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DNC: Harris Earns Enough Votes To Become Democratic Nominee; Markets Tumble After Latest Jobs Report Misses Expectations. Aired 1:30-2p ET

Aired August 02, 2024 - 13:30   ET

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

[13:30:00]

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: Because, Jamal, as the Democrat on our panel, you've been riding that wave, from the nadir post-debate with Joe Biden to what appears to be a unified party looking forward to the convention, polling pretty close to Donald Trump in key swing states.

JAMAL SIMMONS, FORMER COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR TO VP HARRIS: Yes, those days after the convention were some pretty tough days to do television, I have to tell you.

So in the Democratic Party, we have nominated the vice president every single time a vice president has run for office in the modern era. So you think about whether it's Hubert Humphrey or Walter Mondale, Al Gore. So it would have been irregular for us not to nominate a vice president.

And if you think about the last two vice presidents to get elected to the White House, whether it was Joe Biden, who just got elected, or it was George H.W. Bush, how people felt about the president they worked with was a great indicator as to how they ultimately -- whether they ultimately succeeded.

You know, Al Gore won the popular vote. I've worked in that campaign. He won the popular vote, but people had mixed feelings about Bill Clinton. And we had a mixed result, right? And that election ended up with George W. Bush.

What we saw last night, when the vice president and the president we're together on that tarmac, it's the strength of something that I think people will ultimately come to regard Joe Biden for.

While his poll numbers have been in the doldrums, a lot of people feel very positively about him. And he has the chance over the course of the next couple of months to keep reminding people why they voted for him.

And obviously, this moment where he decided to take himself out of the race for the sake of the country is something that people feel very positively about.

So I just think Kamala Harris is on a good standing as somebody who's been vice president to a president that people I think are going to hold in higher regard and the powers of incumbency. These moments where national security is at play, the economy's at

play. She really will have a leg up on Donald Trump, who, in a way, right now, is fighting an octopus.

Because he's got Joe Biden, Kamala Harris, Barack Obama, the Clintons, all these people with national standing, who can come at him from any direction.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: All right, Jamal, if you can stay with us and our whole panel will, we have a lot to discuss on this story.

Again, our breaking news this hour, the DNC saying that Vice President Kamala Harris has earned enough delegates for the Democratic nomination for president. She just marked that moment on a call as well.

We'll be right back with more.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:36:52]

SANCHEZ: We're following breaking news into CNN this afternoon. Vice President Kamala Harris has earned enough votes to win the Democratic Party presidential nomination. She sort of accepted it on a phone call just moments ago, right?

She -- she called herself the presumptive nominee, but there's nobody really running against her. So it's fair to say she will be the Democratic nominee.

We have Molly Ball with us, who's been patiently waiting and listening alongside us.

Molly, your reaction to this news. It -- just about a month-and-a-half ago, no one really saw this coming.

MOLLY BALL, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: No. I mean -- I mean, maybe a little bit, right? She was the vice president, so she was the next in line. And we had already seen the Trump campaign start to make arguments, calling her a sort of president in waiting because of the concern about Joe Biden's age.

So she was a factor in the campaign. She was someone who was being scrutinized. But obviously, it has been a pretty head-spinning news cycle for all of this to have changed so quickly.

And we have seen both campaigns just have to hatchet and throw out their playbook and start from scratch with really unpredictable results.

So I think, you know, Jamal put his finger on it earlier about sort of what the promise and the problem are for Vice President Harris.

Which is, on the one hand, she is a potentially history-making candidate. She is potentially the first woman president, first black woman president, the first president of South Asian or Asian descent.

And all of those things code to voters as new, as change. And in an atmosphere where the electorate really is not happy with the direction of the country and wants change, that, in addition to her being much younger than Joe Biden, is very powerful in terms of the way she comes across.

On the other hand, she has been a part of this administration. And this administration and its policies are not popular. Joe Biden's approval rating has gone up since he quit the race, but he's still not popular.

And so to the extent that she is seen as part of that problem, part of the status quo, that is going to be the main thing she has to overcome.

KEILAR: Yes. I mean, I think, Molly, it's still to be seen with very important constituencies in very important states, how she is doing.

But there's also -- I mean, just subjectively, she's done qualitatively pretty well, right? I think we can all agree on that, so far, as this has rolled out.

Which leads us to the question of, when is she going to have a misstep? They're just part and parcel for being in a campaign.

And I wonder -- you know, perhaps one opportunity for that could be giving an interview. I wonder what you are seeing ahead that could be these moments that could be challenging for Vice President Harris?

BALL: Well, I certainly hope that she gives interviews. The "Wall Street Journal" is a great platform, for example --

(LAUGHTER)

BALL: -- policies.

(LAUGHTER)

BALL: Speaking as a journalist, but also speaking as an American.

I do think that she -- she owes it to people to lay out where she stands on all these issues and not just do it by having, you know, her spokespeople give background quotes saying that she no longer supports whatever position she took last time around.

[13:40:04]

People do want to know where she stands. People, I think, understand that this is a very fast rollout for her and that she's got a lot of things to do, including picking a running mate.

But I think it is going to be incumbent for her to define herself in more than just slogans and to really say where she stands on a lot of the issues that people care about. Because look, if she wants to make this campaign about the future, she's got to tell people what that future vision is for her in terms of the policies that she plans to try to enact.

SANCHEZ: CNN, we should note, Molly, also a great place to sort of outline your vision for the next four years for the country.

KEILAR: The visual element.

SANCHEZ: Yes. Also -- also one advantage.

Nevertheless, David, another opportunity would be at a debate. And there's some question as to whether or not the previously scheduled debate between Donald Trump and Joe Biden is going to happen given that the Trump campaign is saying, well, things have changed now that it's Kamala Harris.

DAVID CHALIAN, CNN POLITICAL DIRECTOR: Yes. I think they said that they're waiting until should be officially becomes the nominee to actually engage with it. Well, welcome to this new phase of the debate over debates now that she has crossed this threshold.

By the way, as we we're sitting here, I just thought that they sent out a fundraising appeal where she says, "I've just secured enough delegates to win the nomination, please donate," to Isaac's point about wanting to keep injecting sugar into this.

But I do think, you know, the Trump campaign had committed to a September 10th debate on ABC as the second debate after the CNN debate in June. Clearly, they have not completely pulled out of that yet.

But they've made clear indications that that is not their desire anymore to do that debate, either on that date or with that network or what have you.

So I do think we are sort of in this moment here, A, will there be a debate? Let's hope so for the American people. Because that is extraordinarily valuable to voters to see the options before them side-by-side.

So I certainly hope there is. And there will be pressure for him to do so.

When it happens, where it happens, how it happens, what that said. I think when you do replace a candidate on top of the ticket, I don't think it's unreasonable that there's a new negotiation around what that is.

And I think that's what these campaigns are going to have to engage in now.

KEILAR: Who might pay politically, David, do you think, if they don't debate?

CHALIAN: Listen, candidates tend to agree to debates when they think it's going to serve their interests, right? And so both Joe Biden and Donald Trump agreed to that first early June debate because they thought it was both going to serve their interests.

That obviously did not prove out to be true. It did not serve Joe Biden's interests, clearly, the way that he performed at that debate.

So the question, Brianna, I asked back is sort of like, whose interests does it serve? And I think that you can still make the argument that there is interest for both of them, that they could both get something positive out of the debate.

You were just talking about different slices of voters in key states now. I do you think with, as we see the enthusiasm for Republicans around their nominee and now for Democrats around their nominee, we've gotten back to actually a more traditional place in American politics.

Where the partisans or rallying around and this fight over the middle, I think, whereas Joe Biden was fighting to actually energize his own team back onto the field, that doesn't seem to be Kamala Harris' concern right now.

And so now I think we're back into this very traditional -- like these seven battleground states, these voters in the middle of the electorate that are going to have to be swayed one way or the other.

And I think there's probably value for both candidates and debating to appeal to those voters.

SANCHEZ: Somehow back to where we started in a funny way.

(LAUGHTER)

KEILAR: Yes.

SANCHEZ: David, Molly, Jamal, Isaac, Jeff, great conversation. Appreciate it. Please come back sometime.

Much more to discuss on this story. Ahead, our breaking news this hour, the DNC saying that Vice President Kamala Harris has earned the Democratic nomination for president.

We'll be right back.

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[13:47:55]

SANCHEZ: Markets are tumbling. All three indices heading down. The Dow, down some 860-ish points. Why? Investors are worried after a disappointing jobs report was released earlier today.

The labor market cooling off far more than expected. And now there are concerns that the economy has slowed down too quickly and could lead to a recession.

Wall Street, though, is betting that the Fed will come to the rescue.

KEILAR: The Biden administration is trying to downplay fears in what has become one of the key issues of the presidential race. As they say, it's the economy, stupid.

Here's the acting labor secretary telling CNN that the dreaded "R" word is not inevitable.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JULIE A. SU, ACTING LABOR SECRETARY: Both our indicators are not consistent with Recession. One hundred and fourteen thousand jobs last month is still, you know, higher than -- the last administration had seven months of less than 100,000 jobs and, you know, a four-year overall net decrease.

And so we are still looking at over 15 million jobs created in this economy. Defying all expectations. A transition as planned from rapid recovery to sustainable growth.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: We have CNN's Matt Egan there for us at the Magic Wall.

I see, Matt, this soft-landing honeymoon was just way too short. Could have lasted a little longer in my opinion. Take us through the numbers here.

MATT EGAN, CNN REPORTER: Well, Boris and Brianna, listen, this jobs report was weak, surprisingly weak, and it is amplifying these concerns about the economy that have started to emerge.

Let's break down the actual numbers here in the jobs report. The unemployment rate was expected to be flat. It did not stay flat. It went up to four 4.3 percent, going in the wrong direction. And 114,000 jobs were added last month. That was a big miss.

Let's look at the trend here for job growth. I think that it's clear when you look at this chart of jobs added so far this year that things have slowed down.

I mean, as recently as March, the economy was adding 300,000 jobs. Even in May, we were still at 200,000. Now, much closer to 100,000. That is a big deceleration. Still adding jobs, but not by enough to keep up with all the supply of workers.

[13:50:05]

That's why we've seen the unemployment rate move higher, 4.3 percent. Obviously, miles away from the spike to 15 percent back during Covid. But it has moved higher. This is actually the highest rate in nearly three years.

I think the truth is, it's just too soon to know whether or not this is a growth scare or something more serious. One bad jobs report is not enough to make a recession.

And in fact, I talked to the top economist at Bank of America and he told me that he still thinks the most likely scenario is a soft landing -- Brianna and Boris? SANCHEZ: So, Matt, walk us through how the markets are responding now.

EGAN: Yes, markets are not taking all of this well at all. You see the Dow is down almost 800 points, nearly 2 percent. The NASDAQ, 2.5 percent.

The good news here is that actually this is off the worst levels of the day, if you believe it. At one point, the Dow was down nearly 1,000 points and the NASDAQ was down 3 percent.

Investors are clearly pricing in the greater chance of at least a slowdown in the economy. They're also betting that the Fed is going to have to come to the rescue.

Look at this. The odds of a large rate cut at the next meeting in September, a 50-basis point cut, this was looked at as very unlikely just 24 four hours ago when it was at 22 percent.

Now, the markets are pricing in basically a two in three chance that the Fed is going to have to do a big rate cut in September. That is quite the move in a short amount of time. And it does reflect this growing sense that maybe the Fed is late, right?

Remember, the Fed was late back in 2021 to respond to inflation, waiting too long to raise interest rates. Now there's concerns that it's waiting too long to cut them to respond to these cracks that have emerged in the jobs market.

One last thing I'm going to leave you with, though, is let's look at where the markets have been over the last year. It's true that today has been an ugly day. Yesterday was a bad day, too, for the market.

But look at this. We are well above where the market was earlier this year. You can see things are obviously getting a little bit bumpier in the market. And that reflects the fact that the risks have risen as far as what happens to the economy.

But thankfully, the market is still up over the past year. It's just gotten more volatile -- Boris and Brianna?

KEILAR: All right. Matt, thank you so much for that.

We do continue our breaking news coverage of what is really history in the making. Vice President Kamala Harris set to become the first black woman, the first woman of South Asian descent to lead a major party ticket.

This hour, Harris earning enough delegate votes from across the country to clinch the nomination.

So let's go straight to CNN's M.J. Lee, who is live outside of the White House.

M.J., tell us about the significance of this moment nearly two weeks after President Biden decided to drop out of the race and endorsed his vice president. M.J. LEE, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, when the vice president can I called into the DNC meeting earlier this hour, she did make clear, I am going to formally accept next week when the voting process ends.

But what happened today is still really a moment in history, as you guys were talking about, the fact that she now has enough delegates to become the party's nominee.

There is nobody else. There's nobody challenging her. There's nobody else that can get enough votes to win other than her. So this is really her, the vice president, having locked this up in a matter of days, just 12 days after President Biden announced that he was going to be dropping out of the 2024 race.

And you know, we keep talking about this moment of transition and using the phrase "passing of the torch." I know it's overused, but it is really the one that comes to mind so often.

And you sense that when you are covering the president, covering the vice president, just more moments where you see the vice presidents sort of stepping into the spotlight.

And if I could, I know that earlier in the hour you guys took a beat to talk about the fact that she is going to be making history as the first woman who is black, who is of South Asian descent that is going to be at the top of the major party -- Democratic -- Democratic Party's ticket -- excuse me.

But I do think that is worth just taking an extra beat to digest. You know, Brianna, I've been thinking about the fact that, you know, you and I covered Hillary Clinton back in 2016 together, out on the road with her.

And eight years later, here we are, under the most extraordinary political circumstances, we now have a yet another woman and, again, a woman of color who is going to be at the top of this ticket.

And I do think there's just going to be so much hope that is put on her, in the same way that there was a lot of hope that we witnessed we talked to voters across the country, again, eight years ago that was placed on Hillary Clinton.

The circumstances, again, are obviously very different. I think a lot of people see the vice president as sort of filling that role of first. She checks a lot of those boxes, those historic first boxes.

[13:55:08]

They see her that's sort of the next generation of talent. They see her as being, yes, the person that is really different from President Joe Biden in so many ways. One of those ways, of course, being that she is in a totally separate generation from the president.

So I do think we are headed towards this moment where, heading into November, we will see a lot of people across the country taking that kind of hope with them into Election Day.

And I think that is going to be a really remarkable moment, and just a dynamic year we shouldn't underplay as we talk about the fact that she has gotten enough votes to become the party's nominee.

KEILAR: Yes, it is really a historic moment that has, you know, showed up rather quickly and unexpectedly here for us.

M.J. Lee, thank you so much, live for us from the White House.

And still ahead, just minutes from now, the acting U.S. Secret Service director, Ronald Rowe, will be holding a press conference with an update in the investigation into the assassination attempt of former President Trump.

We're going to be taking this live. You see these live pictures coming in. Stay with us for that.

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