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Harris Looks To Maintain Momentum 3 Weeks From DNC; Harris Running Mate Contenders Hit The Campaign Trail; Poll: Harris Gets Boost In Favorability After Biden Drops Out; FBI: Trump Agrees To Victim Interview In Shooting Investigation; Rep. Anthony D'esposito (R-NY) Discusses About Law Enforcement Communications After Attempted Assassination Of Former President Trump. Aired 3-3:30p ET

Aired July 29, 2024 - 15:00   ET

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

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[15:01:38]

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: Today President Biden is set to propose sweeping seismic changes to the Supreme Court. Why he wants to end lifetime appointments for justices and why he's doing this now. We'll look at the timing.

Plus, bracing for a response. The Middle East waits to see how Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is going to respond to a deadly attack from Hezbollah as some fear it could trigger a regional war.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: Plus, it's a new screening option that could save lives. The FDA approves a simple blood test that can detect colon cancer while it's still early enough to treat. We're following these major developing stories and many more all coming in right here to CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

SANCHEZ: With just 99 days to go until Election Day, President Biden is making it clear he is not done yet. Arriving just minutes from now in Austin, Texas and speaking there in the next hour, the President is set to propose a slate of bold, if highly likely impossible to pass, policies for judiciary reform, including term limits for Supreme Court justices.

His vice president, Kamala Harris, running for the White House on her own, is backing and endorsing his proposals as her surrogates are hitting the stage in the next hour or two in the critical state of Pennsylvania as she's preparing for tomorrow's visit to yet another key swing state of Georgia. Let's get to CNN's Arlette Saenz who's in Texas for us.

Arlette, walk us through what President Biden is proposing today.

ARLETTE SAENZ, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Boris, President Biden is set to unveil major proposals to overhaul the Supreme Court even as he's facing the political reality that this likely would not be passed in the current divided Congress. But what this does is it provides Democrats with a messaging opportunity at a time when both Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris have expressed concerns about the current makeup of the Supreme Court and some of its recent rulings.

Now, Vice President Kamala Harris herself has also endorsed these proposals Biden is set to speak about. She said this morning in a statement that the Supreme Court is facing a clear crisis of confidence. Now, the President is preparing to unveil three major steps.

First, he is set to call for a constitutional amendment that could limit the Supreme Court granting of broad presidential immunity as this conservative majority had ruled just last month. He's also set to call for an enforceable code of ethics for Supreme Court justices, as well as calling for establishing term limits, setting up 18 year terms, giving presidents the ability to appoint new Supreme Court justices every two years.

Now, all of these proposals would require congressional approval, and House Speaker Mike Johnson put it very bluntly in a post on social media today, saying that these proposals are dead on arrival. He said that they erode the public law as well as confidence Americans have in the justice system.

Now, for President Biden, this is a major shift. He has long been considered an institutionalist, a former chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, who in the past had resisted calls from within his own party for changes to the court.

[15:05:03]

But he is now getting on board with making some overhaul changes to the nation's highest court.

Now, Biden was actually supposed to deliver this address, these remarks a bit earlier in the month, but he canceled those plans because the event was set to take place just two days after that assassination attempt against Donald Trump. So Biden has now rescheduled it, even though he is out of the race at this point. And Biden will be speaking here at the LBJ Library in Austin, Texas.

Of course, Biden and President Lyndon B. Johnson do have some historical parallels at this moment. Lyndon B. Johnson also announced that he was ending and not seeking reelection midway through a campaign cycle. He had spoken from the Oval Office about the Vietnam War, and then in a surprise announcement about 40 minutes in, said he would not be seeking reelection.

Of course, Biden himself just last week also addressed the nation from the Oval Office to say he was bowing out of the 2024 race. This will be Biden's first public appearance since dropping out of the race, so we will see if he elaborates a bit more on his decision. But the main focus for him today is unveiling these changes to the Supreme Court, even as they are facing very long odds up on Capitol Hill.

SANCHEZ: Arlette Saenz from Austin, Texas. We'll be watching that speech closely. Thank you so much. Brianna?

KEILAR: Soon, two politicians spoken of frequently as running mate picks for Vice President Harris take the stage in Pennsylvania, both from states the Democrats may not need but definitely want if they hope to keep the White House. CNN's Danny Freeman is live from the Harris campaign event.

What are Harris' surrogates up to today, Danny?

DANNY FREEMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Brianna, essentially, these surrogates are trying to continue the momentum that Vice President Harris' campaign started last week on week one and carry it into week two. But let's talk about where we are right now. We're in the all important suburbs of Philadelphia. We're in Montgomery County right now, and in just a little bit, about an hour and a half, we're going to hear from Michigan governor, Gretchen Whitmer, and Gov. Josh Shapiro.

And a campaign aide tells me that really the focus of this particular event is going to be pretty generic. They're going to highlight the stakes of this election. They're going to really try to draw the contrast between former President Donald Trump and Vice President Harris and really continue to vouch for this politician, vouch for this new top of the ticket and introduce Vice President Harris to another swath of voters here just outside of Philadelphia.

But let's make a mistake here, Brianna. The idea and the conversation about who is going to join Vice President Harris on her ticket is still very much front and center here. We heard from Michigan governor, Gretchen Whitmer, on another network earlier today, saying that she has not been a part of a vetting process.

However, Gov. Josh Shapiro, he's not saying that at all. He is not commenting on a potential vetting process at this point, Brianna. But when I asked him last week if he considered joining that ticket, he said that this is a personal decision for the Vice President and that it should be free from political pressure.

But meanwhile, let's talk about this attempt to continue this momentum from last week. This all comes as the Harris campaign is really celebrating a number of things from that first week of this new campaign, $200 million dollar raised - dollars raised, 170,000 new volunteers. And this event that we are at, Brianna, right here outside of Philadelphia, just part of that continuation to introduce this new top of the ticket to critical voters in a critical battleground state. Brianna?

KEILAR: All right. Danny, thank you for that report. We'll be keeping our eye out for this event.

So she has surrogates on the trail. She's got a lot of money in the bank. Volunteers at the ready. Also on Harris's side, at least for the moment, is polling.

SANCHEZ: Yes, look at this new data from ABC News and Ipsos showing the vice president overtaking Donald Trump in favorability. In the one week since President Biden dropped out, her favorability rating has gone up eight points as Donald Trump's has dipped about four points.

For more on this, we're joined now by Larry Sabato. He's the director for the - of the Center for Politics at the University of Virginia.

Larry, great to see you as always.

This poll wasn't for a head-to-head race, just favorability. But how important is favorability as we look at the broader picture?

LARRY SABATO, DIRECTOR, CENTER FOR POLITICS, UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA: Oh, it matters whether people have a good reaction to a candidate really answers the question, will they listen to what you're saying, will they be open to accepting it. And one of the problems President Biden had is his favorabilities had dropped so low, really into the 30s, that a sizable majority of Americans weren't even listening to him make arguments anymore.

So believe me, this makes Democrats deliriously happy. They shouldn't think that this is going to be the way it is all the way to November 5th, because campaigns are roller coasters. They go up and down. You have to be ready for the turns and twists. But it's a great thing to be where they are compared to where they were, which was - it was in a deep depression, really a depression.

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Senior Democrats and rank and file Democrats you'd run into, thought they had lost the election that it was hopeless. And now they have enthusiasm, energy and most of all hope.

KEILAR: And Larry, what are you seeing when you look at the same poll showing Sen. JD Vance's favorability not really moving in the last week, but his unfavorability going up by eight points?

SABATO: Well, I think that's more than the cat ladies, the childless cat ladies. So he's offended an awful lot of people. Of course, these were a couple of years ago, but in trying to defend himself, he's actually been digging the hole deeper, which is what politicians often do when they have a gaffe of one sort or another.

So he apologized to cats. I'm sure he'll get around to the women eventually. But, you know, this is a very important lesson for the Vice President - current vice president - vetting really matters for these positions because there is no vetting like the vetting a candidate gets running for national office. People think vetting is intense running for governor or senator, and it is to a certain degree.

But the national it's not just the press corps, it's the opposition, they will spend hundreds of thousands of dollars looking into every word you've ever uttered, what your grades were in kindergarten. So I would assume they're doing intense vetting. But, of course, they don't have much time, that's the difference.

SANCHEZ: So, Larry, there was this new Fox News poll that looked at favorability zooming in on four key swing states, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Minnesota and Michigan. Harris has a better favorability rating in all of them. Does that give you an indication kind of similar to the first question, but does that give you an indication of where these states are leaning and what does it tell you about her ceiling when it comes to favorability there?

SABATO: Well, the only one that I think was indicative of what the result is likely to be in November was Minnesota, which should be at least leaning Democratic for the entire campaign. I think Nixon in 1972 was the last Republican for president they voted for, although several races recently have been close.

The others are just going to be toss ups, probably all the way to Election Day, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and Michigan. And we can get used to hearing a lot about them. But it's also true that Vice President Harris brings in Georgia and Arizona and Nevada into the toss up category. And they had probably moved irretrievably toward Trump while President Biden was still in the race. So the race has changed, but it's still going to be close.

KEILAR: And what are your observations, Larry, as you are looking at the veepstakes and the different scenarios and kind of paying attention to these different folks who are on her list?

SABATO: Well, I've said before, I think the best thing that we could do is pass a constitutional amendment and have a first vice president, and a second vice president, and a third vice president like corporations do, because it would give a presidential nominee an opportunity to please, if not everybody, then lots more people.

But I'm very old fashioned about presidential elections. I think it's all about the Electoral College, because in the end, it's all about the Electoral College. So obviously, Gov. Shapiro potentially brings in 19 electoral votes; and Gov. Cooper in North Carolina potentially brings in 16 electoral votes; and Sen. Kelly in Arizona potentially brings in 11 electoral votes. And there are others that at least bring in potentially, and you can make a good argument that they will bring in those electoral votes in the end.

And, you know, this is going to be a game of inches, just like it was in 2020 and 2016. And every inch matters, so a handful of electoral votes could be the key to the election.

SANCHEZ: Larry, I want you to expand on something because we've had conversations with a variety of different experts, and there seems to be some disagreement over how much a vice presidential nominee could impact the result in a given state. What weight do you give to the argument that, say, Josh Shapiro, the governor of Pennsylvania, could help Kamala Harris there?

SABATO: Well, there's an argument because the good studies on what vice presidential candidates actually bring to a candidate in their home state varies between a fraction of 1 percent. Although, how many states did we have within 1 percent in the last two presidential elections?

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It's important to remember that. All the way up to 2 percent, 2.5 percent, even 3 percent. So there are different studies suggesting different things, but I would also suggest things have changed because we focus on not 50 states, which maybe we should, but on seven or eight states because they're the only ones that seem to matter anymore in presidential elections. And if you can swing even one state with a substantial number of electoral votes, as I was saying earlier, this could be the election.

So I would say it matters more than some people who are minimizing the effect of this. And you're going to have tremendous focus on this person, thanks to JD Vance. He's done the Democrats a favor because a lot of people are going to be looking for bad things, but they're also going to be reporting the good things about the person that Harris actually picks.

SANCHEZ: Larry Sabato, great to get your analysis. Thanks for being with us.

SABATO: Thank you.

SANCHEZ: Still ahead this hour on CNN NEWS CENTRAL, text messages revealing what law enforcement officers texted about the Trump rally gunman more than an hour before he pulled the trigger. We're going to chat with a lawmaker who wants House staffers now to undergo mandatory active shooter training.

Plus, a teenager has been arrested after a deadly stabbing attack near London. One witness describing the scene, quote, "Like something from America."

KEILAR: And a new tool in the fight against colon cancer. We have these stories and much more coming up on CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

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KEILAR: New developments on several fronts in the attempted assassination of former President Trump. The FBI revealed today that Trump has agreed to sit for a victim interview with the FBI as part of the agency's investigation into the shooting at his rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, just over two weeks ago.

This is something that is routine and voluntary. Investigators say they want Trump's perspective, just like any other witness to a crime or victim of a crime. Additionally, we are learning about text messages between law enforcement 90 minutes, more than 90 minutes before the shooting.

One text reads, quote, "Kid learning around building we are in." "I did see him with a range finder looking towards stage. FYI. If you want to notify Secret Service snipers to look out. I lost sight of him."

And then listen to this from a member of the local SWAT team.

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GREGORY NICOL, BEAVER COUNTY SWAT TEAM: He was looking up and down the building and just wandering around. It just seemed out of place.

We had a text group between the local snipers that were on scene. I had sent those pictures out to that group and advised them of what I noticed and what I'd seen. I assumed that there would be somebody coming out to, you know, speak with this individual or, you know, find out what's going on.

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KEILAR: And a short time ago, Speaker Mike Johnson and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries announced the members of Congress who will serve on a bipartisan task force to investigate the shooting.

Joining us now to discuss all of this, we have Congressman Anthony D'Esposito. He's a Republican from New York and a member of the Homeland Security Committee.

Sir, thank you so much for being with us.

I know you've been following along closely with all of these new details, and there were a lot today. We found out that Secret Service no face-to-face meeting with local law enforcement and no direct communications between local law enforcement and the Secret Service the day of and during the event. You are a former NYPD officer. Is that normal to you?

REP. ANTHONY D'ESPOSITO (R-NY): Definitely not. I think there were catastrophic failures, not only the day of the attempted assassination, but the days leading up to it. I don't think we're there yet where we can point the fingers as to exactly who failed and how many law enforcement professionals or agencies failed. I think that's why, moving forward, this investigation is critically important.

You know, last week on Capitol Hill, we had two hearings, one in the Homeland Security Committee and one in the Oversight Committee, where Democrats and Republicans were asking the hard, tough questions as to what happened and how did it happen, and most importantly, what can we do to make sure it never happens again.

KEILAR: A local counter-sniper saw the shooter and, as you heard me describing the text there, let his fellow counter-snipers know. This was a counter-sniper who was actually departing a little early, going to where he'd parked his car, and this was - as we've learned, more than 90 minutes before the shooting. Part of what he said was, someone followed our lead and snuck in and parked by our cars.

So, snuck in stands out to me. Are you getting any closer to figuring out why Secret Service excluded what was clearly an off-limits area, as law enforcement saw it, from actually being inside of the perimeter?

D'ESPOSITO: I think we are getting there. I think it's a little too soon, and until we have all of the facts laid out, whether it's the communication on radio and any other means of communication, whether it's taking a hard look at the procedures that were put in place and, obviously, the plan that was put in place by the Secret Service and the locals, until we have all of that in front of us and can actually review it piece by piece, I think that we shouldn't be jumping to those conclusions, other than saying there was, without a doubt, a catastrophic failure.

I think what's also important to point out is, you know, communication at these - in these situations is always tough. I mean, we saw it firsthand in New York City, obviously, on a different scale.

[15:25:04]

But one of the failures of September 11th 2001 was the fact that many agencies couldn't communicate with one another. And over the years, we have worked, and I've, you know, over the last year and a half, even in my subcommittee that I chair in Homeland Security Emergency Management and Technology, one of the focuses has been communication and making sure that communication is paramount at these scenes.

And I think, unfortunately, places throughout this country, when multiple agencies are working at the same incident in the same jurisdiction, we do see communication breakdown and that's one of the things that we need to focus on here to make sure it doesn't happen again. We shouldn't be passing critical information, time-sensitive information, over text messages.

KEILAR: That's a very good point. I did ask one of our law enforcement analysts, Jonathan Wackrow, who's former Secret Service, if part of the problem here is also a failure of DHS oversight and congressional oversight. And he said that it is both. What do you say to that?

D'ESPOSITO: I think that - again, I think that this is a failure on many, many parts. And I think that over the next couple of weeks and now that this new task force is formed, I really hope that we get to the bottom of this. This isn't a partisan issue. This is what we need to focus on is who failed not only the American people - there was innocent bystanders killed that day - but who failed President Trump and who failed the agency and other law enforcement professionals at that scene.

KEILAR: And there are also questions about whether it was just this particular scene or if this is indicative of a systemic problem, which I think is a very valid question. We have so many law enforcement experts saying that. You have the Secret Service director resigning last week. But what else does accountability look like when you may have a systemic problem on your hands?

D'ESPOSITO: Yes, and I think what we need to find out is the systemic problem within what agency is it within. Is it the fact that the Secret Service is not communicating locally with agencies? Is it the communication breakdown that we discussed that, you know, in an incident like this where, you know, those rallies are put together or these large-scale incidents very often are put together in a short time frame? Is there a problem with the amount of time, with the amount of resources, with the amount of communication? Is it the fact that these larger agencies frown upon the local agencies and feel that they're only there to assist?

I mean, nobody knows these local communities better than the locals who serve them each and every day. I mean, when I was a New York City detective, we had agencies from all over the world visit us regularly. And we always said and always remain, there is nobody that knows New York City better than New York City officers.

KEILAR: Yes, certainly. The treatment, and you mentioned Democrats and Republicans asking questions, the treatment of this assassination attempt has largely, and I would say commendably so, been treated apolitically. It's been bipartisan. But last week, former President Trump claimed that the Biden administration, quote, did not properly protect me, that he was, quote, forced to take a bullet for democracy. Is there any danger in speaking like that?

D'ESPOSITO: Well, I think first we need to find out, you know, is there truth to that? I mean, that's why we're conducting this investigation. I mean, there's been criticism of the Biden administration as to why Secret Service protection wasn't given to Kennedy. There has been concerns, and people have talked about the fact that resources that have been requested from the administration weren't provided. And I think that that's why this investigation needs to be conducted.

And as someone who served a career in law enforcement, I think Monday morning ...

KEILAR: Secret Service (INAUDIBLE) can I ask you, Congressman ...

D'ESPOSITO: ... Monday morning quarterbacking (INAUDIBLE) ...

KEILAR: Can I ask you, Congressman, because - I just want to ask you, because there were some denials for some events for Trump, certainly. But for this specific event, you had the Secret Service director saying that that wasn't the case, that they had actually amped up security. I think we know it had to do with that Iran threat. But do you have reason to believe that there was a denial of resources for this particular event?

D'ESPOSITO: Right now, I'm not taking anything that the Secret Service director said as gospel until we conduct this investigation and find out exactly what happened.

KEILAR: Yes. I mean, we have heard many different things, I will say, from what initial reports were, so I hear you on that.

Congressman D'Esposito, thank you so much for being with us. We really appreciate it.

D'ESPOSITO: Thank you. Remain safe.

KEILAR: You as well, sir.

So next, tensions rising in the Middle East as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu promises retribution after a deadly Hezbollah attack.

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Plus, what we're learning about the teenager accused of stabbing eight people, some of them children, northwest of London.