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Sources: Harris Had Not Made A Decision As Of Last Night; Debby Slams Georgia As Residents Brace For Potentially Catastrophic Floods; Pentagon Blames Iran-Aligned Militia Groups For Attack On U.S. Troops. Aired 7:30-8a ET

Aired August 06, 2024 - 07:30   ET

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

[07:30:00]

DANNY FREEMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well John, to be perfectly honest with you, so far, all is quiet. All seems to be pretty much the status quo here outside of the governor's house in Montgomery County. His security detail pretty much looks the same -- looks normal like it was yesterday.

And frankly, yesterday seemed like a normal day for a governor of this great commonwealth. He got up here in Montgomery County and drove out to Harrisburg and spent most of the day at the Capitol. He drove back here and didn't respond to our shouted questions. And then he actually shot some hoops with his son outside in the driveway before ultimately heading in.

So believe me John, if there are tea leaves out here on the ground to read, we are working to find them.

But let me just describe to you a little bit about who we're talking about here just to set the scene. John, we're talking about Josh Shapiro, of course. He's the 48th governor of the state of Pennsylvania. He's actually the third Jewish governor of the state of Pennsylvania. But if he were on the ticket and then he became the vice president, he would be the first Jewish vice president in our nation's history.

And Gov. Shapiro is a first-term governor. He just got here -- inaugurated, I should say, in 2023. But he's used that year and a half of being in the governor's office to not only boost his national profile -- you might remember a portion of I-95 collapsed here in Philadelphia -- or not far from here in Philadelphia -- and he made sure to go in there and work to get it reopened within two weeks or so and then ultimately, get that entire highway repaired.

He also spoke out heavily about antisemitism in the wake of the October 7 attacks as well, again boosting his national profile.

But some of those views that Josh Shapiro has on Israel -- that's also put him into a little bit of the scrutiny machine over the past two weeks as this veepstakes process has gone on. Some progressive folks taking umbrage at some of his past views. But Shapiro, over the past two weeks, has said emphatically he's for a two-state solution and that's a view that he's held over much of his public career.

So we've seen a lot of those instances which have gotten him to this place. But the biggest benefit, potentially, that he has to a ticket here with Kamala Harris, his approval -- his favorability ratings, I should say, incredibly high here in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. That's one of the biggest reasons why they think he could be an asset in taking this state's 19 electoral votes -- John.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: All right, Danny Freeman in Montgomery County in Pennsylvania.

Just so people know, the SUVs -- we showed video of SUVs going in and out of the driveway. That was from before. No movement right now.

Let's get to St. Paul, Minnesota. Whitney Wild standing by outside the home of Gov. Tim Walz. What are you seeing, Whitney?

WHITNEY WILD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Very quiet here as well. We have not seen that telltale sign when a bunch of Secret Service SUVs roll up. We haven't seen anything like that. This is very much the status quo here as well.

We were at a fundraiser last night, so we got to see Gov. Tim Walz sort of work the room. And he really keyed in on some three things here. He said that he's really trying to push forward a feeling of joy and a feeling of unity.

And he really talked about his experience having come up from becoming a former football coach, high school teacher, and then joining public life in 2006 when he ran and won his first congressional race. And he actually ousted a six-term incumbent Republican in a rural area of Minnesota. And so what he may bring to the table is this ability to bring in voters in rural areas with quite a bit of red -- you know, Republican-leaning voters and be able to bridge that gap.

And so, again, he talked about -- quite a bit about unity. About pushing forward a message of joy.

And then finally, John, he did reference something that has put him on the national map, certainly, and it's this attack line that he lobbed against President -- former President Trump and the vice presidential candidate on the Republican ticket, J.D. Vance, when he called them "weird." That attack line has really taken off, John.

And he referenced that and said just to be clear, he was -- what he said was making an observation, but he wanted to be very clear that he was not calling Republicans weird. And he said these are my neighbors. These are people that I love. And what he wants to do is try to push forward the opportunity to have healthy discourse between people -- a very different side to the political aisle in a respectful way. And what he kept saying is a joyful way. So he really wanted to spread a message of joy and unity.

But again for people who don't know him, he is in his second term as the governor of Minnesota. He's been in public life since 2006 when he won that first congressional race. And John, notably, he ushered the state through some of its most turbulent times during those protests following the murder of George Floyd in 2020.

But right here on the ground as we wait to see if he is the pick, it is very quiet. So we'll keep you posted, John.

BERMAN: It is a special stakeout out the home -- outside the home of a potential VP pick.

Whitney Wild, our thanks to you in St. Paul and Danny Freeman in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania. Thanks to both of you.

Sara, I do understand we got a little bit of information coming in.

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: We do have some new information on how Vice President Kamala Harris is thinking through this pick and whether or not she knew who the person was last night.

[07:35:02]

CNN's MJ Lee is in Philadelphia for us. Let's quickly get to her. She has some new reporting for us this morning. What do you got?

MJ LEE, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, Sara, I am learning that Vice President Kamala Harris actually went to bed last night not yet having made a decision on her vice presidential running mate and chose to sleep on this decision for one more night. That, of course, means that decision is going to be made sometime this morning and that she's going to be able to inform that running mate of that decision today as well as, of course, the advisers that are around her.

Now, despite that decision not having been made last night, of course, the preparations for that eventual public announcement, not to mention the Philadelphia rally where the two are going to be appearing together for the first time this evening, those have had to continue. And so the campaign, I am told, has actually printed up multiple versions of signs featuring Harris' name as well as the potential multiple running mates that she might be choosing today.

Again, the news here is that Vice President Harris did not have a decision on this as of last night when she was going to sleep. She needed an extra night to sleep on this decision and is going to be making that call this morning.

Again, when we find out eventually who that choice is going to be, this is just something that we should be keeping in mind. This was a decision that ultimately really came down to the wire really until the final minutes and hours of that decision and the moment where she would have had to make this public. Because again, there is sort of that hard drop deadline of this evening when this rally is going to proceed.

We will know as we are talking about that decision, once we know what it is, that it really came down to the wire and it was a decision that she really made at the last minute, Sara. SIDNER: All right, thank you so much, MJ Lee, with that new bit of information.

Joining us now to continue this discussion, Republican strategist and political commentator Joseph Pinion, and former campaign manager for Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign, Robby Mook. Thank you both for coming in this morning to talk about this.

Robby, I'm going to go to you now because obviously, we're just getting this new information that Vice President Harris had to sleep on it. She had not made her pick or made the calls to her pick last night. That ostensibly is happening this morning. We don't know if it's happened yet.

If you were going to pick, who do you think best helps her try to win this race against former President Donald Trump?

ROBBY MOOK, FORMER CAMPAING MANAGER, HILLARY CLINTON'S PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN: Well, I think, and particularly in contrast to when I was doing this for Sec. Clinton in 2016, there was really an embarrassment of riches in terms of the talent that she had to choose from. We have so many more governors than we had eight years ago.

And so honestly, I don't think she can go wrong. These are both governors. They're both blue wall governors. And look, Pennsylvania is uniquely important in this race. Those 19 electoral votes that are there are hard to find in other states on the map.

So there is something to be said for picking Josh Shapiro because if he can even provide a point or two points advantage that can easily be the margin of victory. We -- that state has gone by less than a point in the last two presidential elections.

But honestly, she can't go wrong. These are both very qualified people and I think either would be excellent vice president.

SIDNER: Yeah. A lot of folks talking about the electoral college this morning. It makes a huge difference. You've got all these swing states as well in play.

Joseph, when you look at this, who should Republicans be worried about, or are they? Do they care about who the pick is?

JOSEPH PINION, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST, POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Oh, look, I think first and foremost, the elephant in the room -- Democrats are putting on a great show. I mean, if you want to talk about stealing the entire news cycle, Kamala Harris tossing and turning through the night to try to figure out who she's going to pick as her running mate when in all reality I'm pretty sure she already knows. But if you're talking about monopolizing the news cycle and continuing this momentum that she has, probably a good way to go about doing it. So, bravo.

As to who they pick, I think Republicans are just anxious for her to pick somebody for this race to be reset. For us to finally have a conversation about the issues. I think with Democrats, they're going to have to juxtapose two very

different things.

If it is the governor Minnesota, we're going to be having a very real conversation about the largest insurance policy ever filed for civil unrest in this country as a result of the wildfire that was all across this country in the aftermath of George Floyd.

If we're talking about somebody like the governor of Pennsylvania, you're going to be having a conversation about the fact that in rooms you like to pretend that don't exist there will people concerned about the fact that a man whose last name ended in a vowel and who believes that Israel has a right to exist is going to be on the ticket. People in his own party calling him "Genocide Josh." Again, just a reminder of the strain of antisemitism has gone unaddressed on the left.

[07:40:03]

So I think those are all the issues.

Again, I would agree with Robby there is an embarrassment of riches here to choose from politically. But I think ultimately, choosing the VP resets this race and gets us back squarely talking about these issues for a race to the finish.

SIDNER: Well, let's talk about the issues because one of the people that is not talking about the issues very much is Donald Trump. He has been on the stump, he has been doing interviews, and he has been going after her in different ways, but mostly talking about her personality.

This is what he put on Truth Social earlier yesterday where he talked about her name again -- mistakenly putting her name wrong. Kamabla, I think, is how he put it.

But here is what he said about -- there it is. Here is what he said about her during an interview. Let's listen to what he said about her running mates versus Kamala Harris herself.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: All of the people that she's looking at are considered much better than her. These were people that were thinking about running. They would have run except that they didn't want to go through this roadblock with her and, you know, because you're the vice president. So they wanted to go pick them. And I think virtually, every one of them is considered better, smarter -- would be a better president than her.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SIDNER: He keeps attacking her, calling her not smart and going after her. And he's done this over and over and over, particularly to Black women.

Is this a smart move on his part? PINION: Well look, I don't think that President Trump has even been one to mince words with anyone. I would make the argument it is not wise to be attacking Kamala Harris in that manner.

I think it is wiser to focus squarely on the issues. What is going on with our southern border. What is happening with the economy as the Dow goes down over 1,000 points yesterday. What is happening with a world torn asunder under the guise of an administration that was supposed to be the return to normal administration.

And now, Gaza is ablaze. You have the South China Sea, which is inflamed. You have again, what's happening on our southern border -- not just the migrant crisis but the fentanyl crisis as well.

And so these are all the issues that I think are better suited to attack Kamala Harris. She wants to take all the good of the Biden- Harris administration. She wants to pretend none of the bad ever happened. You cannot have it both ways. You have to own the entirety of it or acknowledge that you were in the building but never has he allowed him to do anything.

SIDNER: Joseph, to your point, I want to ask you, Robby. She's not done an interview. She has not done a press conference for a couple of weeks here now. Is that a big mistake on her part? Because she is going to have to answer tough questions about some of the polices, including, of course, the border.

MOOK: Well, first of all, it's only been two weeks, and this was quite a surprise for everybody, including her. And so she's taking time to do things like pick her vice president. She's going to have the convention next week, which will be an important opportunity to roll out what you're -- a lot of what you're talking about. What is that vision she has for the country? What is her plan for the future. And then I'm sure she's going to be giving interviews after that and there will be plenty of time to do that.

But I think it does speak to the problem in this race, which is we're seeing across the world, change elections are happening. And I think this is going to be a change election as well. And Donald Trump got a little soft and complacent thinking he could just run against Biden and wouldn't really have to say what he's for. And the thing is if he continues to act the same way he's been acting for the last eight years he's not going to be a change candidate.

And Harris has been a breath of fresh air. She's talking about turning the page. But I'd say most importantly, she's focused on the future. That's what I'm eager to hear her talk more about at the convention and in interviews.

And Donald Trump -- if he can't talk about the future, if he can't have a hopeful message, he's not going to represent change and he's going to lose this election.

SIDNER: Robby Mook and Joseph Pinion, thank you, gentlemen, both for coming on and having this good, honest discussion. Appreciate it -- John. BERMAN: All right. This morning, a new tornado watch just issued for the Carolinas as Tropical Storm Debby is whipping the Southeastern U.S. There have been at least five deaths so far from the storm. Two tornadoes confirmed near Charleston, South Carolina. There, and in Georgia, residents are bracing for potential catastrophic floods.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOSEPH A. MELDER, CITY MANAGER, SAVANNAH, GEORGIA: Historic or unprecedented rainfall totals for our area with a probability of less than one percent happening on any given year in our area, this is once in a thousand year potential rainfall event.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: All right, CNN meteorologist Derek Van Dam is with us now. We are seeing a lot of rain, Derek.

DEREK VAN DAM, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Yeah, and it's hard to believe that Charleston, just in a few short days, could have more than half their entire annual rainfall budget just in a few days. And it's all because of the remnants of Debby here, which are just bringing a firehose of water onto the South Carolina coast. I mean, you can follow it all the way back into the ocean.

[07:45:08]

That was aimed right at Charleston earlier this morning. There's a bit of a reprieve but more rain will certainly set up behind it. And we've got our tornado threat as well.

Remember, that firehose of water is creating inland flooding but that's working against the onshore flow, which is creating a storm surge component. So the water has nowhere to go but up. That is why Charleston, particularly, is so vulnerable to flooding.

Now, I want to show you just this influence long the entire Eastern Seaboard going forward. We've got a cold front that's going to sweep down from the Northwest. It's going to interact with moisture from Debby and it's going to enhance rainfall today across New York City and Philadelphia. So we need to be very aware of what could potentially unfold within that area.

But as we focus our attention across the Carolinas and into the coastal areas of Georgia, we still have our very rare high-level risk from the weather prediction center of excessive rainfall leading to flash flooding, and that's because over 15 inches of rain is in this forecast. But extending that further afield, the entire Eastern Seaboard set up for extremely heavy rainfall for the next couple of days.

I've got a moderate risk today -- Philadelphia. We've got the VP in Philadelphia later this afternoon and that could be impacted by weather. I mean, just look at this influx of very moist air that will bring rainfall for the next several days for the East Coast -- John. BERMAN: It looks like it will be some time before I'm sunbathing again.

Derek Van Dam, thank you so much for that -- Sara.

SIDNER: All right.

BERMAN: I know that's disappointing.

SIDNER: That's so disappointing, John. We feel bad for you.

BERMAN: All right. I appreciate it.

SIDNER: All right.

Coming up, how a federal judge is ruling against Google could change the way you use the internet.

And a plane making a crash landing on a green, narrowly missing a golfer. Look at this video. We'll discuss what happened -- goodness.

(COMMERCIAL)

[07:51:20]

BERMAN: This morning, the chair of the Senate Finance Committee says Justice Clarence Thomas took a previously undisclosed flight on a private jet owned by Republican megadonor Harlan Crow in 2010. It's the latest example of the conservative justice accepting luxury travel from Crow -- the latest example of that becoming public. Thomas did not respond to a request for comment.

A federal judge has ruled that Google broke U.S. antitrust laws with its search business. The judge said Google is a monopoly that acted illegally to keep its power, violating the Sherman Act. Google spent tens of billions on exclusive deals to be the default search provider on smartphones and web browsers.

A wildfire has burned through multiple homes on a hillside neighborhood of San Bernadino County, California. Firefighters have been able to stop the forward progress though evacuation orders do remain in effect.

So look at this. A small plane made an emergency landing on a golf course in Sacramento. I'm just trying to see if we actually see the landing. There it is. The pilot walked away with only minor injuries. No one else was hurt. There is it -- wow. And the golf course reported only minor damages -- Sara.

SIDNER: All right.

New for you this morning, the Pentagon is blaming Iran-aligned militia groups for the rocket attack that injured several U.S. troops at the Al-Asad Airbase in Iraq on Monday. The Defense Department called the attack a dangerous escalation. This, of course, comes just after President Biden and Vice President

Harris were briefed in the Situation Room on threats posed by Iran and its proxies.

CNN chief international correspondent Clarissa Ward is live for us in Tel Aviv. I know there, they are awaiting what they expect to be an attack, which is potentially imminent today.

CLARISSA WARD, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Sara. And we're definitely seeing an uptick in the tempo of back-and- forth on that northern border between Israel and Lebanon with Hezbollah announcing last night that they sent several swarms of attack drones. Israel reporting that several people were injured in the town of Nahariyya.

Similarly, Israel also saying that they had carried out strikes inside Lebanese territory. Lebanese authorities saying at least five killed in one town. And Hezbollah saying two Hezbollah fighters and a paramedic were killed.

So this is certainly something of an increase from what we have seen previously. Whether this is the beginning of the retaliation or simply more or less business as usual remains to be seen. Obviously, we heard from Iran yesterday reiterating, basically, that it was committed to carrying out a punishment for the assassination of Ismail Haniyeh on Iranian territory.

But we also saw in that meeting with President Biden and his National Security Council that there are not as many details that are at least immediately obvious to U.S. officials as to the when and as to the how. There have been talks about possibly two waves of attacks -- one coming from Iran and its various proxies in the region: another coming from Hezbollah in Lebanon.

But for now, there is still a certain degree of ambiguity.

Interesting also to note, Sara, that the Russian former defense minister who is now secretary of the Security Council, Shoigu, was also in Tehran. There have been reports from Reuters that the Iranians were asking the Russians for more air defense weaponry. CNN has not been able to independently confirm that reporting.

[07:55:05]

But certainly, an interesting sign, potentially, of things to come.

And meanwhile, we are just waiting. Here in a couple of hours, Hassan Nasrallah, the leader of Hezbollah, is expected to make some remarks. He last spoke on Friday but didn't give very much away as to what these coming days will bring. And certainly, everybody here, Sara, remaining on a state of alert.

SIDNER: You have the possibility, of course, of the rockets coming from Lebanon and munitions coming from there and coming from Iran. But there is still, of course, the war that is going on in Gaza and every now and then rockets coming from there. What can you tell us about the situation there today?

WARD: Well, the situation in Gaza continues to grind on. Operations continue. Strikes continue. A terrible humanitarian crisis continues.

And that's why, Sara, you're seeing not just U.S. officials but diplomats across the world really pressing home the importance of trying to get back to the negotiating table. Of trying to come together and agree upon a ceasefire deal. Because there's a broader understanding here that there can't be any real meaningful de- escalation from what's going on right now between Israel and Iran, and its various proxies if there is not some kind of resolution to bring a ceasefire to Gaza, to bring the hostages back home to Israel, and to try to chart some meaningful path towards a peaceful resolution, Sara.

SIDNER: All right, thank you so much. Clarissa Ward there live for us in Tel Aviv -- John.

BERMAN: All right, with us now is retired Army Major Mike Lyons. Major, thanks so much for being with us.

What kind of a strategy are you predicting or anticipating from Iran?

MAJOR MIKE LYONS, U.S. ARMY (RET.): So Israel has had the advantage of having an enemy that's not coordinated and synchronized their attacks in the past. So this time, if they don't want to be embarrassed like they were last time -- they threw, basically, the kitchen sink at them -- they'll look at four possible avenues of attack.

The first one is coming from Yemen --

BERMAN: Yeah. Let me just give you a --

LYONS: Yeah.

BERMAN: - a broader, OK?

LYONS: -- going from this direction. You'll see likely attacks coming in from Iraq, from Syria proxies. You'll see Hezbollah rockets come this way. And then likely from Iran itself rockets coming over the horizon.

And then plus, if you look at -- if you look at the area where they're most vulnerable -- and that's kind of like right here -- and I'm concerned about -- I'm concerned about the fact that if the Jordanians don't get involved -- if the Jordanians don't get involved they're very vulnerable to those Iranian slow-moving drones. And I think that's where most of the primary attack is going to be.

BERMAN: You think this is the area where Israel is the most vulnerable from these attacks?

LYON: Yeah, I think so. I think what they'll do is they likely have the Houthis, and they likely have others look to attack American forces that are part of the overall air defense umbrella. Air defense systems are in phases and they're in layers, and the Americans are designed to attack those systems that are coming over the horizon.

If the Houthis go after the American forces there it will leave Israel much less protected in the areas that are close.

BERMAN: Let's actually take a look at what --

LYONS: Yeah.

BERMAN: -- the U.S has got in the region. I mean, the U.S. has stationed all kinds of naval power in there --

LYONS: Right.

BERMAN: -- with more airpower as well around there.

What do you think the U.S. will be doing?

LYONS: Yeah. So they are going to be looking very closely again at rockets coming from Yemen into here. You have the Cole for example -- the USS Cole. That was the ship that was attacked in the late '90s here. They're part of the destroyers. They're part of the defense systems.

But they're going to try to intercept any of these rockets that are coming from Iran over the horizon. They're going to look at Iron Dome and the other Israeli-based systems to take care of the closer ones in here. Again, that spot right between that Jordanian and Israeli border is the most vulnerable and they're going to need the Jordanians to help them.

BERMAN: And then, of course, there is so much focus, just to be clear here, on the northern border of Israel --

LYONS: Yeah.

BERMAN: -- with Lebanon. Because Hezbollah is stationed right here with thousands of --

LYONS: Right.

BERMAN: -- tens of thousands of rockets.

What can Hezbollah do by itself?

LYONS: So, John, they'll overwhelm the air defense systems, and they'll win if they just get anything through. Israel has to have 100 percent of these systems work in order for them to claim victory here. That's where I think that they're also vulnerable as well in the north.

And what -- if this happens and Israel takes casualties, they are going to respond disproportionately. This is only going to escalate the situation.

BERMAN: All right, Mike Lyons. Thank you so much for being here helping us understand what we are seeing on the ground right now. Appreciate your time. We'll check back in with you as the situation develops over the next several hours.

A new hour of CNN NEWS CENTRAL starts right now.

SIDNER: New developments this morning for you on Kamala Harris' vice presidential decision. She has to sleep on it, and her choice, we will learn this morning. We're standing by for the announcement that could come at any moment.

This morning, Debby also wreaking havoc on millions of Americans up and down the East Coast with really heavy rains, dangerous flooding, and tornadoes.