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The Lead with Jake Tapper

Trump To Deliver First Speech Since Assassination Attempt; An Isolated Biden Weighs Future As Dem Leaders Raise Concerns; CNN Republican National Convention; Key Dem Jamie Raskin Urged Biden To Reconsider Campaign In Letter. Aired 4-5p ET

Aired July 18, 2024 - 16:00   ET

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

[16:00:17]

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: Just in, a legend of television, Bob Newhart has died. He played the lead part in two iconic sitcoms, "The Bob Newhart Show" and "Newhart". "Newhart" also played papa elf in the Christmas classic "Elf". He won three Grammy Awards and Emmy and a Golden Globe. Newhart was 94.

And THE LEAD WITH JAKE TAPPER starts right now.

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JAKE TAPPER, CNN HOST: Hello and welcome to THE LEAD live from the Republican National Convention.

We are in the midst of a pivotal moment in American history that will determine the fate of our nation's future. Stay right here. We're going to bring you the latest reporting and critical insights to shed light on these tumultuous times here in Milwaukee, in battleground Wisconsin.

Donald Trump is poised to take the stage tonight, addressing the nation for the first time since an assassination attempt on him during a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. We have been told that that brush with death inspired the former president to throw out his original speech and craft a new one -- a new one that might strike a different tone. That's what we are being told at any rate.

Trump, twice impeached, the man whose refusal to accept the electoral defeat resulted in a deadly attack on the U.S. Capitol, is one of the most divisive and controversial figures in modern politics. He had seen over his political career to revel in that, and in the ire of his opponents. But we are told that he plans to speak tonight about uniting the United States of America.

That would be a departure from the tone he's generally taken since he entered the political arena by first pushing the false conspiracy theory that President Obama was born in Africa, or since he descended down that golden escalator in 2015 and entered the 2016 presidential contest, reshaping and remaking the Republican Party in so very many ways. We are told that that horrific incident last Saturday changed him and I guess we'll see. In the next hour, we will bring you a key new reporting on the security failures in Butler, and how we saw this last night here at the convention.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. JOHN BARRASSSO (R-WY): You cannot run away.

SEN. MARSHA BLACKBURN (R-TN): You cannot hide from us.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: Republican senators chasing the head of the U.S. Secret Service on the convention floor demanding answers for the failures that put the 45th president of the United States an inch away from death.

Meanwhile, events no less momentous are playing out in Delaware where President Biden is self-isolating after testing positive for COVID we're told. To hear top Democrats tell it, President Biden is like Bruce Willis is character in the movie "The Sixth Sense", he is the only one who seems on unaware of his grim fate.

Former President Obama has told allies recently that Biden's chances of winning have greatly diminished, interesting choice of words, and that Biden needs to seriously consider the path forward, according to "The Washington Post".

It follows CNN's reporting that President Obama and former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi spoke about the challenges of Biden staying in the race. We can report that key Democrats, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries have had blunt conversations with President Biden, relaying Democrats' concerns about his ability to win in November.

Of course, moments such as this one where the president seems to continue to struggle with cognition and basic communication.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Look at the heat I'm getting because I named the secretary of defense, the Black man.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: Moments like that have to say, the least, not eased concerns about the president's ability to serve a second term.

More Democratic lawmakers are also speaking out publicly, such as Congressman Joe Morelle of New York.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. JOE MORELLE (D-NY): His debate performance, I think, has been called many things. I think every person who saw would say it was disastrous. And he's working to try to rebuild and demonstrate to people that he can continue to function. I don't think he's met that standard yet.

I think right now, he has failed to meet that standard. He's got a little more time, but he's got to make a decision on whether he feels in his heart that he can win the White House again and not bring down chances of winning a majority in the Senate and winning a majority in the House.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: A House Democrat, they're saying that President Biden has not yet met the standard of demonstrating to people that he can continue to function, his words.

[16:05:02]

As President Biden weighs what he believes is best for the country and his party, he could look out at the ocean there in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, and realize that the tides among Democrats have changed. But again, as the Zen master once said, we'll see -- Erin.

ERIN BURNETT, CNN HOST: Yeah, Jake, it is just worth all of us just taking a moment here, as you're doing, I'm doing, anyone watching is doing, that to think about that on this night where you set the stakes for Donald Trumps address to the nation, right, where he's going to be accepting the nomination formally five days after surviving an assassination attempt, right? With an assassination attempt against the guy running for president on the Republican side in this country, and yet, we are beginning tonight. We are beginning talking about the Democrats.

And the Democrats are in disarray and they are in chaos over their candidate, President Joe Biden. The president facing growing pressure to abandon his reelection bid as more top lawmakers, even former President Obama, are casting doubt on Biden's ability to win in November. Some of them met with them days ago. He didn't respond. Now, all of a sudden, news of those meetings is coming out. Maybe they think that will be the pressure that will actually finally work.

Let's bring in CNN's MJ Lee at the White House.

And, MJ, the president is dealing with this incredible moment in his political career as he is following the protocols for COVID at the moment, and isolating.

MJ LEE, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, that's right, Erin, at a moment when the president is physically isolating, he is also starting to grow increasingly politically isolated as well, with the walls really seeming to close in around him from every direction.

We, of course, know of the growing up public calls on him to step out of the 2024 race. And the problem there is that from all of our reporting, we know that there are many, many more elected officials who feel this way, but have not just come out yet to say this publicly.

We also know that the president has been having some tough conversations behind the scenes, in private, including with former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, as you guys mentioned, where she as recently as in the last week or so told the president that she's seen polling that shows he simply cannot win in November that she believes that the polling shows that she could -- he could end up bringing the House down with him and that he responded, according to our sources, defensively.

We also know that donors are completely freaking out and many of them are saying, we're not writing anymore checks so long as the president continues running and, Erin, the timing of this COVID diagnosis yesterday really could not be worse. You know, for one, we know that this is putting even more attention on the questions that have already been swirling around his health and his age, and his fitness.

In the last 24 hours, there have been some notable moments where the president has seemed physically the halting as well, whether it's just getting on and off Air Force One or getting into his car in his motorcade. And then, of course, there's the issue that the president has said ever since that but terrible debate performance. He has said the remedy for his political troubles is for him to just get out there, out into the country and engage, and show people and his skeptics in his career critics that he can do this.

Well, the White House is saying how he will actually stay engaged the next couple of days as he is isolating is by doing a lot of video calls as he has done before. A lot of folks are going to be saying, look, video calls is really not going to be the answer to how the president can salvage his campaign.

BURNETT: Right. MJ, thank you very much.

Jake?

TAPPER: Erin, there are a lot of major developments. So, let's bring in the political panel to discuss them all.

Kristen Holmes, the Trump campaign seems to really want President Biden to stay in a race. I want you to take a listen to what Trump's former campaign manager and top adviser, Chris LaCivita, said earlier today.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHRIS LACIVITA, TRUMP CO-CAMPAIGN MANAGER: This is nothing more than an attempted coup by the Democrat Party. You can't step down as a candidate for president because you're cognitively impaired while still being president.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: So how do you interpret -- how do you interpret those remarks?

KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: The arguments that they were going to make as soon as this kind of started unfolding, which was that if Donald Trump steps down -- I mean, excuse me, if Joe Biden steps off the ticket that he is not fit to be president, and then he knew they were going to do this.

But when it comes to whether or not they want the president to stay on the ticket. Of course, they have sent millions of dollars on modeling and data to run against President Joe Biden, not to run against Kamala Harris, not to run against another Democrat. Now, right now, they obviously see what is going on.

There is a fundamental belief within the campaign that Biden wants to stay in this race, but they also know there is a possibility that he could step down, but other than ramping up there attacks on Kamala Harris, we really haven't seen any kind of shift in their posture and that's because they aren't going to spend money or make moves on calculating a new campaign until they actually see how this plays out.

Now, this is taking a little bit longer than they would like to determine if continued to spiral. I don't even think they understood how this is going to play out.

[16:10:04]

But this point, there is still an awaiting in a holding pattern for how this goes before they shift any of their strategy.

TAPPER: David Chalian, I want to play something else that Chris LaCivita said, at the "Politico"/CNN grill earlier today.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LACIVITA: We grind every single day until it -- I mean, it's not over until he puts his hand on the -- on the -- on the -- you know, on the bible and takes the oath. It's not over until then. It's not over on Election Day. It's over on inauguration day.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: What's your -- what's your take on that?

DAVID CHALIAN, CNN POLITICAL DIRECTOR: Well, obviously, that is something that like brings back images of 2020 and potentially fighting over the results. I think what -- I do think what LaCivita identifies here.

So let's take the most charitable interpretation of that for a moment, which is that our politics have become so engaged that it doesn't end on Election Day. He is right about that. Let's hope it doesn't result in violence or an attempted overturning of --

TAPPER: They were -- they were counting votes through this Saturday after the election, yeah.

CHALIAN: Exactly. It's like it takes a while to count on these votes, then they're going to be legal challenges, potentially, totally legitimate legal challenges. Or for a judge to decide if there are legitimate, but there could be challenges.

And so I think what he's probably alluding to there is that until he's actually sworn in as president, they won't be done fighting for that outcome. I hope it is not a signal that that means they're inviting another attempted overturning of legitimate results.

AUDIE CORNISH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: But you could see how that could happen if you basically feel as though your candidate was blessed or saved my God, right? Which is kind of the perception among some voters in the base, and you feel like you're hearing in the news, seeing in the polls that there's no way Biden can win, it does contribute to what is already a narrative that says Democrats couldn't possibly win unless they've cheated, and therefore, we have to protect again its that, which is why they're putting so many resources into election integrity units and things like that. So it feels sort of inevitable in a way that there'd be a challenge posture.

TAPPER: So before Biden tested positive for COVID, he was trying to tamp down concerns about his cognitive skills, his ability to continue. Congressman, you heard Congressman Morelle of New York saying he's working to rebuild and demonstrate to people he can continue to function. I don't think he's met that standard yet.

Here's an example of that. Here is Biden talking with BET News. Take a -- take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BIDEN: Look at the heat I'm getting because I named the secretary of defense, the Black man, I named Ketanji Brown, I mean, because of the people I've named.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: I don't think very many Democrats saw that interview and were reassured.

NIA-MALIKA HENDERSON, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Right, and this has been the story over the last three weeks since the debate, him going out there and really failing to meet the test. There have been verbal gaffes. He referred to Vice President Donald Trump, for instance, he couldn't remember in that clip, Lloyd Austin's name.

And, listen, we've all covered Joe Biden. We've covered him since he was a senator and ascending to the vice presidency, and now the presidency, and he has had a tendency to have these kinds of gaffes and these kinds of slip-ups. But in the context of this and he's sort of seeming physical frailty at times, that is what compounds this, that is what has led him to not be able to tamp down on this, and for Democrats to go public with their private concerns about his inability to go forward.

I do think there was a larger question that Chris LaCivita raises which is if he does decide he can't continue in this race, can he credibly make the argument that he is fit to continue on in the office of the presidency, right? We don't know what's going to happen. That's the thing. We sort of have to broaden our imaginations about these next couple of days as to what might happen. JEFF ZELENY, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Look, I mean, it's not just one decision that I am or I'm not running for president. Should it be -- you know, should he heed the calls that are being made across the Democratic Party from voters I'm told sending letters to the White House to Democratic lawmakers to step aside.

It sets into series a number of questions. One, who would replace him at the top of the ticket? Would he endorse Vice President Harris? What he say it should be wide-open thing.

But the bigger question as Nia just pointed out as one that you can already feel Republicans are gearing up for is how can he remain in office?

So it's not just a simple decision of, you know, I'm going to -- it's not as 1988 decision to announce he's, you know, not running for president.

TAPPER: Suspending his campaign, right.

ZELENY: This is a whole different matter because he is president, but there are -- an increasingly, increasingly Democrats think they're running out of time. They have a little bit more time for that virtual roll call August 1st now, but every Democratic official who is in touch with Biden world said they believed the next 72 hours are critical.

[16:15:07]

TAPPER: Mark, is there even a -- if he were to announce that he's not running for reelection, then what? Is there a process?

MARK PRESTON, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: I mean, there is a process. It's never really been put into place necessarily. Thirty years ago for many people here on this panel, don't realize that I worked for Senator Ted Kennedy for a year back in 1994. The reason why I say that is that there's this phrase that still carries on to this day and that whole Kennedy family is the dream shall never die. It was on the back of the softball team T-shirts and it was it was something that kind of reverberated throughout the whole office.

The reason why I say that is that he took on Jimmy Carter back in 1980, didn't go very well, what-have-you. Four years later, the DNC put new language into their platform that said that delegates will in all good conscience vote for the person they were selected to represent.

Very interesting because four years later, after there was this -- this power struggle, that language was put in, I will say it's never been tested. It's never been interpreted but look, the path is there for somebody to replace Biden.

TAPPER: Very interesting. We'll see what happens and we're going to check in with Dr. Sanjay Gupta to help explain what we've been told about both Trump's injuries during the assassination attempt and Joe Biden's current status. Plus, we're going to talk to "The New York Times'" Maggie Haberman. She's going to join us with the latest insights into how Mr. Trump has taken control of the Republican Party and what that means for what we can expect back to here tonight.

Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[16:20:35]

TAPPER: And we're back.

We're live in Milwaukee, in battleground state, Wisconsin, on the final day of the 2024 Republican National Convention. In just a few hours, former President Donald Trump will make his first major speech since Saturday's assassination attempt on his life.

Joining us now, "The New York Times'" Maggie Haberman.

Maggie, good to see you.

So, Mr. Trump says that he completely rewrote his acceptance speech here, that he's going to deliberate tonight following the assassination attempt. What are we expecting him to say this evening?

MAGGIE HABERMAN, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: It remains to be seen, Jake. My understanding is a lot of people have had their hands on this speech. I think that it is likely to have a bit of a softer introduction. I still think you are going to hear Donald Trump presenting his case against President Biden, which we've heard him do consistently, despite a lot of talk about a change in tone at the convention, a lot of speeches have been very aggressive, and very critical of President Biden and the Trump team has said they think that that's justified, and they think that, you know, Biden has been critical of Trump.

And I don't think there's going to be a massive change where I think you will see it changes on the margins on some of the language used to describe his political opponents. But I think on the substance of the policy, it's going to stay the same.

TAPPER: An article you wrote with some of your colleagues focuses on how Trump took control over the Republican Party and created a new Republican platform, shutting out delegates from the process. Quote: If he retakes the White House, the platform push maybe a blueprint for how Mr. Trump might govern, aided by a pliant Republican Party, and abetted by a federal judiciary that he himself reshaped during his first term, unquote.

Given that, do you think a toned down version of Trump, if that is in fact what we get tonight, and I confessed to being a touched skeptical, do you think that that is really only for tonight and not how he plans on campaigning for the rest of the season, as well as how he might govern should he win? HABERMAN: Look, Jake, I mean, just picking those apart. What happened

last Saturday in Pennsylvania was horrific and it was sickening to see, and this is somebody who faced an attempt on -- an attempt on his life that was broadcast on television or on live streams. And we all saw it.

And so a lot of people I think are mindful of that going forward, I think that he is aware of what happened, obviously, to him and I think that was a significant moment for him, but to your point, we have often seen moments where Trump has moderated his tone or shifted or made some changes, and it doesn't have a meaningful impact on either how he will govern or how he will leave in campaign. I think that, you know, we will see what the full looks like, but I certainly don't expect massive changes.

We also don't know what the general election race is going to look like right now with this question hovering over President Biden. It certainly won't change how he's going to govern. You know, I think that he has looked for ruthless efficiency and full on support and dominance of his party. And he has now achieved that.

And I don't think he's going to step away from that.

TAPPER: It really came down to the final hours when President Trump pick J.D. Vance, the senator from Ohio, to be his running mate.

And you've mentioned how -- how money within the Trump campaign was not a factor, but that chemistry mattered for Trump. What is their relationship like considering Vance was fairly outspoken never Trumper?

HABERMAN: He was, although I got to be honest, Jake, it's really hard to find almost anyone except a narrow core of people like Jeff Sessions who Trump, you know, turned on once they were in the White House, who were with Trump pretty early on and were not critical of him in some way, with anyone. He would have picked. There was going to come up these questions about what they had said.

We all, you know, are familiar with what J.D. Vance had said. J.D. Vance addressed this with Trump in a meeting that they had in early 2021, their first meeting. They like each other. They get along and there's this -- you know, there is this sort of there is a chemistry factor but for Trump that matters more to him than most other factors in relationships.

He simply doesn't have a relationship with Marco Rubio and his relationship with Doug Burgum is new and I just think they're very different people.

TAPPER: All right. Maggie Haberman, thank you so much. Appreciate it. Good to see you.

HABERMAN: Thank you.

TAPPER: President Trump says a bullet skimmed his ear and we've all seen the video of that horrific moment. But why haven't we heard more about his injuries from doctors as one might expect for a major presidential candidate? Our resident medical expert, Dr. Sanjay Gupta, is with us next to discuss the candidates and their health.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[16:29:29]

TAPPER: And we're back live in Milwaukee, in battleground state Wisconsin. We're just hours away from Donald Trump taking the stage to give his nomination acceptance speech. Many will be looking to see whether Trump addresses the RNC with that white bandage over his ears? We've seen him with one each night of the RNC since Saturday's assassination attempt, in the five days since the rally shooting.

We've only heard briefly from Trump's former White House physician, Ronny Jackson, who's now a member of Congress who says that he assessed the former president right after the shooting, and again, on Monday morning.

[16:30:01]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. RONNY JACKSON (R-TX): There was no concussive effect from the bullet and it just took the top of his ear off, a little bit at the top of his ear off as it passed through.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: CNN's Dr. Sanjay Gupta, who is a trauma neurosurgeon, joins us now.

And, Sanjay, it's been five days. What do we know about Trump's injury and care so far?

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, we really don't know much. I mean, it's kind of remarkable considering, you know, a candidate for president, former president, and this type of injury and haven't really heard much from the campaign, haven't heard much from the hospital. We've been reaching out regularly to the hospital to the doctors over there. No briefings nothing really.

So we got this posting from President Trump on true social where he talked specifically about the fact that he says a bullet, he was shot with a bullet that pierced the upper part of his ear. He knew immediately that something was wrong. He heard a whizzing sound and immediately felt the bullet ripping through the skin.

But that's -- that's from him. But we haven't heard from really anybody else.

What we do know in the moment and we talked -- you and I talked about it at the time was that we saw what happened. We all saw that, you know, heard the noises. We saw the president reach his hand up to the right side of this face. He goes down but he's going down of his own power. It wasn't like he

collapsed or something. He eventually comes back up. He's able to walk eventually to the vehicle. He raises his hand.

These are all important clues medically and they were -- they were good, good signs, certainly for him. But when you think about it and we don't even know, was this a primary projectile? Was this a secondary projectile? Was it a combination of both?

But when you think about it, you know, this part of the bone over here, which is just behind the right ear, it's very thin bone. So if there's a significant blast from a -- this case, AR-15, if that's in fact what the primary projectile was, you have to really make sure but there's not other injuries to the bone, to the brain underneath the bone, to the inner ear and all that.

Now, what we've been told, again, not from the hospital, but from other sources was it the president did have a CT scan and that the CT scan was clear. That -- that's basically -- that's important information because the CTt scan can tell you a lot. If that in fact was clear, it does rule out the possibility of a lot of other possible injuries.

But it's kind of -- again, it's kind of remarkable, Jake. I've been doing the job for a long time. Still don't know many details about this pretty awful injury.

TAPPER: And let's turn to President Biden and the COVID diagnosis we heard from White House physician Kevin O'Connor, who says Biden is experiencing mild upper respiratory systems, does not have a fever or his vital signs are normal. He continues to take Paxlovid.

What more would you like to know about that?

GUPTA: Well, you know, he's obviously 81-years-old, so he's at higher risk. There's the concern with repeated infections of things like long COVID, but I think for the most part, there are favorable signs here as well as you mentioned. Upper respiratory symptoms predominate prominently, non-productive cough, general malaise or fatigue, but no fever, normal oxygenation. He's vaccinated, he's boosted and he's had COVID in the past in 2022. And those things all offer protection.

We'll see. You know, they said they're going to follow CDC guidelines in terms of what happens with the president next. Typically, nowadays, the guidelines have changed on this so many times, Jake, but if you don't have any symptoms and you're not having a fever and things like that, you can come out of isolation. Symptoms have to be resolved and at that point, they recommend wearing a mask for five days even after you come out of isolation.

So we'll see. It sounds like he's still having symptoms today.

TAPPER: All right.

GUPTA: We'll just have to keep checking and see what happens tomorrow.

TAPPER: All right, Sanjay. Thanks so much.

We have reached out to the Trump campaign for more information.

Dr. Sanjay Gupta, thanks so much.

We're expecting to see Melania Trump at the convention tonight, yet she will not be speaking from the podium. What else should we be watching for? That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[16:38:27]

BURNETT: We're just hours away from former President Trump, giving his first speech since the assassination attempt every night of the Republican National Convention has been filled with energy. They've had a lot of different theme every night. It is, of course, a world away from the quiet Delaware beach town where President Biden is now isolating with COVID although they do expect he'll be back at work, they say next week, meeting with Prime Minister Netanyahu, along with the Vice President Kamala Harris.

It comes as we're learning Democratic Congressman Jamie Raskin sent a lengthy letter to Biden earlier this month, urging him to rethink his candidacy. The letter closes by making an analogy to a Warnock baseball pitcher and I quote Mr. Raskin: There is no shame in taking a well-deserved bow to the overflowing appreciation of the crowd when your arm is tired out. And there is real danger for the team in ignoring this statistics. Caucus with team, Mr. President. Hear them out, you'll make the right decision.

All right. My panel of political veterans with me as you all have been all week.

So, Kate, I'm going to ask you how President Biden received that and I'm going to put some context on it to make the answer kind of easy. The letter was dated July 6th. That's not like a couple of days ago.

KATE BEDINGFIELD, CNN POLITICAL COMMENATOR: Right. So it wasn't persuasive in the moment in and of itself but, look, he's in a tough -- he's in a tough position right now. You have, you know, respected leaders of the Democratic Party essentially over the last 24 hours with a coordinated push, publicly saying, you should step down and not -- you're not going with your campaign.

You know, I can tell you from having worked for him for very long time, he's not somebody who responds to public pressure in that way by wanting to back down. He responds by wanting to dig in and, you know, be tough.

[16:40:05]

And he's, you know, suffered a lot of tough political moments in his career where he was counted out and you know, was, told there was no way he could win, going all the way back to his very first Senate race in '72. BURNETT: Right.

BEDINGFIELD: So, you know, as you're absorbing this and thinking about it, you have to understand his psychology and kind of how he approaches the situation like this. But look, it is not a great situation to be moving toward your convention with the leadership of your party, suggesting that you shouldn't be the nominee. I don't think we can make any bones of that.

BURNETT: I mean, you have, Jamie Raskin writes a letter. We don't find out about it until now, but he wrote on July 6, so we wrote it to be private then somebody leaked it, as somebody's not President Biden. I'm not saying it's Raskin, but somebody wanted this out there. Same thing with the Schumer. Same thing with the Pelosi words.

SHERMICHAEL SINGLETON, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Pelosi, Obama now.

BURNETT: Same thing with the Obama.

(LAUGHTER)

BURNETT: OK, they all did it in private, didn't like what they heard. And now, we are starting to hear about it.

SINGLETON: They're trying to turn up the heat, the public pressure. I would imagine it will work. I mean, if Democrats want to be a bit sagacious here, they're going to move forward in a different direction. I mean, this was a question at this point electorally about maintaining some level of competitiveness headed into November.

And I'm not even convinced if even making the change at this point, Erin, will even matter.

BURNETT: Does he -- what does he -- is he going to sit here for the next two days? I know he's doing Zoom calls but he's at his beach house., You know, it's hard to imagine coming at this moment saying the things Jamie Raskin said. If you get out now its shameful and humiliating and you tried to stay in and you were told not -- I mean, there is no like to the adoring crowd.

BEDINGFIELD: Well, I actually not totally -- yes. I mean, would he be in a position of strength here? No.

But I think don't forget that all of this anger and frustration, anxiety is coming from a collective desire to defeat Donald Trump. I think if he came out and said, you know, I am -- I am for the good of the country. I am stepping aside. I think there actually would be well received by a huge number of people who, who want to see that happen.

But, you know, the other thing I would say is so I imagine he's taking this all in. He's absorbing it. You know, I think I expect that he's taking a clear-eyed look at where things stand. I think the Biden campaign would argue that there is a disconnect between where the party leadership is and where key components of the Democratic coalition are. I mean, they would make the case that Black voters continue to stand

by him. They would make the case that grassroots donations are still coming in. We'll see how that develops. I think it would not be -- I don't think we would be having an honest conversation if we didn't say, you know, we got to see how both of those things develop.

But I think they have a theory of the case that says they still have grassroots support and that when this race is Joe Biden versus Donald Trump, which it very much isn't right now because there's all this swirl about who is it going to be somebody else --

BURNETT: Yeah.

BEDINGFIELD: -- you know, voters aren't really dialed in on that choice. So that's how they're -- I would imagine that's how they're thinking about a path forward.

JONAH GOLDBERG, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Yeah, I want to salute Kate because she has been even-steven on all of this stuff, very calm.

BURNETT: Yeah, she has.

GOLDBERG: And it feels sometimes like I'm listening to the captain on the Titanic saying, look, no one would call a situation ideal as the water is coming in through the portholes and whatever.

BEDINGFIELD: And fact-check, it wasn't an ideal situation. It was not.

GOLDBERG: It was a British understatement to it all, but I really admire, but, look, I think the comments from Obama today I think we've passed the point of trying to persuade Biden, and it's now at the point where you're trying to persuade the Democratic Party to give Biden no choice.

So I don't think Obama's comments today and Kate would know better about how he would Biden would receive Obama's comments, but the Congressional Black Caucus is probably listening to Obama's comments, right? And I think the scariest poll for a lot of people, Kate said, like they're all unified by desire to beat Donald Trump. I agree that's a unifying desire for Democrats, so is the desire for a lot of Democrats to get reelected.

And one of the poll findings I think terrifies them the most is the one that said, voters would not trust politicians who said that Biden was doing just fine. And you can see it like the Real Clear Politics average, right now, has Trump beating Biden in Virginia and some people are freaking out.

ALYSSA FARAH GRIFFIN, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Yeah, rightfully so.

BURNETT: Okay. And meanwhile, as tonight, you've got Trump who's going to give his address. Melania Trump is going to be there. She's been noticeably absent from pretty much everything. We don't expect her to speak, although I suppose we could see that I know there was stuff swirl around that the last time but, you know, what do you make of the way that she has withdrawn from the public eye? GRIFFIN: She never really liked campaigning political life. She was

somebody who would much prefer to be privately with her family. I think she's showing up its part of this grander gesture that were seeing of trying to humanize Donald Trumps.

You had his granddaughter speak yesterday. You had Lara Trump talk about what he's its like as a father and, you know, as a grandfather. And I think that is to me actually been the strongest sort of entree to the suburban women who feel very disillusioned by the direction that the Republican Party is going and by language around Donald Trump.

[16:45:01]

But does it work? That's the thing is I think that we've heard enough from Donald Trump over the years. The rhetoric he uses, the inflammatory statements that I don't know that will privately, he is very different works, but I think its noticed -- notable that she'll be there, I expect Ivanka Trump is going to be there reportedly as well, and it's going to be a show of force of the families with him after these tragic events of the past weekend.

BURNETT: All right. All staying with us, of course, as we continue our rolling coverage these hours.

Up next, a man who knows J.D. Vance well and will be the one to pick his replacement in the Senate if the GOP ticket wins in November.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BURNETT: And we're back live from Milwaukee, in battleground state Wisconsin on the final day of the 2024 Republican National Convention.

[16:50:04]

In his first major speech as the Republican vice presidential nominee, Senator J.D. Vance of Ohio railed against corporate interests as a way to appeal to working class voters.

Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. J.D. VANCE (R-OH), VICE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: This moment is not about me. It's about all of us. It's about the autoworker in Michigan. It's about the factory worker in Wisconsin. It's about the energy worker in Pennsylvania and Ohio who doesn't understand why Joe Biden is willing to buy energy from tin pot dictators across the world when he could buy it from his own citizens right here in our own country.

(APPLAUSE)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: With me now, Ohio Republican Governor Mike DeWine. Governor, thanks so much for being here.

So he mentioned Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Wisconsin like five times. I don't even think he acknowledged any other state except for your great state of Ohio. Is that one of the main reasons you think President Trump picked him so as to pick off those three blue wall states?

GOV. MIKE DEWINE (R-OH): I think he'll do very well there. I think he relates to people very well. He's obviously from the Midwest. But I think also, Jake, as we heard last night, when he really was introduced so the country for the first time, he's got a story, and his own personal story I think people can relate to. You know, so many people today have someone in their family has an addiction problem or has mental health problem.

He's lived that. He's written about it. He's talked about it. I just think he can relate to people.

You know, we know him really well. We're just anxious for the rest of the country to get to know him.

TAPPER: If he wins, then there will be -- he'll have to resign his Senate seat and you will get to pick his replacement. Already, Vivek Ramaswamy has thrown his hat into the ring as it were. Will you pick him? Do you know who you're going to pick?

DEWINE: I don't know who I'm going to pick. I don't want to really get into names until we get after the election, we have -- we have a U.S. Senate race. It's pretty important in Ohio as well.

You know, I think I know what I wanted. I served as, you know, 12 years in the United States Senate and I want someone who's going to go there work, wants to make things happen and get things done. That's -- I think I've pretty much know who can -- you know, what type person can do that.

This person also though has to, has to run and then run and then run. I will point them, but then they will have to run again in 2026. They would have to run again in 2028. So, it has to be someone who is up so that big challenge, not just the ability to raise the money, but just to go through a nonstop running, it's not an easy thing, particularly in a state like Ohio.

TAPPER: 2026 and then 2012. No, 2022, right?

DEWINE: No, the way -- yeah. The way it works --

TAPPER: It wouldn't be a six-year term?

DEWINE: No, no, no, it flips in. So I only get to two years, then -- they have -- then they can --

TAPPER: Oh.

DEWINE: - then they go back right at it, and then they have to run again.

TAPPER: Got it.

DEWINE: So, it's --

TAPPER: State Senator Matt Dolan, you -- you endorsed him for Senate against a Trump-backed Bernie Moreno. Bernie Moreno won. I mean, you seem to be a fan of Dolan. Might he get the nod?

DEWINE: Look, I think we got a lot of good people in Ohio. I really do. I just don't want to get in to the names yet. And, you know, some people asked me, you know, do you have a shortlist and I kind of laugh and sad only have a long list yet, you know?

We're kind of -- we'll work on that, but we'll see.

TAPPER: The Democratic National Committee is still planning to virtually nominate President Biden as their party's candidate before August 7th. The DNC is saying that they're doing that because of Ohio, even though Ohio passed a bill to ensure that Biden will be whoever the Democratic nominee is, will be on the state.

The DNC says, well, Ohio Republicans might still put up a legal challenge and be up to mischief. No?

DEWINE: No, we're not going to do that. Look, I called the legislature back to specifically put Democrat nominee on the ballot. We passed that. I signed it. We should move on from that. That's not going to be a problem.

Nobody in Ohio is going to stand up and say that the Democrat nominee shouldn't be on the ballot in Ohio. That would be absurd.

TAPPER: All right. Ohio Governor Mike DeWine, good to see you, sir.

DEWINE: Good to see you, Jake. Thank you.

TAPPER: Thanks as always.

Startling new developments CNN is uncovering in the investigation into the assassination attempt on Donald Trump, which was last Saturday. That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[16:59:03]

TAPPER: Welcome back.

CNN has learned that former President Donald Trump met with Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle on Tuesday to discuss the failed assassination attempt that happened on Saturday. Today, Trump's top campaign adviser called on the U.S. Secret Service director to resign and she will face tough questions about the security failures from angry House Republicans on Monday, including details that CNN is learning that law enforcement had identified the shooter as suspicious a full 19 minutes before the shooting took place, but they failed to locate him.

We also have some breaking news now. Lou Dobbs, veteran CNN and then Fox Business new anchor and big business news anchor, and one of former President Trump's most vocal supporters in the media is dead at the age of 78.

Also, actor Bob Newhart, a legendary comedian, die today at the age of 94.

May their memories be a blessing.

I'll be back tonight at 8:00 p.m. Eastern to anchor CNN's special coverage of night four of the Republican National Convention, which culminates with Donald Trump's acceptance speech.

"THE SITUATION ROOM" with Wolf Blitzer and with Erin Burnett starts right now.