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The Lead with Jake Tapper

Trump Says Harris "Was My Number One Draft Pick", Calls Her Nasty & Disrespectful to Biden; Biden, Harris Set For Joint Appearance. Aired 4-4:30p ET

Aired August 12, 2020 - 16:00   ET

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

[16:00:18]

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

PAMELA BROWN, CNN HOST: Welcome to THE LEAD. I'm Pamela Brown, in for Jake Tapper.

And we begin with big breaking news. Any minute now, we will see a history-making moment, Joe Biden and his new running mate, Senator Kamala Harris, together for their first joint campaign event in Wilmington, Delaware, effectively launching the 2020 Democratic ticket.

Their spouses, Jill Biden and Doug Emhoff, are also expected to be there. And it comes as we learn Biden long believed Harris was the strongest choice for the job, sources tell CNN. Biden publicly acknowledged the close friendship that Harris had with his late son, Beau, that helped guide his decision.

And Harris, one source says, spoke at last about their friendship in her interview with Biden's search committee.

I want to bring in CNN's Jeff Zeleny.

And, Jeff, as we wait for this event to begin, you're learning more about that intense 10 days before Biden made his final decision on Senator Harris as his running mate.

JEFF ZELENY, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: Pamela, we are.

And it's clear that California Senator Kamala Harris was anticipated and viewed by most Democrats inside and outside the process as the person to beat, essentially. This is the one going into this competition, if you will, this vice presidential search, with the most experience, the national campaign experience, someone who had legislative experience, of course, had executive experience as the attorney general.

But it was clear that aides to the former vice president wanted to give him a series of options. So, we are told, my colleagues M.J. Lee and Dan Merica and I are told that behind the scenes of this, the last 10 days of this search certainly were very interesting. The former vice president met face to face or, in most cases, through

a remote connection, with all 11 candidates, holding essentially interviews, job interviews, for their vision of the job, and what they would do in the job.

But it was Senator Harris, who was near the beginning of the list, who had to sit there through about 10 days or so, when she finally got the call yesterday. She was feeling good about this, because she did have that relationship with Beau Biden. There was no one who is closer to former vice president than his late son Beau Biden.

And she worked as California attorney general. Of course, he was the Delaware attorney general. And it was that they discussed during their interview. But it was also, perhaps more importantly, Pamela, her experience on the campaign trail, the fact that she had been tested in a presidential campaign.

She didn't win. In fact, she dropped out before the voting began, but so did Joe Biden back in 2007. He dropped out after the first contest of Iowa. So he was -- she was tested in that respect, and that was impressive and important to Joe Biden.

BROWN: And you're also learning, Jeff, about Biden's speech, what he's going to say coming up shortly, and that he will note the tragic events in Charlottesville three years ago today.

ZELENY: It is, exactly, this third anniversary of the Charlottesville attack, of course, that had killed Heather Heyer in that white supremacy attack, which led the president to say there are fine people on both sides, which, of course, Joe Biden has talked about repeatedly.

In fact, in his announcement video back in 2019, when he said, this is what urged him, propelled him to run for president, it was to, as he says, restore the soul of the nation. So, that is what we were told is going to be front and center in this speech, as they present themselves for the first time.

But, Pamela, we can see there, as we see from the pictures, this is going to be the first Democratic campaign event that we have really seen in five months or so. The last time we saw Joe Biden in a public event with Senator Harris was actually on the eve of the Michigan primary. They hugged one another.

Of course, that will not happen today, we do not believe. So, this is the introduction of this new Democratic ticket. And it's coming one week before Senator Harris will be introducing herself to the nation, when she accepts the nomination one week from tonight in that virtual convention.

It was scheduled to be in Milwaukee. But, of course, it's going to be held virtually. So, between now and then, I'm told she's getting up to speed on issues. She has Secret Service protection. And she is going to be working with the Biden campaign to join this campaign already in progress.

So, this is just the beginning of their debut here. Of course, everyone is watching this, including President Trump -- Pamela.

BROWN: Absolutely. It is a history-making moment, as we have discussed.

Jeff Zeleny, thank you so much for that.

And I want to bring in CNN's Dana Bash, Nia-Malika Henderson, and David Chalian.

Great to see you three.

Dana, first to you. We were just looking at that empty gymnasium with the two microphones standing there. And you're looking at this thinking, in normal times, there would be a large crowd eagerly awaiting the ticket, the candidates. And that's not the case today.

It's going to be very different. What do you expect and what do they need to project today amid these COVID era obstacles?

[16:05:05]

DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, first of all, they need to project confidence, confidence in the ability to lead, which has been Joe Biden's whole calling card throughout this entire campaign, particularly since the pandemic broke.

And also they need to project that they have some kind of chemistry, which is not easy to do when you have to be socially distant. But I have to say, just looking at that -- and I'm sure Nia and David and you also, Pam agree -- it's just -- it's such a sign of the times.

I know it's maybe stating the obvious, but I am just going back in my mind to, for example, standing in a very, very large, very packed, very sweaty auditorium with John McCain as he brought out Sarah Palin for the first time, August 29, 2008.

And the electricity in the room and certainly in the days afterwards for her, for the ticket, for a number of reasons, was real and it was palpable. And you just can't have that in the time of a pandemic. They're going to have to find it different ways, which they have been trying to do on social media, the video that they put out today.

But to be able to project that in a situation like we're seeing them preparing to be in right now is just -- is just so, so different.

BROWN: Yes, it's history-making in more ways than one, I would say.

(LAUGHTER)

BROWN: And, Nia, on that note, seeing the two of them campaign together, we're going to see them today, but it's not something, realistically, we're going to see a lot of.

As I mentioned, if we weren't in these COVID times, they'd be surrounded by supporters right now. We'd see them out on the trail together. The question is, can we still gin up that excitement and that momentum and that electricity without the supporters surrounding them?

NIA-MALIKA HENDERSON, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL REPORTER: They're going to have to do it in different ways.

And Dana touched on this a bit. This is a team, at least Kamala Harris, I think very much understands the media and this moment and social media and how to go viral. If you look at the ways in which people started to understand her, it was through those moments she created when she was cross-examining Cabinet officials.

And so she's going to have to find ways to do that. And you saw them with that introductory video with Joe Biden calling her on Zoom, and so that was a little, I think, preview of what -- the kind of videos they're going to have to try to create here, something that's new and different, kind of insidery.

Obviously, it's completely staged and scripted. But those are the kind of moments I think they're going to have to try to create. You're not going to see the electricity. Dana talked about the Sarah Palin and John McCain moment.

I was thinking of 2008 in Springfield, Illinois, the Obama-Joe Biden moment, when Joe Biden runs out on the stage when he is announced that he will be Barack Obama's vice president.

I mean, the thing about these tickets is, you do have these moments where they're together. And you want to see the story of this candidacy. And Dana talked about leadership and showing confidence and showing chemistry.

But then, really, they go their separate ways, right? They're supposed to be, the vice president, kind of force multipliers, right, to go places maybe the top person can't go. And so that's what they do. So they will go their separate ways, talk to different people in different ways.

But, yes, I mean, this is like something we have never seen before. And they're going to have to kind of make it up as they go along. The big moments will be next week with these speeches. And then, for Kamala Harris, the next big moment, of course, will be that debate that she will have with Vice President Pence.

BROWN: Of course.

And, David, as we report out what led to this pick, sources are telling CNN that Biden chose Harris because she was a commonsense pick, she was seen as someone who would do no harm. And his allies also saw her as a symbol of change.

What do you think she brings to the ticket? And how is her relationship with Biden being framed right now?

DAVID CHALIAN, CNN POLITICAL DIRECTOR: Well, I think the way you're going to see the relationship framed off the top here is Joe Biden's confidence in her to take over as president at a moment's notice on day one, if that needed to be the case. That -- as you know, that's sort of the job description of vice president above all else. And they definitely want to frame this choice by boosting up that confidence that Kamala Harris fits that bill, above all else.

But to your point about the change agent, I mean, Joe Biden himself, Pam, has talked about being a transitional figure. He understands he's 77 years old. He will be 78 when Election Day comes.

[16:10:05]

BROWN: Yes.

CHALIAN: And Kamala Harris is of the next generation of Democratic leadership.

And there's no doubt that that weighed as a part of the consideration in choosing who to put on the ticket with him. What does that next generation of Democratic leadership look like in America? And that is part of the sort of the seal of approval that Joe Biden, as the head of the party now, put on to Kamala Harris by announcing her as his running mate.

BROWN: Another key factor in all of this is, of course, Joe Biden son Beau, his late son, Beau.

And I want to play this clip of how Senator Harris describes Joe Biden in their first campaign video released today.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. KAMALA HARRIS (D-CA): America is in crisis, and I know Joe Biden will lead us out of it. He's a man of faith, decency and character.

He raised his family that way. I saw it firsthand with my good friend Beau.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: Of course, the two of them were attorneys general together, Nia. They did have a friendship.

It's clear that Beau played a key role with Harris being the pick.

HENDERSON: That's right.

Joe Biden talks about Beau Biden in glowing ways, a son he obviously lost very recently and tragically, on top of the losses in his family years ago, of his wife and another child. And he talks about the ways in which Beau talks about Kamala Harris and liked Kamala Harris, and the ways in which he admired Beau Biden, his son, and took him at his word when he talked about Kamala Harris in the way that he did and talked about their friendship.

And that was very important to him in terms of thinking about Kamala Harris as a partner. So that ended up being very key to one of the things he did here, which was to pick her, which was to trust her, which is to see her as a loyal partner and, above all else, as David Chalian talked about, as someone who could be president.

BROWN: All right, well, we are standing by for the first joint event with Joe Biden and his new running mate, Kamala Harris. We will bring that to you live.

Plus: In making his V.P. pick, Joe Biden credited his late son Beau's friendship with Harris, as we were just discussing.

And, up next, I'm going to talk to an attorney general who knew them both.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[16:16:50]

BROWN: Welcome back.

We are standing by for the first time Joe Biden and Kamala Harris will appear together as running mates. We are going to bring that to you live once it starts there in that gymnasium in Delaware.

And meantime, President Trump is not wasting time before attacking Senator Harris, reverting to sexist and stereotypes, calling her nasty, mean, disrespectful, and phony.

But as CNN's Jeremy Diamond reports, Harris was the one candidate that several Trump campaign adviser said they did not want, according to two sources familiar with the discussions.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Today, President Trump and his campaign fumbling for a response to Senator Kamala Harris joining the Democratic ticket.

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: She was my number one draft pick.

DIAMOND: Several Trump campaign advisers telling CNN, Harris was actually the one candidate they hoped Biden would not pick, referring to former national security adviser Susan Rice or Congresswoman Karen Bass, both more controversial.

One source close to the Trump campaign telling CNN, Harris is, quote, formidable and will inject much-needed energy into Biden's campaign. Advisers are also concerned about how Trump's attacks on Harris will play.

TRUMP: She was very, very nasty. She was very disrespectful to Joe Biden. I thought she was the meanest, the most horrible, most disrespectful of anybody in the U.S. Senate.

DIAMOND: Those attacks play into racist and sexist stereotypes about black women. And polls suggest Trump risks alienating suburban voters turned off by his racist and sexist rhetoric.

But Trump appears to be going for broke on that strategy, insisting the, quote, suburban housewife will vote for me because I ended the long-running program where low-income housing would invade their neighborhood, referring to his repeal of a rule aimed at combating segregation in housing.

The president's campaign is also making race-based appeals.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Joe Biden's campaign staffers are donating to a group that's bailing out rioters in Minneapolis.

DIAMOND: Using mug shots of four black people released on bail in an attempt to tie Joe Biden to crime. "The Post" channeling the racist 1988 Willie Horton campaign ad run by supporters of then Vice President George H.W. Bush.

Meanwhile, the Trump campaign is struggling to paint Harris as a radical, unsure whether to hit her as too soft on crime.

SEN. MARSHA BLACKBURN (R-TN): A lot of security moms that are all across this nation who are going to say, you know, I don't want someone who says that they are not going to be tough on hardened criminals.

DIAMOND: Or too tough.

KATRINA PIERSON, SENIOR TRUMP CAMPAIGN ADVISER: She fought to keep inmates locked up in overcrowded prisons.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

DIAMOND: And, Pam, the president and his campaign are now trying to brand Kamala Harris as a -- as part of the radical left. But the president and his daughter Ivanka actually donated a total of $10,000 to then -- to Kamala Harris's campaign for California attorney general between 2011 and 2014.

[16:20:01]

The Trump -- Trump campaign senior adviser Katrina Pierson responded by noting that the president has donated to candidates on both sides of the aisle as a businessman, but by that time, he had mostly stopped donating to Democrats. And Pierson also claimed that the president's donations were evidence that he's not a racist -- Pam.

BROWN: All right, Jeremy Diamond, thanks so much for the latest there.

And we've just learned that Joe Biden and Kamala Harris have left Biden's home in Delaware. You can see the motorcade departing there. At least you could see the motorcade departing heading to the event site. There it is, right there, to the site nearby where for the first time they will speak together as running mates. History, when Biden announced his pick, Biden reveals he chose Senator Harris because she'd be ready to lead on day one. But Biden also said there was no one's opinion he valued more than his

late son Beau who died in 2015 from brain cancer. The younger Biden and Harris worked together closely during the foreclosure crisis in 2011.

And she wrote in her memoir: There were periods when I was taking heat that Beau and I talked every day, sometimes multiple times a day, we had each other's backs.

Joining me now is Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey to republic help us understand and illuminate this relationship that the two had. You worked with both Beau and Senator Harris when they were attorneys general. What can you tell us about them, Mara?

MAURA HEALEY (D), MASSACHUSETTS ATTORNEY GENERAL: It's a special relationship, Pam. When you're working as a state attorney general, you're really out there in the big fight, fighting for people, fighting for the most vulnerable in our communities. And that's what Kamala and Beau did, standing up to the big banks in Wall Street. They fought for health care, protecting students taken advantage of by predatory lenders.

You know, these are the fights and the experiences that they bonded over, that we bond over as state attorneys general. And, you know, it's no surprise to me that Joe Biden has a fondness for Kamala Harris based on that really strong relationship with Beau. They are both people of tremendous empathy. Beau was a person of tremendous empathy. Everyone liked him. And the same would be same of kamala.

And it's not surprising to me she has performed so well in the Senate taking that ability to fight, taking that ability to advocate and make a case to really make change and powerful change now, of course, on the national stage. She'll be ready to lead.

BROWN: And we're going to see her momentarily with Joe Biden in that gymnasium in Delaware.

But before we go there, I just want to get more on the relationship she had with Beau, because after the primary debate when Harris, as you know, went after Biden's record on mandated busing to promote school desegregation, both Joe and Jill Biden cited Harris' friendship with Beau as the key reason that they felt blindsided by what they view as an attack.

And yet on the fourth anniversary of Beau's death, after the debate, Senator Harris took to Twitter to write: @JoeBiden, @DrBiden and the entire Biden family today, Beau Biden was my friend, we were A.G.'s together and you couldn't find a person who cared more deeply for his family, the nation he served and the state of Delaware four years after his passing I still miss him.

So clearly there was a fondness there that Senator Harris had for Beau.

HEALEY: Absolutely. I mean, they worked very closely together. And as she wrote, they communicated regularly together. And you can't help but really develop these friendships as they did when you're fighting over really, really important issues. And, you know, that's why the closeness is there, and that's why, you know, I'm so happy, I think all of us in the A.G. community, particularly the Democratic A.G. community, are so proud and so pleased to see the Biden/Harris ticket. We know what that represents.

We know the values they will stand for. And we can't get -- we can't wait to get started in supporting this terrific ticket in the weeks ahead.

BROWN: All right, Attorney General Maura Healey, thank you so much.

HEALEY: It's great to be with you.

BROWN: And any moment now, the big event, Joe Biden and his running mate Kamala Harris speaking in Delaware. We're going to bring it to you live.

Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[16:29:04]

BROWN: We are waiting for a major moment in the 2020 campaign, Joe Biden and his running mate, Kamala Harris, about to speak together in Delaware for the first time.

I want to bring in CNN's MJ Lee who also covers the Biden campaign.

And, MJ, any minute now, we will get the first actual visual of Joe Biden with Senator Harris, the first black and South Asian woman on a major party ticket.

MJ LEE, CNN POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Pam. You know, we've been speaking over the last 24 hours about just how historic it is that the person Joe Biden ended up choosing in the end is, as you said, the first black and South Asian person to be the VP nominee on a major ticket.

But, you know, the fact that we are going to get that visual of her standing there and after the announcement has been made as the VP nominee, that is going to be an incredibly sort of powerful and striking visual for everyone. And I have to tell you, you know, having covered female candidates in the past, you know, whether it's Hillary Clinton or Elizabeth Warren in the 2020 race, it really matters to the women and girls who are watching.

[16:30:00]