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Harris Releases First Video For Her Presidential Campaign; CDC: U.S. Infant Mortality Rate Rose In 2022, First Jump In 20 Years; Harris To Meet With Netanyahu After His One-On-One With Biden. Aired 7:30-8a ET

Aired July 25, 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]

MATT EGAN, CNN REPORTER: So, aren't there some anti-business concerns there as well?

REID HOFFMAN, CO-FOUNDER AND EXECUTIVE CHAIRMAN, LINKEDIN: I think what's most important for business is stability of a country, unity, rule of law. And, you know, a percent difference in corporate tax or 2 percent or 3 percent difference in corporate tax is far, far less important.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

EGAN: Now, the Trump campaign, of course, has argued otherwise saying that former President Trump is the one that's going to put more money in the pockets of American families and blaming the Biden-Harris administration for the high cost of living.

Now, even Reid Hoffman conceded that he's not thrilled with all parts of the Biden administration in particular. He strongly criticized Lina Khan, the FTC chair. He said that Lina Khan is, quote, waging war on American business. And he went so as so far as to say that he hopes that if President Harris would replace Lina Khan at the FTC.

Now, the agency pushback telling CNN in a statement that chair Khan is honored to work in this administration, where she has worked to protect consumers, workers and entrepreneurs from corporate abuses. And it's worth remembering that Lina Khan, she's won some fans on the left for her efforts to fight monopolies to try to push back against the big oil and big tech.

And interestingly enough, she even has a fan on the Republican ticket. J.D. Vance has said that Lina Khan is one of the only Biden officials who's doing a good job right now. So just for everyone scoring at home, you have a situation where a Democratic mega donor is slamming a Biden appointed regulator who actually has won praise from a Republican VP nominee, another reminder, Kate, of how strange this election really is.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: And a lot -- and -- and a lot and a little time to go still it seems. Matt, thank you so much. John? JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: All right. Just moments ago, "Politico" released its morning playbook discussing what they call the race to define Kamala Harris, the Vice President, quote, some Democrats we talked to you yesterday are starting to worry that the Harris campaign which has raised some $100 million this week, isn't spending it fast enough to get Harris ads on the air in swing states to tell her story before it's told for her.

Now, there is a new video out today. It hasn't been turned into a campaign commercial just yet. But with me now, Tim Hogan, Democratic consultant, former spokesperson for Hillary Clinton's 2016 presidential campaign and CNN senior political commentator, Scott Jennings. Tim, I do want to start with you because on this issue of defining Harris, it's now Thursday. And every day here, things move so, so quickly. But what more do you think the fledgling Harris campaign needs to do to define her, especially in response to these new attacks from Republicans calling her, you know, dangerously liberal?

TIM HOGAN, DEMOCRATIC CAMPAIGN CONSULTANT: Yes, leave it to Democrats to raise $126 million best days neck-lose history and be worried. But yes, she needs to get out there. She was out there in Milwaukee at her first campaign rally. She was in Indiana yesterday. I think what she's doing is laying a strong contrast and you're hearing it everywhere she goes, that this is a campaign between a prosecutor and a convicted felon.

This is someone who wants to protect reproductive rights versus someone who cheers that he was able to overturn Roe. And someone who is looking out for the middle class and someone who has billionaire backers who they just want to give tax cuts to the wealthy for. But it really is about flooding the zone. And I don't think the Trump campaign has a good answer yet either for defining Harris. If you look at Trump's rally, they're sort of throwing the kitchen sink to see what sticks. And -- and I don't think they know what -- what their messaging is going to be going forward.

BERMAN: Interesting. You say that, Tim, because in "The New York Times" today, our friend Maggie Haberman, along with Jonathan Swan wrote about just that issue. They say, quote, for the first time since Donald J. Trump was indicted in the spring of 2023, he has lost grip on the news cycle, temporarily at least, his message instead of commanding mourning tonight media attention, the former president and his allies suddenly find themselves reacting to their opponents. Scott, casting about for messaging, we had days of complaining about the process in the Democratic Party. We had the whole DEI comments which I think the party establishment is trying to run from as fast as they can. But has Donald Trump been knocked a little off his feet?

SCOTT JENNINGS, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, I mean, you know, is it his -- is it his fault? I mean, the Democrats have done something so crazy outrageous and unprecedented here that, you know, it's hard to -- hard to plan for when you let the votes of 14 million people be tossed out by the CEO of LinkedIn and Nancy Pelosi in a blink of an eye.

(CROSSTALK)

BERMAN: But see, Scott, that -- that is the messaging I think we did here for two days. And there are some Republicans saying that's not enough. You got to move past the process.

JENNINGS: Yes. Look, here's the -- well, I mean, you're -- you're the one who's attacking or they're the ones attacking Trump for -- for losing control the news site. Well, here's the bottom line. There's an easy way to attack Kamala Harris. She was the most liberal Senator when she served. She ran for President and laid out a bunch of positions that are not going to fly with the American people, including ending fracking in Pennsylvania.

[07:35:16]

And she has been the number two person in an administration that 65 percent of the American people think has failed. It's very simple. They do not need to overthink it or overcomplicate it. There is an ad on the air and Pennsylvania from the Dave McCormick Senate campaign. He's the Republican nominee in Pennsylvania that pretty well lays it all out. There's an easy way to go about this. And I do agree with this reporting. The next two weeks is the race to definition of Kamala Harris.

Can Trump and his people get to that message first? Or can Harris and her people start to put a bit of a -- a protective shield around her to guard her. I think the next two weeks is critical. And who gets there first on how we're going to view Harris as a national figure.

BERMAN: And Tim, very quickly, do you have the protective shield against what's Scott just said there?

HOGAN: I mean, look, I think the har -- I think would Kamala Harris is going to do on the trail is -- is not to go back and talk about 2019 positions. I know Republicans are obsessed with that. They're obsessed about looking backwards. They're talking about 14 million votes. Voters care about what's ahead of them and an agenda laid out for a future. And so I think that is what Kamala Harris's strength is going to be is Republicans are obsessed with process right now. Voters don't care. Voters care about their pocketbooks. They care about their everyday lives. And that's the message that the Harris campaign is going to lay out.

BERMAN: On the issue of defining candidates. I want to talk about the now vice presidential nominee for the Republicans, J.D. Vance. It's going to actually asked you this before the convention if Donald Trump is doing really well, is Vance the right pick versus if he needs something extra there. And now there seems to be some people in the party who are a little bit having some buyer's remorse. "Axios" reports this morning, on the whole the feeling is J.D. Vance doesn't add much.

Another House Republican said of Trump picking Vance, and I think we have a graphic of this, and now with Kamala, at the top, the capacity to have expanded the map a little bit would have been much more beneficial. Regrets about Vance, Scott? JENNINGS: I don't know I think people are imbuing too much power and ability in a vice presidential choice whether he chose Vance or anybody else. I just don't personally believe these people traditionally usually make all that much of a difference. Is J.D. Vance ever going to be a Vegas act? No. But that's OK. I mean, the show here for the Republicans is Trump. They're going to rise and fall based on Trump, his image and whether people want to return them to the Oval Office, I don't think picking a different person would have necessarily expanded the mat.

I mean, heck, it's already expanded. I mean, Republicans are now competing in states they haven't won in several cycles. So I'm, you know, I think some of this is just carping about by people. Maybe their favorite candidate didn't get chosen, but I'm not too worried about this because ultimately, this ticket rises and falls on Trump and really nobody else.

BERMAN: People do love this fear in Las Vegas, Scott, just saying. There was a bit of, I think you can call it opposition research or digging on J.D. Vance, where they unearthed an interview from 2021, where Vance was with Tucker Carlson. And he criticized then Vice President Kamala Harris as well as Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Pete Buttigieg for not having children, saying basically because they didn't have children, they didn't have the best interests of the country at heart. Childless cat ladies, was a phrase that J.D. Vance use.

And when people saw that over the last day, Tim, has unleashed some holy hell, including from Jennifer Aniston, who posted on Instagram overnight. And this caught a lot of people's attention this morning. She wrote, all I can say is Mr. Vance, I pray that your daughter is fortunate enough to bear children of her own one day, Aniston wrote, I hope she will not need to turn to IVF as a second option, because you are trying to make -- take that away from her too.

Again, this is something Vance said some time ago, Tim, but how much do you think Democrats can or should exploit this?

HOGAN: Yes, there's another video of him that's emerging, making those comments once again. I think Democrats should talk about this. I think the best way I've heard it talked about is from the governor of Minnesota, Tim Walz, who just keeps saying these guys are weird. Why are they talking about other people's children? Why is this a position that a vice presidential candidate is taking? And it's completely alienated. It doesn't -- it doesn't help him whatsoever, but it's so J.D. Vance, that he's just an inflammatory pontificater. I mean, is this good for single conservative women, for people who want to use IVF who are struggling to have children?

It's just an example I think of why J.D. is a problem on the ticket. He doesn't expand for Trump. He doubles down. It's a testosterone ticket that I think is going to explode the gender gap in this election.

BERMAN: Very quickly, Scott. JENNINGS: I'm -- I'm surprised. Yes, I'm -- I'm surprised that -- that Tim is worried about these comments from three or four years ago. Just 60 seconds ago he said things that Kamala Harris said three or four years ago shouldn't matter. No voter is going to care about that. They only care about the future. But we got to care about some, you know, things J.D. Vance said in an interview before he was ever even elected U.S. senator from Ohio, I guess double standard maybe?

[07:40:10]

HOGAN: 2021, while he was running.

BERMAN: All right, Scott Jennings, Tim Hogan, I appreciate the discussion this morning. I think for viewers, they can see where this is headed, sort of the parameters of where the discussion will be over the next few days. Really appreciate your time guys. Sara?

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: All right. This morning, Dr. Jill Biden arrived in Paris for this year's Olympic Games. The First Lady will leave the U.S. delegation for tomorrow's opening ceremony. It's a trip that signals how her role may be remembered at home and on the world stage, setting that global stage, the host city of Paris. I want to bring in CNN senior international correspondent, Melissa Bell. You spoke exclusively with the mayor. What can you tell us about tomorrow's ceremony?

MELISSA BELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, look, Sara, they're remaining very tight lipped about what artists might take part. But what they are saying is that this is likely to be spectacular. Six kilometers along the River Seine, the very first time an opening ceremony has been held on a river and not in a stadium. The security has been extremely tight ahead of this 45,000 security personnel, those soldiers and policemen making sure that perimeter around that six kilometer stretch of the Seine is safe.

There is one outstanding question given that this is happening outdoors with dances that are planned along the rooftops of Paris and that is the weather. This is what Anne Hidalgo say just now.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAYOR ANNE HIDALGO, PARIS: The rain will be a problem if we have rain tomorrow because many moments in the -- in this show need to -- to be very safe for the dancer and without rain, without -- without water. Maybe, maybe we -- we will lucky tomorrow. Tomorrow is the Santa Ana. And I said maybe, maybe, can you help us?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BELL: What's plan at the moment, Sara, is rain in the morning, sunshine in the afternoon. So fingers crossed that would absolutely put a damper on what promises to be the most spectacular opening ceremony we've ever seen if all goes well, Sara.

SIDNER: You know, I understand that there's already a little bit of sort of Olympic intrigue. What can you tell us about why the Canadian Olympic chiefs had to apologize?

BELL: That's right. The first day of competitions was actually yesterday ahead of the ceremony and already controversies this time to do with Canada's female football team. The allegations and investigation has been opened surrounds someone from their delegation who used a drone, Sara, to spy on the training of the team that they're preparing to play. That is the New Zealand women's football team that's being investigated and taken very seriously.

But of course already even before it's begun, that is one of the first controversies to have dogged the game, espionage around the training of the New Zealand football women's teams, Sara.

SIDNER: All right, there's going to be a lot of drama and a lot of different ways. Melissa Bell in Paris, thank you so much. Appreciate it. Kate?

BOLDUAN: So possibly even more anticipated than his meeting with Biden, his meeting with Harris, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu sitting down with the vice president today. What is Harris's stance on Israel now that she is at the top of the Democratic ticket? We could soon find out.

[07:43:32]

And Southwest Airlines announcing major changes including getting rid of its first come first serve seating in the biggest shift in the airlines' history.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BERMAN: So new this morning, the CDC says that infant deaths had their biggest increase in 20 years. In 2022, the last full year of accounting more than 20,000 babies died before reaching age one, the mortality rate highest among black infants. CNN medical correspondent Meg Tirrell is with us now. These are rough, these are bad numbers.

MEG TIRRELL, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, John. It's really sad to see this trend. You know, people say that infant mortality is really a marker of the public health of a nation. And to see this big of a jump is really heartbreaking. And we are also higher than other wealthy countries in terms of this rate. So as you pointed out in 2022, we saw an increase of 3 percent in infant deaths. That rate generally had been coming down since 1995. We have seen a few increases since 2002. But none of them were statistically significant.

So the CDC, which compiled these data is actually saying this is the first actual real increase since 2002. And when you look at the data, there are variations based on geography, based on age and race. You see that younger moms tend to have higher infant mortality rates. And you can see by geography, the highest state is Mississippi, the lowest was Massachusetts. And there's quite a lot of variability in those numbers.

Babies born to black moms, as you pointed out, they had the highest infant mortality rate approaching 11 per 1,000 births. That compares with three and a half for Asian moms and four and a half four white mom. So there's a lot of variability in these data.

BERMAN: Any sense of why this might have happened?

TIRRELL: Yes, you know, in 2022, we know that Roe v. Wade was overturned that happened in June, a researcher say it's unlikely that this jump was solely attributable to that although we have seen data from Texas, for example, showing an increase in infant mortality after their abortion ban went into effect in 2021. The leading causes of death were the same between 2021 and 2022. But the one that had the most significant increase was maternal complications.

[07:50:02]

Researchers say it's possible COVID contributed to this increase, moms getting infected in 2021, for example, also a bad respiratory season in 2022. This is stuff that researchers are going to be digging into, and really aiming to turn the trajectory around.

BERMAN: All right. Meg Tirrell, thanks for highlighting this morning. Appreciate it.

TIRRELL: Thanks.

BERMAN: Kate? Sara?

SIDNER: Thank you, John. Fire threatening lives and homes in Northern California this morning. Mandatory evacuations are underway in several Northern California counties. The so named Park Fire has the past 45,000 acres. Take a look at this time lapse video showing the fires rapid growth exploding with thick smoke, heavy flames before the feed cuts out. At this time, it's only 3 percent contained, according to Cal Fire.

Boeing has now admitted to defrauding the FAA over its role in two deadly 737 Max crashes, all part of a massive settlement. They will have to pay a fine worth almost $245 million, and they'll have to invest at least 455 million into compliance, quality and safety programs. But it's a far cry from the nearly 25 billion families of the victims on those flights requested, 346 people die in those two crashes involving the 737 Max planes. That was in 2018 and 2019.

And it's finally happened, Southwest Airlines is going to assigned seating. The airlines is shifting its choose your own seat scenario to assign seats for the first time in its history. That change will allow the low fare carrier to now charge a premium for some of its seats. And another first for the airline, red eye flight, Southwest says, those overnight flights will help improve efficiency.

Also "Inside Out 2" has just hit another milestone. Disney's Pixar's "Inside Out 2" has just become the highest grossing animated movie of all time. The movie hit theaters last month and pass the $1 billion mark just 19 days after it's released. Kate, we got to go. We got to go see it.

BOLDUAN: So I have not --

SIDNER: Bring the kids.

BOLDUAN: I have not seen it yet. I am told at least according to the interwebs that the premises, get this, the now -- now she's a teen and she's getting -- she's going to camp. Hello. How did I not know this before my daughter went to camp?

SIDNER: You should have thought. But we can all go together and it'll be really fun.

BOLDUAN: Yes.

SIDNER: Anxiety is one of the little characters.

BOLDUAN: Which emotion -- which emotion are we going to be?

SIDNER: Tell me.

BOLDUAN: I'm going to be joy.

SIDNER: Aha. Mouth sealed.

BOLDUAN: Thank you. And then there's this, just days after launching her presidential bid, Kamala Harris is diving into one of the stickiest and fraught foreign policy issues of our time Israel's war against Hamas. The Vice President is sitting down with the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu this afternoon just after his sit down with President Biden, the big question, what stance will Kamala Harris take on Israel on the war against Hamas? Will she remain in lockstep with Joe Biden -- Joe Biden's policy or something different?

CNN's Isaac Dover has new reporting on all of this, and it's great reporting this morning, Isaac. How big of a test is this for Harris?

EDWARD-ISAAC DOVERE, CNN SENIOR REPORTER: Well, it's a huge test. As you say, this has been a pretty consequential week for Kamala Harris in a political life, and no big deal. Next up, she's got to deal with Israel. It's a politically fraught issue. It's a -- an issue that she is under attack for already, by some Republicans trying to make an issue out of it. It is something that has divided the Democratic Party for this whole year and will be part of the argument that is going on into November in tight states.

And of course, she's also navigating Joe Biden, the incumbent president, whose stance on Israel is very clear, and who is not done working on this issue as he tries to get a hostage and ceasefire deal. But it's so much going on that just yesterday, her husband, Doug Emhoff, got on a call of Jewish supporters to talk to them about trying to say what her position is on Israel, since it's such a big question. So let's take a listen to what happened there on that call.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DOUG EMHOFF, HUSBAND OF VICE PRESIDENT: Let me just make this clear. Vice President Harris has been and will be a strong supporter of Israel as a secure Democratic and Jewish state. And she will always ensure that Israel can defend itself, period. That's who Kamala Harris is.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DOVERE: So look, that's of course Emhoff himself who's Jewish, talking about this, saying she's a strong supporter of Israel, but not getting deep into the details of it.

BOLDUAN: Yes, the details obviously, are almost everything here. I mean, Joe Biden is arguably the most explicitly pro-Israel American president that we've seen. Does Kamala Harris fashion herself the same?

DOVERE: Well, that's an interesting question, Kate, because just two weeks ago, as Biden was trying to salvage his campaign, he yet again said in an interview that he is a proud Zionist. He said you don't have to be Jewish to be a Zionist. It's what we should all be. And yesterday I asked Kamala Harris's office whether she considers herself a Zionist and I did not get a direct yes or no answer to that.

[07:55:14]

I did get a long statement from one of her aides, saying that she supports Israel and the defense of Israel, also supports a Palestinian state, but does not -- did not engage on that one word of Zionism. That's a word that for a century meant one thing, but over the last year has become caught up in all sorts of politics, and especially from the left wing of the -- the Democratic Party, trying to make that into a bad word. And clearly, that is part of what Harris is trying to navigate here too.

BOLDUAN: Isaac, great reporting on this. Arguably, I think we'd set it earlier, the meeting with Joe Biden important, of course, the current president, but arguably the more important sit down today would be the Israeli Prime Minister sitting down with the VP now. It's good to see you. Sara?

SIDNER: It's a great point. Washington Post columnist, Josh Rogin, is joining me now to discuss more on this. You just heard from Isaac Dovere. You know, Kamala Harris is meeting with Netanyahu today. She was the first person in the Biden administration to publicly call for a ceasefire. Do you expect her to be harder on Netanyahu, than Joe Biden has been?

JOSH ROGIN, COLUMNIST, THE WASHINGTON POST: Sure, well, you couldn't have imagined a month ago when Speaker Johnson invited Prime Minister Netanyahu to speak to Congress that Kamala Harris would be the presumptive nominee, and that Joe Biden would essentially be a lame duck. And now that they're this -- she has this new role, what she says in this meeting with Netanyahu will be extremely important.

And what her office is already putting out is that she's going to deliver a tough message that she's going to warn him that if he doesn't shift his policies to more -- be more in line with both what the Biden administration wants in terms of securing a ceasefire, but also in terms of giving more aid and -- and dignity and agency to the Palestinians in Gaza, that the policy could change under her watch that she's -- they're not saying that, they're just signaling that.

And that's something that Netanyahu has to take very seriously. On the other hand, if she doesn't win, then Trump comes back in and Netanyahu will have a free hand so it could go either way for them.

SIDNER: You mentioned Trump, he is also going to be meeting with Donald Trump, who is the presumptive Republican presidential nominee? What do you expect there? And how unusual is that. He's hedging his bets clearly.

ROGIN: Yes. You know, every foreign leader in the world is trying to make inroads with the Trump administration. If whether you're President Zelenskyy, or Prime Minister Kishida, or Prime Minister Netanyahu, you're trying to meet with Trump or someone close to Trump. And I think that's actually totally normal and should be non- controversial. But I think what you'll see in the meeting between Netanyahu and Trump is a love fest, you know, and a promise from Trump that all of these pressures that the Biden administration, and especially a possible Harris administration are threatening will not occur under his watch.

And, of course, Netanyahu is going to love that message. So he'll have a very stark difference between his two interactions. And like I said, he can't be sure none of us can be sure who's going to win. So I think he just has to play cool and try to listen to both and not anger, either. And that's the needle that he's trying to thread while he's here in Washington.

SIDNER: I do want to ask you about this moment where Netanyahu, you know, speaking to Congress went after pro-Palestinian protesters here in America, who are have been protesting because they are angry about the death toll and the humanitarian crisis in Gaza. Here's what he said about American protesters.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER: I have a message for these protesters. When the tyrants of Tehran will hang gaze from cranes and murder women for not covering their hair are praising, promoting and funding you, you have officially become Iran useful idiots.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SIDNER: What do you make of what he said in some of his comments? He also said that the protesters were pro-Hamas for rapists and killers. And, you know, some of the protesters, a good deal of them are Jewish Americans.

ROGIN: Right. I mean, I've been talking to protesters in Washington about this for the last 10 months and a very small portion or those who actively support Hamas or what they're doing. The vast majority have what I consider to be legitimate concerns with Israeli conduct during the war in the treatment of Palestinians, and that's mimicked share -- those concerns are shared by a lot of Israelis, not just Jewish Americans like this Jewish American, but a lot of Israelis and every aid group on the ground. So Netanyahu, I think, missed an opportunity to -- to acknowledge that these are legitimate concerns and denigrated these protesters, and I don't think that's good for Israel or for the Palestinians to be honest.

[08:00:01]

SIDNER: Josh Rogin, thank you so much for bringing your perspective here to us this morning. A new hour of CNN News Central starts right now.