Return to Transcripts main page
The Lead with Jake Tapper
Harris Rallies Democrats After Biden Drops Out Of Race; Harris Campaign Raises Record Breaking $81M In First 24 Hours; Lawmakers Demand Answers, Secret Service Director Refuses; Now; Harris In Delaware To Meet With Campaign Staff. Aired 4-5p ET
Aired July 22, 2024 - 16:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[16:00:01]
JESSICA DEAN, CNN HOST: It's probably be very -- I mean, that is like a once in a lifetime.
BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: But like that's the one time I would be running and I would trip.
DEAN: I know, that everything's in place.
KEILAR: And then or the flags on the ground are the no and its just a horrible nightmare, right?
DEAN: Let's hope that doesn't happen to foil LeBron.
KEILAR: Yeah.
DEAN: May the flag stays firmly in his hand.
KEILAR: He's coordinated. That's helped him throughout his career a bit.
DEAN: Yes.
KEILAR: THE LEAD WITH JAKE TAPPER starts now -- starts right now.
(MUSIC)
JAKE TAPPER, CNN HOST: It seems like we can start calling Vice President Harris the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee.
THE LEAD starts right now.
Vice President Kamala Harris on route to Delaware now, to greet the campaign staff that is now hers, back by a fresh wave of notable endorsements kicked off with former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Why and how Democrats almost all fell in line immediately with less than four months to go before the November election?
Plus, House Republicans already sinking into the muck.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MANU RAJU, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Are you suggesting she's D -- she was a DEI hire?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: One hundred percent. She was a DEI hire.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TAPPER: The new attacks on Vice President Harris. I'll speak with podcaster Angela Rye and outspoken radio host Charlemagne Tha God.
And, Donald Trump on social media attacking Biden and Harris, while his VP nominee said this today.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. J.D. VANCE (R-OH), VICE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We just got to get the current crop of crazies out of there and replace them with President Trump.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TAPPER: The challenge that Trump-Vance campaign now faces with a whole new top of the ticket.
Welcome to THE LEAD. I'm Jake Tapper in Washington and we start today with our 2024 lead. Any minute, we expect to see Vice President Kamala Harris touchdown in Wilmington, Delaware, where she's going to visit campaign staff at the newly renamed Kamala HQ. The presumptive Democratic nominee for president previewing her trip on social media, posting, quote, one day down, 105 to go. Together, we're going to win this.
Earlier today, Harris made her first public appearance since President Biden dropped out of the presidential race. And while she did not speak about her candidacy, she did address Biden's historic decision.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KAMALA HARRIS, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: And I am firsthand witness that every day, our President Joe Biden fights for the American people and we are deeply, deeply grateful for his service to our nation.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TAPPER: Vice President Harris is not yet the official Democratic nominee for president, but today, nearly every person who might have considered a run against her has instead endorsed her. And now, the conversation turns to whom the VP will pick to be her VP, with possible contenders making the rounds sounds on national television.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GOV. ROY COOPER (D), NORTH CAROLINA: I want to make sure that Kamala Harris wins. I'm going to work for her all over this country and do what I can to make sure we stop Donald Trump.
GOV. JARED POLIS (D), COLORADO: Obviously, if somebody asked, I take a serious look at it, but my phone hasn't rung yet.
GOV. ANDY BESHEAR (D), KENTUCKY: And I want the American people to know what a Kentucky and is and what they look like because let me just tell you that J.D. Vance ain't from here. Now, and the nerve that he has to call the people of Kentucky -- of eastern Kentucky "lazy".
Today was an opportunity to both support the vice president, but also to stand up for my people.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TAPPER: Vice President Harris's team just announced they raised $81 million, $81 million in the first 24 hours of her campaign. And they are also making appeals to young voters in a way.
Many other candidates simply are not on the heels of the popular new album "Brat" from British pop singer Charli XCX, which has taken off on TikTok. The pop star is seemingly endorsed Harris, saying Kamala is brat.
And Harris is leaning in. She adopted the font and look of the "Brat" album cover on her X or Twitter page, making a clear pitch to young people, the social media generation, one of whose members told me about this, otherwise I would have missed it completely.
CNN's MJ Lee starts off our coverage with a closer look at how everything has unfolded since Biden's announcement yesterday afternoon.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
HARRIS: Greetings, everyone.
MJ LEE, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Vice President Kamala Harris stepping into the brightest political spotlight of her career.
HARRIS: Our President Joe Biden wanted to be here today.
LEE: Harris becoming a presidential candidate overnight, following President Joe Biden's stunning announcement Sunday to drop out of the 2024 race.
In her first public appearance since the bombshell decision, Harris playing tribute to not only the president's first-term record --
HARRIS: Joe Biden's legacy of accomplishment over the past three years is unmatched in modern history.
LEE: But also, his character and his patriotism.
HARRIS: His honesty, his integrity, his commitment to his faith, and his family, his big heart and has love, deep love of our country.
[16:05:11]
LEE: With just 3.5 months until Election Day, Harris now running full steam ahead with Biden's full support and endorsement in hand.
Her first-order of business Sunday, reaching out to more than 100 individuals over the span of 10 hours, including Democratic elected officials, labor leaders, and civil rights and advocacy leaders, a furious effort to quickly get the party to coalesce behind her, in an unprecedented political moment.
REP. JIM CLYBURN (D-SC): He decided not to run and so I've decided to support Vice President Harris.
SEN. CHRIS COONS (D-DE): I support Vice President Harris.
SEN. ELIZABETH WARREN (D-MA): When you're up against a convicted felon, who better than a former prosecutor to take it straight to Donald Trump.
REP. ERIC SWALWELL (D-CA): I fully support Kamala Harris. And in fact, she's been trained by the best.
LEE: Among those endorsing Harris, high-profile Democrats widely seen as having presidential aspirations of their own or ending up on a future Harris vice presidential shortlist.
GOV. ANDY BESHEAR (D), KENTUCKY: The vice president is ready. She has my full endorsement. I'm going to do everything I can to support her.
LEE: Biden's remarkable decision this weekend coming after he was presented with polling that showed his path to victory was basically non-existent, a person familiar telling CNN, a decision so closely held, even senior most advisors barely getting a heads up. In a letter addressed to the American people, Biden writing, it is in the best interest of my party and the country for me to stand down and focus solely on fulfilling my duties as president for the remainder of my term.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LEE (on camera): And Jake, former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who played such a pivotal, an outside role as the party waited on President Biden to make his decision. She has just formally endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris. We also know that she is set to meet in the coming days with Chuck Schumer and Hakeem Jeffries, who have not yet formally endorsed her. But she is also soon to arrive at the Wilmington, Delaware headquarters of the Harris campaign, her first visit there as a presidential candidate. Of course, Jake, within the last 24 hours, that headquarters had been the headquarters of the Biden-Harris campaign -- Jake.
TAPPER: All right. MJ Lee at the White House, thanks so much.
And in my -- our panel's here.
And, Mo, you're a delegate for the DNC. And not only that, you're on the rules and bylaws committee. How would you describe -- as candidly and as honestly as possible the mood among the DNC, right now?
MO ELLEITHEE, FORMER DNC COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR: Oh, it's night and day, right?
TAPPER: Right.
ELLEITHEE: I took a bunch of college students last week to Milwaukee to observe the Republican convention and their number one takeaway was that that was a convention, that was party that seemed energized and excited and unified behind their candidate. If you're a Democrat, the last couple of weeks have been brutal. Regardless of what side of the should Bidens stay in or get out, divide you're on, like it was demoralizing.
Not today. Today, Democrats feel energized. It's a whole new day. It's a turning of the page. People seem excited to get behind a candidate.
It seems like that candidates likely to be the vice president, but they are just excited and you feel an energy that I just haven't felt in the party for quite some time.
TAPPER: And in terms of the rules and bylaws committee -- I mean, it doesn't seem as though there's going to be a challenger, at least we haven't heard of one, right? So how would it work? What she just be by acclamation like?
ELLEITHEE: There will be a roll call vote, I presume, at some point whether that's at the convention or an early virtual roll call vote. If no one else gets in, we'll still go through it, much as we would have had President Biden remain the presumptive nominee, and that's always fun and helps build excitement within the party as well.
But you're right. It doesn't seem like there's a serious challenger looking to get in and I think people's consolidation behind her is reflective of that energy that they have right now.
TAPPER: David, what can you tell us about the last 24 hours because I am, A, there are a lot -- let's just be honest. There are a lot of people that wished Joe Biden had done this a year ago, so there could have been a democratic process, small D, Democratic process, and primaries and caucuses.
And they would have loved to have run for president. But so many of them, just like immediately endorsed her. But I also have to say like this didn't really just organically happen, right? Vice President Harris has a team of sophisticated people, Bakari Sellers being one of them.
DAVID CHALIAN, CNN POLITICAL DIRECTOR: Sure.
TAPPER: And they were preparing for this eventuality should it happen, respectfully, but just in case.
CHALIAN: Respectfully, as you note, because everything I've heard is that that preparation was happening in the context of phone calls and meetings that were -- we're sticking with Joe, where like that was the first line of every one of those calls. But it was making sure that they were in touch and had the pipelines cleared out for if there is this eventuality, we have to go quickly and consolidate quickly. [16:10:05]
That was -- that was sort of what was being built over these last several weeks and so what we've seen is pretty flawless execution of that once the president decided he was going to step down from election. So they weren't having to have those conversations from scratch, Jake.
There was this sense now it's time to execute on these -- this plan that we had, which is to consolidate quickly around the vice president. I -- what one thing that is particularly surprising to mean is that before this, Jake, we heard a lot of calls that there needs to be a small D democratic process. There are a lot of people inside the Democratic Party --
TAPPER: Clyburn said it, Obama said it.
CHALIAN: Yes. Many -- they're really -- that does not seem to be happening. Now, I know that they are still taking pains to say she's doing all the work and that that's this version of the democratic process, but that is not the case here. I mean, this -- for, I know they're wary of the word coronation, but this is about as close to a coronation as you're going to get.
TAPPER: And right now, you can see that's Kamala Harris's plane. She just landed in Dover, I guess Air Force Two, it would be called.
And, Jamie, we've heard a lot of vice presidential speculation. Take a listen to what Colorado Governor Jared Polis said about it earlier today on CNN.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GOV. JARED POLIS (D), COLORADO: If they do the polling and it turns out that they need a 49-year-old balding gay Jew from Boulder, Colorado, they got my number.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(LAUGHTER)
TAPPER: What are you hearing about the vice presidential search process?
JAMIE GANGEL, CNN SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT: Firs of all, I'm going to add them to my list. He's volunteered. He wants to be there.
He qualifies in two ways that I've been seen. He's white and he's a male. So, the --
TAPPER: From an important state, battleground state.
GANGEL: From an important state, but not the ones I think that they are so worried about.
My understanding is that there are four leading candidates, and that starts with Arizona Senator Mark Kelly who Kamala Harris knows well and likes from her days in the Senate, also Andy Beshear, governor of Kentucky, governor of North Carolina, Roy Cooper. And finally, Josh Shapiro from --
TAPPER: The commonwealth of Pennsylvania.
GANGEL: Exactly.
TAPPER: And, Kaitlan, you spoke to Donald Trump on the phone yesterday. We know -- he does. I have to say based on his social media posts seem a little disappointed that he's not running against Biden. I mean, they can say whatever they want about like Kamala is going to be easier to beat than Joe, whatever, but like they see disappointed.
KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN CHIEF CORRESPONDENT: Well, they also don't know if she's going to be easier. That is one of the things one of the sentiments at the former president told me moments after Joe Biden dropped out of this race yesterday, is that he does think she'll be easier to beat. But what they all understand is that it's an unknown quantity at this point. This is a ton of uncertainty in this race.
Donald Trump was saying yesterday, he wanted to sue for fraud because all the money they've spent on ads attacking Joe Biden, they had a lot still ready to go over the next few months. And obviously now, they are going to have to completely reorient that.
Now they don't think it will be that difficult because they plan to tie Harris to the Biden record, which we've seen in poll numbers is not entirely a popular with voters when it comes to the economy and immigration. So they'll certainly use that, but they had a pretty good thing going, they felt like, and Republicans were almost elated at the convention last week.
I've been walking on the floor you could just kind feel it, one, because they were grateful that Donald Trump had just survived an assassination.
TAPPER: Yeah.
COLLINS: It really unified their party, but, two, given what the last three weeks have looked like for Democrats, they felt really good about it.
Now, things have changed. You've seen how energized Democrats feel, how much money they're raising. We don't actually know how to play out in a head-to-head match. If she is actually the nominee, but they -- it is a certain uncertainty for them.
TAPPER: All right. Everyone stick around. We got a lot more to talk about.
Coming up, the elected leader who called on the vice -- who called the vice president, a quote, DEI hire. I'm going to get reaction to political commentator turned podcaster Angela Rye, as well as radio host Charlamagne Tha God, about that. Plus, brand new calls to the head of the Secret Service to resign in
the wake of the assassination attempt on Donald Trump and all the failures from that day, the intense questioning on Capitol Hill coming up.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[16:17:54]
TAPPER: Vice President Kamala Harris landing in Wilmington, Delaware, to meet her newly inherited campaign staff. Harris and her husband, the second gentleman, Doug Emhoff, greeted by local leaders, including close Biden ally, Delaware Senator Chris Coons. I think Congresswoman Lisa Blunt Rochester, we saw her in there, likely to become the next senator there.
I'm back here with my 2024 panel.
And, David, new numbers into CNN show team Harris raised $81 million in its first 24 hours. It's 888,000 grassroots donations, 60 percent of whom made their first contribution or the 2024 cycle. That's pretty impressive.
CHALIAN: I mean, that is a manifestation of exactly what was discussing about the energy that he's feeling inside his party. That is not the big dollar donors, Jamie's talked to them, Pam Brown did a story on this, who also are actually quite enthused and ready to stand up big.
This is the grassroots online immediate fundraising, and that is -- that is a real measure of enthusiasm. Now, that's one slice of it, right? Now, we've got to see the, all the other components she's got to start putting together winning pieces of a coalition. And what that looks like does the map look differently with Harris versus Trump than it looked Trump versus Biden, and how is that going to determine how they take those resources and now deployed them, because this isn't entirely new presidential contests.
TAPPER: Interesting.
And, Mo, a CNN poll conducted at the end of June saw there was a huge jump from Biden to Harris among women of color. In a head-to-head matchup, Biden-Trump, 53 percent of women of color said they would support Biden. In a matchup between Harris and Trump, 63 percent of women of color said they would vote for Harris. So that's another positive, although there are also negatives and potential risks of Biden voters who might not be interested in hearing.
ELLEITHEE: Yeah, and remember, that poll was a hypothetical matchup, right? Now it gets real. And so, you'll start to see polls that are really reflective of where we are in the moment.
But you know, look, if you -- the Biden campaign was having trouble with Black voters, with Latino voters, with young voters, the bedrocks of the Democratic coalition.
[16:20:10]
And while there were still sort of like hanging in there in the polls, right? That was a major red flag. I think a lot of those parts of the Democratic coalition, many of those groups, are going to start to feel that energy. You know, people were not enthusiastic about that matchup between Biden and Trump. We saw that in all the polls.
Now, it's not that match up anymore. And so a lot of Democrats are going to come home. I think with her as the nominee, and you may see us get more competitive in more of these states slipping away.
COLLINS: That's why the next several days or so critical because it's how does she define herself as if she is the nominee on this ticket? I mean, she hasn't been years since she was running in the Democratic primary. Obviously, she didn't really get that close to actually being the nominee then. So how does she define herself?
Because the Trump team, they're not scrambling to make sure donors are lined up or to make sure she has they have a winning coalition. They are solely focused on how to attack her right now and what that's going to look like.
Will it be easy? I think there are real questions of how they'll do that and how he'll navigate it.
When Hillary Clinton came out and lined up behind her yesterday, very early on. Obviously, she is one of the only women who knows what its like to go up against Donald Trump in an election to debate him. And so it'll be interesting to see how he tries to define her and also how she tries to define herself.
TAPPER: And, Jamie, I also want to talk about this appeal to Gen Z.
GANGEL: Right, which is a natural question to ask.
TAPPER: Natural question for you.
(LAUGHTER)
(CROSSTALK)
TAPPER: So, I -- for the record, I was tipped off about this. What I'm about to share with our voters -- our viewers rather by my 16-year-old --
GANGEL: Who truly is an --
TAPPER: Who is an actual member of Gen Z. Kamala Harris appears to be leaning into this. The singer Charli XCX tweeted last night, Kamala is Brat.
This is in reference to her album called "Brat". Kamala has branded her Kamala HQ Twitter page with the same aesthetic of the album. That's another Gen Z word, aesthetic. It's even becoming a trend on TikTok.
Special Gen Z correspondent, Jamie Gangel, what more can you tell us about it?
GANGEL: So, first of all, just from my producer, Elizabeth Stewart, who so spit out her coffee as I say this, I'm supposed to say that's brat. And for those who don't are not in the node, the way I am, that is a cool thing. It has a color. Chartreuse is the color, and Kamala Harris has adopted that for whatever social media page that is.
But I brought some notes because I knew you would the wanted definition okay. Here we go. Charli XCX, who I do know, quote, brat. You're just that girl who is a little messy and likes to party. And maybe says some dumb things, some times, end quote.
So, the idea that we're all kind of brand and Vice President Harris is brat.
(CROSSTALK)
COLLINS: I don't if you're a brat. I think you inspire to be brat, Jake. You don't just become brat. You can try.
GANGEL: You can work at it.
TAPPER: I will -- I will aspire to brat.
I will aspire.
But, I mean, the point is that she is -- whether it's her or some very clear who work for her, what going right for them in the language of their own, that apparently nobody at this table speaks to.
GANGEL: Another generation. Maybe this is your generation. She's going to --
TAPPER: She's a millennial, take it easy.
GANGEL: So, you tell me is this, right, she's going to own it.
TAPPER: She's going to own it.
GANGEL: Own it.
TAPPER: Well, I mean, the truth of the matter is, at 59, she is the youngest candidate in the race and also Donald Trump is now the oldest living presidential nominee.
CHALIAN: That is true. We did some of this with her first run, the K hive, if you will, like, she did have a huge social media presence five years ago when she was running unsuccessfully.
TAPPER: Yeah, It did not do much good, though.
CHALIAN: It did not do much good for her electoral outcome, but she did have that kind of entree into this world. And I think it's going to be turbo-charge now for this.
TAPPER: All right, thanks, everyone. Stick around, brats. Kaitlan continues the conversation tonight on "THE SOURCE". That's at 9:00 Eastern only here on CNN. She's a millennium though she's not Gen-Z.
I want to talk about all of this with two more voices with a proven track record of connecting with their audience. It's political commentator turned podcaster, Angela Rye and radio host Charlemagne Tha God. They're going to join me next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[16:28:27]
TAPPER: And we're back with our 2024 lead.
As we bid farewell to the Biden-Trump rematch that was, let's just say not a thrilling prospect for millions of Americans on both the right and left according to polls.
Today, Democratic donors and lawmakers and governors all appear to be hopping on board the Kamala Harris train, hopeful that the vice president will reenergize their party in this race.
Joining us now, Angela Rye. She's the host of "Native Land" podcast. Also with us, Charlemagne Tha God, a co-host of the popular iHeart radio show, "The Breakfast Club". Also the author of the new book, "Get Honest or Die Lying: Why Small Talk Sucks".
There it is. There it is. Everybody, run out and get it.
Angela, already, conservatives are making comments aimed at Vice President Kamala Harris's race.
Listen to what Republican Congressman Tim Burchett hut told CNN today.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BURCHETT: Biden said, first off, he said he's going to hire a black female for vice president and that not just skipped over. What about -- what about white females? What about any other group?
I -- it just when you go down that route, you take mediocrity and that's what they have right now as vice president.
MANU RAJU, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Are you suggesting she's -- she was a DEI hire?
BURCHETT: One hundred percent. She was a DEI hire.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TAPPER: Angela, what's your reaction to that?
ANGELA RYE, PODCAST HOST: My reaction to that is DEI is not -- didn't earn it unless you're talking about legacy admissions and some of the trust funds that many of those members of Congress have. [16:30:02]
What you have in Kamala Harris is someone who was not only county prosecutor, a state attorney general for California as a statewide elected United States senator, and now, the vice president. I don't know about you, Jake, but for the track record for most of our vice president, she's pretty much on par.
So I would argue that it is in fact, not mediocre would is showing in this clip is this man's racism. It's very clear that he has compared blackness was mediocrity when many of our folks in our community know that we have to be twice as good and three times as qualified. And that is what you have in Kamala Harris.
TAPPER: Charlemagne, what's your response when you hear white Republican congressman referring to Vice President Harris as a DEI hire?
CHARLAMAGNE THA GOD, RADIO HOST: I would say MAGA has a lot of DEI hires, too. You know, conservatives have a lot of DEI hire, with DEI stands for delusion, entitlement, and idiocracy.
They are delusional because they think Donald Trump is their savior. They're entitled because they're a bunch of privileged white men who want everybody else to stay in their place. And idiocracy accuracy comes into play because that's the movie the RNC convention reminded me of other night.
TAPPER: Classic film by Mike Judge.
You previously -- Charlemagne, you previously called both Joe Biden and Donald Trump trash candidates and you said you would vote in this election, but you would not endorse Biden. Now that he's out, do you think you might endorse Vice President Kamala Harris. Should she get the nomination?
CHARLAMAGNE THA GOD: Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. You know, it's -- I absolutely would endorse Vice President Kamala Harris. You know, I supported Kamala Harris in 2020 when she ran for president. I was out there on the campaign trail with her.
You know, she was the only reason that I voted for the Biden-Harris ticket to begin with, and you know, we have our disagreements on air and off air, but I think that, you know, she is the perfect person, you know, to the -- be needed to fight in these unprecedented times right now.
TAPPER: And, Angela --
CHARLAMAGNE THA GOD: Yes, absolutely support her.
TAPPER: Angela, what do you make of Donald Trump saying that he is building support among Black voters?
RYE: I don't. I make the same thing out of it that exists. It's absolutely nothing. It's a nothingburger. Donald Trump does not have a tremendous track record with Black
people. I think many of us can see through the lies, the parallels that he's trying to make with his, you know entanglements with the system are not how real, their black folks who are struggling to make and pay legal bills everyday, struggling to figure out how they're going to raise bail money.
Meanwhile, in Georgia, Governor Kemp signed a bill into law that would prevent organizations that help people make bail. He prevented that. That is Donald Trump's you know, it's someone who's just like Donald Trump. It's Donald Trump's legacy play out in states.
When you look at what Project 2025 is all about. We know that most of those policies will hit us harder than anywhere else. When you look at what the Supreme Court has done with the three appointments from Donald Trump, we know that those policies are impacting us more than anyone else.
So, in our community, folks don't get immunity, right? He's offering immunity for police, for law enforcement, and he has immunity himself. That's something that we don't ever have. In fact, we are guilty until proven innocent in our community.
So there's no "there" there. I think that he had best he gets 16 percent of the black vote and I think even that's a stretch.
TAPPER: Angela, Vice President Harris's advisers say that her campaign is going to lean heavily into the choice between her as a prosecutor and Donald Trump is convicted felon.
Do you think that's wise? Is that what voters want, a prosecutor?
RYE: I think there's never been a time where voters would want a prosecutor more. You have someone who has a proven track record again, as it as a prosecutor, as the states attorney, as an attorney general rather, and she has demonstrated that she knows how to prosecute cases against the most corrupt among us. And I think Donald Trump is absolutely that retiring talking about some with 88 indictments will less the case that was just thrown out by his appointed judge.
But Donald Trump is someone who needs to face his record. His record is filled with criminality long before he went through the White House doors. And I think there that needs to be tried. It has not been adequately tried. I'm eager to see if there will be a debate between the two of them. But her campaign I think wrote out yesterday demonstrating that contrast, and I think that's exactly where they have to stay, in addition to demonstrating how it will be a win for voters to vote for Kamala Harris.
So they need to know what they're voting against certainly, but also what they're getting in voting for her.
TAPPER: And, Charlamagne, and your new book, you write --
CHARLAMAGNE THA GOD: Jake, I don't even think you have the right question. People ask him, if America is ready for a prosecutor. I mean, is America ready for, you know, somebody with all of the criminal charges that Donald Trump has?
TAPPER: Right.
CHARLAMAGNE THA GOD: You know, I mean, in most job, most convicted felons can't even get, get those kinds of jobs that Donald Trump is currently campaigning for.
RYE: Yeah, you have to (INAUDIBLE).
CHARLAMAGNE THA GOD: They barely could get jobs at McDonald's. They barely could get jobs at McDonald's and Walmart.
[16:35:02]
So it's weird that kind -- it's weird to have to say, you know, is America ready for a prosecutor? No, is America ready to elect a criminal?
TAPPER: That's a fair question. You write in your book, Charlamagne, quote, my father always told me you're not lying to me. You're lying to yourself. It took me a long time to understand stand the depth of those words. But now I comprehend them fully.
We lie to ourselves and then volunteer the lies we tell ourselves to other people. It's a terrible trait, unquote.
This is -- this is a theme throughout your book. Can you give us an example of how you think this is impacting the political roller coaster we're on right now all of the self deception that, that human beings are capable of?
CHARLAMAGNE THA GOD: Man, oh, I think a good example of that is, you know, what happened, you know, last week. You know, sadly, there was an assassination attempt you know, on a -- on a former president and you know, absolutely condemn for political violence regardless, how I feel about Trump's politics.
I don't agree with people trying to assassinate elected officials or candidates. You know, if that was someone I was supporting politically, I damn sure wouldn't be happy about it. But I think that -- I think the media lie themselves for a week. I think CNN lied themselves for a week. I think MSNBC lied to themselves for a week, and, you know, I want folks, especially the media, to understand you don't have to willfully surrender to fascism.
You know, when I see people saying, you know, we have to tone down the rhetoric around Donald Trump, what did that mean exactly? Because you can't talk about Trump without telling the truth. He absolutely led an attempted coup of this country. His followers were chanting to hang Mike Pence. He did say the governor of Montana with my type of guy, you know, after that -- after that after he was a congressman, then he body-slammed a reporter.
He did suggest that Second Amendment supporters do something about Hillary Clinton. You can't even begin to have conversations about dangerous rhetoric that lead to political violence without talking about Trump's. And when the House Speaker Mike Johnson comes out there and you know, says, everyone needs to tone down the rhetoric, no, it's really one person.
When, you know, he's now running mate J.D. Vance, you know, says it was the dangerous rhetoric from Democrats that led to this. No. It was, you know, the rhetoric that he created and he's created an environment that's not safe for any politician, including him. And I think media is lying to themselves and he lied to themselves all last week by not addressing, you know, that issue when his whole totality.
TAPPER: All right. Charlamagne Tha God and Angela Rye, appreciate it. Thank you so much. And thanks so much for your candor there, Charlemagne. Appreciate it.
CHARLAMAGNE THA GOD: Yes, sir. Thank you, Jake.
TAPPER: Coming up, next, the intense hearing that led to a few questions actually being answered about the assassination attempt on former President Trump and the failed efforts to protect him that day. And now, a group of Republicans and Democrats are calling on the director of the U.S. Secret Service to resign.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[16:42:02]
TAPPER: Sticking with our politics lead, but changing subjects to bipartisan outrage today over what one Democrat called the, quote, stunning security failures by the U.S. Secret Service before the attempt to assassinate former President Trump.
CNN's Paula Reid shows us lawmakers demanded answers from the head of the U.S. Secret Service during a congressional hearing today in she flat-out refused to give in.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
REP. MELANIE STANSBURY (D-NM), OVERSIGHT COMMITTEE: Madam Director, with all due respect, the answers that we've received here in this hearing today are completely unsatisfactory.
PAULA REID, CNN CHIEF LEGAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Republican and Democratic members of Congress frustrated with the head of the Secret Service, many calling for her immediate resignation.
REP. JAMES COMER (R-KY), OVERSIGHT COMMITTEE CHAIRMAN: It is my firm belief, Director Cheatle, that you should resign.
REP. JAMIE RASKIN (D-MD), OVERSIGHT COMMITTEE RANKING MEMBER: The director has lost the confidence of Congress at a very urgent and tender moment in the history of the country. We need to very quickly move beyond this.
REID: There were still a lot of unanswered questions after a horrific assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump nine days ago. KIMBERLY CHEATLE, U.S. SECRET SERVICE DIRECTOR: As the director of the United States secret service I take full responsibility for any security lapse of our agency.
REID: Kimberly Cheatle facing bipartisan fury over her agency's failures.
REP. NANCY MACE (R-SC), OVERSIGHT COMMITTEE: Have you provided all audio and video recordings in your possession to this committee as we asked on July 15, yes or no?
CHEATLE: I would have to get back to you.
MACE: That is a no. You're full of shit today. You're just being completely dishonest.
REID: Both Republicans and Democrats, growing frustrated with Cheatle's lack of forthcoming information as she repeatedly stonewalled lawmakers deferring to the ongoing FBI investigation.
REP. ALEXANDRIA OCASIO-CORTEZ (D-NY), OVERSIGHT COMMITTEE: It has been ten days since an assassination attempt on former president of the United States regardless of party. There need to be answers.
REID: Cheatle acknowledged that Secret Service was told about a suspicious individual several times before the shooting.
REP. ANDY BIGGS (R-AZ), OVERSIGHT COMMITTEE: Why didn't they put a security hold on President Trump going on stage at that rally?
CHEATLE: At a number of our protective sites, they are suspicious individuals that are identified, all the time. And it doesn't necessarily mean that they constitute a threat.
REID: She pledged to complete an internal investigation of the incident within 60 days and defended her position.
REP. VIRGINIA FOXX (R-NC), OVERSIGHT COMMITTEE: Do you think you are the best person in the country to head the Secret Service?
CHEATLE: I think that I'm the best person to lead the Secret Service at this time.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
REID (on camera): Cheatle also revealed that the Secret Service has made adjustments to the security of our around Vice President Kamala Harris after Joe Biden dropped out Sunday, who said they've also adjusted security for other protectees since the Trump shooting and said, Jake, they are also prepared to protect whoever the Democrats select as their vice presidential nominee.
TAPPER: But both the top Republican and top Democrat on the Oversight Committee called for her resignation and she's still did not offer it.
REID: Exactly right. TAPPER: Tick-tock.
Paula Reid, thanks so much.
One of the lawmakers who was in that room and was among those calling on the director of U.S. Secret Service to resign is going to join us next.
Plus, Vice President Kamala Harris just arrived here at campaign headquarters in Wilmington, Delaware. She has said to address her newly inherited campaign staff and just moments and well bring you that live when it happens.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[16:49:10]
TAPPER: Back with our politics lead continuing on our coverage of the bipartisan demands for the resignation of the director of the U.S. Secret Service, not just because of the security failures that led to the attempted assassination of former President Trump nine days ago. But because Director Kimberly Cheatle steadfastly refused to answer lawmakers questions during a congressional hearing today.
With us now is a Democratic member of the House Oversight Committee, Florida Representative Jared Moskowitz.
Congressman, you joined your Republican colleagues today in calling publicly for Director Cheatle to resign. Why?
REP. JARED MOSKOWITZ (D-FL): Well, look, that hearing was a disaster for her. I mean, it's been nine days. She can't answer any questions. She's giving more in formation in the press that she's giving to Congress.
And I think a key question for me was when I said to her, look, you said this was a catastrophic failure.
[16:50:03]
You said that people are going to be held accountable. When I asked her when she determines who those people are, she committing to fire them, and she refused to answer that question. It became clear to me the person that needs to be held countable is her.
We almost had a former president assassinated live on television, not just for America, but for the world to see.
And even when I asked her, God forbid, he had been killed, had the assassin achieved his mission, would you have then resigned if that happened on her watch? And she's still said, probably not.
I mean, this is what people hate about the federal government. They feel like there's no accountability. We saw accountability after the shooting at my hometown in Parkland, my high school, when there were massive failures and we need to see accountability now. TAPPER: So let's run that clip that you just referred to.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MOSKOWITZ: Here's my question. You said there's going to be accountability. I understand you don't want to give us names. When you say that, are you telling the committee that once it's concluded, you're prepared to fire the people on the ground who made poor decisions that day?
CHEATLE: I'm prepared to take the actions necessary.
MOSKOWITZ: No, that's nonsense.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TAPPER: She never committed to firing anyone. She said that the buck stopped with her and took -- she took responsibility, but no one has been fired?
MOSKOWITZ: Well, good, the buck is going to stop with her because you're seeing a bipartisan call. I mean, Jake, you've watched the oversight committee the last 18 months. We can't -- we can't even agree the sky is blue.
Yet, you're seeing Jamie Raskin, James Comer, myself, Byron Donalds all agree that she needs to either resign or be fired. So this train is going to leave the station. She is not going to be the director of Secret Service much longer.
I mean, she's not even been to the site yet. Meanwhile, you've got the Homeland Security Committee, of congressmen there visiting the site today? So, I don't know if it a day, a week, a month, but she is not going to be leading that agency. She instills no confidence being able to do that.
Today was an opportunity for her to instill that confidence and instead, we have even less confidence that we had then when we entered the hearing.
TAPPER: Respectfully, Congressman, I mean, this isn't like the Supreme Court with a lifetime appointment and I mean, President Biden or presumably Vice President Harris, could fire her right now. Why haven't they done so?
MOSKOWITZ: Well, look, I'm calling for Mayorkas to do that. Mayorkas could do that. That's the chain of command. I'm calling for her to resign or be fired.
So look, if Secretary Mayorkas is paying attention, he should fire her. You know, I don't care if it's, you know, 30 days and she's gone letter wrap up in the investigation, but she should no longer be leading the Secret Service into the future.
TAPPER: She said, Director Cheatle said that the gunman was identified as suspicious, but not necessarily a threat, and she suggested that at any event, there are or suspicious individuals did that make sense to you?
MOSKOWITZ: No, of course not. There's a guy on top of a roof with a clear sight to the former president and he's standing up, he's going down, right?
You've got people, regular people screaming there. He is. He's on the roof. That was a threat. That wasn't suspicious.
TAPPER: I mean, we all know, unfortunately, what mass shootings look like in this country, and we all know unfortunately what threats and suspicious people look like. That its unclear to me what happened. My guess is, were going to find out just like we've seeing that a lot of these instances, Jake, that there was a massive communication failure to get that information up the chain.
TAPPER: Vice President Harris is in Wilmington, Delaware, right now. She's about to speak at her inherited campaign headquarters.
What do you want her to say to the campaign staff who have been through a lot? In the last month or so, and are you more confident with Harris at the top? At the top of the ticket that Democrats might be able to hold onto the White House in November.
MOSKOWITZ: Well, I think its clear we're not less confident. You can see that obviously from the fact that she's raised almost like $100 million in 24 hours. That shows that there was a dramatic enthusiasm gap.
I think she's probably going to come there and she's going to instill confidence and all the people who obviously -- all those staff members who had had a rough several weeks since the debate. I think she's going to try to tell them, don't worry about your job. You know, this was the Biden-Harris campaign. There's still one of them on the ticket.
And then, she's going to start laying out her vision over the next couple of days or weeks for that campaign. I think that's really smart, but Democrats are energized and there are three races going hang on, Jake, obviously, one for the presidency, which Democrats and Republicans would agree is the most important, but there's also a races for the House and for the Senate.
And if the country decides, even though I disagree, but if the country were decided to give Donald Trump the wheel, Donald Trump is going to need some brakes and we're going to need the Democrats to either have the House or the Senate to provide those brakes.
TAPPER: Congressman Jared Moskowitz, Democrat of Florida, thank you for your time.
MOSKOWITZ: Thanks, Jake.
TAPPER: Vice President Harris just arrived at the campaign office in Wilmington, Delaware, so you can get a glimpse of the walls there. Campaign signs already say Kamala for president. We're standing by to hear her message to staff. That's next. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[16:59:36]
TAPPER: Welcome to THE LEAD. I'm Jake Tapper.
This hour, President Biden's official schedule says no events scheduled as he recovers from COVID. What this means for his big meeting this week with the Israeli prime minister, who's in D.C. waiting at the White House doorstep.
Plus, new calls for the head of the U.S. Secret Service to resign.
Ahead, one of the lawmakers who led an intense line of questioning in the wake of the assassination attempt on Donald Trump in and clear security failures.
And leading this hour, Vice President Kamala Harris making her first trip to visit campaign staff in Wilmington, Delaware, since President Biden --
