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Kamala Harris Asks Supporters To Sign Up To Learn V.P. Pick; Federal Reserve Holds On Interest Rates Steady As Inflation Cools; Donald Trump Takes Question At Convention For Black Journalists. Aired 2-2:30p ET

Aired July 31, 2024 - 14:00   ET

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

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[14:00:41]

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: Hello, I'm Brianna Keilar alongside Boris Sanchez.

And at any moment, former President Donald Trump is set to take part in a question and answer session at the National Association of Black Journalists convention in Chicago. That is what you're looking at there on your screen. The moderators selected for the event are Rachel Scott of ABC News, Harris Faulkner of Fox and Kadia Goba of Semafor. But the decision to invite the former president has really drawn backlash and division among members, even prompting a co-chair to step down from her role in the event.

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: So, this is happening as Vice President Kamala Harris's campaign says she is set to name a running mate by Tuesday, and she is going to hold her first rally with her V.P. pick in Philadelphia on Tuesday, kicking off a series of campaign events in key battleground states.

CNN's Arlette Saenz is live for us in Houston, where the vice president is headed later. But first, let's go to CNN anchor Sara Sidner who's at the NABJ conference in Chicago. Sarah, what should we expect to see this afternoon?

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: Look, I think there's going to be a robust conversation that happens, especially with the three journalists that are going to be sitting there asking different questions.

There was also NABJ said is going to be a real time fact check that happens as Donald Trump is speaking, but already, you know, it's being used as campaign fodder.

So, Donald Trump put out a statement about Kamala Harris not being here. Kamala Harris saying, look, her schedule, as you might imagine, because she was just sort of ended up at the top of the ticket was very tight. She couldn't make it here or virtually at the time. Now they're planning something for September, but Donald Trump capitalizing on that saying she is disrespecting the National Association of Black Journalists by not being here and he is showing up. From the people that I've talked to here, from the journalists that

are here, no one feels disrespected. They are here to listen to this robust conversation. They are hoping that some of the issues that have been brought up in the past about the Black community vis-a-vis Donald Trump will come up and they're expecting them to. But this is really a packed house.

So, anyone who was extremely upset about this. They've shown up here, there are more than a thousand people. Every single chair has been filled here inside of this large convention hall inside of this Hilton.

And there is expecting to be news made today because of some of the questions that will be asked, this all came together over the past 36 hours. It's when we all learned that Donald Trump would be here.

But the Harris campaign is also responding to some of the sleight, some of the attacks when he called her for example, crazy Kamala is not showing up. And she's like, look, he needs to be fact check. They're very concerned about some of the lies that they believe he has told about the Black community and his role in trying to help the Black community.

We will see what happens but we're expecting some news to be made this afternoon here, Boris, Brianna.

KEILAR: Sara, thank you so much for that. And now to CNN's Arlette Saenz in Houston, Texas where Vice President Harris is expected to be campaigning later today with a series of events. What's she doing there today, Arlette?

ARLETTE SAENZ, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Brianna, later tonigh,t Vice President Kamala Harris will speak at the Biennial Boule for Sigma Gamma Rho, that is a sorority that is part of the Divine Nine. This will actually be Harris's third time speaking of the Divine Nine event just this month as she is seeking to mobilize Black female voters heading into November's election.

Now, the Divine Nine does not endorse political candidates but its vast alumni network, which includes Harris could try to mobilize both Black men and Black female voters heading into this election.

She will be speaking here just a few hours after former President Donald Trump appears at that NABJ convention in Chicago. As was spoken about earlier, she's unable to attend virtually or in person due to her schedule this week. But the campaign is working with NABJ to try to schedule something either in person or virtually for September.

But ahead of Trump's appearance there, the Biden campaign -- or the Harris campaign is pushing back and criticizing Trump saying that he has denigrated members of the Black media and attacked the media writ large. And they also have argued that he will lie about his record and what he has done for the Black community there.

[14:05:04] Now, while Harris will be making -- giving her pitch here in Houston, Texas, she is also in the thick of searching for her running mates. She's continuing those discussions throughout the week at a time well we know that several of the contenders include Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, and also Arizona Senator Mark Kelly.

And just a few moments ago, Harris actually sent an e-mail to her supporters asking them to sign up to learn first about who her pick will be.

If she actually does announce this via text message or e-mail, it will actually be the same way that Biden announced Harris as his running mate back in 2020. He had told his supporters the very first time who his running mate would be via text and e-mail just four years ago.

Now, Harris, once she has selected her vice presidential pick, she is expected to hit the ground running with that pick starting with a battleground state tour beginning in in Philadelphia on Tuesday, she is set to hit all of the battleground -- key battleground states with her new running mate, really giving American voters the first full view of that Democratic ticket.

Now, I'll also know while she is here in Houston today, she's also set to raise more money for her campaign. I'm told that this Houston fundraiser came together in just four days and raised $2.5 million exceeding the initial goal that they set out, just another side of the donor enthusiasm for Harris since she launched her candidacy about a week and a half ago.

SANCHEZ: Yes, hefty price tag per plate at that dinner. Arlette Saenz live for us in Houston. Thank you so much.

Let's discuss more with Margaret Talev, she's a senior contributor for Axios. Margaret, thanks so much for sharing part of your afternoon with us.

Obviously, today's events meant to court Black voters, I'm wondering what you are going to be watching for out of Donald Trump having this moderated discussion with three journalists at the National Association of Black Journalists convention.

MARGARET TALEV, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Boris, it's certainly going to be very interesting event. And we'll see before too long, precisely what he's going to do.

I would certainly expect him to focus a lot of his remarks on inflation, and on housing costs, and on the cost of rent. And on the economic issues that we know from poll after poll really resonate with African-American voters, regardless of their partisan identity.

I think as we've been talking about Trump addressing the NABJ, and a lot of the kind of awful criticisms he's made targeted toward, especially Black female journalists, that has taken up sort of a lot of bandwidth and attention. But I do think it's important to remember that journalists are not

really a constituency, they are part of the public. And the NABJ is a conduit to African-Americans all over the country who are news consumers, whether it's in print or on T.V. or on audio.

And so, this is an opportunity for Trump to continue to court, particularly Black male voters, I think with the reset, and so much of what we're seeing this week is about President Biden's decision -- late decision not to run for re-election and the scramble that not only Vice President Harris dizzying to do but that Donald Trump and J.D. Vance are having to do to completely reorder their plans, their strategy, their messaging, enthusiasm among the African-American community and younger voters and voters of color has shot up measurably in recent days. We don't know how long that's going to last. Can she carry it forward to November?

But now, former President Trump and his campaign have to reset the narrative around themselves and have to try to recapture some of the headlines, if not -- if not all the enthusiasm, and that's part of what we're going to see.

KEILAR: Yes, I mean, he, in the press release that the Trump campaign put out ahead of this appearance, his campaign said that he accomplished more for Black Americans than any other president in recent history.

When you look at how he did after his first term, he got 12 percent of the Black vote in 2020. How is he doing right now when you look at polls, Margaret?

TALEV: Yes, there's no polling that shows that Donald Trump is about to sweep and recapture it and reset that dynamic of Black voters are thronging towards him. But that's really never been the issue.

If turnout among Democratic voters were to be depressed as it looked like it might be in recent weeks, then his ability to recapture even a small share of Black voters, Black male voters in particular, could make a difference, right?

But this is -- this race for months now has been a lot more discussion about turnout among the two bases than it has been about sort of the fight for the middle. And so, a lot of this is not just about who would vote for Donald Trump, but who would stay home for the Democratic nominee on the ticket and now that the Democratic nominee is poised to be an African-American woman with immigrant parents and Southeast Asian descent. It does change the energy and sort of the turnout modeling. And I think that's what former President Trump is having to rebuild it to his strategy now.

[14:10:24]

SANCHEZ: Speaking of a moderated discussion, Vice President Harris was in Georgia last night, and she essentially called out Donald Trump to say some of the things that he's been saying about her on the campaign trail, in her words to her face. What do you think about this back and forth over whether a debate is actually going to happen? Is this just negotiation before the inevitable?

TALEV: I mean, Boris, this year, I don't know if anything's inevitable. But I do think certainly there's some negotiating going on the terms in which the debate was initially going to take place. It seems like there's a new discussion about that underway.

I think what you're seeing Vice President Harris do is obviously a marked departure from the way we've seen President Biden campaign. I'm just trying to imagine President Biden saying like, say it to my face, you know, doesn't really work.

But if Donald Trump thought he was going to get into debate with Joe Biden, a repeat of June, you know, that's not going to happen. Are we going to see a debate? I think so. But I'm not sure is the bottom line.

KEILAR: Very interesting. And does that play for Donald Trump? Interesting to see. Margaret Talev, thank you so much for your insights.

And now let's go to some breaking news. The Federal Reserve just announced it is holding -- pardon me.

SANCHEZ: It happens.

KEILAR: Verklempt by the news. The Fed is holding interest rates steady. It's keeping them roughly where they've been over the past year, and it's leaving the door open for a possible rate cut in September as long as inflation stays.

SANCHEZ: That potential rate cut is super emotional.

KEILAR: It is.

SANCHEZ: We have to acknowledge. CNN's Matt Egan joins us now. So Matt, take us through the Feds decision.

MATT EGAN, CNN REPORTER: Well, Boris and Brianna, no change from the Federal Reserve that was widely expected. But there is some good news here for borrowers. The door does look like it's wide open for an interest rate cut at the next Fed meeting in September, which by the way, is the last time the Fed meets before the election.

Now, the Fed made some significant changes to the statement that they just put out a few moments ago, adding in some new language about the jobs market, saying that job gains have "moderated" and the unemployment rate has moved up but remains low. That is brand new language, they did not have in there during the last meeting.

The Fed also said that the committee is attentive to the risks to both sides of the dual mandate.

Remember, the Fed is responsible for not just inflation, but also for keeping the jobs market healthy.

So, this is Fed speak for interest rate cuts could be coming soon. That makes sense because thankfully, prices are no longer skyrocketing. They're still going up but just at a more gradual pace.

And yes, there are some cracks in the jobs market, the unemployment rate is still low, but it has moved noticeably higher.

Remember, the Fed spiked interest rates two years ago to multi-decade highs, right, trying to put this inflation fire out. They've held rates. As you can see, I'm not sure they held rates at these very high levels for the last year.

But now they do seem to be setting the stage for a potential interest rate cut in September, Fed Chair Jerome Powell, he's taking questions from reporters in just a few moments. So, Wall Street's going to be on high alert for any more significant hits, hints of an imminent interest rate cut.

And then as far as what all this means for borrowers, this, of course, would be good news, if the Fed is finally able to cut interest rates. If you're out there trying to get a house right now, obviously, mortgage rates are very high. This would mean they would go lower, same thing for trying to finance the purchase of a car, student loans and everyone who's trying to pay off credit card debt right now. Record high credit card rates.

So, that would all be very good. And of course, there'd be political implications to here. This would give Vice President Harris and her running mate something else to talk about, that inflation isn't just down, borrowing costs are as well, but Republicans of course, would be criticizing the Fed for any pre-election interest rate cut, Boris and Brianna.

KEILAR: Yes, but this news, Matt, right. It's almost enough to get you choked up, isn't it?

EGAN: Almost.

KEILAR: Matt's always happy about the economic news. I will say that. He always delivers it very happily. Matt Egan, thank you so much. We do appreciate the update.

And still ahead, just minutes from now. Former President Trump will be speaking at the National Association of Black Journalists conference in Chicago.

The mediators have sat down here it appears. We're going to go to this now. It is just getting underway. Let's listen in as we await former President Trump.

RACHEL SCOTT, MODERATOR: -- either as presidents or as presidential candidates in past years. NABJ is currently in conversation with Vice President Kamala Harris's team to schedule a Q&A either in-person or virtually in September.

[14:15:10]

As journalists, we use opportunities like these, both to inform our reporting, but also to help voters understand the choices that they face in a consequential and historic election year.

NABJ has partnered with PolitiFact to fact check this conversation in real time, you can access that feed on social media using the #NABJfactcheck, again, the #NABJfactcheck.

We have a lot to get to. And we do not want to waste any time. So, let's bring out the former president of the United States the Republican nominee for president, former President Donald Trump.

Mr. President, we so appreciate you giving us an hour of your time. I want to start by addressing the elephant in the room, sir. A lot of people did not think it was appropriate for you to be here today. You have pushed false claims about some of your rivals, from Nikki Haley to former President Barack Obama saying that they were not born in the United States, which is not true.

You have told four congressman women of color who were American citizens to go back to where they came from. You have used words like animal and rabbit to describe Black district attorneys. You've attacked Black Journalists calling them a loser, saying the questions that they asked are, "stupid and racist." You've had dinner with a white supremacist at your Mar-a-Lago resort.

So, my question, sir, now that you are asking Black supporters to vote for you, why should Black voters trust you after you have used language like that?

DONALD TRUMP (R), U.S. PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Well, first of all, I don't think I've ever been asked the question. So, in such a horrible manner, first question, you don't even say hello, how are you? Are you with ABC because I think they're a fake news network, at terrible level.

And I think it's disgraceful that I came here in good spirit. I love the Black population of this country. I've done so much for the Black population of this country, including employment, including opportunity zones with Senator Tim Scott of South Carolina, which is one of the greatest programs ever for Black workers and Black entrepreneurs. I've done so much.

And you know, and I say this, historically, Black colleges and universities were out of money, they were stone called broke, and I saved them. And I gave them long term financing, and nobody else was doing it.

I think it's a very rude introduction. I don't know exactly why you would do something like that.

And let me go a step further. I was invited here and I was told my opponent, whether it was Biden or Kamala, I was told my opponent was going to be here, it turned out my opponent isn't here. You invited me under false pretense.

And then you said, you can't do it with Zoom. Well, you know, with Zoom, she's going to do it with Zoom, and she's not coming. And then you are half an hour late, just so we understand. I have too

much respect for you to be late. They couldn't get their equipment working or something was wrong. I think it's a very nasty question.

SCOTT: Mr. President, I would love for you to answer the question on your rhetoric.

(CROSSTALK)

TRUMP: I have answered the question. I have been the best president for the Black population since Abraham Lincoln. That's my answer.

SCOTT: Better than -- better than President Johnson who signed the Voting Rights Act?

TRUMP: And for you to start off with a question and answer period, especially when you're 35 minutes late, because you couldn't get your equipment to work in such a hostile manner, I think it's a disgrace. I really do.

SCOTT: Let me just ask a follow up, sir. And then we'll move on to other questions here.

Some of your own supporters, including Republicans on Capitol Hill have labeled Vice President Kamala Harris, who is the first Black and Asian American woman to serve as vice president be on a major party ticket as a DEI higher. Is that acceptable language to you? And will you tell those Republicans and those supporters to stop it?

TRUMP: How do you have -- how do you define DEI? Go ahead. How do you define?

SCOTT: Diversity, equity, inclusion?

TRUMP: OK, yes, go ahead. Is that what your definition is? Give me -- give me a definition.

SCOTT: That is -- that is literally the words.

TRUMP: Would you give me a definition of that? Give me a definition.

SCOTT: Sir, I'm asking you a question.

TRUMP: No, you have to define it. define the -- the define it for me if you will.

SCOTT: I just defined it, sir. Do you believe that Vice President Kamala Harris is only on the ticket because she is a Black woman?

TRUMP: Well, I can say no, I think it's maybe a little bit different. So, I've known her a long time indirectly, not directly very much. And she was always of Indian heritage, and she was only promoting Indian heritage. I didn't know she was Black until a number of years ago when she happened to turn Black. And now she wants to be known as Black.

[14:20:11] So, I don't know. Is she Indian? Or is she Black?

SCOTT: She is always identified as Black.

TRUMP: But you know what, I respect either one -- I respect either one. But she obviously doesn't, because she was Indian all the way. And then all of a sudden she made a turn and she went -- she became a Black person.

SCOTT: Just to be clear, sir. Do you believe that she --

TRUMP: And I think somebody should look into that, too, when you ask and continue in a very hostile, nasty tone.

SCOTT: It's a direct question, sir. Do you believe that Vice President Kamala Harris is a DEI hire as some Republicans have said?

TRUMP: I really don't know. I mean, I really don't know, could be -- could be, there are some and there are plenty.

I know this lady right over there. Harris is a fantastic person who just interviewed me at length. And we had a great interview, I think, and I heard you got very good ratings on that.

HARRIS FAULKNER, MODERATOR: Well, you told me it was the longest one of your life. So, we had a good discussion.

Look, I want to talk about why you're here today. I mean, it is not lost on us how divided we are as a country. And as you were coming today, we really got to see that we are divided along the lines of race, along the lines of gender. And there is this question of in this moment where we are, why come here? What is your message today?

TRUMP: My message is to stop people from invading our country that are taking, frankly, a lot of problems with it. But one of the big problems and a lot of the journalists in this room I know and I have great respect for, a lot of the journalists in this room are Black, I will tell you that coming from the border are millions and millions of people that happen to be taking Black jobs, you had the best --

SCOTT: What exactly is a Black job, sir?

TRUMP: A Black job is anybody that has a job. That's what it is, anybody that has a job.

FAULKNER: All right, Mr. President --

TRUMP: And they take they're taking the employment away from Black people. They're coming in and they're coming in, they're invading. It's an invasion of millions of people, probably 15, 16, 17 million people, I have a feeling it's much more than that.

And everybody's been seeing what's happened. The first group of people, the Black population is affected most by that. And Kamala is allowing it to happen. She's the border czar, she's the worst border czar in the history of the world, there has never been a border czar like this. She's never even essentially been. She said she was there once but not the right part of the border.

So, she was a border czar. She's done a horrible job. These people are coming into our country, and they're taking Black jobs and Hispanic jobs.

And frankly, they're taking union jobs. Unions have been very badly affected by all of the millions of people that are pouring into our country.

And one thing, Harris, as we discussed, many of these people are coming in from mental institutions, from prisons, from jails, there are gang members in other countries.

Other countries are setting loose their prisoners, they're opening up their prisons and their mental institutions. And they're taking they're bad people, drug dealers, a gang members, and they're bringing them into the United States.

And by the way, their crime rate is going down. And our crime rate is going to be a disaster.

FAULKNER: Mr. President, I want to get into how you address some of the issues with Black communities. And I say that plural, because we live in communities of color that are different. We're not all the same. We don't vote the same. We don't think the same.

TRUMP: Sure.

FAULKNER: It's not monolithic. So, as you come here today, I want to talk about something that bursts. And this is the weight of the inflation on this country right now.

The nonprofit Money Management International recently released data from its midyear analysis that we have found a 52 percent rise in people who are seeking counseling for being in credit debt.

They're paying for food that is sky high on their credit cards, and now they can't pay that off. The credit counseling nonprofit MMI, as I said, is saying now that they've seen surges that they haven't seen since we were in a pandemic of people in financial trouble.

Much of that falls on the shoulders of single moms, single Black moms, when you look statistically. How do you turn it around? What's your plan for the Black community when it comes to money?

TRUMP: So, first of all, it's very hard to hear you for whatever reason, because of the fact that they have bad equipment because I guess, you know, this woman was unable to get the right equipment, but it's very hard for me to hear you but I can hear every other word. It's very difficult actually.

But so, I don't know what they can fix it or do something with it, but I'll do the best I can with it. The inflation is absolutely destroying our middle class, our working class, virtually every class, inflation is a disaster in our country. Inflation is a country Buster, it breaks every country. We had, in my opinion, the worst inflation we've had. They say it's 58 years. But I think it's much more than that. It's been devastating.

[14:25:01]

And if you just take a look at a lot of things they don't include, like interest rates, interest rates went from 2.4 percent to 10 percent and you can't get the money. People can't buy houses, they no longer have the American dream, young people, young Black people, they don't have the American dream anymore. They can't buy a house, they can't borrow the money, because of the cost of the money. They can't buy it because of the cost of housing, because of the cost to build it, because of inflation.

Inflation is a disaster, and it's destroying our country. And it's destroying the Black community probably as much or more then any --

FAULKNER: So, what do you do? What's your plan?

TRUMP: You know, we have to do? We have to bring down the cost of energy. And that's going to bring down the cost of inflation. This was all started with a bad energy policy by Joe Biden.

By the way, just if I might, I was running against a man named Biden, you probably saw that. And he was losing very badly in the polls. And then he had a rather bad debate. I would say it was a bad debate, I would say it was one of the worst, worst debates in history. And his poll numbers crashed.

And instead of saying, you know, let's keep going, and maybe something happens the other way. They said, oh, we're going to replace him. Let's just replace him. That's like you're in a fight. A prizefighter is in a fight. He's not doing what you say, let's bring in another fighter.

So, our whole campaign was steered toward him. And now we have to steer it to her.

But ultimately, it's the same because they have bad policy. They have policies of open borders, unbelievable open borders, horrible energy policies, they want to get rid of, as you say, gasoline and cars, they want to get rid of oil, they want to get rid of efficient, efficient heating, environmentally what they're doing is killing our country. They're absolutely destroying our country.

But the inflation is the thing that's hurting the Black worker, the Black population and every other population within our country. Inflation is the worst it's been I think it over 100 years. And they'll fact check it, they'll say it's only 58.

Whatever it may be, they don't add all the numbers. They don't add the really bad numbers. And you can check that too. But inflation Harris is absolutely destroying this country and the people in our country.

Yes, ma'am?

KADIA GOBA, MODERATOR: Mr. President, can I ask you another question and it's also impacting Black American.

TRUMP: And that's very clear now.

GOBA: I'm sorry?

TRUMP: It's very clear. I hear you.

GOBA: OK. So, Sonya Massey, someone from Illinois, an unarmed Black woman was shot the other day in her home by a deputy sheriff. The deputy has since been charged with murder.

You said police would get immunity from prosecution if you win. Why should someone like that officer have immunity in your opinion?

TRUMP: Immunity? I don't know the exact case. But I saw something. And it didn't look -- it didn't look good to me. It didn't look good to me. Are you talking with the water, right?

GOBA: Yes. Well, I mean, police unions are not backing this person either.

TRUMP: OK.

GOBA: But again --

TRUMP: Are they going to be charging the officer? I guess they're charging the officer.

GOBA: So, why should he receive immunity?

TRUMP: Well, he might not. I mean, it depends. It depends on what happens. I'm talking about people that are much different cases than that. We need people to protect ourselves.

And by the way, in Chicago as an example, let a few weeks ago, July 4th weekend, they had 117 shootings and 17 deaths. Nobody wants that. Nobody wants that.

We need to have our police officers have the respect and dignity back. In this particular case, I saw something that didn't look good to me. I didn't like it. I didn't like it at all.

GOBA: So, can you get a little more specific back to the immunity question? Who would make those distinctions?

TRUMP: Well, for the most part -- for the most part, people are protected by their unions, by their police unions or by their police departments.

But I'm saying if I feel or if a group of people would feel that somebody was being unfairly prosecuted because the person did a good job, maybe with crime, or made a mistake, an innocent mistake, there's a big difference between being a bad person and making an innocent mistake. But if somebody made an innocent mistake, I would want to help that person.

GOBA: What would those exceptions be? What was -- what would determine an innocent mistake?

TRUMP: You go after somebody and it's a very close call and it's very dangerous and you know, they have the policeman's life and woman is a very difficult thing because sometimes you have less than a second to make it, you know life and death decision and sometimes very bad decisions are made. They're not made from an evil standpoint, but they're made from the standpoint of they made a mistake.

GOBA: Sir, I want to follow up really quickly. You know, I find it is interesting because you do talk about reining in prosecute especially when it comes to prosecutors that are prosecuting you. Why doesn't that skepticism apply to law enforcement? Well,

TRUMP: Well, I've been prosecuted --