News Wrap: Harris fends off challenges to her policy positions in 1st interview as nominee

In our news wrap Friday, Kamala Harris fended off challenges to her policy positions in her first interview as the Democratic nominee, Donald Trump spoke to the right-wing Moms for Liberty group in Washington, a Russian guided bomb attack on Ukraine’s second-largest city killed at least five and Israel said it killed a top commander and two associates during raids in the occupied West Bank.

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Geoff Bennett:

We start tonight with the race for the White House and Vice President Kamala Harris in her first sit-down interview since capturing the Democratic nomination for president.

Amna Nawaz: Over the course of 27 minutes, alongside her running mate, Tim Walz, Harris fended off challenges to her policy positions. And she tread a thin line between being a change candidate and carrying on the legacy she’s forged with President Biden.

To be sure, she did make some news, like saying she would bring a Republican into her Cabinet, something that’s not been done since the Obama administration.

Kamala Harris, Vice President of the United States (D) and U.S. Presidential Candidate: I have spent my career inviting diversity of opinion. I think it’s important to have people at the table when some of the most important decisions are being made that have different views, different experiences.

And I think it would be to the benefit of the American public to have a member of my Cabinet who’s a Republican.

Geoff Bennett: Also In that interview, Harris was pressed on why her economic proposals had not already been put into place given her position within the Biden administration.

Dana Bash, CNN Host: You have been vice president for 3.5 years.

Kamala Harris: Yes.

Dana Bash: The steps that you’re talking about now, why haven’t you done them already?

Kamala Harris: Well, first of all, we had to recover as an economy. And we have done that. I’m very proud of the work that we have done that has brought inflation down to less than 3 percent.I will say that that’s good work. There’s more to do, but that’s good work.

Amna Nawaz: Meanwhile, Harris’ rival, former President Donald Trump, was campaigning in Johnstown, Pennsylvania today. He’d already used his social media platform to describe the Harris interview as — quote — “boring.” And, today, he said that the interview was hardly a test.

Donald Trump, Former President of the United States (R) and Current U.S. Presidential Candidate: Kamala, who’s a total lightweight, did you see her on television last night? This is going to be the president.

(Booing)

Donald Trump: This is going to be the president of our country? I don’t think so, sitting propped up in a desk. And that’s the first interview she’s done in like — nobody’s ever seen anything like it.

And if you’re too weak to do a one-on-one interview with a person that was so soft…

Geoff Bennett: Tonight, Mr. Trump speaks to the right-wing Moms for Liberty group in Washington, D.C., and, on Monday Vice President Harris will appear alongside President Biden for a Labor Day event in Pittsburgh. It’ll be their first campaign event together since her nomination.

Amna Nawaz: Also today, a Russian-guided bomb attack on Ukraine’s second largest city killed at least five people and injured dozens more. Authorities in Kharkiv say the bombs hit five locations across the city, including a playground where at least one child died. Others were killed in a nearby apartment building that caught fire as a result of that attack.

Meantime, in Washington, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin met with his Ukrainian counterpart today and condemned Moscow’s recent wave of strikes on civilian infrastructure.

Lloyd Austin, U.S. Secretary of Defense: Let me be clear. It is never, never acceptable to target civilians. And Ukraine’s resilience will help it prevail over Putin’s aggression and atrocities.

Amna Nawaz: Separately, Ukraine’s president has fired the country’s air force commander after an F-16 warplane supplied by Ukraine’s Western allies crashed earlier this week. U.S. experts have joined the investigation into why the jet went down during a Russian missile and drone barrage on Monday.

Shifting to the Middle East, the Israeli military says it killed a top commander and two of his associates during a third day of operations in the occupied West Bank. Video today caught smoke rising over the city of Jenin as Israeli police vehicles patrolled on the ground. Israel says the raids have killed at least 19 people since Tuesday, most of them militants.

Residents of Tulkarm returned today after Israel withdrew from the area, finding their homes reduced to rubble.

Hussein Shehada, West Bank Resident (through interpreter): Here, where you are filming was the house of an old woman. Since the first moment of the raid, they destroyed the house, and then they entered the house behind us. There were walls and a road here. They destroyed them too.

Amna Nawaz: Meantime, in Gaza, an aid group says an Israeli airstrike killed several people when it struck a convoy that was carrying medical supplies to a hospital. They say the dead were employees of a local transportation company and the strike came without warning. Israel claims gunmen had seized the convoy and were the target of the attack. Investigations are ongoing.

Maryland’s Supreme Court has ordered a redo of the hearing that freed Adnan Syed over concerns about the rights of the victim’s family. It’s the latest twist in a legal drama that was the focus of the “Serial” podcast, which propelled the case to national attention. Syed was convicted more than two decades ago for killing his high school ex-girlfriend.

He was freed in 2022, only to have his conviction reinstated a year later. One of the dissenting judges in today’s ruling did not mince words, writing that the case is — quote — “a procedural zombie. It has been reanimated despite its expiration.” Syed will remain free as a lower court considers whether to throw out his conviction.

On Wall Street today, stocks ended the week with solid gains. The Dow Jones industrial average added more than 200 points to close at a new record high. The Nasdaq added nearly 200 points, or more than 1 percent. The S&P 500 closed out its fourth straight winning month.

And we have results from the second full day of competition at the Paralympic Games in Paris. In the shot put, Tunisia’s Raoua Tlili won her fifth gold in five appearances. France’s Alexandre Leaute secured a second gold medal for the host nation, winning the men cycling 3,000 meters by two seconds.

Team USA won its first gold medal of the tournament thanks to Gia Pergolini’s performance in the 100-meter backstroke. And Brazil takes home the first gold in para athletics, which includes running, jumping and racing events. Julio Cesar Agripino won the men’s 5,000-meter event for runners with near-total visual impairment.

And we have a passing of note from the world of sports. NHL player Johnny Gaudreau and his brother were killed last night by a suspected drunken driver as they were riding bicycles in their home state of New Jersey. Known as Johnny Hockey, Gaudreau played 11 seasons in the NHL, most recently with the Columbus Blue Jackets.

He was known for his speed on the ice, for his positivity and his love of the game. LeBron James and former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie are among those who’ve paid tribute. Gaudreau was in New Jersey to be a groomsman at his sister’s wedding this weekend. Johnny Gaudreau was 31 years old. His brother, Matthew, was 29.