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Campaign Official Says, Harris Has Raked in More Than $100 Million Since Sunday; Secret Service Director Cheatle Faces Bipartisan Calls to Resign; Poll Shows 39 Percent of Americans Worry That They Can't Pay the Bills. Aired 7-7:30a ET

Aired July 23, 2024 - 07:00   ET

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

[07:00:00]

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: More than $100 million raised, check, enough delegates to secure the nomination, double check, a whirlwind 36, 40 hours, depending on John Berman's math, for Kamala Harris, gaining delegates and momentum and a lot more attention from Republicans as she's about to hold her first 2024 presidential campaign rally.

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: Resign or be impeached. Republicans and Democrats are demanding Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle stepped down following the attempted assassination of former President Trump.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Her last words were, I'm sorry. New body cam video shows an Illinois officer shooting a black woman who called police to report a possible prowler in her home.

I'm John Berman with Sara Sidner and Kate Baldwin. This is CNN News Central.

BOLDUAN: Breaking overnight, Vice President Kamala Harris with a huge fundraising haul, raising more than a $100 million since announcing her presidential campaign just on Sunday, and there's more, securing the support of enough Democratic delegates to become the party's nominee. No small feat considering candidates typically spend months, right, battling for that, the entire point of the Democratic primary.

Today, Harris headlines her first campaign rally since launching this campaign, and she's holding it in Milwaukee. Ahead of that, the endorsements keep rolling in. More than 40 Democratic senators, nearly 100 House members, including former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, one senior Democratic aide calling it a coordinated drumbeat, the sound of the party uniting around the vice president.

The work to find a running mate, with all of that in mind, is now full speed ahead. And CNN's Jeff Zeleny has some great reporting that the Harris campaign has asked Senator Mark Kelly, Governors Josh Shapiro and Roy Cooper to submit financial documents and family information as part of the vetting process.

CNN's Arlette Saenz is in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, for us. Arlette, talk to us first about what we could see, what we could hear from the vice president this afternoon.

ARLETTE SAENZ, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Kate, Vice President Kamala Harris is taking her presidential campaign on the road as she will hit the battleground state of Wisconsin a little bit later this afternoon. This will really provide Harris with the first opportunity to take her pitch directly to American voters, as she is preparing to make the case against former President Donald Trump heading into November's election.

Now, Harris offered a bit of a preview of what her message could be like in the coming weeks and months when she visited her campaign's headquarters in Wilmington, Delaware, yesterday. There, she really leaned into her experience as a prosecutor as she tried to make the case against Trump while also talking about issues like abortion rights and creating economic opportunity in this country.

Now, Harris will be speaking almost exactly 48 hours after President Biden dropped out of the race and threw his support behind her in this Democratic nomination process, a step that really led and kicked off the quick consolidation of support that Harris has seen over the past two days around her candidacy.

Last night, Harris earned enough endorsements from Democratic delegates to secure the Democratic nomination and Democratic officials are moving forward with a plan to virtually confirm Harris as their nominee by August 7th.

Harris has also seen a major boost when it comes to fundraising. We learned this morning that she brought in $100 million between Sunday and Monday evening. That's includes donations from 1.1 million unique donors and 62 percent contributing to the campaign for the very first time. To put that into perspective, President Biden raised $127 million in the entire month of June. So, it really highlights the heightened momentum that she has faced, especially in the fundraising circuit.

Now, for President Biden's part, he has really rallied to Vice President Kamala Harris' side throughout this process.

[07:05:01]

Yesterday, he called into that meeting that she was having at the campaign headquarters as he urged his team to embrace her and said he will do everything he can to help get her elected in November. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, U.S. PRESIDENT: The name has changed the top of the ticket, but the mission hasn't changed at all. And, by the way, I'm not going anywhere. I'm going to be out there in the campaign with her.

KAMALA HARRIS, U.S. VICE PRESIDENT, DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: It is so good to hear our president's voice. Joe, I know you're still on the call. BIDEN: I'm watching you, kid. I'm watching you, kid. I love you.

HARRIS: I love you, Joe.

Over the next 106 days, we are going to take our case to the American people and we are going to win.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SAENZ: Now, advisers to the president and vice president have already committed to start planning joint events for the two heading into the summer and into the fall, according to people who are involved in those discussions. And President Biden is set in a few hours to return back to the White House. This will be the first time we are seeing him since he arrived here in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, Wednesday night. And, of course, it's still all eyes on when the president will decide to address the nation about his decision to drop out of this race.

BOLDUAN: Yes, also a great point. This will be the first time that we will have seen the president himself since he decided to drop out of the race. Lots happening today, thank you so much, Arlette. Sara?

SIDNER: All right. With me now for more on the campaign strategy moving forward for Vice President Kamala Harris is Democratic Congresswoman from Georgia Lucy McBath. Thank you so much for joining us this morning.

You just heard the report there, $100 million she has raised, good morning, since Sunday, momentum is important. And Trump frankly has had momentum and excitement for months now. Are you feeling a shift in how the party, your party, is feeling after Joe Biden got out of the race and Kamala Harris stepped in?

REP. LUCY MCBATH (D-GA): Absolutely, as we just heard, over $100 million. And she's already begun to give us her vision going forward for the country. The first time that I met Kamala Harris was before I ever even came to Congress. I was an activist actually fighting for justice and for so many other people that have been lost to gun violence around the country. And she encouraged me. She gave me a vision. She gave me strength and encouragement to be able to continue to fight to make impact for change.

And she has been that kind of focused person ever since I've met her. She's had the ability to be able to be centered around making America as best as it can possibly be. And so I believe that she'll continue to execute that same kind of vision that is still the Biden-Harris vision for the United States, and I couldn't be more excited about her candidacy.

SIDNER: Who would you like to see as her running mate? There have been a few names that have been batted about.

MCBATH: Well, that is her decision to make. But I believe that all of the names that have just been mentioned this morning are excellent candidates. They have proven records. They have worked really hard to make sure that the Biden-Harris vision has already been executed in their own ways, in their own realms of influence, in their own states and governing abilities, and I have no doubt that whomever she chooses will be the best running mate for America.

SIDNER: You know, you and the rest of the country expect this to get really tough and potentially really nasty. And I want to let you listen to what we heard when our Manu Raju spoke with Representative Tim Burchett in the halls of Congress when asked about Kamala Harris as a vice president and running for president. Here's what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. TIM BURCHETT (R-TN): Biden said -- first off, he said he's going to hire a black female for vice president and that not -- he just skipped over. What about white females? What about any other group? It just -- when you go down that route, you take mediocrity and that's what they have right now as a vice president.

MANU RAJU, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Are you suggesting she was a DEI hire?

BURCHETT: 100 percent, she was a DEI hire.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SIDNER: First, what are your comments to Mr. Burchett using that language? And, two, what advice would you give to Kamala Harris as these kind of attacks are certainly going to be in the underbelly of what is being said from the other party?

MCBATH: Well, this upcoming election is literally the most important of our lifetimes, and we do need a candidate such as Kamala Harris who can stand up to that kind of MAGA extremist rhetoric, the MAGA extremist Republicans. We need a candidate who has a proven track record, which she does, of winning. Kamala Harris is that candidate.

Now, Donald Trump and the far right, they have made their intentions very clear to the American people. They seek to divide and they seek to control our day to day movements. And their Project 2025 plan will consolidate that power so that they can execute their extremist far right agenda.

[07:10:02]

They're planning to ban abortions nationwide. They want to dismantle all of the more equitable policies that have been put in place in America to make sure that America is equitable and fair. They want to execute a plan to get rid of Social Security and Medicare.

So, these are the kinds of plans. This is the kind of vision that the Republican Party has. We know that she has already been elected by the American people, not because she's a black woman, but because she's a qualified woman with a proven record. When I met her, I met her at the 2016 campaign with Secretary Clinton as a mother of the movement.

We traveled around the nation with Secretary Clinton. And when I first met Kamala, I was struck by her intellect, her compassion. And she's been, of course, an attorney. She's been a senator, now she's the vice president. She is qualified, not necessarily because she's a black woman, she's qualified because she is a qualified woman to lead this country.

And we stand behind her 100 percent, and we push aside all of that extreme rhetoric that we most definitely will continue to see grow and surge in this country without her leadership.

SIDNER: She's certainly won plenty of races when it comes to politics. Congresswoman Lucy McBath, thank you so much for coming on this morning. I appreciate your time. John?

BERMAN: All right, bipartisan calls today for the Secret Service Director to resign after an explosive hearing on the assassination attempt on President Trump. Will she step down this morning?

And brand new numbers out this morning show how many Americans worry they cannot afford to pay their bills.

And this just in, we just learned that Snoop Dogg will be one of the final torch bearers at the Paris Olympics because, obviously, this promises to be some Olympic Games.

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BERMAN: All right. This morning, Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle is facing calls to resign from Republicans and Democrats. Lawmakers grilled her over the security failures that led to the assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump. Security failures that Cheatle admitted were colossal.

CNN Law Enforcement Correspondent Whitney Wild is with us now. She hasn't gone anywhere, not yet, Whitney.

WHITNEY WILD, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT CORRESPONDENT: That is absolutely true, John. She is staying. She made that very clear in that hearing yesterday. She was absolutely grilled. She found very few allies in that room during a particularly contentious Capitol Hill hearing. And really, John, the problem here was that she was reluctant to give answers and the few answers she did give were not satisfactory.

So, for example, there were a couple of things that we did learn. We did learn that as soon as law enforcement figured out that there was a suspicious person that the Secret Service said that there were teams that were sent out to interview that suspicious person who later turned out to be the shooter, what happened with those interviews? Were Secret Service agents or other law enforcement able to get anywhere near him or why they weren't able to contact him is a major question here.

The other thing that we did learn was that the Secret Service was told between two and five times that there was a suspicious person. And what the director made clear was that about five minutes before the former president took the stage, it appears that his detail at least knew that they were, as she described it, working something at the former president's 3:00 position. So if the president's looking, you know, at 12:00, at his 3:00 position, they knew that law enforcement was working something. But the problem was that they were looking at that as a suspicious incident. It did not consider that a threat until really seconds before the gunfire erupted.

So, there were very few details. Most of her answers, though, John, were extraordinarily vague. She was reluctant to give answers at times kicking things over to the FBI, other times saying things that you would expect were in her purview, for example, the timeline that she didn't have solid answers yet. And this is nine days after the shooting. So, for example, members of Congress really pressed her on the specifics of the timeline. And here's a little bit from that moment where she continued to give very vague answers on whether or not she had a definitive timeline yet.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. MARJORIE TAYLOR GREENE (R-GA): Do you have a timeline at all from any of the day?

KIMBERLY CHEATLE, SECRET SERVICE DIRECTOR: I have a timeline that does not have specifics.

GREENE: That's shocking. That is absolutely unacceptable. That means you're a failure at your job.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHEATLE: There were many calls both sides of the aisle for her to resign. Jamie Raskin, who's the ranking member, a Democrat ranking member on that committee, called for her to resign, as well as the chairman, James Comer. She made it clear she's not going anywhere, John, but there is a lot to learn.

And the members of that committee were extraordinarily frustrated with the inability to really get any key details that would make their job easier to try to find legislative ways to make sure that this never happens again. They got very little out of her and they were very frustrated by that.

BERMAN: Whitney Wild for us, thanks so much, Whitney, we appreciate it. Kate?

BOLDUAN: So, more Americans today say that they worry most of the time, or all of the time, that they won't be able to pay their bills. This is coming from new CNN polling, really speaking to voters' continued fears about the economy right now.

And new body camera footage has just been released of the moment an Illinois deputy shot a woman who had called 911 for help.

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This is Sonya Massey, shot in the face over a pot of boiling water. The deputies now charged with murder. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BOLDUAN: We have a fresh look this morning at American fears right now of the economy. New CNN polling a growing number of Americans are worrying most or all of the time, actually, that they can't pay their bills.

CNN's Matt Egan has more on this. What are you learning in these new numbers and how it compares to the past?

MATT EGAN, CNN REPORTER: Kate, listen, money is tight right now for many Americans, car insurance, daycare, groceries. Life is expensive. This is CNN poll shows that 39 percent of Americans say they worry all of or most of the time that their family's income is not going to meet expenses.

[07:25:05]

Now, this is up from late 2021, and it's right in line with what people were saying in the middle, right, in mid-2008, just as the great recession was getting started. And what's notable here is that new half of black Americans say that they feel like their income is not going to meet their expenses and just over half, 52 percent of Latinos say the same.

Now, this is just another reminder of how despite those national economic statistics that show unemployment is low, inflation is cooling, millions of Americans are hurting from years of price hikes. Americans say this is their number one financial headache. 65 percent say expenses and the cost of living is the biggest economic problem that their families face. That's down a bit from two years ago, but it's much higher than summer 2021.

And, listen, I spoke to a woman in Ohio who works at the CDC. She said it's just outrageous what she's paying at the grocery store. She said, it's not just that. She said, prices are astronomical everywhere, insurance, clothes.

So, I think it's just another reminder that despite all the focus on the latest swing state polls or the palace intrigue at the White House, this is what is on people's minds. This is what they care about.

BOLDUAN: And also in the poll, importantly, as you said, it's about how people feel, which is also gets to help people vote. It doesn't matter what the dollars and cents in the math may look in front of them or the economic data that's coming in at them. If they're still worried, they feel like they fear they're not going to be able to pay or cover their expensive. That's basically all you need to know.

EGAN: Absolutely, they're voting with their wallet. And the poll also shows that people, they feel like they have to cut back just to get by right now. We're seeing that 69 percent of adults say that they are cutting back on spending on extras and entertainments. The woman in Ohio said that she used to have every single streaming service. Now, she says she just has one or two. She used to buy candy at the movie theater. Now she's going to Walmart at a time. And one other point here, one in three Americans say that just to get by right now, they've taken on extra work.

So, listen, hopefully inflation continues to improve, and wages keep going up, and it'll give people a little bit more breathing room.

BOLDUAN: It's the trickledown. When does that, when does the cooling start feeling cooled off, that's the unknowable in the midst of an election year especially. Great stuff, thanks, Matt.

EGAN: Thanks, Kate.

BOLDUAN: Sara?

SIDNER: All right here's something that won't make Americans mad, it'll make them proud. We're going to find out who is going to join LeBron James to represent Team USA as a flag bearer at the Paris Olympics, and how Snoop Dogg lighting up, not that way, ahead of the opening ceremony.

And Kamala Harris prepares to walk out to the tune of a brand new endorsement. Listen.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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