America's young people. Coming up next, just how bad is it for teens and what the surgeon general wants to do about it.

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