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Biden & Trump Making Final Preparations For Showdown On CNN; Supreme Court To Hear Case On Gender-Affirming Care For Minors. Aired 11-11:30a ET

Aired June 24, 2024 - 11:00   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[11:00:56]

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

We begin this hour with the presidential race and the final sprint towards CNN's primetime debate. It's now just three days away, the earliest presidential debate in modern history. President Biden and his team spent the last several days at Camp David preparing for the showdown with former President Trump as each man seeks a second term in the White House. Over the weekend, Trump seemed to preview some lines of attack at a rally in Philadelphia.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: How should I handle him? Should I be tough and nasty?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.

TRUMP: Or should I be -- should I be, she's saying, no, should I be tough and nasty? And to say you're the worst president in history? Or should I be nice and calm and let him speak? Be tough.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: I want to begin with Shane Goldmacher, national political reporter for the New York Times. Shane, you wrote that a notable misstep, a physical stumble, a mental lapse or a barrage of two personal insults could reverberate for months because of the unusually long period until they meet again for the second debate in September. So I mean, the -- you're absolutely right. There's a lot riding on this.

SHANE GOLDMACHER, NATIONAL POLITICAL REPORTER, NEW YORK TIMES: Yes. I think that the length of time because this is the earliest debate in history does really add to the stakes, right? These two men will not debate again until September. And so you're going to leave that taste in the mouth of voters who watch for a really long time. And, you know, you hear Trump sort of joking about it before his crowd, it's actually pretty important that the rules here are different, that there will not in fact, be a crowd at this debate.

And that's something that Trump has historically fed upon, right? He gets feedback in real time from his crowds. He is taking instruction from his supporters, even if it's a joke at that rally. And so but this is going to be a much more sterile environment. It's going to be the two of them, and the two moderators in a television studio. And, yes, for both men, because of this length, there's going to have a really high stakes impact for a long time.

ACOSTA: Yes. I mean, what do you make of Trump, we were just playing that clip a few moments ago asking his audience which Donald Trump should show up at the debate and how concerned are his handlers that it will be the former, not the latter.

GOLDMACHER: I don't think it's just his handlers. I think Trump in private has said the first debate he had with Joe Biden in 2020, that he was over aggressive, and the reviews were pretty bad of his performance. And he has taken that to heart. So I don't expect the same level of interruption that he had in 2020. That said, the dislike between these two men is palpable. Joe Biden does not like and does not respect Donald Trump, when he was first elected as president. He started referring to him as the former guy, right? He didn't even want to say his name to give him validation.

And obviously, we hear from Trump on a daily basis, his dislike of Joe Biden. And so how that animosity plays out, if they tried to hold it in at the beginning, doesn't spill out over the course of 90 minutes, where they're so close to each other and listening to the other person say things they just so strongly disagree with.

ACOSTA: And the polling shows that this rate -- race is super tight, and that Biden has made up a little bit of ground since Donald Trump's conviction up in New York. How much is this debate really going to matter when it comes to those remaining independents, those undecideds that are out there?

GOLDMACHER: So the debate is going to matter, because it's going to be so long before they meet again. The flip side of that is this is just unusually early, right? You have months to go before the campaign and typically things that happen in June, they're not what ended up mattering most in November. But for both candidates, this is a chance to sort of focus voters on what they want them to think about. And for Joe Biden who had pushed for this debate and who had pushed for this earlier debate in particular, he wants voters and undecided voters to tune into what the realities of a second Trump would be.

And he is saying this was not going to be like the first term. You might have some fond memories of the economy during Trump's first term in office. A second Trump term would be more radical, would be focused on retribution. And for Trump, he wants to make the case that what you see right now under Joe Biden, and this is what polls show voters are unhappy. They're unhappy with the level of inflation. They're unhappy with the economy. They're unhappy with American entanglements with wars abroad. And his argument is you like things better under me. And Biden is going to say you won't like them better under him in the future. [11:05:14]

ACOSTA: Yes. And you were just saying a few moments ago. And let's talk about that a little bit. How much Joe Biden really wanted this early debate? I mean, that's kind of driving this why it's so early in the calendar.

GOLDMACHER: Yes, they put out a letter basically saying they would like to debate twice, and make it as early as possible. And Trump accepted almost immediately. And look for the Biden team. They thought this is a win. They got two debates instead of the traditional three. Trump had his operation were so quick to jump to this, that they ended up accepting just these two debates. And they've asked for more in the Biden team said, no, this is what we offered, and you've accepted. And so you're not going to get more than that.

But the Biden campaign, one of the arguments they've made really since last year before Trump was even officially the nominee was, once voters clue in to the realities of the choice that there is not, in fact, an alternative to Joe Biden, and there will not be an alternative to Donald Trump, that voters are going to begin to look at this as a choice between two candidates, and they will pick Joe Biden. They will be afraid of the future under Donald Trump. And polls show that a lot of voters and some of the most important voters for Democrats, those less engaged constituencies that will vote Democrat historically, right now, while they're less engaged, they're inclined to not vote for Biden. They're inclined to not vote at all.

And some of them might even vote for Trump. And so they wanted this earlier debate in order for voters to tune in earlier, so they have more time to sell them both their message and advertising in the coming months to say this is the choice. It's Biden versus Trump. And you have to pick one of those two.

ACOSTA: Yes, I mean, it's been said that one of the things that they fear the most inside Biden world is the sofa that people will just stay home and not vote and not get energized. And President wants to change that on Thursday. Shane, great to talk to you. Thanks a lot. Really appreciate it.

GOLDMACHER: Thank you.

ACOSTA: Ahead of CNN's historic presidential debate, Donald Trump is pushing baseless and bizarre conspiracy theories about his opponent. Remarkably, those include an absurd accusation that President Biden will be on some kind of drugs during the showdown. Let's listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: Right now, Crooked Joe has gone to a log cabin to study, prepare. No, he didn't do -- he's sleeping now because they want to get him good and strong. So a little before debate time he gets a shot in the ass and that's -- they want to strengthen him up. He'll come out. OK. I say he'll come out all jacked up, right? All jacked up.

(END VIDEO CLIP) ACOSTA: Let's discuss with CNN political commentator Shermichael Singleton and Jamal Simmons. Jamal, let's just start with you. What did you think when you heard that over the weekend?

JAMAL SIMMONS, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: You know, there was a story recently about Donald Trump's relationship with Don King. And this just reminds me of that kind of pre-fight height they used to get back in the old days of boxing. So, you know, I don't think it means anything. The President Trump -- President Biden needs to go do what he's got to do. He's got to go back and prepare, hope they're doing preps at the 9 o'clock hour, 90 minutes at a clip to get him, you know, in game shape. So he's ready to go.

You know, the president has got a couple of things he needs to work on. First of all, highlighting the contrast. This is about the judgment of the two candidates. And one of the things we hire a president for, is to make sure that they can handle the crisis and we feel tested Donald Trump during the worst crisis the country has faced in 100 years. And he failed. He failed miserably.

So I think the President highlighting that choice and then talking about what he wants to do, talking about three issues, not 10, you know, give us three big policies that he cares about not 10. And then I'd also say, you know, sometimes the President has breasting old face, where you need to smile a little bit so that he can kind of shake that off. The problem with Donald Trump is he's got wrestling convict base, and he can't shake that off with a smile.

ACOSTA: And Shermichael, I mean, you know, this jacked up business, shot in the ass business. I mean, I, you know, I'm struggling here to understand what's going on. It sounds a lot like I was saying the last hour kind of reminds me of some of the birther stuff. People can laugh it off and say it's a joke, but then all the surrogates are saying the same thing. So they must be hanging around talking points. And it says to me a little bit, that maybe the strategy of talking about Joe Biden drifting off and wandering around and so was not good strategy heading into a debate.

SHERMICHAEL SINGLETON, POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: I mean, look --

ACOSTA: And so now they've switched from Sleepy Joe to Jacked Up Joe.

SINGLETON: I mean, I don't want to lower expectations for the President. We saw the State of the Union address. The President did a pretty good job. A lot of the messaging coming out of Republican circles were that the President was not going to do a good job. He exceeded expectations. The former President cited in a recent interview, a podcast interview a week ago, president or Vice President Biden's debate against Paul Ryan, and how well then Vice President Biden did at the time.

So when you look at the history of Joe Biden's debate, at least debating styles in the past couple of years, he's done pretty strong. I think what the former president should really focus in on though, Jim, you talked about this in your previous segment, the economy and immigration. Those are the two biggest issues that I think most Americans are going to be watching this debate Thursday night looking for answers and solutions from both men on.

[11:10:19]

ACOSTA: Yes. And Jamal, Trump's surrogates were on the Sunday talk shows obviously giving him some pretty remarkably similar device -- advice, I should say. Here's Kristi Noem, the South Dakota governor, let's listen to what she had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. KRISTI NOEM (R-SC): It'll be a great opportunity for President Trump to talk about his policies, and how his policies when he served as president of this country, were good for every single family that lived here.

PETER ALEXANDER, NBC NEWS ANCHOR: Should he avoid those insults on the debate stage?

NOEM: You know, I don't think that he has to talk about get personal in this debate at all, because he's going to have so many good things to talk about, in contrast with Joe Biden's policies. So that's really what I think President Trump is planning on focusing on.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: Jamal, you expect the former president to focus on policy.

SIMMONS: You know, I think they're going to try it because it maddens me because you see me wiping my brow. It maddens me, because what they're trying to do is say to us that nothing matters about what happened during 2020 during COVID, right? That's like saying, I live in a great neighborhood, except for the time they broke in my house and stole everything and held me hostage, right?

Other than that, if we forget about that, then it was a great. It's a great safe neighborhood. So listen, the reality of the Trump presidency is four years ago, he knew COVID was going to be a problem and didn't tell us because of politics. He didn't have briefings of the public for three months without the politics. He slowed down some of the regulations that we needed to get this done, because the politics.

When it comes to making the choice for whether or not the American people should come first or his own personal politics, he chooses himself every time and I think those are the policies that we'd have to stay focused on. And then he got rid of abortion, and then he got convicted in 34 counts. This is not somebody who would be sitting in the White House, making decisions for my family over yours.

ACOSTA: And Shermichael, go ahead. You want to jump in there.

SINGLETON: I was going to say everything I just heard from my dear brother, Jamal, was all about the past. I did not hear anything about a future from President Biden, because reality is I don't think President Biden has approved -- a very sound argument to make to the American people, Mays Consumer Price Index, showcase that prices are raising higher than they have ever risen in generations, Jim, 68, a whopping 68 percent of Americans believe that the condition of the economy of this country is not doing great, 54 percent trust Donald Trump more than President Biden to handle the economy because gas is going up, electricity is going up, food is going up.

And just to be --

ACOSTA: Inflation has been ticking down.

SINGLETON: It has been ticking down. But prices are still rising, Jim. And just to mention going February -- well, wait a minute, Jamal, on February of this year, when Treasury attempted to sell treasury notes, which is how we pay for a lot of this ridiculous debt we have in this country, we had a difficult time trying to find buyers of those notes. Now for the general public, they may not understand what that means, but in order to continue to --

ACOSTA: Well, Trump run up the debt --

SINGLETON: -- Jim, Jim --

ACOSTA: -- more than Biden.

SINGLETON: But the debt is still increasing under the president's administration, and he's not doing a good job tackling that. And the American people are feeling it, which is why the data indicates they don't trust his ability to continue to move the country forward in the right direction on the economic front.

ACOSTA: Jamal, I'll let you weigh in.

SIMMONS: Well, Shermichael, just for the record, crime is going down, jobs are going up. Inflation is going down, wages are going up. Wages are rising higher than inflation. Sure, we need to get prices down. But let's not sort of wipe away the fact that the Biden economy is one that is much stronger than the one he inherited when Donald Trump really screwed up on COVID.

SINGLETON: Crime is going down. I agree with Jamal, I'm not going to deny facts here. But the reality is, despite that wages are increasing slightly, they are not increasing enough to supersede what inflationary rates are. And that's why most Americans materially do not feel that they're economically better. That's just a reality.

ACOSTA: All right --

SIMMONS: Wages are going up 4.1 percent. Flat prices are going up 3 plus percent. I think --

SINGLETON: It's not enough Jamal, it's going to surpass inflation though, that's why most Americans don't feel it. The data speaks for itself.

SIMMONS: The data does speak for itself, 4.1 percent wage growth and 3 point whatever it is, 3.3 percent price growth. Wages are going up faster than prices. SINGLETON: And if Joe Biden makes that argument Thursday night, that is not being in touch with what most Americans say they are.

ACOSTA: All right, guys. Well, I suspect that's going to come up on Thursday night. We'll be listening in. Shermichael and Jamal, thank you very much. We're just three days away from the first presidential debate of the year hosted by CNN don't miss. President Joe Biden, former President Donald Trump, going head to head on Thursday, June 27th at 9:00 p.m. Eastern right here on CNN.

[11:14:45]

Just in to, CNN the Supreme Court has just agreed to hear a case that challenges one state's transgender care ban for minors. We'll discuss the nationwide implications coming up. And today marks exactly two years since the Supreme Court made a critical ruling overturning Roe versus Wade and to mark the occasion the Biden campaign is hosting 50 events to underscore the impact that ruling has had on abortion rights. Stay with us.

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ACOSTA: New this morning, the Supreme Court says it will now hear arguments in a case on gender affirming care for minors. According to the Human Rights Campaign gender affirming care for those under 18 is banned in nearly half of the state in the U.S. This case could determine whether states are allowed to put restrictions on those procedures. And CNN's Joan Biskupic joins me now to talk about this. Joan, very important case, could have a lot of implications.

[11:20:12]

JOAN BISKUPIC, CNN SENIOR SUPREME COURT ANALYST: Yes, here we are, Jim, in the last several days of the current term. And now we have a really important case for next session. This will be heard sometime in the fall. And it tests a law that is similar to many across the country. Let me just tell you what Tennessee prohibits as of last year when it passed. This law prohibits all medical treatments intended to allow a minor to identify with or live as a purported identity inconsistent with a minor's sex or to treat purported discomfort or distress from a discordance between the minor sex and asserted identity.

And, you know, what it would involve is stopping any kind of hormone treatment, puberty blockers, and it's the Biden administration that appealed after losing in a Midwest Court of Appeal saying, look, this violates the Constitution's guarantee of equality, because what it does is it classifies people based on their sex and transgender status. So this case involves justice, Tennessee law, but it will have reverberations for all these laws across the country, Jim.

ACOSTA: Huge reverberations. And today marks the second anniversary of Roe versus Wade being overturned speaking of big implications.

BISKUPIC: Right. ACOSTA: And the Supreme Court is expected to rule on another case that deals with these medical emergency exceptions to abortion bans. This is the Idaho case.

BISKUPIC: Exactly right.

ACOSTA: Yes. What impact we see?

BISKUPIC: That will be -- that's the major second chapter in, you know, after the Dobbs ruling two years ago.

ACOSTA: Yes.

BISKUPIC: Think of how much things have changed in America. You know, more than 14 states have banned several others have severe restrictions on that limit a woman's access to abortion, people are even, you know, having new debates about in vitro fertilization. The Dobbs decision is, you know, really altered the terms of debate for the campaigns underway. And this case that it's going to come down perhaps as early as Wednesday, which is the next day that the justices will take the bench tests, an Idaho ban one of the 14 or so states that immediately outlawed abortion.

Idaho's law says that it criminalizes the act of abortion on the part of physician or anyone who would help assist in an abortion, except when it's necessary to prevent the death of the woman. Meanwhile, a federal law that mandates emergency treatment in hospitals nationwide that except Medicare funds, which is, you know, the majority of hospital emergency rooms, that federal law that dates to 1986 says that anyone who comes in for emergency treatment has to be stabilized in some way.

And what the Biden administration is saying is that that would apply to a woman who comes in with complications from a pregnancy and might need an abortion, not to prevent her death, but rather to preserve her reproductive health or any other kind of health. And that's a clash between these two laws. And as I said, by Wednesday, we will know if the Biden administration might prevail, and have this federal law preempt state bans in these very serious emergency situations.

ACOSTA: And Joan, we're still waiting on the Trump immunity case.

BISKUPIC: We are.

ACOSTA: Is it -- should we say, OK, should we bank on it? We're going to get it this week. Or is it possible that it could drift into --

BISKUPIC: OK. You and I, we would love it this way. We would love it by Friday. The justices would even love it by Friday, because they don't like to go into July. But there is a chance that they might slip over into Monday, July 1st, but I think that you can consider it possibly on Friday. And fingers crossed, it doesn't go to Monday. But I do think that's a possibility. Because Jim, they're like us. Deadlines are hard.

ACOSTA: Yes. And for all of us, no question about it. But Thursday on debate of the debate. I mean, they -- you would have to think that they --

BISKUPIC: Of course they know the debate is going to --

ACOSTA: OK. Right. They're not paying attention? Yes.

BISKUPIC: The question is, do, first of all, A, is it done? Is the ruling done?

ACOSTA: Yes.

BISKUPIC: Because that's a pretty big question right in and of itself. But then if it's done, do they want to release it on Thursday, the day of the debate. And will they look like they're trying to set some terms for the debate? I think that's a pretty tricky proposition inside and maybe one of the justices will say, you know, I'm still messing around with a couple of footnotes. I won't be ready until Friday.

ACOSTA: Interesting. OK. All right. So they might have a little justice courtesy there --

BISKUPIC: Yes.

ACOSTA: -- if that happens. All right, Joan Biskupic, as always, thanks for your expertise. We really appreciate it.

[11:24:32]

Right now, lawyers for Donald Trump are back in the Florida courtroom for not one but two hearings today in his classified documents case. Will Judge Cannon agree to gag the former president? We're live outside the courthouse, next.

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ACOSTA: Could Donald Trump face another gag order? This time in his classified documents case that request from prosecutors is one issue, Judge Aileen Cannon is hearing today and two back to back hearings in South Florida. CNN's Evan Perez is outside the court for us. Evan, where do things stand?

[11:29:39]

EVAN PEREZ, CNN SENIOR JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Jim, we're about to finish up the first half of the day. Right now, the judge is hearing arguments over the funding of Jack Smith, the Special Counsel, and whether that meets legal requirements. The Trump team says no and of course the prosecution is pushing back on that. But the big hearing this afternoon is the where we expect a lot more sort of a more fiery set of arguments. Certainly the Special Counsel is arguing that Donald Trump should be put under new restrictions as part of his release for these charges.