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The Lead with Jake Tapper

Biden Chooses Kamala Harris as Running Mate. Aired 4:30-5p ET

Aired August 11, 2020 - 16:30   ET

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

[16:30:01]

GLORIA BORGER, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: But she understands the issues. And she is going to have to deal with police reform, criminal justice reform.

And just as he did the Recovery Act when he was vice president, maybe he's thinking, well, Kamala Harris can help me in the way that I helped Barack Obama.

So, I think this is a huge moment for this campaign. And I also thank my colleagues have reminded me that, a couple of weeks ago, Donald Trump was asked the question, how do you rate Kamala Harris as V.P.? And the answer was, "I think she'd be a fine choice," Kamala Harris. "She'd be a fine choice."

So we have to see what Donald Trump is going to have to do to her, or going to try to do to her. Let's put it that way. We will see.

(CROSSTALK)

PAMELA BROWN, CNN HOST: Right. We will see.

And just talking about her record, as we pointed out, she was district attorney in San Francisco, attorney general in California. Her record will no doubt be under scrutiny, but given the race reckoning in this nation, David Chalian, she has recently advocated for police reform. She pushed a Senate bill to make lynching a federal crime.

And also, let's not forget, she's relatively young. She's 55 years old. What is the significance of that?

DAVID CHALIAN, CNN POLITICAL DIRECTOR: Well, the man she's running with on the ticket is significantly older than that. I think that's the significance of it, Pam, is that he's going to be 78 years old this fall.

And, obviously, that added sort of to the weight of this pick. Is he going to -- as he has called himself, a transitional figure in this moment in time, and will this pick be part of that vision?

Well, with somebody who is in her mid-50s, it does seem a bit of torch-passing going on here, at least bringing along the next generation of leadership with him. There's no doubt about that. To your point about her record. And, as Jeff Zeleny was talking and Gloria was just mentioning the criminal justice piece of this, this is also one of the reasons that Joe Biden selected Kamala Harris. The vetting of that record, which no doubt is going to happen all over again, it's a whole new context when you are now on the national ticket.

But this was litigated throughout her entire presidential campaign. She didn't run a successful presidential campaign for the Democratic nomination and bowed out last December before the voting even began. But all of these issues about her votes, her past, her record on criminal justice and other areas, this is something she's had a year- plus worth of practice answering.

And I think with some folks on the list who did not have that kind of national spotlight exposure, this ended up being on the plus column for Kamala Harris.

BROWN: All right.

I want to go back to Arlette Saenz there in Delaware to talk about when we can expect to see Biden and his new running mate, Kamala Harris, together.

ARLETTE SAENZ, CNN POLITICAL REPORTER: Yes, Pamela, we're learning that Joe Biden and Kamala Harris will be holding an event here in Wilmington, Delaware, to deliver remarks tomorrow.

So that will be the first time that they are in front of reporters as the Democratic ticket. And looking back at March, the last campaign rally that Biden actually held before coronavirus brought everything to a standstill was a campaign rally with Kamala Harris in Detroit.

Gretchen Whitmer, the Michigan governor, and also Cory Booker were also on stage with him there, as he held their hands and talked about how he is the -- sees himself as the bridge to the next generation. That is something that he is clearly seeing with Kamala Harris in this pick today.

And as was -- it was spoken about before, Kamala Harris had a close relationship with Biden's deceased son, Beau Biden. They served together as attorney general. So, in many ways, this is also an emotional pick for Biden, as someone who was close with his own son, who had a promising political career of his own. Someone close with him will now be serving with him on the Democratic ticket.

And one thing that Biden has really been looking for in this search process is someone who he could build a relationship and a partnership with. He wants to replicate what he had with President Obama in those eight years.

And so he has seen in Kamala Harris, Senator Harris, the potential for that possible relationship to grow as governing partners if they make it to the White House.

BROWN: And he's clearly been able to overlook that debate, when she rebuked him for his record working with segregationist senators and so forth.

Arlette, thank you so much for bringing us the latest there from Delaware.

I want to go now to Jessica Dean. She is right outside of Harris' home.

Jessica, tell us what the reaction there is.

JESSICA DEAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Pamela, we have not seen Kamala Harris here at her condo building since Sunday. That was the last time our crews laid eyes on her.

We did see her husband earlier today going out for a coffee, but other than that, we have not seen them here, of course, a lot of buzz in this neighborhood, though, as people come out to check out what's going on.

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We're getting information too, a statement in from Susan Rice, who was also in the running to be Biden's running mate. She put out a statement saying she is confident that the Biden-Harris -- that Biden- Harris will be a winning ticket and is committed to doing whatever it takes to make sure that they win in November.

Back here in Washington, D.C., we're also seeing tweets from Harris' husband, and Jill Biden, of course, the political spouses going back and forth, Jill Biden asking, "Are you ready?' Her husband saying, "Let's do this."

So you can see the team really forming, those two couples at the top of the ticket, ready to announce themselves to the entire United States as the Democratic ticket for 2020.

And interesting too Pamela to note that the Biden campaign just a little bit ago coming out preemptively against any attacks that the Trump campaign may begin to throw Kamala Harris' way. At the time, they were just saying whomever they pick, because she hadn't been named yet, but the Biden campaign saying that any attacks that the Trump campaign makes are going to be discredited before they're even out of the gate because the Trump campaign has already tried to marginalize whomever the pick is as radical.

So, really taking that first step to go on the attack on behalf of the V.P. And, interesting, I spoke with a campaign aide yesterday who confirmed that the campaign has been talking with women's groups that are responsible for getting women elected to talk about the specific line of attacks that a female candidate might face that a male candidate might not face, and that the whole point was for them to really familiarize themselves with that, prepare for anything that President Trump and his campaign might throw their way.

But here at Harris' residence, again, we have not seen her, but we are certainly keeping our eyes peeled -- Pam.

BROWN: OK. Thanks so much, Jessica. Dean.

I know you will keep us posted from there.

I want to go back to Dana Bash.

And just to underscore, Dana, again, this historic moment, this remarkable moment, Joe Biden picking a female, who is black and Asian, who is relatively young, 55 years old, as his running mate. This is a critical pick for him for so many different reasons.

DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: So many different reasons. You're exactly right.

And there are two points I want to make about the fact that this is a woman of color. Number one, we have heard this phrase a lot since the -- sort of the reckoning that we have seen in this country over the past couple of months. The phrase is, representation matters.

And this is the ultimate example of that, the most ultimate that we have seen so far in American politics, representation, potential -- mattering for sure, but potentially mattering when it comes to the raw politics.

And what I mean by that is that, when I talked to you earlier, I talked about the fact that the -- before we knew it was Kamala Harris, about the fact that the Biden campaign wasn't necessarily looking at the map.

California is not in play. She's a senator from California. They got that, unless something really dire happens. But what is in play, and what is so important politically for the Biden campaign, is to make sure that the African-American vote comes out, to make sure that people of color feel that they are represented, that they are being heard, that they are being listened to, and that they have somebody who they can see actually understands them.

And that's no small thing. And in seeing some of the open letters that we have seen published from African-American men, from African- American women, that has been the thrust of it, not just about representation, but also to remember who brung you to the dance, as people like to say.

And it is African-Americans for Joe Biden when it comes to the primary. And that is a huge, huge thing, not to mention the fact that we already knew it was going to be a woman, but the fact that Kamala Harris is somebody who they believe can play well in the suburbs, which are also going to be big battlegrounds in these key swing states, that's important as well.

But representation mattering is really, really key in looking at this pick, Kamala Harris.

BROWN: And to continue on to your point with Nia-Malika, as Dana pointed out, she is someone who can appeal to a wide swathe of voters, black voters, females, moderates, and liberals.

How does this ticket stack up against President Trump?

NIA-MALIKA HENDERSON, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL REPORTER: Well, listen, we know where Joe Biden is right now in the polls. He's doing quite well in the polls in these battleground states like Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, in Michigan. And in the national polls, he's up by about 10.

I think this enhances Joe Biden's standing or sort of underscores it with those voters he already is doing well with, African-American voters, white women voters, college-educated voters of all races.

[16:40:04]

So I think that is what this pick, I think, means. She can play very well in the suburbs with some of those disaffected Republicans who have seen in Donald Trump somebody who they might find distasteful on any number of issues, whether it's racial issues or issues around gender.

So I think this is somebody who's very kind of portable, can go anywhere, and kind of sing the song of the party and to those different demographics. They're going to need to get disaffected Republicans. They're going to need to get progressives as well. They're going to need to see black voters turnout in a way that they didn't turn out in 2016, for all sorts of reasons.

Maybe they weren't excited about Hillary Clinton. Maybe they thought Hillary Clinton was going to win. So I think that's what she speaks to. And we will see what kind of campaigner she is in this role.

We saw what kind of campaigner she was when she was the number one and kind of having to make her case and run on her ideas and her vision and her plans. Now she's the number two. And Biden is kind of setting all the parameters of what the policy is, and it's much more moderate. So we will see how she does in this role.

BROWN: All right, thank you so much to our panel.

We are continuing to follow this breaking news, Joe Biden announcing his historic pick for his running mate, Senator Kamala Harris.

We will be back.

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[16:46:05]

BROWN: And we are back with the breaking news.

Senator Kamala Harris is Joe Biden's running mate, a history-making choice, with Harris being the first African-American woman up for the job.

And the Biden campaign Web site has been updated with the photo of the two, as you see, high-fiving, saying -- quote -- "Together, we will beat Donald Trump." Harris and Biden will appear together tomorrow for the first time, speaking in Delaware.

And I want to go right to CNN's Abby Phillip to talk more about this.

Senator Kamala Harris now joining Biden as his running mate. And, a lot of times, Abby, presidential candidates are known to choose a running mate that will perhaps make up for their own perceived weaknesses. Harris brings diversity, and she brings youth to the Biden campaign, among other attributes.

ABBY PHILLIP, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, she does.

And I think that she brings a really long history with the support black women, which is also very important, as everybody's pointed out, the cornerstone of the Democratic Party.

When Biden is making this decision, there are a couple of things that people close to him have told me that he was looking at. And one of them is the idea of passing the baton. I mean, Kamala Harris could very well be the future of the Democratic Party.

But the other thing is also, what kind of -- what is the scope of this person's experience? And Kamala Harris is a freshman senator, but she also was the attorney general of the largest state in the union, effectively someone who was running a Justice Department that is second only to the United States Justice Department.

So, that is the kind of experience that she's bringing to the ticket. She's someone who is viewed as being sort of tough and sharp. And I do think that, when the Biden campaign, it was -- when Biden himself was looking at this, he was thinking, not necessarily just about shoring up his weaknesses electorally, but also shoring up the general perception of the ticket as signaling to the future of the Democratic Party, and not just the present or even the past.

BROWN: Right.

And he's clearly aware of the climate that we're in right now, Abby. That is clearly an important part of all of this.

And just -- I want to go a little bit deeper into what the black vote means for Joe Biden and how Kamala Harris being chosen as his running mate plays into that.

PHILLIP: Yes, I mean, I do think that the Biden campaign is cognizant that, obviously, you need to keep your base as strong as possible.

But they also understand that there is this conversation that's going on about race, about criminal justice in this country. And for good or for bad, Kamala Harris is at the center of that conversation. There have been -- there's been a lot of talk among Democrats about, what is going to be the impact of her record as a former prosecutor?

And I do think that it's something that has both its pros and its cons. The reality is that Kamala Harris has, for many, many years, worked both to reform parts of California's prosecution system, but she's also been dinged by some advocates who say she wasn't tough enough.

And I think it was really interesting to me to see, in the Trump campaign statement, on this particular part, it says: "Kamala will abandon her own morals, as well as try to bury her record as a prosecutor in order to appease the anti-police extremists."

And I think it's clear that the Trump campaign seems to think that Kamala Harris' prosecutor record is actually something that cuts against this idea that Biden is anti-police or that he is anti-law enforcement.

It's one of the things that even Trump allies have told me about Kamala Harris that makes her a very strong competitor, that she has this record where she was not afraid in some cases to be tough on crime.

[16:50:05]

It's also something that's made her a bit of a lightning rod in the more left-wing corners of the Democratic Party.

BROWN: Right, some who say she wasn't tough enough, and others who are saying, she was too tough.

And, as you said, we're already seeing the Trump campaign try to come out and scrutinize her record, to paint her as too tough on police and crime and so forth.

And I want to join -- I want David Axelrod to join me now to kind of dig a little bit deeper into this, former senior adviser to President Obama and someone who worked with Joe Biden for years.

What is your reaction to this decision?

DAVID AXELROD, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, it's interesting, because, on the one hand, it is a historic decision. And on the other hand, it really is the most conventional of decisions.

Kamala Harris checked a lot of boxes for Joe Biden. She fulfilled his desire to choose a candidate of color, a woman of color for this office, but she also checks a very -- another very important box.

As a senator, as someone who has run for president, she immediately suggests the ability to take over the job if she needs to, to be someone who could step into the breach, if need be. That is very important when you have an older candidate.

I think voters are going to take a harder look at that than they have in the past. She is a progressive, for sure. But she is more of a center-left Democrat than a left Democrat. And so she is not going to -- she may not thrill everyone, but she's not going to enrage anyone. And she's not going to be as easy a target for President Trump, who wants to depict whoever Biden chooses as evidence that Biden has been drifting too far left. So she fulfills a lot of his objectives here relative to the election.

The challenge is going to be, she -- at this moment, Kamala Harris, if Biden wins, becomes the front-runner for president in 2024. Few people expect Biden to run at the age of 81 for president.

The tension is going to be, how do you fulfill your role as vice president, and also keep an eye on your imperatives, as someone who may be the party's standard-bearer in 2024? And they're going to have to work that out, because there may be times when Biden's policies are in conflict with what she sees as her political imperatives.

But that's a later issue. The fundamental issue is, do you win the election? Because you don't have to worry about the second thing unless you take care of the first.

BROWN: Right.

AXELROD: And she is a strong candidate for that role.

BROWN: And what you pointed out, the reporting was, that was part of the consideration among those who were close to Joe Biden. And, clearly, he thought, look, she is the person that I wanted to run with. She's the person I feel simpatico with.

He had talked about how it's really important for him to have personal chemistry with his running mate. How do you think Senator Harris fits that bill?

AXELROD: Well, obviously, that's the decision that he made.

A lot has been made of that exchange on the debate stage in the first debate, where she attacked Biden on the issue of busing, his position on busing in the 1970s. And that was a raw moment. But you know what? I'm old enough, Pam, to remember other elections, including 1980, when Ronald Reagan put George H.W. Bush on the ticket after Bush, as a competitor in the primaries, called Reagan's economic plans voodoo economics, a phrase that was repeated again and again and again by Democrats in that election.

There is a history of candidates burying the hatchet. They're both professional politicians. They understand what happens in tough campaigns. But, clearly, they found a way to mend that and find this partnership.

BROWN: Yes.

And just quickly, David, of course, you were the adviser to America's first African-American president, Barack Obama. This is historic, the fact that Joe Biden picked Kamala Harris as his running mate. She is the first black female vice presidential candidate and Asian female as well.

And this really tells you where this country is headed, where the Democratic Party is headed.

AXELROD: This is a huge, landmark occasion in the social progress of our country, the social history of our country, and a response to what we have seen throughout this country in the last few months.

People want to see change. And Joe Biden delivered that today.

BROWN: Yes.

And in terms of -- you talked about, look, she is someone who was, in some respects, politically a safer choice. What does her been his running mate mean for getting those progressive voters out?

AXELROD: Yes, that remains to be seen.

There are other candidates, Elizabeth Warren, for example, who was the favorite of a lot of young progressives. And there were other candidates he was considering who might have more of a toehold in there.

But I think this -- the historic nature of Harris' candidacy is not going to be lost on the progressive community. I think it's important to younger voters and certainly voters, African-American voters, that the candidate be someone who brings this kind of diversity to the ticket.

[16:55:10]

So I think it will help. But I'm not a big believer, at the end of the day, that any vice presidential candidate really drives turnout. I think this is an election about the people on the top of the ticket.

And this one, more than most, is a referendum on the incumbent president, who is a motivator for a lot of Democratic voters.

BROWN: I'm curious, just given your history with Biden, are you surprised he picked Kamala Harris over Susan Rice, someone that Biden worked with in the administration?

AXELROD: Look, I worked with Susan Rice. She's an extraordinary person, really, really smart, understands the presidency very well, because she was a national security adviser for four years under President Obama and had a relationship with Biden.

What she didn't have was the experience of ever running for public office. And it's hard to throw someone into the deep end of the pool without them ever having been in the pool before. And I'm sure that was a concern for him in making this decision.

BROWN: OK, thank you so much, David Axelrod.

I'm going to go back to my colleague Abby to dig a little bit more into what this means for Joe Biden's campaign, Abby, particularly the voters that he needs to win the election.

PHILLIP: Well, one of the things I think -- we have talked a lot about black voters. I think there's also a component of this that, if you look back at Kamala Harris' primary run, which I covered, one of her strength was college-educated women, who are typically Democratic voters. But if you look at where Democrats want to be, the voters that they

believe they kind of need to really be supercharged in terms of their enthusiasm to come out, in addition to black voters, we're also talking about suburban voters, suburban women.

And that's one of the things that, during the campaign in the primary, Kamala Harris' advisers repeatedly told me that that is where she was strong, that is where she resonated very well with.

So I don't think we can overlook the potential breadth of her appeal to the same kinds of voters that Joe Biden wants to bring out in the general election himself.

It is the coalition of voters that Democrats need in order to win, and, increasingly, suburban women are part of that coalition as well. Kamala Harris is someone who a lot of voters would tell me repeatedly they liked. They thought that she was warm, that they identified with in a lot of different ways.

And so, as we think about that, I think one of the challenges for Biden as we go into this fall is, how do you campaign in this coronavirus era, when everything is sort of on a computer and virtual? And Kamala Harris has a kind of energy about her.

It's one of the things that made her a rising star in the Democratic Party to begin with. And so I think that, in addition to the chemistry, in addition to the idea that she has her own political ambitions, we should also think about, how does Joe Biden also present another face to the American public that they might be attracted to, and that can cross across demographic lines, not just specifically with black voters, as important and really as critical as that is for the Democratic Party?

BROWN: And just speaking about how important social media is during this age of coronavirus, Kamala Harris just tweeted.

We're going to put this up on the screen. She says: "@JoeBiden can unify the American people because he spent his life fighting for us. And, as president, he will build an America that lives up to our ideals. I'm honored to join him as our party's nominee for vice president and do what it takes to make him our commander in chief."

So, with that, I want to go to CNN's Kyung Lah, who also covered Harris in the primary. We just read that tweet.

That's her first reaction, Kyung, to this announcement.

KYUNG LAH, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: And it's something that you really would expect to hear from her at this stage, just simply making sure that she helps the ticket, she moves it along.

This is someone who we saw throughout her campaign talking about trying to help the Democratic Party. The thing that she's known for here in California, Pam, is somebody who has really tried to break barriers. You heard Abby this, a lot of other people here. The thing that is

really stunning when you look at her record is that she was the first black woman elected as San Francisco district attorney. She was the first black woman California attorney general, the first black woman, first South Asian to ever serve in the U.S. Senate, a biracial woman.

So, all of these barriers she's broken, that's what she brings to the ticket. And, also, the other thing that we haven't talked a lot about is that she's the daughter of immigrants. She speaks with authority by her very embodiment of who she is...

BROWN: Yes.

LAH: ... the daughter of immigrants, a biracial woman, and a former prosecutor.

BROWN: Immigrants from India and Jamaica.

Kyung Lah, thank you so much for bringing us the latest there.

I'm Pamela Brown, in for Jake Tapper.

Our coverage on CNN continues right now.

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