Return to Transcripts main page

CNN News Central

Tornado Watch Issued for Carolinas; Emergency Management Director Ben Webster is interviewed about Storm Prep in South Carolina; Harris to Announce VP Pick; Harris Has Made Decision on VP Pick; Harris Picks Walz. Aired 8:30-9a ET

Aired August 06, 2024 - 08:30   ET

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

[08:30:00]

JOHN KING, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: That momentum is in favor of the Minnesota Governor Tim (ph) Walz. We'll see if that plays out. That's the hints 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. She's got fewer than 100 days to the campaign. So, everything - she needs to be near perfect. She has closed the gap. She's very competitive now. You could still say probably slight advantage Trump or even at best. So - she can't make mistakes. And so that's the fascinating part for me.

There's, again, I've been doing this a long time. You know, you can't say anyone's VP pick made the difference in the end, but it does get you a moment. She's - she has seized the spotlight in this race. Her challenge is to try to keep it.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: And one of the things that is clear is we have never seen anything like this. So, we'll see.

KING: We have not.

BERMAN: All right, John King, thank you very much. Great to see you.

KING: All right.

BERMAN: Sara.

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: All right, great piece, John. All right, thank you so much.

An unbelievable defeat for Google. A federal judge says the tech giant violated antitrust laws. How they could change the way you search online.

And Debby dumping record amounts of rain, spawning tornadoes and creating life-threatening conditions. We are tracking that storm. We will be live from the area just ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:36:19]

SIDNER: New this morning, nearly 2 million people are under a tornado watch in the coastal Carolinas as Tropical Storm Debby drenches the southeast. At least five deaths are now blamed on Debby, four in Florida, one in Georgia. Overnight, two tornadoes were confirmed near Charleston. We are seeing damage, windows blown out of buildings, cars flipped over and a months' worth of rain in just 24 hours.

CNN's Ryan Young is in Charleston for us this morning.

You've been talking to residents, I understand. What are you hearing and seeing? I see the rain is continuing there this morning.

RYAN YOUNG, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, absolutely, Sara. And we should talk about the fact that so much rain is falling. We have to worry about the ground and, of course, the large trees that could fall in the area.

But something we wanted to show you, as you look off in the distance here, one of the ways we map out how heavy the rain is, is by what we can see. So, we know the port is still open here. But you can see visibility is not that high as the rain starts moving in. One of those outer bands sort of pounding us at this point.

We were talking to a man who actually works right there. He's one of the pilots who controls one of these boats. He said he had to come in this morning to make sure there were any boats that were coming in this direction they could get them out there. But when you look out there, you can tell, the rain that people are concerned with.

Now, also, let's bring you back this way. The big move yesterday was for people to get sandbags because if you live in a coastal community, you know you need sandbags. You can see in front of that house right there, they have the sandbag placed at a point where they know they've dealt with water before. Fifty thousand sandbags were put out yesterday. And, of course, there will be more sandbags as needed.

But this rain is going to be pounding they expect around 10:00. That's when the heavier bands are starting to move in, in the morning time.

Let's show you this video from overnight. We do know of two confirmed tornadoes. We do know that Edisto Beach, which is about 50 miles away from here, and Seabrook Island both were impacted by the tornadoes that moved through this area. So, people are concerned about the heavy rain, the possibility for more tornadoes throughout the area.

But listen to this one man tell us about his drive to work in the morning. That was something he said he had never experienced before.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ETHAN MCDONALD, CHARLESTON RESIDENT: It took me an hour and 45 today because of the road closures. It took the first probably three or four miles before I could start seeing anything because of how heavy the rain was.

And with the way the roads looked coming in, I was having to zigzag all over the place because there was, you know, four feet of standing water at some points. I mean, I had to back out and turn around.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

YOUNG: Yes, Sara, you know - you and John both know about this, having to clean the lens during live shots because the rain's starting to come sideways.

SIDNER: Yes.

YOUNG: This is the strongest rain that we've faced since about 5:00 this morning. That's when it was heaviest because we could hear it all over this city in terms of it bouncing off peoples' tin roof. Before we've actually seen some of the roadways here had high water. Some of that's starting to recede. But we know it will come back. Luckily, there's daylight out there. So, if people start trying to drive around, go to some of the jobs they have to go to, obviously they want to be able to see the roads. But something we'll continue to watch, guys.

SIDNER: Yes, promising all of that rain. And it is coming down hard on you now.

Thank you so much, Ryan Young. Try to get dry. Appreciate it.

YOUNG: Yes, no doubt.

SIDNER: As Ryan Young just showed us, conditions in South Carolina deteriorating at this hour. Ben Webster is joining me now. He is the interim emergency management director for Charleston County.

Ben, you're - we are looking at the scene from where our Ryan Young is there in Charleston, and the rain is pummeling. It's coming down. What can you tell us about what you're expecting and the dangerous to the community there.

BEN WEBSTER, INTERIM EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT DIRECTOR, CHARLESTON COUNTY, SOUTH CAROLINA: Yes, absolutely. Thank you for having us on today.

We've experienced a significant amount of rain in Charleston County, which is leading to flooding. And as these bands continue to come through today, and the storm gets even closer to as, we expect more rain, and in addition to that, potential storm surge and tropical storm force winds.

[08:40:09]

SIDNER: Yes, we're looking at some of the video now of one of the streets, an obvious shopping area, that is flooded at this point in time.

What are you telling people to do now? Because this is not a wind event. This really is a rain event. People might mistakenly be lulled into thinking they can go out, drive around, go to their normal places. What are you telling them?

WEBSTER: Well, the first thing we want to say is, we can't just say this is just a tropical storm. This is a major, catastrophic and historic event for Charleston. People need to go home, stay home. Stay off the roads and don't drive through flooded waters. Stay at a place of safety. And anyone who lives in a low lying or area that's prone to flooding, even if it hasn't flooded yet, should consider relocating.

SIDNER: That is really good advice. We are seeing some of these pictures of cars trying to drive through that rain. It's problematic.

Thank you so much. We know a lot of road closures are happening, so staying home is the best advice of the morning.

Ben Webster, thank you so much for joining us there from Charleston, South Carolina.

John.

BERMAN: All right, Sara, it looks like things are moving ever so closer to an announcement from Vice President Harris on her running mate.

Let's get right to MJ Lee, who is in Philadelphia, where the vice president will appear with her running mate later today.

Where are we right now, MJ?

MJ LEE, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, where we are right now is that we are still waiting to learn whether Kamala Harris has made that decision on a vice presidential running mate. We don't know yet whether she has made those phone calls that will be so pivotal to the finalists. But, of course, most importantly, to the running mate of her choice.

But it is in some ways not a surprise, John, that this decision has been kept so under wraps, which is exactly what the Harris campaign had hoped would happen.

We know that as she has been deliberating over this process, she has been weighing on, of course, her family. We expect that the second gentleman, Doug Emhoff, would have been in that very small circle of advisers that she has been consulting with. We also know that among the top advisors that she has really been talking over this decision with include folks like Jen O'Malley Dillon, like Sheila Nix, like Lorraine Voles. These are all names that you would be familiar with if you have spent any time covering the vice president and the vice presidency.

Somebody else that we have talked a lot about is her brother-in-law, Tony West. This is the former Obama Justice Department official who, of course, is now an executive at Uber. He is somebody that our understanding is of somebody who has been in the room really throughout this process. He has been spending time, we are told, at the Naval Observatory in Washington, D.C., to provide that support as she has been mulling over what is, as we have been talking about, the most consequential decision so far of her political career.

Now, something else, just by way of the dynamics that are at play right now that I want to mention is that we've been talking about this waiting period and how until we get that final decision, and we learn about that from Kamala Harris, everyone is sort of in a wait and see mode, including the campaign making preparations.

This extends to the Secret Service as well. Our colleague, Betsy Klein, is reporting that according to the U.S. Secret Service's spokesperson, they are basically ready to go and launch that full protection for whoever the running mate might be for whenever that decision comes down, and that there are resources in place at various field offices close to some of the finalists that we've been talking about. So basically, as soon as somebody gets that green light, that future running made for Kamala Harris is going to get the U.S. Secret Service's full protection.

So, again, we are approaching that final decision. Any moment now we should be learning about phone calls, learning about that final decision from the vice president. But we will see, and we want to make sure we get that reporting right. Again, the Harris campaign had very much hoped that they could keep this under wraps until very close to the rally. So far, John, they have, of course, been successful at doing just that.

BERMAN: All right, MJ Lee, standby because we do have some breaking news.

Let's get right to Jeff Zeleny.

Jeff, what are you hearing?

JEFF ZELENY, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: John, we are learning this morning that Vice President Kamala Harris has indeed made her decision for who she will ask to join her Democratic ticket and begin the party's quest to defeat former President Donald Trump.

We do know that she will be holding a rally here in Philadelphia this evening, as MJ was just reporting, and we are told that she has made that decision. So now the plans and the processes are set into motion.

We know a few things, that the campaign is expecting to make this announcement in a video message later this morning. That, of course, takes a bit of time to produce. I am told that will include a phone call or a video type call from the vice president to her choice.

[08:45:01]

And again, all indications this morning are that Minnesota Governor Tim Walz is expected to be that choice. However, until that becomes official, we shall leave a caveat that Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro has also been in the mix in this furious campaign that's been underway, really pulling in all spectrums of the Democratic Party, campaigning for and against both of these gentlemen.

But Tim Walz is 60 years old. He is a former Minnesota congressman. He is the current two-term governor of Minnesota. And all eyes, as we've been watching this morning, are on St. Paul and are on his residence.

But we know that Vice President Harris has made a decision and we will await for confirmation for who that decision is. But all Democratic eyes are on Minnesota and are on Governor Walz as her choice in this.

But again, the choice is hers and hers alone, and we shall see what she says this morning, John.

BERMAN: All right, got - just - just to reiterate where we are, and Sara is joining us for this part of the conversation as well. That decision, Jeff Zeleny is reporting, has been made. We have seen a lot of activity in St. Paul, Minnesota, at the residence of Governor Tim Walz right there.

And, Jeff, you are reporting, and I just want to reiterate this at this point, that signs are that Governor Tim Walz of Minnesota is the pick. We don't know if it's 100 percent locked in yet though or he has been informed. Is that where things are this morning, Jeff?

ZELENY: John, we do believe that this is, of course, not happening in a vacuum. What happens when a running mate is chosen, there is a team in place from the Harris campaign. And the team would be just a couple advisers very much read into this decision and awaiting the choice, as well as a U.S. Secret Service detail, as MJ and our Betsy Klein have reported earlier. They are picked up and then taken to the location. We know that is here in Philadelphia.

So, yes, there are multiple signs from multiple sources. Our John King and Jamie Gangel also hearing this, that Minnesota Governor Tim Walz is the leading indicator. This is - we're being cautious with our language intentionally here -

BERMAN: Yes.

ZELENY: Because, again, this is the Harris campaign and her decision alone to make. But that's where this is heading, at least at this hour this morning, John.

SIDNER: MJ, I'm curious, we're going to bring you back in here.

You talked about how we got here, the lead up to this. Are you also hearing some of the same sources talking to you about Walz potentially being the person and how did this end up coming to fruition? In other words, last night apparently she did not have a pick. This morning, that decision has been made.

LEE: Well Sara, certainly we were going to have a decision once that decision was made by the vice president herself. And you're very right, that as we have been talking about all morning, as of last night our understanding was that she hadn't made that final decision yet and she essentially needed that final evening to sleep on her decision.

That is not to say, Sara, that she didn't perhaps have somebody that she was strongly leaning towards, that perhaps even the folks around her, that is family members included, senior advisors included, may have had a sense of who her choice would have been, even as of last night, even if she hadn't made that final, final decision yet.

BERMAN: Let's jump in -

LEE: And our understanding as of right now, I'm told by a -

BERMAN: Let's jump in here. Let's jump in.

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

BERMAN: And the breaking news, CNN has learned that Vice President Kamala Harris has picked Minnesota Governor Tim Walz to be her running mate. You are looking at live pictures from St. Paul, Minnesota, outside the home of the Minnesota governor right now. Let me just read you the alert as it just came in.

Vice President Harris has made a decision with four people close to the processing saying Tim Walz of Minnesota is her choice.

SIDNER: Tim Walz being the governor there. He is known for things like signing universal school meals bill into fruition and also he is a veteran, a gun owner. He points out, a hunter, a father. He also put into place an historic gun safety measure into law in his state. He is also known as a progressive. And so there are a lot of people talking about what this ticket was going to look like.

And it looks like we are getting reporting now from our Jeff Zeleny, from our John King, that indeed Tim Walz has been the person picked, the governor of Minnesota, will likely be her vice presidential candidate.

John king, Jeff Zeleny, Jamie Gangel, MJ Lee, all on this reporting from four sources.

I believe we have John King walking into frame right now.

SIDNER: Look at this.

[08:50:02]

BERMAN: Since you are the one with us, John, we will go to you first with this pick. The why and what it means.

KING: Well, the why is going to be comfort level. The why is going to be that Harris believes this is a good governing partner. And the interesting conversation is going to be, again, if you look in the rearview mirror, history tells us you can't find a lot of data it says vice presidential picks are decisive when it comes to the election. So, what is Vice President Harris looking to do here?

Number one, a governing partner. Number two, a progressive Democrat. What is the Trump campaign saying? That she's, quote/unquote, dangerously liberal. What will Governor Walz say? You mean a liberal who has his state guarantee abortion rights for a women? A liberal who (INAUDIBLE) works at a time when a lot of people are disillusioned in their government - in their government. So, that's the pick. There will be people who say, but wait a minute, you need to win Pennsylvania. Wouldn't a Governor Shapiro have been stronger? That will be a debate that goes on. And I think one of the big questions today as we watch this play out is, the one thing that we have seen in recent weeks, since President Biden got out, the vice president so quickly unified the party. And then you did have these divisions over who she's picked as a running mate. Do they linger? And I've been at this a long time. Democrats do sometimes stay in their grievances, if you will. Or do they decide, look, our convention's in a week. And we're back in play here. You know, we were - we were losing this race. Now we're back in play. Let's keep it going.

So, it's going to be fascinating to see it go forward. A little bit awkward. I'm told by a source, and I know Jamie and Jeff and MJ as well, that it's absolutely Walz. Now he's going to go to Josh Shapiro's home state.

SIDNER: Right, Philadelphia.

KING: Will Josh Shapiro be there for the rally. Josh Shapiro's a good Democrat.

SIDNER: Yes.

KING: Josh Shapiro's a rising star in the Democratic Party. Josh Shapiro is a future president in the eyes of many Democrats. Younger than Walz. So, can he help? Does he help bring the party together to say let's move on together?

So, fascinating. I was just - I was about to get on the train to Philadelphia and when we were getting this reporting I delayed the train by an hour to be - to be - to be here.

BERMAN: Good move.

SIDNER: (INAUDIBLE).

KING: To be here. But it's a - look, these are always fascinating picks. And again, reporters obsess about them. People go nuts about them. And then, you know, in the end, you don't see how much impact.

I don't know that those rules apply anymore -

SIDNER: Right.

KING: Because we're in such uncharted territory with a campaign this late.

With Donald Trump's vice presidential pick having a more of a rocky rollout. And so if you've watched - Governor Walz has impressed everybody. He's sort of - he was the dark horse in this race.

SIDNER: And then the person that came up with the weird -

KING: Yes, he has impressed everybody in this race with his - with the weird labeling, with his appearances on television. What does a vice presidential candidate do? You know, the Pittsburgh market, the Erie market, the Grand Rapids market, a lot of small market television. You're doing events. You're doing rallies. But then in-between maybe do a lot of small market TV so that the nominee can focus on the big picture stuff.

So, here we go.

SIDNER: When you think about this though, we need to sort of reframe this as well. This is historic on so many levels. But the thing that everyone is looking at is, she's a woman. She's a woman of color. She's black and south Indian. And when you look at her pick, her pick, all of the people that were left on that panel were white males, but from swing states. Important to Democrats. We've seen the numbers there of people saying this needs to be someone who is from a swing state, somebody who is particularly liberal.

But when you look at this pick, how will Republicans now go after him and her together?

KING: They're going to try to say - the Republican argument is going to be that they're left of the country, way left of the country. And again, so you can, you know, run at that or you - you're - there's a (INAUDIBLE) - in - when I first covered the Clinton campaign, you know, they used to say you could run at the polls, you can run from the polls, right? So, I think the idea that Walz can make the case that you're going to call - and he's been very good on television about this. Now, can you sustain it for the 96, 97 days left in the campaign? We're going to see.

So, you're going to - you know, he - what's the line he said the other day, oh, so I'm a monster because I guaranteed abortion rights in my state? I'm a monster because I feed children who need the help and the breaks.

SIDNER: And you're getting some reporting coming at your phone right now.

BERMAN: Yes, every - every phone is buzzing right now. Actually, John, read your phone for a second. I want to bring in Jeff Zeleny and MJ Lee to this conversation. And, Jeff, as we go to you, I just want to make one thing clear. I believe it's our reporting that while Walz is the pick that the phone call hasn't been made an accepted yet.

Jeff Zeleny, if you're with us right now, what are you hearing on that front, and anything else you might have heard in the last 90 seconds?

ZELENY: John, that is a bit unclear if the official phone call has happened. This is not a normal phone call. This is going to be recorded and turned into a video message. So, I am led to believe that Governor Walz is well aware of where Vice President Harris is going on this. So, whether the two principals have spoken, that is unclear at this moment. But we do know that conversations have gone back and forth with the campaign and the Minnesota governor.

I am told, though, that the vice president grew increasingly comfortable will Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, who she didn't know that well at all just a couple months ago. And particularly even a couple weeks ago. But a source close to the process points me to a telephone call on Sunday, July 21st. That is the afternoon that President Biden, of course, stepped aside.

[08:55:03]

And Vice President Harris and Minnesota Governor Tim Walz talked that afternoon. She had many phone calls that day. We reported at the time, I believe, it was about 100 phone calls, but he was one of them. He's a former chairman of the Democratic Governors Association. He was sitting on the rules committee for the convention. This was someone who was a player in the process. So, that was their first conversation. And then a campaign really was underway for the last 15 days or so. One of the most accelerated campaigns that we can think of as the search was going on. And the plan from the Walz camp was for him to be everywhere and anywhere and as helpful as he could be.

And we do know now, of course, that he coined the phrase weird. He called Donald Trump and some Republicans weird. This wasn't a new phrasing. He, in fact, has been using this for several years. But it got renewed attention. And Democrats increasingly became sort of captured by his - his animation. So, that is what led to this decision.

But this didn't happen in a vacuum, of course. For a time she was considering many other people. As many as six people were seriously vetted. Perhaps a few more. And she met with him on Sunday at the Naval Observatory in Washington.

So, she talked a lot about chemistry. She wants to pick someone who's a governing partner. Of course, to govern, you must win. And that is the central question here. What does this decision do to her chances of winning, hitting that 270 mark. Pennsylvania, of course, where we are, where she will be later today, those 19 electoral votes are so important.

Governor Shapiro, of course, also important to that equation. So, how the Democratic Party comes back together after a pretty abbreviated but still pretty divisive process. That, of course, is now the vice president's burden. This is her party.

John.

SIDNER: Jeff Zeleny, thank you so much.

Let's go to MJ Lee now.

MJ Lee, you've - you've had a little bit of time. Just curious if you have heard anything about whether or not an initial phone call is going to be made or if they have made the official one, which, of course, has to be coordinated because it's - it's done online and they want to be recording it as it is happening.

Any sense of what's happening there?

LEE: Yes, Sara, as of a few minutes ago, I was told by a source familiar that Vice President Kamala Harris had not yet placed that phone call to Minnesota Governor Tim Walz yet. But just the huge caveat that that could have changed in the past few minutes while we have been on air.

BERMAN: Yes.

LEE: Obviously, this is a very fast-moving situation. But the important thing is that we can now report the news that her pick is Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, one of the three finalists and one of the two finalists, actually, as of last night, that we have been talking about.

Sara, just to put this in the bigger context for folks who are tuning in, this is a pick by the Harris campaign and by the vice president to go after these midwestern, rural, moderate white voters, particularly in the middle of the country. These are voters, many of whom had swung away from Democrats and to Donald Trump back in 2016, also in 2020. And it is a choice that is squarely aimed at the blue wall states that the Harris campaign and formerly the Biden campaign had talked about so much. It is an attempt to try to engage and win those Obama to Trump voter by choosing somebody that really can speak directly to rural America.

Now, in terms of what kind of a governing partner Tim Walz might be for Vice President Harris, something that we have been talking about a lot, has been top of mind for her as she has been going through this deliberation process. He is somebody that she can potentially say, go up to Capitol Hill and talk to these lawmakers that you are going to be so familiar with because, remember, he is somebody that before he was governor served for more than a decade in the House of Representatives. He is somebody that she could lean on to be savvy in Washington, D.C. And in that way, it actually is quite close the model of the Barack Obama choice for Joe Biden back in 2008.

Now, the other thing that I think we have to talk about is whether we end up learning how much of this ended up being a vibes pick for Kamala Harris. I was just told by a source familiar that in the vetting process one thing that the vice president was particularly impressed with, with the Minnesota governor, was his sort of happy go lucky warrior presence and sort of a joyful present. You know, there is a reason that Tim Walz went from being the darkest dark horse to being one of the finalists. And, of course, now the pick as her running mate. It is because a lot of people have noticed the sort of down to earth, likable quality to him. A number of people that I have spoken to throughout this process, they have said that he is just a blast, that he is fun to be with.

[08:59:58]

We, in fact, reported a couple of days ago that President Joe Biden has enjoyed spending time with him, so much so that advisors have joked, could we find a way to get the Minnesota governor.