Return to Transcripts main page

CNN News Central

Obamas Endorse Harris for President; Trump Backs Off Debate Commitment; Sabotage on Train Lines Ahead of Olympic Opening Ceremony; Sonya Massey's Family Wants Answers. Aired 9-9:30a ET

Aired July 26, 2024 - 09:00   ET

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

[09:00:00]

JOHN BOLTON, FORMER TRUMP NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER: Understandable reasons, entirely consumed with the campaign. And you have Donald Trump doing whatever he's going to do. So, the bandwidth pressure, because of the war in the Middle East, because of the war in Ukraine, because of the campaign, strains our resources and I think our enemies will try and take advantage of it.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Ambassador John Bolton, thanks so much for being on with us this morning. Really appreciate it.

And a new hour of CNN NEWS CENTRAL starts right now.

Vice President Harris lands the endorsement she has been waiting for and basically says, thanks, Obama.

Just hours before the Olympics' opening ceremonies, coordinated attacks on Francis' high-speed rail service. We have the latest.

And an arrest made over California's largest wildfire of the year. Our reporter in the middle of the flames.

Kate is out today. I'm John Berman, with Sara Sidner. And this is CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: New this morning, Vice President Kamala Harris waking up with a key Democratic endorsement from former President Barack Obama and former First Lady Michelle Obama. The Obamas wholeheartedly supporting Harris, saying, "she has the vision, the character, and the strength that this critical moment demands."

With Democrats united behind her, Harris says she's ready to debate Donald Trump, but he's saying, not so fast.

Joining us now, CNN's senior White House correspondent Kayla Tausche.

Kayla, tell us what you're hearing about the - Tausche, sorry. Tell us what you're hearing about the Obamas' endorsement and also we will talk a little bit about whether or not this debate is going to happen.

KAYLA TAUSCHE, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Sara, it is - there are a lot of questions at this hour. It has been a fast-moving week for Vice President Harris with no shortage of developments. But she is ending this week on a high note with that highly influential endorsement from the Democratic Party's power couple.

Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MICHELLE OBAMA, FORMER FIRST LADY: I can't have this phone call without saying to my girl, Kamala, I am proud of you. This is going to be historic.

BARACK OBAMA, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT: We called to say, Michelle and I couldn't be prouder to endorse you and to do everything we can to get you through this election and into the Oval Office.

KAMALA HARRIS, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE U.S. (D) AND U.S. PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Oh, my goodness. Michelle, Barack, this means so much to me.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAUSCHE: It comes as the campaign is trying to ramp up its organizing in short order, planning a so-called weekend of action with more than 2,000 events after sprawling across the battleground states throughout this week. Just today the campaign has various events planned with surrogates in critical battlegrounds like Pennsylvania, North Carolina and Georgia. And certainly all eyes are going to be on the next few weeks as the campaign expects to select the running mate for Vice President Harris by August 7th, there is the convention, and then, of course, there is the home stretch of the race.

SIDNER: We are also hearing from Harris on Twitter. She's sort of trolled Donald Trump, saying, hey, what about whenever, however to the debate. It sounds like he is backpedaling. What do you know there?

TAUSCHE: Well, certainly I know that the former president likes to do things on his own terms. And he thrives on an audience, which there had not planned to be at this - at this particular debate. And he also had been seeking to have some of the mics opened or longer answers. So, certainly there could be an opportunity for him to use this to reopen the conversation about the terms. And then if the terms do not change, then try to reopen the conversation on the timing.

The Trump campaign has been non-committal at best to most of these events. And Harris was trying to seize that moment and seize that spotlight yesterday. She walked up to a group of reporters while she was doing some travel of her own and walked up to them and said that Donald Trump was backpedaling, that she was ready to go. Of course, we'll see if after that critical endorsement from former President Obama changes things because on social media, Trump had said that that was one of the reasons why he wasn't planning to participate, or hadn't at least committed.

Sara.

SIDNER: A curious reason that has now gone away because the Obamas clearly backing Kamala Harris.

Kayla Tausche, thank you so much for your reporting.

John.

BERMAN: Let's get more on the off again debate season. With us now, Alayna Treene.

Alayna, what are you hearing from the Trump side of things on the debates?

ALAYNA TREENE, CNN REPORTER: Well, look, it's very clear that they're being non-committal. This is a departure for the Trump campaign and Donald Trump himself because, of course, months ago they had committed to two debates. The first of which, of course, was on June 27th with CNN and set off a chain of events that ultimately ended with Biden ending his campaign over the weekend and now Harris seeming like the most likely person to become the Democratic presidential nominee.

But they also had agreed to a September 10th debate hosted by ABC. But yesterday we heard from Donald Trump's senior advisers, and now they're saying, actually, wait a minute, we agreed to debate Joe Biden.

[09:05:07]

We want to hit pause and see how this plays out.

I'm going to read for you some of what Steven Chung, one of Donald Trump's top advisers, said in this statement. He said, quote, "given the continued political chaos surrounding crooked Joe Biden and the Democrat Party, general election debate details cannot be finalized until Democrats formally decide on their nominee. It would be inappropriate to schedule things with Harris because Democrats very well could still change their minds.

Now, I want to point out a couple things here, John. One is that I think it's very clear, within the first 48 hours of Biden ending his campaign, we saw a massive surge of Democratic enthusiasm for Harris. You've seen several of the top Democratic leaders endorse her, including, as Kayla just laid out, the Obama's endorsement. A very crucial endorsement now.

So, you know, that's part of this. I think it's - and she's already received enough of the votes to make it clear that she could, you know, have the delegates and everything lined up to receive what she needs to become the Democratic nominee.

The other part of this, though, is that in that first June 27th debate between Trump and Joe Biden, neither of them at that point had become the actual nominee. Of course they were the presumptive Republican and Democratic nominees, but they had not been through the conventions or anything like that. So, there's a little bit of irony here.

Now, I also just want to point your attention to what we've heard from Trump himself say. He spoke with reporters on Tuesday and essentially said he does want to debate, but pointed out that he never agreed to do any - a debate with anyone other than Joe Biden.

Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT AND 2024 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I haven't agreed to anything. I agree to a debate with Joe Biden. But I want to debate her. And she'll be no different. Because they have the same policies.

I think debating is important for a presidential race. I really do. I think that you have to get - you sort of have an obligation to debate."

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TREENE: Now, when I talked Donald Trump's advisors about this, they do say that they anticipate there will be a debate. But, of course, this posturing is very different from what we had heard before. And as Harris' team themselves have pointed out, which is that he had been very eagerly seeking a debate anytime, anyplace with Joe Biden. That tune has changed a bit now that it might be Harris he faces off with.

John.

BERMAN: Alayna Treene, thank you very much.

Sara.

SIDNER: All right, joining us now, former strategic communications director for the Trump 2020 campaign, Marc Lotter, and also with us, CNN political commentator Paul Begala.

Paul, I'm going to start with you.

There is a surge we're learning in voter registration since Harris began running for president, but it has only been a few days. What is the key for her and the campaign to keep her momentum going?

PAUL BEGALA, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, it's just that, Sara. I mean she's got to build on that. She's gotten the Democrats back in the game. You know, Joe Biden was hemorrhaging young people, black voters, Hispanic voters, the heart, the base of the Democratic Party. Kamala Harris is getting them all back in hours, in hours, not - not weeks or months. That's terrific. That is necessary, but not sufficient. She's going to have to reach out to those suburban swing voters who Biden was pretty strong with, to older white voters, who Biden was very strong with, and she's not. So, she's got to - and, by the way, she's going to sustain the most vicious attacks. They're already like attacking her for being a stepmom, which I think is really vicious and sick. But they're going to go after her in every way that they can. So, she's going to be -- she'd better be ready for it, and I think she's going to be. I think so far she has shown amazing strength, poise and real political genius in moving to take this nomination so quickly. SIDNER: There have been, Marc, some really vicious attacks that are misogynistic, you know, calling her a catless - or a childless cat lady, and questioning whether, you know, women who do not have children have - should have a limited or more limited ability to take part in making policy.

And then there was a really disturbing attack on her, which was extremely sexist. And then you have all the DEI, DEI, DEI comments coming from even some members of Congress. What do you do with this? Is this going to hurt Republicans and hurt Donald Trump's chances, do you think?

MARC LOTTER, FORMER STRATEGIC COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR, TRUMP 2020 CAMPAIGN: I think you just have to keep pointing out that Kamala Harris is the most far left senator of the Senate before she became vice president. She was even more to the left than self-proclaimed socialist Bernie Sanders. And when you highlight her policies on the issues, whether it's a ban against fracking, whether it is allowing Medicare to illegal immigrants, whether it's a 70 percent tax rate or suspending the filibuster to pass the green new deal, those are out of step with most of the American people. Then add on top of the fact that she owns Joe Biden's failed border policies, his failed economy. People can't afford gas and groceries. And it all adds up to the fact that a Kamala Harris lead ticket is bad for American families and bad for American pocketbooks.

[09:10:07]

SIDNER: Yes, the speaker of the House, Mike Johnson, had said, look, do what you have just done, which is keep to the policy that she's been talking about or involved with and not going after the person, but that isn't exactly what has been happening here.

Paul, I do want to ask you about some of these conference calls that have happened. There have been some huge conference calls, 44,000 black women, 53,000 black men getting on calls as soon as they heard that Kamala Harris was going to be at the top of the ticket and the presumptive nominee. And then you had this huge call of more than 100,000 white women. I want to listen to just a little bit of what was said on that call when it comes to Kamala Harris.

Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MEGAN RAPINOE, SOCCER STAR: White women, this is our opportunity to show up, not only for ourselves, but for black women. They've given us the whole playbook on how to show up and energize and be organized.

PINK, SINGER: I'm just really grateful that us women are going to have a voice. And we've always made our voices heard. And now it's time to just get extra loud.

CONNIE BRITTON, ACTRESS: Interesting. White women. I mean, here we are. I have to admit, when I was writing stuff down, I was like, Karen's for Kamala. I don't know. (END VIDEO CLIP)

SIDNER: OK, that was - that was kind of funny. Anyway, sorry.

Paul, what do you make of these conference calls and what it says about her - again, her momentum and the interest in having Kamala at the top of the ticket?

BEGALA: You know, I've been in a lot of campaigns, but I've only been in one or two that became movement. And that was Bill Clinton and Barack Obama. And they won.

This is looking like a movement. It is a movement. It's organic. Of course some of it is top-down and orchestrated. I was thrilled to see the Obamas and the Clintons endorse the vice president. But so much of this is just organic.

I mean I talked to my kids about TikTok, and there are young people, but they're not being coordinated by central command, producing hilarious, biting, effective commentary. And I think this is what has Trump so scared. You know voters are like - they're kids or horses, they can just smell fear. And this guy stinks. He reeks of fear. He's panic-stricken. He's - that's why he's crawfishing out of the debate. I mean when you're 78 and out of shape, the moonwalk is really not a good look for you.

And so I think that he just doesn't know what to do with a movement like this. And now Kamala Harris has got to keep building on it. She's got to keep reaching out, keep going. She's got to go to rural and ex- urban (ph) areas where Democrats didn't use to go. And I think that's her next step. And I think that's probably what she'll do.

SIDNER: Paul, you always have a zinger that I have to like really hold my tongue there.

Marc, I do want to ask you, you know, what advice -

BEGALA: This is when I joke, Sara.

SIDNER: I know, you're always trying to -

BEGALA: Cheap, stupid, (INAUDIBLE).

SIDNER: You're always trying to get us to break.

Marc, I do want to ask you, what advice would you give to Donald Trump. There is a question about whether he is going to debate Kamala Harris. What advice would you give to him to try and slow her momentum?

LOTTER: Well, I don't think there's any question whether Donald Trump is going to debate Kamala Harris. I mean a week ago he was - Kamala Harris was demanding a debate with J.D. Vance and the campaign said, well, wait a minute, you're not even the VP nominee yet. And here we are a week later, she's not the VP nominee. So, look, we know the Democrat Party, if her polls don't continue to

hold up or get better, they'll cast her aside, just like they did Joe Biden. So, let's wait till she's actually the nominee and then actually go out and debate.

But I think going back to that earlier point, you blunt the momentum with the truth. Americans cannot afford what Joe Biden and Kamala Harris have done to our country. Our border is wide open. Kamala Harris doesn't think it should be a crime and wants to give them free health care. The more you go out there and talk about the bad policies, that is the reason why Joe Biden and Kamala Harris were the most unpopular president and vice president in the last 70 years, you keep reminding them of it, people will come back after this little honeymoon period and the campaign will continue just like it was going.

SIDNER: We should note, Marc, though, that Donald Trump was not the official nominee - he had not yet been crowned the nominee when he did his first debate with Joe Biden at the time, which ended up being a disastrous debate and led us to this point in history.

Marc Lotter, Paul Begala, thank you both so much. Appreciate it.

John.

BERMAN: All right, breaking overnight, coordinated attacks on French railways with just hours to go before the Olympic opening ceremonies.

The Justice Department now assessing the killing of Sonya Massey, who was shot and killed by police in her own home.

And a huge wildfire exploding overnight, scorching more than 160,000 acres. We've got new information about the suspect charged with starting it.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:19:33]

BERMAN: All right, the breaking news, a coordinated attack that targeted French high-speed train lines. And that's with the Olympic opening ceremony just a few hours away. It's hard to tell from this map, but it hit three rail lines in France. And we just learned moments ago that at least two trains carrying Olympic athletes were affected. You can see the train lines right there. There was a separate fourth line, we understand, where an attack was foiled.

[09:20:03]

Some 800,000 people expected to be affected over the next several days. But the news just in, two trains carrying athletes may not be able to get to the opening ceremonies, I guess.

CNN senior national security analyst Juliette Kayyem is with us now from Paris. Juliette, I mean, the good news, if there is any, is that we don't

think anyone was hurt in any of this. The bad news is, this is a mess with just hours to go before the opening ceremonies.

JULIETTE KAYYEM, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: Right. It's a total mess. Yes, it's a total mess and it was - it's the unexpected mess.

So, I've been involved in reviewing the security planning for this very unique opening ceremony. As everyone knows by now, it's the first summer Olympics where the opening ceremony is not in a stadium. It's going to be on the Seine River. All focus was here. Tens of thousands of military and police officers - the streets are completely closed now. There's about 100 cops for every pedestrian. They are - they were fortifying that area. And then, of course, in the middle of the night, the day before, a sabotage. They're - we don't know who did it. The ministers from France are suggesting it's domestic in the sense of maybe politically motivated. But it was done for pure disruption because it wasn't - no one - it wasn't done at a time when anyone could get hurt. It is meant to make a point and to keep people from coming together for the - what are supposed to be a great event. And that includes, as you reported, the athletes.

BERMAN: So, Juliette, you said unexpected. I guess my question is, why is anything unexpected before an event this big with this much security preparation?

KAYYEM: So, it wasn't that it was not - look, they - they protected the train stations. But from the maps that we are seeing now, it looks like these are just lines that are in the suburban areas, that - that you - you literally could not put enough police on. They're just going through fields and other areas. So, the exact target may have been relatively easy. These are just arsons that are meant to disrupt the rail line. This is not a sophisticated cyberattack. This is not something where, you know, lots of people are in the train station. Those are the areas that were fortified. The rail line is hard to fortify, especially in - in France where rail is sort of a dominant form of transportation here. In fact they have diverted the London to Paris line so that people trying to get here from London, the - some f those train lines are now - or at least the number of them has been reduced to try to get people into Paris through other means.

BERMAN: You're there. You're in Paris. What does it seem like there to you having been to so many events like this? Does it seem under control?

KAYYEM: Yes, I've been to a lot of mega events, and this is now my - my fourth - my fourth Olympics.

I've - I've never seen anything like this in the sense of - maybe just because I know Paris, that - that it is - it is truly empty right now.

Now, I'm just - I'm just a couple feet away from the Seine, so I - I will - this area was intended to be closed. The - the situation is one in which, you know, if you have a ticket, you have a QR code. It has to match your passport. You - if you go in, you can't get out. People are supposed to get there four hours before. And there are snipers on every building. I'm looking at the Arc de Triomphe right now, and there's about eight snipers up there. I checked. This is a city that is ready for the thing they fear the most, which was a concerted and coordinated terror attack, which they experienced, we all know, just a couple years ago.

BERMAN: Juliette Kayyem in Paris. An interesting beginning to the games, Julia. Good to have you there. Stay safe.

KAYYEM: Yes. Yes.

BERMAN: So, this morning, the family of Sonya Massey fighting for justice after she was fatally shot in her own home by police. We've got new details on the federal investigation now into her killing.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:28:26]

SIDNER: The shooting of a black woman inside her own home is sparking national outrage this morning. Sonya Massey, a 36-year-old black woman, was gunned down by a deputy after she called 911 to report a possible prowler at her home. She called for help and ended up dead. She was shot seconds after police had given her permission to remove a pot of boiling water from the stove. The officer then drew his gun, causing her to duck for cover. She was shot three times in her own home.

Now her family is demanding to know why the deputy who pulled the trigger was hired in the first place. His personnel file revealed a troubling employment history and past DUI charges.

I am joined now by Sonya's son, Malachi, and civil rights attorney Ben Crump, who is representing the Massey family.

Thank you both for coming in this morning. I know, Malachi, that you are heartbroken. Can you tell me first how you found out that your mother had been - been shot and killed.

MALACHI MASSEY, SONYA MASSEY'S SON: So basically, I take my dad to work at like 5:00 in the morning or whatever. So, I was taking him to work. I came home. Then I was getting back into bed. And as soon as I had like woke up - I mean not even work up, I'm sorry, as soon as I was like (INAUDIBLE) go back to sleep, I got a call and I - it was like a random number. I didn't know who it was, but I answered it. And that's when they said, your mother has been shot and it came out her neck (ph) I mean and it went through her eye and it came out her neck and I - they just was saying somebody.

[09:30:05]

That's all they could - like, I don't know why they kept on saying somebody shot her. And I said,