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Harris Returns to Battleground Georgia to Mobilize Voters; What I Saw Made Me Ashamed, Secret Service Chief to Address Security Failures in Hearing on Trump Assassination Attempt; Third Child Dies in U.K. Dance Class Stabbing Attack. Aired 7-7:30a ET

Aired July 30, 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]

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Stand by for new reporting on where the Harris campaign thinks it has a new opportunity. Why they say it is going to be intense.

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: Not just childless cat ladies. It turns out there are many more ways Trump's running mate has described people without children. The word sociopath used a lot.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: And the new head of the Secret Service is headed to Capitol Hill. Lawmakers expected to grill him about the security failures surrounding Donald Trump's attempted assassination and why he's expected to say, that what I saw made me ashamed.

I'm Kate Bolduan with Sarah Sidner and John Berman. This is CNN News Central.

Breaking overnight, the Harris campaign says they are feeling the energy needed to win Georgia, as the vice president returned to the state for a rally later today, her sixth visit there this year. A new memo reveals the Harris team believes disenfranchised Republicans there will be key to keeping that state blue.

The memo saying Trump has waged a full on war with Georgia's top Republicans. It points out these two indicators of Trump's weak support in the state, his performance in the Republican primary, where Nikki Haley took 13 percent of the vote there, and major defections from Republicans, such as former Lieutenant Governor Geoff Duncan, who says he is backing Harris.

Today's stop in Atlanta coming as the Harris team launches a new $50 million ad campaign in battleground states.

CNN's Priscilla Alvarez is joining us now. Priscilla, what should we expect from her rally in Atlanta today?

PRISCILLA ALVAREZ, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Well, this is a rally that is intended to build on the surge of enthusiasm over the last week and to do it in the critical state of Georgia. Remember, this was a state that President Biden narrowly won in 2020, and it was the first time a Democratic presidential candidate won the state in nearly 30 years. So, for all of those reasons, it is going to be closely watched, and it is also why the Harris campaign will be there to rally voters.

Now, we're getting a little bit of a glimpse as to what her argument is going to be during this rally, and that is prosecuting the case against former President Donald Trump, something that her ad is also doing. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: As a prosecutor, she put murderers and abusers behind bars. As California's attorney general, she went after the big banks and won $20 billion for homeowners. And as vice president, she took on the big drug companies to cap the cost of insulin for seniors, because Kamala Harris has always known who she represents.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ALVAREZ: Now, this is part of that $50 million paid media campaign that will be rolled out across the country. Of course, Democratic strategists that I've been talking to you said that voters, especially in Georgia, were disillusioned over the last several months. They were apathetic to the race and to the two unpopular candidates being President Biden and former President Donald Trump.

But they're observing something very different now, and they are also on the ground seeing that enthusiasm build and so they're trying to also capitalize that in the state of Georgia, hoping that it can be in play. But the campaign also knows it's going to be competitive. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DAN KANNINEN, BATTLEGROUND STATES DIRECTOR, HARRIS FOR PRESIDENT: We have 24 offices in the state of Georgia, and we do view Georgia as very competitive. It's clear the vice president is energizing and mobilizing our base. It's also true that Republicans -- excuse me, Donald Trump and the ticket have problems with Republicans in Georgia. Look at Geoff Duncan, who is a statewide official in that state, who's repeated Trump's record and made it clear he's not fit for office.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ALVAREZ: So, again, the Democrats, the Harris campaign, trying to keep this state in play and they're bringing star power to do it. Megan Thee Stallion will be joining this rally along with Democratic lawmakers who will be there flanking the vice president. Sara?

SIDNER: So we've got a little over a week, then we're expecting to hear who the vice presidential pick will be. What do you know on that front?

ALVAREZ: Yes, we're in a bit of a new phase going into the Democratic National Convention, where the vice president does have to pick her running mate.

[07:05:01]

We anticipate that announcement coming before August 7th.

But we did learn yesterday that Roy Cooper has pulled out of consideration. He said that it wasn't the right time for him to leave his state. But we also have other contenders on that short list. You see them there, Governor Josh Shapiro, Mark Kelly, Andy Beshear.

So, the team, the Harris team is pouring over documents sifting through public statements, family histories, everything, to try to determine who might be the best running mate for her. Of course, we are again expecting that announcement in the days to come, and that will be a pivotal one going into the next few months.

SIDNER: It absolutely will. Priscilla Alvarez, thank you so much, live there for us from the White House. John?

BERMAN: All right. Brand new this morning, more than childless cat ladies, way more. New reporting from CNN's K-File this morning on Republican Vice Presidential Nominee J.D. Vance. The controversial comments he made questioning the judgment of people without children, they were not a one-off.

In May of 2019, he told a crowd, quote, babies are good because we're not sociopaths.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. J.D. VANCE (R-OH), VICE PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: I've seen people who become more attached to their communities, to their families, to their country because they have children.

So, I would say that we should care about declining fertility, not just because it's bad for our economy, but because we think babies are good and we think babies are good because we're not sociopaths.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: Then in November of 2020, during a podcast appearance, he said this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VANCE: There's just these basic cadences of life that I think are really powerful and really, really valuable when you have kids in your life. And the fact that so many people, especially in America's leadership class, just don't have that in their lives. You know, I worry that it makes people more sociopathic and ultimately our whole country a little bit less mentally stable. And, of course, you talk about going on Twitter. Final point I'll make is you go on Twitter and almost always the people who are most deranged and most psychotic are people who don't have kids at home.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: In August of 2021, in a fundraising email, CNN found he appealed to donors by mentioning the, quote, radical childless leaders in this country. And then he tweeted in 2021, quote, cat ladies must be stopped.

There is also new reporting this morning on how Vance sees the race right now. Newly obtained audio from the Washington Post reveals a private meeting with donors where he said this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VANCE: All of us were hit with a little bit of a political sucker punch.

The bad news is that Kamala Harris does not have the same baggage as Joe Biden, because whatever we might say, Kamala Harris is a lot younger, and Kamala Harris is obviously not struggling the same ways that Joe Biden did.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: The reason this is significant is because the Trump campaign has insisted, since President Biden dropped out, that it didn't change the race at all, that it would be easier to beat Vice President Harris. So, that is different. What Vance said behind closed doors is different than what they said publicly.

The Vance team is responding this morning, quote, poll after poll shows President Trump leading Kamala Harris as voters become aware of her weak, failed and dangerously liberal agenda. Again, this is their release. Her far left ideas are even more radioactive than Joe Biden, particularly in the key swing states that will decide this election like Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin. Kate?

BOLDUAN: Coming up for us, stark show of just how dangerous the gang violence has become in Haiti, security forces providing covering fire for the interim prime minister just after an interview with CNN.

More on that ahead.

Plus, what I saw made me ashamed. That is what the acting Secret Service directors expected to lay out today when he testifies before lawmakers.

And U.S. men's gymnastics ends a nearly 20-year drought at the Olympics, taking bronze. Why one of the men has now been dubbed Clark Kent.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:10:00]

BOLDUAN: What I saw made me ashamed. That is what the acting director of the Secret Service is expected to tell lawmakers in just a few hours on Capitol Hill. He's testifying about the assassination attempt on Donald Trump and the security failures around it that allowed a gunman to open fire, injuring the former president, and killing another man. The acting director is also expected to detail new protocols the agency is putting in place in light of all of this. Well, new documents are revealing a confusing chain of communication on the day of that shooting and another twist comes later this week. Donald Trump says he's agreed now to sit for an interview with the FBI about that day.

CNN's Whitney Wild is tracking all of this for us and she's joining us now. Whitney, the last director of the Secret Service had a very tough go at it in testifying before lawmakers. What are you expecting today?

WHITNEY WILD, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT CORRESPONDENT: It'll probably be another really tough go. There are still very serious questions for the United States Secret Service. You know, Senator Josh Hawley, who sits on the Senate Judiciary Committee, made very clear to CNN yesterday he is looking for accountability here.

[07:15:02]

And what we saw during the last hearing were specific questions about whether anybody had been placed on administrative leave, anybody had been disciplined in the aftermath of this attempted assassination. So, certainly, I expect that you'll see more questions on that.

But you may hear a very different perspective from the Secret Service today. Ron Rowe is the now acting director. He was the deputy director, he's now the acting director. And in his opening remarks, he says one of the first things that he did was go to Butler, Pennsylvania, and basically reenact what happened. He went to that roof, he laid on his stomach to see what that shooter saw, and he is now saying that what he saw made him ashamed.

Here's a quote from his opening remarks. What I saw made me ashamed. As a career law enforcement officer and a 25-year veteran of the Secret Service, I cannot defend why that roof was not better secured.

What they are doing now, Kate, and what acting Director Roe is going to detail is that they are making changes immediately. They are stepping up threat plans as well as security measures surrounding their protectees. This is increasing the workload for the Secret Service, Kate, because they have picked up new protectees. They've picked up J.D. Vance, for example, RFK Jr. is another example of that. So, the workload here is growing.

Certainly, again, the Hill is going to be looking for details of the failures. Because what the Secret Service has said multiple times now is, yes, this was a failure. But up until now, they have been reluctant to detail the ways in which they failed either with planning or reaction to the incident.

Further, Kate, certainly, the Hill is going to be looking for more accountability here and then definitely more detail on what they are doing right now, right this minute to make sure that this never happens again. Kate?

BOLDUAN: Yes, the investigation into this just really getting underway, not even close to its conclusion yet. Whitney, thank you so much. John? BERMAN: Right. A new warning from the FDA about popular weight loss drugs with serious concerns of overdoses.

And this morning, Taylor Swift is speaking out after a stabbing attack that killed now three children at a Swift-themed dance class.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:20:00]

SIDNER: We've got some breaking news for you here. A deadly stabbing attack has now taken the life of three children in Northern England. Nine others were injured when a man targeted a Taylor Swift-themed dance class for children.

This morning, Taylor Swift says she is completely in shock from the deadly rampage. Police say a 17-year-old entered the class just before noon Monday when he began the devastating assault.

CNN's Salma Abdelaziz is joining me now from London with the very latest. First, I just -- is there any sense of why this 17-year-old entered this dance class and started stabbing these kids?

SALMA ABDELAZIZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Quite simply, Sara. No, there is no motivation at this time, according to the police, and I think that's what's adding to just this sense of shock, horror and disbelief that's absolutely reverberating through this country. It's the details of this attacker going in and specifically targeting children. It's the detail of it being a mom and baby center, which is just this very common community place that is in every neighborhood here in England. And it is the detail that it was a Taylor Swift-themed dance class full of little girls. We now know there are three children who were killed, all girls, the latest victim, a nine-year-old, the two others ages, six and seven years old. There are several more still in hospital receiving treatment.

Taylor Swift has spoken out. I think her statement begins to capture that absolute horror. I do want to read it to you. She says, the horror of yesterday's attack in Southport is washing over me continuously and I'm just completely in shock. The loss of life and innocence and the horrendous trauma inflicted on everyone who was there, the families and first responders, these were just little kids at a dance class. I am at a complete loss for how to ever convey my sympathies to these families.

We also have support pouring in from the royal family. The king has spoken out. The prince and princess of Wales have spoken out. The prime minister has spoken out. But as you can imagine at this time, Sara, there is very little that can console this community in the country at large that is just horrified by such a brutal attack with no justification, no reason, and no sense of why.

SIDNER: Have they given any sense of who the suspect is in this case? And I know there's always a lot of video when it comes to, you know, some of these places. But this is a smaller, smaller area, Southport, England. ABDELAZIZ: It is a much smaller area, a tight knit community. I mean, the eyewitnesses on the ground, Sara, we're saying, look, it's impossible for us not to know one of the families of the victims. That's how close we are. We understand the 17-year-old is in custody and they are working through that investigation to try to get that motivation. But the focus right now is, of course, on the support for those victims.

SIDNER: Absolutely. Selma Abdelaziz, thank you so much for the story. Kate?

BOLDUAN: Coming up for us, superstar Simone Biles is set to compete in all four events at the gymnastics team final today. This is despite suffering a new calf injury. We have an update from Paris.

And the Kamala Harris veepstakes appears to be entering the final stretch. And right now the potential running mates are being vetted.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JON STEWART, HOST, THE DAILY SHOW: Are you being vetted right now? Would you know if you're being vetted right now? When they vet you, do you feel it?

[07:25:00]

Is it a physical sensation? You're being vetted.

PETE BUTTIGIEG, TRANSPORTATION SECRETARY: You know. Yes, you know.

STEWART: You know when you're being vetted?

BUTTIGIEG: Yes.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BERMAN: This morning, new reporting and new questions about the economic agenda of Vice President Kamala Harris with pressure from progressive groups and big money donors.

CNN's Matt Egan is with us with the latest on this. Matt, what are you learning?

MATT EGAN, CNN REPORTER: Well, John, the Harris economic agenda is really still just a work in progress, which makes sense because this campaign launched just ten days ago.

[07:30:00]

But Vice President Harris, she already finds herself in the middle of a tug of war with one side being the CEOs and wealthy donors and the other being progressives.

Now, business leaders --