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Senator J.D. Vance Accepts Republican Vice Presidential Nomination at Republican National Convention; Donald Trump's Granddaughter Kai Trump and Son Donald Trump Jr. Give Speech at Republican National Convention; Reporting Indicates President Biden More Receptive to Calls for Him to Step Down as Democratic Party's Presidential Candidate; Sources: Pelosi Privately Told Biden Polls He Can't Win; Trump Tells Crowd "He Got Lucky" Following Assassination Attempt. Aired 8-8:30a ET

Aired July 18, 2024 - 08:00   ET

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

[08:00:00]

MEREDITH MCCARROLL, AUTHOR, "UNWHITE, APPALACHIA, RACE, AND FILM": Sure. I think that what happened for me and for a lot of readers was the shift that happens from first person singular when he's telling the story about I did this. This happened to me. Sure, I can follow that. I can read that, like I said, with a lot of empathy.

But he does something in the book that frankly doesn't really get captured in the film, because a book is an easier format for this than a film. But he really shifts to talking about we, and he speaks on behalf of the entirety of Appalachia, which is something that I would never claim to do. And most people who have paid any attention and understand that it's a 13 state region spanning 200,000 square miles with 25 million people who would say, this is my experience and therefore, I'll tell you what we are alike.

And that's really what offended so many people from the region. It's not only that he's saying really negative things, he's talking about the ways that Appalachian people are innately violent and that the poverty that is in certain places in Appalachia is of their own doing. He's making a claim about a huge region, and that's even if he was saying romantic things about it, I think that that would be problematic and was problematic to me.

SARA SIDNER, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: You can see the broad brush. When you do that to any group of people can be problematic. Meredith McCarroll, thank you so much for coming on and expressing your views this morning. Appreciate you.

A new hour of CNN NEWS CENTRAL starts right now.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: All right, John Berman with Sara Sidner here in New York. You can see Kate Bolduan in Milwaukee. Major developments in the 2024 presidential race. We've got new reporting from our Jeff Zeleny that President Biden is now, quote, more receptive to hearing from the people calling on him to bow out. This comes from a senior Democratic adviser. Also, according to this adviser, he has gone from saying, quote, Kamala can't win to, quote, do you think Kamala can win?

And I'm Kate Bolduan in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, for the final day of the Republican National Convention. And tonight is Donald Trump's big night. He has promised to deliver a speech this evening with a message of unity, a promise he made just hours after he survived the attempted assassination on Saturday.

But before we get to that, we are also standing by to hear once again from his running mate, J.D. Vance. He's expected to speak in just a few minutes fresh off giving what really was the biggest speech of his political career last night.

CNN's Alayna Treene tracking all of it for us from here in Milwaukee. Alayna, Donald Trump has said that he wants to offer a message of unity, that he's changed his speech since his near death experience, but what are you hearing is the campaign's goal tonight with this major address?

ALAYNA TREENE, CNN POLITICAL REPORTER: Well, Kate, he does want there to be a unifying message. And it's interesting because Donald Trump after the shooting, I spoke to many of people close to the former president, his allies, his senior advisers. And they've all argued that he really has been viewing that attempted assassination on him in a spiritual way. He believes that his ability to avoid a near-death experience was some sort of divine intervention. I do think you're going to hear some of that on stage tonight.

And also, when I talked to Donald Trump's team, they said, look, he'll, of course, speak about his policies, about the policies that he enacted in his first administration, the America First ideals that we often associate with the MAGA movement. But you're not going to see that type of really vitriolic and, in some times, political rhetoric that we know that he really targets that aggressive language and critical language of Joe Biden, of Democrats overall.

However, I will note, Kate, that Donald Trump does not like to be vulnerable. We've seen a lot of vulnerability this week, particularly when you saw Kai Trump, his granddaughter, give a speech last night, you heard from Lara Trump, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, all of them share personal anecdotes of the former president. You're going to try to see some of that humanity tonight as well, I'm told, in that speech.

BOLDUAN: Alayna, great to see you. Great reporting as always.

Here with me right now is Republican Congresswoman from New York, the chair of the House Republican Congress -- Conference, Elise Stefanik. That would also be another promotion, the House Republican Congress would be, would be something that I know you guys are seeking.

REP. ELISE STEFANIK (R-NY): We have it. Republicans have control of the House.

BOLDUAN: Of course, of course. The full Congress. Today is the first day of the official J.D. Vance as running mate as

he excepted the V.P. nomination last night. What do you think or what do you want to see him do first as the running mate?

[08:05:02]

STEFANIK: Well, I think we've already -- we know that he and President Trump are doing their first joint rally in Michigan this weekend. And I think J.D. Vance's personal story is a story that can happen only in America. I think that was an extraordinary moment last night to hear his personal story, to have his mom in the president's box, and his military service post 9/11. I mean, this is the first post 9/11 veteran to ever be on a presidential ticket. And what a stark contrast with the Democrats who are in complete disarray.

That's my big takeaway from this convention, and I've been involved in a lot of conventions over the years. This is very unified and exciting and a historic case convention. And I think J.D. Vance did a tremendous job last night. And I'm really looking forward, as the American people are, from hearing from President Trump.

BOLDUAN: Thinking of what's happening with Democrats, the fact that now President Biden has been, has gotten COVID, and now he's isolating for a couple of days, taking him off the campaign trail. I mean, you're working as hard as you can in order to make sure he does not get another term in the White House. Well, what did you think after everything that's happened and all the pressure that has been mounting on Joe Biden to get out, what did you think when you heard, and he has COVID?

STEFANIK: Listen, this is a president who has failed. He's failed the American people. And one of the themes of the Republican convention has been hearing from everyday Americans, and their stories have been really extraordinary and heartfelt. It's brought tears to many of the attendees' eyes in terms of losses of loved ones because of the fentanyl crisis, because of Joe Biden's border policies, or the Gold Star families from the Afghanistan catastrophic withdrawal. That was just an unbelievable moment in that bravery and courage to come out and speak to a national audience.

Joe Biden has failed as commander in chief. I have said for over a year he is mentally and physically unfit to do this job. And then we saw when 50 million Americans viewed that first debate where he struggled to get through any basic sentence basically. It was just -- it's very clear for the American people to see. Look at that stark contrast with the strength we saw from President Trump after an assassination attempt. Standing up, holding his fist and saying to fight. That's extraordinary strength, defiance, and the rest of the world sees that, the American people see that.

BOLDUAN: Last night here in the hall, we saw a mix of things. We heard a very red meat message from Donald Trump Jr., but just before that, we also heard from his daughter, Donald Trump's granddaughter, and her message very clearly was talking about her personal experience with him as a grandfather, kind of trying to soften maybe the sharp corners of Donald Trump. I want to play, I want to play for everyone to remind them, Donald Trump Jr., and Kai is her name, and also her dad Donald Trump Jr. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KAI MADISON TRUMP, GRANDDAUGHTER OF FORMER PRESIDENT DONALD J. TRUMP: -- he's just a normal grandpa. He gives us candy and soda when our parents aren't looking.

(LAUGHTER)

K. TRUMP: He always wants to know how we're doing in school. When I made the high honor roll, he printed it out to show his friends how proud he was of me.

DONALD J. TRUMP, JR., EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT, TRUMP ORGANIZATION: And they told one nonstop lie after another about my father.

CROWD: Yeah.

D. TRUMP JR.: But they could only run away from reality for so long. All hell has broken loose in America, and it's impossible to hide anymore.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: Which of those, which has the two Trump's kind of described there do you think he needs to present tonight and beyond more to be successful in this election?

STEFANIK: I think both Don Jr. and Kai Trump were great speeches, because the media coverage, this is a family that has been through relentless, relentless attacks from the mainstream media for well over the past decade when Donald Trump first ran as an outsider in 2016. So what they have been through, whether it was the Russia hoax, whether it was the two impeachments that were shams, whether it was just the attacks on their family members -- I thought Kai Trump's speech, that was a great surprise for everyone to hear the personal side of President Trump as a grandfather, which he is.

And take a step back and think about his family members. Many of those family members saw that live on TV and were praying for their grandfather or father to stand up. So he is a person, and I've been able to interact and become very close with President Trump. He is amazing when it comes to wanting the best for the next generation, whether it's his own kids or children across America. I feel that when I introduce my son, a couple of months old, to President Trump. And I think Don Jr. really touched upon just the relentless attacks from the mainstream media that we as Republicans have had to fight through and talk about the policy success of President Trump versus the policy failures of Joe Biden.

BOLDUAN: But of the two sides of Trump, which one do you think he should be projecting more, do you think is needed in this election to be successful in this election?

STEFANIK: I don't think there's two sides of Trump, so I think you're going to see a very unified message. And I spoke with President Trump's Sunday morning after the assassination attempt, and he talked about how he's rewriting history speech, talking about unity.

[08:10:05]

But you're going to hear the policies, the importance of securing the border, the importance of peace through strength when you are serving as commander in chief, his record versus Joe Bidens failed record. The American people want to hear that because the record today of Joe Biden is just of failure. I think about my constituents in upstate New York in the north country, inflation, the border crisis, people forget about the northern border, but we're seeing skyrocketing numbers of illegals coming across our northern border as well because of Joe Biden's failed policies.

BOLDUAN: Don Jr. was at an event with "Axios" here in Milwaukee, and he said that the only reason why Donald Trump would lose this election at this point is, and he said, is cheating in the election. Do you agree with that?

STEFANIK: Well, we saw in 2020 significant irregularities, unconstitutional circumventing of state legislatures, unilaterally changing election law. We need to make sure that --

BOLDUAN: We talked about 2020, we talked about 2020 --

STEFANIK: We need to make sure we have election integrity, which the RNC is very focused on in these states. And we're not going to take it for granted. We are going to run through the tape to Election Day. We know -- I mean, we're working as House Republicans to grow our Republican majority, and we're going to continue prosecuting this case of two very different visions for America, two very different records.

So what I'm also excited about is this Republican Party under President Trump has unified historic support among Hispanics, historic support among African Americans. And what you didn't quote, but I think was an important message it from Don Jr. last night was, if you are or haven't voted before or have hesitated to vote, because there are Americans who haven't voted, he urged them to get up and get involved and vote for the future of this country. I thought that was a very important message as well.

BOLDUAN: The reason I bring this up in "Axios" is just kind of laying the ground, what that lays the groundwork for, if he says the only way that Donald Trump would lose at this point is cheating. I mean, are you, are you that confident right now to be able to say that, that the only way that Donald Trump would lose at this point would be if there is its cheating in his election?

STEFANIK: Well, think about this. You have Democrats right now who are begging to have Joe Biden -- high-ranking Democrats, too, Chuck Schumer, Nancy Pelosi, and many, many House members who are senior, Adam Schiff, others, who are calling for Joe Biden to be removed from the ballot. This is someone who is elected through the democratic process by primary voters across the country. They are in disarray, and that would be unprecedented. And I think you're going to continue to see chaos in the Democrat Party. We're focused on winning on Election Day. We're focused on ballot

integrity, election integrity. The RNC is very focused on that. And I have -- we're going to continue again, making sure we make the case. But I never take elections for granted. I know that as a candidate for office many years. And I know Republicans aren't going to take it for granted.

BOLDUAN: Elise Stefanik, Congresswoman, thank you for coming in.

STEFANIK: Thank you so much.

BOLDUAN: We'll see the big speech tonight, and then everyone here finally gets to maybe sleep. Thank you very much, again. Sara?

SIDNER: Congresswoman Stefanik just alluding to this this morning. There is intensifying pressure on President Biden to drop out of the race from inside his own party. He's isolated now with COVID. And now staunch ally Nancy Pelosi telling him he simply can't win. So what's the president's next move?

And new information about former Trump officials asking for more protection months ago because of threats from Iran.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SIDNER: Congresswoman Stefanik just alluding to this, this morning, there is intensifying pressure on President Biden to drop out of the race from inside his on party. He's isolated now with COVID and now staunch ally, Nancy Pelosi telling him, he simply can't win. So, what's the president's next move?

And new information about former Trump officials asking for more protection months ago because of threats from Iran.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:18:00]

BERMAN: All right, breaking overnight, sources tell CNN that former Speaker Nancy Pelosi has privately delivered a stark message to President Biden. The polls show you cannot beat Donald Trump in November.

But not only that, she warned he could ruin Democrats' chances of retaking the House and possibly cause them the Senate.

Now, those same sources tell CNN that Biden got defensive during that discussion with Pelosi.

There's also new reporting from Jeff Zeleny that suggests, for the first time, Biden might be more receptive in talks about him stepping aside.

CNN's Priscilla Alvarez is with us from Rehoboth Beach, where the president is now isolating with COVID.

Priscilla, what are you learning this morning?

PRISCILLA ALVAREZ, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: John, this is a high-profile Democrat who is now showing polling to the president, saying that he can't win. This is a significant development, especially for President Biden, who has often pointed to polls to say that he is the one that is best suited to go against former President Donald Trump, including during his solo news conference at the NATO Summit last week.

Now, what we have learned from this private conversation between the two, is that the former House speaker showed him this polling that the president got the defensive, and then at one point, Pelosi had asked to get his senior adviser, Mike Donilon on the phone to talk through the data.

And when we asked the White House about this reporting, they said, "President Biden is the nominee of the party," the former House speaker's office, saying that she is now in California, has been since Friday, and that they have not spoken you can since.

But certainly, a notable conversation. And we now know of two known conversations between the two since that presidential debate that has sparked so much anxiety within the Democratic Party.

And look, this is something that had, in some ways, been on pause since the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump and we are seeing those calls gear up again including Representative Adam Schiff, just yesterday calling for the president to step aside.

[08:20:04]

Meanwhile, he was on the campaign trail, trying to shore up Black and Latino voters and show through his campaign appearances that he has the vigor and the viability to be the Democratic candidate.

But in the midst of all of that, he had to be pulled off the trail because he tested positive for COVID. So, certainly we are at a critical juncture in this campaign, in this election year. And certainly, the president, at a moment where the Democrats have asked him to be out front simply can't because he is self-isolating because of COVID -- John.

BERMAN: This feels like eventful days, Priscilla Alvarez in Delaware. Thanks so much, Priscilla -- Sara.

SIDNER: All right, more and more, Democrats are publicly telling President Biden what he's also hearing privately from Pelosi and Schumer that it is time for him to step away from the race.

Congressman Adam Schiff, a powerful congressman, the 20th lawmaker and most senior Democrat in Washington to call for the president to step aside.

Lauren Fox, live in Washington.

Lauren, what can you tell us this morning? LAUREN FOX, CNN POLITICS US CONGRESSIONAL REPORTER: Yes. For the last

several weeks, Sara, we've started to see this steady drumbeat of Democratic lawmakers coming out publicly asking for the president to step aside because they fear that he cannot beat Donald Trump.

We have also seen senior leaders trying to have these very candid conversations with the president at the White House and elsewhere to try to show him, and this is the case with Pelosi, that he cannot beat Donald Trump based on polling that they are seeing.

Behind the scenes, Democrats are frantic because they know that over the course of the next several weeks, they're going to have to make a decision. This is a really critical inflection point in part, because if Democrats cannot convince him to get out of the race, they're going to need to start to rally around him and some of those swing state Democrats are going to have to make very important decisions about whether or not they want to stay with the president, or whether they want to distance themselves from him and risk potentially turning down Democratic turnout, in part, because people aren't motivated to come out and vote for Biden.

So, there's really this important moment happening right now behind the scenes. And, you know, one Democrat told me yesterday, if you think that this debate is over, you are mistaken. The other part of this is, Democrats are starting to feel like they have a limited time because the DNC is going to hold this virtual roll call in early August.

They feel like, if they can't coalesce around a new plan in the next week, week-and-a-half, two weeks, they're in a position where there's really no way to switch horses in the middle of the race.

We have new reporting from my colleagues, Annie Grayer, MJ Lee, and I, that really gets into how Democrats have felt over the course of the last several weeks.

They feel like the president has been trying to be out there, but in many cases has made things worse, not better for himself. And that doubt that has been trickling out over the last several weeks is not abating in this moment.

One source told me that another colleague was telling members that if people want to come out against the president, they should do so in the next 48 hours to really show strength in this movement as they try to get the president to reconsider his position in this race -- Sara.

SIDER: All right, Lauren Fox, thank you so much for your reporting this morning.

BERMAN: We've got new disturbing details this morning about the man who tried to assassinate Donald Trump. Could investigators be closer to uncovering a motive.

And brand-new video of the moment a construction crane collapsed onto a busy road.

SIDER: Yikes. Ay-yay-yay.

BERMAN: That's it, right there.

SIDER: Ooh.

BERMAN: Collapsing on a busy road.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:27:57]

BERMAN: All right, we do have some breaking news. We got new video, just in.

This was video first obtained by PBS of Donald Trump speaking yesterday. He was at some kind of a screening for a documentary in Milwaukee and he told a private group there -- in this crowd, he talked to them extensively, more extensively than we have heard about the shooting, the attempted assassination on Saturday.

Let's listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT AND 2024 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: This has been our best campaign and then I got shot. I got shot. How does that happen?

(CROWD chanting "Fight, fight, fight.")

D. TRUMP: Now, you say, how did that happen? But I got lucky. God was with me, I tell you.

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)

D. TRUMP: That was a -- that's what they call a close call. That was an amazing horrible thing. Amazing thing, and in many ways, it changes your attitude, your viewpoint toward life.

And I think, honestly, I think that you appreciate God even more, I really do.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Amen.

D. TRUMP: Because something -- something happened there.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Praise God.

(APPLAUSE)

D. TRUMP: Something happened, not that it was pleasant. It wasn't like it was a complete miss.

(LAUGHTER)

D. TRUMP: But it was pretty terrible that that can happen. (END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: Again, sort of the most extensive comments we have heard from Donald Trump about that, maybe a preview of how he will discuss it tonight during his acceptance speech at the Republican National Convention.

So, as to the shooting itself, new this morning, a source tells CNN that the gunman wrote on the gaming platform, Steam, apparently days before, "July 13th will be my premier, watch as it unfolds."

CNN senior national security analyst, former Assistant Secretary for the Department of Homeland Security, Juliette Kayyem, is with us now.

So, what do you think about that? There was some kind of cryptic -- somewhat cryptic posting from the shooter.

[08:30:11]