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Interview with Rep. Ami Bera (D-CA): 31 Democratic Lawmakers Calling on Biden to Quit Race; Trump Rally Gunman May Have Plotted Mass Shooting; WSJ's Evan Gershkovich Sentenced to 16 Years in Russian Prison. Aired 3:30-4p ET
Aired July 20, 2023 - 15:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[15:30:00]
BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: If I don't have that quote completely correct, I think my paraphrase is darn near accurate there. Does that reflect the reality, though, of what we're saying? If we take a look at the battleground state polls here, seven key states, Trump is ahead in four.
He's also ahead in three, but there's no clear leader because it's within the margin of error, so it's a statistical tie in those. And that includes states that Biden flipped against Trump in 2020 when you're talking about internal polls, which I do need to note, CNN doesn't use those polls, but Democratic donors are looking at those. People inside the party are looking at those, and they're saying, oh my goodness, Biden is losing ground to Donald Trump in 14 key states.
They are putting stock in that. Do you think the campaign is reflecting this reality in their language, a slight slippage?
REP. AMI BERA (D-CA): You know, this was always going to be a really close race, and, you know, the Biden reelection would have had to run almost an inside straight, a perfect race. We forget that 2020 was less than 100,000 votes across a handful of states, so a slight slippage means you're losing. Can they make it back?
You know, I don't want to base this campaign on beating Trump based on hope. I think we've got to make sure we get out there and put the best player out there and have an honest, objective conversation.
It's not about one person. It's about holding on to the White House and preventing Donald Trump from getting reelected.
KEILAR: Larry Sabato said there is still a path to victory, but he said Donald Trump has several paths to victory and also to well over, he said, emphasizing well over 300 electoral votes. I know that's giving Democrats a lot of pause, but I also wonder, as you look towards a convention where Joe Biden may not be at the top of the ticket, what are your concerns about what that may look like?
BERA: You know, Joe Biden not at the top of the ticket also means we have to come together as a party and figure out what that process is. Is it just rallying behind Vice President Harris? I believe she's ready, and I think that's the easiest thing for us to do. I've known the Vice President for a long time, and she's a tenacious campaigner, and she's certainly been by President Biden's side. If that's not the process, do you have a limited four-week pseudo-primary with town halls debates and then go to the convention and have the delegates, you know, in some organized way, select the nominee?
KEILAR: But delegates obviously will have their say, right? Do you worry about what that may look like, even if you have a lot of the party apparatus rallying behind Kamala Harris?
BERA: I mean, I would hope that we all come together, again, if it's the Vice President as the heir apparent or if we have an organized process. I think you will see the party come together, because again, you know, we know the threat of a second Donald Trump term. He laid it out yesterday in his acceptance speech.
KEILAR: Congressman Ami Bera, thank you so much. This is really an incredible moment that we are at in this race, and we appreciate your time speaking with us.
BERA: Thank you, Brianna. Be well.
KEILAR: And ahead, brand new details about the man who tried to kill former President Trump. Why investigators think he was plotting something much bigger.
[15:35:00]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: U.S. officials are piecing together clues for a possible motive in the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump. But some new evidence found on the shooter's cell phone is fueling a new theory. Thomas Crooks may have been planning a mass shooting.
KEILAR: CNN's Kyung Lah has the latest on this investigation. Kyung, tell us what you're learning.
KYUNG LAH, CNN SENIOR INVESTIGATIVE CORRESPONDENT: Oh, Brianna and Boris, I want to start with the clues aspect of what you just said, because there aren't any specific clues. And that's been frustrating investigators, as they try to piece together a specific motive without any sort of manifesto left behind. They haven't been able to do that yet.
But in looking at his cell phone, a personal main cell phone of this shooter, what they were able to do, at least begin to, is work on an emerging theory, which is his mindset and how he may have been looking forward to conducting some type of mass shooting. And they get to that through his cell phone searches.
Searching in the recent months for the 2021 Michigan mass shooting at a high school, looking up the shooter himself, as well as his parents, parents who were later convicted of involuntary manslaughter. Three days after the Trump campaign announced this rally here in the Butler area in the state of Pennsylvania, he was searching for well- known political figures, both Democrats and Republicans. He also looked up former President Trump, as well as President Biden. So it didn't appear that he was specifically looking for any sort of political figure.
And on the day of the rally, he looked up the exact location, pictures of the location of Trump's speech, as well as a local gun shop that he was looking for, that he went to, and he would buy ammunition according to the authorities. And this is all before he opened fire at Trump at that rally. And again, what a confusing picture that they're building.
This mindset certainly shows this may not have been politically motivated, but merely convenient.
[15:40:00]
SANCHEZ: Yes, the evidence, at least to this point, leads to the question of whether this was opportunity versus ideology.
Kyung, we know that Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle has been subpoenaed to appear before housemakers on Capitol Hill on Monday. Many lawmakers calling on her to resign. What can we expect from her testimony?
LAH: Well, certainly from what we saw in that scene on the floor of the RNC, you can expect that'll be quite contentious. The setting will be a House Oversight Committee. She has been called there.
She says that she will testify and that she has said that the buck stops with her. It will be public and it will be televised. So this is certainly a forum for these lawmakers to air out their differences and to question her in the spotlight.
SANCHEZ: Kyung Lah, thank you so much for the reporting.
Still ahead, what the State Department says it plans to do next after Russia finds an American journalist guilty of spying and gives him 16 years in prison in a case the U.S. has decried as a sham.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[15:45:12]
KEILAR: Happening now, Paul Whelan is reacting to the verdict and the sentencing inflicted on his fellow American detainee, Evan Gershkovich. Hours ago, "The Wall Street Journal" reporter was found guilty of espionage by a Russian court. He was sentenced to 16 years in prison.
Whelan, who has been held in Russia since 2018, says he has sympathy and empathy for the 32-year-old journalist.
SANCHEZ: You see Gershkovich there in the background, appearing in a glass cage as the conviction and punishment were read. The Kremlin never provided evidence that he's a spy, and the State Department considers both the Whelan and Gershkovich case -- they consider both of them as being wrongfully detained.
CNN's Jennifer Hansler joins us now. And Jennifer, you actually just spoke with Paul Whelan. What else did he say?
JENNIFER HANSLER, CNN STATE DEPARTMENT REPORTER: Well, Boris and Brianna, he said he was able to watch some of the coverage of Evan's conviction there today. And he said it brought him back to his own conviction about four years ago. He describes that as a surreal experience to have gone to Russia and then be arrested on these charges of espionage.
Both he and Evan were both charged with that crime that both have been said is completely false. He said it's a really surreal experience to go through that. And so he felt a lot of sympathy and empathy, as he said, for Evan and for Evan's family to know exactly what it is to go through that.
But he also expressed a good deal of hope that this development, this sentencing that has been widely condemned as a sham, could open the door for negotiations to bring both him and Evan home. In past cases with Brittany Griner, for example, or Trevor Reed, the Russians have wanted a conviction before they would move forward on any negotiations, on any potential prisoner swaps to bring these Americans home. So Paul sees this as a signal that perhaps those negotiations could finally get underway in earnest.
And now I asked him whether he had any advice for Evan, having been in his shoes now that he has been sentenced to those 16 years in a Russian prison camp. And this is what he had to tell me.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PAUL WHELAN, SPEAKING TO CNN FROM RUSSIAN PRISON: Tell him to, you know, keep a stiff upper lip, keep his chin up, make sure he's ready for any sort of move. They moved me without notice. And, you know, it was at two o'clock in the morning they took me and put me on a train from Moscow to Mordovia. So he needs to be prepared for that sort of thing. And just, you know, mentally prepare himself to enter the Russian prison system. It's very different probably than what he's used to in the pretrial center.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HANSLER: Now, Whelan has been there for five and a half years in Russian detention. So he did feel a lot of sympathy for his fellow American Evan there, who has also been declared wrongfully detained.
KEILAR: Jennifer, what is the State Department saying about this?
HANSLER: Well, right now they are saying they are working every single day to try to bring home both Evan and Paul from Russia. Secretary of State Antony Blinken was actually asked about that earlier this morning at the Aspen Security Forum. And this is what he said at the time.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ANTONY BLINKEN, SECRETARY OF STATE: Any effort to bring any American home is going to be part of a process of back and forth, of discussion, potentially of negotiation. And depending on what the other side is looking for, they'll reach their own conclusions about whether it meets whatever their needs are. And we can bring someone home. And I don't think that's dependent on an election in the United States or anywhere else.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HANSLER: So as you hear there, Blinken is downplaying the potential impact of the 2024 election. He thinks that this can still be worked on under the Biden administration. And we also heard from the Russian foreign minister earlier this week, Sergey Lavrov, that there are discussions underway to potentially reach a deal to get these two Americans home -- Brianna, Boris.
KEILAR: Jennifer Hansler, thank you so much. We do appreciate that update.
We're still following the rapidly developing situation for President Biden and his re-election campaign as the number of Democratic lawmakers asking him to step aside from his bid for re-election has now jumped past 30.
[15:50:00]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SANCHEZ: Breaking news to CNN. The number has gone up again, even since we've been on the air. It's now 32.
32 Democratic lawmakers calling on President Biden to resign from the race for the White House. The number growing about every half hour or so.
The latest congressman, Morgan McGarvey of Kentucky. He says there is no joy in the recognition that he should not be our nominee in November.
KEILAR: A Democratic lawmaker telling CNN that House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries and his team are not discouraging members from continuing to speak out against President Biden's candidacy. Instead, privately, they actually feel encouraged, this source says.
The president appears dug in. His campaign says he's not dropping out. There's going to be no alternative nominee. And Biden says he's looking forward to campaigning next week.
And check this out. A bit of a turn.
SANCHEZ: Pivot. KEILAR: Pivot to a cuteness alert. It's a good one, though. The San Diego Zoo releasing the first video of their new giant pandas. That's Yun Chuan. He's four. Isn't he cute?
SANCHEZ: He looks so cuddly.
KEILAR: Yes.
SANCHEZ: Here's Xin Bao. She's three years old. The pair are both on loan from China.
They made the big journey late last month, becoming the first pandas to enter the U.S. in more than two decades. For now, they're keeping busy, getting accustomed to their new home. You can see them on August 8th when they will officially be unveiled to the public.
Though cuddly, I'm not sure you would actually want to cuddle a panda.
KEILAR: No. "THE LEAD" with Jake Tapper starts now.
