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Erin Burnett Outfront
Harris Arrives In Philadelphia On Eve Of High-Stakes Debate; Vance Pushes Claim Immigrants Eating Cats, Officials: Not Credible; James Earl Jones, Legendary Actor, Dead At 93. Aired 7-8p ET
Aired September 09, 2024 - 19:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[19:00:54]
ERIN BURNETT, CNN HOST: OUTFRONT next:
New details about the Harris and Trump debate strategies as Harris lands moments ago in Philadelphia for this major night. The Trump campaign tonight teasing, quote, surprises. What is in store for America?
Plus, was J.D. Vance duped? Tweeting a story about Haitian migrants eating pets -- yes, people's personal pets -- in the state of Ohio. So CNN did the reporting. We're going to tell you. What the evidence shows actually happened.
And a KFILE investigation revealing Harris wrote in a 2019 questionnaire about taking funding away from ICE and ending migrant detention. It is not, of course, what Harris is saying today and there's a lot more where that came from.
Let's go OUTFRONT.
And good evening. I'm Erin Burnett.
OUTFRONT tonight; the face off. Vice President Harris just arriving in Philadelphia just about 24 hours before the first and so far only debate between Harris and former President Trump. These are live pictures at the National Constitution Center where the event will take place.
And it is -- just think about the context here, entire race has been thrown up into disarray. And now here we are finally a new candidate on the Democratic side, seven days from the first early votes, 57 days from Election Day. And this is it -- this is the only debate they've agreed to.
We've all seen that an election can be lost in an hour, maybe not won, but lost. Could it happen again? Harris tonight in an interview, hammering home her talking points?
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
KAMALA HARRIS, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES & 2024 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: He plays with this really old and tired playbook, right? Where he -- there's no floor for him in terms of how long he will go. I think he's going to lie and, you know, he has a playbook that he is
used in the past be it, you know, his attacks on President Obama or Hillary Clinton so we should expect some of that might come out.
(END AUDIO CLIP)
BURNETT: All right. So that was her interview today, Trump so far today has not given any interviews. He is left the speaking to his surrogates who have pounded one very loud and clear talking point on their side.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
THE TRUMP CAMPAIGN: She owns every failure of the Harris-Biden administration.
The Harris-Biden administration. The Harris-Biden administration.
(END AUDIO CLIP)
BURNETT: All right. So they all got the memo. Now, here's something worth pointing out.
Despite Harris being vice president for nearly four years, running for president before that, and the fact that she and Trump on a daily battle against each other. They have never actually met.
So, tomorrow night when they walk on that debate stage, that will be the very first time they've ever been in a room together and met. I mean, that's pretty incredible to think about it. And considering again, that a race can be lost in an hour, look at the stakes. Tonight, CNN poll of polls shows a statistical dead heat. Harris with 49 percent and Trump with 48.
So, let's begin our coverage with Phil Mattingly, live in Pennsylvania, which obviously the home of this debate, any must win state where the debate will take place.
So, Phil, what are you learning from your sources there?
PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN CHIEF DOMESTIC CORRESPONDENT: You know, Erin, in conversations with Republicans and Democrats across the state over the course of the last day or two, there is plenty of disagreement about strategy, approach, message when it comes to the debate that'll take place, about 400 miles from where I'm standing right now.
There is one area of agreement and that is the enormous important of tomorrow night when you talk to Republicans or Democrats, they acknowledged the stakes are huge. One Republican official telling me this is a clear cut inflection point for this race. They know it is a sprint. They know this is the first and perhaps only face-to-face opportunity between these two candidates, and they're also looking at the numbers.
Yes, the top lines, both on the national polling and in the battleground states very much within the margin of error. But when you look deeper into those polls, there is a reality and that is it likely voters want to know more about Vice President Harris are interested in by vice president Harris in many cases.
And that means tomorrow night is a huge opportunity and carries a lot of risks for Vice President Harris.
Now, in the commonwealth of Pennsylvania, it was obviously a razor thin margin in 2016. Once again, in 2020, when you talk to campaign officials both sides, they point to this state as absolutely critical to their path to 270 electoral votes.
[19:05:01]
It is within the margin of error in the polling right now. But if you look at going forward, what matters, there is 140 million booked in ad reservations just in this state from now until Election Day, Erin, but nothing -- nothing is bigger than this face-to-face matchup. Tens of millions of viewers and opportunity to get a message across.
Here in Erie, Pennsylvania. Joe Biden won this county by a 1,500 votes. Every vote is on the -- is on the kind of the battleground at this point as one Democrat put it to me, Erin, it's a dog fight right now. And tomorrow night will be huge and their efforts.
BURNETT: It's incredible to think about the margins that we are talking about. Phil, thank you.
So, everyone here with me now.
So, Van, you know, you heard the Harris-Biden administration talking point and they've got that one down easy to remember, boom, boom, boom. A very consistent, but it is the Biden/Harris administration. I mean, that is the reality. So understand they're flipping the names I get the point here.
But how does she counter this effectively when if were all honest with ourselves, it is the Biden-Harris administration. She is the vice president, this whole sort of don't -- don't connect her to his policies, you know?
VAN JONES, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, first of all, she's got a lot to be proud of and she's going to make her case, but this is a job interview for her she's got to think about this as a job interview.
She's got the class clown sitting next to her doing raspberry throwing spitballs. But at the end of the day, the audience is not Donald Trump and the audience is not -- the two interviewers should maybe see. The audience are the American people who are Kamala curious, they're open, but they don't know enough yet to for her to close a deal.
So he will try to throw everything he can about the past. She's got to focus on the future. She wants to bring the American people. She's going to have to counter. This is a job interview and the American people matter a lot more than Donald Trump. BURNETT: So, Alyssa, in prior debates as when she was running for
president, then when she did vice presidential debates, she made a conscious point to call out the men she was debating, right? And it was it was men in these cases.
So here's a few the examples from her last one, one-on-one debate versus Republican rival here.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HARRIS: When that was exposed, the vice president said, when asked, well, why didn't you all tell anybody, he said because the president wanted people to remain calm.
MODERATOR: Well, let's go --
HARRIS: No, but, Susan, this is important, and I want to add -- Mr. Vice President, I'm speaking.
MIKE PENCE, FORMER U.S. VICE PRESIDENT: I have to weigh in.
HARRIS: I'm speaking.
Joe Biden has been very clear. He will not raise taxes on anybody who makes less than $400,000 a year.
PENCE: He said he's going to appeal the Trump tax cuts.
HARRIS: Mr. Vice President, I'm speaking. I'm speaking.
PENCE: Is he only going to repeal part of the Trump tax cuts?
HARRIS: If you don't mind letting me finish --
PENCE: Please?
HARRIS: -- we can then have a conversation. Okay?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: Now, the mics are going to be turned off. So when Trump is talking, you're not going to hear her mic. So unlikely -- I mean, I don't know exactly how this will play out, but that may not be able to see moments like that is that a loss for her or game?
ALYSSA FARAH GRIFFIN, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: I think there's a world in which its again less this, this debate is going to be won by whatever candidate emerges going that they know the issues voters care about and are offering solutions on them, not trying to have the mic drop dunking moments that live viral. Those don't hurt. But watching that and I watched it back recently, it plays really well if you're a Kamala's fan, and you want to see someone dunk on Mike Pence. If you're undecided suburban voter who really wants to --
BURNETT: Kamala curious. GRIFFIN: Kamala curious, who want to hear about the plan for the border bringing down inflation, childcare. You want to hear that. You're not trying to hear anyone get in the mud with each other and she's run this campaign, I think wisely have kind of elevating and not punching down when Donald Trump plays low. I think that would be a very wise tactic to employ tomorrow.
Almost pretend he's not there. Talk about what she's for, what she wants to do and then be ready to fact-check him if necessary.
BURNETT: All right. So female voters are going to be -- you know, that's been in the suburbs. So Trump has 17 percentage point gain, David, with male voters in that latest "New York Times" poll that everyone's been talking about deep diving on.
Okay. Female voters are totally different story, 42 percent back Trump, 53 for Harris, that's a huge gap.
Nikki Haley has weighed in on it and here's what she said.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
NIKKI HALEY, FORMER U.S. AMBASSADOR TO THE U.N.: I think it's because Donald Trump and J.D. Vance need to change the way they speak about women. You don't need to call Kamala dumb. She didn't get this far, you know, just by accident.
She is here. That's what it is. She's a prosecutor. You don't need to go and talk about intelligence or looks, or anything else. Just focus on the policies.
When you call even a Democrat woman dumb, Republican women get their backs up, too.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
DAVID URBAN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: And she's right. Nikki Haley is right. She's -- she's 100 percent right there. And the tricky part here is that for Donald Trump is to be able to attack Kamala Harris, right, tie her to the failed policies of the Biden/Harris administration without attacking her personally.
BURNETT: Every time he's done, she's the one who's been calling her dumb.
URBAN: It's a needle. It's going to be a tough needle for him to thread, but if the American people just reminded, don't reelect Kamala Harris, right? There in this, in this, in this poll, it's -- I don't want to screw this up to "The New York Times"/Sienna poll found, 61 percent of voters want the next president to bring major change for the Biden administration. Sixty-one percent of voters want major change for Biden, and who -- and when they pulled down that, which candidate represents major change in this upcoming election, Trump 53, Harris, 25.
If Donald Trump is out there and says, are you better off today than you were four years ago? If you're not and don't vote for this woman, don't vote for Vice President Kamala Harris.
If he could manage to do that and question after question and tired of this administration that failed policies, he comes out with a W. if he doesn't --
BURNETT: Do you think -- yeah -- do you think knowing him having worked, that, he's no doubt aware of what you just said, what Nikki Haley just said on some level, he's aware care of it is he capable of not calling her dumb and basically throwing this away?
GRIFFIN: He's capable of it. This is a man who came up in television. He knows how to communicate to mass audiences. But I found him being less and less disciplined. He is far less disciplined now than he was even in 2016.
And I think if we look back to the Biden Trump campaign -- debate, it was horrible by Biden, but we forget Donald Trump didn't do super well. He tends to perform and say roughly on message for about 15 to 20 minutes.
JONES: That's exactly right.
GRIFFIN: And then he gets sidetracked in anything that even sees his personal can rattle him and can push out that side of him that wants to be the attack dog.
JONES: And a thing that I've seen with the speeches and everything else more recently, even the interviews is he's more and more incoherent. He -- look, he can be a devastatingly good communicator, but he's certainly has not been the past several weeks and so maybe something happens tomorrow night where he remembers what you supposed to be doing, but he sometimes he literally will have five or six half sentences in a row.
Now if you've been watching the Donald Trumps soap opera all day, you kind of know what he's trying to say, but I think he may not be able cognitively.
BURNETT: Yeah, what he called weaving.
JONES: Yeah, he called it weaving. But if you know the Donald Trump show, you know, Donald Trump's soap opera, you kind of know what he's talking about. But if you don't it's baffling listening to the guy.
BURNETT: So, ABC just put out a picture, so we just got inside. I know you know the Constitution Center really well. So, they're putting -- this is the stage where a little blinded where we're sitting, but the podiums here -- the Harris is going to be on the right. So --
URBAN: That's close. It's interesting. it will begin again for having never met before, right, but both people be a little bit -- a little bit like, whoa, here you are, right?
BURNETT: Yeah.
URBAN: Kamala Harris would be a little bit whoa, Donald Trump will be a little bit whoa, it'll be empty building. It's kind of artificial, right? It's a big venue. It's a big auditorium there, Constitution Center, built by my former boss, Arlen Specter.
(CROSSTALK)
URBAN: It's a great building. Everybody should go visit.
BURNETT: Not where I expect that the conversation to go.
URBAN: But listen, I think, you know, Trump had a great line when he did this. He did a press conference in Bedminster. He said, you know, Kamala Harris keeps talking about being ready on day one. Her day one was three-and-a-half years ago, right? If he can land those kind of -- those kind of lines and just again, reinforce that her day one was three-and-a-half years ago, she's had an opportunity to put these things in place.
And if you'd like these failed policies, then vote for her by all means.
BURNETT: And as we look at this you know, this where were all going to be watching tomorrow night.
Van, you have a warning for the Harris campaign is something you think that they sort of has gone beneath their radar that shouldn't.
JONES: Well, I just think on the -- on the fracking question, there's something that were going to be in Pennsylvania. They keep saying, oh, she's going to -- she's going to end fracking. She is going to end fracking.
Hold on a second for four years. They did an and in fact, its been a part of the Biden/Harris weapon against Putin to do all this fracking, to ship all this liquid natural gas to Europe, to hold our allies in place.
Kamala Harris needs fracking. It's not --
BURNETTT: Governor Shapiro who is in the center of all this, he's for fracking.
JONES: But I'm just saying, if you say, well, I think she's going to end fracking which is important to Pennsylvania, first of all, she didn't for four years and it's key to her strategy to hold Putin in check. And so there's certain things I think Americans don't know about the sophisticate patient of the energy policy of this presidency. And they need to hit that hard.
But she does need to create this distance from Biden because Biden has never taken credit for energy under his administration, not wanting to take off the left wing that might think that he's not doing enough for the climate and she needs to be willing to own that. This matters far more in Pennsylvania and she -- nobody is going to question her dedication to combating climate change.
But she needs to own that she is for fracking. URBAN: And the fracking question is not necessarily whether she's for
or against fracking. The fracking questions is the bigger, bigger thing about Kamala Harris, who is she, right? To Van's point, who is she?
Is she for reparations or not for reparations? Is she for gun seizures or not for gun seizures? Is she for ending private health care or is she not for ending private? She's been on so many sides of these issues --
JONES: Kind of like Trump. Is he for abortion, is he not for abortion?
URBAN: On the board, you can talk about abortion, he has --
(CROSSTALK)
BURNETT: It's my favorite word.
URBAN: So -- but no, Kamala Harris is stake, but she hasn't walked them back. She hasn't explained to people why -- listen, here's how I evolved on -- on these issues. Here's why I'm not going to take your guns. Here's why I'm not going to ban fracking. Here's why I'm not for reparations.
GRIFFIN: Well, 20 percent of voters want to learn more about her in that "New York Times" poll.
URBAN: She's going to have to answer.
[19:15:03]
BURNETT: We'll see. We're going to much more on things she said before versus now coming up. But I do want everyone to know, you can watch that debate tomorrow night here on CNN. It is the ABC News presidential debate simulcast will begin at night 9:00 Eastern, but we're all going to be here before that.
We're going to be here so I hope that you will be here were here. We're here on CNN starting at 5:00 along with my colleague Wolf Blitzer of our special coverage.
But next, the Trump campaign is pushing that story about Haitian migrants eating pets, including cats in Vance's home state of Ohio. So guess what? We went fact check this one.
Plus, Trump is now the older of the two candidates facing scrutiny for his verbal gaffes.
James Earl Jones, legendary actor known for is unmistakable voice both on screen and here at CNN, has died.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JAMES EARL JONES, LEGENDARY ACTOR: This is CNN.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[19:20:18]
BURNETT: Tonight, Senator J.D. Vance boosting a viral story about Haitian immigrants, undocumented ones, eating cats, ducks and geese in Springfield, Ohio. Ohio, of course, his home state, writing today, quote, reports now show that people have had their pets abducted and eaten by people who shouldn't be in this country, where's our borders czar? Of course, his reference to Vice President Harris.
"Politico" reporting that the stories seem to have originated from a Facebook post this specific posts were all of this came from but has gone viral, cited somebody's neighbors, daughters, friend.
OK, being CNN, that wasn't good enough for us. So we call the city of Springfield, Ohio, to ask them if there were reports, right. If anybody had called in saying their pets were abducted things that you would do and a spokesperson for the city responded that there is nothing to it. They tell us and I, quote, there have been no credible reports or specific claims of pets being harmed injured, or abused by individuals within the immigrant community.
OUTFRONT now, the Democratic Senator Mark Kelly of Arizona.
Senator, so this is a real world that we live in. Somebody's neighbors, daughters, friend said something on Facebook and it goes crazy and it's out there in the ether. And people believe it. And then you make a call to the police in Springfield, Illinois and they say, we Ohio, I'm sorry. And we have not gotten any, any, any complaints of any of this?
So, Vance tweets this story. Senator Ted Cruz, Senator Mike Lee, Elon Musk, they've all given it more oxygen.
Is this just the kind of election that we're in right now?
SEN. MARK KELLY (D-AZ): Well, Erin, I think its really unfortunate that you and the team at CNN and all these other networks have to spend all this time tracing this stuff down. I think it highlights that J.D. Vance, the Trump campaign, that they don't want to be talking about the issues that the American people care about, things like the cost of their prescription drugs, which by the way Donald Trump and J.D. Vance said he, and this is in Project 2025 that he would overturn the legislation that helped us for the price of drugs for seniors.
All those things that the American people care about, they're not focused on. They're just focused -- focused on rumors and made-up -- made-up stories.
BURNETT: Of course, Trump has said that he is a -- project that is not his agenda, even though many people who worked for him, of course, did work on that Project 2025. He is, though, laying, Senator, the groundwork to claim election fraud if he loses in November, I just want to make sure people know that because if you weren't listening all weekend, you might have missed that. What he said.
He said that the only thing that stands between him and victory in this election is widespread fraud and cheating. Here's what he said, Senator.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT & 2024 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We got to stop the cheating. If we stopped that cheating, if we don't let them cheat, I don't even have to campaign anymore. We're going to win by so much.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: Do you think that this is just an empty threat or not?
KELLY: No. I mean, his threats were not empty in 2020. I was there in the Senate chamber when he sent a mob up to Capitol Hill to change the outcome of a free and fair election, something unprecedented in our country's history.
So, no, I take his threats very seriously. And again, I'm going to reference what we talked about in the earlier question is project 2025, he wants to eliminate a large segment -- segment of the federal workforce and replace them with his people and these are jobs that have been over decades or even our country's history are nonpartisan. And he wants to turn them into partisan jobs where they are working directly for him.
So he wants to get rid of the federal workforce, replace them with his folks. And if you don't agree with him on what's -- what's happened here in the 2024 election. Then he says he's willing to send you to jail or prosecute you, for just disagreeing with the former president.
BURNETT: So, Senator, you know, when you talk about the situation, how close this election might be. And I know everyone's looking at the polls. I don't know whether the polls are accurate. I know they say who none of us know but it's the best we got and, you know, looking at where you're from -- your state, you are going to be at the center of this.
Right now, Trump is ahead in the latest polling in Arizona by five points. That's our CNN poll. If you go in even deeper, she does have some vulnerabilities that are very notable and with key groups so voters there, Trump is leading her by 14 points among men in your state, independent voters by the same margin.
[19:25:00]
She is still winning Hispanic voters, but her lead shows a cratering of support versus what Biden did four years ago, he was up 24. She's up six.
Do you think that she can make up these deficits?
KELLY: Yeah. I think she's going to win in Arizona and she's going to win the election and she's going to win on the issues, the issues that Arizonans even care about. You talk about the border and border security. She supports our bipartisan border security bill that Donald Trump killed with Republicans in the Senate, told them they had to walk away from it. They ran away from it.
He is the reason why we didn't get that legislation passed, which would have provided for more Border Patrol pay and Border Patrol agents, fentanyl detection machines at the southern border at our ports of entry. Because of that, because of Donald Trump, more fentanyl gets through. When we get that message out and we're doing this, so the folks in Arizona they get it.
And you're going to see on other issues, let's just talk about women's reproductive rights for a second here. I mean, I'm on women's health care, he claims and he's right. I mean, he broke Roe v. Wade. He took away this fundamental right for women. And what that meant in the state of Arizona is women have gone back and forth between one bad abortion ban and another and they're stuck with this because of Donald Trump.
So they have an opportunity here to fix this by electing Kamala Harris as president. And I'm confident that in the next 55 days, we're going to make sure that she wins. I'm going to do everything I possibly can to make sure she wins in Arizona and wins the election.
BURNETT: There were a lot of people, senator who wanted you to be the vice president for a lot of reasons. Your pol -- your views on the border. You're being a moderate Democrat and, of course, your history as an astronaut. You are a retired NASA astronaut and you have a series of books out. The latest is out now, "Mousetronaut Saves the World". It's about this mouse named meteor, in this case working to divert an asteroid that's racing towards earth. It's a great series. I am so thrilled to have this third one now.
But I want to ask you about the astronauts now in this context, kids reading this are seeing these astronauts stuck in space. They were supposed to go up there a week. They're going to spend eight months up there. You're one of the few people on this planet who know how horrific that news is for them.
They went up on Boeing but it's Elon Musk who is going to bring them down. What does that say to you?
KELLY: Well, first of all, Suni and Butch are professionals. I both worked with them as astronauts, but also before when we were both -- we were all Navy test pilots together. Suni and I taught at the U.S. Naval Test Pilot School. So they're professionals.
Their trip is going from eight days to eight months, kind of hard to swallow, but they're prepared for this, are going to be fine.
SpaceX has a very reliable spacecraft, the Dragon capsule that launches on a Falcon IX rocket. It'll be ready to go. It can bring them back next year.
Boeing Starliner, we need this capability as well. I'm confident that in time with maybe a couple more test flights and additional work, we're going to get the Boeing Starliner flying. It's important to our own ability to get to low earth orbit and eventually to other places in the solar system.
So we -- we just have more work to do on that. And on the book I'm really, really glad you're excited about it. And it's great for kids to read. Kids get excited about space and astronauts.
BURNETT: They certainly do. My kids have enjoyed the prior ones in series. I'm holding it up now. I hope our people will get this the asteroid story line here as "New York Times" said, sure to please.
Senator, great to see you and congratulations on this latest part of your career.
And next tonight, Trump's combative and offensive defense debate style about to get its biggest test when the former president goes head-to- head with Harris tomorrow.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: She doesn't have the luck. She doesn't have the stamina.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: Plus, legendary actor James Earl Jones died. His voice is synonymous with so many incredible things, and in movies, but also with this network and, of course, "Star Wars".
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DARTH VADER: No, I am your father.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[19:33:41]
BURNETT: Tonight, Trump under the microscope. For the first time in this election, Trump will face a younger opponent on the debate stage, a much younger one.
And now, some of his verbal slips are getting more scrutiny.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: Leon's going to send up a rocket. He looks forward to it. That's all he thinks about is things like that.
I can imagine New Hampshire voting for him. Anybody in New Hampshire because they're watching right now? But anybody in New Hampshire that votes for Biden and Kamala.
I have to stay with childcare. I want to stay with childcare, but those numbers are small, relative to the kind of economic numbers that I'm talking about, including growth. But growth also headed up by what the plan is that I -- that I just told you about.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: And I should say at the beginning said, Leon's going to send up a rocket. He meant Elon, right? Elon Musk as we were just talking about with Senator Mark Kelly.
But the stakes here tomorrow night are incredibly high for Trump and Harris. And there's a lot that we can predict from their tactics in previous debates because we've seen a lot of them.
Jeff Zeleny is OUTFRONT.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JEFF ZELENY, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Donald Trump and Kamala Harris have spent months talking about one another.
TRUMP: If comrade Kamala Harris gets four more years, you will be living a full blown banana republic.
[19:35:00]
HARRIS: If you got something to say, say it to my face.
ZELENY: On Tuesday night, they will talk to one another in a duel seen around the world. But what's one of the most important audiences here in Pennsylvania.
GINA OLD, UNDECIDED PENNSYLVANIA VOTER: And I don't know if all really know until it's time to actually vote.
ZELENY: This will be Trump's seventh debate, more than any nominee in history. Harris and her team have studied all of the previous six, three with Hillary Clinton.
TRUMP: No puppet, no puppet.
HILLARY CLINTON, FORMER SECRETARY OF STATE: It's pretty clear --
TRUMP: You're the puppet.
ZELENY: And three with Joe Biden.
JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Would you shut up, man?
ZELENY: Which offer lessons for both sides.
For Harris, it's a marquee moment to show Americans she is ready to assume the presidency, a question very much on the minds of voters in pivotal Bucks County, just outside Philadelphia, where signs of support for all sides are inescapable.
OLD: By nature. I am a Republican, always voted Republican. Not sure this year. JOHN BILLIE, PENNSYLVANIA VOTER FOR TRUMP: I'm going to go with Trump
regardless. I don't know enough about Kamala and big deals with the border and inflation is my main thing.
MARY SUE FRANK, PENNSYLVANIA VOTER: My hope is that they're going to tell us what they're going to do, not what the other person has done wrong.
ZELENY: Pennsylvania is at the center of the presidential race with Harris, Trump and their allies spending more than any other battleground, $82 million from Democrats, $74 million from Republicans, as a fight to define them vice president dominates the airwaves.
HARRIS: It's a very different vision than Donald Trump's.
AD NARRATOR: Dangerously liberal. Kamala Harris is no laughing matter.
ZELENY: Harris has spent the last five days in Pittsburgh preparing for the debate.
HARRIS: Look, it's time to turn the page on the divisiveness. It's time to bring our country together. Chart a new way forward.
ZELENY: In a weekend rally in Wisconsin, Trump argued, he is the true candidate of change.
TRUMP: Kamala Harris and the communist left have unleashed a brutal plague of bloodshed crime, chaos, misery, and death upon our land and it's only going to get worse.
ZELENY: That rhetoric raises the question of what tone Trump intends to strike and whether it will be sexist, as he often was against Clinton in 2016.
TRUMP: She doesn't have the look. She doesn't have the stamina.
ZELENY: Or seize upon policies of the Biden/Harris administration as he did in June.
TRUMP: We had the safest border in history. Now we have the worst border in history.
ZELENY: Trump has been familiarizing himself with old Harris debates, too.
HARRIS: Mr. Vice President, I'm speaking.
BIDEN: Well --
HARRIS: I'm speaking. If you don't mind letting me finish, we can then have a conversation. Okay?
BIDEN: Please.
HARRIS: Okay.
ZELENY: Those stinging moments from a former prosecutor now trying to make the case that she can turn the page to the presidency.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ZELENY (on camera): Vice President Harris arrived in Philadelphia just a short time ago after some intense debate preparations in Pittsburgh. Of course, that was chosen for a reason western part of this commonwealth is so important to her strategy for the White House.
But, Erin, for all the conversations of the vice president has had with Hillary Clinton and Joe Biden. It's clear she also wants to the chart, her own course and be seen as the candidate of change. But talking to those voters, they definitely want to hear more about her policies specifically as they make up their minds in the closing two months -- Erin.
BURNETT: Jeff Zeleny, thank you very much in Philadelphia.
And I want to go now to Anita Dunn. She was one of President Biden's closest advisers before leaving the White House in July. She is now senior advisor to the pro-Harris super PAC Future Forward.
And, Anita, it's great to have you with me.
So you've got this debate, obviously, we're hours away now, and ABC is sticking with the rules they are going to mute the candidates microphones when it's not their turn to speak.
Now, it's been very clear from our reporting that that is not what Harris wanted. She wanted that rule to change and her debate strategy has centered around those direct exchanges for Trump with Trump tapping into her foreign prosecutor skills. So you know, jumping in and erupting clarifying, fact checking.
So do you think these muted mics are a disadvantage for her?
ANITA DUNN, ADVISER, PRO-HARRIS PAC FUTURE FORWARD: Thank you for having me on, Erin.
I'm going to start by saying, I think that Vice President Harris is going to do fine whether or not the mics are muted. She is extremely good at communicating clearly, succinctly and passionately what her vision for this country is.
And this really is what the candidates need to do tomorrow night. And I think whether or not the mics are muted, what she needs to do is she needs to talk to the American people, and she needs to tell them what does it mean to turn the page? What is that new way forward as you've -- you know, your piece by Jeff Zeleny said, this is what voters want to hear. These debates are really for voters.
I think she's going to do fine whether or not the mics are muted.
BURNETT: No, I understand from sources that have been talking to Jeff and others that a big part of her debate prep and she's done a lot of that because she's been able to look at all of Trumps debates as Jeff just pointed out, he's done more than anyone else running for the office in that role. The she's prepared for personal insults, derogatory comments that we've heard Trump use in other debate contexts, but also about her.
Here is how she responded when she was asked about what she's going to do if this happens by Dana Bash.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: He suggested that you happened to turn black recently for political purposes, questioning a core part of your identity.
HARRIS: Yeah.
BASH: Any --
HARRIS: Same old tired playbook. Next question, please?
BASH: That's it?
HARRIS: That's it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: So do you want to see her give an answer like that in the debate or do you want her to bring a topic up like this if it isn't brought up by somebody else?
DUNN: You know, it's funny. I've -- I've listened to Republicans for the last several days now, basically take to the airwaves on your network and others to plead with Donald Trump not to go down this road because should he go down this road, I think it will be a clear win for the vice president that she is prepared that she has a lot but of tools at her disposal to deal with it.
But more importantly, let's get back to the fundamentals. The American people want to know who's going to be on their side. Who's going to fight for the middle class, who's going to protect seniors. She's got the answer to that.
You know, if former President Trump comes out and goes down, that that tired old road is, she said of insults and misogyny and all of that, it will be probably the best thing that's happened to her. So --
BURNETT: So, you know, last time that we were here on the eve of a presidential debate, Anita, you were working obviously play in a very different race. I mean, it was a completely different world. And you were part of that core small team preparing President Biden for the debate with Trump.
All right? Now, I know those -- those initial days after even that moment, watching it, you know, you've had a chance to think and to put some context around this yourself. Do you look back, Anita, and have any regrets about how President
Biden was prepared for that debate with Trump?
DUNN: You know, roughly. The same team that prepared him in 2020 for the two debates that he won prepared him in 2024. And the reality of it is that you, know, at the end of the day Trump certainly didn't have a great debate. You've had other people in this on this network today saying that as well, the president had a rough beginning and then he actually had an okay finish.
So I think that debate is done what you need to do when you are preparing to debate Donald Trump. As you need to prepare for someone who might show up and be somewhat disciplined for the first 30, 40 minutes as he was in a couple of the Clinton debates, you might, you have to prepare for some who shows up and its totally undisciplined, which he was in the first Biden debating 2020. You have to show up for someone who is going to be by repetition alone, get through lies and you have to be prepared to deal with that.
So, preparing to debate Donald Trump. And again, I'm very confident the vice president is fully prepared -- preparing to debate him as to prepare to debate several different looks, but with one clear standard that goes through all of his debate performances, which is he will say anything. And so, that is actually the hurdle is not to go down those rabbit holes, okay?
So, he will say anything and it may not make sense. It may be totally incoherent, but he will say with a lot of authority. And so, making sure you know what your game plan is, what you want to say to the American people is key at. And I believe the vice president will be fully prepared to do that.
BURNETT: Anita, thank you very much. I appreciate your time. Thank you.
DUNN: Thank you for having me on, Erin.
BURNETT: All right. And next, a KFILE investigation into a questionnaire that Vice President Harris filled out during the last election. It was a questionnaire where she supported defunding ICE. And there's more.
And James Earl Jones, the iconic voice of Darth Vader, a "Field of Dreams" star, has died.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JAMES EARL JONES, ACTOR: People will come, Ray, people will most definitely come.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[19:48: 38] BURNETT: Tonight, Kamala Harris releasing details of her policy positions for the first time on her campaign website. A KFILE investigation has uncovered meantime a 2019 questionnaire, and in this questionnaire, Harris laid out some much more liberal stances, among them on immigration.
So 2019 in what KFILE found, she said she would cut funding to ICE, writing, quote, our immigrant attention system is out of control and I believe we must end the unfair incarceration of thousands of individuals, families, and children. I was one of the first senators after President Trump was elected to advocate for a decrease in funding to ICE.
Well, now, of course, he's touting the Biden administration's executive order to crack down on the border.
KFILE's Andrew Kaczynski joins me now.
Andrew, that's pretty incredible on its own when you're talking about what you found here on ICE.
What else did you find?
ANDREW KACZYNSKI, CNN KFILE SENIOR EDITOR: Yeah. And this was a questionnaire that she filled out for the ACLU, and this questionnaire is really an interesting snap shot in time of that 2019 Democratic primary. Kamala Harris was trying to get to the left of Bernie Sanders. She was trying to get to the left of Elizabeth Warren and you really see that in a lot of these answers.
And I want to walk our viewers through a little bit of what she said. Let's just take immigration and look at what she said here.
She said on immigration, she made this open ended pledge the end immigrant detention. She said she supported taxpayer funded gender transition surgeries for detained migrants.
[19:50:03]
She also said --
BURNETT: Taxpayer-funded gender transition surgeries for detained migrants, she actually said she supported that.
KACZYNSKI: She wrote -- both wrote and answered in the affirmative when she was asked this. And she said she also supported it for federal prisoners.
Now, she also pledged to slash immigration detention by 50 percent, close all family and private facilities and decreased funding for ICE, and then the end ICE detainers with local law enforcement.
BURNETT: I mean, these are -- these are things that it would be hard to think that you would come up with taxpayer funding gender transitions for detained migrants. And yet, as you say, written and verbally. KACZYNSKI: Uh-huh.
BURNETT: You know, what else did you find?
KACZYNSKI: Well, let's also -- let's take a look at her answer her on drugs. She got asked about this question from the ACLU was since drug use is better addressed as a public health issue through treatment and other programming, will you support the decriminalization at the federal level of all drug possession for personal use? And Harris answers, yes.
Now, what would that mean? Will it mean the federal -- all drug possession that's not just marijuana, which she alluded to in her answer to this question, but it also would mean --
BURNETT: Yes, federal level all drug --
KACZYNSKI: Fentanyl, crack, you know, cocaine.
BURNETT: Yes.
KACZYNSKI: Things like that, yeah.
BURNETT: Have they responded to you on her changes on these issues?
KACZYNSKI: So we did put this question to the Harris campaign about the entire ACLU questionnaire, and the Harris campaign didn't answer any questions from CNN. Instead, they just provided a statement from an unnamed Harris campaign adviser that just said, the vice president's positions have been shaped by three years of effective governance as part of the Biden/Harris administration.
Now, they declined to CNN to elaborate on what those positions were. Then they also provided this statement which they attributed to his spokesperson saying, as president, she will take that same pragmatic approach, focusing on common sense solutions for the sake of progress. So where does she stand on this all, all this questioner today, we don't know and they won't say.
BURNETT: It's pretty incredible stuff and thank you very much, Andrew, KFILE for this reporting.
And next, we remember James Earl Jones, the voice of Darth Vader and Mufasa. But one of his longest gigs was right here at CNN.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JONES: This is CNN, the world's news network.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[19:56:34]
BURNETT: Tonight, James Earl Jones. The legend has passed away at the age of 93. His iconic voice, one of the most instantly recognizable in the world.
Elizabeth Wagmeister is OUTFRONT.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ELIZABETH WAGMEISTER, CNN ENTERTAINMENT CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): James Earl Jones was a physically imposing actor.
JONES: I'd take it back. You're not in trouble. You're dead where you stand.
DARTH VADER: Join me.
WAGMEISTER: But it will be Jones' voice that audiences will long remember.
Luke Skywalker, learn that in the "Star Wars" series.
DARTH VADER: No, I am your father.
WAGMEISTER: One of cinema's historic plot twist was delivered by Jones, and honored today by Luke himself.
Mark Hamill posting, "RIP dad".
JONES: It began a big mystery, who was that? Who was that inside the mask?
WAGMEISTER: A different actor played Vader but director George Lucas realized he needed a villain with the more sinister voice.
JONES: He called me and said, do you want to do day's work. I said, yeah.
LARRY KING, FORMER CNN HOST: A day's work?
JONES: Two-and-a-half hours, yeah.
KING: That's all, all the Darth Vader languages in two-and-a-half hours.
JONES: Yeah, a few thousand dollars, I went home.
WAGMEISTER: Jones took his inspiration for the voice from the villain himself.
JONES: I was able to look at, look at the screen, and see the image of him that affected me. That dark figure, that had an impact on me. The key to Darth Vader is a narrow-band of expression. No inflections. He's not human.
DARTH VADER: Rule the galaxy as father and son.
WAGMEISTER: James returned to the role of the imperial villain throughout his career, even now the age of 91 in the Disney Plus series, "Obi-Wan Kenobi". DARTH VADER: You will suffer.
WAGMEISTER: In another memorable voice only role, Jones said just three words.
JONES: This is CNN.
WAGMEISTER: The network was looking for a strong authoritative voice for its tenth anniversary in 1990.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mr. Jones, can you have with a little more emphasis on the word this, please?
JONES: Yes, uh-huh.
I do the Goodwill Games. And well, now, can we do a CNN logo? And I came back with a supposition. It was so short. I mean, it took five minutes, right. And I forgot it.
WAGMEISTER: Jones remain the voice of CNN ever since.
JONES: Bringing you the world for 25 years. This is CNN.
WAGMEISTER: What is unforgettable is that this powerful actor with the deep, authoritative voice had a speaking disability.
JONES: Starting with so embarrassing and really painful, I went mute from the age of 8 to 14.
WAGMEISTER: Jones said, a great teacher in high school who loved poetry, helped him.
JONES: He discovered I wrote poetry and he got me to read my poetry in front of the class. And when I did, I didn't stutter.
WAGMEISTER: As a teenager, Jones wanted to be a military officer. He eventually ended up an American nuclear bomber in his first movie role, the instructions, attack the Soviet Union in "Dr. Strangelove".
A long list of screen roles would follow, including "Roots", "Coming to America", "Field of Dreams", "The Hunt for Red October", "Patriot Games", and "The Lion King".
The stage though, was his first love. Jones won a Tony Award in 1969 for the "Great White Hope", nominated too for an Oscar in the movie version. Jones was part of an elite acting group. He won an Oscar, a Grammy, three Emmys and three Tonys, including a Lifetime Achievement Award in 2017, had he done it all in life?
JONES: I'm not sure if I want to do at all because, you know, I -- death is okay. It is something that happens to all of us, and that's kind of glorious, isn't it?
WAGMEISTER: Elizabeth Wagmeister, CNN, Los Angeles.
(END VIDEOTAPE) BURNETT: And thanks much to all of you for being with us tonight. Anderson starts now.
