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Daniel Strauss is Interviewed about the Republican Pledge; Man Arrested in Obama's Neighborhood; Iran Tried Seizing Oil Tankers; Jenin Incursion May Constitute War Crime; Threads App Saw 10 Million Sign-ups. Aired 9:30-10a ET

Aired July 06, 2023 - 09:30   ET

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

[09:30:00]

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: Party now requiring every candidate to sign a loyalty pledge in order to appear on the state's primary ballot. That promise -- the promise there is that each person will support the party's eventual nominee. The Republican National Committee has also made that a requirement to get on the debate stage. Just this morning, Republican candidate Will Hurd, he said this is why -- he explained why he won't sign a pledge like this.

Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WILL HURD (R), 2024 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: The issue is not with me supporting the Republican nominee. The issue is I'm not going to support Donald Trump. And here's why, Donald Trump is a proven loser.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: Hurd is the only candidate so far to make very clear that he is rejecting the pledge. Six others, though, have made it, I think we can say, less clear statements about it, or sent mixed messages about what they'll do when presented with it. But they're all going to be presented with it very soon.

Joining us now for more on this and more is senior political correspondent for "The New Republic," Daniel Strauss.

Daniel, thanks for coming in.

So, what is the point of a loyalty oath for -- to the party? You know, to -- to the party? I mean, to -- for this or any candidate running, it's unclear why the party cares about it, why the national committee cares about it and why the state cares about it so much.

DANIEL STRAUSS, SENIOR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT, "THE NEW REPUBLIC": Partially it's because any GOP or Democratic operative in a divided primary, in a crowded primary, is worried that they're -- that it will be a lasting and bitter fight. And that lasting and bitter fight will spill over into the general election. So, the question is here, will there be supporters of candidates who aren't the eventual nominee who will coalesce around the eventual nominee. That was the concern in 2016 and that's what the -- what the effort is here.

I'm pretty skeptical, though, about how effective these pledges are. Again, there was a move to have pledges in 2016, and that didn't really work. Voters generally just coalesced around their candidates, or their party's candidate in the end.

I am extremely doubtful here given that in particular former Congressman Hurd, former Governor Chris Christie have been vocal critics of Donald Trump, that the rest of the field will follow suit and say they will sign a loyalty pledge even if that means supporting Trump in the general election.

BOLDUAN: Yes, I mean, exactly. I mean Trump abandoned the pledge when he -- in 2016 after agreeing to it. It was in March of 2016 at a CNN town hall where he decided that, you know, it wasn't -- it wasn't worth the paper that he must have signed it on.

Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: Do you continue to pledge whoever the Republican nominee is?

DONALD TRUMP, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT: I don't want -- look, no, I don't anymore. Look --

COOPER: You don't?

TRUMP: No. We'll see who it is.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: And to your point, Daniel, that flip flop, whatever you want to call it, that clearly didn't impact voters. And I am kind of struck by the same question you are, which is, why would it be any different this time?

STRAUSS: Right. And for Donald Trump in particular, I expect him to say, at some point, I'm going to be the nominee, so I will support the pledge. But, look, there's added attention around him and whether he will support such a pledge or not. Again, these pledges don't really have a huge amount of effect. And any candidate who would want to be on a debate stage this cycle will likely have to go through multiple questions about whether they have to sign a pledge or not. They're going to want -- want to be on that debate stage. But following through is a totally different story.

BOLDUAN: That's exactly right.

So, let's talk about Mike Pence, another Republican candidate out there right now, on the trail in Sioux City, Iowa. He was confronted by a voter for breaking with Donald Trump over January 6th and electors in the states.

Listen to this. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: If it wasn't for your vote, we would not have Joe Biden in the White House. Do you ever second guess yourself? That was a constitutional right that you had to send those votes back to the states.

MIKE PENCE (R), 2024 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: It's an issue that continues to be misunderstood.

But no vice president in American history ever asserted the authority that you have been convinced that I had. And I want to tell you, with all due respect, I said before, I said when I announced, President Trump was wrong about my authority that day, and he's still wrong.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: And, Daniel, Mike Pence is right on that point. He was asked about it from reporters later. And he said, this is a case that he's going to have to take to the American people. But how hard do you think it's proving for him to do that with Republican voters?

STRAUSS: I mean, in this primary there are a sect of Republican voters who are lock step behind Trump and they will not be moved. They will always be skeptical about claims contrary to what Trump makes. So, when Mike Pence argues that he did not have the constitutional authority to overturn the election, there will be voters who simply don't believe him and simply think that that was a precursor to Pence's own ambitions to running for president.

[09:35:10]

Again, though, like you said, it's wrong. He did not have that authority on that day. But there are just going to be -- the question for him is going to persist throughout this primary.

BOLDUAN: Yes. Also worth noting, though, question asked and question answered accurately by a politician to a voter, even if it's not the answer that that voter wanted. It's always worth noting.

Daniel Strauss, good to see you. Thank you.

John.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: So we're learning new details about the man arrested with weapons in the Washington, D.C., neighborhood where former President Obama lives. Prosecutors say Taylor Taranto live streamed near the Obama home after Donald Trump posted what he claimed to be the Obama's home address. Prosecutors are urging a federal magistrate judge to keep him detained pending another trial. Taranto has been charged in connection to the January 6th U.S. Capitol attack.

With me now is CNN chief law enforcement and intelligence analyst John Miller.

The details emerging about this man truly, I mean I want to say fascinating, but also troubling.

JOHN MILLER, CNN CHIEF LAW ENFORCEMENT AND INTELLIGENCE ANALYST: Well, it is. I mean here's a guy who, you know, if you go all the way back, he's been on the radar for some time. He is on video in the Capitol during the insurrection of January 6th. He's outside the Capitol scuffling with police and other demonstrators. So, he's somebody they were looking at.

Interestingly, he's from Pasco, Washington. He ends up in the other Washington, Washington, D.C. And for the past couple of months he's been on the radar there live streaming. Last week it came to a head when he was live streaming that he had a detonator, that he had a van, that it was a self-driving vehicle, that he was going to go to NIST. NIST is the National Institute for Science and Technology. It's up in Gaithersburg, Maryland. And he's saying the car is going to drive in there and blow up is what he's implying. So, now they start looking for him.

After the former President Trump's tweet where he retweets an article that has the street the Obamas live on in the Kalarama (ph) neighborhood, he ends up live streams from that street, saying, we're looking for the Obamas, the Podestas. We're going to -- we're going to meet them in hell. I'm trying to get a shot, trying to get an angle. Now, he could be talking about on his live stream from his phone. You know, I'm trying to get a good shot of the house or an angle to see. But he's talking about the tunnels that connect their basements. So, there's a lot going on there.

The context of getting a shot or an angle is changed when they find his van, and there are two semiautomatic weapons, hundreds of rounds of nine milliliter ammunition. And the Secret Service locates him, he runs into the woods of Rock Creek Park. They capture him. They search the van. Clear it with the bomb squad. So, there's a lot going on there.

BERMAN: In addition to this, there was some live streaming at an elementary school near where Congressman Jamie Raskin lives. So, you can see a pattern here which no doubt raises alarm. But there also seemed to be the way he spoke, an understanding of the line between free speech and a genuine threat. He talked about that line.

MILLER: Yes. And that's really interesting because this is threatening language but not threatening under the law. And, you know, he's charged with the weapons right now. The question is, can they charge under Title 18, 3056, threatening a former president or others under the protection of the Secret Service. And he seems to have walked that line very carefully. That's going to be up to prosecutors as to whether they believe all the other factors, the guns and the cars, the claims of explosives and detonators, kind of meet the bar that matches the language.

BERMAN: It is worth watching to be sure.

John Miller, you're all over this story. Thanks so much for being with us.

MILLER: Thanks.

BERMAN: Sara.

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: Coming up, 10 million users within seven hours. Meta's new app Threads appears to answer the call for a Twitter alternative after Elon Musk took over the platform. We'll discuss.

Also, Israel facing new backlash for its military operation into the West Bank town of Jenin. The U.S. is now accusing Israeli forces of committing -- excuse me, the U.N. is now accusing Israeli forces of committing war crimes.

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[09:43:52]

SIDNER: A U.S. defense official tells CNN the Navy intervened twice on Wednesday to stop Iran from seizing two different commercial oil tankers. Both incidents occurred in the Gulf of Oman in international waters. This morning, Iran, though, is responding, saying it has a court order to seize the oil tanker named the Richmond Voyager after they claim it collided with one of their ships.

CNN's Natasha Bertrand is following this story.

Natasha, give us some sense of exactly what happened here.

NATASHA BERTRAND, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY REPORTER: Sara, this unfolded yesterday and it was two separate incidents, as you mentioned, between the Navy and these Iranian navy vessels.

What happened was just around 1:00 a.m. local time, an Iranian navy vessel approached an oil tanker that was operating off the coast of -- in the Gulf of Oman. And as it kind of approached this oil tanker, the U.S. Navy destroyer that was in the area, it approached the two vessels to try to make sure that this Iranian navy vessel was not going to try to seize this oil tanker because according to U.S. officials the Iranians have tried to do that, tried to seize commercial vessels in the area at least 20 times since 2021.

[09:45:05]

So, the navy here was trying to pre-empt that kind of behavior by the Iranians.

But then, as the Iranian ship kind of sped away after the intervention by the U.S. Navy destroyer, a couple hours later it happened again, also in the Gulf of Oman. There was another oil tanker that was headed towards the Arabian sea. It was even further away from Iranian waters, according to a defense official. And an Iranian navy vessel approaches the oil tanker and actually tried to board it and seize it. Well, the Navy again received a distress call from that oil tanker, tried to intervene, and at that point the Iranian vessel actually started firing at that oil tanker.

Now, no one was injured and the Iranian vessel ultimately did turn around and depart the scene. But this is an example of a very disturbing pattern that U.S. officials say Iran has been doing in order to intimidate ships operating in the area and try to intervene with international shipping, Sara.

SIDNER: Yes, we can see some of the flashes of light on the scene there. Those are bullets that have come off that vessel, ricocheting. Pretty extraordinary.

Thank you so much, Natasha Bertrand. Appreciate it.

John.

BERMAN: All right, this morning, experts at the United Nations say that Israel air strikes and ground operations targeting the Jenin refugee camp may constitute a war crime. At least 12 Palestinians died in the violence. Israel claims all those killed were combatants involved in terrorism. Damage to the camp is widespread with dozens of homes destroyed and roads dug up by bulldozers. Infrastructure, including water and electricity, were also damaged,

CNN's Salma Abdelaziz was in the middle of Jenin. She is now live for us in Jerusalem.

What's the latest, Salma?

SALMA ABDELAZIZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We really saw extraordinary scenes, John, yesterday, as we entered the camp just hours after the Israeli military withdrew. People were returning to their homes, thousands of them that had fled during the incursion. And they were looking around, surveying the damage. But one of the first things that took place, John, if you can believe it, was a huge funeral for the 12 people killed in that Israeli military incursion. I know we have footage to show you, just crowds of people, masses of people filled the street.

And what really stood out was the armed resistant factions. Was the Palestine armed factions that were in and out in that protest funeral, carrying their weapons, carrying their flags, making a clear message to Israel that they were unbowed, unbroken by its military operation there.

Several of the dead were claimed by one of the Palestinian factions, the Jenin brigade. That is an armed resistance faction that is extremely active in Jenin. And they promised essentially to rebuild and fight again.

But you also have to remember, of course, this is a densely populated area. Thousands of people, families and children, trapped in this conflict. So alongside, of course, seeing what were the remnants of sites that Israel's military says it struck to take out terror infrastructure, we also found homes heavily damaged, heavily destroyed. I know we have images to show you of that as well. And what was so extraordinary to see, John, was just how quickly people began to rebuild themselves. They expect very little help in an area that's essentially been abandoned by Palestinian leadership and in an area that continuously is targeted by the Israeli military. Now, Prime Minister Netanyahu says that his forces did achieve their

objective. That the Israeli military was able to neutralize what they see as a terror threat, a safe haven for combatants in Jenin. But we saw -- what we saw on the ground there with those militants again at that demonstration is that they are willing to come back, and many Palestinians believe in the Jenin camp that so is the Israeli military. And that cycle of violence just continues.

BERMAN: Salma Abdelaziz, it was great that you got a chance to see it firsthand. Thank you so much for bringing us up to speed this morning.

Kate.

BOLDUAN: Coming up for us, will Mark Zuckerberg's new launch mark the beginning of the end for Twitter. More on Meta's new Threads app out today.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:53:11]

BOLDUAN: In a clear and direct challenge to Elon Musk's Twitter, Mark Zuckerberg has a new app that is called Threads and it is now live. The new platform may pose the biggest threat yet to Twitter given Meta's vast resources and, of course, existing reach already. It officially launched last night and it's already pulling in some pretty big numbers.

CNN's Brian Fung is looking at this. He's joining us now.

Brian, what more are you learning about the launch of this app so far?

BRIAN FUNG, CNN TECH REPORTER: Yes, Kate, this launch appears to be going very smoothly. The app has already gained 10 million signups in the first seven hours according to Mark Zuckerberg, and that just gives you a sense of how big this app and is getting to become.

This is also coming as Twitter has, you know, engaged in a series of steps to limit and restrict its ability for, you know, its users to gain access to tweets on its platform, which is further probably driving a lot of signups for Meta's Threads.

Now, how does this app actually work. Well, it's pretty simple, you use your Instagram account to sign up for Threads. And then once you're through that process, you're looking at pretty much a basic replication of the Twitter experience. You can post texts and images, you can reply in Threads. It's all very familiar to anyone who's use Twitter.

Now, there are some differences. For example, you know, on Threads, you have a character limit of 500 characters. And there area also some limitations. You know, the app provides you with an algorithmic feed so you don't necessarily see all the content that your followers put out. You -- the feed is generated kind of like a Facebook newsfeed or an Instagram feed by an algorithm. And the company says that they're working on a way to provide you with a reverse chronological feed or a way to look at only the stuff that your follows are posting.

[09:55:04]

But, you know, even despite all of this, you know, you have -- this is coming again at a time when, you know, Twitter is creating a, you know, huge cost for users to stay on the platform by restricting the number of tweets that users can view. And all of that is driving, you know, further demand for alternatives that now Mark Zuckerberg appears to be eager to capitalize on. And, you know, he said last night in a tweet -- in a Thread, I should say, it will take some time, but I think there should be a public conversations app with a billion plus people on it. Twitter has had the opportunity to do this, but hasn't nailed it. Hopefully we will.

And, of course, now as we're seeing, it looks like it's off to a very strong start.

Kate.

BOLDUAN: All right, let us see. And let us also, I agree, let's get used to not just saying tweets. Now we're talking about threads. We've got all these things to keep track of.

It's good to see you, Brian. Thank you.

Sara.

SIDNER: All right.

Where is mercenary leader Yevgeny Prigozhin? New claims about his whereabouts from the president of Belarus, as Russian authorities raid Prigozhin's home and office. Details ahead.

Plus, new details from the Justice Department about the 2020 search for Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate. What the newly released documents reveal now.

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