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Anderson Cooper 360 Degrees

Bernstein: Schumer Frustrated With Biden, Seeks WH Meeting; Fresh Wave Of Calls For Biden To Exit Race; George Clooney Says Dems Need A New Nominee Just Weeks After Headlining A Major Biden Fundraiser; Fresh Wave Of Calls For President Biden To Exit Race; Donors Hold Back Dollars With Biden Facing Fallout Over His Candidacy; Suspect In Custody After Murder Of BBC Journalist's Wife And Two Daughters. Aired 8-9p ET

Aired July 10, 2024 - 20:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[20:00:00]

YURI FROLOV, RUSSIAN GRADUATE STUDENT IN THE U.S.: And basically we were forced to speak the songs as well, but they were like in Korean, but they were translated into Russian.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WILL RIPLEY, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): He says even the video games had an anti-American theme.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

FROLOV: They were like driving tanks, like destroying the White House in the U.S.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

RIPLEY (voice over): It reminds me of this exchange with two North Korean campers playing that same video game.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RIPLEY (on camera): Who do you want to fight?

UNIDENTIFIED BOY (through interpreter): To fight the sworn enemy, Americans.

RIPLEY: What if I told you I'm an American? Do you want to shoot me too?

UNIDENTIFIED BOY: Yes.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

RIPLEY (voice over): A lesson from Kim and Putin to the next generation.

Will Ripley, CNN, Taipei.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ERIN BURNETT, CNN HOST: Well, thanks, Will. I mean, it is just fascinating to see that student in his own words.

And thanks so much to all of you for joining us. AC360 starts now.

BURNETT: Tonight on 360, Carl Bernstein with new reporting: One, that Chuck Schumer, the Senate's top Democrat, is frustrated by what he sees as President Biden's digging in his heels over staying in the race. And two, that he's seeking to assemble a small group of top Democrats to see the President and his family for a full discussion of his political viability.

Also tonight, with supporter and fundraiser George Clooney now telling the President to quit the race, the effect other big money donors could have on President Biden's choice.

Plus, the very latest from the U.K. where a suspect is now in custody in the killings of a mom and two daughters, possibly involving a crossbow.

Good evening. Just 24 hours ago, President Biden appeared to have beaten back the doubters in his party. And it seemed that these would be the words for Democrats to live by, however they might actually feel.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. CHUCK SCHUMER (D-NY): As I've said before, I'm with Joe.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: But Sen. Schumer ...

SCHUMER: Thank you, everybody.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: ... doesn't it leave Democrats in a difficult position?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN HOST: That was Senate Minority Leader, Chuck Schumer. Tonight, there's new reporting that suggests his words may not have reflected his true feelings about the President's campaign. It comes by way of legendary investigative journalist and author Carl Bernstein, who joins us shortly.

Carl's reporting comes on and ties into a day that began with a warning delivered by one of the President's oldest Washington colleagues and political allies, House Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi. Appearing on MSNBC's Morning Joe, she became the senior most Democratic lawmaker to signal less than full support for him staying in the race. How she did it was something of a political master class.

When asked whether he had her support at the top of the ticket, this was her answer.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) REP. NANCY PELOSI (D-CA): It's up to the President to decide if he is going to run. We're all encouraging him to make that decision because time is running short.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COOPER: So that's Speaker Pelosi suggesting, but not flatly saying, that the President's statements on Monday reaffirming his candidacy either were not or should not be his final word on the subject. Now, here's the follow-up.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do you want him to run?

PELOSI: I want him to do whatever he decides to do and that's the way it is.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COOPER: Again, presumably he has already decided. And yesterday, it seemed as though he'd beaten back a rebellion within the party and offered at least enough reassurance for most Democrats to stay on board. Today, though, also began with this New York Times op-ed piece by one of the President's top Hollywood supporters and fundraisers, George Clooney.

Quoting from it now, "I love Joe Biden. As a senator. As a vice president and as president. I consider him a friend and I believe in him. Believe in his character. Believe in his morals. In the last four years, he's won many of the battles he's faced." He goes on, "But the one battle he cannot win is the fight against time. None of us can. It's devastating to say it, but the Joe Biden I was with three weeks ago with a fundraiser was not the Joe 'big effing deal' Biden of 2010. He wasn't even the Joe Biden of 2020. He was the same man we all saw at the debate."

Later in the day, New York Congressman Pat Ryan became the eighth House member to say the President should step aside. Then, a ninth Oregon's Earl Blumenauer joined the slowly growing group of dissenters. Also weighing in, Congresswoman Debbie Dingell from swing state Michigan. She offered this when asked about the President's chances in that state.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JESSICA DEAN, CNN HOST: I do just want to ask you again, if you think President Biden is the strongest person at the top of the ticket to win Michigan in the fall?

REP. DEBBIE DINGELL (D-MI): He's the candidate right now.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COOPER: Over on the Senate side tonight, some breaking news, Vermont senator, Pete Welch became the first Democratic senator to call the President to step aside. Sen. Welch saying in The Washington Post, quote, "I understand why President Biden wants to run. He saved us from Donald Trump once and wants to do it again, but he needs to reassess whether he is the best candidate to do so. In my view, he is not."

Last night on CNN's THE SOURCE, Sen. Michael Bennet of Colorado did not go so far. However, he did say he doesn't think the President can win.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. MICHAEL BENNET (D-CO): Donald Trump is on track, I think, to win this election and maybe win it by a landslide and take with him the Senate and the House.

[20:05:03]

And so for me, this isn't a question about polling. It's not a question about politics. It's a moral question about the future of our country.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COOPER: As for the President, he spent the day hosting NATO leaders, offering brief ad-lib remarks with the new British Prime Minister, Keir Starmer, followed by a White House dinner, which just got underway. Tomorrow, what's expected to be a key test, he'll hold a solo press conference and will sit down with NBC's Lester Holt for a taped interview, which airs Monday night.

There's certainly a lot to talk about starting with Carl Bernstein.

So Carl, talk about the new reporting you have about what Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer may be doing behind the scenes.

CARL BERNSTEIN, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, first, to say that he's frustrated with Biden might oversimplify things. He's frustrated with the whole situation, especially the way the White House, the way Biden, the way the First Family has dug in and has said that there's no more discussion of this. That's the frustration and Schumer is hearing from every quarter, from donors, from members of the Senate, from members of the House, that he, as a leader of the party, has got to do something to see that there is an orderly process in which the best candidate who could best defeat and face Donald Trump becomes the nominee. And there's grave doubt that that person is Joe Biden.

Grave doubt among senators of the Democratic Party. Grave doubt among members of the House of the Democratic Party, among donors. And certainly, we don't know to a T what Schumer's doubts are. He's very careful in this master class, as you called it, of being a little bit evasive in language, the way Speaker Pelosi was also there.

But he's frustrated, and he's feeling the anger, and he's voiced some of the anger to people he's been talking to. And the fact that he, the leadership of the House and the Senate, the party itself, the donors, everybody has left a little hanging here, except for Joe Biden, who says, I'm the nominee, I'm running and at the same time, it is the greatest secret in the world that has been unsecretized that there is huge movement against Joe Biden running in the party right now. And that includes among the senators that Schumer is talking to and the House members.

And so you have an unprecedented situation here that Schumer is trying to keep from breaking open in a way that there is intra-party warfare. And his solution, which he thought he had a real shot at doing over the weekend, was to convene a meeting, probably today or yesterday, of three or four people who love Joe Biden in the Senate, in the House, among his friends, meet with Biden, not ambush him, but have a full discussion with Biden, maybe including Nancy Pelosi, about the repercussions of his decision that he is running and case closed. He still wants to do that, Schumer does, and is intent on having such a discussion.

COOPER: So is it clear if that is in fact - I mean, is that something that the White House has agreed to, do you know?

BERNSTEIN: Nothing is clear, and certainly we know of no agreement by the White House. To the contrary, so far the White House is - the candidate, Joe Biden, has said, well, I've talked to these people. I've talked to people on the Hill. They want me to run. So there still is no modus operandi to make this happen and at the same time, Speaker Pelosi, as we saw today, Senator Schumer, others, are determined that somehow there has to be a discussion in which all of these factors can be aired out in a way among old friends.

But look, the prevailing feeling among members of the Democratic members of the House and Senate is that Joe Biden is a weak candidate against Donald Trump after that debate, and that situation has not changed. And Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi know that better than anybody. And they're trying to see, is there some other way forward. It's very subtle. It doesn't lend itself to easy characterizations in the headlines.

COOPER: So, I mean, just - I mean, full stop, is it clear whether Sen. Schumer believes a Biden candidacy could still be victorious in November?

BERNSTEIN: I have never heard him say one way or the other, and I doubt that he would catch himself being, uttering such a thing.

COOPER: All right. Carl, stay with us. I want to bring in former Clinton White House Press Secretary, Joe Lockhart, CNN Political Commentator and former Biden White House communications director, Kate Bedingfield.

[20:10:06]

Also former Obama speechwriter, Jon Lovett, co-host of the Pod Save America podcast.

Kate, first of all, what's your reaction to this reporting from Carl?

KATE BEDINGFIELD, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, I think the Biden team has a problem on their hands. I mean, I think they thought that they had the Hill under control. It seems like, you know, that's not the case. Obviously, we heard Speaker Pelosi giving sort of leeway this morning, saying, let him get through NATO, and then basically putting the conversation back on the table for Friday.

I think, you know, one of the things the Biden team, I think, needs to do is to be a little more forward-leaning about putting their case on the table, put some data on the table that shows the path forward. I personally, looking at the publicly available data, don't think that this race isn't winnable for Joe Biden. I think it is winnable for him. I think enough of his voters are sticking with him, even as you see some movement in the polls. I don't deny that. But I don't think the race is out of his grasp.

I do think that his campaign team needs to do a more aggressive job of giving people - showing people the path, and showing them that they believe that he can win. I feel like there's been sort of a defensive crouch over the last couple days, and I think that some of this intensity and fire that's been aimed at Hill Democrats who are raising these questions needs to be re-channeled.

The anger and the frustration is there because people are afraid of a second Donald Trump presidency, because Donald Trump is somebody who went out this week and said again that he was proud that he overturned Roe versus Wade.

So it's a real fear, and that's where the anger's coming from. And I think that the campaign would be better served by channeling that anger and saying, we also want to beat Donald Trump. Here's how we do it. Come get on board. And then turning this fire that's been turned at the Hill toward Donald Trump.

COOPER: Joe, I mean, does tonight feel different than last night? I mean, all the rumblings on Capitol Hill, Nancy Pelosi on TV this morning, the George Clooney thing, not that he's, you know, well, a leader of anything, but clearly there's a lot of donors who are very upset and very concerned.

JOE LOCKHART, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: I don't think it changes much from last night to tonight. I don't think George Clooney, although I think he is a player in the party, I don't think he's a leader in the party. This comes down to, I think, the leadership in the House and the Senate.

And I think the reason Chuck Schumer is frustrated is because it's put his member to a running for re-election in a very difficult spot. If they stick with Biden, where they have misgivings of how the strength of his candidacy, Biden might drag them down. They don't know that.

But if they split with Biden, there are still large swaths of the Democratic base that are fully behind Joe Biden. And alienating that group makes it kind of a no-win situation. I think the two important things that have happened in the last two weeks, one is what's happened. Joe Biden has said he's getting in the race. He's put all these people in this position, but he's done it for a political reason, because he wants to be in the race he thinks he can win. The second is what's not happened, which is you have not seen private go to public. You've seen a few members here and there, the vast majority, 96-, 97 percent of Democrats have either held their power or come out in support of the President. So the frustration I think is political and this decision at the end of the day will be about the politics of the situation and how the politics impact each and every one of these members.

COOPER: Jon, you posted online - you said, quote, "Joe Biden can leave office as one of the greatest presidents in our lifetimes who defeated Trump and put his country first at every turn;' or he can leave a stubborn old man who allowed hubris and insecurity to destroy his legacy and perhaps our democracy with it."

Do you think he or his inner circle will ever be receptive to that argument?

JON LOVETT, CO-HOST, "POD SAVE AMERICA" PODCAST: I think Joe Biden has seen a lot, has defied a lot of low expectations, has been through a lot and is not subject to ordinary political pressure, to his great credit, and it speaks to actually the extraordinary success of his administration, that he knew when to defy critics, ignore pundits, reject conventional wisdom, and allow himself to be underestimated while then achieving unexpected successes.

With that said, I do think what you hear with people like Tim Kaine, what you see with Peter Welch, what you see with Nancy Pelosi is Joe Biden won't be pushed, but maybe he'll be pulled. Because, you know, Joe made a really good point about what we're not seeing. There's another thing we're not seeing, which is the full-throated, full- hearted, aggressive and energetic campaign that people who want Joe Biden to succeed expected he would pursue in the days after the debate.

He has done an interview with George Stephanopoulos. He's done radio interviews. He's done some events. He talked to Mika and Joe, right? But the first press conference he is going to do is two weeks after the debate. And so we ended up in the worst of both worlds.

[20:15:00]

He is not addressing the underlying concerns, but he is addressing the political concerns of his members by applying political pressure and trying to circle the wagons. The problem is that doesn't address the underlying political reality, which is the vast majority of people are worried Joe Biden is too old.

And you start to see it in polling, which I do think explains why you're starting to see a reaction from some of these members. You know, Cook Political Report says Arizona goes from toss-up to lean R ...

COOPER: Yes.

LOVETT: ... Georgia to lean R, Minnesota to lean D, right, down the line, right? That is the political reality underneath all of that. Political pressure might get Jerry Nadler to go to the microphones and try to unslice the bagel, but it doesn't change what's actually happening on the ground, which is what is driving this concern. It's not elite, it's coming from voters.

COOPER: Yes. I mean, Carl, I should point out, Punchbowl is reporting tonight that Senator Schumer has released a new statement in response to reports he told donors he's open to moving beyond Biden, quote, "As I have made clear repeatedly, publicly and privately, I support President Biden and remain committed to ensuring Donald Trump is defeated in November."

So, Carl, based on your reporting, I'm wondering, what do you make of that statement?

BERNSTEIN: You can parse it and I think we - this is becoming about language when, in fact, this is about anger, a growing anger that Chuck Schumer is aware of, that Nancy Pelosi is aware of, that the leaders of the party are aware of, that donors are aware of and that anger is that we have a nominee, these Democrats are saying, who is not up to the - where he needs to be in terms of physical ability, cognitive problems and this is not a winning hand. And that anger is starting to be felt by Schumer, especially Pelosi, the leaders, et cetera, et cetera.

And that quote from Mr. Schumer a moment ago is, again, it's splitting hairs. Everybody's splitting hairs over language. When people start to be in the game of splitting hairs as opposed to a really, you know, really strong statement of support, yes, I go all out, Joe Biden is my nominee. We don't want any other candidate. We want our president to be Joe Biden.

That's not what we're hearing. This is parsing. And so that should be telling us something.

COOPER: So, Kate - I mean, Kate, you know the President well, if Schumer and Nancy Pelosi and some others from the Senate and the House went and had a meeting with President Biden, I mean, does that have impact?

BEDINGFIELD: Well, he obviously respects their perspective. He served with them for a long time. He cares what they think. Ultimately, though, this is a decision that he is going to make. As, I think, Jon said, he's not going to be pushed out of the race. He's been abundantly clear about that publicly.

And I think, look, I believe he has reason to feel that way. I mean, he can make a really good case for why he is the guy to beat Donald Trump. I think a lot of the polling that we're seeing ...

COOPER: But to Jon's point, what about the Cook Report in the States? I mean the - in the swing states.

BEDINGFIELD: You're not seeing any - none of this polling is showing the race moving out of Joe Biden's grasp. And also, crucially, as we're talking about this kind of idea of pulling him off the ticket and subbing someone else in, Vice President Harris or anyone else, you know, their polling doesn't look dramatically different right now either.

There isn't a magical solution. There is not a magic wand that Democrats can wave, put somebody on the ticket who is going to sail to the White House. There's going to be - there - that person's going to face the full brunt of Donald Trump's negativity. They're going to face - they're going to be the brunt of paid advertising. I mean, there isn't an easy answer here.

So I think as Democrats are weighing this, they need to think about the fact that this isn't an easy swap. And I think in Joe Biden, you have somebody who, again, I believe is more than capable of making the case. I think he needs to get out there and do it. I think he should be out there seeing voters three times a week. I think he should be making a really aggressive case. I think he can do it, but I think we need to see it.

COOPER: Carl Bernstein, thank you very much. Everybody else, stick around, please. We're going to have to continue the discussion.

Next, new reporting of Democratic donors in limbo along with their checkbooks.

Also tonight, young voters and what they have to say about President Biden's campaign.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[20:23:17]

COOPER: Before the break, we touch on signs of possible eroding support for President Biden inside the beltway and George Clooney's call for him to bow out of the race. He is, as you know, a deeply influential and effective Democratic fundraiser.

Tonight, we have new reporting on how the President's difficulties are bearing on the larger search for campaign cash. CNN's Kayla Tausche joins us with that.

So what more have you learned about donors' concerns?

KAYLA TAUSCHE, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Anderson, donors concerns began the day after the debate. They started to show up in a residential fundraiser in New Jersey that raised just half of what a fundraiser at a similar venue raised a week before the debate. And donors at that time began pausing some discussions about forthcoming events that were still in the planning stages to see how the dust would settle. And today I learned that at least one event that top Chicago donors were planning as a luncheon for some of the Windy City's wealthiest to take place the week of the convention. They scrapped that because the host couldn't decide on a path forward. And there was too much ambivalence among their network.

And now there are fears that with no clarity on the path forward for Democrats in the words of one major donor, everything is frozen.

COOPER: What about small dollar donations? TAUSCHE: The campaign says that those have continued to be strong in the week since the debate. And to be sure our sources tell us that small dollar donations have continued apace, but it's those high dollar bold face names that are responsible for really generating a lot of momentum in the mid level. The, you know, the national finance committee types and the donors just below them.

And so it's really in the middle where if the campaign loses momentum, that's where a lot of the funding would come from Anderson and that's - we're hearing from some donors in that class about, you know, they're frustrated with what they've heard so far from the campaign.

[20:25:05]

And even the President's participation in a call earlier this week was seen as just not enough.

COOPER: Kayla Tausche, thanks so much.

Now, the former president on what he makes of all this, here's what he told Fox's Brian Kilmeade today about wanting the President to stay in the race.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: You know, I hope that he can carry it on. I just assume. We planned for him.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COOPER: Back now with Joe Lockhart, Kate Bedingfield and Jon Lovett.

Jon, you know, what is your argument to those who say, look, there's - you know, the alternatives are not necessarily polling any better than the current president. Why then should a change be made?

LOVETT: First of all, to Kate's point, I would say that's a very legitimate argument. Nobody knows everything. Everybody should be talking about this with openness and generosity and humility. It's is a very difficult situation. I think the issue is right now.

Kate's also right when she says that these are polls that a campaign can turn around. Joe Biden has an excellent campaign around him. He has an incredible smart group of people and a great apparatus around him. The problem is right now, I think the real doubts are about whether Joe Biden as a candidate has the capacity to be the messenger we need right now, right?

Like it is true, other candidates don't pull much better against Donald Trump, but we're counting on the idea that they'll do politics, that they'll go out there from 8 AM to 8 PM and make their case that they'll be able to carry the message cogently, coherently, directly, clearly over and over again, every time without us feeling like we have to hold our breath when they do.

Like, if Joe Biden can do that, if he can get out there and make the case fine, great. I would love that. I think Joe Biden has been an excellent president. I think he's a decent and courageous man. The problem is right now, he's not using the torch or passing the torch. And that, I think, is the main problem. And if he's not going to do the former, then I hope he would do the latter.

But I say that with the same uncertainty and anxiety that everybody has who understands the stakes and cares about what happens.

BEDINGFIELD: (INAUDIBLE) ...

COOPER: Joe, what do you make of that argument? Because - I'm sorry, go ahead, Kate.

BEDINGFIELD: No, no, no, go ahead. I - look, I was just going to say, I - look, I broadly agree with almost everything Jon said there, including the very key point that we should talk about this with humility. Nobody has a crystal ball and what happens is people wind up getting so worked up on their own opinion and their own belief that they tune out all of the other information that's critically important to making a decision like this, which, you know, by the way, we are facing a - somebody who's running for president on the Republican ticket who believes that we shouldn't take our democracy seriously.

I mean, there couldn't be a bigger threat to the things that we love as Americans than that. And so this is an incredibly serious moment. So I just want to underscore what Jon was saying. I think there is from everybody, every Democrat who was concerned, what they all share is a desire to beat Donald Trump. And I think the question is just how best do we get there.

And I think that's an okay conversation to have, but I also think that's going to come a point where we have to align behind the nominee and go get Donald Trump.

COOPER: And Joe to the argument that, you know, look, the President's supporter said, look, it was a bad debate night. There's no reason it wouldn't happen again. There's no reason to believe it wouldn't happen again, given, you know, everything we know and everything we have seen, is it worth that gamble? I mean, what if this happens again, it - to Kate's point about somebody making the case to, you know, against Donald Trump, you know, Joe Biden could not make that case on that stage face to face with Donald Trump. And this was a debate that his campaign wanted and set the rules for.

LOCKHART: So I think you've said it right, which is it's a gamble, whatever we do, we just don't know. And the question is, what is the safest choice. And I think what's missing in this debate, and I hope we can turn it this way is Donald Trump. Donald Trump is the - is a black swan in American politics. The rules don't apply to him.

And I - we have to think as a party and as Americans that as we get closer, the anti-Democratic ideas, the anti choice ideas, these sort of radical views that we keep hearing and sometimes nonsensical views that we're hearing will actually become the centerpiece of this campaign. So the gamble is that we spend a month or two precious months trying to debate within the party, who is the best candidate and not taking that case to Donald Trump. But I think you're right and I think we have to remember that it isn't a gamble on Joe Biden, it's a gamble with anything we decide and that the debate hurt. But any race that Donald Trump is in is not over till Election Day.

[20:30:06]

COOPER: Jon, it does seem that the one argument, essentially the argument boils down to -- with the gambling, the belief, the roll of the dice, that there are enough people out there who are just scared or angry or do not like Donald Trump and will vote against Donald Trump even if they have deep, deep concerns about Joe Biden. The flip side of that is there's also -- it doesn't -- that gamble doesn't necessarily take into account the people who are just sort of so depressed by it or disgusted by the whole thing that they may just stay home or go for a third-party candidate, which again, in these -- this whole thing boils down to a few -- a couple of hundred thousand votes in swing states.

LOVETT: Less, right? I mean, Joe Biden is president because of 40,000 votes.

COOPER: Yeah.

LOVETT: And the challenge here is the polls have been clear, they've been getting more and more clear. This wasn't about one bad night. I wish it were; I wish you were about one bad night. I was at the fundraiser that George Clooney talks about in that op-ed, and I had the same anxieties when I saw Joe Biden up there and I did what everybody was doing at the time, which is I don't see Joe Biden all the time.

I guess, this is one bad night and in a race that's going to be won on the margins like that and you see polls with the majority of Democrats now saying they want a different nominee, the vast majority of voters telling you that they have deep, deep concerns about Joe Biden's fitness to the point where Donald Trump's criminality, chaos, malevolence is seen as less of a liability than Joe Biden's age. If we continue down this path, I hope I'm wrong, God, I'll be the happiest -- I'll be the happiest wrong I'll ever be. I'll do whatever -- I will -- I will -- I will do a shame bell down the -- down the National Mall.

(LAUGH)

I want to be wrong about that but it -- but, if it turns out that we go down this path with Joe Biden and we lose, we will look so foolish because the -- because the voters, not the elites, not the op-eds, not the pundits, but the voters have been telling us for a year that they want a different option. And because of what has happened, because of new information, we have the opportunity to pursue that new option and I believe we would be foolish not to at the very least have that debate and force Joe Biden to either campaign aggressively to prove -- to prove that he deserves it or to give us a chance with somebody else. That is what this is about.

BEDINGFIELD: But, here's the -- can I make a --

COOPER: Kate, let me ask you a question, which I -- yeah, go ahead.

BEDINGFIELD: Yeah.

COOPER: Well, let me just ask you a question which a lot of people asked me and then you can either choose to ignore it and say what you want to say or whatever.

(LAUGH)

I can't tell you how many people have come up to me over the last couple of days and said, what if Barack Obama and Michelle Obama and Hillary Clinton, and whoever else went to the president and raised their concerns privately, behind closed doors? What do you say to that?

BEDINGFIELD: Look, I think he's been very clear --

(CROSSTALK)

COOPER: (Inaudible) have concerns, by the way?

BEDINGFIELD: I think he's been very clear about how he feels about this and the fact that he wants to run, and that he believes he can win. I don't think, you know, he's somebody who will always listen to the people he respects. But ultimately, he is going to listen to his own belief about where the politics of this is going, his own belief about whether he can win, and he's going to make that decision with his team. I don't think that means that he is going to put his hands over his ears and not hear arguments from people he respects.

But look, ultimately, at the end of the day, he and his team are going to make this decision. The one quick counterpoint I would say to what Jon was pointing out, yes, that's been true in polls for a year, people have said he's too old, but they've also said they're going to vote for him. And so, that is the -- that's the conundrum here. I mean, we are talking about polls that are head-to-head, one point, two points margin of error. So yes, they're raising these concerns, but they're also saying Donald Trump is not unacceptable and I would vote for Joe Biden. And that's an important data point as we are weighing the back and forth here.

COOPER: Yeah. Kate Bedingfield, Joe Lockhart, Jon Lovett, a good discussion. Thank you so much.

Next, one of the first Democratic lawmakers to call on the president of bow out, what Congressman Seth Moulton has to say now about Former Speaker Pelosi's comments today in the op-ed by Clooney.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[20:38:20] COOPER: Again, the new reporting tonight from our Carl Bernstein, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer is frustrated and wants to meet with Biden for a frank discussion about his candidacy. This again is Vermont's Peter Welch -- Vermont's Peter Welch becomes the first Democratic Senator to call for the president to step aside. Also today, Pat Ryan and Earl Blumenauer became the eighth and ninth House Democrats to go public in calling for the president to end his campaign.

My next guest was one of the first to speak out, Massachusetts Democratic Congressman Seth Moulton, I spoke to him earlier. Congressman, where do things stand tonight from your perspective? Obviously, the president and the White House are insisting that he's staying in the race.

REP. SETH MOULTON, (D-MA): While the president has to insist on staying in the race because he's all in until he's out and I think that's why a lot of Democratic leaders are all in with the president until he's out as well. But for those of us in the rank and file who represent the concerns of our constituents and in my case, just want to be honest with people about how I feel we need -- about what we need to do to win this race against Donald Trump, I think you are going to see more and more come out in favor of a change at the top of the ticket.

COOPER: I've spoken to a number of very big money donors who are dismayed about what is going on, want the president to step down, how crucial was what Speaker Pelosi did today, in terms of buying concern Democrats some more time to express their skepticism of the president's chances of winning?

MOULTON: This is all about winning. It's all about defeating Donald Trump because of the stakes, not just for our party, but for our country in this election.

[20:40:00]

And there are concerns all across America in the Democratic Party about the president. But it's taking some time for leaders to come out and say what I said a few days ago, which is just the honest truth that as painful as this is, as much as I respect Joe Biden, as much as I love the work that he's done as a president as a Senator for decades, we need a change. We need to change so that we can win. But despite the fact that this has taken some time, every single day, it's going in the direction of change, a few more lawmakers come out. And so, I think you are going to continue to see movement in this direction over the course of the coming days. It's not going backwards.

COOPER: Well, I mean, Jerry Nadler, yesterday, seemed to go backwards. He seemed to kind of reverse himself saying Biden is the nominee. Is there anything that President Biden could do to change your mind at this point? A strong showing at a press conference tomorrow, for instance, his interview with Lester Holt next week, would anything like that make a difference? MOULTON: He needs to reverse the polls, that's the bottom line. He was losing this race coming into the debate and he's losing much worse, especially in the key states that we need, those battleground states that are so critical in a presidential election and that's the end of the day, he needs to win those states. So unless he does something to fundamentally change this campaign, to turn around his fortunes, to show that the polls are moving in the opposite direction, then I don't see how we can win.

When you have a strategy that's leading you towards defeat, you don't double down on that strategy, you have to change your strategy. Ever since that disastrous debate, we haven't heard anything from the White House or the campaign team about how they actually intend to change their strategy, change their approach. Unfortunately, it's just been more of the same and I don't think that one press conference is going to make that much of a difference.

COOPER: What can you say to Democrats who say, look, the debate was a bad night. Stop talking about this; you are making it worse. He is the nominee and talk about Donald Trump. What do you say to those Democrats? Because I'm sure you hear from constituents who are outraged.

MOULTON: I do hear from constituents who are outraged, but I haven't been stopped by more people on the street in years, who just come up to me and say thank you for being honest because you can't tell the American people to deny what they saw with their own eyes. I don't think anyone wanted to see the spectacle at the debate, but we can't unsee that now. It's forever in our minds and it's going to be forever on the airwaves because of course, Republicans will repeat it on TV between now and the election.

So, this is a tough spot and I'll tell you, Anderson, on a very personal level, it was a very difficult decision for me to decide to go publicly against the president after days of making phone calls in private, behind the scenes, trying to convince his inner circle to make a change. Joe Biden has been a personal mentor to me in politics. He came up in campaign for me after my first contentious primary. He is someone who used to have me over for breakfast when he was the vice president to mentor me as a new member of Congress. So this was not an easy decision but I firmly believe it's the right thing to do for our country.

It's the right thing to do at a time when the stakes are so high, when the alternative to a Democratic president is someone who incited a mob to storm the Capitol, something that's never happened before in American history. We can't get there and that means we have to make some tough choices right now as Democrats. We need to show the country that we can lead, that we can lead change and that we can make the change we need to win.

COOPER: Congressman Seth Moulton, thank you for your time.

MOULTON: Thank you, Anderson.

COOPER: Coming up, a ground level view of the problems that President Biden is facing among young voters in one of those battleground states that Congressman Moulton just mentioned, Pennsylvania. We'll take a look.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[20:48:22]

COOPER: The revolt by some Democrats in Congress against President Biden's candidacy comes after a steady drumbeat of polls showing an unmistakable defection among young voters who were critical to his 2020 win. Danny Freeman spoke to some young voters in the critical battleground state of Pennsylvania to gage their enthusiasm for November's election.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DANNY FREEMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): As president Joe Biden worked the rope line in Harrisburg Sunday trying to fight off questions about his age, a younger face in the crowd was creating content.

KENNY SCREVEN, SOCIAL MEDIA INFLUENCER, PENNSYLVANIA: Biden and Harris --

FREEMAN: Did you ever think that you would be influencing for presidential campaign?

(LAUGH)

SCREVEN: Definitely not.

FREEMAN (voice-over): Kenny Screven is a social media influencer in Pennsylvania, one of many the Biden campaign has recently partnered with to try and reach younger voters.

SCREVEN: But things could get much harder if they don't vote.

FREEMAN (voice-over): In addition to makeup tutorials and LGBTQ advocacy, Screven now posts about the importance of voting for Biden.

FREEMAN: Do you feel young people are energized right now to vote in this election?

SCREVEN: Truthfully, no. I feel like a lot of people are discouraged, but I think that's where influencers come in and we can really help motivate them, encourage them to vote.

FREEMAN (voice-over): In 2020, younger voters overwhelmingly supported President Biden over former President Trump. But recent polls show the two candidates running about even among this key demographic.

JAHNAVI RAO, PRESIDENT, NEW VOTERS: Just not (ph) and are you (ph)?

FREEMAN (voice-over): 24-year-old Jahnavi Rao runs a group out of Chester County, the goal to register young voters in crucial swing states and motivate them to vote. RAO: There are more than enough people in this country who don't want

you to vote as a young voter. All we are doing is giving you the tools and the resources, so that you can.

[20:50:00]

FREEMAN (voice-over): But resources are one thing, enthusiasm is another. We asked several young voters on a scale from one to ten, how excited are they to go to the polls in November?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'd say like a five.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm a seven right now -- seven or eight.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'd say probably a five.

SARANYA SINGH, 18-YEAR-OLD PENNSYLVANIA VOTER: I mean, I would put myself out of one, like I'm not excited at all.

FREEMAN (voice-over): 18-year-old Saranya Singh said she will 100 percent vote for President Biden because reproductive issues are so important to her, but she worries about the president's appeal to other young voters.

SINGH: A lot of my friends and a lot of people in our age group are really hesitant to vote this year at all because I mean, Biden is not the ideal Democratic candidate in any way.

FREEMAN (voice-over): Anish Garimidi is a rising sophomore at the University of Pennsylvania and while he's also all in for Biden, he's nervous about the lack of enthusiasm too.

ANISH GARIMIDI, 18-YEAR-OLD PENNSYLVANIA VOTER: The Biden campaign should definitely be seeing that as like, if the youth vote slips away, like Pennsylvania slips away.

FREEMAN (voice-over): Here, former President Trump's campaign sees an opening, though his team did not provide examples of state-specific youth outreach, the campaign points to their recent launch on TikTok as a sign of its youth voter push.

TREVOR TAYLOR, ADAMS COUNTY YOUNG REPUBLICANS: When we talk about the economic issues, that resonates more with the youth vote and that's my advice to engage with them and we are having success.

FREEMAN (voice-over): Trevor Taylor leads the Young Republicans in bright red Adams County. He says the past few weeks have been pivotal.

TAYLOR: Especially seeing Biden's debate performance, I think that the trend is definitely moving towards not only Biden losing support, but Trump gaining support and momentum.

FREEMAN (voice-over): The Biden campaign hopes volunteers like Lauren Kuntz will be able to change that momentum.

LAUREN KUNTZ, BIDEN CAMPAIGN VOLUNTEER: I couldn't sit by and not participate in a campaign that's so essential to keeping America how we know it.

FREEMAN (voice-over): The 26-year-old mom from Lancaster, Pennsylvania started volunteering with the Biden campaign earlier this year and she understands the youth challenge.

FREEMAN: What's your pitch to younger voters to say, you should be excited about this election?

KUNTZ: I think it's going to be less about the candidate itself and more about the policies that are going to help us as a generation. I mean, it's becoming more expensive to just live and there are a lot of policies that the Biden Administration has put in place to make it more affordable, which we should be excited about.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FREEMAN (on camera): Now, listen Anderson, we heard a hunger for new candidates on both sides of the aisle from most of the young voters that we spoke with. But frankly, the idea of President Biden actually leaving the ticket was still farfetched over the past week and a half where we spoke to these young voters. But, I can tell you that there was one voter that we did speak with, a young woman of color who said that she is all in for Biden specifically because she knows that Vice President Kamala Harris is on that ticket and young women voters in Pennsylvania crucial to win the commonwealth. Anderson?

COOPER: Danny Freeman, thanks so much.

Still to come, the gruesome murders of a BBC commentator's wife and two daughters, the suspect now in custody.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[20:57:20]

COOPER: The 26-year-old suspect in the murders of the wife and two daughters of a BBC sports commentator is now in custody. The murders happened outside London. Police say a crossbow is believed to have been used in the killings. Nic Robertson has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR (voice-over): It began Tuesday night, emergency services call to the house of a BBC horse racing commentator, John Hunt after women's screams were heard coming from the home. Medics found Hunt's wife Carol and his two daughters, Louise aged 25 and Hannah 28, seriously injured. They had been brutally attacked. The medics were unable to save the women and a massive 24-hour manhunt began in search of their killer.

CCTV video captured near the family's house appeared to show a man leaving the vicinity, carrying an object tucked under his arm covered in a white cloth. Police believe he may have been carrying a crossbow. Police tracked the 26-year-old suspect to a North London cemetery, 45 minutes drive away. Police say the suspect, Kyle Clifford, is a British military vet, and police believe he knew the victims. Police say when they captured Clifford, he was injured and taken away on a stretcher.

ROBERTSON: This is where they brought him out of the cemetery on the stretcher into the street here, put him on an ambulance, took him to a nearby hospital. And for all the neighbors around here, watching this, it was utterly shocking.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: In the morning, I went to the work, is no -- it is quiet place. I didn't see anyone -- anyone. When I'll come back to the work, as the policeman everywhere, in the bus stop. I saw the policeman in the (inaudible). I saw the policeman -- I was (inaudible) when one people told when they look at one man (inaudible).

ROBERTSON (voice-over): Other nearby residents describe seeing ambulances, fire trucks, and heavily armed police around the cemetery where Clifford was captured. The police believe it was a targeted incident, but aren't specifying how he knew the Clifford family, although he appears close in ages to Hunt's daughters. The BBC called the murders utterly devastating in a statement released to staff. Late into the evening, police investigators were still searching for evidence in the cemetery. However, they are not at this time searching for any other suspects.

And it really goes without saying almost that a triple --