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Harris Getting Closer To Naming VP Pick; Roll The Tape: Trump's History Of Mispronunciations; Israeli Official: Wanted To Send "Very Strong Message" With Beirut Strike; Acting Secret Service Chief: "What I Saw Made Me Ashamed". Aired 2:30-3p ET
Aired July 30, 2024 - 14:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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[14:32:12]
BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: From lost cause to once again in play, potentially. Vice President Kamala Harris is set to hold a campaign rally in the key battleground state of Georgia later today.
These are images moments ago from her departure at Joint Base Andrews as she heads to the Peach State, a state that President Joe Biden flipped in 2020.
The first time in three decades the Democrats have won there and where Harris campaign officials say they're seeing renewed enthusiasm. Enthusiasm they'll need to once again capture Georgia.
The campaign is also targeting a key voting bloc. Disaffected Georgia Republicans. Citing former President Trump's attacks on top Republicans in the state and Nikki Haley's strong showing during Republican primaries, even after she had dropped out of the race.
The campaign stop in Atlanta comes as we're learning that Vice President Harris is going to travel to a series of battleground states next week with her newly chosen running mate.
CNN senior data reporter, Harry Enten, joins us now.
Because, Harry, we've been talking about this all week, and that is the impact that a potential V.P. contender can have on the ticket. So walk us through the track record here, the V.P. math.
HARRY ENTEN, CNN SENIOR DATA REPORTER: Yes. Let's walk through the V.P. math. Who will Vice President Harris choose to be what she hopes to be her vice president?
So let's take a look because, you know, the fact is I believe past is prologue when it comes to V.P. selections. That is, how did they perform amongst the voters who know them best in their home states?
So there's a pretty good way to understand that. How much did these gentlemen outperform Biden's 2020 margin in their own election in 2022? And I want you to look. There is a clear runaway winner on this metric. It's Josh Shapiro from the state of Pennsylvania. He won by 15 points in a state. Joe Biden won just by one. He outperformed by 14 points.
Look, Mark Kelly, in Arizona, not too bad. In fact, he was the best running Democrat statewide in Arizona in 2022. But he only outran Biden by five points.
And then Tim Walz has been getting a lot of press, at least on social media lately. The idea perhaps you want to choose someone from the Midwest.
But he, in fact, didn't really outperform the baseline very much in 2022, just by 0.6 percentage points. Again, compare that to Josh Shapiro, who outran Biden by 14 points.
And I'll also note, in 2020, when he ran for attorney general, he was the top vote getter for the Democrats in that year as well.
So Josh Shapiro, the clear runaway favorite, at least on this metric.
SANCHEZ: And, Harry, what signs do you have that a vice-presidential candidate can help a president carry their state?
ENTEN: Yes, you know, Pennsylvania, pretty key state. Arizona, another key state.
So the question is, can these guys actually help you in these states if you put them on the ticket.
So I want to just sort of look at what the political science tells us. I'm a little bit of a nerd. But we kind of look at this and we try to gain an understanding of whether a V.P. nominee can actually help the top of the ticket in their state.
[14:35:08]
And what do we find? We find that, in fact, there does seem to be a proven benefit. Now it is small, it is small, 0.5 to two points added to their running mate's margin on average.
But again, Boris, you know, elections in this country. How tight are they, right? You know, you go back to 2020, what was Pennsylvania decided by, 1.2 points? You go to Arizona. What was it decided by? By about 0.3 points.
So the idea that maybe you could add half a point to two points to the top of the ticket, that could be the entire ball game.
And given how close this election seems to be shaping up between Harris and Trump, I would definitely think Harris wouldn't mind adding 0.5 to two points in either Arizona or in Pennsylvania.
SANCHEZ: It could make all the difference. So, Harry, which of the potential vice-presidential home states could
likely make that slight difference and give the White House to Vice President Harris?
ENTEN: Yes. Where do you want to add that 0.5 to two points? Well, it's Pennsylvania Boris. It's Pennsylvania. It's not only that Josh Shapiro runs very strongly in Pennsylvania. You might be sensing a theme going on here.
But also Pennsylvania is likely, or at least the most likely state to determine who wins this election. So the chance that one of these states put someone over the top -- look at this. Pennsylvania a 30 percent chance, a 30 percent chance that Pennsylvania is the state that ultimately puts a candidate over the top.
You compare that to Arizona. It's just 4 percent, right? Minnesota is less than 3 percent.
Why is this the math? Well, Boris, it's the math because Pennsylvania has 19 electoral votes. Arizona has just 11 electoral votes. She would much rather add that 19 electoral votes to your column, Mr. Sanchez.
And you combine that with the fact that Josh Shapiro has done so well in Pennsylvania and currently has -- get this -- a 61 percent approval rating in the state of Pennsylvania.
It's pretty clear to me where the math does point for Vice President Harris. It's Josh Shapiro.
SANCHEZ: Notably, it's also the state that Republicans see as most getable within the Blue Wall states that Democrats so badly need to win.
Harry Enten, appreciate the math has always.
ENTEN: And I appreciate you, Boris.
SANCHEZ: Thanks.
We should note that one of those vice-presidential contenders will be on CNN tonight with Anderson Cooper. Minnesota Governor Tim Walz joining us at 8:00 p.m. Eastern. Don't miss that conversation.
Brianna?
BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: Since it seems pretty obvious that we're going to be seeing Vice President Kamala Harris's name a lot, let's talk about pronouncing it correctly and why former President Donald Trump refuses to.
Here he was just this past Friday at a campaign rally in Florida.
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DONALD TRUMP, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: They were explaining to me, you can say Kamala, you could say Kamala. I said, don't worry about it. It doesn't matter what I say. I couldn't care less if I mispronounced it or not, I couldn't care less.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KEILAR: For someone who says he doesn't care, Trump sure seems to care, at least about the fact that he's now facing Harris instead of President Joe Biden in this election.
We've all mispronounced the name. This is obviously not that. Trump has a history of purposely mispronouncing names, specifically of people who aren't white, or emphasizing traditionally non-white names as a racist dog whistle.
For instance, the biggest perpetrator of the Birther conspiracy theory is also the longtime president of the Barack Obama middle name fan club.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: Obama --
(BOOING)
TRUMP: -- H. Obama.
(BOOING)
TRUMP: Barack Hussein Obama.
(BOOING)
TRUMP: Barack Hussein Obama.
Barack Hussain Obama!
By Barack Hussein Obama.
(BOOING)
TRUMP: Barack --
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KEILAR: During the Republican primaries, he called former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley, who goes by her middle name, Nikki, Nimrada, which is a bastardization of her birth name, Nimarata. He also called her Nimbra.
In fact, Trump and those who support him have such a track record of doing this kind of thing that it was actually a comedy bit at the 2020 Democratic National Convention.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JULIA LOUIS-DREYFUS, ACTRESS & COMEDIAN: I cannot wait to see her debate our current vice president, Mika Pints. Or is it paints?
UNIDENTIFIED COMEDIAN: Its pronounced Ponts, I believe.
LOUIS-DREYFUS: Oh, some kind of weird foreign name?
UNIDENTIFIED COMEDIAN: Yes, not very American sounding.
LOUIS-DREYFUS: Yes, that's what people are saying, strongly.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KEILAR: But as Trump appeals to voters, who do think it's funny that he says Kamala, instead of Kamala, could trying to diminish his opponents simply because she isn't white, alienate the voters who don't think it's funny. Might it backfire?
[14:40:01]
It wouldn't be the first time that his name game has.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: You know what's interesting? Joe Biden won against Barack Hussein Obama. Has anyone ever heard of him?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KEILAR: We've heard of him, but Biden won against Trump, not Obama.
Trump dismissed his repeated allusion to the Biden/Obama matchup that never was as sarcasm, bristling at suggestions by critics that the slip-ups were a sign he's showing his age.
Which makes you think, what if the shoe were on the other foot? And the emphasis on his other syllable, Don-old. Would he like it?
Maybe as he says, he wouldn't worry about it? Maybe it wouldn't matter to him. Maybe he couldn't care less. Doubtful.
We'll be right back.
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[14:45:28]
SANCHEZ: We are tracking breaking news into CNN. We are updating our top story. A senior Israeli official is now saying that Israel wanted to, quote, send a very strong message" after launching a deadly strike in Beirut.
This is images from earlier where we saw crowds gather outside of what appears to be a medical center.
I want to go to CNN's Matthew Chance, who has been tracking the story from London.
Matthew, what else are you hearing? MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN CHIEF GLOBAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Yes, well, I mean, obviously, these are the images that we're seeing now from that suburb in southern Beirut, which is a -- an area which is strongly associated with Hezbollah.
That group in southern Lebanon that has been so aggressive in its attacks over the course of the past several months, really, stepping up its missile strikes on northern Israel.
But particularly, the attack of last weekend in which 12 people in northern Israel, or rather in the occupied Golan Heights, in that northern an area, we're killed on a soccer pitch. There we're -- there we're children. There they were teenagers.
And the aftermath, you can see there, is the damage that was done by the missile strikes. The attacks carried out, which the Israeli say they carried out against the Hezbollah leader that is responsible for those killings and for other attacks against Israelis.
You can see the devastation there that's been brought by these missiles that were fired. It's not clear how there we're delivered. Lebanese media are saying it was a drone attack that fired three missiles. That hasn't been confirmed by -- by the Israelis yet.
But, you know, we could see that the casualty figures start to come in shortly. I haven't seen them yet. The figure who was targeted, there are reports in the Lebanese media and the Iranian media as well that that figure survived, that he -- that he is not dead. But that's not yet been confirmed either.
What we're waiting for, of course, is whether there will be a significant Hezbollah response to this, which could spiral the region into more danger and into more conflict.
SANCHEZ: Matthew Chance, thank you so much for the update on that reporting.
We're, of course, going to stay on top of the story as we get new details.
Coming up on CNN NEWS CENTRAL, the acting Secret Service director says he cannot defend why that roof used by the Trump rally gunman was unsecured. We're going to unpack some stunning testimony happening right now on Capitol Hill when we come back.
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[14:52:27]
SANCHEZ: New today, for the first time, Senate lawmakers are hearing directly from the new acting director of the Secret Service about the shooting at Donald Trump's rally earlier this month?
Ronald Rowe in the hotseat for hours testifying about the many failures that allowed a gunman to shoot the former president.
Listen.
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RONALD ROWE, ACTING SECRET SERVICE DIRECTOR: I went to the roof of the AGR building where the assailant fired shots and I laid in a prone position to evaluate his line of sight. What I saw made me ashamed.
As a career law enforcement officer and a 25-year veteran with the Secret Service, I cannot defend why that roof was not better secured.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KEILAR: Rowe was testifying alongside FBI deputy director, Paul Abbate. Both men now vowing to bolster security measures. Actually saying that some of this has already started, in fact.
CNN senior justice correspondent, Evan Perez, is here with us.
Evan, this was the latest in a series of congressional hearings on this assassination attempt. What really stood out to you?
EVAN PEREZ, CNN SENIOR JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: It really was the most substantive hearing that we've had to date because we got a lot of information not only from the FBI, from Paul Abbate, the deputy director, but also from Mr. Rowe, the new acting director.
And you could tell that he, A, started off from the right place, right? He said he went to the scene of the attack, which is something the director previously, who -- who stepped down, she didn't do before her own hearing.
And so one of the things we learned is that it appears, again, over a period of minutes, 90 minutes, that local law enforcement had seen some -- a suspicious person and they were trying to figure out who he was.
And over a period of time, that information, according to the FBI -- to the Secret Service acting director did not make it to the former president's detail.
And that's a key piece of information because it means that they didn't have time to make a decision as to whether to keep him behind stage while they we're trying to figure this possible threat.
Listen to this exchange with the Senators about that -- the lack of information.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ROWE: I think he was identified as being suspicious by local law enforcement.
SEN. RAND PAUL (R-KY): And nothing happened.
ROWE: Well, I know that local law enforcement was attempting to locate him. PAUL: Would you say the roof being unattended breaches standard
protocol for setting up a security perimeter?
ROWE: What I would say, Senator, is that that roof should have had better coverage. And we will get to the bottom of if there we're any policy violations.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[14:55:08]
PEREZ: And one of the things we also heard during the hearing was that the Secret Service didn't have any drones operating there. But they did have the capability to defeat drones. We know the shooter flew a drone near the site there.
But it appears that the system to defeat that wasn't operating at a time for another hour because of cell phone signal problems.
SANCHEZ: Notably, Evan, early on in the testimony, we heard that officials have been able to piece together what they believe was a social media account linked to the shooter that had hundreds of posts and were related to anti-Semitism and anti-immigration views.
Is that right?
PEREZ: Right. So they're investigating a couple of different accounts. One of them it is an account that had these postings or had these content that appears to be anti-immigration, anti-Semite -- anti- Semitic expounding violence.
There's another account that we know has been made public by the CEO of Gab. That -- both of those are being investigated.
Keep in mind, these are -- these are postings and these are content from years ago. He was 20-years-old, right? So if it was from four years ago, he was 17-, 16-years-old.
So it's not clear that anything more recent that would maybe give us a sense of his -- his point of view has emerged as part of this investigation.
KEILAR: Yes, that's really amazing.
Evan, thank you so much for the latest on that.
We are following breaking news out of the Middle East. The Israel Defense Forces confirming it was behind the strike in southern Beirut, targeting a Hezbollah commander.
Our coverage will continue after this short break. Stay with CNN.
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ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.
