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Harris Campaign Seies on Backlash Against J.D. Vance; Biden Calls for Major Supreme Court Reforms; Iowa's Strict Abortion Ban Takes Effect; Netanyahu Speaks of Rocket Attack. Aired 9-9:30a ET

Aired July 29, 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]

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: And certainly, I guess, there would be a big lag between the time in which you're texting each other and the time in which the Secret Service found out about it.

JONATHAN WACKROW, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: Again, this just points to, you know, the lack of structure and rigor around a communications - you know, that needs to be put forth for a large scale security event.

When you have siloed communication like that, so, you know, good for the local law enforcement, they picked up immediately that there was suspicious activity, that this individual, his behavior was anomalous, you know, having a rangefinder. Again, all things that are warning signs that need immediate interdiction, they need to immediately confronted this individual and conducted a field interview, but that communication was not broad enough. It wasn't put out to Secret Service and other local law enforcement entities for them to action off of that. Again, so there was communication, but the breakdown was the bridge between local law enforcement, the Secret Service and the coordinated response to this threat.

SIDNER: Yes, especially when he says I lost sight of him. And the Secret Service, at that point, didn't know that he existed at that point in time.

Jonathan Wackrow, thank you so much for your great analysis. Appreciate it.

WACKROW: Thanks, Sara.

SIDNER: A new hour of CNN NEWS CENTRAL starts right now.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: This morning, the campaign of Vice President Kamala Harris says they see a big weakness in the Republican ticket, J.D. Vance. How they plan to use their new $200 million cash haul to exploit it.

One of the nation's most restrictive abortion laws takes effect today. What you need to know about the near ban.

And troubled waters at the Paris Olympics as the Seine is deemed too dirty to swim. Here is an existential question, is a triathlon still a triathlon if you only do two things?

Kate is out today. I'm John Berman, with Sara Sinder. This is CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

SIDNER: New this morning, the Harris campaign seizing on backlash against J.D. Vance, calling him a major vulnerability for Donald Trump. They're hoping to paint a stark contrast with Harris' own vice presidential pick, whoever that may be, and they're doubling down on a new attack line against Trump and Vance, calling them just plain weird.

It all comes as Harris' campaign says it raised $200 million since President Biden's decision to drop out of the race eight days ago

CNN's Eva McKend is joining us now.

How are they planning to take advantage of not only this opening that Vance has made for them with some of his past comments, but all this money?

EVA MCKEND, CNN NATIONAL POLITICS CORRESPONDENT: You know, Sara, when I look at their strategy, it reminds me there is a benefit to going second. We know that she is planning to likely make this choice by August 7th. Well, they're also planning to set up a stark contrast between Vance and her own VP pick. The Harris campaign honing in on this argument that Vance is a major liability for Trump. And in the coming days they will continue to say he's weird, but now they're also going to say he's ill-prepared.

With Biden out of the contest, they will attempt to argue Vance's lack of readiness is a problem because of Trump's advanced age. And they'll focus on Vance not having any executive experience.

Now, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, he is one of the people Harris is reportedly considering to be her running mate. He's putting this age issue front and center once again. Let's listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PETE BUTTIGIEG, TRANSPORTATION SECRETARY: I'm pretty sure voters are worried about the age and acuity of President Trump compared to Kamala Harris, who represents being a generation younger.

And how could anybody not watch the stuff he's saying, the rambling on the trail, and not be just a little bit concerned?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MCKEND: Now, two potential vice presidential contenders, Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro and Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer, Sara, they are set to headline a campaign event boosting Harris in Philly today.

And the vice president will also be busy this week. She's holding a campaign rally in Atlanta tomorrow and will be in Texas later this week for a campaign event on Wednesday, and then on Thursday for the funeral of Sheila Jackson Lee.

Sara.

SIDNER: Eva McKend, thank you so much for your reporting this morning.

John.

BERMAN: All right, new this morning, major proposals to change the Supreme Court coming from President Biden, 18 year term limits, a new code of ethics, a constitutional amendment banning presidential immunity.

CNN's Priscilla Alvarez at the White House.

Interesting the proposals in and of themselves, maybe not going anywhere, kind of more interesting this morning they're coming from President Biden when he's no longer the candidate, Priscilla.

PRISCILLA ALVAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, a reminder, John, that he was set to announce these proposals before he pulled out of the race.

[09:05:04]

He was going to go to Austin to announce it following the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump, but that trip was postponed.

All the same, he is proposing them. Plans to announce them later today in Austin for that rescheduled trip as he commemorates the Civil Rights Act.

Now, of course, the vice president is also backing these reforms. In a statement we received only moments ago from the Harris campaign she says, quote, "today, there is a clear crisis of confidence facing the Supreme Court as its fairness has been called into question after numerous ethics scandals and decision after decision overturning long- standing precedent."

So, even if President Biden isn't at the top of the ticket anymore, the vice president certainly intends to keep this front and center in her campaign moving into the next few months. Of course, she's already touched on some of those controversial rulings over the course of the last year, specifically the overturning of Roe v. Wade.

But taking a look at these reforms, if you put them all together, it would mark seismic changes in the way the Supreme Court operates. But even so, it's an uphill battle for any of these to pass. And, in fact, there is very little chance of them passing given the divided Congress and some of the complicated processes they'd have to go through.

For example, it would require congressional approval and the amendment that is proposed here would also require ratification of 38 states. And that in and of itself is a complicated process.

But this does message where the Biden-Harris administration is on this and where the campaign intends to go on this, which is that there are concerns and questions over the Supreme Court, their rulings and their ethics, and that they do want to see change, even if that change is hard to achieve.

John.

BERMAN: Priscilla Alvarez at the White House. Interesting to see this play out. Thank you very much.

Sara.

SIDNER: All right, with me now is Lance Trover, former spokesperson for Republican Governor Doug Burgum's 2024 presidential campaign. And CNN political commentator Bakari Sellers.

Thank you, gentlemen, for being here this morning.

I am curious from you, Bakari, we've heard this line where the Harris campaign is calling Vance and Trump just weird. Vance really got a lot of bad publicity, if you will, angered a lot of women by calling Kamala and others childless cat lady. Kamala, of course, is a stepmother, by the way.

What would you advise the Harris campaign to do with some of the things that Vance has said or should she be concentrating on Donald Trump?

BAKARI SELLERS, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, I mean, I think that one of the things is that the cake is already baked with Donald Trump. There's nothing new you can say about Donald Trump that would magnify any of his weaknesses per say. J.D. Vance is new on the scene and is someone who has little to no experience running absolutely anything is a very, very young United States senator and has shown himself to be ill prepared. And not only that, but I believe Lance would probably tell you his boss probably deserved to be picked as VP more so than a Donald Trump Junior temper tantrum they got J.D. Vance on the ticket.

J.D. Vance is probably the biggest mistake that Donald Trump has made along the campaign trail, particularly this year, because Susie and Jason Miller have him going in a good direction. But J.D. Vance is a hell of a mistake. One that we have to capitalize on.

SIDNER: Lance, I'm curious for you agree that obviously you were there for Burgum when he was running for president. He was also this close, he told us that during the RNC, to potentially becoming Trump's vice presidential candidate. Did they make a mistake with Vance?

LANCE TROVER, FORMER SPOKESPERSON, DOUG BURGUM 2024 PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN: No. It - you know, to Bakari's point, it wouldn't matter who Donald Trump picked, they would be going after them. He would be saying the exact same things, whether it was Doug Burgum, or Marco Rubio or whomever. The Democrats were going to go after them.

I think what we have to remember at the end of the day, it's going to be Donald Trump versus Kamala Harris. Those are the two people who are at the top of the ticket. And the question is going to be, do they want more of the Biden-Harris policies, open border policies, more of the runaway inflation that we've seen, and more things like that. That's going to be the question in front of voters, not whether - calling somebody weird isn't going to affect anybody. When voters are out there saying, oh, you called somebody weird. Well, how are you going to lower my cost of living? How are you going to get this border under control? Those are the questions that voters are going to be asking at the end of the day.

SIDNER: One of the issues here, obviously is that that hasn't been at the top of the attacks on the Republican side. They've tried other things, calling names. And so some of them are starting to go down that sort of rabbit hole and look at policy when it comes to Kamala Harris.

I do want to ask you about what Donald Trump said over the weekend. There was a lot of talk about this. Where he was talking to a group of Christians. And here's - here's what he said in one part of his speech to them.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT AND 2024 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Christians get out and vote. Just this time.

[09:10:01]

You won't have to do it anymore. Four more years. You know what, it will be fixed. It will be fine. You won't have to vote anymore.

You've got to get out and vote. In four years, you don't have to vote again. We'll have it fixed so good you're not going to have to vote.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SIDNER: There's a lot of consternation about what he exactly meant. Lance, what do you think he meant?

TROVER: I think it's a day that ends in y and we're having a discussion about something Donald Trump said at a rally. This is what he does. This is the hyperbole that he uses in rallies. And every time we get into this and there's a question about, what do we think he meant? What - all that stuff. He said - I - it seemed pretty clear to me what he said. He said, you know, you elect me, I'm going to fix everything. We're going to get it done. You don't have to vote again.

I know the left wants to take this and turn it into some kind of thing that the election in 2028 is over. Look, this is Donald Trump. It's what he does. It's no big deal.

SIDNER: He has floated though in the past maybe going for another term, right, during these rallies. And he has said he'd be a dictator, just for one day, but - when he got elected. Bakari's laughing, so I'm going to let you go ahead, Bakari, and make your comment.

SELLERS: No, I just - I just find it funny. Like, previously Lance said that we couldn't focus on - on J.D. Vance. It's about the people at the top of the ticket. And then when we focus on the top of the ticket, it's like, oh, well, it's a Donald Trump-ism. It's a day that ends in y.

See, the problem is, is that border crossings and contacts are going down. Violent crime in this country is going down. Costs, inflation are going down. People are seeing that. People are seeing policies over the last three or four years and whether or not it's affecting them directly in their pockets just yet is a - is a great question to ask. We can focus on those things.

But we can also focus on the fact that when Donald Trump says stuff like that, yes, it really is just plain weird. We can also talk about the fact, something that's not just plain weird, that he put three justices on the Supreme Court that took away a woman's right to choose. And so there's a long litany of conversations that we can be having. But the fact is, Donald Trump is the oldest candidate for president in American history. And so, yes, his record will be adjudicated. The weird stuff he says, as well as the fact that the childless cat lady man that's running with him has said some utterly weird things as well, his record needs to be adjudicated because he's one breath and one heartbeat away from the White House.

SIDNER: All right, so there is this landscape of people who are up for the potential vice presidential position with Kamala Harris, including, it seems, Pete Buttigieg, the secretary of transportation. He has made some comments earlier, sort of speaking to what you are talking about, Bakari. Let me let you listen to what he has said over the weekend.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PETE BUTTIGIEG, TRANSPORTATION SECRETARY: But even before the pandemic, America -

SHANNON BREAM, FOX NEWS ANCHOR: An international -

BUTTIGIEG: Even before the pandemic, America went into a manufacturing recession, which really hurt places like where I come from in the industrial Midwest. But anyway, my point is -

BREAM: But unemployment was low.

BUTTIGIEG: My point is, he broke his promise for that kind of economic growth. He broke his promise to pass an infrastructure bill, right? He said he would do that. He failed to do it. The Biden-Harris administration got it done. He even broke his promise to that January 6th mob when he said, I will be at your side when you march down to the Capitol.

But he actually did keep two promises. He kept his promise to destroy the right to choose in this country. And he kept his promise on tax cuts for the rich. And if you want to know what a second Trump term would be like, I would start by looking at those rare promises that he actually managed to keep.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SIDNER: Bakari, that sounds awfully vice presidential to me. SELLERS: Oh man, listen, Pete Buttigieg is a bad man. Like a bad man.

He is one of the best if not the best communicator we have in the party.

SIDNER: Bad meaning good in your view.

SELLERS: Yes. I mean that was a colloquialism. There we go. That SAT word I'm using this morning. So, it - he is - he is one of our, if not our best communicator.

But look, we have Josh Shapiro, Mark Kelly, you've seen Governor Walz, who's probably not at the top of my list, but I'm not choosing, making some headway. You see Pete Buttigieg, Roy Cooper, the governor of North Carolina. I mean there are a lot of good choices, a lot of good communicators. There aren't many minuses to the ticket. They bring governing experience.

But I know a lot of reporters are chasing this story down about vice president. And I will tell them what I believe to be true, that Kamala Harris is looking for one real thing, which is, who will be a governing partner with her. That comfortability, that level of trust. And I know that Pete and his husband have a great relationship with the vice president and the second gentlemen. I know there are some other relationships with the other candidates. But a Pete Buttigieg is - is the vice presidential nominee. I'm not sure he will be, but if he is, you know, there will be a robust question of, is the country ready? I'm prayerful that it is, but that will be a question that is asked.

SIDNER: Lance, I'm curious, just turning this on its head, who do you think would be good for the Republicans, for Donald Trump, for Kamala to choose, someone that you could go after, for example?

TROVER: I'm going to go back to what I said originally. I think, look, she's got a - she's got a choice to make on her own.

But going back to what Pete Buttigieg was talking about, no one believes what he's saying.

[09:15:00]

Show me a poll where voters actually believe that the economy is headed in the right direction. Show me a poll that people are happy with the cost of living. Show me a poll that said people think, oh, everything at the border's fine or that crime is going down. That is not the case for voters out there. So, I don't really think it matters who she picks.

Again, I go back to, it will be Donald Trump versus Kamala Harris at the end of the day. And how - how - what has she done to fix the border? Nothing. What has she done? She cast the deciding vote for the Inflation Reduction Act, which sent prices skyrocketing even further in this country. What was her role in the decision making to pull out of Afghanistan? These are all questions voters are going to have, not calling people weird and not really figuring out who she's going to pick as her vice president. That - they want to know how she's going to govern at the end of the day. And based on her record, it's a pretty far left record of governing.

SIDNER: Bakari, you have the last word, very quickly. I saw that finger up.

SELLERS: No, I was just going to say, he wanted a poll. I was just - yes, I was just going to say, go look at the stock market. I mean look at every economic indicator to figure it out. If you want to have a conversation about cost and like the price of whiting at Piggly Wiggly, then that's fair. We can have that conversation. But if you actually want to look at true economic indicators, like job growth, wage - wages, the fact that inflation is actually going down, the stock market, those type of questions, then all of those indicators are pointing in the right direction. But I like this conversation. It's better than most conversations we have when we're talking about the trash that Donald Trump spews.

SIDNER: Bakari Sellers, Lance Trover, thank you both.

John.

BERMAN: Bakari raising his hand there. It's like me at my dinner table every night to try to -try to get a word in right there. By the way, I've been reading about Bakari in "The Washington Post" this morning.

This morning, one of the strictest abortion laws in the country has taken effect. What it means for women all over the country.

New reporting on how Israel is planning to respond to the deadly attacks out of Lebanon.

And this morning, the man accused of starting the huge Park - the huge fire in California that is burning out of control appears in court. We are getting new accounts from people who had to escape the flames.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And we get on the highway, and it is burning on both sides for ten miles. It was driving through an inferno.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:21:35]

BERMAN: So, breaking news. Just minutes ago, one of the strictest abortion bans in the country went into effect in Iowa. Most abortions will be prohibited after six weeks of pregnancy, with some exceptions

CNN medical correspondent Meg Tirrell is with us now.

So, what exactly is this ban in Iowa? What does it mean for people who live there?

MEG TIRRELL, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, so there was a legal battle going on over this law in Iowa. It has now gone into effect literally at 9:00 Eastern, 8:00 Central.

BERMAN: Yes.

TIRRELL: So, about 20 minutes ago. This shortens the ability to get an abortion in Iowa down to about six weeks. So, the law actually specifies that no abortions are allowed after cardiac activity can be detected on an ultrasound. So, that is about six weeks of pregnancy. There are some exceptions to this law, like we see in other states. Rape and incest have to be reported to the authorities. That can be an exception. Fatal fetal abnormalities, if the fetus has a disease or a disorder where it's unlikely to survive, miscarriage care, and preserving the life of the person who is pregnant. Although proponents for abortion rights argue that those are pretty narrow exceptions.

The Guttmacher Institute, which researchers this issue and is in support of abortion access, says there are about 4,200 clinician provided abortions in Iowa in 2023 to give you a scope of the number of people who would be affected by this. That includes mostly people who live in Iowa, but also some folks who traveled from Nebraska, where there is a 12-week limit on abortion. They had traveled to Iowa to get access. That will no longer be open to them.

You can see that Iowa is joining now three others states that have six-week bans, Florida, Georgia, and South Carolina, and 14 states that have near total bans on abortion.

SIDNER: I just talked to someone who talked about the fact that there's like a desert for maternal care in Iowa. I'm curious what the knock on effect might be for outside of Iowa since you said people were traveling into Iowa. Now what?

TIRRELL: Yes, this is really something we have seen when these bans go into place. They can affect the entire region. We saw this in Florida. If you want to look at the impact of just the number of abortions accessed in a state from a six-week ban, we have data from South Carolina where that happened in August of 2023. You saw abortions in the formal health care system decline by 71 percent in just the next month, September 2023.

In terms of travel to nearby states, Illinois is probably going to feel the brunt of it. Already we've seen data from Guttmacher showing almost triple the number of abortions from people traveling out of state into Illinois in 2023 from 2020. We also heard from abortion providers in Iowa. They're expecting - Planned Parenthood saying they're beefing up their operations in Minnesota and Nebraska. There's going to be kind of a switch there because Nebraska still has up till 12 weeks.

SIDNER: Meg Tirrell, thank you so much for explaining all that to us right now.

TIRRELL: Thank you.

SIDNER: Appreciate it.

All right, this is just into us right now. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warning the consequences will be severe. A quote from him in response to that Hezbollah rocket attack were 12 children were killed. We're live with the details next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:29:05]

SIDNER: All right, some breaking news for you. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, warning of severe consequences for the Hezbollah rocket attack that left 12 children dead in the Golan Heights. This after the IDF conducted airstrikes against Hezbollah targets deep inside Lebanon. Hezbollah has denied responsibility.

CNN's Jeremy Diamond is in Haifa, Israel, for us.

Jeremy, we're hearing these words from the prime minister. He just spoke. What else did he say after the strike that killed so many kids?

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes. Well, the Israeli prime minister visiting the site of this rocket attack, which Israeli officials say Hezbollah was responsible for firing a rocket from southern Lebanon that hit this soccer field where dozens of children were playing. Twelve children were killed, several dozen more were injured in this absolutely horrific attack. And Prime Minister Netanyahu expressing his sympathy and shock with the victims, the families of the victims of this attack, meeting with several of them.

[09:30:08]