Eye on Michigan
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for every life-saving treatment, for every next step, for every care in the world. Cleveland Clinic. - It's Wednesday, September 4th, right now on CNN This Morning. - It looks close, but I think in the end it's not gonna be a close election. - With just nine weeks left until election day, brand new CNN polling out this morning shows just how tight the race is across key must-win states, plus this. - Bluntly, Michigan, y'all know how to win.

Michigan, a state that went red in '16 and blue in 2020, still a toss-up this time around. Michigan Congresswoman Haley Stevens joins us live. And this: The people who are buried there don't have an opinion. The youngest son of Senator John McCain calling out Donald Trump, why he says Trump's photo op at Arlington was a "violation." Plus later: As long as there are hostages there, live or dead, we're going to continue and fight. They deserve it.

Outrage in the streets as nationwide protests in Israel enter their fourth day. The mounting pressure on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. All right, 6 a.m. here in Washington. A live look at New York City. Look at that beautiful sunrise on this Wednesday morning. Good morning, everyone. I'm Casey Hunt. It's wonderful to have you with us. There are just 62 days until Election Day and six days until Kamala Harris and Donald Trump meet on the debate stage in Philadelphia.

And there are just two days, yes, two, until the first mail-in ballots will be sent out. Voters are going to be voting. New CNN polling released just this morning shows a race that is truly neck and neck among likely voters in key battleground states. Harris holds a lead over Trump in Wisconsin and Michigan. In Arizona, Trump holds the lead.

in nearby nevada there's no clear leader and in what are arguably the two most critical states well it's a tie there is no clear leader in georgia and it is dead even in the must-win state of pennsylvania around 15 percent of likely voters in these swing states say they are open to changing their mind about which candidate they will support on average about two-thirds of likely voters in these states say they're extremely motivated to vote in november

And here is where you see evidence that Harris's momentum is from getting the Democratic base voters excited. In Michigan, 72% of Democratic-aligned registered voters say they're extremely motivated to vote. That is up from 58% back in March.

This new CNN polling shows that the race to 270, the pass of the White House, runs straight through Georgia and Pennsylvania. If Trump holds North Carolina and wins both of those states, then he can lose Michigan, Wisconsin, and Nevada. It wouldn't matter.

If Kamala Harris wins Pennsylvania and she holds Wisconsin and Michigan, she only needs one more electoral vote to get over the top. She's looking at you, Omaha. And the post-Labor Day sprint kicks into high gear. Donald Trump and Kamala Harris are sounding two very different tones. Watch. I can't believe that that's going to be a close election. You know, we're leading in the polls, but...

And it looks close, but I think in the end it's not going to be a close election. We are the underdog in this race. And we have some hard work then ahead of us. But here's the beauty of us in this room. We like hard work. Hard work is good work. Hard work is joyful work.

All right. Joining us now, our panels here, Elliott Williams, CNN legal analyst, former federal prosecutor, David Chalyon, CNN political director, Kendrick Barkoff, former press secretary to Joe Biden, and Matt Gorman, the former senior advisor to Tim Scott's presidential campaign. Welcome to all of you. Thank you so much for being here. David Chalyon, very exciting to have Swing State Battleground likely voter screen polls here with just 62 days out. That's how you know we're past Labor Day. You do. And

there's no one better than you to help us understand what we've learned in this CNN data. So honestly, take us through it. What did you find most interesting? What should we be paying attention to here? Well, first, just that map that you put up of what these polls tell us about the paths to 270, I think is one of the big takeaways here because

We have talked so much about that blue wall, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin. And as you noted here, we're seeing Harris with slight leads in Michigan and Wisconsin. And so instead of our focus for the next 62 days just being on those blue wall states, I really think you got to go down the side of the East Coast that Pennsylvania, Georgia will see. We don't have North Carolina in this set of polling. If that is acting like Georgia, those states may be the ones in determinants because, as you noted,

Donald Trump has to have everything, just hold everything he had in 20, flip Pennsylvania and Georgia, he's the president again. And so if Harris can win one of those states, that's a huge block that she puts up in the path for Donald Trump and sets her potentially on a course. The other thing I would note is,

The motivation obviously is key, and that is what we've seen over the last since July 21st when Joe Biden stepped off the stage here, just the snap back into contention. But it hasn't

catapulted Harris into some commanding position in this race. What it has done is make this race extraordinarily competitive and tight again. And I just see you see that across this. I would also note, and I know you have these numbers, put up the gender gap. I think this is fascinating. If you look at likely female voters across these states, you see enormous margins for Harris there. I mean, look, in Wisconsin, that's

I mean, 55% is a landslide in our closely divided politics. So she's plus 17. She's plus 16. She's plus 15. David Challen is doing math on live television, everybody. No, this is like an awesome, awesome feat. We love it. But show the other side because among us,

likely male voters it's big advantage trump this is what we mean by the gap when we say gender gap it's not just the advantage among female voters for a democrat it's the difference between the female voter advantage among democrats and the male voter advantage among republicans and you see what a big uh advantage that is for trump among male voters and that to me is going to be one of the definitional things when we are on election night uh looking at the results well and

- Matt Gorman, that's one of the reasons why, you know, the Sunday New York Times had Trump courting the manosphere on its front page and why he's doing all these podcasts with these types of people, right? I mean, what do you, when you look at these numbers, David's digging into, what do you see? - A couple of things. Number one, you're absolutely right. Whoever wins their subgroup, like their gender by more than the other one loses it, that's what the whole election's about, number one.

Pennsylvania. Pennsylvania is the ball game. There's no reasonable way you can really, in my opinion, win Pennsylvania and lose a state like Georgia or Nevada. They all kind of are linked, maybe not tangibly, but essentially. Wisconsin and Michigan, they've always kind of gone together. That's less of a surprise.

And look, I think Nevada's back in play. Arizona, what was surprising me, obviously abortion, there's a referendum on the ballot. So it tells me that there's not an automatic pro-abortion and pro-Harris linking together on that. And then the last point is, look,

62 days away, I believe. That's July 4th to today. So think back. It's not that far. Nothing has changed since July 4th. Only the entire race. David Challian, can we talk about Georgia for a second? I'm interested to know what you think about what Matt said in that maybe Georgia and Pennsylvania go together. But this is something that when I talk to Republicans, they say, well, this is kind of a tough hill for her to climb in Georgia. Do you agree with that? Our polling suggests maybe it's not quite there.

Well, here's what I find fascinating about Georgia. Among white, non-college educated voters, that's obviously part of Donald Trump's base of voters,

he performs best in Georgia in that group. I mean, that I find really, really fascinating. And in fact, even among white college educated voters, Donald Trump is dominating in Georgia. And that is a demographic that, you know, Harris and Democrats over the last many years have been trying to utilize to close the gap with Republicans in certain places. That is why, and again,

The African-American vote in Georgia is going to be the ballgame for Kamala Harris here if she is going to be able to get over the hump here and repeat Joe Biden's performance. The white vote there looks different.

no matter the education level, than it does in a lot of these other states. It's a much more pro-Trump category. And so she has to significantly overperform with African Americans there. - I was just gonna say, as somebody who worked for Bob Casey in Pennsylvania and know the state decently, I would be curious to know where the breakdown is too, because you see the big cities, the Pittsburghs, the Philadelphias, and then everything in between is a very different place, right?

the people vote differently and so seeing the campaign get in there to go to harrisburg go to the smaller lancaster go to the smaller cities shows me that they every vote is going to count for these campaigns and they recognize that by going to the small towns by going to the small cities in pennsylvania yeah well i mean it you have to raise the question as to

I mean, they're going to be looking back at the vice presidential pick if they didn't pick Shapiro and it all came down to Pennsylvania, perhaps, uh, ruing that decision. Possibly. But however, uh, to the point that was raised before, um, there's a, there's a scenario in which Nebraska's one, uh, electoral vote becomes relevant and that Tim Walz is actually- Oh, our Jeff Zeleny was just there in his home state. Looking at that blue dot. And for folks, the term he uses, blue dot, and for folks who aren't familiar, Nebraska has one electoral vote, um,

right around Omaha. Because they divide their electoral college votes by congressional district. As opposed to statewide. If you win in Omaha, then the whole state can be red, but that dot can be blue. And there is a scenario, and correct me if I'm getting the math wrong here, David, but if Kamala Harris wins, I believe it's Pennsylvania and...

- Michigan and Wisconsin. - And Michigan and Wisconsin, then that one vote in Nebraska becomes quite consequential. So all of these decisions around who one picks as vice president can come up to bite or reward a candidate pretty spectacularly. But no, but of course,

If she is to lose Pennsylvania, then I think the finger pointing come November 6th will be huge. Yeah. David, what does our poll tell us? I mean, obviously, we know it's a dead heat in Pennsylvania and our poll has this nose to nose. The number is the exact same. Where are you kind of paying most attention in terms of Pennsylvania specifically?

Well, you got three counties in Pennsylvania that are so-called these boomerang, these pivot boomerang counties. They went for Obama twice. They went for Trump. They went for Biden, right? And so looking at a place like Erie, Pennsylvania or Northampton County, these are not contiguous counties. No, Erie being way out west and Northampton County being east in near Allentown. I think watching how those counties behave is really important. Now, obviously,

As Kendra was saying, if you're a Democrat, you win Pennsylvania, obviously, by running up the margins in Philadelphia and Pittsburgh and what James Carver called Alabama in the middle. That's where Trump- That's what some people who live in Pennsylvania call it. That is where Trump needs to run up the score. That's just the way the math of the Commonwealth works. But I do think there are interesting pockets like these counties that may show us some movement this cycle, what is different about 24 than was about 20 or 16.

We were also talking right before we came on the air about the issue breakdowns, and you found interesting how voters were focused. Yeah, so I don't think it will surprise any of us that the economy is issue number one. It is across all six of these battleground states. That is where voters are. That is what is most important to their vote. What is so interesting to me in these numbers is when you look at it by each candidate's supporters, among Trump voters, Trump supporters in all six of these states, according to these polls,

the economy is overwhelmingly number one issue, okay? Among Harris voters, if you just look at Harris voters, in all six states, the number one issue for them, protecting democracy. So obviously we know Trump is advantage on the economy, advantage on immigration. It's a good thing if you're a candidate like Trump that your advantage category is also the number one issue. There's no doubt about that. We've seen Harris make

The economy battled more competitive than it was with Biden, but she has more work to do there. But protecting democracy is the thing that is top of mind for her voters even more so than abortion rights. And what's fascinating about the economy and where it fits and where people are thinking about it is two huge bits of economy news coming up in the next couple of weeks. Number one, jobs report coming this Friday. Number two, the Fed with an interest rate decision on September, I think it's 18th. Now-

In any normal year, those would be almost inconsequential bits of information. Do we have 150,000 or 158,000 jobs? But these are the kinds of things that people really focus on in election year and could latch on to. And I was going to say, and this is why she's starting to roll out her plans, right? She's in New Hampshire today. She's talking about her economic plans for small businesses. Why is she in New Hampshire today?

Your face answers the question entirely. You know, every electoral vote counts is what we're going to go with, right? We're just talking about Nebraska. I think she's getting out there. She's on the trail. She's talking to everybody across the country is what I'd go with. Relentlessly on message that was going on.

- Good. - Thank you. - I would say it's heavily white. Trump was probably likely gonna flip it if Biden was still in the race, so you keep an eye out. You're also close to New York and Boston for fundraising too. You can get there very easily. So she's probably putting a fundraiser in too. - There you go. And plus, you know who,

No time in New Hampshire is ever wasted, don't get me wrong. I'm a huge fan of New Hampshire. I don't want to say that. Anything else, David, from this poll that you've got to reach the bottom for that you think is going to be something that this race could turn on? I would just note that in terms of sort of candidate qualities that we tested,

People overwhelmingly see Trump as having very clear policies, clear policies. But that doesn't necessarily mean it's a positive, right? So a majority of voters in all six states, it ranges 50% up from across all six states, think his policies are positive.

to extreme rather than generally mainstream, it's the flip for her. Her policies are seen by the plurality or majority of voters across all six states as generally mainstream, not too extreme. - Very interesting. All right, we got a lot more to talk about here on CNN this morning.

It's been described as a 50-50 state. This election cycle is no different. Michigan Congresswoman Haley Stevens joins us live to talk about the importance of the Wolverine State, plus a former aide to the New York governor charged with acting as an agent for the Chinese government. And up next, the son of John McCain has some strong words for Donald Trump after Trump's visit to Arlington Cemetery. Go, show respect. I understand that he was invited. Show respect and leave. It doesn't need to be videoed.

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It's a violation because these rules are set in place. The people who are buried there don't have an opinion. The point of Arlington Cemetery is to go and show respect for the men and women who have given their lives to this country. When you make it political, you take away the respect of the people who are there.

That was First Lieutenant Jim McCain, the son of late Republican Senator John McCain. He is referring to Donald Trump's visit last week to Arlington National Cemetery, where he laid a wreath at the tomb of the unknown soldier, as many political leaders do.

But it was what Trump did afterward that ignited controversy. He visited soldiers' gravesites in the cemetery's Section 60 at the invitation of some of their family members. And while he was there, Trump and his aides filmed a TikTok video, apparently in violation of a federal law that prohibits partisan political activity throughout the cemetery. A cemetery employee attempted to prevent

A member of Trump's group from filming, it led to a confrontation so significant that Arlington reported it to the military police. The employee declined to press charges, reportedly fearing retaliation. And in a statement following the incident, the Trump campaign claimed the employee was, quote, clearly suffering from a mental health episode. Trump spoke about that controversy again yesterday to Fox's Sean Hannity.

There was no conflict. There was no fight. There was no anything. And I get home that night and I get like a call that from one of the people that is press. Sir, there's a story that your people got into a tremendous fight with people representing the cemetery. Do you notice that the person represented now doesn't want to talk? All right. Our panel is back. Matt Gorman, this is...

What do you make of what Donald Trump said there? I mean, because what Jimmy McCain, Lieutenant McCain said,

Said there is that look these these people who are buried there. They can't speak for themselves and obviously There are also family members to consider of all of those people as well Yeah, I think this is something that Trump's team has been wanting to kind of pivot off the story for a week now I think they recognize this isn't helping them and it's something they just kind of want to move past in the McCain story could gave it life in a very limited way and look but John Jim McCain has every right to vote for everyone's private citizen don't begrudge him one bit I also think it's gonna have

a lot of outside's influence. I'm not going to pretend it has a lot of outside's influence or really affect any vote other than maybe his or someone in his family's. But I think if you're the Trump campaign, the sooner you can get off this story, the better it is for you. Yeah, I mean, David Challian, how do you think this actually impacts votes, this story?

Think that it feeds into an already existing narrative around Donald Trump that is problematic for him So I think so I think Matt is right and I think that's why they would like to Get off this story because it it goes back to the comments that John Kelly has told everyone about the suckers and losers I know Trump denies ever saying those things and this notion of not

comprehending what service is. And it fits into this larger frame that Harris and Democrats want to paint around Trump, that he's in this for himself,

and that she is in it for you. And so I just think for all those reasons, this incident alone, I don't think would, but it's a compounding thing that fits into this larger narrative that Democrats are building around Trump, and I think that becomes a problem. - Well, and of course, John McCain, the Senator John McCain was part of this narrative. I mean, let's flash back to Iowa in 2015. I mean, this was kind of the original incident when people thought, oh, well, Donald Trump could never win the election because he says things like this, watch.

He hit me. He's not a war hero. He's a war hero. He's a war hero. Five and a half years in the POW camp. He's a war hero because he was captured. I like people that weren't captured, okay? I hate to tell you.

Yeah, it's pretty remarkable. John McCain also plays an important role in this story as well in that in 2000, he himself, McCain, filmed footage that got used in a campaign ad for him at Arlington. Now the difference is the moment he discovered that it was a problem, the moment that it made it through the campaign, he immediately took that footage out and immediately apologized for it. I think number one, to the point that David was making, it's a character issue

in terms of what we all know about former President Trump. And I think what's striking here, and your question to Matt was, well, how will this move people? Well, who's surprised at this point based on the litany of statements that the former president has made and conduct

of his about how he's regarded the military. - Yeah, there's one other thing I wanna touch on speaking of the military and that is J.D. Vance, the vice presidential nominee on the Republican side, spoke with Laura Ingraham on Fox and he raised questions about, well, he said, you know, who, nobody's gonna wanna serve in Kamala Harris's military. Let's watch what he said.

We really are on the brink of serious readiness issues because nobody wants to put on a uniform and serve in Kamala Harris's military. This is a person who wants the United States Army to be about gender inclusion, ridiculous diversity politics instead of about serving your country and uniting together as Americans to serve on the same team and defend your nation.

David Challian, can I just ask for your reaction to him saying that? This is, of course, someone who wants to be the number two to the commander-in-chief. And who served his country admirably. My reaction is, it's not Kamala Harris's military. It's the United States' military. And I think, I just think that

go, this is not a road that is going to serve them well. I understand he's saying it on Fox. I totally understand the politics behind that and speaking that way to the base. Though J.D. Vance has not just been living in a Fox echo chamber in this campaign. He's been doing a ton of local interviews, doing a ton of communication more broadly to try and speak to the middle of the electorate. And and that that kind of comment, I just

I think will not serve him well when you politicize the military in that way. I just think a lot of voters respond to that, that that doesn't comport with their understanding of the U.S. military. I also think that he...

tries to make comments to see what's gonna stick, right? We heard his comment about women and cats. I think he just throws things out there to be more Trumpian, and I just don't think it works for a whole host of reasons. - Well, and it goes back to what we were talking about the last block. Are they trying to win over the manosphere or the middle? And yes, that kind of comment does resonate with some voters, but certainly not the kinds of voters that they need to attract to win if they actually intend to win.

All right. David Chalian, so grateful to have you on the show this morning. Thank you. Thank you so much for being here. See you soon, I hope. The rest of the panel is going to be back in just a few minutes. Still to come after the break, just days away from the next presidential debate. This time, Kamala Harris faces off against Donald Trump. How each is preparing. Plus, the gala honoring January 6th suspects at Donald Trump's resort in New Jersey has been postponed indefinitely.

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?

Yeah, good morning, Casey. 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 is floodwater. 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's deeper than you actually think it is. Nine inches of rain has fallen in some places of Texas today.

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.

60 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.

Absolutely miserable, in fact. All right, Derek Van Tamp 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.

I like that she's young. I like that she can put two sentences together. I like that she can speak with conviction. I'm a stronger supporter of Donald Trump because Kamala Harris is in the race.

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I'm Dr. Sanjay Gupta, host of the Chasing Life podcast. I'm taking care of my kids and I'm running myself into the ground and selflessness terrifies me. That's Dr. Becky Kennedy. Time Magazine dubbed her the millennial parenting whisperer. Our conversation got pretty personal. But the reason that I'm sharing this is because I hope this will help some of you out there the way that it helped me. Listen to Chasing Life, streaming now, wherever you get your podcasts.

All right, welcome back. Michigan proving once again 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.

Were you undecided or did you know who you were going to vote for for president? I was definitely leaning towards Trump before she got in. And now how do you feel now that she's in? I'm waffling a little bit. And now this year, had you planned to vote for Donald Trump? Well, I did. Now, the table's my turn. With Kamala Harris? Yes. So you're not sure? Not sure. So I got to research a little more.

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, 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?

Well, yes. So look, I represent Oakland County, Michigan. This 15, 20 years ago was a Republican county. We now have a Democratic Oakland County executive in Dave Coulter. We are expecting a half a million votes nearly in my district alone. And we also have a trajectory of strong Democratic voters.

female leadership. And what you have as a result of that, Casey, 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 poll 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.

It's funny, I spent my earliest years in Farmington Hills, Michigan, which I believe is in your district. So we're actually quite familiar with it. My whole family is 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 it. Let me play it for you so that I can get your reaction just in case you haven't seen it. Let's watch. 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.

I mean, that's a very strong statement there at the end. You can understand why Republicans might be behind this group. What's your reaction to that ad? And do you believe that Harris is threading this needle correctly?

I don't know if there's a needle to thread, right? This is an incredibly painful issue and it's a war 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 is somewhat black and white. We stand by our democratic allies. Our hearts mourn alongside the innocents who are suffering at the hands of terrorism. And there are steps that we need to take.

going to be getting back into session next week in Congress. And I fully expect us to be taking some votes on this matter, holding Iran and Qatar accountable, certainly for harboring some of the Hamas terrorists, placing blame on Hamas for the death of these hostages, and for starting this war. And it's not America's war, but certainly as we passed a foreign aid package earlier this year, Casey,

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? 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 again. All right. Straight ahead here on CNN this morning, a new court ruling goes against Donald Trump.

The song the former president has been ordered to stop playing at his campaign rallies. Plus, thousands of Israelis taking to the streets demanding their prime minister strike a ceasefire and hostage release deal with Hamas. He doesn't get to ask our forgiveness like he did yesterday. He is failing. He is failing to bring Israeli citizens home, American citizens home. I'm devastated and I'm furious. 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.

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 faced 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. Hostage families not confident that their prime minister will respond.

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. It's not just our son. I don't believe that he has the interest of the Israeli people as his top priority.

All right, let's go live to Jerusalem and bring in Ron Dermer. He's Israeli Minister of Strategic Affairs and former Israeli ambassador to the United States. Mr. Dermer, thank you very much for being with us. I want to start with these hostage...

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?

Well, Casey, 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. 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? 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, Persh Goldberg Poland, which his struggle of Rachel and John, his parents, I think has inspired everybody

across the world and the dignity that they brought to this struggle and raising awareness about the problem. So there should be anger. 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 governments of Iran.

and Qatar for supporting and financing and harboring 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.

What do you say to, we played a little bit of sound from some of those families 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?

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, Casey, 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 goal in prosecuting this war is to dismantle Hamas's military capabilities, to end its political rule in Gaza, and to ensure that on 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 committed to achieving that goal as well. The government of Israel is committed to bringing those hostages home.

All right. Ambassador Ron Dermer for us this morning. Sir, very grateful to have you on the program. I hope you come back. Thank you. Thank you. All right. Fifty four minutes past the hour. Here's your morning roundup. The scope of what she was capable of doing is shocking. I'm curious, outraged by this behavior and we'll let the process play out.

A former aide to two New York governors has been charged with acting as a foreign agent for the Chinese government. 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. It 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. Trump has been barred from ever playing the music of Isaac Hayes again. You know, I couldn't ask for a better decision.

And we are now just six days away from what could be the pivotal moment 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. 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.

All right, our panel is back. Matt Gorman, is that the best approach to debate prep? That is the exact same answer he gave, I remember, vividly when he was climbing down his plane in Cleveland in August 2015. He said, I've been praying this my whole life. I was not working for Jeb Bush at the time. His answer has not changed two things. Number one, he prepped a lot more than people think. And I mean that in a good way. It's a compliment for that first debate. I expect to do 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 think like bad?

see some live pitching or do you go to ground and really do like straight debate prep? It's always a difference in style. Well, and Elliott Williams, I mean, there are people that argue that President Biden overprepared for the debate that ultimately saw the conclusion of his political career. 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?

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. 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. We'll just have to see. Yeah. So this is how our Jamal Simmons put it on our air earlier this week. Let's watch.

But somebody's got to be 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 gonna do and what you want her to do is to work out that Aggravation and prep and not do it when she's on stage

Kendra Barkoff, you know, I'd be interested. Our friend Philippe Reines was coming on the show somewhat regularly until suddenly somebody needed some debate prep. He had 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? There will be no one better.

to play Donald Trump. Let's just be honest about that. He will be great. But 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 was before when you were practicing against, you know, in the primary when she was practicing against her fellow Democrats. And also, you know, Mike Pence. You want to practice harder than you play. You want them to see more than you'd see on the stage. A great line that got said on NPR yesterday with Katanji 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 losing her cool. And I think that's probably what they're doing with the vice president. Apparently Serena approved.

There is, of course, the mint julep at the Kentucky Derby. There's the Pimms 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 winner 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.

It is, get this, $23. But you do get to keep the cup. That's, you know, okay. World number two, Arne Sablinka, may just have boosted sales of the Honey Deuce even more with this offer to New York tennis fans. Drinks on me tonight? Wait, drinks on you? Is that what you said? For everybody? Yeah.

What is $23 times the number of people in that audience? Quite a bit. Guys, thank you. Maybe we'll get a round of Friday, Friday morning, a round of honeydews on the table. All right, thank you guys for being here. Thanks to all of you for joining us as well. I'm Casey Hunt. Don't go anywhere. CNN News Central starts right now.

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