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US Markets Look to Rebound from Monday Losses; Harris will Announce her VP Pick this Morning. Aired: 8-8:30a ET

Aired August 06, 2024 - 08:00   ET

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

[08:00:00]

SARA SIDNER, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: This morning Debby also wreaking havoc on millions of American up and down the east coast with really heavy rains, dangerous flooding and tornadoes. We are tracking that storm for you.

And one day after devastating market losses, things are back in the green. U.S. futures looking up as we wait for the opening bell on Wall Street.

Kate is out today. I'm Sara Sidner with John Berman. This is CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

We're getting closer and closer, standing he by for Vice President Harris's hugely important V.P. announcement that we expect to happen via an online message first, which means refresh buttons are likely getting more action should a "Terminator" movie right now. Moments ago, we learned she did not have a decision last night. She said she needed to sleep on it. Will it be Minnesota Governor Tim Walz or Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro. Sources overnight said the race is down to those two.

We have cameras outside each governor's home watching every move, although it has been very quiet this morning. But first, CNN's M.J. Lee and Philadelphia for all of the breaking news details. M.J., right now, Kamala Harris could be calling one of these two men with some very good news for them. What more can you share about how this decision is happening?

M.J. LEE, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Sara, it is still anybody's guess exactly when Kamala Harris is going to make that phone call and who she is going to call to share that life-changing news with.

But we did learn this morning that, as you mentioned, the vice president had not made a decision as of last night when she was going to bed, and that she essentially decided that she needed that extra final night to sleep on the decision, meaning that this decision is going to get made this morning. That means that phone call will likely come this morning. She is going to be informing her team this morning as well. And presumably the finalists that didn't end up getting the job, they're going to be finding out about that decision sometime today as well. But the preparations, of course, for this eventual announcement, not

to mention that Philadelphia rally that is going to take place this evening here with Harris and her eventual running mate, those have had to proceed it even as the campaign is waiting on her final word. We are told that the campaign has actually printed out multiple versions of campaign signs featuring Harris's name next to the names of multiple contenders that she has been deliberating over. And while I haven't actually confirmed yet which names for these signs were printed out, we do know that there are three names that we have been talking about a lot the last 48 hours or so, and those are, of course, Josh Shapiro, Tim Walz, and Mark Kelly. And we did report that in the final hours, the vice president did seem particularly focused on those first two names, Josh Shapiro and Tim Walz. And all three of them, we should mention, did have in-person interviews with the vice president over the weekend in Washington, D.C.

But Sara, I think one thing that we should just take a beat to talk about is how much of a condensed timeline all of this has really unfolded under given the events of the last 16 days or so. And it is just in a matter of days that the vice president has had to deliberate over some really important questions as she has tried to make this decision. Questions like, who could actually help her win, who could be a good governing partner for her? Who does she have a good and strong personal chemistry with?

To that end, the vice president has been presented by her vetting team with a ton of information to sift through on their personal lives, polling numbers, and a lot of other research about the final contenders so that she could try to make an informed decision.

And as far as the announcement that we are on standby for, we do know that the Harris campaign is trying to model all of this after what we saw Joe Biden do some four years ago when he decided that he was going to go with Kamala Harris, they made an online announcement on social media to all of the supporters. But one thing is for sure, they are very much trying to keep this under wraps, to as close to game time as possible. That again, is that Philadelphia rally tonight when we will see the two of them together for the first time. Sara?

SIDNER: Thank you so much, M.J. Lee. We are looking at these live views of Tim Walz's home, the governor of Minnesota, and Shapiro's home in Pennsylvania. So far, no movement. We will have to wait and see what the pick is. Appreciate you. John?

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: We did just see some cars going in and out and St. Paul, at Governor Walz's home. But honestly, they could have been Grub Hub for all we know, delivering French toast. We just don't know at this stage.

What we do know is CNN chief national correspondent John King is here with us at the magic wall. Great to see you this morning. Look, we're talking about Tim Walz of Minnesota, Josh Shapiro in Pennsylvania. Both blue states last time, but these states aren't exactly alike.

[08:05:02] JOHN KING, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: They're not exactly alike. Pennsylvania is bigger, Pennsylvania is more complicated. Minnesota has been one of those states that Republicans keeps saying we're going to get Minnesota, just like Democrats say we're going to get North Carolina, or George W Bush would say I'm going to get Pennsylvania.

But this is what this whole decision is about, if you think about it. This is the 2020 map, right. This is Biden-Trump. Now of course, Biden is out of the race, and Harris is saying let's not let this happen again. Let's not let Donald Trump win the blue wall, because if Donald Trump wins the blue wall, than the Democratic path to 270 electoral votes gets so much harder.

So that's why a lot of Democratic strategists say, go back to 2020, pick Shapiro because you need Pennsylvania, right? Thats part of the Democratic math, you have to have Pennsylvania. But other Democrats say Minnesota, lot of Trump voters in Minnesota. Minnesota was very close if you look at 2020, you come in here, 52-45 here. If he come back here, it's even more because of the third-party candidates in 2016. Again, these small rural areas. And Tim Walz does pretty well, but Josh Shapiro did well in more Republican areas, too. So is it a generational pick, is it a comfort pick? That's the debate we're having. Is it a white picket fence or the nice landscaping outside of Governor Shapiro's home there?

The fascinating thing to me about this, John, is number one, the truncated calendar. So the vice president, Vice President Harris, now the Democratic nominee, is taking to the last possible second to make this decision. And then there's no data. There's no data anywhere that says this actually impacts votes come November, but it is her first big executive decisions, so it will get a big buzz.

BERMAN: The reporting, M.J. Lee reporting that the vice president went to sleep last night having not made a decision. Our Jeff Zeleny reporting that this morning he believes that she has made a decision. What's not clear is if she's made any calls. Actually, Mike, can you pan in right there on this picture. You can see our Whitney Wild and other people trying to look over the fence in St. Paul, Minnesota, right now because there was some action, a little bit of action at the home of Governor Tim Walz. Look, we're showing you this just to give you a sense, in a way, of how little is known and how much we're looking for any sign. One thing that would need to happen. Ultimately, the Secret Service would arrive in force if a phone call has been made.

KING: Veterans of the process and campaigns call it the prize patrol. They're making fun of the old Publishers Clearing House. They come knock on the door with the balloons and they tell you, you've won the sweepstakes. It would be a campaign, a couple of campaign advanced people coming to Walz or Governor Shapiro, both have their own people, of course. But the campaign would send in a couple of people, a communications person. They'd bring a policy book just so you could read it on the plane to Philadelphia for the event.

And yes, at the last minute, you bring the Secret Service in. Again, both of these governors have state police protection, so it's not hard to do. But it is -- it's a complicated process. It's been done many, many times, but you've got to pull it off.

BERMAN: And one thing, can just click on Pennsylvania, right now, in terms of the difference that a vice presidential selection can make. We don't know if it can make that much, but it's just 80,000 votes that separated Biden from Trump. And even if it's, you know, this is 1.2 points. If a pick can make 1.5 difference, that's a lot.

KING: Right. And we were talking about this a little bit last night. And so this is ad spending since President Biden stepped out and Harris became first the presumptive, now she is the Democratic nominee. The campaigns are saying, the campaigns are telling us what the strategist are saying. Pennsylvania, you have to get Pennsylvania, you have to get Pennsylvania. Look at the ad spending, overwhelming in Pennsylvania compared to these other battleground states. Not that these are not important, but the campaign seems to be affirming what the strategists are saying.

So that you say, oh, if Shapiro, you're right, if he can help me with a half-a-point, if he can help me with 10,000 votes or 20,000 votes, that's the guy I want.

One or the other questions is even though all of these candidates have essentially to save position on Israel and Hamas, there has been a conversation. The left has gone after Shapiro saying because he would crack down on the protesters. He had tougher language maybe about the protests. Do you want that candidate, do you want to stir it up? When she is starting to unify the party, do you want to stir that up again? A lot of Democrats, we didn't have a primary process for Harris, but you're having it now.

BERMAN: This is he the primary we're seeing over a 12 hour stretch.

KING: Right.

BERMAN: John King, great to see you this morning. We'll check back with you in a bit. Sara?

SIDNER: All right, it was down, now it's up. Global markets rebounding after a day of steep losses. What will U.S. markets do when that bell rings this morning? We're standing by for that opening bell.

And Debby dumping a historic amount of rain along the Carolina coast. We have a live report from there for you. That's ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:13:56]

SIDNER: This morning, a lot of folks watching Wall Street, investors hoping U.S. stocks will follow suit, follow the Japanese shares rebounding after a terrible start to the week. So far U.S. futures looking a heck of a lot better with a little over an hour until the opening bell. Joining me now is CNN global economic analyst Rana Foroohar. Thank you so much for being here. What the heck happened? Yesterday, everyone was freaking out talking about the "R" word, recession. And today, all the markets looking up.

RANA FOROOHAR, CNN GLOBAL ECONOMIC ANALYST: In a word, fear. People got jittery. And the reasons for that were understandable. The entire market event started because some investors were unwinding some of their trades in Japan. Then we got that really disappointing jobs data last Friday. That coupled with the fact that investors now, and I think most people on the street know that we've been in a pretty robust recovery cycle for some time now. If you discount that the really sharp V-shaped recession and recovery that happened after COVID a few years ago, it's been 15 years since the U.S. has had a recession.

[08:15:00]

So, we've had a long run of good luck and I think investors were sort of feeling like, ah, has the music stopped playing now? I'll add one more thing to that, which is it's August and fund managers like other people go on vacation and so that leaves the markets a little more choppy. There are less investors really watching their portfolios carefully.

So August has become one of those times where you see these weird panic events that last for a day or two.

SIDNER: Can we glean something from what happened with the Asian markets, obviously, Japan, they saw a huge, huge, huge selloff? But this morning things are better. Can we glean something about what the international markets are telling us?

FOROOHAR: I think we can, Sara. I thought that yesterdays market collapse was a big overreaction. Frankly, I would never look at one month of bad jobs data and say, oh my gosh, we're in a recession.

The Japanese markets are saying, okay, this was a blip, things are fine. European markets are up. US futures are up, which means that a lot of US investors think that things are going to be okay today.

I would also just add that there's some other data points. Loan delinquencies, you know, people not being able to pay back their loans. Those are actually getting better, not worse. So, there are some optimistic data points that folks are not taking onboard yet.

Long story short, I think today is going to be a lot calmer. I'm actually not all that worried at the moment.

SIDNER: All right. No more talk of the 'R' word. We will see Rana Foroohar, thank you so much.

FOROOHAR: Not yet.

SIDNER: That's true this morning -- John. BERMAN: All right. New details in the fatal shooting of Sonya Massey inside her own home. Why the ex-deputy charged in her killing now claims he feared for his life.

And we've got live pictures in the homes of Governor Shapiro and Walz. We're not showing them to you but we have them just in case.

Look, we've seen a whole lot of activity at these houses in the last few minutes. What does it all mean? Are we inching closer? There we go. That's Josh Shapiro's house. You're looking at an SUV. It has its lights on and doors open. Could that be a sign?

Our live coverage continues right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:21:38]

BERMAN: All right, these are actually live pictures from outside the Naval Observatory, which is the residence of the Vice President Kamala Harris right now.

This is not where we expect the movement this morning once she makes her decision, but she is inside, maybe on the phone, maybe on a Zoom right now, maybe having already told somebody who the vice presidential selection will be calling her new running mate. We are trying to find out. Let's go right to Saint Paul, Minnesota outside the home of Minnesota Governor Tim Walz. Our Whitney Wild is there.

Whitney, we've been watching you and this location. There's been a lot of movement there over the last 20 minutes or so.

WHITNEY WILD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's exactly right. There's a lot of activity here. Normally, what we see is just a handful of law enforcement vehicles. And again, that's one of the things that we are watching because we expect that once he is -- if he is the pick, that we would see much more law enforcement activity. the Secret Service would maybe come to the home. That's one of the things that we're watching.

So, what we've seen this morning, John, when we first got here, there were four or five law enforcement vehicles inside the parking lot at the residence here. But what we've seen in the last 20 minutes is six more vehicles that appear to be law enforcement and vehicles pulling into this parking lot that is much more activity than we've seen as of late.

And what it appears that they're doing, John, is they're positioning one of the vehicles in such a way that they often do when the governor is preparing for a movement. And what we know, John is that there's nothing on the schedule yet. There's no public event that he's going to. No plans that we know of, that would mean that there's a movement that was already on the schedule.

So, if there is a movement and it will really be something that we were not planning to see, it is something that was not necessarily on the schedule. So, that's the activity that we're watching here, John. But certainly in the last few minutes, the energy has picked up. Back to you.

BERMAN: Look, we know there's a joint appearance with the vice president and her running mate in Philadelphia. Governor Walz would have to fly there. So, we would see him move at some point, whether that's soon or not --

WILD: Exactly.

BERMAN: -- we'll have to wait and see. But double the number of vehicles that we saw a little while ago. Whitney Wild in Saint Paul, please keep us posted.

I do also want to note, we did see an SUV moments ago leaving the home of Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro that's in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, but just a single vehicle. This is moments ago, take it for what it is at this point. Right now, the guy with the most vehicles is Tim Walz in Minnesota.

All right, as we await more information on the running mate pick, there's already been a huge change in the Democratic ticket. The Vice President Kamala Harris, now at the top of the ticket, obviously a different place and things were just three weeks ago. So, what has the impact been on the ground?

Our John King went to Arizona as part of his "All Over the Map" series that tracks the election through the eyes and experience of voters in those states. Watch what he found.

(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)

KING (voice over): Door to door in the scorching desert heat.

JACOB DIALS, RAZE CANVASSING MANAGER: It's hot out here though, not much of a shadow in the middle of the day.

KING: Looking for votes in a place where everyone matters.

DIALS: We're just going around, talking to voters.

KING: This is Pinal County, Arizona. It is rural Republican, and the pre-canvassing meeting.

DIALS: Stay safe hydrated.

KING: Includes a reminder, a lot of Trump voters aren't happy when a progressive comes calling.

PABLO CORREA, CO-FOUNDER OF RAZE: We know it's getting hot out there. We definitely know it's not just the temperature. We just keep on moving, you know, tell him thank you. Have a good day.

KING: Pablo Correa and Jacob Dials also walked these streets in 2020. When Joe Biden won Arizona by just 10,000 votes.

This year things were looking rough, but now this handout is a keepsake.

[08:25:15]

KING: Ever had a campaign year like this?

CORREA: Ever had a campaign year like this?

DIALS: No.

KING: A new version with Kamala Harris is at the print shop.

DIALS: Now, we're hearing conversations about, like hope. Oh, I already told my friends, my family, my neighbor to go out and vote, versus, yes, I'm going to go out and vote, probably.

KING: The canvassers or more excited. Democratic voters too.

CORREA: It's palpable. Now, there's excitement and if you can throw excitement on top of duty, there is something closer to home with Harris at the top of the ticket.

DIALS: It's way easier to support a candidate who can actually see go out and campaign and you like, you have the energy around you.

KING: Melissa Cordero, is proof of the new energy. She's much more active she says since her phone started humming at late July Sunday, Biden stepped aside.

MELISSA CORDERO, AIR FORCE VETERAN: I mean, just red dots all over my phone screen. You know, everybody's like did you see this?

KING: Cordero is an air force veteran, active and a group called Common Defense. She was loyal to Biden when we first visited four months ago. Excited to work with fellow veterans and other friends to back Harris now.

CORDERO: Not all veterans or for Trump. Not all veterans are MAGA crazy, Second Amendment people, there are ones out there that truly believe in democracy and we want things like our reproductive freedom. I think Kamala coming in and has brought this like just energy that wasn't there.

KING: Sustaining that new energy for three months is one giant Harris' challenge. Cordero also hopes for contrast with Trump on immigration and other pressing issues here.

CORDERO: Jobs, money, rent caps, all the things that cause a lot of stress.

NICO RIOS, ARIZONA VOTER: There's a lot of art back here.

KING: Nico Rios was too young to vote in 2020, but supported Biden. He's 19 now, compares Trumpism to fascism, eager to vote but not for Harris.

RIOS: I can't commit to the Democrats. I used to think that they were better. I just don't anymore.

KING: Rios sees both Harris and Trump as too harsh on asylum seekers and other migrants.

RIOS: Free Palestine

KING: But his biggest issue is the Hamas-Israel conflict. Rios supports a socialist candidate who opposes any aid to Israel.

RIOS: There's nothing that Kamala can do in the next what two - three months that can wash that blood from her hands in my view.

KING: Harris can't win battlegrounds like Arizona if she doesn't reverse Biden's slide with Latinos and with young voters. Rios does see some shift, but doubts Harris can do enough.

RIOS: I've certainly had friends ask me where I had conversations about what's Kamala's deal? Is she better? Is she this? Is she that? And so, those conversations are certainly happening. I just don't know if they're happening in the numbers that the Democratic Party was hoping for.

KING: Tucson's Pima County, reliably blue but Independents like Ray Flores help settle competitive races. He remains just where he was when we first met in march planning to vote third party.

RAY FLORES, ARIZONA VOTER: Who is a libertarian party right now?

KING: Flores sees both major parties is too focused on power and personalities as engines of division, not solutions.

FLORES: It's not, he lets win, it's humiliation, it's disruption. I kind of feel glad that the Olympics is going on right now. I like when I see our country shaking hands and hugging other countries and I wish that politics had the same respect for the competition that sports does.

KING: El Charro Steak is one of a dozen restaurants, Flores, owns. He was in Europe on a month-long family vacation when Trump was shot at and when Biden stepped aside.

FLORES: Her brand is important and it was being laughed at. I didn't like that we were the butt of the joke.

KING: Back now, to catch up on business and a changed presidential race.

FLORES: I do look forward to seeing some sort of debate between them. I think that would be more than good television. I think it would be eye-opening to see how they respond to each other. This is a whole new game, right? So, this is a fresh new, and I think we can all, should all kind of peel back and look at this as a fresh new way.

KING: A race with more fire and more energy now. A new option, perhaps enough to warrant another look at the menu.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BERMAN: What a great look it is too, and John King is with me now. John, as we await the announcement from Vice President Harris on the pick of a running mate, does it look like it'll be Mark Kelly from Arizona, either Tim Walz from Minnesota, Josh Shapiro from Pennsylvania.

And there's been a split or a debate the last 24 hours, maybe between progressives and more moderates. Is there a sense from Arizona what might play better?

KING: That's right. When you talk to Democrats in Arizona, they don't say we want Senator Kelly. they say I want the astronaut. Because they just think the appeal of that, that his profile has biography is compelling. They love Mark Kelly.

Liberals and moderates in Arizona, he's someone who could sort of goes across the party. But I was in Pennsylvania last week and the voters there say, we want Shapiro, although a few of them said he's a first- term governor, we love him, let's keep him.

We want to keep him, but more and more said, all indications are this morning that the momentum is in favor of the Minnesota Governor Mark Walz. We'll see if that plays out. That's the hint we're getting this morning, but we don't have confirmation of that just yet. So we go forward.

Again, there's nothing in history that says it matters in the end, but I do think one of the things we have to keep an open mind to is, do the rules matter anymore because we have this unusual campaign where Vice President Harris is suddenly the nominee.

[08:30:19]