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Trump Officially Becomes GOP Nominee, Picks JD Vance As VP; Rep. Byron Donalds (R-FL) Touts Trump's Agenda During RNC Speech; Crowd Noticed Gunman 1 Minute And 57 Seconds Before Trump Assassination Attempt. Aired 7:30-8a ET
Aired July 16, 2024 - 07:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[07:30:00]
S.E. CUPP, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: I think, in a way, both. You believe you're going to win against Joe Biden.
JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Um-hum.
CUPP: Again, I think he would have changed --
BERMAN: Um-hum.
CUPP: -- had that changed. But I also think you want to win.
And I think he thinks JD Vance's appeal is to Rustbelt voters that Republicans believe Democrats lost. Now, whether that's true -- whether Rustbelt voters trust Yale University's JD Vance, who went to San Francisco as a tech bro and sat next to me at CNN as a Never Trumper -- whether they trust him, we'll see, but I think that's the play.
SCOTT JENNINGS, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL COMMENTATOR, FORMER SPECIAL ASSISTANT TO PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH: I think there's another tactical or technical reason they chose him. You heard Donald Trump Jr. yesterday in the wake of the pick say I've seen him on TV. I've seen what he can do.
It is absolutely true. JD Vance is one of the most skillful television debaters in the Senate -- in the Republican Conference right now. He has become probably Trump's best explainer and defender in these situations that we're often in here together and I -- that's important.
I mean, the Democratic ticket's biggest problem right now, they can't communicate anything. Everything they do to try to communicate falls apart. And so, now they've put Vance on the ticket, who I suspect is essentially the surrogate-in-chief for their agenda as a -- you know, as an outbound communications matter.
SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: I want to ask about vitriol because he has been vitriolic himself. Some of his statements right after the shooting were very vitriolic.
Where is this going to take us? Because everyone, right now, has been calmer --
JENNINGS: Yeah.
SIDNER: -- less divisive to a degree, except for Marjorie Taylor Greene who kicked things off. But, you know, where is this going to go? Because the two of them can gin each other up and this country, right now, is asking for something different.
JENNINGS: I think this is the question of the week because if you read what Trump said in the New York Post after the shooting, he said I'm not supposed to be here. I'm supposed to be dead. He said he ripped up his speech --
SIDNER: Right.
JENNINGS: -- and he's rewriting his speech in light of the experience that he had.
So I think where we are going is fully dependent upon Trump and the tone that he wants to set, and what he and, to S.E.'s point, is political operation have told the rest of the convention.
There is a real chance -- I mean, my view is Donald Trump, on Thursday, has the best chance since George W. Bush and the bullhorn for a president of a national political figure to do something momentous in a moment. He's got our attention. He's got the capital. He's got this moment.
And if he really means what he said, it could be a bigtime move in recent political rhetoric and it could honestly, in my opinion, leave Joe Biden behind. He's addressed the nation for times now since the shooting. I think he's not really captured out attention back yet because Trump has it. And when you've got the nation's attention you have a chance to do something pretty powerful.
SIDNER: Yeah.
BERMAN: We'll see.
CUPP: Yeah, I hope he does. I hope he does.
JENNINGS: Yeah.
CUPP: I'll just remind you that in the same statement where he said I tore up that divisive speech about how awful everything is -- and it's awful. I want you to know how awful it is, but I'm not going to say that. I'm going to say something more unifying. I mean, there's a part of him that cannot resist those temptations. So we'll see how long this lasts.
BERMAN: S.E. Cupp, Scott Jennings, thank you both very much.
SIDNER: Thank you.
CUPP: Sure.
BERMAN: All right. This morning, new reporting on what the shooter was doing in the hours leading up to the attack on Donald Trump.
And an NFL Hall of Famer put in handcuffs on a flight. Why the airline and FBI agents are now apologizing.
(COMMERCIAL)
[07:38:02]
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. BYRON DONALDS (R-FL): They say they're pro-choice, but not if you want a choice over what your kids are taught. Donald Trump believes every parent deserves a choice and every child deserves a chance.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: That was Republican Congressman Byron Donalds last night speaking during the first evening of the Republican Convention. Donalds not only securing a key speaking slot there -- here where I am in the hall -- but also as one of Donald Trump's most trusted surrogates.
The congressman also sat right next to President Trump throughout the evening. You can see right there.
And Congressman Byron Donalds joins me here. Good morning.
DONALDS: Good morning.
BOLDUAN: Thanks for being here.
DONALDS: Listen, it's convention time so you're back at it.
BOLDUAN: No sleep.
DONALDS: No.
BOLDUAN: No sleep for the worry.
DONALDS: Team no sleep.
BOLDUAN: You and me both, I guess.
DONALDS: Yeah.
BOLDUAN: You spoke last night, and as I was mentioning, you also sat right next to the president throughout the time that he was here watching the program. And I heard more than one person comment that it appeared that he got emotional at times.
Can you talk to me about how he seemed? This is the first time people have seen him publicly since the assassination attempt. How did he seem to you? Did --
DONALDS: Well, I mentioned it to Don Jr. before the president came out last night. I looked at him when he was in the hallway in the back. They were holding him as Lee Greenwood was playing. He was emotional and that's what I saw. And I think that the whole world saw that.
And he fully understands how close he was to death. Literally, just turning his head to look at the prompter was everything. He fully appreciated all the support not just here in this convention -- in this arena but around the world.
And knowing him, Donald Trump has hit obstacles. He's hit criticism. We all know this.
BOLDUAN: Yeah.
DONALDS: That only strengthens his resolve.
[07:40:00]
But this is different. I think what it's really done for him is really, that opportunity to reflect on everything. It has definitely strengthened his resolve even more.
And I think what people don't really know -- we talk about politics so much. We talk the talking points, the speeches --
BOLDUAN: Yeah.
DONALDS: -- rallies. He has a true heart for this country. And I think it's important for all of the American people to know he truly loves America. He truly wants the best thing for our country. I think that was a window into that level of emotion last night.
BOLDUAN: I was -- I'm really curious his reaction to and your reaction to because I saw you interacting during what was the closeout speech of the night by the Teamsters' president Sean O'Brien. I mean, that was a very big deal --
DONALDS: Um-hum.
BOLDUAN: -- that he was speaking.
DONALDS: Yes.
BOLDUAN: And he gave a really fiery speech.
Can you take me -- take me into -- take me into that booth over there -- what you said to the former president and his reaction to that speech?
DONALDS: Well, I think for him, he just wants to demonstrate that our party is the big tent party. We are here for all Americans. Obviously, Donald Trump's view is he wants to stand for the forgotten men and women of this country, whether they are a union worker, whether they are a non-union worker.
BOLDUAN: Um-hum. DONALDS: I think that the entire purpose -- everything you saw last night was to hear directly from Americans, whether they're union members, whether they're Hispanic women, whether they're just guys out there doing the job day in and day out, or even if they're in the celebrity realm with Amber Rose. It was about the entire country. That's what happened tonight -- last night, excuse me.
What is specific to the last speech -- the keynote speech, what Donald Trump wants to know is that -- or what he wants everybody to know -- let me try to clean that up -- is that our party is going to stand for all Americans. That was the purpose of that speech last night.
BOLDUAN: Do you expect to get the endorsement from the Teamsters after that?
DONALDS: Um, I'm not going to speculate on that.
BOLDUAN: Um-hum.
DONALDS: But I will tell you this. Union members in our country -- they are struggling with the price of high gas, high food, high housing. They're - the companies they work for are dealing with the heavy-handed regulations coming out of Washington, D.C.
It's making it hard on everybody, whether you're a company with 500 employees, 1,000 employees, where you're moving freight, you're in food production, you're in construction. Everybody's feeling that burden.
BOLDUAN: Um-hum.
DONALDS: And you have a lot of men and women in our country. They do the work. They drive the trucks. They know there is a better way to run our economy and Donald Trump has that recipe for success.
BOLDUAN: So, you know, Joe Biden is seen as the most pro-union president ever. That's what he calls himself. He has huge union support and the endorsement of other unions. But it is noteworthy and really interesting the appeal to white working-class voters -- union voters, especially --
DONALDS: Right.
BOLDUAN: -- union members that we heard from -- that we are hearing from here. I mean, we're in an election where the margin is everything, that's a -- that can be a really important thing. So I find it quite interesting.
You and I have talked many a time in the leadup of the veepstakes about your desire -- your --
DONALDS: Yeah.
BOLDUAN: You said you would be happy and honored to serve as Donald Trump's VP. You were definitely a name that was discussed.
Are you disappointed?
DONALDS: No, no, no, no, no. First of all, look, I'm competitive. I'm competitive. Obviously, JD is competitive. Everybody on that list -- we all compete. But at the same time, when I looked at the list of everybody that President Trump was considering, I knew he was going to make the right choice.
Everybody's talented. Everybody has -- comes from a segment and a walk in life where you have the right experiences. You have the intelligence. You have the capabilities.
So I'm very happy for JD and his wife. I told him last night. I said, man, I'm just -- number one, I'm kind of happy it's over. Happy for JD. Now we don't --
BOLDUAN: You don't want to field my interview questions anymore -- my job interview (INAUDIBLE)? I thought we were having fun with that.
DONALDS: You know, maybe if the American people want me to do something else, we'll probably be back at it. We'll see. We'll see.
BOLDUAN: OK, there we go.
DONALDS: We'll see.
BOLDUAN: The teaser to -- the teaser to 2028.
Really quick on JD Vance. One thing I know that you and I have also talked about is the -- a key issue in this election, which is reproductive rights -- abortion rights.
DONALDS: Right.
BOLDUAN: And one thing we -- I was reminded of by my colleague Manu Raju is it appears that maybe JD Vance -- that JD Vance does not seem to agree with Donald Trump's position on abortion rights. As recently as November of last year, JD Vance told Manu that he was pushing for a national abortion ban -- a federal standard.
DONALDS: Right.
BOLDUAN: He says he was pushing for a standard of 15 or 20 weeks of an abortion ban.
That clearly is not where Donald Trump is. He has made clear he wants it only decided by the states.
Is that going to be a problem?
DONALDS: No. Because we all know that Donald Trump is president. He's going to be the 47th. And if you've been around long enough, he'll listen to everybody's viewpoints, but he's the one that's going to make that decision.
He's been crystal clear on this. Abortion is now (PH) going to be left to the states. The states are going to make this decision. It's not going to be a federal issue.
And actually, if you read the Dobbs decision, there is -- I truly believe, actually, reading the Dobbs decision, it doesn't give Congress the ability to weigh in on abortion, whether it's what Nancy Pelosi wanted to do with the California law. I know she called it a codified Roe, but it's really the California law, or anything else. That's does -- that's not allowed under what the Supreme Court ruled in Dobbs.
[07:45:12]
At the end of the day, Donald Trump -- he's going to be the one that makes that decision. People will have their viewpoints but he's the one that's going to decide it. And you can already tell he's made his decision on what's going to happen.
BOLDUAN: Yeah.
Congressman, thanks for coming in. It's good to see you in person.
DONALDS: Absolutely, thank you.
BOLDUAN: Thank you very much.
John, Sara, back to you.
BERMAN: All right. We do have some breaking news, Kate.
One minute and 57 seconds. According to a CNN analysis of witness video, that is the length of time between when rallygoers first noticed the gunman on the roof and when he fired the shots at Donald Trump.
With us now is former CIA counterterrorism official -- our friend, Phil Mudd. And the former police commissioner of the greatest city on earth, Boston, Massachusetts, Ed Davis.
Commissioner, I just want to start with you. One minute and 57 seconds. That's a long time. It is a long time. I mean, what are the questions you have about that length? What do we need to know as these investigations continue?
ED DAVIS, FORMER BOSTON POLICE COMMISSIONER: It is, John. Good morning to both of you.
So there's a lot of questions why that perimeter was so small. I mean, I understand having been involved in a bunch of these protection details that the presidential detail is much larger than anybody else -- vice president or first lady -- and in this case, a former president.
However, there's a -- there's a team that goes in there to look at things beforehand and those buildings had to be of major concern.
One issue that keeps popping up is the fact that apparently, there were police officers assigned to the interior of that building, and that complicates things. I'm sure that the sniper had that in his mind when he saw someone climb up on the roof.
So there's that ambiguity in the mind of the person responsible for taking cover -- usually, much farther out than 200 yards. Those snipers are looking out 1,000 yards with those scopes. So that close- up is sort of a -- sort of a no man's land. Clearly, there was confusion there.
The other thing is that I can't understand why with all the radio traffic that was going on of a suspicious person -- man on the roof. Why they didn't just bundle the president up and take him off the stage in that minute and 57 seconds.
So all those questions have to be answered.
SIDNER: There are so many questions.
And Phil, I do want to talk to you about the shooter himself. One hundred interviews with family and friends. They looked for social media. Not really a footprint. They went through his phone. Not getting any indication of exactly why he did this.
If you are looking into this, are you thinking that he is doing this on purpose? I mean, this is such an unusual thing for a 20-year-old not to have any social media footprint and not to have some sort of communication about what they may or may not have decided to do, isn't it?
PHIL MUDD, FORMER CIA COUNTERRORISM OFFICIAL, FORMER FBI SENIOR INTELLIGENCE ADVISER: I definitely -- I don't think this is -- I don't -- I'm sorry.
SIDNER: Go ahead, Phil.
MUDD: I don't think this is purposeful. I think this is -- I think we're going to try to inject some rationality on someone who might have been acting rationally.
Let me give you a different perspective on this and especially, the difference between an individual and a multiple person conspiracy. There's one obvious point. In a multiple person conspiracy, you're going to get communications among the conspirators that you not only to understand operational planning but to understand what they're thinking and why.
Obviously, this individual not only doesn't have co-conspirators but clearly, didn't have much of an online footprint.
So then you go to the more interesting question. My experience of watching a lot of plots is that -- is that when you get into a multiple person conspiracy, that ideology starts to gel. The conspirators talk among themselves. And whether or not you agree with the ideology or whether it makes a ton of sense, you can at least understand it.
When you have one individual who is not communicating with others, he's going to develop an ideology in his head that might be a hard right turn from anything that we would understand as rationale.
So I think one of the problems here is not just access to information; it's getting bits of information that don't make a lot of sense, and that might take some weeks to sort out here.
BERMAN: Commissioner, I think you alluded to this. One of the issues has been the building where the shooter was outside the Secret Service perimeter, and they are saying that it was local law enforcement that was in the building -- supposed to be securing it.
There are these fingers pointing each way here saying no, no -- it was them, it was them, it was them.
You've been on the local side of this. How much is -- or are the locals in charge of a certain area, or is it really the Secret Service who has to oversee the whole thing?
DAVIS: Well, the Secret Service have set up the high perimeter and they are in there and in charge. And no one gets in there, including police officers, unless they are authorized to go in by the Secret Service.
[07:50:00]
Outside that, the local police provide an assistance -- a secondary role -- and they are outside in the -- in the -- in the soft perimeter area.
But the truth of the matter is -- and I think the Secret Service director said this yesterday. She said we are in charge, and that is the case. Everything that's done by the local police is under the direction and control of the Secret Service in these cases.
And I've got to say they have one of the best relationships with local police of any federal agency. So it's unfortunate to see this finger- pointing going on and we just need to get to the bottom of it.
SIDNER: Phil, I do want to ask you about, sort of, going forward. I covered extremism for quite a number of years. And I was looking online at just some of the vitriol -- some of things people are saying.
What concerns you? Because there is a lot of it out there, and there's a lot of threats out there, and a lot of blaming out there, and conspiracy theories out there. And it's -- the language has gotten quite violent, very similar to what I saw right before Charlottesville and, frankly, right before January 6. What have you seen and what are your concerns?
MUDD: A couple of things based on what I saw of extremists radicalizing themselves in a basement or looking at a video online. The first is, as you say, the national temperature, which has been a conversation piece in the past 48 hours.
As a practitioner, you're looking at a numbers game. If you see, for example, several million people who are really radicalized -- if you're playing the numbers game and boil that down to one-tenth of one percent, that is still too many people for professionals -- that is, the FBI and state and local, and Homeland Security to follow. So if you have one-tenth of one-hundredth of a percent of a radicalized population saying maybe violence is acceptable, that's -- operationally, you can't handle that.
The second is there's a social piece. Politicians don't appear to believe that they have a responsibility to deal with it. You saw what Marjorie Taylor Greene said. That will lead some people to say that violence is OK.
The final piece I'd say is social. We're at the early stages of social media. We, as a country, don't have an understanding of what hate speech is OK and what hate speech is not OK. We know what might hold true for CNN or The New York Times; we don't know what holds true for YouTube and X. And so, until we get to a stage where we understand that we're going to have a problem.
SIDNER: Phil Mudd and Ed Davis, from a very good city, Boston --
BERMAN: The best city.
DAVIS: Thank you both.
SIDNER: And that's disputable, friend.
MUDD: No.
SIDNER: But -- Phil is, like, no.
Thank you, gentlemen.
MUDD: That city is Miami, Florida. Just my opinion.
SIDNER: There you go. Tell the truth, Phil. I love it when you're on.
All right, thank you, gentlemen -- appreciate it.
MUDD: Thank you.
SIDNER: In the wake of the Trump rally shooting, some wild, as we just mentioned, conspiracy theories started spreading online. We will take a look at those and check the facts.
(COMMERCIAL)
[07:57:10]
BOLDUAN: The attempt to assassinate former President Trump at his Pennsylvania rally -- it shocked the nation. It also almost immediately sparked new conspiracy theories that took off like wildfire online. Social media lighting up with a slew of wild, unsubstantiated claims.
CNN's Donie O'Sullivan has been tracking this. He's joining us now.
Here -- what is going on there?
DONIE O'SULLIVAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yeah. Look, we see this today right after every major breaking news story -- any big event. In those moments after it occurs there is this information void, right?
BOLDUAN: Um-hum.
O'SULLIVAN: And rather than waiting for the facts on social media, people fill that void with answers, which are oftentimes conspiracy theories. Clearly, an event as cataclysmic as an attempted assassination of a President of the United States -- naturally, it prompts this sort of reaction.
What we saw has been worrying but -- and interesting.
On the right we've been hearing a lot of conspiracy theories, you know, blaming Biden, blaming the Secret Service -- blaming the Secret Service, suggesting with no evidence whatsoever that they were maliciously negligent -- purposefully negligent, which, of course --
BOLDUAN: As a -- as a part of a Biden administration?
O'SULLIVAN: Exactly.
BOLDUAN: Got it.
O'SULLIVAN: So that's happening on the right.
What's happening on the left is this -- and again, what's happening on the left -- what we're seeing online is this idea that the shooting was staged. That it was staged by the Trump campaign or Trump himself in some way to get a photo op. Again, totally false.
And I want to show you an image that's been circulating that kind of feeds into this if we have it there. So there's this image you see -- it's manipulated on the -- on the left of your screen. It shows the Secret Service agent there next to Trump with sunglasses on -- that he's smiling.
BOLDUAN: Yeah.
O'SULLIVAN: He obviously -- if you look at the original image, he obviously was not smiling. But you see somebody posting on X there, "Everybody here seems to be having a good time, laughing and smiling for the cameras."
BOLDUAN: Yeah, and all the other agents, too. You can see -- yeah.
O'SULLIVAN: Yeah. So it plays into just this idea, obviously, that this is what the Trump campaign wanted. Again, it's totally, totally false.
Now look, it is one thing, right, for this be playing out on social media. You almost expect that. However, we went to an anti-Trump protest yesterday here at the RNC and we spoke to some Democrats, and here's what they had to say. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MARY MANN, ANTI-TRUMP PROTESTER: The first thing that ran through my head is -- because we cannot believe this man, ever -- that it was somehow fake.
O'SULLIVAN: So you initially thought it was staged?
MANN: Yep.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, all we all did.
O'SULLIVAN: Do you still believe that?
MANN: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We don't know.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm not sure. It's not impossible.
MANN: I couldn't help but wonder because we've been lied to over and over by this man. The way he came up and raised his fist and acted like it was nothing. He wants to make it into something big.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BOLDUAN: So, some of these -- I mean, some of these conspiracy theories are so wild they're quite easy to disprove, especially as information comes out.
[08:00:00]
