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CNN This Morning
Flood Threat Remains in Texas; Rep. Haley Stevens (D-MI) is Interviewed about Michigan Politics; Ron Dermer is Interviewed about Demands for a Ceasefire and Hostage Release Deal; Six Days Until Presidential Debate. Aired 6:30-7a ET
Aired September 04, 2024 - 06:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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[06:32:08]
KASIE HUNT, CNN ANCHOR: All right, welcome back. Time now for weather.
Flash flooding in Texas. The flood threat not done yet. It's spreading to southeastern Louisiana, including New Orleans.
Let's get to our meteorologist, the weatherman, Derek Van Dam.
Derek, good morning to you.
What are they looking at down there?
DEREK VAN DAM, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Yes, good morning, Kasie.
Remember, it only takes 12 inches of water to float a vehicle, two feet of swiftly moving water to sweep away an entire SUV. And these people found out the hard way. Look at this. Very deceiving sometimes, those floodwaters. That's why the National Weather Service has that slogan, turn around, don't drown, because you never know when there's going to be that drop in the roadway there and the water is deeper than you actually think it is.
Nine inches of rain has fallen in some places of Texas. And there are flash flood watches stretching from Mississippi through Louisiana and the central Texas coast. This has just been issued through about 7:45 Central Daylight Time, a flash flood warning for Corpus Christi. About two to three inches of rain has fallen already this morning and another one to two inches of rain is possible.
The bulk of the heaviest rainfall for the day today really located near the border of Texas and Louisiana. So, we'll look out for the potential of more flooding.
The other big story we're covering, the heat building across the southwest. Sixty million Americans under heat alerts. But this is incredible. Look what happened in Phoenix yesterday, 100 consecutive days where the mercury in the thermometer climbed to 100 degrees or higher. That is just downright hot and it doesn't look like it's going to break anytime soon. Kasie.
HUNT: Absolutely miserable, in fact.
VAN DAM: Yes.
HUNT: All right, Derek Van Dam for us this morning. Derek, thank you. So grateful for you, as always.
All right, still ahead here on CNN THIS MORNING, we'll bring you the latest from Israel, where protests continue to rock the country after the killing of six hostages in Gaza.
Plus, new CNN polling shows an incredibly tight race in Michigan. We're going to speak with Congresswoman Haley Stevens to get her insight into what voters are thinking in her state.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I like that she's young. I like that she can put two sentences together. I like that she can - she can speak with conviction.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm a stronger supporter of Donald Trump because Kamala Harris is in the race.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
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[06:38:32]
HUNT: All right, welcome back.
Michigan proving, once again, to be one of the keys to the White House. In the last two elections, the candidate who won Michigan also happened to win the election. New CNN polling shows Kamala Harris with a 48 to 43 lead over Donald Trump among likely voters, just outside the margin of error. And, of course, with margins this close, undecided voters are critical.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Were you undecided or did you know who you were going to vote for, for president?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I was definitely leaning towards Trump before she got in.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And now how do you feel now that she's in?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm waffle a little bit.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And now this year, had you planned to vote for Donald Trump?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Well, I did. Now, tables might turn.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: With Kamala Harris?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So, you're not sure?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Not sure. So, I got to - I got to research a little more.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: All right, joining me now to talk about how the race is shaping up in her state is Democratic Congresswoman Haley Stevens of Michigan.
Congresswoman, so grateful to have you on the program. Thank you so much for being here.
I just want to start by asking you, I mean we - as you - as I'm sure you know, your fellow congresswoman, Debbie Dingell, very well, she was out there in 2016 saying that Trump could win Michigan. Now she says there's a union hall problem. I want to ask you, based on what you hear in your district, what do you view as kind of the critical group of voters, a place where Democrats can win or lose the election in Michigan?
[06:40:03]
REP. HALEY STEVENS (D-MI): Well, yes. So, look, I represent Oakland County, Michigan. This, 15, 20 years ago, was a Republican county. We now have Democratic Oakland County executive in David Coulter. We are expecting a half a million votes, nearly, in my district alone. And we also have a trajectory of strong Democratic female leadership. And what you have as a result of that, Katie, is you have incredibly exercised volunteers, precinct delegates, people doing the deep work in their neighborhoods.
I represent communities called Bloomfield Hills and Birmingham, Michigan. These are very traditionally Republican areas that have now turned. And they're going to continue to go in our direction. But just as the two voters who you spoke to represent, we've got to not take anything for granted. People are still letting this campaign play out.
Kamala Harris just had the DNC. It was a resounding, strong convention. She still has a campaign to run. And as she reminds us when she comes into town, she's the underdog. We're not taking anything for granted. Yes, a good pool today certainly feels nice to be slightly outside the margin of error, but we're not leaving anyone behind. Talking about the economy, talking about that opportunity economy message, transportation as well, which is very much on the minds of Oakland County voters.
HUNT: It's funny. I spent my earliest years in Farmington Hills, Michigan, which I believe is in your district. So, we are actually quite familiar with it. My whole family's from the Detroit area originally. I want to ask you, how do you think Kamala Harris, Vice President
Harris, is handling this question around Israel and Palestine, the war in Gaza? Because there is a Republican group that is up with an ad in Michigan. They're trying to characterize - let me play it for you so that I can get your reaction just in case you haven't seen it.
STEVENS: Sure.
HUNT: Let's watch.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Harris has made herself clear, she stands with Israel and the Jewish people. She has again and again. She understands the unbreakable bond between the U.S. and Israel. And when supporters of a free Palestine stood up for Gaza, Harris put them in their place. And supporters of free Palestine, they hate her.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: I mean, that's a very strong statement there at the end.
STEVENS: Wow.
HUNT: You can understand why Republicans might be behind this group. What's your reaction to - to that - to that ad? And do you believe that Harris is threading this needle correctly?
STEVENS: I don't know if there's a needle to thread, right? This is an incredibly painful issue, and it's a war that - that has gone on for almost a year. We just lost six hostages, murdered in the tunnels in Gaza. One who's an American. Seven Americans still held there.
I had a chance to speak to her about this in Michigan. And laser- focused, as vice president, we know the current administration, laser- focused on reaching a ceasefire, putting an end to this suffering. And certainly the ongoing suffering for the hostages who cannot be forgotten, but also innocent people in Gaza. And so, look, with this issue and what you see our vice president doing is taking a very strong position. It's - it is somewhat black and white. We stand by our democratic allies. Our hearts mourn alongside the innocents who are suffering at the hands of - of terrorism. And there are steps that we need to take.
I am going to be getting back into session next week in Congress. And I fully expect us to be taking some votes on - on this matter, holding Iran and Qatar accountable certainly for harboring some of the Hamas terrorists, placing blame on Hamas for the deaths of these hostages, and for starting this war.
And it's not America's war, which certainly, as we passed a foreign aid package earlier this year, Kasie, that was a foreign aid package for democracy around the world. Support for Taiwan, Ukraine, Israel, and innocent Palestinians in Gaza who need that humanitarian aid. Those trucks are going in. Why aren't the hostages coming out?
HUNT: All right, Congresswoman Haley Stevens for us this morning.
Congressman, thank you so much for your time. I hope you'll come back. I'd love to have you on the show.
STEVENS: Yes.
HUNT: All right, straight ahead here on CNN THIS MORNING, a new court ruling goes against Donald Trump.
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HUNT: The song the former president has been ordered to stop playing and his campaign rallies.
Plus, thousands of Israelis taking to the streets demanding their prime minister strike a ceasefire and hostage release deal with Hamas.
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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He doesn't get to ask our forgiveness, like he did yesterday. He is failing.
[06:45:01]
He is failing to bring Israeli citizens home, American citizens home, and I'm devastated and I'm furious.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
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MERRICK GARLAND, ATTORNEY GENERAL: The Justice Department has a long memory. We will pursue the terrorists responsible for murdering Americans, and those who illegally provide them with material support for the rest of their lives.
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HUNT: The attorney general, Merrick Garland, vowing to track down the Hamas leaders behind the October 7th attack that killed 1,200 Israelis. The indictment, the first criminal step by the DOJ to hold Hamas accountable for the massacre. Six defendants face seven charges, including terrorism, conspiracy to murder U.S. nationals, and conspiracy to use weapons of mass destruction resulting in death.
Demonstrations widening across Israel as protesters demand Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu compromise and reach a ceasefire and hostage release deal with Hamas.
[06:50:04]
Hostage families not confident that their prime minister will respond.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) RONEN NEUTRA, FATHER OF AN ISRAELI-AMERICAN HOSTAGE: We met him in the White House with President Biden. We looked him in the eyes. And unfortunately our feeling is that he has his own political future ahead of him rather than the safety of our son.
ORNA NEUTRA, MOTHER OF AN ISRAELI-AMERICAN HOSTAGE: It's not just our son. I don't believe that he has the interest of the Israeli people as his top priority
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: All right, let's go live to Jerusalem and bring in Ron Dermer. He's Israeli minister of strategic affairs and the former Israeli ambassador to the United States.
Mr. Dermer, thank you very much for being with us.
I want to start with these hostage -
RON DERMER, ISRAELI MINISTER OF STRATEGIC AFFAIRS: Good to be with you, Kasie.
HUNT: Thank you.
I want to start with the hostage families. What would you say to families who feel that the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, has continued to move the goalposts in negotiations with Hamas as they try to bring their loved ones home?
DERMER: Well, Kasie, I don't think we can judge any hostage family with what they're going through. I don't think any of us can imagine even one minute of the torment. And all of Israel is in mourning still after several days after six of those hostages were executed.
What I can tell all the hostage families is that their government is working to bring those hostages home. There were 250 hostages who were taken on October 7th in that savage attack which murdered 1,200 Israelis. We have brought back around 150 of those hostages, including 110 were brought back alive. And we're committed to bringing all the rest of the hostages home.
HUNT: Mr. Dermer, clearly we showed video of people on the streets of Israel. They're angry about how this has been handled. Should they not be angry at the government?
DERMER: I - well, I think everybody in Israel should be angry, but we should all be angry at Hamas because they're the ones that are preventing any deal from happening, and they're the ones that are responsible for the execution of six hostages, including American Hersh Goldberg Polin, which - his struggle of - of Rachel and Jon, his parents, I think has inspired everybody across the world. And - and the dignity that they brought to this struggle in raising awareness about the problem.
So, there should be angry. And I was pleased right before I came on the air, I was listening to your show, and you had a congresswoman from Michigan who said she wants to go back to Washington and she wants to hold those people to account. She wants to hold the government of Iran and Qatar for supporting and financing and harboring of Hamas. I think that's very important. I think it was important what the Justice Department did yesterday in saying they're going to bring charges against Hamas.
Hamas is responsible for the plight of the hostages. We will be prepared to do everything we can to bring those hostages home. And we're still committed to doing that. We're working very closely, even in the last couple of days. We continue to work closely with our American counterparts. We had negotiators who met with their counterparts. And hopefully there will be a deal that Hamas will agree to. Because up until this point they haven't agreed to anything. They haven't agreed to any proposal that was put forward.
There are a lot of people who believe, unfortunately, mistakenly, that there's some deal on the table that Hamas has agreed to that the Israeli government does not agree to. That's simply not true. We're working to get to that deal. I hope we can do that soon.
HUNT: What do you say to the - we played a little - a little bit of sound from some of those families of - of hostages. There are some who argue that the Israeli prime minister's political interests are at odds with a deal that would bring their family members home. Is that true?
DERMER: No, it's not. And we just had a decision in the Israeli cabinet that it wasn't the prime minister who stood alone. He stood with almost his entire security cabinet. And I'm a member of that cabinet. And so we're all united.
And obviously everyone in Israel, on all sides of the political aisle, frankly, Katie, everyone wants to bring the hostages home. And I believe everybody - or nearly everybody in Israel wants to see Hamas destroyed in Gaza. The question is, how do you achieve both of those goals?
We are prosecuting this war and our - our goal in prosecuting this war is to dismantle Hamas' military capabilities, to end its political rule in Gaza, and to ensure that an October 7th never happens again, that Gaza does not pose a threat to Israel.
We have another goal, which is to bring those hostages home. We haven't fully achieved that goal. As I said, we brought nearly 150 hostages out, 110 of them alive, and we're - we're committed to achieving that goal as well. The government of Israel is committed to bringing those hostages home.
HUNT: All right, Ambassador Ron Dermer for us this morning. Sir, very grateful to have you on the program. I hope you'll come back. Thank you.
DERMER: Thank you.
HUNT: All right, 54 minutes past the hour. Here's your morning roundup. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GOV. KATHY HOCHUL (D-NY): The scope of what she was capable of doing is shocking. I'm furious, outraged by this behavior and we'll let the process play
out.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: A former aide to two New York governors has been charged with acting as a foreign agent for the Chinese government.
[06:55:02]
Sources tell CNN that her home was raided by federal investigators in July. The former staffer, along with her husband, arrested Tuesday at their Long Island residence.
An event set for Donald Trump's Bedminster resort honoring January 6th suspects has been postponed. The J6 Awards Gala was supposed to happen Thursday, that now has been put on hold. No future time or date announced. Donald Trump had been invited to speak, but he did not confirm if he was attending.
And this. A federal judge ruling Donald Trump must stop using that song, "Hold On, I'm Comin'" at his rallies. The decision coming after the estate of the late R&B artist and songwriter Isaac Hayes asked for an emergency injunction to stop the former president from using the song.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ISAAC HAYES III, ISAAC HAYES' SON: Donald Trump has been barred from ever playing the music of Isaac Hayes again. You know, I couldn't ask for a better decision.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: And we are now just six days away from what could be the pivotal moment in this - in this election. The first debate between Donald Trump and Kamala Harris. CNN now reporting the vice president will start her preparations in Pittsburgh on Thursday. She will remain in Pittsburgh until the debate next week on September 10th on ABC. She was just there earlier this week campaigning with President Biden. Her opponent signaling he's going to take a different approach to getting ready.
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DONALD TRUMP (R), FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT AND 2024 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I'm not spending a lot of time on it. I think my whole life I've been preparing for a debate. You have to be real. You know, you can't cram knowledge into your head for, you know, 30 years of knowledge in one week. You have to know your subject, and I think I know my subject. I think I know it better than anybody.
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HUNT: All right, our panel is back.
Matt Gorman, is that the best approach to debate prep?
MATT GORMAN, FORMER TIM SCOTT PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN SENIOR ADVISER: That is the exact same answer he gave - I remember it vividly - when he was climbing down his plane in Cleveland in August 2015. He said, I've been preparing my whole life. I was out working for Jeb Bush at the time. His answer has not changed.
Two things. Number one, he prepped a lot more than people think - I mean that in a good way, it's a compliment - for that first debate. I expect him to this time. There's always a tension between how much do you do? Do you do a lot of interviews? Do you do things like basically things like batting practice. You see some live pitching. Or do you go to ground and really do like straight debate prep? It's always a difference in style.
HUNT: Well, and, Elliot Williams, I mean there are people that argue that President Biden overprepared for the debate that ultimately saw the conclusion of his political career.
ELLIOT WILLIAMS, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Right. And picking up on Matt's point, a lot of this is about the expectations game. What do you do to prepare the country to see your opponent? Now, a lot of people aren't - aren't familiar with Kamala Harris as a debater, and it probably does not serve the former president well to suggest that she's not ready or not prepared or, you know, because I think folks will get in their heads that she's not a skilled debater. Having been a prosecutor, that could serve her well. But we'll just have to see.
HUNT: Yes. So, this is how our Jamal Simmons put it on our air earlier this week.
Let's watch.
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JAMAL SIMMONS, FORMER COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR FOR VICE PRESIDENT HARRIS: But someone has got to be (EXPLETIVE DELETED) here. Like somebody's got to sit there and really pepper her and get her to get annoyed and aggravated, because that's probably what Trump's going to do. And what you want her to do is to work out that aggravation in prep and not do it when she's on stage.
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HUNT: Kendra Barkoff, you know, I'd - I'd be interested - our friend Philippe Reines was coming on the show somewhat regularly until suddenly somebody needed some debate prep. He has played Trump in the past. Is that the key here to basically, over and over and over again, get somebody used to someone saying the worst possible things to them?
KENDRA BARKOFF, FORMER PRESS SECRETARY TO JOE BIDEN: There will be no one better to play Donald Trump than Reines. Let's be honest about that. He will be great.
But that - I mean that's the truth. You have to simulate it. When you've never done it before, when you've never gone and debated Donald Trump, it's a whole different world than it - than it was before when you are practicing against, you know, in the - in the primary when she was practicing against her fellow Democrats.
HUNT: And also, you know, Mike Pence will -
GORMAN: Yes, you want to practice harder than you play.
BARKOFF: That too.
GORMAN: You want them to see more than you'd see on the stage.
WILLIAMS: Yes. A great line that got said on NPR yesterday, Ketanji Brown Jackson talking about her prep for the Supreme Court was, you can either get angry or you can be a Supreme Court justice. And I think they prepared her to sort of deal with some of the attacks without - without losing her cool. And I think that's probably what they're doing with the vice president.
HUNT: That's an interesting version of, you can get angry, you can get even.
WILLIAMS: Yes.
HUNT: One or the other.
All right, I will leave you with this.
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SERENA WILLIAMS, SIX-TIME U.S. OPEN CHAMPION: Honey, that's not deuce. That's called honey add in or honey ace. Let's rename it. It is good. Yes.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: Apparently Serena approved. There is, of course, the Mint Julep at the Kentucky Derby. There's the Pimm's Cup at Wimbledon. But now it's the Honey Deuce cocktail at the U.S. Open. It is expected to rake in over $10 million in sales before the event concludes this weekend. That's enough to cover the championship prize money for the male and female singles winners combined. The Honey Deuce is a mix of vodka, lemonade, and a raspberry liqueur, along with its signature melon balls. You see them there on that cocktail skewer.
[07:00:01]
It is, get this, $23. But you do get to keep the cup. That's, you know, OK.
World number two, Aryna Sabalenka, may just have boosted sales of the Honey Deuce even more with this offer to New York tennis fans.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ARYNA SABALENKA, PROFESSIONAL TENNIS PLAYER: Drinks on me tonight.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Wait, drinks on you, is that what you said, for everybody?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: What is $23 times the number of people in that audience? Quite a bit.
Guys, thank you. Maybe we'll get - maybe we'll get a round of - Friday, Friday morning, a round of Honey Deuce on the table.
All right, thank you guys for being here. Thanks to all of you for joining us as well. I'm Katie Hunt. Don't go anywhere. CNN NEWS CENTRAL starts right now.
