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The Lead with Jake Tapper

Harris And Tim Walz Launch Through Battleground States; Study: Link Found Between Rising Infant Mortality & TX Abortion Restrictions; Trump Attacks G.A. Republican Gov. In Key Battleground State; Washington Post: J.D. Vance Messages With Far-Right Figure Show Him Entertaining Conspiracy Theories; Georgia Counties Granted New Powers To Certify Elections; Concert Promoter: Taylor Swift Concerts In Vienna Canceled Over Alleged Planned Terrorist Attack. Aired 5-6p ET

Aired August 07, 2024 - 17:00   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[17:00:17]

JAKE TAPPER, CNN HOST: Welcome to THE LEAD. I`m Jake Tapper. This hour, we are following breaking news out of Europe, where three of Taylor Swift`s concerts have just been canceled over an alleged planned terrorist attack. What we are learning from police about the two suspects and what all of this means moving forward for Swift`s World Tour.

Plus, both vice presidential candidates are proud veterans who serve their country honorably, but Senator JD Vance is accusing Governor Tim Walz of lying about his military service. We`re going to fact check it all ahead.

Leading this hour, it is their first full day as running mates, and Vice President Kamala Harris and Governor Walz are blitzing the battlegrounds. This afternoon it was Wisconsin, tonight it`s Michigan, two of the blue wall states that helped deliver President Biden to the White House. But the two are also going to have to confront another challenge with polls consistently showing the border and immigration crisis as a serious concern for voters. Border State Governor Greg Abbott of Texas is going to join me in just moments. But we`re going to start with CNN Eva McKend in Eau Claire, Wisconsin, the site of this afternoon`s Harris-Walz rally, as well as CNN`s Kristen Holmes in West Palm Beach, Florida, near Trump`s Mar-a-Lago resort.

Eva, what did we hear from Harris and Walz in Wisconsin earlier? What can we expect to hear in their Michigan rally this evening?

EVA MCKEND, CNN NATIONAL POLITICS CORRESPONDENT: Jake, I want to begin by setting the scene for you here. This really felt like the quintessential Midwestern rally amid the rolling hills and American flags. Voters here telling me they`re thrilled that Walz is now on the ticket because they say that he speaks to their Midwestern values of kindness and compassion. Walz and Harris introduced by the owner of a small family farm that argued that the ticket really could connect with rural voters. And as for the vice president, her argument really remains the same. She says that this election will boil down to fundamental freedoms, reproductive freedoms. And she maintains that if she`s elected, she will fight for everyday Americans, union workers and the middle class. Take a listen to how this argument sounds on the campaign trail.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KAMALA HARRIS, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We who believe in reproductive freedom. We`ll fight for a woman`s right to choose. When I am president of the United States and when Congress passes a bill to restore the protections of Roe v Wade, I will sign it into law.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MCKEND: And Jake the campaign telling us that more than 12,000 people showed up for this rally today. We, of course, have no way of verifying that number. But I am comfortable saying that there were 1000s of people here, so much so that at one point it was just busting at the scenes, people going well beyond the gate trying to get in. So no doubt, Democrats are excited about this burst of enthusiasm and this dramatic shakeup on the ticket. Jake.

TAPPER: And Kristen, Trump`s running mate, Senator JD Vance is holding dueling rallies in the same cities in Harris and -- as Harris and Walz. Where is former President Trump? Why isn`t he out there campaigning?

KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, the former president is here in Palm Beach at his Mar-a-Lago resort. Why he`s not campaigning? We have obviously asked the campaign when he will be out on the road again. But obviously this is a split screen here, as you see Harris and Walz pounding the pavement in these battleground states, and Vance really alone out there while Trump has been in Florida.

Now, the campaign staffers that I have talked to, they have said that his schedule is going to pick up. That on top of that, he has been doing a number of interviews. He was on Fox this morning. He sat down with a YouTube influencer. Earlier in the week, he`s sitting down with Elon Musk on Monday taking questions from reporters.

But it remains the same that he has not been on the campaign trail at all since last Saturday when he was in the critical battleground state of Georgia with JD Vance. And he won`t be on scene again until Friday night as of now in Montana for a rally that is at 10pm East Coast time. Then he`s slated to have a series of fundraisers over the weekend. We still don`t know what his entire schedule is going to look like next week.

Obviously, talking to a number of Trump allies, they have concerns about the fact that he hasn`t been in these battleground states, that it has only been JD Vance. Now, Vance was asked about this kind of strategy to hold these dueling rallies. Here`s what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) SEN. JD VANCE (R-OH), VICE PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: Clearly, we think it`s effective because we`re here, right? I mean, look, there are six or seven states here to decide the entire election. We think it`s important to get out there to talk to people to make the best case that we can.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[17:05:00]

HOLMES: Now talk to some Georgia Republicans today who said they are still wondering what the plan is for the Trump campaign now that President Joe Biden dropped out. We are still waiting to hear answers on how they plan on shifting that campaign strategy. They say it`s the same campaign, because obviously the policies of Joe Biden are linked to the policies of Kamala Harris, but he can`t deny the energy has certainly changed on the other side of this election.

TAPPER: All right, thanks to both of you.

Let`s bring in Republican Texas Governor Greg Abbott, who has endorsed Donald Trump`s reelection bid.

Governor Abbott, thanks so much for being here. I want to start with the new Democratic ticket. You said that, quote, "Tim Walz will be a rubber stamp for Kamala Harris`s deadly open border policies, refusing to admit there is a border crisis, opposing border wall funding and supporting sanctuary cities," unquote. I want to play something that Governor Walz said last week before Harris picked him as her running mate. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. TIM WALZ (D-MN): I don`t disagree that Governor Abbott is pointing out some of these things, but he treats it in the most cruel, inhumane way, instead of saying, and this is where we should reach out and say, the governor is not wrong. They need help. Texas shouldn`t, by itself, absorb or pay for this problem. We should all collectively figure out how to do it. And that was Lankford Sinema, and Donald Trump didn`t want it.

To dismiss that Texas has a point that that we could all work together on is bad politics and bad policy.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: So, two questions on that, sir. One, if Democrats win, do you think you`d be able to willing -- would you be willing to work with Harris-Walz and their administration on immigration reform and closing the border and border security?

GOV. GREG ABBOTT (R-TX): Well as governor of the largest border state, I got to tell you that ticket is very frightening. As bad as Joe Biden has been on the border, Harris-Walz will be even worse on the border if all you do is look at the policies and pronouncements they have each made. Talk about Walz, listen, he, as governor, was a magnet for illegal immigration by providing state funded benefits for illegal immigrants, by supporting things like sanctuary cities. He will be a disaster, as will Kamala Harris. If you look at the policies that she stood for when she first ran for president, and what she`s done is the person that Joe Biden handpicked to be in charge of immigration issues, you can see under Biden-Harris, we set an all-time record for the number of people across the border illegally. You can only imagine how much worse it would get under Harris-Walz.

TAPPER: So is that a no? You would not be willing to work with them.

ABBOTT: So here`s the deal, they both stand for open border policies and Walz himself came out against border security measures like a wall, which, by the way, I`m the only governor in American history to actually build a border wall. I can tell you, walls work, and I expect Governor Walz, as well as Kamala Harris, if she were to become president, to work with me to build border barriers and things like that.

But I don`t think it`s going to happen. Because I got to tell you with -- when you look at the concern that people have in Pennsylvania, Midwesterners in Michigan, Wisconsin, these other key states, these are people who are against the open border policies that America has separate through over the past three and a half years. I think they`re going to vote overwhelmingly in favor of President Trump and put in office someone who will once again enforce the immigration laws that already exist and once again secure the border.

TAPPER: Well, you talk about the border and open borders. I mean, since President Biden signed that executive action tightening border crossings, the U.S. Customs and Border Protection reports during June, quote, "encounters between ports of entry were 29 percent lower than in May 2024 and were the lowest monthly total for the border patrol along the southwest border since January 2021," unquote.

We`re looking at a chart right now from the U.S. Border Patrol that shows southwest land border encounters going back to last October, and you can see a peak in December, and then from May to June, there is a sharp decline. Do you give the Biden-Harris administration any credit for that drop?

ABBOTT: So Jake, know these facts, you said it peaked in December. Remember what happened in January? January is when I ordered the closure of this 50 acre park in Eagle Pass, Texas, and the National Guard wired it shut, a location where Biden had been allowing 5,000 people to cross a day illegally. Now, on average, there`s less than one person crossing a day illegally.

Also, since that time in Texas, because of measures that I have taken, illegal border crossings have gone down 85 percent knowing that Texas represents two thirds of the entire border between the United States and Mexico, you can see mathematically why the illegal border crossings have gone down so much.

Jake, another important fact -- another important fact, however, is this. One thing that Biden has tried to do is to camouflage the people coming across the border. They`re no longer walking across the border as much as they used to. Instead, Joe Biden is flying them across the border in very large numbers and sending them to cities across the United States of America.

[17:10:08]

TAPPER: One of the things that Governor Walz said in that clip that I ran is that he was expressing sympathy for Texas and saying that Texas shouldn`t have to solve this problem on its own. And then he said we should all collectively figure out how to do it. And that was Lankford Sinema and Donald Trump didn`t want to do it.

That refers to the effort at a bipartisan border security bill, as you know, helmed by conservative Oklahoma Senator James Lankford and Independent Senator Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona, and indeed that was sandbagged by Donald Trump saying it was bad. And the reporting was Trump wanted the issue to campaign on, which he is indeed campaigning on.

Would that bill not have at least helped matters? Senator Lankford definitely thinks so. Senator Sinema definitely thinks so. Why sandbag something that would have helped with border security just to have a campaign issue?

ABBOTT: A couple of key points, Jake. One is there were never enough votes in the Senate to get that passed. Remember, there was one piece of immigration reform that actually did pass one of the two chambers. H.R. 2 passed the United States House. What the Senate should have done was to take up H.R. 2 and work on that. That would have been a true compromise.

There was zero chance that the Lankford Bill was going to pass out of the Senate. Zero chance it was going to pass out of the House. And I`ll tell you why. What it did was to authorize a certain number of illegal immigrants to be allowed into the United States on a daily basis. It would have codified illegal immigration in the United States. I found it intolerable and unacceptable, as I think most Americans did when they learned the details of it.

TAPPER: I want to ask you about another key issue in the election abortion rights, you signed a law banning nearly all abortions after six weeks of pregnancy. That`s before a lot of women even know that they`re pregnant. In June, CNN reported on a Journal of the American Medical Association Pediatric study that found between 2021 and 2022 infant deaths in Texas surged 12.9 percent compared with a much smaller increase in the rest of the United States of 1.8 percent.

And in that same time period, infant mortality rates rose 8.3 percent in Texas compared with an increase of 2.2 percent in the rest of the nation. Are you concerned at all about a possible link between your state`s abortion ban and these disastrous increases?

ABBOTT: So Jake, for one, I`m unfamiliar with that study, and I don`t know if, for a fact, it does tie a cause and effect relationship. For another, obviously, it leaves out the math of all the babies who survived and are alive. We have a record number of babies who are born now who did not lose their life to abortion. And this is an issue that you need to know Kamala Harris is going to have to deal with, just like Democrats had to deal with in the state of Texas. Kamala Harris supports abortion to the very last second before a fully developed child in the mother`s womb is born.

That`s late term abortion. The baby can definitely feel the pain that definitely the baby who, if it survives one more minute --

TAPPER: Where -- are there abortions being --

ABBOTT: -- will be born, but instead, will lose his life.

TAPPER: Where -- are there -- these abortions being carried out up until the moment of birth? I keep hearing Republican politicians talking about that. And I mean, that`s infanticide. I don`t know where this is going on.

ABBOTT: It is in many states. It is the law of the states. The law in California, where Kamala Harris is from, is the law in Minnesota, where Governor Walz is from. And Governor Walz from reports I`ve seen, was even against a law that they had that would have required medical care for any baby who actually survives an abortion. That`s something that needs to be looked into if he`s against that, because that would be another horrific policy by the Democrats and their zeal to try to kill young babies.

TAPPER: I want to ask you another question, sir, before you go, and that is at his rally in Atlanta, Georgia, President Trump went after the popular Republican governor and his wife, Brian Kemp and his wife. Here`s just part of what Trump said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES, U.S. PRESIDENTIAL CANDITATE: And Brian Kemp, your governor, who I got elected, by the way, who wasn`t for me, he would not be your governor. I think everybody knows that. He`s very disloyal person, isn`t he? Very disloyal? But think of the wife, we can never repay you for what you`ve done, sir.

Now she said two weeks ago that I will not endorse him because she hasn`t earned my -- I haven`t earned her endorsement. I have nothing to do with her. Somewhere he went bad.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: Do you think it`s helpful to Donald Trump to attack Governor Kemp and Governor Kemp`s wife.

[17:15:05]

ABBOTT: Listen, if that`s all he talked about in the speech, that would be one thing. But the reality what he really talked about in this speech were the policies about how chaotic Kamala Harris would be in her presidency, about the way that she would drive up inflation even more with her anti oil and gas policies, the way that it will kill thousands of jobs in Pennsylvania if Kamala Harris gets elected, as well as thousands of jobs across the country, and in doing so, drive up the price of what people pay at the pump, what they pay for groceries, things like that.

TAPPER: Yes, but that`s not what I asked you about.

ABBOTT: Trump is focused on the issues that resonate with middle class Americans, and that`s exactly why I think he`s going to win Pennsylvania and win the election.

TAPPER: You think that attacking Governor Kemp and his wife are issues that middle class Americans care about?

ABBOTT: I think -- what I know from having won statewide elections many time in the state of Texas, what voters really care about is the way that you will improve their lives, not any offhanded statement that you make. And the policies that Trump stands for are in so much contrast with the leftist extremism of Kamala Harris.

Remember, she was named the most liberal senator in the United States Senate. She has talked about those policies when she first ran for president, open border policies giving free health care to illegal immigrants. The ideas and policies that Kamala Harris stands for would destroy the United States of America.

That is what voters will be thinking about when they go cast their vote for presidency, and that`s exactly why Donald Trump is going to win this election.

TAPPER: Texas Governor Greg Abbott, thank you so much for your time today, sir. Appreciate it.

ABBOTT: Thank you.

TAPPER: Senator JD Vance, going after Governor Tim Walz`s military record on the campaign trail. We`re going to dig into what the facts are. Plus we`re following that breaking news after three of Taylor Swift`s concerts were just canceled after police say they foiled a potential terrorist plot. Stay with us.

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[17:20:56]

TAPPER: And back with our 2024 lead, it is his first full day on the campaign trail, and already, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz is taking a lot of heat from his vice presidential rival, Republican vice presidential candidate JD Vance, the senator from Ohio over Walz`s military record.

Vance served in the U.S. Marines as a combat correspondent. He was deployed in 2005 to Al Assad Air Base in Iraq. Vance recalled in his book, "Hillbilly Elegy," quote, "I was lucky to escape any real fighting," unquote. For Walz`s part, he enlisted in the National Guard as a teenager and was deployed to Italy in 2003 where he was part of a security mission in support of the Afghanistan war. CNN`s Tom Foreman clears up questions about Walz`s record as new questions arise after the Harris campaign shared a video where Walz claims that he carried weapons of war in war.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

VANCE: I think it`s shameful to prepare your unit to go to Iraq, to make a promise that you`re going to follow through and then to drop out right before you actually have to go.

TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): JD Vance`s accusation is that Tim Walz left the National Guard and a key role with his unit just ahead of a deployment to Iraq, dodging combat to pursue his political career. But hold on, while Vance served four years in the Marines, Walz served 24 years in the guard.

He filed papers to run for Congress in February of 2005 and retired from his guard unit in May of that year, two months before those deployment orders appeared. Still there is more. Listen to this video from the Harris campaign, in which Walz speaks up for gun control measures.

WALZ: We can do background checks, we can do CDC research. We can make sure we don`t have reciprocal carry among states, and we can make sure that those weapons of war that I carried in war is the only place where those weapons arrive.

FOREMAN (voice-over): There is no evidence he said that last sentence often, but it has drawn the fire of team Trump.

VANCE: Walz did say on camera that I carried a gun in a war. Well, which war did you carry a gun in, because he apparently never went to a war zone.

FOREMAN (voice-over): Walz did deploy in support of Operation Enduring Freedom, but he went to Italy, not Afghanistan. The Harris campaign notes, "In his 24 years of service, the governor carried fired and trained others to use weapons of war innumerable times." But none of that changes the fact that Walz did not carry a weapon in war in the sense that many might understand it, meaning in combat, but neither did Vance.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Have you fought in Iraq/

VANCE: I served in a combat zone. I never said that I saw a fire fight myself.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FOREMAN (on camera): You can see it coming a little bit back on Vance here that he`s attacked his fellow veteran. Walz, by the way, has said nothing about Vance except that he honors his service. There is one additional dispute in this, and this is over the rank that Walz achieved. He achieved the rank of Command Sergeant Major, but he didn`t retire at that rank because there was some additional course work he needed to do to retire at that rank.

Some people say that`s picking nonetheless, the Trump campaign has been going after it, and I think we`re going to see more of it. Many in the military community, as you know, are just troubled in general. They`re saying, look, if you served your country, hats off to you, that`s it.

TAPPER: The -- yes, he retired as an E8 not as an E9, these tend to be very internal military --

FOREMAN: Yes.

TAPPER: -- debates and discussions. And for the rest of us who never served --

FOREMAN: Right.

TAPPER: -- our instinct is thank you for serving.

FOREMAN: And to equate that to stolen valor --

TAPPER: No, that`s crazy.

FOREMAN: -- you and I, we don`t know -- totally.

TAPPER: It`s not stolen valor.

FOREMAN: Yes, not at all.

TAPPER: Tom Forman, thanks so much.

President Biden just sat down for an interview. Hear what he said when he was asked if he thinks there will be a peaceful transition of power after November`s presidential election. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[17:29:01]

TAPPER: And we`re back with some breaking news in the 2024 lead. President Biden just sat down for his very first interview since officially dropping out of the presidential race. Take a listen to part of that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERT COSTA, CHIEF ELECTION AND CAMPAIGN CORRESPONDENT, CBS: Are you confident that there will be a peaceful transfer of power in January 2025?

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: If Trump wins, no, I`m not confident at all. I mean, Trump loses, I`m not confident at all. He means what he says. We don`t take them seriously. He means it.

All the stuff about if we lose, there`ll be a bloodbath. Have this (ph) stolen. Look what they`re trying to do now in the local election districts where people count the votes, elected or putting people in place in states that they`re going to count the votes, right? You can`t love your country only when you win.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: Panels here with me. Just one little fact check, what Trump said was, if he loses, there would be an economic blood bath. Not exactly. I mean, everything else he said is accurate.

But Ja`ron, let me ask you, what do you think?

[17:30:01]

I mean, I can understand, obviously, President Biden is biased, but I can understand why an average voter out there might say, well, I`m -- I`m not confident that it will be peaceful either if Trump loses.

JA`RON SMITH, FMR. DEPUTY ASSISTANT TO THE PRESIDENT, TRUMP ADMINISTRATION: So voter integrity has been an issue for a number of elections despite Trump. I mean, you can go back to the George W. Bush election, people had real concerns with the integrity of an election. And I think that since we`ve changed the way that we vote with these mail-in ballots, that`s opened up some real issues. So I do think that federally, we kind of need to look at a better way of kind of protecting voter integrity, so that we can shore up people`s confidence into the elections.

TAPPER: Karen?

KAREN FINNEY, CNN COMMENTATOR: Yes. I think a majority of Americans are confident in the election. But when you have someone running for president who continues to run on, you know, the lie that there was something wrong with the 2020 election, then yes.

TAPPER: Not just there`s something wrong. He said it was stolen.

FINNEY: It was stolen. Correct.

TAPPER: If this is not true.

FINNEY: It was absolutely not true. And when you have someone and his party perpetuating that lie, I think the -- I think President Biden is exactly right. I think that makes Americans very concerned about how Trump will behave.

TAPPER: Sure. Let`s -- let`s move on to a different topic. It`s only been 17 days since Biden dropped out of the race. Today marks 90 days left until the election. We`ve seen a lot of Kamala Harris and Tim Walz in the last day or so, as well as Trump`s running mate, Senator J.D. Vance. Trump does not have a public event on his calendar until Friday evening. I just have to say, as somebody who`s covered him since 2015, I thought we`d be seeing him having a rally a day, every day from now until the election. Are you surprised?

SHIRA STEIN, WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT, SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE: I -- I definitely am surprised, Jake. There -- I mean, just his history, he loves doing events. He loves being out there in the public. He loves doing rallies. And the fact that he isn`t, is really surprising to me. We saw him Saturday in Atlanta, but he`s letting Vance do a lot of the campaigning, which I think we should all be paying more attention to. Why is Vance doing more of the campaigning? Is it because he thinks Vance can speak better to the American voters that he wants to bring into the Republican Party? Or is it for some other reason?

TAPPER: Well, what do you think?

SMITH: Well, one, we have to remind ourselves that the current president was forced out of his presidency by party leaders, and they have some catching up to do in many of these swing states, because many people don`t know what these tickets are. President Trump has been doing rallies all year, and now we`re talking about the number of people showing up at Democratic rallies. But he wasn`t much covering the rallies that he did in blue states, like New Jersey and -- and -- and rallies that he`s done in Brooklyn and New York, you know, which was real news back then.

TAPPER: But we covered them. We covered them.

FINNEY: But, you know --

TAPPER: We covered them.

FINNEY: Yes. And look, the crowd sizes were not that big. They were not -- they were --

TAPPER: Not that big for Democrats you are saying?

FINNEY: No, no, I`m saying for Trump --

TAPPER: For -- for Trump.

FINNEY: -- they were not as big as we saw in 2016. I -- I -- the -- I mean, we`re not seeing. And he has had a fairly light schedule throughout this cycle. And I think it does, particularly now that President Biden, who stepped out of the race and Kamala Harris earned the nomination. Now we can actually take a look at Trump, and I think his age actually becomes more apparent.

And I think questions about he`s going to face more pressure with a young running mate. Is it that the young running mate is the one who can handle the travel? Is it that Trump can`t handle that kind of travel given his age? I mean, I do think, you know, we were asking those questions about Joe Biden with him out of the race. They are very fair to ask about Donald Trump.

TAPPER: So Ja`Ron, I want to ask you because "The Washington Post" got hold of some of J.D. Vance`s private text messages with right wing conspiracy theorist Charles Johnson. They corresponded for more than 20 months after being -- after he was elected to the Senate, J.D. Vance, they reportedly discussed everything from Americans -- America`s foreign alliances, to pondering the responsibility of the Nord Stream gas pipelines. Vance`s aversion to the Ukrainian government, according to the report, Vance, quote, also wrote a positive blurb for a book by somebody who was a far right activist who advanced the Pizzagate conspiracy theory.

So the post quotes -- reports, quote, in response to questions about his correspondence with Charles Johnson, Vance spokesman William Martin said the two men were never close, don`t say -- don`t share the same politics. Chuck Johnson spam texted J.D. Vance. J.D. usually ignored him, but occasionally responded to push back against things he said. But why -- why is J.D. Vance corresponding with a holocaust denying racist? I mean, I -- I don`t think that that`s what J.D. Vance is, but why even engage with a fellow like that?

SMITH: So I don`t have any background on that correspondence, but what I could tell you is that what we`re not talking about is how Harris hasn`t done an interview in 17 days. We`re not talking about the policy issues. I mean, here we got a person --

TAPPER: Just so, you know, I did ask Governor Wes Moore earlier in the show, shouldn`t Kamala Harris do an interview? And, of course, I think she should do an interview.

SMITH: Yes. I mean, it`s -- it`s only 17 -- 17 days in, and she hasn`t really spoken without a script in front of her. And she`s an unelected candidate for president.

TAPPER: Well, she was elected Vice President.

FINNEY: Yes. She was elected.

[17:35:00]

TAPPER: But -- but --

SMITH: -- unelected ticket is what I`m saying.

TAPPER: Let`s go -- let`s go to his larger point, though, shouldn`t she be doing -- isn`t it time for her to be doing interviews, taking press questions et cetera, because she`s -- I mean, she`s modifying, that`s a nice word for it, for some of her previous positions, like on fracking and the like, you`re a journalist, wouldn`t you like to ask her some questions?

STEIN: I work for a hometown newspaper. I put in the request. I was looking back at the last real big interview she did was Rolling Stone in April or June. I think she needs to do more of it. The press got a lot more daily interactions with President Biden when he`s going to and from Marine One, things like that. She needs to do more of that. She`s done it a little bit, but we absolutely need to hear from her more.

FINNEY: I think you will see her doing interview. But again, it`s been 17 days. She did have to spend a lot of time to earn the nomination in that time to then pick a vice president. And I do think you`ll see her do a -- a sit down interview soon, as a matter of fact. But again, she, you know, she did have a few things to do in the last few days.

STEIN: I hope it`s not to talk show or night -- like late night news that we`ve been seeing a lot from this -- the -- this administration, I hope it`s with a real newspaper or tell --

TAPPER: Perhaps -- perhaps the hometown newspaper.

STEIN: Maybe.

TAPPER: Perhaps. Thanks one and all. Appreciate it.

Coming up next, the rule change in Georgia three months out from the election that could delay the results coming back in this new battleground state.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[17:40:13]

TAPPER: And we`re back with the 2024 Lead in one of the most troubling lines from the 2020 race.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP: All I want to do is this. I just want to find 11,780 votes, which is one more than we have, because we won the state.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: He did not win the state. But now a brand new rule change may give election officials in Georgia the power to challenge results. And the change comes just three months from the election. Georgia`s Board of Elections passed the rule granting local counties authority to conduct, quote, reasonable inquiries into election results, inquiries that could delay certifying results. CNN`s Nick Valencia takes a look now into this rule change.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes. The motion carries three to two.

NICK VALENCIA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): New Georgia election rules were passed in front of a crowd that was at times raucous. Donald Trump supporters, some wearing MAGA hats on hand and vocal, cheering on the state election board`s passage of a rule that has sparked new fears among voting rights advocates. Some state Democrats are concerned that partisan County Board election members can now, in effect, reject an election outcome.

VALENCIA: Give me the worst case scenario here of how this rule is applied.

REP. SAM PARK (D-GA): So worst case scenario would be that we have a bunch of counties who, because they now have discretion to certify election results, causes massive delays, uncertainties, in which, again, the state of Georgia may not be able to meet the required deadlines for certification.

VALENCIA (voice-over): Democrat Sam Park, Georgia`s House Minority Whip, says the rule has the potential of delaying the certification for the entire state of Georgia in 2024.

PARK: To pass a rule that creates such substantive change less than 100 days that I mean, how are you going to implement a rule that doesn`t have guardrails that what constitutes a reasonable standard?

TRUMP: They`re doing a great job. Three members.

VALENCIA (voice-over): The Republican members of the state election board, were relatively unknown, but now they are front and center in changing Georgia`s election rules.

DR. JANICE JOHNSTON (R), GEORGIA STATE ELECTION BOARD: I think the board of elections should be able to see every single election document in the office.

VALENCIA (voice-over): Rule changes pushed by Georgia`s Republican-led state legislature after 2020, gave the board a face lift. Secretary of State, Brad Raffensperger, often a public target of Trump, was removed as the election board chair. Meanwhile, Republicans Janelle King, Rick Jeffries and Dr. Janice Johnston were appointed to their roles by the state legislatures and party.

TRUMP: Janice Johnston.

VALENCIA (voice-over): And Trump recently called them out by name at an Atlanta rally.

JANELLE KING (R), GEORGIA STATE ELECTION BOARD MEMBER: Saying our name and saying we`re doing a good job doesn`t mean anything. I mean this just means we`re doing a good job in his eyes.

VALENCIA: You`re operating in good faith, full stop.

KING: Absolutely. Absolutely.

VALENCIA (voice-over): Their mention by Trump has raised concerns among critics that they may be working directly with the Trump campaign, something board member, Janelle King, adamantly denied to CNN.

KING: This is now protecting all voters. I am making sure that I do the right thing. I`m appreciative the President`s support, but I`m not working on behalf of anybody.

VALENCIA (voice-over): On Tuesday, two Republican former secretaries of state submitted a letter to the state election board cautioning on the last minute rule changes.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VALENCIA (on camera): There`s still a big question as to whether or not this controversial rule is legal. It sets up the likelihood that it will be challenged through lawsuits. Look, October 15th is the start of early voting, and it`s clear to us, Jake, watching this hearing over the course of the last two days that there are Republicans currently in Georgia working to potentially challenge the results of the 2024 election. Jake?

TAPPER: All right. Nic Valencia, thanks so much.

[17:43:54]

Three of Taylor Swift`s upcoming concerts have been canceled after police say they stopped an alleged planned terrorist attack. We`ll have an update next on our breaking news. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

TAPPER: We are continuing to follow breaking news in our World Lead, three upcoming Taylor Swift concerts in Vienna, Austria have been canceled after us -- Austrian authorities arrested two spot -- suspects who they say had plans to carry out a terrorist attack at the concert site, that`s according to the promoter for the show. So let`s bring in CNN security correspondent, former FBI counterterrorism agent, Josh Campbell, as well as CNN senior national security analyst Juliette Kayyem. Josh, what do we know about these two suspects who are arrested and what kind of attack they were allegedly planning?

JOSH CAMPBELL, CNN SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Jake, so this reporting come from our colleague, Zahid Mahmood, in London. Essentially, what police are saying is that these two individuals were arrested in connection with an alleged terror plot. Singer, Taylor Swift, obviously has her large scale touring events that were scheduled to take place. Three of those concerts have been canceled due to this potential threat. What we`re learning from authorities is that one of these suspects is a 19-year-old man that authorities believe was radicalized online and it pledged some type of allegiance to the so called Islamic State.

And of course, all of us who have covered these terrorism cases over the last, you know, decade, two decades, know that this is the playbook that these terror groups often go to, is trying to find people online. It`s much more difficult, much more risky for them to gather operatives, to send places, a lot easier for them to try to use the internet to try to radicalize people. It looks as though, at least, according to police, that is what is happening here.

And finally, you know, as we look at a concert venue, obviously, that has a itself, a potential symbolic type of attribute to what we`ve seen in the past, that there have been large scale concerts in Europe that were attacked. It was obviously back in May of 2017, a bombing at a concert where singer, Ariana Grande, was performing, obviously in 2015 in Paris. There were a number of events there, including the stadium that was attacked as well.

[17:50:12]

And so anytime you have people that are gathering in these large scale venues that could be a potential terrorist threat in the finest worth noting that we`ve seen at many concerts, including with Taylor Swift, that, you know, you can actually protect the inside. You can send people through metal detectors and the like, but these concerts often have large gatherings outside as well, so a lot of risk there, especially when you have a potential plot underway here, the concert promoter opting to cancel all these concerts, Jake?

TAPPER: And Juliette, more than 50,000 people were expected to attend Swift shows each night, each night in -- in Vienna. How -- how do authorities manage to keep events at -- at this scale safe?

JULIETTE KAYYEM, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: So generally, it`s just the -- the typical layer defense. What we always like a -- a -- a specific place, a specific time, because it is a way that you can then sort of layer your resources, whether it`s surveillance on the outside of metal detectors on your way in, you know, police officers, drones, just think of, sort of your regular mega event planning. As you know, I was just at the Olympics. It`s the same thing. You`ve got, like, lots and lots of capacity.

So I want to tell you, sort of my, you know, having been in this field, two things happened or two things made -- went into the calculation of why they decided to cancel either the -- the Taylor Swift people were not getting enough information from public authorities and -- and public and -- and law enforcement officials to feel satisfied that not only the crowd was protected, but certainly Taylor Swift was protected, or they do were told information, and it was scary enough that they decided we`re just going to sort of let -- let -- let things subside for a little bit.

We certainly don`t know the nature of the planning. How far along it was, you know, was it a -- a bunch of guys just talking and trying to collect things, or was it very serious. But for her to cancel and all the rippling effects that -- that has throughout, I mean, basically, let`s just say the economy, right, I mean, just how big she is now means that -- that they did not feel satisfied for either the crowd or -- or the VIP, Taylor Swift.

TAPPER: Pretty chilling. Josh and Juliette, thanks so much.

KAYYEM: Yes.

TAPPER: Appreciate it.

Coming up, a story we followed here on THE LEAD for years, the fight for a group of homeless veterans in Los Angeles, how their latest battle is playing out in court.

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[17:56:46]

TAPPER: And we`re back with the latest in our series, Homeless in America, stories of the very real people across the country affected by this growing crisis. It`s driven -- risen 12 percent over the last year, homelessness in America. There are more homeless veterans in Los Angeles, homeless veterans than in -- than in anywhere else in the country.

And right now, many of them are suing the Department of Veterans Affairs in a trial just underway in a case that we`ve been covering here at THE LEAD for several years. The V.A. is accused of not fulfilling an agreement dating back to the civil war that designates nearly 400 acres of land for housing for homeless veterans. As CNN`s Nick Watt reports, some of the land is still being used for nothing, having to do with veterans at all.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NICK WATT, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Veterans who fought for their country now fighting their government over this land, given to the nation in the late 1800s as a home for disabled soldiers.

CHRISTINE BARRIE, ANCESTOR: It wasn`t given to anybody but veterans for a home. And it was a thriving community of 4,000 veterans at one point.

WATT (voice-over): Today, there are 3,500 homeless veterans in L.A. County, while some of this land is used for parking lots, oil drilling. UCLA is beautiful baseball diamond and a private schools sumptuous sports facilities.

ROB REYNOLDS, VETERANS ADVOCATE: That land was intended to house veterans, and instead of it housing veterans, our veterans are sleeping and dying all over the streets of Los Angeles.

WATT (voice-over): After years of activism and media attention from CNN and others, the number of homeless vets in L.A. is still very high, but falling. Some vets are now moving into homes on this land.

CHRISTOPHER DUNICK, VETERAN: It`s nice being around similar people with, you know, similar backgrounds, militaries.

WATT (voice-over): But by a time frame laid out after an earlier legal action, over 1,000 units should be complete by now, only 233 actually are. Many more are now under construction. The plaintiffs want more, faster. Within six months, they want housing for 3,500 people in or around this campus.

REYNOLDS: So this issue has been going on at the West L.A. V.A. for decades, since the end of the Vietnam War. So I`m glad we`re finally at a point where hopefully we get some accountability and justice.

WATT (voice-over): They want an end to the leases for the likes of Brentwood School, which V.A. bras admitted to CNN, is illegal.

ROBERT MCKENRICK, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, V.A. GREATER LOS ANGELES HEALTH CARE: Arrangement with the school is non-compliant. I`m sure if we terminated the lease, they would take us to court over it.

WATT (voice-over): The V.A. has now been taken to court, not by the school, but by some of the veterans it is bound to serve.

(END VIDEOTAPE) WATT (on camera): And in court, the government`s lawyers argument basically boils down to this. They say that they share the plaintiff`s desire to see as many unhoused veterans housed as possible. But they say the V.A. is making progress on that, and that if they agreed to the plaintiff`s demands, that might actually put a stop to some of that progress. The veteran plaintiffs are not buying that. They say more could be done to get veterans off the streets in L.A. And that more should be done. Jake?

[18:00:03]

TAPPER: All right. Nick Watt, been on this story for us for years, thank you so much.

Finally, for us today, in our out of this world lead, two astronauts who were headed to the International Space Station for an eight-day trip may now end up in space for eight months. That`s because investigators are still looking into problems that popped up during their trip to the International Space Station on board the Boeing Starliner. Today, NASA said that the astronauts might not come home on Starliner at all, and may instead make the return trip on a SpaceX capsule next February.

The news continues on CNN with Wolf Blitzer live from Tel Aviv in "The Situation Room."