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GOP Campaigns Encourage Members To Focus On What Harris Would "Do"; Trump Campaign Attacks Harris, Calls Her "Dangerously Liberal"; Bodycam Video Shows Illinois Deputy Killing Black Woman In Her Home. Aired 7:30-8a ET
Aired July 23, 2024 - 07:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[07:32:30]
JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Breaking overnight, Democrats say that Vice President Kamala Harris has now raised a whopping $100 million since President Biden announced he was leaving the race. Also overnight, more than half the Democratic delegates say they support Harris. That is more than enough to secure the nomination, and a vote could come within weeks.
This morning, Harris heads to Milwaukee for her first campaign rally. CNN's Eva McKend is there. What are we expecting to see?
EVA MCKEND, CNN NATIONAL POLITICS CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you, John.
Listen, the former prosecutor is eager to make her case. She wants to paint this contrast with former President Donald Trump. She accuses Trump of selling out working families, attacking reproductive freedom, undermining our democracy.
She spoke to campaign staffers at campaign headquarters in Delaware yesterday. Take a listen to how she's making this argument.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KAMALA HARRIS, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: So hear me when I say I know Donald Trump's type. I specialized in cases involving sexual abuse. Donald Trump was found liable by a jury for committing sexual abuse. I took on the big Wall Street banks and won $20 billion for California families, holding those banks accountable for fraud. Donald Trump was just found guilt of 34 counts of fraud.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MCKEND: And John, she also says that building up the middle class would be a defining goal of her presidency. She enters this period with relative strength. More than 1,900 pledged delegates secured.
Lots of energy and enthusiasm right now in the Democratic Party, and I think that was really well illustrated on a call last night co-hosted with Win With Black Men. Several elected leaders spoke, including Congressman Maxwell Frost and Gov. Wes Moore. And they essentially leaned on thousands of Black men across the country to become ambassadors for Harris in their respective communities.
BERMAN: And he is -- she is leaning into someone with experience to help pick a running mate, yes?
MCKEND: She is. Former attorney general Eric Holder is a part of this vetting process. I can tell you one of the folks rumored to be on that running list, North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper. I've seen him on stage with her for two events in recent weeks in Greensboro and Fayetteville, and they have a really good rapport.
[07:35:08]
But this process -- this veepstakes, John, in many ways, is playing out publicly. We've also seen Gov. Andy Beshear do several interviews and he is rumored to be considered as well -- John.
BERMAN: Eva McKend for us in Milwaukee. Nice to have you here with us this morning -- Kate.
KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: It's kind of one of those -- it's kind of one of those things that when the process for VP is so truncated, might as well do it all transparency and out there. Like --
BERMAN: No risk it, no biscuit. That's what they say. I mean --
BOLDUAN: Do they?
BERMAN: -- you've got -- you've got to get your name out there and go for it.
BOLDUAN: Really?
BERMAN: That's what they do say, I'm told.
BOLDUAN: Who is they?
BERMAN: I -- there's all this kid stuff happening right now and I think that's one of the things they say.
BOLDUAN: Oh, you mean the Brat? That apparently, I dressed as a Brat today?
BERMAN: It's one of the things they say. It's one of the things they say.
BOLDUAN: OK, we're going to talk about this later.
BERMAN: Yeah.
BOLDUAN: Let's move on before John and I become even older as we discuss this new CNN reporting this morning on the message coming from the very important House Republican campaign arm. Basically, the message is stick to policy, folks, and shut it otherwise. Talk only about what Kamala Harris will do; not about anything else.
CNN's Lauren Fox has this new reporting. The timing here, Lauren, is just really perfect and important. This is coming out just as we've kind of heard the starting of a new attack line that House Republicans were launching against Kamala Harris. And then, RCC saying hey, guys, rein it in.
LAUREN FOX, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, you have to remember, so much has changed over the course of the last 72 hours for Republicans. They were prepared to run against Joe Biden. Now they are running against another candidate entirely.
And some Republicans are freelancing, including Tim Burchett, who told our colleague Manu Raju yesterday that he believes that Kamala Harris was a DEI candidate. What this memo reveals -- and this was sent to what are known as patriot members. That means members who are in the swing districts across the country. Is that what they should be doing right now is they should be arguing for what Harris will do and nothing else.
I do want to emphasize that last line of this memo. It says, "Do not waste time talking about anything other than what Harris would do as president."
We are also getting a sense of what they do want their members to talk about, and that is Harris' record. They want to paint her as failing on the southern border. They want to talk about her positions when it comes to energy resources around the country. They also want to argue that she has been soft on some past rioters. That is the kind of argument that they want their members to be making.
You can see here, though, that this is really an effect of how quickly this whole story has transformed recently. They are saying that they've never had less time to define a candidate at the top of the ticket and, therefore, they need their conference to be very clear and very united in their messaging.
House Republicans are going to gather behind closed doors today. House Democrats will do the same this morning. That obviously will be a very good opportunity for their leadership to remind them of the message going forward -- Kate.
BOLDUAN: A gentle reminder, friends.
It's good to see you, Lauren. Thank you so much -- Sara.
SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: All right.
This morning, the Trump campaign is trying to paint a picture that Americans would be worse off with Kamala Harris than they would be with Joe Biden. A Trump campaign memo is calling her dangerously liberal. His vice presidential candidate J.D. Vance doubling down on the message saying she's a million times worse than Biden.
CNN's Daniel Strauss joins me with more. You just heard that reporting there from Lauren Fox where this memo was sent out saying do no waste time on talking about anything else but what she would mean to this country -- her policy, for example. The anything else has already been spoken.
What are you hearing?
DANIEL STRAUSS, CNN NATIONAL POLITICAL REPORTER: Yeah. I'm hearing that despite this, at the top of the ticket for Republicans, there is a -- I guess you could call it, very charitably, an experimentation going on, on attack lines.
The former president, Donald Trump, overnight, posted a number of Truth Social posts with a range of attacks and criticisms of Harris. You can see them right here.
And Vance, himself, has also weighed in and is trying out some attack lines. I think we've got the audio for that.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. J.D. VANCE (R-OH), U.S. VICE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: You cannot for 3 1/2 years take a guy who clearly didn't have the mental capacity to do the job. Kamala Harris lied about it. My Senate Democratic colleagues lied about it. The media lied about it. Every single person who saw Joe Biden knew that he wasn't capable of doing the job, and for three years, they said nothing until he became political dead weight.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
STRAUSS: And look, this is a sign overall that Republicans feel a little flat-footed right now. They did not expect that Joe Biden would drop out of the race abruptly and that they would have to move this quickly to pivot to focusing on Kamala Harris.
[07:40:00]
This is -- this comes after months and months of Republicans pretty eagerly attacking Biden on his age, and now they have to pivot to a younger candidate who will contrast with Donald Trump.
SIDNER: It's very -- it's really interesting. J.D. Vance had a -- had a bit of a weird moment where he was talking about Mountain Dew and somehow saying that him drinking it would -- people would say it was racist. It was a very -- it was an odd comment.
But now, talk to me about what you're hearing Trump talk about when it comes to why he chose J.D. Vance.
STRAUSS: Yeah. I mean, look, in the end, it came down to a few options. It came down to Marco Rubio, North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum, and Vance. And Trump, himself, has said that they got along very well. This is despite Trump's efforts to move the party away from hard-right positions on social issues like contraception and abortion.
But Trump, himself, has not mentioned, in explaining why he picked Vance, any policy issues. Instead, it's about how -- a sort of chemistry. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We've always had a good chemistry. And originally, J.D. was probably not for me, but he didn't know me. And then when we got to know each other he liked me maybe more than anybody liked me. And he would stick up for me and he'd fight for the worker as much as I fight for the worker. We just had an automatic chemistry.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
STRAUSS: So what we see right now is that Trump, himself, in picking Vance, picked someone that he felt he got along well with who could appeal to voters in the Midwest that his campaign feels are key to him winning re-election right now. And that's the explanation we've got.
Still, though, Sara, I've got to say that over the next few weeks and months, Democrats are going to be hitting Vance for his positions and past comments on abortion and tying that to Trump, which is not the position Trump wanted to be in.
SIDNER: Daniel Strauss, thank you so much for your reporting -- Kate.
STRAUSS: Thanks, Sara.
BOLDUAN: Let's talk about all of this right now. Republican strategist and former RNC communications director Doug Heye is here, as well as Democratic strategist and CNN political commentator Maria Cardona. Great to see you guys. Thanks for being here. Great to have you in studio, Doug.
What do you think of the -- I think Trump talked about it -- the Trump-Vance chemistry -- instant chemistry, as Donald Trump will say -- how they present to voters -- both base voters and swing voters? What do you see here, and then we'll move on to (INAUDIBLE).
DOUG HEYE, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST, FORMER RNC COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR: Look, Donald Trump has never been a series of policy restrictions. Donald Trump has been an attitude. For good or bad, that's who he's been.
BOLDUAN: Right.
HEYE: And so, I don't think it's a real surprise that since he doesn't need a Mike Pence character or support in the way that he did in 2016, that he's going to get somebody who is really close attitudinal to him.
So then, point two is do I get along with the person? And the more you praise Donald Trump, the more you get along with Donald Trump. No surprise.
BOLDUAN: Maria, on this point, Tim Alberta, great reporter with The Atlantic and good friend, had some insight on how the race has kind of begun -- has -- kind of in a signal of how things have shifted since Sunday, saying this in a tweet. "Most striking thing I heard from Trump allies yesterday was the second-guessing of J.D. Vance -- a selection, they acknowledged, that was borne of cockiness, meant to run up margins with the base in a blowout rather than persuade swing voters in a nail-biter."
I read that and I'm kind of wondering what could that mean or suggest maybe for how Harris is calculating her VP pick?
MARIA CARDONA, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: Well, I think what it means is that she is much smarter, much more strategic, knows what needs to be done in terms of adding to the coalition. Adding to the group of voters that she is going to attract to her campaign in order to win, which is exactly the opposite of what Donald Trump did with his pick of J.D. Vance.
J.D. Vance -- and I think this is what they're complaining about and exactly what they just described what they were trying to do -- they're not doing any addition, Kate. And as you know, in an election, especially one that is won on the margins here, you need addition.
They wanted to double down on their MAGA base, but they don't really need to double down on their MAGA base. They have their MAGA base locked in. And J.D. Vance represents some of the most extreme positions on some of the most important issues that Democrats are going to be putting front and center.
Daniel's right. On the issue of abortion, J.D. Vance is probably at the extreme. He doesn't believe in any exceptions for life of the mother or for rape or incest. That is not where the country is and certainly not where Donald Trump wants to be in terms of this becoming front and center for them moving forward.
So I don't blame them for second-guessing when he -- they picked J.D. Vance. I think a lot of people, including Republican strategists, were scratching their heads thinking what were they thinking.
[07:45:00]
BOLDUAN: The NRCC -- let's talk about the campaign arms and the kind of advice that's being thrown around --
HEYE: Right.
BOLDUAN: -- because they need to -- they need to refocus now.
HEYE: Um-hum.
BOLDUAN: NRC -- the NRCC saying, as Lauren Fox was reporting, essentially, stick to the policy. Stick to what she would "do" in terms of Kamala Harris and stop talking about anything else.
HEYE: Yeah.
BOLDUAN: Obviously, that may be a suggestion of maybe Tim Burchett and others to maybe stop talking about her as a DEI hire. But you also have the Trump campaign putting out a memo -- the subject
being the state of play day one, Doug. Focus: preparing to launch a full-scale assault against Kamala Harris, describing her a dangerously liberal and attacking her on policies -- inflation, immigration, electric cars, and crime.
The line that stuck out to me in the memo in how they're trying to focus maybe messaging is "Same year, same people, same record of failure, same result."
Do you think this works?
HEYE: This is what you want to do if you're the party committees. And here are the joys and the perils of being in House of Senate leadership, regardless of party.
How many times did you call me when I worked in House leadership and say hey, Steve King -- a name we haven't used very often lately -- Steve King just said this. What's your response? And I would typically send it to voicemail because I didn't have a good answer.
And then Dana Bash would call me on my cell phone. Send it to voicemail. Don't have a good answer.
This is that same situation. It's very hard to keep your members in line even when you have self-disciplining messaging.
But what I would guess right now is if they were updating that memo for the House Republican Conference meeting right now, they would include language on the segment that you just aired on what people are looking at, on what they can afford, and their concerns, and go back to basically the same numbers that it was in 2008, which was a change election.
Trump is trying to run as change agent here. Those numbers buttress that and it -- and it highlights that it's not just Kamala Harris and whoever she picks --
BOLDUAN: Um-hum.
HEYE: -- it's still the Biden-Harris administration that Trump is running against.
BOLDUAN: And you see in contrast, Maria -- and I'll play this for you. In contrast, you see already from the Harris -- the now-Harris campaign saying past versus future -- sure, we can have that -- we can have that discussion now. They're just trying to flip it on their head.
And also, we heard maybe a hint of some of Kamala Harris' messaging kind of straight of the gate when she was speaking at campaign headquarters yesterday about Donald Trump. Let me play this.
CARDONA: Yeah.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) KAMALA HARRIS, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: In those roles, I took on perpetrators of all kinds. Predators who abused women. Fraudsters who ripped off consumers. Cheaters who broke the rules for their own gain. So hear me when I say I know Donald Trump's type.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BOLDUAN: This lands with what segment of voters you think that she needs to be laser-focused on now? I mean, obviously, Donald Trump -- it needs to be focused on as well.
CARDONA: I think that was a brilliant riff Kate because it talks to a whole spectrum of voters. The base of the Democratic Party, right? Black voters, Latino voters, young voters, LGBTQ, women voters. But it also speaks to Independent voters, suburban women. Perhaps, common- sense Republicans, Never Trumpers. Because this is exactly what we all need to be reminding the American people what Donald Trump represents.
He represents somebody who is even willing to break the law -- and he has done it throughout his life -- to get what he wants.
He is not in politics for public service. He is not in politics to make Americans' lives better. He is not in politics to help your family or my family, or Doug's family try to live a better life. He is in politics to make his own life better. And specifically, now, he is in politics and in this election to stay out of jail. That is a great contrast moving forward.
BOLDUAN: It is game on 36-40 hours in is what we're seeing here.
HEYE: And it's going -- and by the way, since we're talking about --
BOLDUAN: Yeah.
HEYE: -- J.D. Vance and his diet Mountain Dew, if you look at it, that is a Brat summer drink just like your outfit. Let's keep this in mind.
BOLDUAN: I was waiting -- I was waiting for you to try to pull this in. Unintentional, but thank you very much. I think it's a compliment.
CARDONA: Good one, Doug.
HEYE: I don't know either.
BOLDUAN: None of us know anymore, but that's OK.
It's great to see you, Doug. Great to see you, Maria. John, please take it. I don't know what it means, still.
BERMAN: Sucking up gets you everywhere.
Murder charges for an Illinois deputy after the fatal shooting of a woman who called 911 for help. And this morning, Donald Trump asking an appeals court to throw out the nearly half a billion dollars he owes after being found liable for fraud. (COMMERCIAL)
[07:53:57]
SIDNER: This morning, newly released policy body camera video is sparking sharp criticism and outrage. In it, a sheriff's deputy in Illinois shoots and kills a Black woman in her own home after she called 911 to report a possible prowler. Sonya Massey shot and killed there. The deputy -- he pulled the trigger -- is now accused of first- degree murder.
CNN's Lucy Kafanov shows us the video which she obtained. We want to warn you it's disturbing.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
LUCY KAFANOV, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voiceover): Bodycam footage showing the moments just before 36-year-old Sonya Massey was fatally shot in her Springfield, Illinois home by a responding sheriff's deputy after she called 911 about a prowler. No intruder was found.
The footage released by the Illinois State Police Monday shows Deputy Sean Grayson interacting with Massey, even laughing. Then she's asked to check on a pot on the stove.
SONYA MASSEY, SHOT AND KILLED BY DEPUTY: Where you moving?
SEAN GRAYSON, SANGAMON COUNTY SHERIFF'S DEPUTY: Huh?
MASSEY: Where you going?
GRAYSON: Away from your hot, steaming water.
MASSEY: Away from my hot, steaming water?
GRAYSON: Yeah.
[07:55:00]
MASSEY: I rebuke you in the name of Jesus.
GRAYSON: Huh?
MASSEY: I rebuke you in the name of Jesus.
GRAYSON: You better (bleep) not. I swear to God I'll (bleep) shoot at your (bleep) face.
MASSEY: OK, I'm sorry.
GRAYSON: Drop the (bleep) pot.
SECOND DEPUTY: The (bleep).
GRAYSON: Drop the (bleep) pot.
KAFANOV (voiceover): Three shots were fired.
(Three shots fired)
BEN CRUMP, CIVIL RIGHTS ATTORNEY: Her last words, "Sorry. Sir, I'm sorry." She ducks and when she stands back up, he shoots her in the face.
KAFANOV (voiceover): Massey family attorney Ben Crump and Massey's father reacting to the shooting.
JAMES WILBURN, SONYA MASSEY'S FATHER: This man should have never had a badge. He should have never had a gun. He should have never been given the opportunity to kill my child. I want justice for my baby.
CRUMP: Yeah. Yes, sir.
WILBURN: You killed the wrong Black woman this time.
KAFANOV (voiceover): The video's release comes about two weeks after Massey was killed and just days after Grayson was fired from his job and charged with first-degree murder, amongst other charges. Grayson has pleaded not guilty.
Video of the shooting and the deputy's response comes from his partner's body camera. When Grayson's partner offers to get his medical kit, Grayson says Massey does not need medical help.
SECOND DEPUTY: She's done. You know who did it (PH), but that's a head shot.
GRAYSON: I'm not taking hot, boiling water to the (bleep) face.
KAFANOV (voiceover): According to court documents, Grayson's camera was not turned on until after the shooting, and it records him explaining his actions that night.
GRAYSON: And she said she was going to rebuke me in the name of Jesus and came at me with boiling water.
KAFANOV (voiceover): After the footage was released, outrage at the police killing of another unarmed Black woman in recent years.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We want justice for Sonya Massey.
CRUMP: Justice for Sonya Massey.
KAFANOV (voiceover): And an outpouring of support, including a statement from President Joe Biden saying Massey's family deserves justice.
CRUMP: Where is the humanity? Where is the training? Until we get justice for Sonya Massey, we rebuke this discriminatory criminal justice system in the name of Jesus.
(END VIDEOTAPE) KAFANOV: Now, CNN is learning that Grayson had worked at six different law enforcement agencies here in Illinois since 2020. It's unclear why he changed jobs so frequently. We are trying to track that down.
He was fired from his job after his indictment last week. He is being held without bond and faces life in prison if convicted on that murder charge, Sara. A pretrial hearing is set for August. And we have reached out to his attorney but have yet to hear back -- Sara.
SIDNER: It was shocking to see the quick escalation of that. Wow -- really, really, hard to take.
Thank you so much, Lucy Kafanov, to you and the crew out there in Chicago -- John.
BERMAN: All right. This morning, a new trial date has been set for Karen Read of Massachusetts. She is charged with allegedly backing over her police officer boyfriend while she was drunk and leaving him to die in January of 2022. There was a hung jury in the first trial and the special prosecutor was later found to have withheld evidence in the case. The new trial will be January 27.
Warner Bros. Discovery, the parent company of CNN, has offered to put up $1.8 billion to keep a package of NBA games. The bid aims to match an offer from Amazon. This would apply to regular season and some playoff games. No word yet on whether the NBA will accept the offer.
LeBron James will be one of the flag bearers for the United States in the opening ceremonies of the Olympics in Paris on Friday. The 39- year-old star -- he looked amazing in an exhibition win over Germany.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LEBRON JAMES, TEAM USA FORWARD: I love the competition. Man, seize the opportunity in the moment, man. Stay in the moment. That's all it's about. Stay in the moment.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BERMAN: He even looked good leaving the court.
A flag-bearing partner for James will be announced soon -- Kate.
BOLDUAN: That's my inspiration for my arm workout every day.
So, Donald Trump has now asked a New York appeals court to throw out the $454 million penalty that he faces after losing the civil fraud case against him. In February, you'll remember, a judge found that Trump, his two older sons, and their business, for years, schemed and committed fraud, deceiving banks and insurers to their financial benefit on their financial statements.
CNN's Kara Scannell following this one for us. Kara, what is the latest here? KARA SCANNELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: So Trump's lawyers are asking for this whole judgment -- the $454 million to be thrown out and the findings against Donald Trump and his sons, and some other executives, saying that specifically, that this judgment was unconstitutional. They're taking issue with the $454 million, saying that there were no victims, no proven injuries, no losses, and saying that it is not remotely defensible.
Another area that they're arguing in this case is saying that the statute of limitations should have knocked out most of the claims in this case because it -- a lot of the loans that were struck based on these allegedly fraudulent financial statements that the judge did find to be fraudulent -- they all occurred -- they were all initiated years ago. So they are saying that they were too old, and they shouldn't have survived the case, so they're asking the appeals court to look at that.
They say if the appeals court finds in their favor on that score that Donald Trump, himself, should be tossed as a defendant and that about $350 million of the $454 million, they argue, should also automatically be removed from this case.
