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The Lead with Jake Tapper
Presidential Candidates Courting Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez; Protesters Storm Biden's Campaign HQ Demanding Commitments For Separated Migrant Families; Warren Confronted At Campaign Event, Makes Promise On Israeli Occupations; U.K. Ambassador Resigns After Trump Attacks Him Over Leaked Cable; Girls Celebrate Their Role Models At World Cup Parade. Aired 4:30-5p ET
Aired July 10, 2019 - 16:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[16:30:00]
PAUL BEGALA, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: The Trump administration called to cut that fund by 80 percent. He was asked about it at the press conference. He says, well, that's just Washington. Congress put the money back in. It's no big deal.
When you have a record like that of giving a wrist-slap to a sex trafficker, and now your job is to enforce the laws on sex trafficker, and you're trying to repeal the money Congress is giving you to do it, yes, I think it's a pretty good case he ought to go.
RYAN LIZZA, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: And as Barbara goes, this has been a huge issue for conservatives, especially in the evangelical community, over the last decade.
(CROSSTALK)
BARBARA COMSTOCK (R-VA), FORMER U.S. CONGRESSWOMAN: And that's why -- and it has been a bipartisan issue that we have worked together on.
And so, please, let's focus on these women and getting them justice, because we have talked a lot about these guys in the Trump administration. Secretaries come and go every week.
So, you know, I think the real important thing here is how these women are going to get justice.
JAKE TAPPER, CNN ANCHOR: Everyone, stick around.
President Trump says he could no longer work with him. And now the British ambassador is going out the door, but major questions remain about the impact of what he said about President Trump.
Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[16:35:35]
TAPPER: The 2020 lead now.
Today, another Democratic candidate is cozying up to the freshman congresswoman who has become something of a progressive phenomenon. By that, I'm referring to New York City Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, with whom Senator and presidential candidate Kamala Harris is today introducing legislation aimed at helping people with criminal records get housing.
As CNN's Kyung Lah now reports, many Democratic presidential hopefuls want AOC's progressive star power, with perhaps one notable exception.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KYUNG LAH, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Senator Kamala Harris teaming up with Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. Harris and the freshman congresswoman introduced joint legislation aimed at helping people with criminal records fairly obtain housing, planting a flag on the left, as Harris hopes to highlight her progressive creds.
It's called the unofficial AOC primary, 2020 Democratic hopefuls vying to be seen as Ocasio-Cortez's ally.
SEN. ELIZABETH WARREN (D-MA), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: And we're teaming up today.
LAH: Elizabeth Warren has hailed her alliance with Ocasio-Cortez, from this video slamming Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin, to a more lighthearted conversation about gendered portrayal of women in "Game of Thrones."
SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (D-VT), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I am delighted to be here with Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.
LAH: But Ocasio-Cortez has also formed with Bernie Sanders. They have teamed up on legislation and stumped together for progressive candidates in the 2018 midterms.
SANDERS: There is no middle ground.
LAH: As Sanders rallies progressives in his bid for 2020, Ocasio- Cortez has echoed his very words.
REP. ALEXANDRIA OCASIO-CORTEZ (D-NY): I will be damned if the same politicians who refused to act then are going to try to come back today and say, we need a middle-of-the-road approach to save our lives.
LAH: That was an apparent reference to Joe Biden. He's questioned whether Ocasio-Cortez's political brand has mass appeal.
JOSEPH BIDEN (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I think Ocasio-Cortez is a brilliant, bright woman. But she won a primary. In the general election fights, who won? Mainstream Democrats who are very progressive on social issues and very strong on education, health care.
LAH: In the crowded 2020 field, progressive Democrats believe Ocasio- Cortez's endorsement could help separate one hopeful from the rest.
Earlier this month, Ocasio-Cortez signaled who's grabbing her eye.
OCASIO-CORTEZ: What I would like to see in a presidential candidate is one that has a coherent world view and logic from which all these policy proposals are coming forward. I think Senator Sanders has that. I also think Senator Warren has that.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LAH: Now, Kamala Harris is scheduled to arrive here in Brooklyn shortly. She is hosting a fund-raiser here in New York tonight.
And, Jake, this is the very first fund-raiser where she is allowing reporters and cameras in -- Jake.
TAPPER: All right, Kyung Lah in Brooklyn, thank you so much.
Coming up, a pointed message from Speaker Pelosi about tweeting, but it was not aimed at President Trump. Instead, it was aimed at her own Democratic Caucus.
Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[16:43:15]
TAPPER: And we're back with our 2020 lead.
Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez becoming a key person in the Democratic race, as multiple Democratic presidential candidates try to team up with the popular progressive. She's also a source of tension, I should note.
Speaker Nancy Pelosi, according to a source, in today's caucus meeting, Pelosi said -- quote -- "You got a complaint, you come and talk to me about it, but do not tweet about our members and expect us to think that that is just OK."
I believe that...
(CROSSTALK)
COMSTOCK: It's "The Godfather." Don't go outside the family.
LIZZA: She is not happy. She is not on board with the AOC mania in the party.
This is -- there's been several instances now where they have butted heads. When she's been asked in on-the-record interviews, she has been a little bit dismissive of AOC occasionally. And she's basically -- she's a little bit old-school, in this sense politically, respect the seniority system, respect the leaders in the House, and don't take to social media to settle -- to take your grievances there. Do it internally. TAPPER: Paul, how do you see AOC? Is she a strength for the party?
Is she a liability in any ways?
BEGALA: On balance, a huge strength. She's a phenom. She's a comet. She's amazing.
COMSTOCK: She's a socialist.
BEGALA: But she got where she is by winning a primary, by getting precisely 15,897 votes.
You want to be president of the United States, you need about 75 million votes, many of whom don't live in the Bronx.
TAPPER: Or Queens, right.
BEGALA: Or Queens, her district.
What she did was really remarkable. And I don't take anything away from her. And I think the Democrats are lucky to have her.
But Nancy Pelosi understands that she got her majority, put AOC in the majority, by winning in places like Oklahoma and Utah and Georgia and Texas. And Bronx socialism ain't going to play there.
So Pelosi is right here.
[16:45:00] And AOC has a phenomenal gift and great talent but she does need to listen to our Speaker who's -- who really knows what she's doing, who's trying to get the country moving to progressive direction.
TAPPER: And Congresswoman, I want to show you this video of today protesters stormed Joe Biden's campaign headquarters in Philadelphia. Organizers say that these are immigrant -- I guess it's a photograph, not a video. These are immigrant family separated during the Obama and Biden time in office. They want Biden to apologize for the separations that took place at that period and commit to ending all detentions and deportations if elected.
I mean, you know, we talk a lot about how there were also things going on at the border with the undocumented community under Obama and Biden. Obama deported many of them and here you have a group taking Biden on the issue, a Liberal group.
COMSTOCK: Well, it is amazing that you have Nancy Pelosi who is always really the far left wing is now the middle of her party and Joe Biden is now recast as a right-winger. I don't see Joe that way but that is where the party is going.
And to have this socialist who is being universally praised and catered to, someone who hasn't passed any legislation, hasn't really had -- aside from getting the 15,000 votes has a pretty sparse record. But I think it just shows you how far left the party has gone.
TAPPER: And also, Abby, I want to show you this. Sen. Elizabeth Warren was caught in a similar situation in the fact with Progressive activists coming to her. A group of young American Progressive Jews caught her at a campaign event on Monday. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We'd really love it if you also pushed the Israeli government to end occupation --
SEN. ELIZABETH WARREN (D-MA), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Yes, yes. I'm there.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Excellent.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TAPPER: So we would love it if you push the Israeli government to end occupation, referring to the West Bank and Warren said yes, yes, I'm there. That is a major foreign policy decision.
(CROSSTALK)
ABBY PHILLIP, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: I mean, maybe -- and you know, we shouldn't put it -- put it past her that that is exactly what she meant. However, it just goes to show -- I mean, these candidates are being confronted not just on the right but on the left. And these activists are getting in their faces, asking those questions, putting it on video. We saw this in the 2016 campaign with Hillary Clinton, it makes a big difference.
In California, on the environment, people are being caught up with that too. It is a big problem. People have to be prepared.
TAPPER: And be sure to tune in to the next Democratic presidential primary debates only on CNN. My colleagues Dana Bash and Don Lemon join me in moderating both nights July 30th and 31st. That's live from Detroit, Michigan.
Coming up, how concerned should our allies be after President Trump's insults forced the British Ambassador out of the door and out of a job? Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[16:50:00] TAPPER: And we're back with our "WORLD LEAD." The British Ambassador who sent private cables highly critical of President Trump resigned this morning. Sir Kim Darroch endured days of personal and public attacks by the President after a series of diplomatic memos leaked where Darroch said President Trump, "radiates insecurity" among other observations.
CNN National Security Reporter, Kylie Atwood joins me now. So Kylie, so what's the deal? There is no U.K. ambassador to the U.S.?
KYLIE ATWOOD, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY REPORTER: Well, there is. So Ambassador Darroch said he is going to be resigning. He made that very clear in the letter that he wrote this morning saying that it became impossible for him to do his job after these leaked cables and after the response from President Trump on Twitter himself.
But the question here is who are -- who are the Brits going to put to fill these shoes, and obviously, this was a very abrupt situation. And so government officials in Britain are still trying to figure this out. And over the coming days, they're going to decide if the deputy ambassador is going to take over or if it is going to be someone new who they are going to name as the official ambassador.
But right now though Ambassador Darroch is going to be resigning, he's still the official ambassador to the U.S.
TAPPER: And Kylie, outgoing British Prime Minister Theresa May, she stood by Darroch, the Foreign Secretary standing by him, but it does seems as though a possible successor Boris Johnson did not in a debate. He gave an ambiguous statement. Did that play any role in the decision to resign?
ATWOOD: It played a critical role. So a senior official on the British side is telling us that in watching that, the ambassador recognized that he would not have the vote of confidence from his home government if he decided to stay in this role because Boris Johnson could very well become the prime minister just by the end of the month.
So it wasn't only the pressure from the U.S. but also the pressure from his own government that they weren't going to back him.
TAPPER: All right, Kylie Atwood, thank you so much. I appreciate it. A parade of champions through the eyes of their young-inspired admirers. That's next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[16:55:00] TAPPER: In our "SPORTS LEAD" today, the team that not only redefined dominance in its sport but is changing the game for the cause of equal pay in America. They celebrated their World Cup win with a parade in New York City today, and the generation hoping to follow in the footsteps of the amazing soccer players lined the streets for a chance to see their role models up close.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That was super exciting. Like that was the best day of my life.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I love how everyone comes here to support these women that are much more better than everyone else.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I like how they're really good friends and they work together like -- and -- like we're a good group, our soccer team. We look up to them. I want to be like them when I'm older.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They're an inspiration. I mean, they won the World Cup, they're winning games left and right, they're fighting for equal pay and they want more (INAUDIBLE).
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They are fighting for what's right on and off the field.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They show that no matter what, women don't have to conform to stereotypes made by society.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They don't care. They are just trying doing the right thing and they will do that no matter what. And I think they're trying to set us up for success and they're doing a great job.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TAPPER: Good to see. Follow me on Facebook and Twitter and Instagram @JAKETAPPER or you can tweet the show @THELEADCNN. Our coverage on CNN continues right now. Thank you so much for watching.
