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Stocks Bouncing Back After Massive Sell-Off; Harris Picks Minnesota Governor Tim Walz to be Running Mate; Hamas Announces October 7 Mastermind as New Political Chief; Debby to Drop Historic Rainfall Along Georgia, South Carolina Coasts. Aired 3:30-4p ET

Aired August 06, 2024 - 15:30   ET

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

[15:30:00]

OMAR JIMENEZ, CNN HOST: All right, everyone. 30 minutes until the closing bell on Wall Street, and we're watching the markets closely as investors try to recover from yesterday's global selloff. The Dow, the Nasdaq, and the S&P 500 all in positive territory right now. That's a lot of green.

CNN's Julia Chatterley is in New York. So, Julia, we talked yesterday. You said not to panic, and here we are in the green. Let's talk about this whiplash.

JULIA CHATTERLEY, CNN ANCHOR, FIRST MOVE: Whiplash is the perfect word. You said it, my friend. And first and foremost, this is why we don't want people to panic and adjust if they're lucky enough to have one, their 401K, on days like yesterday, because it can simply turn around in an instant.

We've now recovered around actually just more than half of the losses that we saw yesterday. It's not unusual to see a big bounce when you see a big drop. The problem is it doesn't really help us predict what comes next.

We just need to watch this for a few more sessions, and it leaves us watching all the same things, Omar. What helped us today was that bounce that we saw over in Japan. Remember, we saw a 12 percent drop on Monday. We then saw a 10 percent rise on Tuesday. These are wild, panicky moves, weird moves.

This is not normal healthy markets, so we just have to watch this, because if we see those kind of moves again in Japan, we'll face blowback on stocks in the United States. Just got to watch it.

Tech is also helping us where it hurt us yesterday. Just take a look at the Magnificent Seven. These are the big AI exciting names. For the most part, they're higher. I spoke to a big tech investor yesterday, and he said he was getting far more calls from people saying, hey, what do I buy here versus, hey, what do I sell? And that's a tentatively good sign.

The wild card, of course, is what's happening with the U.S. economy, and we're just going to have to wait for the data to find that out. And that's particularly worrying. [15:35:00]

The palpable fear that we had yesterday remains, particularly if you're one of those 4 in 10 Americans that, if not always, are currently struggling, I think, to meet your payments on a weekly basis. And we'll wait for the data on that. At least for now, what we're seeing is around six quarter point cuts priced for the Federal Reserve.

If we get that, that's going to be a huge relief. But, Omar, for now, we've got green on the screen, and I think we take what we can get, particularly after yesterday.

JIMENEZ: All right. Julia Chatterley, thanks for guiding us through the storm. We'll see what's to come -- Brianna.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: All right, Omar, when it comes time to vote, the economy will be on the minds of many voters, and both parties are certainly well aware of that, as they are making their pitch on the campaign trail, which includes two hours from now in Philadelphia when Vice President Harris and Minnesota Governor Tim Walz make their first appearance together. I want to bring in former Republican presidential candidate and Trump campaign surrogate Vivek Ramaswamy to join us. You tweeted that this pick was a massive gift to Republicans.

Why do you think that?

VIVEK RAMASWAMY, FORMER REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE, TRUMP CAMPAIGN SURROGATE: Well, the reality is, I'll be the first to admit, the last couple of weeks, Brianna, have not been great for Republicans. This gives us the opportunity to reset. I think there is a fundamental contradiction in how they're pitching Walz.

On one hand, they're presenting him as a Midwestern unifier. On the other hand, this is the guy who just called 70-plus million people in this country just plain weird. The reality is his progressive policies are going to cause Democrats to lose a lot of centrist voters.

And the reality is, if Democrats do lose this election come November, I think this will be the moment they look back to as a moment of soul- searching. To say they passed over Josh Shapiro, somebody who likely could have delivered Pennsylvania, because he's Jewish, that's going to be a moment for deep soul-searching for the Democratic Party come November. But in the meantime, this is exactly the reset that Republicans needed, and I think his progressive policy record hopefully refocuses this presidential race where it should be, on policy, and on those merits, I think Republicans are going to be successful.

KEILAR: I think he specifically called J.D. Vance and Donald Trump weird, just to be clear. He seemed to go out of his way to be clear that he wasn't calling all Republicans weird, although I certainly understand --

RAMASWAMY: He said these people are weird. KEILAR: He said that -- I'm just saying what he said, that he was trying to make clear that he wasn't saying that about all Republicans, but certainly I understand why Republicans would seize on that.

It seems that the attack line from Republicans is going to be to make him out -- we've seen this from the ad that's come out -- sort of a radical. And I wonder what that means. What does that mean to a middle-class voter who says that the economy or immigration is the most pressing issue in their mind?

RAMASWAMY: Look, I think immigration and the economy are the two most pressing issues in this election, hands down. But the dirty little secret in this race is of the candidates and the tickets who are actually up there. Right now, Donald Trump is actually the moderate when it comes to policy on this race.

The funny thing, Brianna, is if you think about criticisms of Republicans dating back 20 years, supposedly extreme positions on abortion, on gun control, on interventionist foreign wars like Iraq, look at Donald Trump's positions. He believes against a national abortion ban. That's a position that defies much of the Republican Party.

Relatively moderate posture on issues like gun control, against the Iraq war and against fighting foreign wars that don't advance American interests today. So if this comes down to actual policy, if Republicans are able to make this about our own policy vision, seal the border, grow the economy, end rampant violent crime in this country, including of the kind that played out in Minnesota under Walz's leadership in 2020 during the BLM riots. Stay out of World War III, increase prosperity for all Americans, I think that's going to be a formula for a decisive victory for Republicans.

If there's anything that I see as a risk in this choice of Walz as VP for Republicans, it's that we get distracted by his own progressive policy record, that Republicans need to remember we need to offer our own vision, not just criticize the other side. Shapiro would actually be a much more difficult target for Republicans to criticize. He's far more moderate, would have been a far more moderate pick than Walz would have been when it comes down to policy.

But because they've chosen Walz, I think this is a great opportunity for Republicans to refocus the selection on policy, on what is our vision, irrespective of what the other side puts up. And if we do, I think we're going to be successful this November.

KEILAR: I do want to note, we just saw that arrival there in Philadelphia of Vice President Harris, just the tail end of that arrival.

You said Donald Trump is the moderate in this. Obviously he's the one who put in place the justices who overturned Roe. That is going to be a very big issue.

[15:40:00] I wonder if you think that J.D. Vance, for instance, has more appeal to non-college educated white voters or to suburban women and why? Tim Walz.

RAMASWAMY: Well, I think the reality is when it comes to voters making their decisions at the ballot box, this is going to come down to who's at the top of the ticket. Donald Trump versus Kamala Harris. Look, J.D. Vance is a friend, so maybe I'm biased, but I think he's one of the most thoughtful people we've had on the actual ticket for vice presidency in either party with an actual affirmative vision of his own. He's taken on issues and had the courage to take on an issue like America's declining fertility rate. It's 1.62, well below the replacement rate. That's something that politicians in either party are actually talking about.

KEILAR: You think that is working for him, childless cat ladies?

RAMASWAMY: I think J.D. is going to have a great time with Governor Walz. Well, look, I think that the reality is you look at a lot of what Walz's record of what he said in the past during the BLM riots, look at his own family members goading them on, failing to bring the National Guard on for three days. You could look back at the policy records and find something that either side's not going to love about the other side's vice presidential or presidential candidate.

KEILAR: It was two days. I will note that he was criticized in a bipartisan way by the Minnesota Senate for what he did, but I do just want to note that it was two days.

But you did say that you think that what J.D. Vance is -- I mean, is that working, childless cat ladies?

RAMASWAMY: Look, what I believe is if you could airlift the most assailable thing that someone has said from either side, you're going to find a lot worse from Kamala Harris or Joe Biden. But the reality is you said this, and I agree with you. If this comes down to immigration and the economy, that's where this election lands.

Then I think when it comes to a policy record and a policy vision, Donald Trump and J.D. Vance have the undoubted advantage, especially after choosing Walz today. He's somebody who's talked about even building a ladder over the border wall. When you think about what that means for Americans today, you see rampant crime spreading across this country.

We don't want to see a repeat of what happened in Minneapolis and St. Paul in the summer of 2020 under Walz as a governor in cities across this country. That's not what we want from the vice president or the president of the United States. So my advice to Republicans is this.

We have to focus on our own vision. I think it is a trap we can fall into to just criticize the other side. My message to the Republican Party has been for a little bit. Forget about the other side and offer our own vision for the United States of America. And if we do that, I think we're now in as strong of a position as we've been. Thankfully for Republicans, Kamala Harris didn't select Josh Shapiro.

She went the other way. This provides an opening that resets the race after, admittedly, a rough couple of weeks for Republicans. I'll be the first to admit that this now actually gives us the reset we needed. And I think this is going to shake up the race in the next couple of months.

KEILAR: Yes, we're going to see how this shakes up. Obviously, it's going to be a big couple of weeks ahead. Vivek Ramaswamy, thanks for being with us. We appreciate it.

RAMASWAMY: Thank you.

KEILAR: We'll be right back.

[15:45:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

JIMENEZ: We want to bring you some new developments in the Middle East. Hamas has just announced that Yahya Sinwar will become the head of its political bureau. Now, Sinwar is the leader of Hamas in Gaza and is believed to be in hiding, I should say, within the Strip.

Now, he's going to replace the previous political leader who was assassinated in Tehran last week. That assassination has put the entire region on edge with Iran vowing blood vengeance on Israel.

CNN's Jeremy Diamond joins us now live from Haifa, Israel. So, Jeremy, what more are you learning about not just Yaya Sinwar but about this expected appointment?

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN JERUSALEM CORRESPONDENT: Well, Omar, more than anything else. The appointment of Yahya Sinwar as the overall head of Hamas sends a clear message about the direction that Hamas intends to take. For years now, there has been an attempt to create a distinction between Hamas as a political party, Hamas as a political movement versus its militant wing.

But the appointment of Yahya Sinwar, who is Hamas's leader in Gaza, its official effective commander in the Gaza Strip, really blurs and effectively obliterates that distinction. Sinwar is viewed as one of the masterminds of the October 7th terrorist attack on Israel. And beyond that, he's also viewed as a more hardline extremist figure within Hamas, whereas Ismail Haniyeh, who was assassinated last week in Tehran, was viewed as somewhat more pragmatic, including at the negotiating table.

Now, Sinwar is believed to be in tunnels under Gaza, perhaps under the southern city of Khan Younis. And over the course of these negotiations, he has still been involved at critical junctures in these negotiations. Sometimes it has taken days for messages to get to him in hiding without him being discovered and then back to the mediators and negotiators in Qatar or Cairo. So expect that to continue, but obviously with a much more significant emphasis. Now, all of this is happening, though, as those ceasefire negotiations

are going absolutely nowhere in the short term, not only in the wake of the assassination of Ismail Haniyeh, but also, of course, as we are currently in a region that is very much on edge, awaiting that Iranian retaliation, awaiting a potential attack by Hezbollah to the north of Israel, a very, very tense moment.

And at this moment, Hamas choosing to send a clear signal that it wants Yahya Sinwar to lead it into the future, which has enormous implications for those ceasefire negotiations, but also, of course, for the continuation of the war in Gaza -- Omar.

JIMENEZ: A lot of dynamics at play. Jeremy Diamond, really appreciate it.

Still ahead, we're tracking Debby as the storm hammers parts of Georgia and the Carolinas. Stay with us.

[15:50:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KEILAR: Coastal Georgia and South Carolina are just getting swamped by tropical storm Debby's slow churn across the south. CNN meteorologist Allison Chinchar is tracking these rainfall totals. How much are we talking here, Allison?

ALLISON CHINCHAR, CNN METEOROLOGIST: All right, so some of these areas have already had a foot of rain. Now we're still going to add another six to ten inches on top of that. Here's where the storm is currently located, the center of that storm just moving offshore right now.

The concern there is as it moves back out over open water is whether or not it's going to re-intensify a bit. You also still have a tornado watch valid until 5 p.m. Eastern time tonight.

But rain has really been the story. These are totals so far. Lakewood Ranch, Florida picking up just under 18 inches, several spots in South Carolina picking up roughly a foot. And again, as we mentioned, there's more rain on the way. In addition to that, flooding concerns also from storm surge.

[15:55:00]

You can see all of this yellow area here, including Myrtle Beach, Charleston and Savannah, still looking at two to four feet of storm surge. Then the storm, while it's going to meander out over open water, will then come back in and make a second landfall before finally starting to move its way away from the Southeast and in towards the mid-Atlantic and the Northeast.

That also means that that frontal system that's in the Northeast is going to be able to pull in some of that moisture from Debby. So you're talking about potential flooding in the Northeast, not just in the Southeast. Two different areas there. That's why you've got flood watches in effect for all of these areas. And also the potential for still flooding across portions of the Southeast as well. Not just today, but also Wednesday because of the additional rainfall expected.

KEILAR: Wow, that is a lot. All right, Allison, thank you so much for keeping an eye on things for us. And we'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

JIMENEZ: To be in the presence of greatness outside of Brianna, just, of course, but CNN's Coy Wire, just experienced. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SIMONE BILES, 11 CAREER OLYMPIC MEDALS, 7 GOLD, 2 SILVER, 2 BRONZE: Nobody forced me to be out there on that stage. I solely did it for myself, and I'm in a really good spot mentally and physically, so doing this for just me, it meant the world.

COY WIRE, CNN SPORTS ANCHOR: And you overcame a lot to get here, we all know that.

BILES: Yes.

WIRE: Did you feel any of those demons start to come creeping in the mind again? And if so, like how'd you deal with them?

BILES: Yes, I dealt with them in therapy. Obviously, you always have those thoughts coming in the back of your head, but just trying to stay as positive as possible, going back to what I know, thinking about my therapy tactics and it worked.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: And she goes on tour next month with members of Team USA. A lot ahead for Simone Biles.

JIMENEZ: Legends all of them.

KEILAR: "THE LEAD" with Jake Tapper starts right now.