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CNN Survey: No Issue For Vice President Harris To Be On Presidential Ballot; Park Fire In California Explodes In Size, Suspect Arrested; Still No Return Date For Starliner Astronauts Stuck On Space Station. Aired 7:30-8a ET

Aired July 26, 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]

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: All right, a CNN exclusive. We reached out to all 50 states and found that Kamala Harris should have no problem getting on the ballots for November. Now, this kind of contradicts claims from House Speaker Mike Johnson who said there would be legal impediments.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. MIKE JOHNSON (R-LA): And in some of the states there are impediments to just switching someone out like that. Fourteen million people went through the process and chose this nominee, Joe Biden. Now, a handful of people have gotten together and decided he's no longer suitable. That's not how this system works. They are violating democratic principles. And I think that's a real problem and I think they'll be a lot said about that in the days ahead.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: So, CNN's chief legal affairs correspondent Paula Reid is with us. What does House Speaker Mike Johnson need to know this morning, Paula?

PAULA REED, CNN CHIEF LEGAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Well, his office did not respond to us when we reached out and asked exactly what he was referring to when he was speaking about these possible impediments.

So, CNN -- my colleagues Daniel Dale, Casey Gannon, and I -- we reached out to all 50 states and asked election officials in those states if there is any potential problem with Harris appearing on the ballot. Now, 48 out of 50 states did respond to us and said no -- there is no issue.

Let's take a listen to what some of these states said to us and how they explained why there isn't really an "impediment" here.

For example, in Georgia, they said, "Biden dropping out will not impact Georgia's ballots. As the Democrats haven't had a convention, there is not 'nominee' to replace."' And then, for example, in West Virginia. "The candidate that will appear on West Virginia's ballot in November will be the candidate that is nominated by the DNC. Presuming that is Kamala Harris, then there will be no issues."

Now, two states did not respond, Florida and Montana, but experts say there's no indication there would be an issue there. A reading of their rules also gives no indication that there would be any litigation.

And I want to emphasize that this includes states that are considered swing states -- that had the closest margins in the last election -- like Georgia, Arizona, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Michigan, and Nevada all indicating that there is no issue with Harris appearing on the ballot as long as she is the one who is nominated at the convention.

But, of course, this doesn't mean that they won't file lawsuits because there is a potential political advantage to be gained by merely filing a lawsuit. That helps to sow chaos and confusion. You can even fundraise off of a lawsuit even if you are not going to ultimately win.

So at this point we know that Trump allies certainly have discussed the potential legal implications of switching to Harris, but at this point it's unclear if there will be challenges. But it appears pretty clear, John, from our reporting that on this issue they would not be successful.

BERMAN: Paula Reid, great to see you this morning. Thank you very much.

Also breaking this morning, the official endorsement from former President Barack Obama and Michelle Obama for Vice President Kamala Harris. They say, "She has the vision, the character, and the strength that this critical moment demands."

With us now, CNN political commentator Kristen Soltis Anderson, and Democratic strategist Matt Bennett.

Matt, the facts of this endorsement aside, this sort of caps this week -- this remarkable now six days of a pretty tight rollout. How do you see it having played out?

MATT BENNETT, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST, FORMER CLINTON WHITE HOUSE AIDE: I mean, there's no way it could have gone better. It was very clear that the vice president's team was ready. They didn't know if the president would step aside -- they had no idea -- and they didn't know when it would come. But the moment that it came they just sprang into action and they rolled it out in an unbelievably perfect way.

They made all the calls they needed to make. They rounded up the endorsements they needed. They kind of closed off the field to others. And then, they put her out on the road and captured this incredible wave of momentum that followed this sigh of relief that the party was giving that we now have a nominee that seems really capable of prosecuting the case against Trump.

And I think what you're finding is that the Trump team is definitely not ready. I mean, they have these ridiculous lawsuits. They're now saying they're not going to debate her. They're on their heels and defensive about J.D. Vance and Project 2025.

So things have gone really well so far.

BERMAN: I want to get to the debate thing in just a moment. But Kristen, you know, first to you.

With the Obamas is there anything unique politically about their endorsement? I don't think this was unexpected but does this endorsement carry something special that others have not?

KRISTEN SOLTIS ANDERSON, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST AND POLLSTER: Well, I think, one, it was smart to actually delay it a few days. There was a little bit of online chatter -- why hasn't Obama endorsed? Why hasn't Obama endorsed? It's smart because it takes the story and it makes yet another day it gets to stand on its own as a story.

However, I do think that if Democrats think that they are going to recreate the Obama coalition this year that is a bit of a big dream that seems unlikely to me. Remember, Barack Obama won in part by being able to pull together this incredible coalition that included states like Iowa. Iowa voted for Barack Obama twice. And I don't -- I'm not encouraging anyone to go bet a bunch of money, but I wouldn't go to Vegas right now and put a bunch of money on Kamala Harris winning Iowa in 2024.

[07:35:00]

So, you know, for some of these politicians, like Barack Obama who is very talented, the question is how much does his coalition -- can it be rebuilt in new, much more polarized times? And count me a little bit skeptical of that.

BERMAN: So Matt brought up the debates and, Kristen, I want to give this question to you because this has been such an unprecedented week. I've been surprised by a lot of things big and small. One of the small things I've been surprised by is how much Republicans have focused on the process in the Democratic Party, and the debate is just one aspect of it.

We have this release from the Trump campaign overnight backing off the debates, at least for now, that says, "Given the continued political chaos surrounding Crooked Joe Biden and the Democratic Party, the debates cannot be finalized until Democrats formally decide on their nominee." They go on to say there's a strong sense by many in the party, namely Barack Hussein Obama. And then it goes on dot, dot, dot, dot, dot. They're not going to commit to debates just yet.

Of course, Obama then, this morning, goes out and endorses.

But Kristen, explain what does Trump get out of this? What do they -- do they get something out of this process argument?

ANDERSON: Well, it is not wrong to underscore how extremely unprecedented this is. I mean, Democratic voters did not get the opportunity to really have a meaningful primary.

At the same time, though, the politics of this -- I assume that what they're trying to do is divide a democratic coalition that right now does not seem interested in being divided.

BERMAN: Yeah.

ANDERSON: The Democrats are pretty united around Harris. This week has been, again, very unprecedented in the extent to which they've closed ranks.

I do think that Republicans would be wise to have a message that's not about process but is more about policy. To focus their message more on voters' discontentment with the economy, with immigration, with crime -- with these issues where voters in polls that I see day in and day out tend to trust Republicans much more than Democrats. The Trump campaign would be much smarter to keep the focus on that versus trying to fight these process wars.

BERMAN: So, Matt, on that front, one of the things that we have begun to hear are these attacks on Vice President Harris as a liberal. Tom Cotton started it here calling her a San Francisco liberal, like, five times in seven minutes.

And this morning we are seeing for the first time this super PAC, which is now supporting Harris, saying they're coming out with an ad buy -- some $50 million they're putting into this ad. I want to play a little bit of it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HARRIS CAMPAIGN AD: She's the district attorney who protected children from sexual predators. She's the attorney general who stood up to the big banks to protect homeowners.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: Yeah, so those two things -- I wanted to highlight that, Matt because again -- and you got -- you've spent your career trying to kind of nudge the Democrats or keep them in the center here.

How much does Harris have to worry about that, and does this ad get to it?

BENNETT: Look, the entire ballgame here is winning the center and the Harris team absolutely knows that. This is going to be a sprint to the general election where most voters have made up their minds already. The undecided voters tend to be centrists, and moderates, and Independents. Those are the people that are up for grabs and those are the people she's got to get.

So this is a really good ad to focus on her tough-as-nails history as a prosecutor and she's got to make clear to the people that that's who she is. It's a very different game than she was in in 2020 in a field of 20 other -- or 19 other candidates running for the Democratic nomination. This is completely different.

And she's got 3 1/2 years in the White House -- lots of experience to talk about what they have done together and what she wants to do going forward, making this about the future. And I think she has a real opportunity to do that.

BERMAN: Matt Bennett, Kristen Soltis Anderson, great to see you both this morning. Thanks so much -- Sara.

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: This morning, California's Park Fire exploding in size. It has burned more than 160,000 acres -- an area bigger than all of Chicago. It is still growing and it's just three percent contained. You can see in this timelapse just how quickly the flames spread when the fire erupted Wednesday. The flames torching the equivalent of 50 football fields a minute.

This morning, a suspect is under arrest for allegedly starting that fire.

CNN's Camila Bernal is joining us from Chico, California. I am looking behind you. Goodness, you're close. Tell me what you're seeing.

CAMILA BERNAL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, Sara, we're seeing firsthand just how quickly these flames are spreading. If you take a look here, just a short time ago these flames were not here. They were further down in the mountain. And so what you're seeing is the speed. You're seeing the smoke. You're seeing the embers.

You know, again, just minutes ago we weren't seeing these -- the thick smoke that we're seeing now. It's -- I want you to look at the embers, actually, over here and how quickly they can spread.

And unfortunately, as you mentioned, a 42-year-old man has been arrested for starting this fire. Authorities saying that they have witnesses who saw him pushing a burning car about 60 feet. And, of course, that's what caused this, according to authorities. And they also say that there's people who saw this and they believe that this is what is causing now this biggest fire in California burning at the moment.

[07:40:06]

It's 160,000 acres, more or less; only three percent containment. And authorities also say there are structures that have been damaged. They do not have an official number yet. And they also are saying that at least three firefighters had to be treated for heat-related injuries.

(Coughing) Excuse me.

As you see, the smoke just moving in really, really fast and making it just so hard to breathe here. And that's probably some of what's happening to these firefighters as well, who are working around the clock. We're talking about 1,000 firefighters who are here right now. And another thing that's really important about this area, this is

Butte County. This is also where California saw its deadliest fire in California history. So it is traumatic for a lot of the people that live here in Chico, California -- some of them who moved from Paradise, California, where that fire took place, to Chico and are now experiencing this all over again.

There are mandatory evacuations in place. We saw officials yesterday helping people leave this area with their animals. So again, it's just extremely difficult for the people that live in this area and for all of California as we see these temperatures climbing, and we expect three-digit temperatures later on this -- today as well, Sara.

SIDNER: Wow. Basically, the whole town of Paradise was destroyed. And now, people that have moved there are now dealing with this again.

But I do want you and your crew to be really careful. You know how quickly these things spark up, and there's flames just about all around you. Please be safe out there with your crew. Wow, great pictures from you this morning just to let us know what's going on there.

All right. Coming up, thinking of buying that American dream starter home? The outrageous cost buyers may not have to pay.

And remember those astronauts who were stuck in space because of a malfunction in Boeing's spacecraft? They're still there. Who knows when they'll be able to return to Earth.

But first -- and every day, teachers go beyond the call. They spend hours during their work and they work after hours as well often, and for no pay. But Justin Padgett did that times four. He went beyond the call of duty.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

POLO SANDOVAL, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voiceover): Kasey Padgett will tell you it's funny how things just work out.

KASEY PADGETT, PARENT: I had been praying for months.

SANDOVAL (voiceover): Not long after marrying her husband Justin, the seasoned teacher --

JUSTIN PADGETT, TEACHER, PARENT: That's something I wanted to do my entire life.

SANDOVAL (voiceover): -- that's when Justin crossed paths with a boy named Jayden.

J. PADGETT: Jayden was in my classroom. It was in the midst of COVID.

SANDOVAL (voiceover): Justin was tutoring Jayden when he caught a glimpse of his fifth-grade student's computer screen.

J. PADGETT: He called me over and he had typed "I have to be adopted." It was very simple -- "I have to be adopted." And I was like oh, really? And that started the conversation.

SANDOVAL (voiceover): Jayden was in foster care that spring and had just learned his birth mother and father would not regain parental custody. He would not be going back home.

So Justin saw a chance to go beyond the usual call of a teacher.

J. PADGETT: And so, then I go home that night and I'm like hey, there's a little boy in my room and he needs to be adopted. We were already doing foster care classes. We were wrapping those up.

SANDOVAL (voiceover): Justin and his wife Kasey opened up their home.

K. PADGETT: He had told me from the very beginning of our relationship -- he said, one day, I'm going to bring a student home and we're just going to adopt him.

SANDOVAL (voiceover): Jayden became that student as did his siblings --

J. PADGETT: Please wait until we pray. Thank you.

SANDOVAL (voiceover): -- all three of them. Hailey is the big sister at 16.

J. PADGETT: She's the oldest. She is our most shy.

SANDOVAL (voiceover): Then it's Jayden, now 14.

J. PADGETT: He's a little more outgoing when he gets to know people --

K. PADGETT: Sure.

J. PADGETT: Yeah. He's kind of like a class clown.

SANDOVAL (voiceover): Alexis is 12. And the youngest --

J. PADGETT: We mention nine and here he is. Can we say that you're nine already?

SANDOVAL (voiceover): -- and perhaps the chattiest is Jase.

JASE, ADOPTED BY THE PADGETTS: Hi.

J. PADGETT: Hello. How are you today?

JASE: Good.

SANDOVAL (voiceover): Since March 2022, they're the Padgetts.

J. PADGETT: We went from husband and wife to a family of six pretty rapidly.

SANDOVAL (voiceover): They pray, eat, and travel as a family. Justin now applies his teaching skills as a director at the Kentucky School for the Deaf, and he fills the role of teacher at home, too, sharing it with Kasie.

J. PADGETT: It's a very rewarding career when you see students that are learning and they're developing. And when you can have -- there's so many things that are taking place outside the educational realm to mold kids to be a good role model to understand.

SANDOVAL (voiceover): Teaching can be an often thankless job but in this home there is no shortage of appreciation or of dedication that extends beyond the classroom.

Polo Sandoval, CNN, Danville, Kentucky.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL)

[07:49:40]

BERMAN: All right. New this morning, fresh data shows the cost of becoming a homeowner is increasingly out of reach for many Americans. In 237 cities, a so-called starter home will not set you back at least $1 million.

With us now is CNN's Meena Duerson. Meena Duerson making her CNN NEW CENTRAL debut -- the flagship morning show here at CNN. It's great to have you here.

[07:50:00]

MEENA DUERSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Thank you so much.

BERMAN: A million bucks is kind of a lot.

DUERSON: Yeah, yeah, it's pretty bad. And I think people can feel that around the country that this number has surged in the last five years. I think back in 2019, there were 84 cities where a million dollars was the average starter home, which is bad -- but now it's up to 237. So feeling more and more out of reach for people who are looking to get their first home.

And this is a problem nationally, but it's really concentrated in these states. I mean, the usual suspects of California, New York, Florida, and New Jersey. These are the coastal markets where there's less inventory, there is higher building regulations. Those things drive up costs.

But you can see that in these top five cities, the numbers have just nearly tripled even in the last five years of the homes that are starter homes, which is the lower third of the market. Things people could get into for their first purchase. Really, it's skyrocketing since 2019.

BERMAN: You know, if you want to feel really bad ask your parents, ask your grandparents what they paid --

DUERSON: No. BERMAN: -- for their first home, right?

There's a big difference with a million bucks besides just availability. Are there any reasons why the cost is so high?

DUERSON: Yeah. I mean, in the last few years we've seen a number of factors drive up the real estate market. There's just the basic supply and demand. There's just limited numbers of homes on the market. And a lot of people, because the costs are higher, are looking for cheaper housing. So people who might have been buying something bigger or more expensive are now -- they're all competing in the same pool for these starter homes.

The pandemic -- you know, people were working from home. They were looking for more space, so that drove up the market. A lot of people were buying homes in the last four years. And then, the cost of getting into a home in general is more expensive. The Fed has been trying to fight inflation with hiking interest rates, so mortgages are a lot more costly for people these days.

This has all contributed to 76 percent of people do not think it's a good time to buy a home. Very low enthusiasm out there for homeownership these days.

But I think there are some signs of positivity out there. The market itself is becoming a little bit looser. There's more listings on the market this summer than there were last summer.

BERMAN: That's good.

DUERSON: There's -- you know, that's a -- that's a big jump -- almost 24 percent more listings this summer.

So it should soften up a little bit, but I think for the average person who is out there trying to buy something it's not --

BERMAN: Well --

DUERSON: -- feeling great.

BERMAN: A little bit of good news.

DUERSON: Yeah.

BERMAN: Needed good news.

All right, Meena Duerson. Great to have you here.

DUERSON: Thank you.

BERMAN: We have you and Emmy-nominated music here on CNN NEWS CENTRAL. What a day -- Sara.

SIDNER: Thank you, John.

Vice President Kamala Harris' run for the presidency is sparking a boost in the number of people registering to vote. News of President Biden stepping aside and endorsing Harris earlier this week immediately drove thousands of people to register to vote. In the 48 hours after the announcement, nearly 40,000 new voters flocked to nonpartisan voter registration site Vote.org. Flash-forward to today, that number has now surpassed 100,000 since Biden's announcement on Sunday.

Andrea Hailey joins me now. She is the CEO of Vote.org. Thank you so much for coming on this morning.

In your experience, will this sort of surge in the people coming to register to vote actually translate into votes this November?

ANDREA HAILEY, CEO, VOTE.ORG: Yes. At Vote.org, we are the largest nonpartisan registration organization in the country, and we see usually an 81 percent conversion rate from registration to the ballot box. We're continuously communicating with voters to make sure that after they register they show up to vote. So I really do believe that these registrations will convert into voters.

SIDNER: I want to talk about something that you pointed out -- that 83 percent of new registrations since Biden's announcement that he was dropping out of the race were -- and there's the number there -- were younger voters.

How critical do you think engaging this demographic is this particular time around knowing that in the past it is older voters that tend to go to the polls more than younger voters?

HAILEY: I think when young voters show up it can be outcome determinate, so I think this is a really important sign. And even more important that just one election, on-ramping the next generation into our democracy is important for the United States of America overall. So it's really exciting to see this high of engagement this early in the election cycle and to see that all of a sudden people are really clicking in. And I think this younger generation is showing up to vote.

SIDNER: You wrote an opinion piece about anti-democratic forces getting more creative with their attempts to try and suppress the vote. What did you mean by that?

HAILEY: I think that we have a wave of anti-democratic forces in the country. We have two types of people now -- those who believe in free and fair elections and those who want some other style of government.

And I believe that we are seeing increases in misinformation, disinformation, and in suppressing the vote before people even go to the polls. So now people are getting messages of why does my vote matter? Why should I care? Instead of messages of let's celebrate our democracy and let's make sure that we all turn out to vote and staying -- and stay civically engaged.

[07:55:09]

So I think that people are getting more creative in trying to kind of say the people's vote doesn't matter when they know that the vote absolutely matters at the end of the day for what happens in your local community, in your state, and at the federal level.

SIDNER: How can voters protect themselves, and what should they do to ensure that their vote is actually counted?

HAILEY: I think what voters can do is make sure that you make a plan to vote. It's just like anything else -- you need to plan it out. So you can go to Vote.org. We have information on all 50 states and what you need to participate. And if you make your plan early that way that if something happens you don't get washed out of the process.

Make sure that once you have your plan to vote you go out and you get your friends to register to vote. Be the vote captain of your own life and get everyone to -- you know, that you know -- friends, family involved and make sure you go to the polls all together. And I think that's what you can do.

At the end of the day, none of us can show up to safeguard our democracy alone. We need to really create community around it. And to do that we need to register to vote. Make sure you get your own house in order and then go out and help everybody else to also make it to the polls.

SIDNER: All right, Andrea Hailey, the CEO of Vote.org. Thank you so much for coming on and talking through that with us -- John.

HAILEY: Thank you.

BERMAN: All right, this just in. That is brand new video of Snoop Dogg, noted endurance athlete, carrying the Olympic torch in Paris right there. Oh, that is a jog. He is in full jog mode there now. There you can see carrying the torch.

SIDNER: That's what he does.

BERMAN: That's what Sara Sidner said. That was Sara Sidner off mic saying Snoop Dogg lighting it up. There he is.

All right, the opening ceremony still on despite some arson attacks on the rail system in France. We'll have much more on that in a moment.

This morning marks 51 days that two NASA astronauts have been stuck on the International Space Station. This was a mission that was supposed to last eight days. Now engineers say they might know what is causing the problems on the Boeing Starliner that is supposed to return them to Earth.

CNN's Kristin Fisher has been following this mission from day one. When do they come home?

KRISTIN FISHER, CNN SPACE AND DEFENSE CORRESPONDENT: Still no return date, John. NASA and Boeing held a press conference yesterday and that was the headline -- that there was no headline. But NASA and Boeing both say that they have been making progress in determining what exactly caused all of these problems with Boeing's Starliner spacecraft during this first crewed test flight.

You'll remember John the issues were with two things: helium leaks and then problems with thrusters failing. So NASA and Boeing now say that while these astronauts have been up at the International Space Station, they've been conducting tests here on Earth.

And they've been able to recreate the problems with the thrusters here on Earth, and that is what led them to believe that they have, indeed, found the root cause of what caused those thruster failures. And what it is is they believe that too much heat built up inside those thrusters causing the seals that seal that propellant into bolt (PH). And so that seems to be the root cause.

They're getting closer to getting to a point where they feel comfortable to allow those astronauts to come home on that spacecraft.

But yesterday, a top NASA manager, Steve Stich, was asked pointblank: "Can you say definitively that this Starliner spacecraft is the one that is going to take NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams home?" Here's what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

STEVE STICH, NASA COMMERCIAL CREW PROGRAM MANAGER: Our focus today -- as Mark says, Mark and I have been working for the last number of weeks to return Butch and Suni on Starliner. I think we're starting to close in on those final pieces of the flight rationale to make sure that we can come home safely. And that's our primary focus right now.

We have contingency options. We've put those in play. NASA always has contingency options. We know a little bit of what those are and we haven't worked on them a whole bunch, but we kind of know what those are.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FISHER: And so you hear Steve there talking about the contingency plans, right? There are backup plans to get these astronauts back to Earth if they can't go on the Starliner spacecraft. And those contingency plans would be something like the Russian Soyuz spacecraft or, more likely, SpaceX's Dragon capsule, which is also docked up at the ISS.

So those are the contingency plans. But NASA, right now, staying very focused on trying to get those astronauts back on Starliner.

And then, you know, just kind of reading between the tea leaves, John, while they did not give an exact date, what happens next is they're going to have to do a few more tests -- few more tests up at the ISS and then they're going to do a full NASA agency review to determine if this spacecraft is safe to bring the astronauts back. If that goes well that means we're looking at early to mid-August at the earliest.