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Biden Calls for Major Supreme Court Reforms, Including Term Limits; Harris Campaign Seizing on Sen. J.D. Vance (R-OH) as Major Liability to Trump; Israel Strikes Deep Inside Lebanon After Rocket Attack. Aired 7-7:30a ET

Aired July 29, 2024 - 07:00   ET

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

[07:00:00]

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: Brand new CNN reporting this morning. The Harris campaign seizing on J.D. Vance as a major liability for Donald Trump and doubling down on a new attack line against the Republican ticket, labeling them as just plain weird.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Breaking this morning, President Biden proposing major changes to the Supreme Court.

And new details from the local SWAT team about the communication breakdown at Donald Trump's Pennsylvania rally. Text messages show concerns were raised 90 minutes before the shooter climbed onto the roof.

Kate is out today. I'm John Berman with Sara Sidner and this is CNN News Central.

SIDNER: New this morning, President Biden doing something no president has done in nearly a hundred years, demands sweeping changes for the Supreme Court. Just eight days after bowing out of the 2024 race, Biden now calling for reforms that would limit terms for justices who currently serve lifetime terms, introduce a new code of ethics, and propose a constitutional amendment to strip presidential immunity, a direct rebuke of the high court's recent ruling in favor in Donald Trump's case.

Biden in a brand new opinion for The Washington Post writing, this nation was founded on a simple yet profound principle, no one is above the law, not the president of the United States, not a justice of a Supreme Court of the United States, no one.

And while Biden's reforms are unlikely to pass, they are political red meat for Democrats now 99 days to the election.

CNN's Priscilla Alvarez is out the White House for us. Priscilla, the campaign fight over this is taking further shape now. What are you learning about how they're trying to go forward in the Harris campaign?

PRISCILLA ALVAREZ, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Well, the president alluded to these proposals in his address to the nation last week. Of course, the Supreme Court, its controversial rulings, was part of his campaign platform, and it's one that we will continue to see under Vice President Kamala Harris.

But these proposals stand little chance of going anywhere. Now, as to what it includes, a constitutional amendment stripping the president of immunity from crimes committed while in office, as well as term limits for justices who serve those lifetime appointments, and also that binding code of conduct.

Now, of course, taken together, this would mark seismic changes for how the Supreme Court operates. And in that op-ed, the president also saying the following, that's why, in the face of increasing threats to America's democratic institutions, I am calling for three bold reforms to restore trust and accountability to the court and our democracy.

But, again, Sara, this would stand very little chance of going anywhere because it faces such a steep uphill battle. For example, it would include congressional approval, and in a divided Congress, it's unlikely that this would get passed. But that constitutional amendment would also require the ratification of multiple states, and that, in and of itself, is a complicated process.

So, while these are proposals and reforms that the president has cast as good for democracy, it's unlikely that they will come to fruition.

Now, the president will be announcing these in Austin, Texas, today. That is where he is going to commemorate the Civil Rights Act. But even if this doesn't stand chance of passing, you can expect that it's going to be something we'll hear about on the campaign trail from the vice president as well. She has multiple times talked about those controversial rulings from the court. The court itself has been unpopular and come under questioning over ethics.

So, all of this is really part of the messaging that this administration is doing to say, essentially, that there is a way to better the Supreme Court, even if it does mark these seismic changes and even if it faces a steep, steep uphill battle in passing.

SIDNER: Certainly a talking point likely not going to pass. But one thing is for sure, the grass at the White House is going to look really, really good today. I'm just guessing. I see your friend back there doing the job.

All right, Priscilla Alvarez, thank you so much. John?

BERMAN: Look, I don't think it's the best time of day to take care of your lawn, by the way. It's too damp. Be that as it may.

This morning, Vice President Kamala Harris has $200 million new in her pocket and a new plan to exploit the Republican vice presidential nominee, Senator J.D. Vance.

[07:05:08]

Now, the Harris campaign claims that Vance is the most unpopular V.P. pick in decades, with the backlash still reverberating over his comment from years ago, labeling Harris and others, quote, childless cat ladies. CNN's Eva McKend joins us this morning with this latest news. So, what's the plan here, Eva?

EVA MCKEND, CNN NATIONAL POLITICS CORRESPONDENT: You know, John, Republicans argue the enthusiasm around Harris is manufactured, but the campaign providing us this morning, some specific proof points, some evidence of real energy. Not only did she raise $200 million since President Biden announced he would not seek re-election a week ago, 66 percent of those people are donating for the first time.

The campaign also telling us this morning that 170, 000 people have signed up to volunteer in the last week, and they have a new target, J.D. Vance. Very rarely do campaigns make the running mate of their opponents a real focus, but they argue Donald Trump is breaking records for the worst possible V.P. rollout a candidate could have, never mind uniting the country, J.D. Vance can't unite his own party.

They're also dismissing Trump and Vance as weird. Take a listen to how this sounds on the campaign trail. Governor Tim Walz of Minnesota out on the stump this weekend, he, of course, is one of the governors Harris is reportedly considering to be her running mate. Let's listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. TIM WALZ (D-MN): These guys are just weird. That's who they are. So, it ain't much else. Don't give them the power.

Don't lift these guys up like they're sometimes the heroes. Everybody in this room knows, I know it as a teacher, a bully has no self- confidence. A bully has no strength. They have nothing.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MCKEND: Despite all of this projected confidence, John, Harris maintains she's still the underdog in this race, telling donors at a fundraiser this weekend, this is a people-powered campaign, and we have momentum.

BERMAN: Eva McKend for us in Washington, if people want to take a look, Harry Enten has got an interesting presentation on J.D. Vance and his relative popularity in the race right now. Sara?

SIDNER: We will be looking forward to that.

All right, Israel launches new strikes inside Lebanon to make Hezbollah, quote, pay the price for a deadly attack that killed a dozen children over the weekend.

The massive park fire forces widespread evacuations in California as the man accused of starting it heads to court this morning.

And some Olympic triathletes in Paris have to miss out on swim practice. You'll never guess why. It has to do with the Seine. It's dirty.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) [07:10:00]

BERMAN: So, breaking overnight, new video shows Israeli strikes against Hezbollah targets deep inside Lebanon. Israel vowed that Hezbollah will pay the price, blaming the militant group for a deadly rocket attack that killed 12 children in the Israeli occupied Golan Heights on Saturday.

CNN Senior International Correspondent Ben Wedeman has the latest for us in Beirut. Ben?

BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Jim. What we've seen is, again, there have been sort of strikes and counterstrikes between Hezbollah and Israel, not necessarily at a level any more dramatic than we've seen over the last 24 hours, according to the National News Agency, the Lebanese official news agency, there was a double drone strike in the south of Lebanon that killed two people.

Hezbollah has acknowledged at least one of them was one of their fighters and injured three others, including a child. No reports yet of specific strikes or -- no, we understand that there was Hezbollah said in revenge for that drone strike that they fired tens of Katyusha rockets at an Israeli position on the other side of the border.

But because of these rising tensions, we see that Lufthansa, the German airline, and Air France, Lufthansa has canceled its flights until the 5th of August. Air France has suspended its flights today and tomorrow.

Now, Germany and Italy have advised their nationals to leave the country as soon as possible. The U.S. assistant secretary of state for consular affairs is apparently in Lebanon, and she put out a video telling people to exercise maximum vigilance and also to leave before a crisis begins while you can still leave the country. And she suggested that those who are still in Lebanon be prepared to, in her words, shelter in place for a long period of time. So, definitely the jitters are setting in.

Now, last night, we could see, however, that even on a Sunday evening, Beirut's nightlife continued as normal. In fact, from our hotel balcony, we heard some loud explosions rushed out onto the balcony, looked above us, and it was just fireworks. John?

BERMAN: I've been called worse. All right, Ben Wedeman for us in Beirut, I appreciate your time this morning. Ben, thank you. Keep us posted.

So, a brand new interview with a member of the local SWAT team assigned to protect Donald Trump during the attempted assassination.

[07:15:00]

What he says went wrong that day.

And this morning, a drug cartel leader in U.S. custody is claiming he was forcibly kidnapped. Why U.S. officials say the Mexican government is, quote, totally pissed over the arrests.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SIDNER: The Olympics gave us a whole lot of excitement this weekend, from Simone Biles being the GOAT she is in Paris to Team USA swimming its way to gold in the Olympic pool.

[07:20:08]

But this morning, a bit of a downer turns out the Seine not as clean as it needs to be. This morning, a triathlon training session in the river canceled for a second day due to poor water quality.

CNN's Coy Wire is live in Paris. Is there a plan to deal with that, or what? Is there a backup plan? What's going to happen?

COY WIRE, CNN SPORTS ANCHOR AND CORRESPONDENT: Well, there's been a plan. Over the past decade, French authorities have invested 1.4 billion in cleaning up the River Seine. But this morning, organizers, including World Triathlon, had a meeting after testing water quality there in the river, and they determined that it was unsafe for these athletes to continue.

So, for a second time now, the triathlon swimming portion of practice has been canceled. They're concerned about the health. There were two days of pouring down rain here in Paris. And due to that, the heavy rain can overwhelm the sewage system. And then you have this unsafe water being discharged into the river, E. Coli levels just too high.

Organizers say, though, that given the forecast over the next 36 hours, lots of sunshine, higher temperatures, they're confident that the triathlon competition will be able to go on. That will be the men's competition first, but it's set to go off tomorrow, so not much time for them to pull this off, if they can. If they do have to cancel the swimming portion, of the triathlon, they're going to do a run cycle run competition. So, all those people who train so hard for the swimming portion and that's their strong point, they are just left without that as part of the games, if they're not able to have it in it in the competition.

Now, I want to switch to U.S. Women's Gymnastics team because it was an absolute party vibe last night in the arena. You had celebrities coming in, like Tom Cruise, Snoop Dogg, Lady Gaga, John Legend, his wife, Chrissy Teigen, all there to see a GOAT in Paris. Of course, we're talking about Simone Biles. She's competing in her third Olympic Games. But during the warm ups of her floor routine, she gets injured. The whole arena got quiet. She's limping.

Her coach comes over to check on her. She goes out through the tunnel, comes back out, tapes up her ankle and then starts flying through the air like we've become accustomed to see her do a dominant performance wowing the crowd. Her coach said it's a lingering calf injury. So, we'll keep our eye on that.

But Biles puts on this iconic performance. Team USA went on to qualify for the team competition. Four of the five gymnasts compete. They qualified for individual events as well, led by Biles, who has -- she has qualified for four of the five events. So, a chance for five more medals to add to her already seven Olympic medals of her incredible career.

SIDNER: There is no doubt she is the GOAT, the one and only in gymnastics.

All right, Coy, U.S. women's soccer, how did it do?

WIRE: Oh, they're coming out blazing as well. This team, they earned their spot in the knockout stage already. They got a 4-1 win, dominant win over Germany. New coach Emma Hayes, she has this team absolutely rolling, looking scary good. Sophia Smith having two goals in this match, Mal Swanson, Lynn Williams also adding goals. They have six points through two matches. They'll play their final group stage match against Australia on Wednesday.

Now, I want to show you something. These are not high school yearbook photos, people. This teenage trio swept the medal competition here in the skateboarding street games, okay? Japan's 14 year old phenom, Coco Yoshizawa, took the gold, 15-year-old teammate, Liz Akama winning silver, and 16-year-old, the elder of the group, Rayssa Leal from Brazil, taking bronze.

These are athletes who can't even drive yet. And the IOC is that they wanted to bring in new games to attract and have younger fans view. Well, these younger fans like we're not just viewing. We're going to compete and we're going to take all your medals. So, lots of fun from Paris here so far.

SIDNER: Coy, that's awesome. I can drive but I broke my foot skateboarding. So, it shows you what kind of athlete I am. Thank you so much for that. I appreciate you have fun out there.

John, apparently, were the only ones not at the Olympics, and I want to know why.

BERMAN: Well, because we don't have shirts like that, like we don't have the Parisian style that coy wire brings wherever he goes, no doubt.

All right, this morning, a California rescue crew working to put out the raging forest fires in the state managed to save a Rottweiler and her four puppies. The dog's owner was forced to leave them behind after the vehicle they were traveling and broke down as they evacuated the blaze. Officials say a rescuer walked nearly two miles to find the dogs. They were found with just a little tired and thirsty, being a little tired and thirsty. The puppies and their mother are being kept together in a nearby shelter until they can be reunited with their owner.

[07:25:00]

SIDNER: I want them.

BERMAN: Sara? SIDNER: They're so cute.

All right, as major wildfires burn across the Western United States, a brand new study this morning on how exposure to wildfire smoke could have serious long-term effects on the brain.

And one of the strictest abortion laws in the country goes into effect in Iowa this morning. I have a guest talking about that coming up.

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[07:30:00]

BERMAN: This morning --