'This Week' Transcript 8-25-24: Sen. Bernie Sanders and Sen. Tom Cotton

A rush transcript of "This Week with George Stephanopoulos" airing on Sunday, August 25, 2024 on ABC News is below. This copy may not be in its final form, may be updated and may contain minor transcription errors. For previous show transcripts, visit the "This Week" transcript archive.

ANNOUNCER: THIS WEEK WITH GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS starts right now.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JONATHAN KARL, ABC “THIS WEEK” CO-ANCHOR: Heavy fire. Overnight, Israel pre-emptively strikes targets in Lebanon. Hezbollah launches a barrage of missiles into Israel. The latest this morning with Britt Clennett and Martha Raddatz.

Kamala Harris makes history.

KAMALA HARRIS, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE U.S. (D) AND U.S. PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I accept your nomination to be president of the United States of America.

KARL: Taking center stage with just ten weeks to go.

HARRIS: My entire career, I’ve only had one client, the people.

KARL: A party united.

BARACK OBAMA, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT: The torch has been passed.

HILLARY CLINTON, FORMER SECRETARY OF STATE: She will be a fighter for us.

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: She'll be a president our children can look up to.

MICHELLE OBAMA, FORMER FIRST LADY: Kamala Harris is more than ready for this moment.

KARL: And taking the fight to Donald Trump.

GOV. TIM WALZ (D-MN), VICE PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: We're not going back.

BILL CLINTON, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT: He creates chaos.

SEN. MARK KELLY, (D) ARIZONA: The world laughs at Trump.

KARL: Trump hits back, picking up the support of Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

ROBERT F. KENNEDY JR., FORMER PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I've made the heart-wrenching decision to suspend my campaign and to support President Trump.

DONALD TRUMP (R), FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT AND 2024 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: His candidacy has inspired millions and millions of Americans.

KARL: Could it make a difference with the first ballots going out in just 12 days and 16 days to go until ABC's Trump/Harris debate. Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders joins us live.

Plus, Trump ally Tom Cotton of Arkansas. Full analysis from the roundtable.

ANNOUNCER: From ABC News, it’s THIS WEEK. Here now, Jonathan Karl.

KARL: Good morning. Welcome to THIS WEEK.

It was another critical week in the race for the White House. We'll get to all of the developments coming out of the Democratic National Convention and the nomination of Kamala Harris in a moment.

But we begin this morning with breaking news overnight. Rockets flew over Israel after the Israelis launched what they called a pre-emptive strike on Hezbollah. Israel says the militant group was planning an extensive attack from Lebanon’s southern border. And Hezbollah did strike, launching hundreds of rockets and drones towards Israel in retaliation for the assassination of a top commander in Beirut weeks ago. It all comes amid concerns of a wider conflict in the region.

We have team coverage this morning. And we begin with ABC’s Britt Clennett with the latest from Tel Aviv.

Britt, what can you tell us of what happened overnight, and how significant was it that the first strikes actually came from the Israelis?

BRITT CLENNETT, ABC NEWS FOREIGN CORRESPONDENT: Jon, these were major Israeli strikes on targets in southern Lebanon ahead of a Hezbollah attack on Israel. We're talking over 100 Israeli war planes taking out thousands of rocket launchers and missiles, striking over 40 sites. That's according to the IDF. And hours before that operation, the IDF said it identified these launchers, which are actually aimed at Israel, ready to fire. Hezbollah firing over 320 missiles into Israeli territory, saying they were attacking military targe in Israel’s north in response to the assassination of a top leader weeks ago.

Israel's Iron Dome intercepting rockets in the north. The IDF saying most of the intended targets were in the north, but also included some in central Israel.

And, Jon, ABC has learned that those targets were estimated to be intelligence bases and the headquarters of its spy agency Mossad, just north of Tel Aviv.

Jon.

KARL: And, Britt, the – Hezbollah says this is phase one of the attack, suggesting there will be a phase two. What is the impact on all of this on those ceasefire talks? As I understand, negotiators are actually in Cairo today to continue those talks.

CLENNETT: Well, Hezbollah's leader, Hassan Nasrallah, set – is set to speak later today, addressing the attack. Three people we know were killed in Lebanon, that's according to the government there, with no casualties here in Israel reported. But Egypt has warned against the dangers of opening a new war front in Lebanon, and called for preserving stability. An Israeli delegation, they have touched down in Cairo for ceasefire talks where senior U.S., Egypt, and Qatari officials are trying very much to keep negotiations alive. But, really, it's not clear whether Hamas will take part in the negotiations directly with major gaps remaining between Israel and Hamas and really no high expectations for a breakthrough.

What we do know is U.S. chairman of the Joint Chief of Staffs, General Brown, he's also now in the region to stop tensions from spiraling into a broader conflict, while President Biden is said to be watching all of this very closely.

Jon.

JONATHAN KARL, ABC “THIS WEEK” CO-ANCHOR: All right, Britt Clennett, from Israel. Thank you very much, Britt.

Let's bring in THIS WEEK co-anchor Martha Raddatz, who has been monitoring the latest developments.

So, Martha, obviously, there are significant U.S. military assets in the region. What are the dangers of the U.S. getting dragged into a wider conflict here?

MARTHA RADDATZ, ABC “THIS WEEK” CO-ANCHOR: Well – well, I would say those assets are there not only for security reasons, but to try to stop any escalation. We have two U.S. carrier battle groups in the region and also a guided missile submarine. Guided missiles on board that submarine that could strike, if needed. Those submarines can also carry Navy SEALs.

And the U.S. has been very open about what they have in the region. The secretary of defense calling out that they had that attack submarine in the region. That just never happens. So, they want Iran, they want Hezbollah, they want Hamas to know they are there, if need, to defend Israel, but also send that message, don't do anything. We don't want this to escalate.

KARL: And – and the Iranians did not take part in any of this overnight, but they have also vowed to respond to the killing of a Hamas leader by the Israelis in Tehran. What – what – what’s – what’s the Iranian factor here?

RADDATZ: In – in Tehran. And I think it surprised everyone that they have not yet responded. It also tells you, though, Jon, they don't want this to escalate either. But I think some sort of retaliation is expected. That was weeks ago, however, right there in Tehran.

KARL: And – and why is Israel's northern border with Lebanon such a point of concern right now?

RADDATZ: Well – well, certainly from a security aspect, they don’t want anybody to get hurt. They don't want the war to widen. But also you have more than 80,000 people in the north displaced. Netanyahu wants to get them back, wants to get them back safely because this is not only a security issue but a political issue for him, Jon.

KARL: And you heard Britt talk about those ceasefire talks. They're – they’re – they’re not going anywhere right now.

RADDATZ: Life support right now.

KARL: All right, thank you, Martha.

RADDATZ: You bet.

KARL: We turn now to the 2024 race. After a nearly flawless convention in Chicago, Democrats are riding high. The energy and excitement at a level we haven't seen since Barack Obama first won the party's nomination nearly two decades ago.

For Kamala Harris, that has translated into hundreds of millions of dollars in campaign donations, a flood of volunteers and a boost in the polls.

As Donald Trump watches his lead evaporate, both nationally and in the key battleground states, “Politico” reports he is, quote, “finally recognizing he's at risk of losing the election unless he makes some changes.”

Well, there's no evidence of big changes coming from Trump, although after watching Harris' convention speech, he declared his administration would be, quote, “great for women and their reproductive rights.” That's quite a statement for a president who has also claimed credit for the repeal of Roe v. Wade.

Trump may be struggling, and Harris may be surging, but if we've learned anything this summer, it's that momentum can be fleeting. And virtually every presidential candidate gets a convention bounce. Even the losers.

Remember Michael Dukakis? After the 1988 Democratic Convention in Atlanta, he had a 17-point lead over George H.W. Bush in the Gallup poll. And then he went on to lose in an electoral landslide greater than any we have seen since.

Trump has been trying to portray Kamala Harris has a left-wing radical. But so far anyway that hasn't stuck. And in Chicago, Harris' convention sounded a decidedly moderate tone. In her speech, Harris promised to be tough on crime, tough on the border, tough on Iran and China. And far from supporting the arms embargo many on the left had demanded, she promised to defend Israel. There was no talk of taking on big corporations or the ultra-wealthy, no promises of Medicare for all. Gone were many of the progressive positions Kamala Harris herself took when she launched her first campaign (INAUDIBLE) nominee some five years ago.

The Kamala Harris on the stage in Chicago seemed more eager to appeal to moderates and disaffected Republicans than the party's liberal activists. We'll see what Republicans have to say about all that shortly, but what about progressives in her own party? What do they think? There is nobody better to ask than our next guest, Senator Bernie Sanders.

Senator Sanders, welcome to THIS WEEK.

Before we get to the convention and all that, I want to ask you about the news overnight out of Israel. Do these attacks from Hezbollah underscore that Israel is very much under threat?

SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (I-VT): Well, I think, clearly, we have a very volatile situation in the Middle East. We’ve had that for a long time now. The good news is it appears that both Hezbollah and Israel are trying to de-escalate. I hope that happens, and I hope we reach a ceasefire with Hamas -- Israel and Hamas as soon as possible.

KARL: All right. Let me ask you about the convention. What was your take on the messaging from Kamala Harris in Chicago?

SANDERS: Well, I think the energy coming out of that convention was very high. I think it's going to be a rough campaign.

I think the vice president now has a very good chance to win it. She's certainly going to win the popular vote by millions of votes and I think she has a great chance to win many of the battleground states. And I intend to do everything that I can to see that she wins.

My own guess is, Jonathan, that I think people are growing tired and fatigue with Trump --

(VIDEO GAP)

SANDERS: -- understand that is not the person that Donald Trump is.

KARL: I want to play for you a few lines from her speech about her role -- what her role would be as commander in chief. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KAMALA HARRIS, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES & 2024 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: As commander in chief, I will ensure America always has the strongest, most lethal fighting force in the world.

I will always stand up for Israel's right to defend itself. And I will always ensure Israel has the ability to defend itself.

I will never hesitate to take whatever action is necessary to defend our forces and our interests against Iran and Iran-backed terrorists.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KARL: Now, I’ve been covering you for a long time. I’ve heard you talk about the need to cut the Pentagon's budget. Obviously, you’ve been an advocate of the arms embargo on Israel.

SANDERS: Well, let me just say, Jonathan --

KARL: Yeah?

SANDERS: In all due respect, the United States is now spending more than the next ten nations combined on defense.

KARL: True.

SANDERS: I agree with the vice president. We want the strongest defense in the world, but I do think enough is enough. You're seeing military contractors' profits soaring, and I think we can have the strongest defense in the world without spending a trillion dollars a year.

KARL: But what about the tone she struck there, though, emphasizing the need to have the most lethal force, talking about being willing to take on Iran, and vowing to give Israel whatever it needs to defend itself?

SANDERS: Well, look, what I happen to believe, and I try to point that when I try to make in my remarks is that we have a nation today where 60 percent of our people are living paycheck to paycheck at a time when we have more income and wealth inequality than we have ever had in the history of this country.

So I happen to believe it's important that we end the embarrassment of having the highest rate of childhood poverty of almost any major country on earth. That's why I’m delighted that she is talking about making the child tax credit, which lowered childhood poverty by 40 percent as a result of the American rescue plan permanent.

I happen to believe, and I hope she will support expanding Social Security by lifting the cap on taxable income so we can increase Social Security benefits. I hope we can move toward expanding Medicare, for that (ph) hearing, dental, and vision.

These are popular ideas. Every poll that's out there say that is exactly what the American people want. The American people are sick and tired of seeing the people on top doing phenomenally well while they are struggling. And I think this is something that the vice president understands.

KARL: As you know, uncommitted delegates and other progressives have been demanding a pro-Palestinian speaker get a slot at the convention, and convention organizers refused. Was that a mistake?

SANDERS: Well, I happen to think -- and my views in this area are very different from President Biden's views. I happen to think that we should not be giving another nickel to Netanyahu's right-wing, extremist government.

They certainly had a right to defend themselves against the atrocious Hamas attack. They never had the right -- do not have the right to go to war against the entire Palestinian people, killed 40,000, injured 80,000, and destroyed the health care system, the educational system, and the civilian infrastructure.

What's going on and lead to the starvation of thousands of thousands of children, American taxpayer dollars should not go to starve children in Gaza. That is my view. Others may disagree with me.

KARL: You see any daylight between Biden’s view on this and Kamala Harris’ view?

SANDERS: Well, I hope so. I think, you know, in all fairness to the vice president, you know, she’s been the candidate for all of one month. And it’s been a hell of a month. You have to organize the convention, select a vice presidential campaign, get out on the campaign trail. So, they are still working through their policies.

But I think, at the end of the day, I hope very much that the conclusion that will be reached is that Netanyahu, and his right-wing extremist government, which has received tens of billions of dollars of aid from the U.S., should not continue to receive that aid unless there is a radical change in their policies to the people – to the Palestinian people in Gaza, and in the West Bank, by the way.

KARL: And on immigration, when Harris ran for the Democratic nomination against you and others in 2020, she said she favored decriminalizing illegal border crossings. She even suggested she was – she would be in favor of abolishing ICE. Now, of course, she's taking, at least rhetorically, a much tougher line on border security.

Take a look at this – one of her very first ads as the presidential nominee.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Kamala Harris has spent decade fighting violent crime. As a border state prosecutor, she took on drug cartels and jailed gang members for smuggling weapons and drugs across the border. As vice president, she backed the toughest border control bill in decades. And as president, she will hire thousands more border agents and crack down on fentanyl and human trafficking. Fixing the border is tough. So is Kamala Harris.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KARL: What do you make of her transformation on this issue?

SANDERS: Well, I don't think it's a question of transformation. We have a crisis at the border. We’ve got to make sure that fentanyl does not get into this country. We have to crack down on illegal immigration.

But what we need is comprehensive immigration reform. I mean you’ve got God knows how many young people in this country as a result of DACA who deserve to gain citizenship. We need skilled workers and we need workers in this country. A lot of labor shortages all over America where immigrants can play an important role.

So, keeping people from legally entering the country, obviously, is the right thing to do. But we need comprehensive immigration reform. And I suspect that's what the vice president supports.

KARL: But – but if you take a look at that ad, and one thing that I found striking is, if you look – and I think we have the – the images here, there are at least three points in that ad that show the border – the border wall. Donald Trump's border wall. Is it now the position of the Democrats that they favor the border wall?

SANDERS: Well, you – you can ask the Harris campaign about that ad. That's the first that I've seen it.

Bottom line is, I think there's wide recognition this this country, and we’ve had some success. I think the number of illegal immigrants coming in recently has gone down substantially. That is a major issue, and we've got to continue to do that. But at the end of the day, what we need is comprehensive immigration reform.

KARL: But – but the – the immigration – and you said it wasn't a transformation. There’s clearly a change and emphasis on it. She's also, in her first campaign, she supported Medicare for all, like you. She supported a ban on fracking and offshore oil drilling. These are clearly new positions now that she's taking. Why – why is that?

SANDERS: Well, you know, Jonathan, let me just – let me just say this.

KARL: Yes.

SANDERS: If you go out and you do a poll, as I have done, and you ask the American people whether or not health care is a human right and whether we should do what every other major country on earth does and guarantee health care to all of our people, the answer is yes. Should we be spending twice as much per capita on health care despite 85 million people being uninsured or underinsured?

KARL: I –

SANDERS: Most of the American people understand the system is broken.

KARL: I fully understand – yes.

SANDERS: So, Kamala Harris and I have a disagreement. I do believe in Medicare for all. I think the current system is dysfunctional and broken. She has a different point of view. But right now Kamala Harris is running against Donald Trump. And Donald Trump's position on all of these issues are virtually extremely right-wing, pro-insurance company. He wants to end the Affordable Care Act for millions of people off of the health care that they have.

So, I think when you look at her positions versus Trump, the issue is clearly day and night, her positions are far, far more superior.

KARL: All right, Senator Bernie Sanders, thank you for joining us this morning.

SANDERS: Thank you.

KARL: Coming up, can Republicans retake the momentum with ten days to go until the election? Trump ally Senator Tom Cotton responds to the Democratic Convention and what the RFK Jr. endorsement means.

We're back in two minutes.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ADAM KINZINGER (R), FORMER ILLINOIS REPRESENTATIVE: Donald Trump has suffocated the soul of the Republican Party. His fundamental weakness has coursed through my party like an illness, sapping our strength, softening our spine, whipping us into a fever that has untethered us from our value.

STEPHANIE GRISHAM, FORMER TRUMP WHITE HOUSE OFFICIAL: He has no empathy, no morals, and no fidelity to the truth. He used to tell me, it doesn't matter what you say, Stephanie. Say it enough, and people will believe you.

GEOFF DUNCAN (R), FORMER GEORGIA LIEUTENANT GOVERNOR: His actions disqualified him from ever, ever, ever stepping foot into the Oval Office again.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JONATHAN KARL, ABC NEWS ANCHOR: Those were some of the many Republicans who spoke out against Donald Trump this week at the Democratic convention.

I'm joined now by top Trump ally, Senator Tom Cotton of Arkansas.

Welcome to THIS WEEK.

SEN. TOM COTTON (R-AR): Good morning, Jon.

KARL: What do you make of all those Republicans speaking at the Democratic convention?

COTTON: What I make of them is that Trump derangement symptom is a real thing, but what most Americans remember is that for four years when Donald Trump was president, we had peace and prosperity.

Everything has gone to hell under Joe Biden and Kamala Harris over the last four years. And that's the clear contrast we have. This is an unusual presidential election because Donald Trump has been president before. The American people know what he did. They know that he understands the kind of pain they've suffered for the last four years under Kamala Harris and Joe Biden, and I think that's why they're ready to return Donald Trump to the White House.

KARL: But there seems to be a clear strategy on the part of the Democrats to try to appeal to the Republicans and of course Donald Trump has absolutely solid support in the Republican base, but there are a lot of Republicans uneasy with him as the nominee again, and they seem to be going right at them.

COTTON: Well, in every election, Jon, you have some members of one party endorsing a candidate of the other party. That's a very traditional aspect of American politics. I mean, look at what just happened this week. The Democratic Party under Kamala Harris has gone so far to the left that you actually had a Kennedy endorse a Republican. That's pretty remarkable that the Democratic Party has become so radical under Kamala Harris that a member of the Kennedy family has come out to endorse a Republican.

KARL: I don't know if Bobby Kennedy Jr. at this point is that representative of the Kennedy family. But I want to get to that in a second, but first, there are reports -- there's obviously a bit of a momentum change here. You see it in the polls. You see it in the money flowing into the Harris campaign, and there was a report in "Politico" that Trump now knows that he has to change things up or that he could lose.

You talk to him. I mean, what's your sense? Do you need a change in direction?

COTTON: Well, President Trump and his campaign has known all along, and they've said all along that this race is going to be a close race.

KARL: Actually, he said it would be a landslide just to be clear. He said he was going to win in a landslide.

COTTON: But, look, we know the race will probably come down to a few hundred thousand votes in a few states. President Trump has been campaigning hard and vigorously now for months. Obviously that's going to increase in its pace as we get closer to the election, and President Trump is going to draw a sharp contrast with Kamala Harris who has supported things like decriminalizing illegal immigration or giving taxpayer-funded health insurance to illegal aliens or taking away health insurance on the job for 170 million Americans, banning gas cars, confiscating firearms. These are all --

(CROSSTALK)

KARL: What do you mean taking away health insurance? What are you talking about?

COTTON: She said when she ran for president that she wants to eliminate private health insurance on the job of 170 million Americans, Jon.

KARL: Yeah, I mean -- I mean that is not her position now. She --

(CROSSTALK)

COTTON: How do you know that's not her position? How do you know that's not her position?

KARL: I mean, she said she no longer supports Medicare for all.

COTTON: She has not said that. She has not said that. She has not said that.

KARL: OK.

COTTON: Maybe anonymous aides on a Friday night have said that, but the re -- but the last thing that she said --

(CROSSTALK)

KARL: But this was not a radical convention. I mean, she -- she -- she -- as you heard me go through with Bernie Sanders, she is not taking the positions of the far left of her party. She's clearly making an effort to move to the middle.

COTTON: I did hear what you said to Senator Sanders and I thought it was clear that he's very disappointed that she's taking these efforts not to change her positions but to hide her positions, Jon.

The American people are totally justified to conclude that Kamala Harris is a dangerous San Francisco liberal based on what she campaigned on the last time she ran for president and what this administration has done for the last four years.

Again, you would have thought watching the Democratic convention last week that the Democrats are not in office, that they're not in power, that they're campaigning against an incumbent Republican, when in reality she's been part of the failures of the Biden-Harris administration for four years. And when she campaigned for president in her own right, she did in fact promise things like decriminalizing --

KARL: I mean --

COTTON: -- illegal immigration, taking away --

(CROSSTALK)

KARL: But that's a position she's clearly changed on and she said she has changed.

COTTON: No, she hasn’t.

KARL: Yes, yes, yes, she has.

COTTON: No, no, she has not.

KARL: Now, she --

COTTON: Jon, she has not said.

She’s not -- you pointed out Senator Sanders repeatedly things that her campaign has said, anonymous aides speaking on background to reporters has said, well, she no longer believes these things.

Okay, maybe she has changed her position on things like taking away your health insurance and confiscating your gun. If she has changed her position, she owes it to the American people to come out and say --

KARL: OK.

COTTON: -- in her own words when she changed and why she changed.

That's one reason why she needs to address the American people and speak to these questions because the only basis they have to conclude what she will be like as president is what she's done for four years in this administration and what she said in her own voice in the last campaign.

Remember, these are not like college essays, Jon, this is what she was said when she was campaigning for president as a 54-year-old woman. If she's had such a radical change of heart in the last five years, she owes the American people answers.

KARL: So, so speaking of radical changes of heart I want to ask you about what Donald Trump had to say just a couple of days ago.

He said -- and this is an exact quote, statement he put out: My administration will be great for women and their reproductive rights.

Is he now going to be campaigning on abortion rights? What's going on here?

COTTON: He will be great for women. He was great for women. Women had great opportunities under Donald Trump.

You had a healthy growing economy. You had safe communities and you had --

(CROSSTALK)

KARL: I’m asking you about the reproductive rights.

COTTON: Democrats can use phrases like reproductive rights all they want to describe their pro-abortion position which would force Americans to pay with tax dollars for abortion up to the moment of birth. That's the Democratic position.

They can use that phrase if they want to --

KARL: I mean, that’s -- Democrats say that --

(CROSSTALK)

COTTON: They don't get a monopoly on the language to cover up their radical positions.

KARL: But I just ask you, it's now Trump using those words --

(CROSSTALK)

COTTON: But he --

KARL: -- reproductive rights.

But -- and he's also said, we also heard from J.D. Vance that he would veto a national abortion ban. And he came out against using the Comstock Act to prevent the shipping of the abortion pill.

So what -- what is happening?

I mean, in fact, I -- he said just the other day -- he suggested that he may support the amendment on the ballot in Florida to provide a constitutional right to an abortion.

I mean, what -- what is happening with Trump on abortion?

COTTON: So, Jon, I think you just made a very important point -- the only candidate here proposing a national abortion law is Kamala Harris, and we know what that law looks like because congressional Democrats have voted on it. It would require taxpayer funding for abortion up to the moment of birth. Donald Trump just said --

(CROSSTALK)

KARL: That’s not the law. They want to codify Roe v. Wade.

COTTON: That’s not all they say about their law, Jon.

KARL: I’m asking about Donald Trump though.

COTTON: Jon, so first --

KARL: What -- what -- you have been -- you have a solid pro-life record for as long as you've been in public office. What do you make of what he is saying now, saying he is going to be protecting reproductive freedom and then he could even support a constitutional amendment in Florida --

COTTON: First off, Jon --

KARL: -- legalizing abortion?

COTTON: I voted on the law, you didn't it does not codify Roe. It goes far beyond what Roe says. It would provide taxpayer funding for abortion up to the moment of birth.

Donald Trump has been consistent. He said that Roe v. Wade was wrongly decided before Roe v. Wade, this question was largely regulated by the states. Now that Roe v. Wade has been reversed, it will be again largely regulated by the states.

Kamala Harris is the one that proposes the radical national law.

KARL: I want to ask you about something else that Trump had to say recently, is saying the presidential Medal of Freedom which is something presidents give out. I mean, Trump gave one to Devin Nunes, the former Congressman, is the equivalent and much better than the Medal of Honor, which of course, is the fact -- as you know, as a combat veteran, it's sacred. I mean, it's the military's highest military honor. What do you make of that?

COTTON: It's totally taken out of context.

KARL: It's not taken out of context.

COTTON: He was -- the point he was making is that he gives the presidential Medal of Freedom, just like other presidents do, to civilians who have done important things for their nation, but who haven't sacrificed life and limb. And when you go to a Medal of Honor ceremony at the White House and you're presenting it to a soldier who has sacrificed his body, or to his parents or to his children, or his spouse, that it is of a different order of magnitude. It's totally out of context. Donald Trump was trying to --

KARL: Do you agree that the presidential Medal of Freedom is much better? Those are his words.

COTTON: Jon, you're totally taking that out of context. Donald Trump was great for our military. He is great for our veterans. Kamala Harris is the one who's proposed, for instance, to cut the military every single year. Kamala Harris is the one who voted for military cuts when she was in the Senate. Donald trump has utmost respect for our veterans and our troops, and you see that by his record in office.

KARL: And before you go, I want to ask you about something else Trump said. This is about the 2020 election. It's something I have never heard him say before.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, (R) FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES AND PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: This was last week in office for me because of a horrible, horrible election, where I got many millions more votes than I got the first time, but didn't quite make it, just a little bit short.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KARL: It's short, is he now finally acknowledging the truth about the 2020 election that he lost?

COTTON: Well, Jon, what he's saying there is there were a lot of irregularities. He challenged them in court, those court challenges didn't succeed. It's as simple as that. It's what he saying that this election --

KARL: No, he has said before it was stolen and he had many millions of more votes than Joe Biden, all stuff (inaudible) you know, we've been over this. I mean, he is --

COTTON: Well, look, I mean obviously, Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, the present vice president there in the White House, that's why people are suffering so badly. His court challenges did not succeed, that's the only point he's making there.

KARL: Yeah, OK. Well, thank you very much, Senator Cotton. I appreciate your time. Thanks for coming on "This Week."

COTTON: Thank you.

KARL: Coming up, Former Party Chairs Donna Brazile and Reince Priebus join our Powerhouse Roundtable to break down the state of the race. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KARL: Our ABC debate with former President Trump and Vice President Harris is now just 16 days away. How could it change the race? The powerhouse roundtable is here. We’re back in just a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HILLAR CLINTON, FORMER SECRETARY OF STATE: Kamala cares. Cares about kids and families. Cares about America. Donald only cares about himself.

BARACK OBAMA, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT: Here's a 78-year-old billionaire who has not stopped whining about his problems since he rode down his golden escalator nine years ago.

MICHELLE OBAMA, FORMER FIRST LADY: Who's going to tell him – who's going to tell him that the job he's currently seeking might just be one of those black jobs?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KARL: Some of the Democratic leaders making the case for Kamala Harris at the DNC this week.

Let's bring in the powerhouse roundtable.

Former DNC chair Donna Brazile, former RNC chair Reince Priebus, “Politico Playbook” co-author Rachael Bade, and “Politico” senior columnist Jonathan Martin.

All right, Donna, I saw you had a great time in Chicago.

DONNA BRAZILE, FORMER DNC CHAIR AND ABC NEWS CONTRIBUTOR: Absolutely.

KARL: What was striking is, I've never seen so much unity at a – at a Democratic Convention. There always are dissenters. Is it going to last?

BRAZILE: Absolutely. Look, hats off to the remarkable team chaired by my good friend Minyon Moore, Alex Hornbrook. The city of Chicago, the governor of Illinois, the police, the Secret Service, it went as planned. It was a joyful convention. It was a – there were people there.

Let me just tell you, I saw more Republicans at the Democratic Convention than I've seen at any other time in my entire life.

REINCE PRIEBUS, ABC NEWS CONTRIBUTOR: I was there for a second, but --

BRAZILE: Well, you should have stayed because it would have given me a lot of joy. It was great.

And I thought the pres -- the vice president defined herself. She told the American people, here's who I am. I’m a daughter of a mother who raised me and my sister. Here are my values. Here's where I stand.

It was a great convention, but we all know that the work that lies ahead is the most important work of this campaign, and that is she still has to grow her base and she still has to reach out to more voters and she's still the underdog, but she's ready.

JONATHAN KARL, ABC “THIS WEEK” CO-ANCHOR: And, Jonathan, she does have to explain the changes in her positions.

JONATHAN MARTIN, SENIOR POLITICAL COLUMNIST, POLITICO: What’s incredible is the party is so united that they have given her a pass effectively to reinvent herself whole cloth from her 2019 ill-fated run for the presidency.

Look, the convenient part about Kamala Harris's candidacy and for that matter, Donald Trump's candidacies, neither of them are tethered to any deep philosophical --

(CROSSTALK)

KARL: This is not a policy-heavy campaign.

MARTIN: No.

She knows she has to run to the political center and she is doing that, and he's running for how she ran in 2019, and the party just wants to beat Trump. So, of course, they're fine with that and not going to say a people peep about it, but that's clearly what she's doing.

Look, obviously, Democrats, Jon, won the summer, right? They had a near-death experience at the start of the summer. We’re going to Labor Day, and Democrats are now in a chance to win the election which they were not --

KARL: Yeah, Trump won the spring --

MARTIN: But not two months ago.

KARL: Yeah.

MARTIN: There's three tests really I think really left for her in the near future. First TV interview, I think we're going to see it this week.

KARL: Yeah.

MARTIN: The first debate on September 10th.

And then also how does she handle external events? Whether it's domestic or abroad, can she sort of project the commander in chief, you know, profile when there is some kind of a serious event in the world? What does that like?

KARL: Reince?

PRIEBUS: First of all, it -- I agree with you that the San Francisco --

KARL: Okay, there you.

PRIEBUS: -- California Democrat that was in favor of the green new deal, in favor of an inflation creation act, in favor of re-imagining the police is on vacation for the next three months.

So the question will be, whether her real positions on these things will come through, number one?

And the key for President Trump that I think most Trump supporters agree with is that the country is still on the wrong track by, you know, people believe by 65 percent, 70 percent. The key for Trump is tying Kamala Harris to the Biden administration which she's the vice president of.

If the -- if President Trump can do that, he can win this race because he's only down between one, or up by one in the six battleground states.

So, tying Harris to her own record which sounds ridiculous or ludicrous, is what the Trump campaign needs to do to win.

RACHAEL BADE, POLITICO PLAYBOOK CO-AUTHOR: And the fact that you’re even saying this, though, shows how effective the DNC was this week, in terms of messaging, -- this notion that she was able to sort of change and totally flip the script to say, look, we’re -- I’m the hope -- I’m the hope candidate here. I’m the one who's going to set out the country to start on a new path forward.

You're right. She has been in the White House for, what, three and a half years now. But the fact this they were able to sort of rechange everything and make Donald Trump look like the incumbent I think, you know, is really effective here.

And I also would say the other thing about, you know, how impactful this DNC was last week. Just -- just look at Donald Trump in the past few days.

KARL: Yeah.

BADE: I mean, this notion of him trying to make up with Brian Kemp, the popular governor of Georgia, who he was blasting just the other day, saying things like I’m going to be great for women and for reproductive rights. I’m a great leader on IVF.

I mean, he clearly is flailing right now and people have been telling him for weeks -- focus on policy, focus on policy, focus on policy.

He hasn't listened and now, he's really got a lot of ground to make up in these polls.

KARL: And you see it in his schedule, by the way. I mean, J. Mart, he's out there. I mean, he had been, let's face it, a lot of time in Mar-a-Lago.

MARTIN: A lot of golf.

KARL: A lot of time in Bedminster.

MARTIN: A lot of golf.

KARL: A lot of golf.

BRAZILE: And a lot of time in court.

KARL: And a lot of time in court.

BRAZILE: So, let’s not forget that.

KARL: So, so -- I mean, he’s -- he's out there now. But look what he's saying when he gets out there.

MARTIN: Let's be brutally honest. If you took a survey of the Republican Caucus on Capitol Hill and said, would you prefer Trump to play golf for the rest of the campaign and let his campaign drive the message or have Donald Trump do events? We all know which they prefer.

He's a political health risk to himself when he travels and does events because as Rachael points out, they want policy.

He's never going to do policy. He doesn't want to talk about policy. That's boring for him. He wants to do it.

(CROSSTALK)

PRIEBUS: But wait a sec. He’s talked about policy. He talks about the economy. He talks about the border. He talks about world events.

MARTIN: But he overshadows it, Reince, but going off message.

PRIEBUS: He does. Kamala Harris --

BRAZILE: Lying.

PRIEBUS: -- has come out with one policy so far which is somehow, you know, taxing capital gains which I get is not -- I understand -- it's not exactly how it sounds, but that too is a joke. She talks about taxing capital gains which is -- to peel back the onion, it isn't reality.

(CROSSTALK)

BRAZILE: Peel back the onion, but also add some pepper and some garlic and some hot sauce because the truth is, is that she can talk about the future.

PRIEBUS: She should.

BRAZILE: She can talk about how she's going to move the country forward. She is -- she can talk about how the Biden-Harris Administration has lowered inflation, but as president how she's going to lower costs for the American people.

PRIEBUS: OK. She needs to start talking about it.

BRAZILE: She is going to talk about -- yeah, she's been talking about it. The problem is --

PRIEBUS: No.

BRAZILE: You don't listen. You don't hear.

PRIEBUS: She hasn't said anything.

BRAZILE: She said it all.

JONATHAN KARL, ABC CO-ANCHOR OF "THIS WEEK" AND CHIEF WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: Go ahead.

RACHAEL BADE, POLITICO PLAYBOOK CO-AUTHOR & CONTRIBUTING POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: She has. I mean, during her speech, I was struck by how much policy she actually talked about. I mean, she talked about the Gaza/Israel situation for several seconds. I mean, 30 to 50 seconds.

PRIEBUS: No specifics on what she is going to do about inflation.

(CROSSTALK)

BRAZILE: (Inaudible) platform.

BADE: She talked about -- she talked about the Immigration Bill, and that she would support and sign into law the bipartisan Immigration Bill that Donald Trump himself killed, you know, just a few months ago.

(CROSSTALK)

KARL: (Inaudible).

BRAZILE: Yeah.

PRIEBUS: (Inaudible) as the border czar and did absolutely nothing, and millions of people.

BRAZILE: She was not the border czar.

(CROSSTALK)

JONATHAN MARTIN, POLITICO SENIOR POLITICAL COLUMNIST: Can I just say one thing? Reince, here's the --

PRIEBUS: She was in charge and millions of people came into this country illegally, and it is causing a huge problem.

BRAZILE: And it's now down because of the Biden-Harris Administration's efforts this past year.

PRIEBUS: With three months to go to the election.

BRAZILE: Well, look --

MARTIN: Reince, here's a challenge, is that -- the (inaudible) campaign, from Trump, do like what you did in 2016, which they give him three or four talking points, and he goes out there, and yes, he will oftentimes deliver the talking points. The challenge is at the same time, he will say things like, my campaign wants me to do policy. I want to go personal. What do you think crowd? What should I do? And he surveys the crowd. And what do you think the sound bite from that event is? It isn't the policy. It's of course, him surveying the crowd. That's the challenge with Trump.

He will deliver the talking points, but he will then step on his own message by doing what he wants to do, which is a huge distraction from the campaign's. I do agree though, the big test for Kamala Harris here, Jon, going ahead is, that eventually (ph) was fantastic for a big reason. She was speaking effectively, but speaking from a prepared speech. What is it like here during the first interview "This week", that debate next month when she's not on a teleprompter, when she's off script? That will be, I think, the first important challenge of can she keep this up?

(CROSSTALK)

PRIEBUS: Kamala Harris is employing the strategy of strategic ambiguity. There is no doubt about it.

BRAZILE: What the hell is that?

PRIEBUS: You all know it is true.

BADE: Well, listen -- listen --

BRAZILE: What the hell is that?

(CROSSTALK)

KARL: Donna, weigh in.

PRIEBUS: (Inaudible) saying nothing.

BRAZILE: She's been vice president for 3.5 years, and while most people, including you, have not paid attention to her foreign travels --

PRIEBUS: I've paid attention to (ph) find out the price of gas and groceries.

(CROSSTALK)

BRAZILE: Yeah, because you know what? Democrats have delivered in lowering costs and making sure that the American people are feeling less pain at the gas pump, and we can now go to the grocery store and fill up our bags.

PRIEBUS: (Inaudible).

BRAZILE: Because inflation is coming down. That's why Chairman Powell is about to make some big moves.

PRIEBUS: (Inaudible).

MARTIN: That's a really important good point.

(CROSSTALK)

PRIEBUS: (Inaudible) people.

BRAZILE: That's a huge point. You can't always be doom and gloom.

PRIEBUS: You can't tell them that the price of gas is low when it's not. They know better.

(CROSSTALK)

BRAZILE: (Inaudible) just to support a convicted felon but we are not going to be joyful and deliver for the American people.

MARTIN: Donna makes a very important point, which should get more attention is, people are feeling better about the economy, in part because the market has kept up, but also because the Fed is about to cut interest rates in September. That's going to, I think, offer a further jolt to the market.

BRAZILE: And then it'll be Donald Trump's Fed chairman --

MARTIN: Jerome Powell.

BRAZILE: -- that does it.

MARTIN: If you check GasBuddy.com, gas prices are going down which I think is also significant because so many people judge inflation in the economy by the price at the pump. If gas prices are still going down in October, it's a huge factor I bet.

BADE: No. I mean, I do think we should give it to Reince that, you know, Kamala Harris does owe the public an explanation --

PRIEBUS: Yes.

BADE: -- when it comes to changing positions. I think that that's why this week is so important.

PRIEBUS: Yes.

BADE: If Republicans continue to sort of talk about what she supported in 2020, getting rid of private insurance, banning fracking, saying you know the border crossing should be decriminalized.

KARL: I mean, she's entitled to change her views.

BADE: She is, but she also should say why, so that, you know, Republicans can't label her a flip-flopper.

(CROSSTALK)

KARL: No, absolutely. (Inaudible).

BRAZILE: (Inaudible) difficult.

(CROSSTALK)

KARL: (Inaudible) Donald Trump is possibly America's Hitler?

BRAZILE: No.

BADE: It is a short-term strategy, especially when she tackled (inaudible).

BRAZILE: She's been vice president of the United States. I mean, she has a record in leading this country, so I am confident that she's going to be able to explain everything.

KARL: All right. We have to take a quick break. Up next, the Roundtable weighs in on RFK Jr.'s endorsement of Donald Trump. Will it make a difference? We're back in a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Tonight I'm very pleased to welcome a man who has been an incredible champion for so many of these values that we all share. He's a very low key person, but he's highly respected. He is a great person. I've known him for so long, for the past 16 months, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.

ROBERT F. KENNEDY JUNIOR (I), FORMER PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Don't you want a president who's going to protect America's freedoms? Don't you want a president that's going to make America healthy again?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KARL: That was RFK Jr. endorsing Donald Trump on Friday.

Let's bring in the round table.

So, Reince, I got to get to you. First of all, RFK made it quite clear that he was doing it because he expects some kind of a position in Trump's cabinet. Trump made it clear he's very welcomed to having RFK Jr. in his administration somewhere. But can we go back to what Donald Trump said about RFK not that long ago, just weeks ago? He said, of RFK Jr., don't waste any Republican or conservative votes on Junior. He is one of the most liberal lunatics ever to run for office, a phony radical left fool who -- I could go on.

You know, so now all of a sudden, I've respected the guy forever. I love the guy. What -- I mean, what is going on?

REINCE PRIEBUS, FORMER RNC CHAIR: Politics is a pretty --

(LAUGHTER)

KARL: Come on. Seriously.

JONATHAN MARTIN, POLITICO SENIOR POLITICAL COLUMNIST: Reince can't keep a straight face.

PRIEBUS: Forgiveness and misunderstanding of what was meant by all that.

KARL: Yes. when he said phony, radical left fool, he really meant --

MARTIN: It was out of context, Jon. It was out of context.

PRIEBUS: Look, the thing is with Kennedy Jr., he does have support with millennials and Gen Z-ers. I mean, clearly most of his support, if you look at the polling and the surveys, a third of it is from people that are under 35 years old.

If I were me, I'd send him to Madison State College, Lansing, and work on some young people, and the reality is we're only talking about maybe 10,000, 20,000 votes and it can make a big difference.

KARL: But, wait, but, Rachel, one thing -- so Kennedy has taken his name off the ballot everywhere he can in these --

RACHEL BADE, ABC NEWS CONTRIBUTING POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes.

KARL: Well, he's got this weird thing. In states that are close, he's taken his name off. But his name is going to be on the ballot in Michigan.

BADE: Right. Right.

KARL: Because he's like small party --

BADE: It's perhaps a benefit to Democrats?

KARL: Yes. I mean if he's going to Lansing all that, I mean, are they going to vote for Bobby Kennedy?

BADE: Everybody is debating right now, does this help Democrats, does it help Republicans? And I think, you know, both sides obviously saying Trump and the RFK campaign saying it helps them. The Harris campaign saying it's not going to matter at all. But what we can say is a few things. Number one we can say that of the voters that remained in RFK's sort of column recently, most of them are leaning Republican, right? I mean, there were a lot of Democrats -- maybe former Democrats who were supporting him earlier, but we've seen his support drop in the past month because Harris at the top of the ticket, she's brought a lot of those people back.

So they definitely lean Republican. And we can also say of Kennedy's vote share in battleground states, that is actually a bigger -- that is actually a bigger margin than the difference between Trump and Harris.

KARL: Yeah.

BADE: So if these people turn out and vote Republican, it can matter, but these are also low-propensity voters. So, are they going to show up at all? There is a reason they --

(CROSSTALK)

BADE: -- if they didn't like any candidate?

KARL: One of my view -- one of the I think most notable things that Bobby Kennedy Jr. said, as he was announcing his endorsement of Donald Trump, he said, that there's still a chance that he can win --

DONNA BRAZILE, ABC NEWS CONTRIBUTOR & FORMER DNC CHAIR: Right.

KARL: If it goes to 269-269.

JONATHAN MARTIN, POLITICO SENIOR POLITICAL COLUMNIST: Keep hope is alive.

(CROSSTALK)

KARL: (Inaudible) majority what the House is going to vote -- I mean, there's a fair amount of delusion in all of this.

MARTIN: Keep hope alive, yeah. And actually, it's more tragic than it is anything else given his spiral here. But the politics of it, I think do help Trump at the margins. Reince is right. It's a few thousand votes here or there, and mostly coming from the GOP. I do wonder, as Rachael said, if these folks vote at all now, because they were kind of low-information, detached, disaffected voters. Maybe they'll come out for Trump, maybe they won't vote at all.

I think the bigger untold story here is the litigation in a lot of battleground states with Jill Stein and Cornel West, to keep them off the ballots. Are Stein and West, who are clearly left-wing candidates, are they going to be on the ballot in the most competitive states? Because that is a huge threat to Biden.

(CROSSTALK)

MARTIN: I think Stein and West combined could take thousands of votes from (ph) Biden -- sorry, Kamala.

KARL: Donna?

BRAZILE: Well, I have always believed that old English proverb, birds of a feather flock together.

KARL: Yeah.

BRAZILE: So, they're made for each other. I thought the big announcement was that he was dropping J.D. Vance for RFK Jr., but it wasn't. So look, I think Bobby Jr. was a factor in the spring. He was no longer a factor at the beginning of the summer. There may be some people still in the margin that look at Bobby Kennedy and say, wow, I want the third option, but no. I think Kamala Harris has to continue to make her case to young voters and disaffected voters, and if she makes her case to them about the economy, improving their lives, she will win their votes.

KARL: And she has got to watch those other independent third-party candidates. All right. That is all the time we have. They are giving me the wrap. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KARL: That's all for us today. Thank you for sharing part of your Sunday with us. Check out "World News Tonight," and have a great day.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)