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CNN International: Biden and Trump Face Off in Unprecedented Debate; Fact Checking the Claims Made by Trump and Biden; Democrats Concerned About Biden's Debate Performance; French Voters to Decide Sunday Between Macron and Far-Right; Two Pandas Arrive in San Diego From China. Aired 4:30-5a ET

Aired June 28, 2024 - 04:30   ET

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

[04:30:00]

MAX FOSTER, CNN ANCHOR: The most consequential event yet in the race for the White House did not go well for the U.S. president. The election is still more than four months away but Joe Biden's debate performance is raising serious questions about his viability as the Democratic nominee. We're told the president had been battling a cold and was suffering from a sore throat.

His delivery was at times shaky and his messages muddled. Donald Trump went on the offensive with personal and often bitter attacks against his opponent.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT, 2024 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Joe, our country is being destroyed as you and I sit up here and waste a lot of time on this debate. This shouldn't be a debate. He is the worst president.

He just said it about me because I said it. But look, he's the worst president in the history of our country.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FOSTER: Despite his unsteady performance, President Biden was still able to land some blows. At one point accusing former President Trump, a convicted felon, of having the morals of an alley cat. He also pushed back hard against claims that America is in decline.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The idea that somehow we are this failing country. I've never heard a president talk like this before. We -- we're the envy of the world, name me a single major country president who wouldn't trade places with the United States of America for all our problems and all our opportunities.

We're the most aggressive country in the world in getting things done. We're the strongest country in the world. We're a country in the world who keeps our word and everybody trusts us. All of our allies and our -- and our -- those who he coddles up to from Kim Jong-un, he sends love letters to Putin, etc. They don't want to screw around with us.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FOSTER: There were a lot of things that were said in that debate. Some of them were less than accurate and some were outright lies. Most of the false claims came from former President Donald Trump.

CNN's Daniel Dale fact-checks some of the claims made by the two candidates.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DANIEL DALE, CNN REPORTER: I counted at least 30, 30 false claims. Now President Biden also made false claims, at least nine false or misleading statements on first count. I'll give you some of them.

He said he's the only president in a while who didn't have any troops dying anywhere in the world. Troops have of course died on his watch. He said he's put in a $15 per shot cap on insulin and Medicare. It's a $35 a month cap. He said it's a $200 cap on overall drug spending in Medicare. It's $2,000 a year.

He said the border now has fewer crossings than when Trump was in office. That's generally not true. He said or at least strongly suggested unemployment was at 15 percent when he took office. It was actually 6.4.

He said Trump wants to get rid of Social Security. Trump doesn't. He said billionaires pay 8.2 percent in taxes. It's much higher. He said Trump told Americans to inject bleach amid COVID. We know Trump made foolish comments about scientists studying disinfectant injection but didn't frame it as advice to people.

And Biden said the Border Patrol endorsed him. No, its union supported the border bill he'd supported, never endorsed him himself. In fairness, the president did appear to clarify that one.

Now the Trump list. It is way, way longer. So deep breath.

He said some Democratic states allow people to execute babies after birth, an egregious lie that is illegal in every state. He said everybody, even Democrats, wanted Roe v. Wade overturned. Roe was supported by two-thirds of Americans, even more Democrats. He said every legal scholar wanted Roe overturned, abortion returned to the states. Legal scholars have told me directly this is not true.

He said the U.S. currently has the biggest budget deficit ever. No, that happened under Trump in 2020. He said the U.S. currently has a record trade deficit with China. That also happened under Trump in 2018. He said Biden personally gets a lot of money from China. Zero evidence of this.

He said there were no terror attacks during his presidency. In fact, there were multiple attacks. He said Iran didn't fund Hamas, Hezbollah, other terror groups under his presidency. Iran in fact did.

He said Biden wants to quadruple people's taxes. That is pure fiction.

He said the U.S. has provided way more aid to Ukraine than Europe had. It's actually the opposite. He said the U.S. has provided about $200 billion in Ukraine aid. It's closer to $110 billion.

He said 18 or 19 million people have crossed the border under Biden. That is millions too high. He said many of these migrants are from prisons or mental institutions. His own campaign cannot corroborate this. He said Biden has only created jobs for illegal immigrants. Total nonsense.

He said Nancy Pelosi turned down his offer of 10,000 National Guard troops on January 6. There's no evidence she even got such an offer. It was the president, not Pelosi, who had the power to deploy the DC Guard. He said Pelosi now acknowledges she turned down the troops. No, her office tells me this claim is still a lie.

[04:35:00]

He said he deployed the National Guard to Minneapolis in 2020. Actually, that was the Democratic governor.

He spoke of, quote, ridiculous fraud in the 2020 election. Zero evidence of any widespread fraud.

He said NATO was going out of business before he took office. Completely clearly absurd. He said the U.S. was paying 100 percent of NATO before he came along. The U.S. made up about 71 percent of NATO defense spending, not 100.

He said he, not Biden, is the one who lowered insulin prices in Medicare. He did it for some seniors, but Biden did it for far more.

He said Biden indicted him. Again, no evidence Biden has had a personal role at any of these four prosecutions.

He said Europe takes no U.S. cars. Just not true.

He spoke of food prices quadrupling under Biden. That's a wild exaggeration, though they are up. He said Biden made up the idea he called dead service members suckers and losers. No, the Atlantic magazine reported that, and then former Trump chief of staff John Kelly corroborated it.

He said Biden called Black people, quote, super predators for 10 years. Biden never once deployed that phrase, let alone for 10 years, though he did at least once speak of, quote, predators without specifying it was about Black people.

He said his Trump tax cut was the largest in U.S. history. Not true, though. But in fairness, Biden also said this.

Trump said China and others stopped buying from Iran under him. China never stopped.

He revived his pet lie. I don't know how many times I've done it that he signed the veterans choice program into law. Barack Obama did that in 2014. Trump signed an expanded version in 2018.

And finally, Trump said Biden got rid of that veterans program. Biden has not done that.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FOSTER: Thomas Gift is the director of the Center on U.S. Politics at University College London. He's with us from Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. Thomas, I think we've got a pretty good sense there that there was a lot that President Biden could have challenged President Trump on and he failed.

THOMAS GIFT, DIRECTOR, CENTRE ON U.S. POLITICS, UNIVERSITY COLLEGE LONDON: I think you're absolutely right, Max. And thanks so much for having me as always. Joe Biden's job last night was really to demonstrate that at age 81, he's capable of serving four more years in office.

For Democrats, my sense is that opinions on last night's performance range anywhere from disappointing to fully cataclysmic. Debates don't matter until they do. And I think that this debate mattered.

Biden was incoherent at times, he didn't project, he struggled to maintain his train of thought. He wasn't able to fact check Trump on the fly. That's the assessment not from Republicans, but from liberal surrogates, from campaign operatives, from advisors, from lawmakers.

I do think that if you just read the transcript of the debate, maybe last night was a draw or a slight advantage to Trump. But Americans don't read the transcript. They look at the performance debates or theater.

And on what is the biggest night of this campaign so far, I think Biden proved largely incapable of defending his own record and also of attacking Trump on being the threat to democracy that he insists that he is.

FOSTER: And I guess the tragedy for voters watching the debate was that the policy seemed to come second to the performance because the performance was so distracting.

GIFT: I completely agree with you, Max. Even in the best situation, these debates aren't very conducive to substantive policy conversations. It's all about one minute, two minute sound bites, and it's hard to get into too much detail.

But in this instance, you know, Biden seemed largely incapable of going into depth on a lot of his record. Donald Trump wasn't necessarily interrupting him because he couldn't with this mute button. But at the same time, Biden essentially just wasn't able to get all of it out that he wanted to.

So it was not a very substantive debate. It's one that probably Americans aren't going to learn very much from in terms of what both of these candidates offer. But maybe that's OK, because on some level, I think these candidates offer such radically and diametrically opposed visions of America that everyone kind of knows what they're getting with a Trump presidency and a Biden presidency.

FOSTER: Very many Democratic sources speaking to our analysts, as I'm sure they are to you, about the process of getting rid of President Biden, getting him off this ticket. Can you just explain how that process works in American politics? Because as I understand it, he'd have to choose to step down to allow that process to start.

GIFT: Exactly. He would have to choose to step down. He would have to voluntarily bow out.

And then there would essentially be a free for all that would be decided at the convention later this summer. And I don't think that it's very likely that we actually get there. The real problem for Democrats in calling for Biden to step down is that it's treading into the unknown.

I think the risk with changing horses midstream is that you really don't know what you're going to get. Names like Gavin Newsom, Gretchen Whitmer, of course, Kamala Harris, they're being talked about, I'm sure, in backdoor rooms of the Democratic Party right now.

[04:40:04]

But there really is no heir apparent. Kamala Harris is even less popular than Joe Biden. Newsom and Whitmer and anyone else really haven't been vetted on the national stage. And Biden hasn't shown any interest in bowing out.

This late in the game, if he did, it would be hard to replace him and do so in a way that projects the Democratic Party as united. I think it would create a lot of discord. It would create chaos at the convention because lots of different individuals would throw their hat in the ring.

So for that reason, it's just very difficult for Biden to do that. If he wanted to, it had to be months ago.

FOSTER: OK, Thomas Gift, thank you so much.

Nic Robertson's with us because, you know, this is the most powerful country in the world. And what happened last night suggests that, you know, there's some chaos there at the top.

And, you know, all of our analysts are suggesting it was a win for Trump, which makes him more likely to go on and win.

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: And I think that has to be the takeaway for the international audience, whatever the headlines may be. And if you look at all the headlines almost in the U.K. of all the newspapers here, it's Democrats in panic. But I think the message that emerges from this is that at this moment, Trump, who was already ahead in the polls, now looks more likely to win.

And you also got to hear some of what Trump had to say about what his foreign policy might look like. And no surprise, it looks a lot like his previous foreign policy. Absolutely willing to turn to tariffs to turn around trade imbalances, he sees, be it with China, be it with the European Union.

And again, this sort of his relationship with President Putin, which he claims to be great, and Putin would never have invaded Ukraine under his watch. He sort of doubles down on that. And I think it's instructive when you listen to what he had to say about the support the United States is giving right now to Ukraine.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT, 2024 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Every time that Zelenskyy comes to this country, he walks away with $60 billion. He's the greatest salesman ever. And I'm not knocking him, I'm not knocking anything.

I'm only saying the money that we're spending on this war, and we shouldn't be spending, it should have never happened. I will have that war settled between Putin and Zelenskyy as president elect before I take office on January 20. I'll have that war settled.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERTSON: You know, that's a warning for NATO, perhaps they're about not funding the war in Ukraine. He was again talking about how he's managed to get more money out of out of NATO countries and others. It was very much the same old Donald Trump.

But in the terms of real politic, where we really are today, and this huge war that's going on in Ukraine, for President Putin listening to that, I mean, the message would be there, double down in your fight this year, while Ukraine doesn't have the weapons to fight to fight back. Because --

FOSTER: They're not going to get any more.

ROBERTSON: -- Trump, if he gets president. Well, it's not that you're not just going to get more, but by the end of the year, you can maybe get what you keep. Trump said the deal on the table or what Putin wants right now is not satisfactory. But what he's actually saying is, if I'm going to end the war at the end of this year, which is what he's saying, then all Putin needs to do is double down and fight hard for the rest of the year. That's not a reality.

And the numbers that we heard from Trump over the money that's going to Ukraine do not stand, you know, do not stand fact checking. He said $200 billion, it's only $110 billion gone from the United States. Zelenskyy doesn't get $60 billion to walk away with.

But the world understands on those points what Trump's going to do.

FOSTER: Yes, OK, Nic, thank you so much.

President Biden and former President Trump are scheduled to debate a second time on September 10th. ABC News has yet to announce actually the location, but we'll obviously bring that to you as well.

Israel takes more rocket and missile fire from Lebanon, meanwhile, as concerns grow that the fighting could snowball into a full scale war. That story's ahead.

[04:45:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

FOSTER: More fighting broke out along Israel's border with Lebanon on Thursday amid concerns it could escalate into a full fledged war. The IDF says close to three dozen rockets and missiles were fired at northern Israel. Most were shot down and they didn't cause any casualties. Israeli firefighters rushed to put out at least two fires that started after the incident.

Meanwhile U.S. officials say the Navy is moving an amphibious group into the region including forces that could evacuate U.S. citizens from Lebanon. The U.S. State Department is again urging citizens to strongly reconsider travel to that country.

In Gaza 68 sick and injured children were evacuated to Egypt. Israel says they'll receive medical treatment in Egypt or elsewhere. Gaza's health care system has largely collapsed after months of relentless fighting.

The World Health Organization says more than 10,000 patients still need medical evacuations. For more we're joined by CNN correspondent Nada Bashir. At least some of the kids at least are getting the help they need.

NADA BASHIR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Some of course but this is a small fraction of the number of sick and injured children that are still currently stuck in the Gaza Strip and of course desperately in need of medical attention.

As you mentioned the vast majority of Gaza's health care infrastructure has been completely destroyed. So even the care that is available in the Gaza Strip right now isn't necessarily the care that is needed by many of those who have been wounded including of course adults who have been injured over the course of this war.

But according to Israeli authorities this latest evacuation saw 68 injured and sick children along with their companions being evacuated into Egypt. We haven't seen an evacuation like this for months really but there has been continuing pressure for Israel to allow for some evacuations to take place. This has been carried out in coordination with both Egypt and the United States and of course U.N. coordination as well.

But we've heard from U.N. officials saying that there are still more than 10,000 patients who need to be evacuated from Gaza. And it's very unlikely that we're going to see that taking place at any time soon because of course the security situation on the ground is extremely challenging for these aid organizations.

FOSTER: Meanwhile the U.S. which shares a lot of intelligence with Israel and other countries in that region are moving Naval ships into the region which has really caused a lot of alarm about what they think is going to happen. BASHIR: It certainly has. I mean, U.S. officials have told CNN this was part of a long planned effort to prepare in a sense for any sort of rising tensions in the region. We've heard from U.S. officials in the last week telling CNN that there is a likelihood, a potential for Israel to launch a ground incursion into southern Lebanon. We've seen of course this continued crossfire between Hezbollah and the Israeli military on that border between Lebanon and Israel.

Now of course we are seeing the U.S. moving ships further into the Mediterranean. And we have heard from the Biden administration offering security assurances to the Israeli government. They have said that they will stand by and provide that security assistance if indeed Israel and Lebanon enter into an all-out war. They have clarified there will not be U.S. boots on the ground.

But again this is a warning signal perhaps. There is certainly rising concern over the potential for an all-out war between Hezbollah and the Israeli military.

And of course we've heard from the Lebanese government as well. They don't want to see a war on Lebanese territory. But they have said that the Lebanese army would not be able to stand by if Israel pushes them towards an all-out war.

FOSTER: OK, Nada, thank you so much.

Voters in France go to polls on Sunday for a snap parliamentary election. They'll decide whether they want to keep President Emmanuel Macron and his centrist government in power or chose the far-right National Rally party and its longtime leader Marine Le Pen. If no one gets a majority on Sunday, a second round of voting will be held a week later. Macron called the snap election, the national election, after his party came in a distant second to Le Pen's far-right group in the recent European parliament elections. More now from CNN's Melissa Bell.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MELISSA BELL, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It was, for France's national rally, a historic win. The European elections marked the first time the hard right had won a poll nationally. Now the party is campaigning for seats in France's parliament and a shot at government.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): The party was long demonized. But that's the work that Marine Le Pen and her team have managed to do, to show that we are a party capable of governing and a party that is democratic.

BELL (voice-over): No mean feat for a woman who inherited the party from her father, the Holocaust denier Jean-Marie Le Pen, who founded the National Rally, or National Front as it was known, with former French members of Hitler's SS. A history steeped in fascism that was credited with long keeping the party from power, even when it got close. France is a country, after all, heavily marked by the horrors of Nazi

Germany.

BELL: Amongst those atrocities, what happened here at Oradour-sur- Glane 80 years ago, when an entire village was rounded up by the SS and killed in cold blood.

BELL (voice-over): The village, frozen in time, left exactly as it was on that fateful day 80 years ago, in order for the world to remember. But in the new village, rebuilt after the war, the European elections saw the National Rally come first here too.

PHILIPPE LACROIX, MAYOR OF ORADOUR-SUR-GLANE, FRANCE (through translator): Here the national rally did a big score, like in other rural communities. Times have changed, the means of communication are no longer the same, societal issues have evolved too, and there's been a detoxification of the extremes, of the far right.

BELL (voice-over): The key also for the National Rally, the young, who voted massively in favor of a party that few in the past would have admitted voting for, but that has now gained something that long eluded it.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): Legitimacy, that's it. We're no longer ostracized, we're taken seriously. They said that 30 percent of French voted for us.

French people who love their country, who don't want to see it change and get eaten by globalization.

BELL (voice-over): A message that looks set to resonate in a parliamentary poll that could see the national rally gain not just legitimacy, but power itself.

Melissa Bell, CNN, Oradour-sur-Glane.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FOSTER: Now, it has been more than 20 years since the United States received a loan of pandas from China, but two of the furry animals have just arrived. We'll tell you where and when, when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

FOSTER: It seems panda diplomacy will be coming up as our next story.

But first, like father, like son, LeBron James' eldest son, Bronny, is now poised to play alongside his superstar dad after he was selected by the Los Angeles Lakers as the 55th pick in the NBA draft on Thursday. They could become the first father-son duo to hit the NBA court at the same time.

[04:55:02]

LeBron has spoken of his desire to play with his son, saying he would do whatever it takes to make that happen. Meanwhile, Bronny says on social media that he is, quote, beyond blessed. Last summer the 19- year-old suffered a cardiac arrest and missed part of the season whilst in recovery.

It seems panda diplomacy is back on track between China and the United States. Two of the cuddly-looking bamboo eaters have arrived at San Diego Zoo, the first new panda loaned to the U.S. in more than 20 years.

Steven Jiang has the story from Beijing.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

STEVEN JIANG, CNN BEIJING BUREAU CHIEF: These two giant pandas, Yun Chuan and Xin Bao, left their home at a panda base in southwestern China on a rainy night, with some locals lining up the streets to bid them farewell, holding signs with their names and images, watching them leave in a truck headed for the airport for their charter flight bound for San Diego.

Now, the loan of these pandas was finalized in February, marking the first time that China is sending pandas to the U.S. in two decades. The San Diego Zoo, of course, has a history of cooperating with China at panda conservation and actually has a special connection to one of the pandas on board. Yun Chuan's mother was actually born in San Diego.

Now, as part of these agreements, zoos typically pay China a million U.S. dollars a year for their conservation efforts, and the Chinese say in many ways that has paid off with the population of pandas almost doubling in the past 30 years. Prompting the government in 2021 downgrading panda status from endangered species to vulnerable.

China also has a history of engaging in so-called panda diplomacy, initially giving and then loaning pandas to countries with friendly or improving ties with Beijing.

The U.S. received its two pandas in 1972, following then President Nixon's historic visit to China. But in more recent years, the number of pandas has dwindled in the U.S. with tensions rising between the two governments.

Now, with bilateral ties somewhat stabilized, zoos in the U.S. and indeed in many countries that are U.S. allies are anticipating new arrivals again, with fresh agreements just announced for the National Zoo in Washington, DC, as well as zoos in Australia and most recently in Austria.

Steven Jiang, CNN, Beijing.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FOSTER: Thank you for joining CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Max Foster in London. CNN "THIS MORNING," up after this quick break.