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The Lead with Jake Tapper

Biden, Harris Make First Joint Appearance as Running Mates. Aired 4:30-5p ET

Aired August 12, 2020 - 16:30   ET

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

M.J. LEE, CNN NATIONAL POLITICS CORRESPONDENT: And I have to tell you, 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 whoever is behind the podium feeling like they are sort of reflected in the person that is taking the stage, right?

[16:30:15]

So, I can guarantee you that there are going to be so many people who are black, women who are black, and women who are South Asian or Asian American, sort of seeing this moment of her walking out to the front of that room with Joe Biden as his chosen running mate, and feeling like, OK, I see myself reflected in this person in a powerful position in a way that I never have before.

And I think that is just going to be, again, an incredibly striking moment and a visual for so many people who are watching.

PAMELA BROWN, CNN HOST: Absolutely.

And, as we have been talking about this is going to be very different in terms of it being in the COVID era, and those supporters that you mentioned, people who would look up to her, they can't be there in person because of COVID.

But it will still be a remarkable moment, a historic-making moment and a striking visual.

Thank you so much, M.J. Lee.

On that note, I want to bring in CNN's Dana Bash, Gloria Borger, and Abby Phillip, along with former senior adviser to President Obama David Axelrod.

And I want to start with you here, Abby, as we await the two of them to make their first appearance as Democratic running mates.

I want to talk about the age factor at play here, because Senator Harris is 55 years old. If she's elected, she will be the only member of the senior Democratic leadership in the White House or Congress under the age of 70.

So this really could be her chance to lead the next generation of the party.

ABBY PHILLIP, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, what an incredible statistic. I mean, Washington is so far from, I think, what seems to be this whole sort of new generation of many generations of younger people who are rising up into political power at the local and state level, who are activists out in the streets.

And that could very well be where Kamala Harris could try to be a bit of a bridge between those two kind of factions of generational factions, if you will.

I do think it's critically important that she is someone of a younger generation than Biden, because he knows that he's not going to be around forever, and that this is not going to be his Democratic Party to lead into the future.

He's really passing the baton, acting himself as a bridge to his running mate, who is likely to take that baton from him, sooner, rather than later. It could be within four years if he is elected as president in November.

So it's rare that we have these moments where I think everybody is very openly talking about what is next, even before you have had the election in which someone might be elected.

And I think, at this moment in this country's history, when you see so many young people becoming activists in the climate change movement, in the social justice movement, I do think that having someone who can speak to those people is going to be important for the next Democratic administration, because young people are such a critical part of the Democratic Party, and they do not want to be ignored.

BROWN: It's interesting, because there are -- the sources close to Biden have said that, on one hand, he was seen as a positive change -- someone who would reflect positive change, but, on the other hand, she was seen as a safe choice.

And we're already seeing, Dana, the relationship, the framing of the relationship playing out right now. Biden was taken aback, as we know, when Harris rebuked him in the first debate because of the friendship that she had with his late son Beau. She apparently, according to Politico, was not apologetic during her screening interview.

But yet Biden chose her anyway. And Democrats are pointing to that as a major difference between Biden and Trump.

DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: And it's something that Donald Trump walked right into when he spoke last night at the White House podium by saying, how could you possibly pick someone as nasty -- the word that he likes to use about women -- as Kamala Harris? I would never do that, which was exactly the point that Joe Biden and his campaign were already intending to make, as a way to bolster the character and leadership traits that they have been pushing and they have been framing around Joe Biden since the beginning of his campaign. Look, it is not as if we haven't seen rivals get together. I mean,

everybody on this panel is too young to remember, including David Axelrod, but JFK and LBJ, even Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush. I mean, it happens throughout history that you get together to team up, despite having really, really intense debates and adversarial relationships.

And by those standards, this isn't even that bad.

[16:35:01]

And the point in this first event that we're going to see together is to try to erase that as quickly as possible.

BROWN: And I want to listen to Congressman Jim Clyburn, who -- what he had to say, because he's largely credited with helping turn the Biden campaign around after that endorsement helped Biden carry South Carolina.

Let's listen to his thoughts on Senator Harris.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. JAMES CLYBURN (D-SC): She knows what it is to be different or to be the other.

And bringing that in with the success that she's had breaking through in areas that no woman had broken into before, I think all of that gives Joe Biden the kind of aura around his campaign that will endear him to the vast majority of American people.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: And, Gloria, there are even Republicans publicly saying today it's time for Harris to get this opportunity, a woman like Harris.

GLORIA BORGER, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, Kamala Harris has friends in the Senate. She is a woman of consequence. And she's very hard to swat at.

I mean, just look at Donald Trump, Pamela. Donald Trump, she has brought out the worst in him. As Dana was pointing out, he couldn't think of anything else to say about her at first, except that she was nasty. And then now he's reverted back to his racist and sexist tropes in order to kind of counter her.

And I think that that doesn't work. And it doesn't work for a lot of Republicans, who are worried about suburban voters, suburban women, and not suburban housewives, as the president called them.

So, I think she is -- she is somebody that is not very easy to characterize. The campaign itself and the president have had a very difficult time, because, on the one hand, they say, oh, she's a California radical.

On the other hand, they're saying, oh, liberals are revolting against the pick. Well, which is it?

BROWN: Yes, which is it?

BORGER: Right.

BROWN: I mean, the campaign and Trump have been really scattershot in terms of how they have handled the messaging after she was selected.

So it's been really interesting to see that play out. But it's also -- you have to think, in Biden picking Harris, is this also a way for him to try to bring in some of those voters that may be turned off by President Trump and also the need to get in progressive voters?

The question then, David -- the question is, David Axelrod, will she be able to attract those voters as well, those more progressive voters?

DAVID AXELROD, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: No, I think that she certainly will.

And, look, one of the things that happened during this period, not just the pandemic, but the aftermath of the George Floyd murder has created a new period of public awakening and awareness on issues of race.

And I think, for those suburban voters, she is an extraordinarily strong candidate. They're looking for reconciliation. They're looking for movement forward. And she is a great antithesis to the kind of racial antagonism that President Trump, frankly, feeds off of.

The other thing, Pam, I just wanted to say, I'm just so fascinated by this, because I was in the small group that on-boarded Joe Biden as a vice presidential candidate.

BROWN: Exactly.

AXELROD: And this is not an easy thing. You have a woman, in Kamala Harris, who ran for president for a year. She had her own message, her own team, her own approach.

And now she is essentially an adjunct to the presidential campaign, and she needs to -- this is like a merger, and she needs to learn a new message. She needs to adjust to a new organization. They will send staff, as we know, already reported, to staff her campaign, many of whom she didn't know before.

And so it is not -- these are shotgun kind of weddings. These are not comfortable. And so how that comes off and how they appear, not just when they speak, but when they do interviews together and how they speak about each other during interviews, all of this needs to evolve.

It's really a process. But, certainly, this is an important point of departure here, when they appear together for the first time, and the words they use, which I guarantee the Biden campaign has looked over carefully.

BROWN: Yes.

AXELROD: It's a real adjustment.

BROWN: They know everyone's going to be sizing them up, right, Gloria?

BORGER: Yes.

And I think David raises a really important point here, which is that Kamala Harris now works for Joe Biden.

And when Joe Biden accepted the vice presidency -- David knows this much better than anyone -- he was a little skeptical about it, because he was used to being his own boss, Senate Judiciary Committee, et cetera, et cetera.

[16:40:00]

She was used to being her own boss. Now she is not. And it's not easy to go from being the top dog and the person who used to run for president to being the number two and saying, OK, this is your message, this is your campaign, this is your staff that you have hired, and I will do whatever you want me to do. It's not an easy transition.

BROWN: All right.

We will see them any moment, Joe Biden and his running mate, Kamala Harris. They're going to be speaking together there in that gymnasium in Delaware.

We are going to squeeze in a quick break. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: Joe Biden and his running mate, Kamala Harris, are about to speak together in Delaware for the first time. The event will begin any moment.

[16:45:03]

I should say the first time as running mates on the Democratic ticket.

I want to bring in CNN's Jeff Zeleny. He is back with us.

And this is the effective launch of the ticket, Jeff. But what might it look like -- what might it look like? What can we expect in this age of coronavirus? It's going to be very different from similar rollouts in the past.

JEFF ZELENY, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: Pamela, there's no question about it.

This essentially is going to -- has become the pandemic collection. And this is not going to be similar in terms of what we have seen in the past. If this was a traditional rollout, it would not be held in a

gymnasium, most likely. It would be outside. There would be all the families there. There would be hugging. There would be a large crowd, first and foremost. So, this is definitely a different moment, particularly on the Democratic side.

One thing the Biden campaign and the former vice president himself has been trying to show, that he is taking this the pandemic in a much more serious fashion than some would say that the president and vice president have been doing, so this is going to be different in every respect.

We can see the podium there, and there is a stool right behind. So they are going to, we believe, share that podium, but they are not going to be essentially as close as before.

But, Pamela, more interesting, going forward here, as the campaign moves along, I am told that Senator Harris, the anticipation is for her to visit swing states. It is for her to be out campaigning as much as she can, probably more so than Joe Biden.

We have seen a similar thing on the Republican side. Vice President Mike Pence travels extensively, usually official visits, but also mixing political visits in as well. And President Trump has not traveled nearly as much.

But this is very much a -- sort of a day-by-day, week-by-week situation. But, Pamela, I'm thinking back to 12 years ago, when then Senator Biden and Senator Obama were in Springfield, Illinois, as David Axelrod and others remember very well.

A crowd of thousands were there. It was the same place that Senator Obama launched his candidacy. So, this is different in every respect from that. But this campaign is different in every respect.

But we also know, Pamela, today, as we have talked about, the third anniversary of the Charlottesville attack, and this is something that both speakers today, Biden and Harris, are going to dwell on extensively, I'm told.

BROWN: And we know they're delayed right now. It was supposed to start earlier.

And I'm just hearing in my ear that there was a -- there's an issue with the power outage at the school. Is that what is behind the delay?

ZELENY: It certainly could be one of the reasons behind the delay, but we also know that Biden campaign events often are late.

BROWN: Right.

ZELENY: They were throughout the primary campaign, so there's no reason to think they wouldn't be now.

But we don't know the exact reason for the delay of this. We do know that Senator Harris has been in Wilmington for several hours. And she has a lot of work to do. Her campaign -- the Biden campaign has been bringing her into the fold here. So we do expect this momentarily, but, again, not probably the best rollout look that they had planned.

BROWN: Yes.

ZELENY: Yesterday's announcement was choreographed perfectly. It didn't to leak out at all, today's probably not quite as well.

We also know, tonight, there's a fund-raiser, a virtual fund-raiser, that it will be the first two times -- the first time that both of them are together for a fund-raiser as well.

And, of course, that is a big part of the job for Senator Harris going forward, helping this ticket raise money.

BROWN: Yes, virtual fund-raiser, sign of the times, is it not?

ZELENY: No doubt.

BROWN: All right, Jeff Zeleny, thank you so much.

ZELENY: Sure.

BROWN: And I want to bring the panel back now.

Abby, first to you. We were just talking about sign of the times. We're looking at this empty gymnasium, for the most part, besides some journalists and others there socially distanced.

What do we expect to see here? I mean, look, everyone's going to be watching them. Everyone's going to be sizing them up. Are they going to be wearing masks? Are they going to hug, high-five? I mean, what do we expect? How is this going to play out?

PHILLIP: Well, we're getting some clues, because, just a couple minutes ago, Kamala Harris' husband just tweeted out a few behind-the- scenes photos, and everyone is wearing a mask, Kamala Harris, Joe Biden, their senior advisers.

They are in close proximity to each other. But they are wearing masks. And I think that you're going to see probably a lot of that, because, as Jeff pointed out, they want to demonstrate that they're handling this pandemic differently from this administration.

And mask-wearing is a clear and easy way to do that. It will be interesting to see whether they will hug or do anything like that. I mean, we all know Joe Biden. He is a hugger.

BROWN: Yes.

PHILLIP: He likes to -- he does like to hug.

And, notably, Kamala Harris is as well. I covered her on the campaign trail. She was always quick to pull people into hugs on the campaign trail. These are two people who are known for being kind of big, sort of

outgoing personalities, showing their emotions in a lot of ways in public. It will be interesting to see how that shows up at this event.

I do think, though, that from everything that I have heard over the last several months, they have been in communication pretty regularly over this period of time. They do talk.

[16:50:03]

And even though they haven't been seeing each other physically, they have been keeping that relationship up. And I do think you're going to see some genuine warmth between the two of them when they come out here today.

BROWN: And we hope to see them very soon, Dana.

But that really is the question. Can they still gin up that excitement, that momentum that these rollouts are supposed to generate? But, at the same time, it is still a striking visual. Kamala Harris is the first black vice presidential nominee and the first South Asian vice presidential nominee.

This is history in the making.

BASH: Oh, absolutely. There's no question about it.

And as we talked about, they are already using social media to continue to gin things up. I mean, just as Abby was talking about Senator Harris' husband tweeting out behind-the-scenes pictures, I was looking at them. You can be sure that some of those are going to go viral. And he's a tweeter. So this isn't new.

But it's certainly going to be a big benefit to this campaign as they try to keep sort of the energy going.

BROWN: And we just saw those pictures, Dana.

BASH: Yes. Yes, exactly.

BROWN: You probably saw it too.

BASH: I was just noticing that.

(CROSSTALK)

BROWN: ... explain to our viewers.

Yes, go ahead.

BASH: Exactly.

But the other thing I just want to say is that, as important as it is to have excitement for a ticket in any year, in any scenario, the Biden campaign still is on a track right now to, they hope, keep this a referendum on the president, and keep this a referendum on the president's leadership or, they argue, lack of leadership, in so many ways, but, most importantly, right now during this pandemic.

And so they definitely want people to vote for Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, but they also want to keep everybody kind of zeroed in on the notion that Donald Trump should get fired.

And they just want to make sure that these two are acceptable to be replacements for Joe -- for Donald Trump. That may be an obvious notion, but it's really different than we have seen in so many times in the past, when you have an incumbent president.

BROWN: And we can see really quick, Dana, if I can break through, we're seeing they're placing the remarks there on the lectern. So we're expecting them any minute now.

And I want to put the picture back up from Doug Emhoff, who is Kamala Harris' husband, tweeted this backstage of Joe Biden wearing a mask.

So, as Abby pointed out earlier, that's a little -- that's a window. There you go. You see Senator Harris wearing her mask. So, that is a window of what we might see shortly when they walk out on stage.

And Doug Emhoff, the spouse of Kamala Harris, and Jill Biden, of course, the spouse of Joe Biden, will be with them as well. We don't know how it's going to play out, where everyone will be.

But, of course, we're going to be watching all of this closely, sizing everything up, looking at body language.

And, as Abby pointed out, look, there is going to be some warmth between the two as well, because they have a relationship, David Axelrod, that goes way back.

AXELROD: Oh, there's no question about that. They were friends before they were opponents. And they have this tie because of Beau Biden and his relationship to Kamala Harris.

I will say, in terms of what is lost because of the period in which we're in, Kamala Harris is an exuberant campaigner. She's a charismatic campaigner. She's a warm campaigner. And I'm sure, if they had their druthers, the Biden campaign would like to take full advantage of that out on the stump. That's not going to happen.

She's also a good social media candidate. She's kind of hip. She's cool. And that will benefit them as well. But that is one thing that I was thinking is sort of a shame, because I was there when Joe Biden bounded out on the stage in Springfield in 2008, and there was such energy there.

There would be here as well if they were in a position to have such a crowd. They can't, and they're going to have to do the best they can with what they can do.

BROWN: They're going to have to get creative. I mean, that's the bottom line to try to show that chemistry.

Here we are seeing them for the first time, making their first appearance on the Democratic ticket, Joe Biden, Kamala Harris.

Let's listen in.

JOSEPH BIDEN (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Thanks for being here.

I wish we were able to talk to the folks outside, but we're keeping our social distancing and playing by the rules.

Good afternoon, everyone.

To me and to Kamala, this is an exciting day. It's a great day for our campaign. And it's a great day for America, in my view.

Over the past several weeks, I have had the incredible privilege of meeting and spending a good deal of time with a group of talented women leaders, all of whom are qualified to be president.

[16:55:08]

With each one, the more I learned about them, the more I talked to them, the more impressed I was, even though I knew them before.

I want to thank each and every one of them for being part of this process. And I look forward to working with them as we rebuild this country, to get elected and, once we are elected, God willing.

I approached this with a seriousness of purpose and of mind, because this is a serious moment for our nation. We're at one of those inflection points, you have heard me say that before, in our history, a life-changing election for this nation.

And the choice -- the choice we make this November is going to decide the future of America for a very, very long time.

And I had a great choice, great opportunities. I had a great choice, but I have no doubt that I picked the right person to join me as the next vice president of the United States of America. And that's Senator Kamala Harris.

You know, and it seems Americans all across this nation, at least at the outset here, agree with me. Yesterday, we had our best grassroots fund-raising day of the campaign, more than double our previous record. And, in doing so, we set a single-day record for online political fund-raising.

And I think I know why. So, I hope -- I hope that you will join us as well, those of you who listen today. Go to JoeBiden.com today, $5, $10, whatever.

Kamala, as you all know, is smart, she's tough, she's experienced, she's a proven fighter for the backbone of this country, the middle class, and for all those who are struggling to get into the middle class.

Kamala knows how to govern. She knows how to make the hard calls. She's ready to do this job on day one. And we're both ready to get to work rebuilding this nation and building it better.

As attorney general of the largest state in the country, Kamala took on the big banks over mortgage fraud, and won, took on big oil when it wanted to pollute without consequences. She was a pioneer in marriage equality and tackled the gun lobby.

You know, we have all watched her in the United States Senate go toe to toe with Trump officials trying to hide the truth, asking the tough questions that needed to be asked, and not stopping until she got an answer. And when none was forthcoming, it was obvious what the answer was.

As a member of the Intelligence Committee and the Judiciary Committee, she's been the center -- in the middle of the most critical national security challenges our country faces, well aware, well aware of all the threats to this nation and ready to respond to them.

As a child of immigrants, she knows personally how immigrant families enrich our country, as well as the challenges of what it means to grow up black and Indian-American in the United States of America.

Her story is America's story, different from mine in many particulars, but also not so different in the essentials. She's worked hard. She's never backed down from a challenge. And she has earned each and every of the accolades and achievements that she has gained, many of them often in the face of obstacles that others put in her way, but never quit.

And this morning, all across the nation, little girls woke up, especially little black and brown girls, who so often feel overlooked and undervalued in their communities, but today, today, just maybe, they're seeing themselves for the first time in a new way, as the stuff of a president and vice presidents.

In her campaign in the primary, Kamala often talked about what she referred to as the 3:00 a.m. agenda, about moms and dads awake late at night in their kitchens, worried, scared, uncertain about how they were going to take care of their families, about how they were going to pay the bills, about how they were going to make it, simply make it.

Growing up in Scranton and Claymont, Delaware, I saw that struggle with my family as well. Kamala saw it with hers as well.

And millions of Americans are living that struggle as we speak, especially in this moment of crisis, especially with so many jobs lost.

Kamala and I both know that all folks are looking for, as my dad would say, is an even shot.

[17:00:00]

END