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Anderson Cooper 360 Degrees
Harris Holds First Georgia Rally As Presumptive Democratic Nominee; Harris Hits Trump At Georgia Rally; Trump In Minnesota: We Will Win State "If They Don't Cheat"; Trump Campaign Harris As "Border Czar" And "Dangerously Liberal" In New Ad; Harris Campaign Offers First Glimpse Of Its Immigration Offensive In New Ad; Acting Secret Service Director, Deputy FBI Director Testify At Senate Hearing On Trump Assassination Attempt And Security Failures; Social Media Account Believed To Belong To Trump Shooter Had Anti-Immigrant Posts, Espoused Political Violence; Israel Says Its Beirut Strike Killed One Of Hezbollah's Top Military Commanders, Who It Blames For Golan Heights Attack. Aired 8-9p ET
Aired July 30, 2024 - 20:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ERIN BURNETT, CNN HOST: As we know, generally, the overview but of course not many of the details as Kamala Harris, of course speaks on the campaign trail tonight. We await JD Vance, the vice presidential nominee for Donald Trump to be speaking at Reno, Nevada -- the all- out, right now.
Thanks so much for joining us; we appreciate your time here on this Tuesday. AC360, with Anderson Cooper begins right now.
[20:00:28]
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN HOST: Tonight on 360: Vice President Harris campaigns in Atlanta, trying to keep a state that Joe Biden turned blue in the Democratic column.
Also tonight, we're joined by one of the leading contenders to be her running mate, the Minnesota governor that started the trend either silly or significant of calling the other side "weird."
Later, what the acting Secret Service chief told lawmakers about the failures that nearly got Donald Trump killed and what they told him, some loudly in return.
Good evening, thanks for joining us.
Dueling campaign appearances tonight, a battleground states, Trump running mate JD Vance in Nevada, Vice President Harris in Atlanta, where she just said this about the former presidents' ambivalence on the question of debating her.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KAMALA HARRIS (D), VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Here is the funny thing about that. So, he won't debate, but he and his running mate, it is interesting to have a lot to say about me.
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
HARRIS: And by the way, don't you find some of their stuff to just be plain weird?
HARRIS: Well, Donald.
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
HARRIS: I do hope you'll reconsider to meet me on the debate stage.
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
HARRIS: Because as the saying goes, if you've got something to say, say it to my face.
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: In just a few moments, we'll be joined by a leading candidate to be her running mate, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz. Whoever she chooses, CNN's MJ Lee is reporting that her campaign is now eyeing a possible announcement within days to be immediately followed by a joint tour through a series of battleground states.
Meantime, in her race to define herself, just before her appearance tonight, the Harris campaign released a new video, some of which he echoed tonight in Atlanta, aimed at addressing criticism of her on the border.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice over): Kamala Harris supports increasing the number of Border Patrol agents. Kamala Harris prosecuted transnational gang members and got them sentencing to prison.
Trump is trying to avoid being sentenced to prison.
There are two choices in this election. The one who will fix our broken immigration system the one who's trying to stop her.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: Now, here's how the Trump campaign is trying to link Harris to the border in their own new ad.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice over): Ten million illegal immigrants, migrant crime out-of-control, fentanyl kills thousands.
HARRIS: We have a secure border.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice over): Kamala Harris, failed, weak, dangerously liberal.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: The former president had no campaign events today though he did appear on in a New York radio show and said this about the vice president and her husband.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP (R) FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES (via phone): She dislikes Jewish people and Israel more than Biden did. If you are Jewish, regardless of Israel, if you're Jewish if you vote for a Democrat, you're a fool. An absolute fool."
SID ROSENBERG, WABC SID & FRIENDS ANCHOR: And they tell me that Harris' husband, Doug Emhoff, Mr. President is Jewish. He's Jewish like Bernie Sanders is Jewish. Are you kidding me, he's a crappy Jew. He's a horrible Jew. So on the way --
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: Donald Trump, who has no history of religious belief or practice, assessing the Jewishness of the husband of Vice President Harris along with that radio host. You could call it a Shanda, but the former president likely doesn't know what that word means, in Yiddish or in English.
The former president also had something to say about his recent remarks to conservative Christians about not having to vote for four years from now or ever again if he returns to White House. Here he is last night on Fox with host Laura Ingraham.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LAURA INGRAHAM, FOX NEWS ANCHOR "THE INGRAHAM ANGLE": They're saying that you said to the crowd of Christians that they won't have to vote in the future.
TRUMP: Yes, let me say what I mean by that. At a tremendous crowd speaking to Christians --
INGRAHAM: Just to be clear, what you're saying -- you're not saying, it's being interpreted as you are not surprised to hear --
TRUMP: No.
INGRAHAM: -- by the left as well. They're never going to have another election. He says he's case saying there's --
TRUMP: That's the first time I've even heard that.
INGRAHAM: So can you even just respond to that.
TRUMP: I said Christians, I started off by saying, just so you understand, you never vote. Christians do not vote well, you have to vote on November 5th, after that you don't have to worry about voting anymore. I don't care because we're going to fix that and the country will be fixed and we won't even need your vote anymore because frankly we will have such love if you don't want to vote anymore, that's okay.
INGRAHAM: But you will leave office after four years.
TRUMP: Of course, by the way, I did last time.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: He did, but tried not to and he is facing felony charges as a result. Also, today, CNN's KFile identified more disparaging remarks JD Vance has made about people without children or as he once said childless cat ladies.
[20:05:06]
You'll recall, he said he was being taken out of context. Well, here's more context shortly before he actually debuted his childless cat lady comments to Tucker Carlson back in 2021. He was speaking about repeatedly the dangers of Americans who don't have children.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. JD VANCE (R) VICE PRESIDENT NOMINEE: Now, let me ask you a question, I'm going to get in trouble for this. This isn't being recorded is it, broadcast live? That's okay, that's all right.
I'm going to get in trouble for this, but I want to ask the question anyway. Consider all of the next-gen of the Democratic Party. What is the one thing that unites every single one of them? Not a single one of them has any children.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: Now, KFiles also uncovered fundraising e-mails along those lines, including one from August of 2021, in which he called Democratic leaders, "childless sociopaths," saying, and I quote, "we've allowed ourselves to be dominated by childless sociopaths."
In a few minutes, I'll talk with Minnesota governor, a potential Harris' running mate, Tim Walz. Right now, let's go to CNN's Eva McKend in Atlanta where the Harris rally just finished up. So, the vice president hit back at Trump's campaign criticism of her when it comes to the border. Talk a little bit of what she said.
EVA MCKEND, CNN NATIONAL POLITICS CORRESPONDENT: Anderson, that's really what stuck out to me, how she talked about the border. Tonight, it became clear that she is not going to allow herself to be pummeled on this issue from Republicans or the former president. She is going to speak the about this in an affirmative way.
She pummeled Trump for squashing bipartisan immigration enforcement bill. A bill, Anderson, that I should note wasn't even popular with all Democrats. She said that if she's elected president, that she would sign that bill into law. And she suggested that he cares more about the issue than the actual border matter at hand.
And so, in addition to reproductive rights and gun violence, it's become clear to me that she's not going to be afraid to talk about the border. Let's listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HARRIS: I was the attorney general of a border state. In that job, I walked underground tunnels between the United States and Mexico on that border with law enforcement officers. I went after transnational gangs, drug cartels, and human traffickers that came into our country illegally. I prosecuted them, and case after case and I won.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: What are you learning about when vice president --
MCKEND: And Anderson, she also needled the former president for seeming to back out of the debate, telling the crowd that if he has something he does say, that he should say it to her face.
And so, this is clear that this is just a very different campaign. You have thousands of people waiting to get in here, sometimes, in the rain and blistering heat, there is so much energy and enthusiasm. And she can make this argument against Trump in a very commanding way.
So that is why Democrats, ultimately, so many of them, wanted to see her at the top of the ticket going up against Trump.
COOPER: Eva McKend, thanks very much. More now, on the Trump-Vance campaign in light of new remarks from the former president about the vice president's Jewish husband and newly uncovered remarks from his running mate, JD Vance, about childless Americans.
Kristen Holmes joins me now.
Kristen, so, Vance is on the campaign trail today. He's been going after Vice President Harris what has he been saying?
KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Anderson, he's blaming her for everything, from inflation, to immigration, to crime. He said that she is responsible for the terrible affordability crisis in America, saying the price of gas, the price of groceries, that these are all things that Harris is behind.
Now, I do want to remind you of one thing, Donald Trump and his team believe that Trump was strongest on three issues when it came to running against president Joe Biden. Those issues were immigration, crime, and inflation. You are going to continue to hear Trump's team hammer that Harris is part of the Biden administration, meaning Harris is part of those policies.
They have seen the polling that shows that Donald Trump is stronger on those issues. They want to beat Harris the same way they were trying to beat President Joe Biden. The big question, of course, remains whether or not that is going to be possible. There's obviously a lot more enthusiasm around Kamala Harris than what we saw around President Joe Biden.
Now, we have seen a very confident JD Vance out there today talking about Harris hitting her hard, saying that it's time for Donald Trump to be back in office. But obviously, this is very different from what we heard in that "Washington Post" exclusive audio that they obtained from a donor event in which JD Vance was much more skeptical saying, that it was a sucker punch when Joe Biden dropped out of the race.
Adding on top of that there were more liabilities with Joe Biden than there were with Harris and mentioning age specifically. So we know obviously, there's a lot of still concern going into this new race.
COOPER: And what else has Vance been talking about in his campaign stops? I mean, does he reference this whole childless cat lady thing or just childless Democrats?
[20:10:12]
HOLMES: No, he hasn't talked about this at all except for interviews, particularly with Megyn Kelly when he was trying to clean up these remarks and say it's about family.
We also heard Donald Trump trying to defend JD Vance for these comments and in interviews saying that this was because JD Vance loves his family. He loves his children.
And we are told for all intents and purposes right now that Donald Trump is sticking with JD Vance, that he has him on the ticket and that he is not looking to replace him at this moment with anyone else despite what you might be hearing from outside allies.
But when it comes to what else JD Vance is saying on the campaign trail, it is almost singularly focused on Kamala Harris because they are still in this race to define Kamala Harris.
They want to paint her in a negative light because they just believe that voters don't know enough about her, but they're racing against both the clock and Harris herself as she's putting out ads to define herself.
COOPER: Kristen Holmes, thanks very much.
Perspective now from CNN political analysts, and "New York Times," national political reporter, Astead Herndon, also CNN chief political correspondent Dana Bash, former Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms who is now a Harris campaign senior adviser, and Republican strategist, Shermichael Singleton.
You know Dana, you have Donald Trump on this radio program talking about the vice president's husband, the radio host brought it up. Trump is agreeing. Trump says, any Jewish person would be a fool to vote for Democrats. Does that work?
DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: He is certainly trying. He's trying very hard and I will tell you that the Harris Campaign released a statement because he wasn't just talking about the idea that Democrats shouldn't vote for Kamala Harris, which he used to do about Joe Biden as well. He denigrated the Second Gentleman as you played at the beginning of the show along with and clearly led by the host of that radio show. The Harris Campaign said "Donald Trump thinks he can score points with Jewish voters by denigrating them. He is wrong," and that really is the key here.
COOPER: By the was Kamala Harris' husband was --
BASH: He's Jew.
COOPER: -- a Jewish and was out front leading the administration's efforts to combat antisemitism in America.
BASH: Correct, correct. which leads me to an important point here, which is it is a historic trope, antisemitic trope to suggest that Jews have to choose between their religion and the country in which they live. The suggestion being that they don't choose the country in which they live because their allegiance is to their religion and maybe even to Israel.
Whether he knows that this is where he is working and what he is talking about, unclear, but he certainly -- it has been pointed out in many, many forums that this kind of talk is based in millennia-long antisemitism.
COOPER: I want to play another clip of JD Vance, recently surfaced clip about people without children.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
VANCE: I worry that it makes people more sociopathic and ultimately our whole country a little bit less mentally stable. Well of course, you talk about going on Twitter. Final point I'll make is, you go on Twitter and almost always the people who are most deranged and most psychotic are people who don't have kids at home.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: Astead, I mean, it is remarkable, all these things that come out clearly and I don't know if the Trump Campaign knew about some of these comments in advance, but it, I mean more and more of them keep coming out.
ASTEAD HERNDON, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Yes. You asked the question, did they do a kind of scrubbing effort, but the real answer is this is the reason the Tucker Carlsons of the world were pushing JD Vance.
He has been kind of in this MAGA masculinity ecosystem for a long time and that's part of the reason he's gained a bunch of fans around him.
I think Republicans have a problem on their hands because for a long time, this world has existed in its own silo. And so, a lot of Republican elected have been going on these programs and talking about people in this crass derogatory way. And it just frankly hasn't travel outside of it. I think this is going to be interesting because JD Vance has a long history of kind of making the childless cat lady his enemy. And I don't think that that's something that obviously grows the tent, but this is a choice that wasn't meant to grow the tent.
The reason that people are asking the question of, was Donald Trump smart to pick JD Vance, is because it was a doubling down on that MAGA ideology. He wasn't trying to expand out. He was really trying to further kind of where he is and I think now, we are seeing with a different candidate on the Democratic side, the ceiling, the electoral ceiling that Donald Trump has, but he didn't seek to expand with JD Vance is now looking a little -- it's easier for Democrats to catch now that they've switch from Biden to Harris.
[20:15:04]
COOPER: Mayor Bottoms, I mean, assuming watching Vice President Harris in that rally tonight because clearly she seems to be enjoying it. I mean, she seemed more comfortable than I have ever seen her making a big speech like this.
Certainly, from the first time she ran back in 2020, it is -- you know, there's also the energy from the crowd which is clearly different than what we saw for President Biden out on the campaign trail and you juxtapose the message she's delivering tonight versus the kind of frankly attacks that are coming from Donald Trump. I mean, calling her a bum, all these other really derogatory terms.
KEISHA LANCE BOTTOMS (D) FORMER ATLANTA MAYOR: Yes, I had an opportunity to greet the vice president before she came on stage today and the first thing I said to her is, you are on the fire and she absolutely is.
But this is the Kamala Harris that so many of us have known for a very long time. We've seen this Kamala Harris campaign before in previous races. I saw her campaign when she was running for senator and she is a very confident woman and she now has opportunity to show the entire nation how capable she is and prepared to be the president of the United States.
There were nearly 10,000 people in this arena. The energy was simply amazing. It was representative for the state of Georgia. This is a very diverse state, one of the most diverse states in the country and you saw people of all races here and it was just an incredible gathering.
And to think that we only had literally a day's notice as to where we would even be today. We got the note that said I believe yesterday as to where the rally would actually be held. So, I think this really speaks to the excitement that we are going to take into November with this election.
We were blue in 2020, taking two senators along with us and that absolutely was not a fluke.
COOPER: Shermichael, JD Vance also went after Harris earlier today claiming the country wouldn't be as safe under her presidency. I want to play that.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
VANCE: She also wants to confiscate firearms from law-abiding American citizens, in other words she wants to abolish your Second Amendment rights even as she lets more and more dangerous criminals on the street and we're not going to let her.
Kamala Harris as president, law-abiding citizens are going to struggle, they're going to be sitting ducks. But we're not going to let it happen.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: How effective do you think he is being in this. I mean, do you think -- because it does seem like Trump is using -- is just trying to figure out still how to go after, obviously, they're going to use her record from running back in 2020. Although frankly, Donald Trump has changed all of his positions over time as has JD Vance.
SHERMICHAEL SINGLETON, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: Look, Anderson, I don't think the American people writ large are moved by meretricious acts. But I think if you're going to paint a contrast between your philosophical governing style and that of your opponent in an electoral contest which this is, then you are going to highlight differences on issues such as crime, issues such as immigration, the economy, cost of living, national security, foreign policy.
And that is what I think Trump and Vance should do more of and less of the personal attacks against the vice president, particularly as it pertains to women who are Republicans have struggled for two years now as a result of the overturning of Roe vs. Wade.
So, we are already entering into this contest, struggling with a key demographic group that Republicans, once upon a time did mathematically very well with. But I think if you paint the contrast of the kitchen table issues where the data has suggested for about a year-and-a-half or two now, that most Americans are principally concerned about their day-to-day living. If you can paint the picture of how you will govern differently to improve that for the standard average person, then I think you're having a winning contest of ideas.
But the minute it becomes personal, I think you begin to lose people, particularly that four to five percent in the middle that are going to be incredibly necessary for Republicans to perform well in November.
COOPER: Dana, Shermichael is talking about a contest of ideas and we don't hear a lot of ideas coming from Donald Trump. I mean, if you listen to his speech, long and rambling though it was at his convention. It wasn't full of policy prescriptions. It was, oh, I'm going to fix the war in Ukraine in 24 hours. The war in Israel would never have happened if -- I mean, there's no details there.
BASH: And there never was, if you go back to 2016, I remember and I know you did as well trying to pin him down on, you want to repeal Obamacare, what are you going to replace it with? [20:20:05]
COOPER: He was going to repeal Obamacare on day one --
BASH: Right.
COOPER: -- within 24 hours.
BASH: Right.
COOPER: And it was going to be great and everybody would still have coverage on pre-existing conditions.
BASH: And guess what? It didn't matter. Hillary Clinton had reams, and reams, and reams, and reams of policy proposals and that is what to me was so striking about watching Vice President Harris tonight.
And that is, Donald Trump won in 2016 because of how he made people feel. He made people feel heard. He made people feel angry but he made people feel something.
Kamala Harris made people feel tonight. You could see it. It wasn't just the crowd size, which is going to make Donald Trump not happy. But it was the energy there, which is something that you can't prescribe with a whitepaper. And it's not necessarily what, I mean, of course, people want to know what a candidate and a potential president is going to do to make your lives better. But people also want to be excited about somebody.
COOPER: It's so interesting because, not a lot of people have figured out ever how to run against Donald Trump to Dana's point. She may, again, we haven't seen them facing off in a debate. We haven't seen them -- with her off prompter extensively talking about him. So, there's a lot that remains to be seen.
But her kind of having fun with this and even her use of the term weird, which Tom Friedman had criticized, but it is, it is sort of emasculating and taking away -- it's almost not sort of taking him seriously to his face in a way the other candidates, like Marco Rubio tried criticizing the size of his hands, but that certainly didn't work and fell flat.
HERNDON: Yes and I think this plays to Kamala Harris has strengths. I mean, she's correct to say that she has dealt with bullies before. She has dealt with people who have kind of used a projection of masculinity that's meant to intimidate before. And this is frankly someone who was unmoved by that, who's motivated to frankly cut that type of attitude down.
I've sat across from Kamala Harris, I tried to ask her questions and things like that. And this is someone who likes a fight, who is comfortable in a fight. And so, I think when I think about the contrast that she is going to try to make here, it's one that plays to her strengths. And I think frankly, it's one that Donald Trump hasn't seen before. This is a different type of candidate, and this is different than 2016. The fear about a woman at the top of the ticket is different. Dobbs as a motivating issue is different and those conditions have made it better for her even in it was four years ago.
COOPER: Everyone, thanks. Coming up next, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, a possible running mate on the Harris ticket. He joins me and later too, campaign strategists who play major roles in Democratic and Republican presidential campaigns. What they see in this one and where they see it going, what is now an unprecedented sprint in November.
We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[20:27:05]
COOPER: Just moments ago in Atlanta, as you saw, Vice President Harris use a word to describe her opponents, and our next guest was, we believe the first to deploy the word is "weird."
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HARRIS: Here is the funny thing about that, so he won't debate, but he and his running mate sure seem to have a lot to say about me.
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
HARRIS: And by the way, don't you find some of their stuff to just be plain weird.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: Minnesota Governor Tim Walz is the one who started the whole weird ball rolling and just last night he said this about the former president on a zoom call with the group "White Dudes for Harris."
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GOV. TIM WALZ (D-MN): Keep hammering on these guys. This idea of calling them out for who they are, shrank them. Is he a danger to society? Yes. Is he a danger to women's health? Yes. Is he a danger to world peace? Yes. But don't give him more credit than he needs.
He's just a strange, weird dude.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: And Governor Tim Walz joins us now. Governor good to have you on the program. So, you started --
WALZ: Thank you.
COOPER: -- we believe that term "weird," Democrats are certainly running with it. Tom Friedman with "The New York Times," said in a column recently, he said, "I cannot think of a sillier more playground, more foolish and more counterproductive political taunt for Democrats to seize on and calling Trump and his supporters 'weird'."
He went on to say that nobody beats the former president in the arena of name calling. What do you say to Friedman? Do you worry that this is somehow playing into Trump's hands, like, what Marco Rubio tried to do?
WALZ: No, it's not a name calling or tagging him with it. It's an observation and I didn't come up with it. People around, you know, that I'm with, around Southern Minnesota, relatives and Republicans.
Look, Donald Trump is a threat to all those things, but we somehow put it in there that that he had this power, that there wasn't anything we could do about. This is a tool, I'm a teacher and you're trying to get things in. This is the emperor wearing no clothes, and once you take that away from him, it opens up the space to start asking the questions.
Who is asking to take away reproductive rights and birth control? Who is asking to raise the price of insulin? Who's asking to have tax cuts for the wealthy while we take away veterans' benefits? These are all things that are in Trump's proposal. You don't get that space if people feel like they're intimidated or this guy has this going on.
So, I disagree with Tom. It's not about that. Look, I've dealt with bullies, I had 20 years in the classroom. This is about making sure you take away this perceived power he has, and in most cases with bullies, he doesn't have that.
So, this opened up the space for what you're seeing in Atlanta, politics of joy, that many of our younger people have not seen an optimism. He doesn't scare Vice President Harris, but he opens up this idea that your previous guests were asking about, where's the plan?
He doesn't have one and these weird ideas, I'll stay to that. I still say this. People can feel this. Why does the guy never laugh? Like, we laugh with people but laughing at people? And why are you talking about Hannibal Lecter.
You've got Vice President Harris down there talking about making childcare more affordable, things that really impact families. So, I disagree with Tom.
[20:30:05]
COOPER: It does seem -- what's interesting to me about it when I first started to notice it, is it's a way of dealing with the former president which no one else kind of figured out before and a lot of people have tried which is, I mean, it's just -- it's like -- it's sort of discounting him in a way, like, sort of brushing him aside in a way that he doesn't really know how to respond to because he is humorless.
He doesn't, you know, he doesn't have a sense of poking fun at himself, it does not play to -- he doesn't know how to respond to this.
WALZ: He doesn't. Classroom bully. I'm sorry, I did that too long, and I -- and this guy -- he's not offering anything. And I want to be very clear, I'm not speaking about the people at his rallies. Those are my relatives. Those are folks that are there. And look, he would be entertaining --
COOPER: Because that's what Republicans are saying. They're saying, oh, you're calling Trump and all his supporters weird.
WALZ: That is exactly the last thing I'm saying. I'm saying these are folks -- like I said, these are my neighbors, they're there. These are good people. They're going there because, yes, they're disenfranchised. Not why J.D. Vance thinks, he gets that all wrong.
I grew up in a town of 400 and graduated with 24 classmates, 12 cousins. I know these people. They're -- this isn't what this is about. I'm talking about those people there that we need to make the case to them. These are people that Democrats, they felt like Democrats have spoken down to them that we've not gotten enriched where they're at, that they're trying to be who they are.
That's what J.D. Vance's stick is, talking about guns. I guarantee you he can't shoot pheasants like I can. And that's a part of saying, but you know what, I guarantee I don't want weapons of war in classrooms. And there's no reason that you can't have reasonable restrictions around that without infringing on your Second Amendment.
He's going in there throwing these things around that makes a difference. Democrats need to go into these places. I'm going to go in every Legion hall I can go into and say, Vice President Harris will not cut your benefits. I sat in the VA committee for 12 years to increase those benefits with Republicans like Jeff Miller from Florida.
This guy wants to cut them because it's in the 2025. We need to be bolder on that. We need to go out and say that. I'm not talking to those people at all other than we got a better plan for you.
COOPER: The former president was in your home state, Minnesota, on Saturday. I just want to play a little bit of what he had to say.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: If they don't cheat, we win this state easily, OK? They cheat. They have no shame. They cheat. Do you understand that? You crooked people. They're the most crooked.
They cheat. They cheated in the last election. And they're going to cheat in this election. But we're going to get them.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: We should note, the former president lost Minnesota in 2020. Do you think he could win Minnesota in 2024? And obviously, if you want to respond to the allegations of fraud which is not true. WALZ: Yes, they're not true. I think he thinks he's in Venezuela or something. Look, he's trying to complete his -- we're in a state of hockey. He lost in '16, he lost in '20, he'll lose in '24. Hat trick. That's what he's going to get. But that's what he does.
This is dangerous stuff. Don't normalize this. But what I say is, is do the work. We're going to have more people on the ground. I just came from a brewery over in St. Paul. A group of folks got together, about 100. They were going to try and raise $40,000.
Hundreds and hundreds, they raised $150,000 in three days. Signs all over, people are out. We're going to do the work. Yes. Could he win Minnesota? Yes. But you know what you have to do with Minnesota? You have to have a plan. You have to tell the voters why it matters. And you have to have ground game to get out there.
We vote at a higher rate than anybody else does. And I will tell you this, there are Republicans that are insulted. Minnesota's elections. We have a higher voting rate, we vote, and our elections are secure. He's dismissing those people, many of them Republicans, Republican election judges. But that's who he is, he's got nothing to offer.
So, yes, he thinks he can, but look, he's endorsed Canada against me in three or four races. He said he'd win Minnesota, he will lose again. And that's -- this is where it ends, it ends in the blue wall. So --
COOPER: What we --
WALZ: So what it's going to be.
COOPER: You know, it seems like the Trump team is, you know, coalescing around this, you know, obviously this idea of going after Harris on as the most liberal, you know, trying to saddle her with all the criticisms that they were using for the Biden administration.
We have not seen -- I mean, she started to do that. She pushed back today on that in her address. She very quickly pivoted to the deal, which the former president, which, you know, the bipartisan deal, which he told his members, his Republicans in the Senate --
WALZ: Yes.
COOPER: -- not to follow through on and killed that deal. That seems to be what her response is going to be. Is that enough? I mean, clearly she has a record of, you know, statements she made the last time she ran for president that is going to be used against her.
WALZ: Yes, well, they're going to say whatever they're going to say. We just need to have good proposals. There's things that we can do. I think we need to acknowledge to folks that every nation in the United States needs to control its border. And I will add the northern border, which Minnesota is on.
But you can do that using the right tools and the Lankford-Sinema bill that he did kill would have done that. The border patrol agents endorsed it. These are folks who know what needs to be done, but he's not interested in solving the problem. What Democrats need to do is acknowledge, and he has ginned up fear, but our border can work better.
It doesn't -- there's no reason someone seeking asylum, which we will always be a guiding light for, shouldn't have to wait seven years to have that adjudicated. That's why this bill would have made it 90 days and people either got it or they were removed.
[20:35:10]
And I think seeing a plan that's out there talking about it with folks, knowing that he's not going to do anything, you know, he talks about this wall, I always say, let me know how high it is. If it's 25 feet, then I'll invest in the 30 foot ladder factory. That's not how you stop this.
You stop this using electronics, you stop it using more border control agents, and you stop it by having a legal system that allows for that tradition of allowing folks to come here, just like my relatives did to come here, be able to work and establish the American dream. He's not interested in that. He wants to demonize.
Look, we produce most of the turkeys that you're going to eat in Thanksgiving. Those are immigrants working hard, establishing themselves here. What's he going to do? Is he going to take them all out? And how does the economy going to work?
These people -- my neighbors, whether they're Republican or Democrats, don't want to demonize their neighbors. They just want a safe border. She's got a plan. The Lankford-Sinema bill was a big key to it, and Donald Trump doesn't want it. He thrives on chaos.
COOPER: Yes.
WALZ: He thrives on this idea that it's only him.
COOPER: Governor Tim Walz, I appreciate your time tonight. Thank you.
WALZ: Thanks, Anderson.
COOPER: Coming up next, the reasons behind the urgent campaign to define Kamala Harris on both sides from two strategists who've helped run presidential campaigns next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COOPER: As we mentioned tonight, both the Trump and Harris campaigns are rushing to define the Vice President. In a new ad today, the former president doubled down on laboring -- labeling her the border czar.
TRUMP: I am Donald J. Trump, and I approve this message.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is America's border czar and she's failed us. Under Harris, over 10 million illegally here. A quarter of a million Americans dead from fentanyl, brutal migrant crimes. And ISIS now here.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do you have any plans to visit the border? You haven't been to the border.
KAMALA HARRIS, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: And I haven't been to Europe. I mean, I don't understand the point that you're making.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Kamala Harris failed, weak, dangerously liberal.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: Well, now here's part of the new Harris campaign ad.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: On the border, the choice is simple. Kamala Harris supports increasing the number of Border Patrol agents. Donald Trump blocked a bill to increase the number of Border Patrol agents. Kamala Harris prosecuted transnational gang members and got them sentenced to prison. Trump is trying to avoid being sentenced to prison.
There's two choices in this election. The one who will fix our broken immigration system, and the one who's trying to stop her.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: Joining me now is 2012 Obama campaign manager Jim Messina. Stuart Stevens, a former Republican political consultant who was a presidential campaign strategist for George W. Bush and Mitt Romney. He's also the author of "The Conspiracy to End America: Five Ways My Old Party is Driving Our Democracy to Autocracy."
So Jim, we just saw those two dueling ads. What do you make the strategies from both campaigns to try to define Harris?
[20:40:01]
JIM MESSINA, CEO, THE MESSINA GROUP: Well, I get it when Stuart and I were going after each other in 2012, my theory was, we need to define Mitt Romney before he gets out of the gate. And so that's what they're trying to do to Kamala Harris. I think she's very smart, Anderson, to push back very hard and say, we're not going to allow this and to try to make it a choice.
I used to say to Obama, elections have to be choices. And I think they're trying to set up the choice in a very smart way.
COOPER: What do you see that choice as?
MESSINA: A plan, someone who has a plan and then trying to put Donald Trump back as the incumbent to say, look, he could have done this. He could have passed a bill. He killed the Sinema-Lankford bill and trying to make that the clear choice in this election. I think both Stuart and I would agree, smart campaigns make these things a choice.
COOPER: Stuart, how do you see both, you know, the efforts right now to define her?
STUART STEVENS, FORMER REPUBLICAN POLITICAL CONSULTANT: Yes, look, I think the whole premise of the Trump campaign is that America is a really dangerous place, that you're afraid to go out of your door, that there's these evil people out there, and he's a strong man that's going to protect you.
And I just don't think that's the reality that most people are living in. Violent crime is down. I think that most people go about their lives. They're pretty content with it. They're not afraid to go out. You know, really, it is -- the Trump campaign has turned -- Trumpism has turned the Republican Party into not the country of the brave, home of the brave, it's the weak, it's the fearful.
There's all these forces out there, like Canada, that is out to get America, to declare Canada a national security threat. And I think it's really completely contrary to what it means to embrace being an American. We like optimism, we like looking forward. And I think Harris just embodies that so much more.
COOPER: Jim, I want to play some of what the former president said about Vice President Harris in an interview that aired on Fox tonight.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: I think they'll walk all over.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: How so?
TRUMP: I think they'll look at her. I think they'll walk all over. She'll be so easy for them. She'll be like a (INAUDIBLE). They look at her and they say we can't believe we got so lucky. They're going to walk all over her. And I don't want to say as to why, but a lot of people understand it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: It was -- that interview was last night, like a play toy, he says. I mean, it's a knock he often uses against women that they're weak. They don't have the strength to, you know, do what a man does.
MESSINA: It is just a crazy strategy because it's just going to piss women off, Anderson. What have we seen since the Dobbs decision? These polls have been wrong in election after election because they underestimate women turnout. And they underestimate women saying enough is enough and Trump is playing exactly into that.
He's trying to scare male voters and he's exactly as Stuart said. There's no hope. There's no optimism. There's no -- this is why you should vote for me. It is just trying to demonize his opponent. And I don't think that's what America is. I think America is about optimism and why you've seen this incredible boom for Harris in the first nine days is because Democrats are excited. There's optimism and that's the clear difference between these two candidates.
COOPER: Stuart, it is also odd that he would use the term play toy. I mean, given his record of dalliances outside of marriage. Given all the controversy -- well, actually, Stuart, let me ask you, what do you see that the Harris campaign, I mean, given the short amount of time, and she's had something of a honeymoon obviously since announcing, it's been very positive, you know, a lot of positive news that she's been able to, to generate and there's been obviously a lot of excitement to talk about and see, can that continue through -- I mean does that continue through the convention? Or do you see it now -- I mean, is now the hardest point now that they sort of the Republicans start to kind of coalesce around how to go after her?
STEVENS: Well, one thing that's going to be different is the Harris campaign has a lot of money. They have a lot of resources and they have a lot of energy. You know, I think what we're seeing is something that doesn't happen very often in American politics. I think it happened with the Obama campaign. I think it probably happened with the Reagan campaign.
That your choice to vote for the Vice President is not just about her, it's about who you are. You and what kind of country do you want to live in. And that really, I think, is very, very powerful. And the Lincoln Project, we've always found, one of the most effective things we do is to say, is this who you are?
You know, hold up a Marjorie Taylor Greene, hold up like a Donald Trump, the guy in the Camp Auschwitz sweatshirt. Is this really who you want to be? And I think that Trump is betting on an America that really doesn't -- certainly isn't the majority of Americans. I mean, if somebody moved in next door to most suburban families who were white, who was non-white or a different religion, I think they go out of their way to show their kids that they'd be welcoming.
They're not afraid of that. That's really not what this is about. So, I think it, you know, races become about something, usually.
[20:45:01]
And I think this is becoming about the future versus the past, and what kind of America do you want to live in? And Trump is a guy who's against mandatory vaccines in schools. So he's like pro-polio, pro- whooping cough candidate.
COOPER: Stuart Stevens, Jim Messina, thank you.
Next, the new acting director of the Secret Service is grilling by lawmakers on the failure to protect Donald Trump from a would-be assassin.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COOPER: On Capitol Hill today, Senate lawmakers heard from the new acting director of the Secret Service about the attempts on Donald Trump's life earlier this month. Ronald Rowe testified along with the deputy FBI director, both vowing to boost security measures. At one point, Rowe had this heated exchange with Republican Senator Josh Hawley, who wants Secret Service personnel involved with the rally to be fired. RONALD ROWE, ACTING SECRET SERVICE DIRECTOR: You're asking me, Senator, to completely make a rush to judgment about somebody failing. I acknowledge this was a failure of the Secret Service --
SEN. JOSH HAWLEY (R), MISSOURI: Is it not prima facie that somebody has failed? The former president was shot.
[20:50:03]
ROWE: Sir, this could have been our Texas school book depository. I have lost sleep over that for the last 17 days, just like you have.
HAWLEY: Then fire somebody to hold them accountable.
ROWE: And I will tell you, Senator --
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: Joining us with more is CNN's Evan Perez. So what did the acting director say about the lack of communications between law enforcement agencies at the rally?
EVAN PEREZ, CNN SENIOR JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Well, the acting director said, Anderson, that essentially the communications were siloed. You had local law enforcement agencies and officers communicating with each other, sending those photographs that you and I have been talking about over the last couple of nights, these photographs of this suspicious person who they were looking for, and they were sending them on text messages.
One of the things he talked about is that essentially there was a very bad cell phone service in that area. And so the radios that the Secret Service were on would not exactly the radios that the local police were on. And, you know, the lack of service is one of the reasons why, for instance, they didn't have a counter drone operations there to defeat the drone that the shooter used a couple of hours before the shooting. So a number of problems communications wise that led to the cascade of failures that day, Anderson.
COOPER: What about the motive for the shooter? Is that any closer to being known?
PEREZ: Still a puzzle for the FBI. Paul Abbate, the deputy director, did forever tell us about a new account that they've been investigating. There's an account that we now know is on YouTube. This is from 2018 -- I'm sorry, 2019, 2020, so he was about 15 years old at the time.
And it was posting things about violence, about antisemitism, and anti-immigration points of view. We also heard about another account on a right leaning site or a social media site called Gab. Now the CEO of that company said that the postings on there were more pro-Biden. So it appears to be a mix of things that were coming from this young man when he was 16 years, 15 years old a few years ago. Certainly, nothing more recent to indicate a motive or an ideology according to the FBI, Anderson. COOPER: And the acting director, did he lay out any changes the agency is going to be making?
PEREZ: Absolutely. They say not only are they, of course, getting ready for the DNC, we have the presumptive nominee Kamala Harris, who now is getting upgraded service, but also J.D. Vance, and everybody, everything basically has been revamped as a result of what happened on July 13th.
COOPER: All right. Evan Perez, thanks so much.
Still to come, what Israel is saying about its deadly strike in Lebanon today in retaliation for the weekend attack that killed 12 children in the Golan Heights. A live report from Beirut next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[20:56:51]
COOPER: Tonight, Israel says it killed one of Hezbollah's top military commanders in a strike in Beirut, Lebanon. Now, Lebanese state news reports at least three other people were killed, more than 70 injured. Israel has blamed the commander for Saturday's rocket attack in the Golan Heights that killed 12 children on a soccer field.
CNN's Ben Wedeman joins us now from Beirut. So, what are the implications if what the IDF says is true about killing the commander?
BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, this commander, Fuad Shukr, is by far the most senior Hezbollah military commander to be killed by Israel since the outbreak of hostilities last October. Now, what we've seen in the past when senior field commanders were killed by Israel, Hezbollah did let loose with some fairly intense barrages on Israeli positions along the border, given that he is a senior commander and perhaps the most senior commander killed in Hezbollah since 2008 when Israel assassinated Imad Mughniyeh in Damascus.
The -- we can anticipate a fairly strong response. However, Hezbollah is known not to want to go to full scale war with Israel. The Lebanese have already paid a high price as a result of these hostilities. More than 100,000 Lebanese have been forced to leave their homes in the south.
If Hezbollah engages in something that will provoke a massive Israeli response, the number of people affected will be far greater. And there might be pushback from Lebanese who do not support Hezbollah. And there are many of them. So they have to calibrate their response. There will be a response. The question is just how large it will be. Anderson?
COOPER: I mean, there's been concern about an all-out war between Israel and Hezbollah, which we saw back in 2006. What are the chances of that?
WEDEMAN: We're sort of on the edge of the abyss. As I said, both sides really don't want a full scale war. I think the Israelis, after 10 months of war in Gaza, perhaps don't have the appetite for that, even though there is intense political pressure on Prime Minister Netanyahu to bring quiet to Israel's northern border. And at the same time, there are many restraints on Hezbollah.
But the problem is that in a situation like this, where both sides want to push to a certain extent, send a message, but not go too far. The problem is one of them might make a mistake. For instance, the strike that killed the 12 children in the Golan Heights on Saturday, it's widely believed that was a mistake by Hezbollah.
That was not their intended target. So mistakes happen and mistakes can oftentimes, despite the sort of the intentions of the warring parties. Any wrong move, any mistake could really unleash the kind of regional war, because let's not forget, Iran backs Hezbollah, the Houthis in Yemen, the militias in Syria and Iraq.
And if push comes to shove, they will all become involved in this -- in a war between Hezbollah and Israel, and then all bets are off. So we're at a very dangerous moment. And I think in the next few days, we'll see if it's just going to be a flare up or something much, much worse. Anderson?
COOPER: Ben Wedeman, thanks very much. I appreciate it.
The news continues. The Source with Kaitlan Collins starts now. See you tomorrow.
