Return to Transcripts main page

CNN News Central

Arizona Sheriff's Department Seeking Man Who Repeatedly Threatened To Kill Trump; Interview With Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT): Kamala Harris Acceptance Speech Tonight; The Chicks Onstage Tonight As DNC Goes Country. Aired 3:30-4p ET

Aired August 22, 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]

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: Welcome back to CNN NEWS CENTRAL. We have a lot more to cover at the DNC but we want to walk you through some of the other headlines we're watching this hour.

Canada's two biggest railroads have shut down in a lockout of more than 9,000 union workers. Canadian Pacific, Kansas City and Canadian National are in contract disputes with their workers. The shutdown means that 30,000 Canadians can't get to work. It's also threatening supply chains in North America and that could be an inflationary threat to the U.S. economy.

Also, oil giant Halliburton has reportedly been hit by a cyber attack according to the Reuters news agency citing a source. This attack is reportedly limiting business at its North Houston headquarters but the Energy Department tells CNN there is no evidence that it's affecting America's energy supply right now.

And journalists are blasting a deal where Google is set to pay $250 million to help fund local newsrooms in California over the next five years. Governor Gavin Newsom supports the deal saying it'll help shore up local journalism but unions are calling it a shakedown that could hurt the industry. It allows big tech companies to not pay for linking to news sites and also uses a controversial initiative that would utilize artificial intelligence.

So while the Harris campaign and Democrats prepare to cap off this week's convention tonight in Chicago, former President Donald Trump is in battleground Arizona visiting the border.

[154:35:00]

He is in Cochise County and that is the same county where officials are now searching for a man who allegedly threatened to kill Trump on several social media posts. They're now asking for the public's help in finding that man.

The sheriff's office also says he is wanted on several outstanding warrants stemming from DUI charges and felony hit-and-run and failing to register as a sex offender.

We have CNN's Jonathan Wackrow with us, a former Secret Service agent. Jonathan your reaction to hearing this news that a month or so after this attempted assassination of the former president, officials have zeroed in on another person making threats toward Trump.

JONATHAN WACKROW, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: Well of course this is obviously any time that you hear that there's information about threats that are being made towards any Secret Service protectee, it is disturbing right? But we want to understand quickly is you know how were those threats processed? You know what was the assessment around the means, the opportunity, the intent and capabilities of those who are making those threats?

So you know I think it's, you know, you want to hear from the Secret Service on how they address that and then from the threat identification it's the management of that. What type of control measures were put into place because of those threats? Was it additional protective intelligence resources? Was it additional members of the detail? More physical security assets? What was done?

So it's the, you know, the threat itself is sort of the so what and then the now what is how do we bolster the protection around the protectee once we know that those threats have been made and identified.

SANCHEZ: Jonathan it strikes me that part of the reason officials are seeking this person is because of threats that were made online. Obviously as I noted he has a series of warrants out for his arrest for different reasons but often you see things online that may not necessarily amount to threats. Obviously in this case it appears that law enforcement is taking it seriously enough that they believe this person may be willing to act on them.

Is that fair to say and how does law enforcement distinguish that?

WACKROW: Yes, so you have to think about you know the three big things here is the motivation. Like does law enforcement understand what motivated this individual to make the threat? That's the first thing.

Second is the intent. Is there any signals here of the intent of an imminent attack? So did this person -- are they known to have just purchased firearms or did they take any type of precipitating action in advance of you know launching some sort of direct attack against the against the protectee?

And the third part is, you know, this is probably why there's a sense of urgency here is capability. Does this person have the capability to launch an attack right? So that you know those factors there are coming into the calculus that that law enforcement the Secret Service are utilizing and asking you know it tried to seek this person out to get them in custody for questioning and in, you know, further you know further the investigation around these threats.

SANCHEZ: Jonathan Wackrow we have to leave the conversation there. Thanks so much for the perspective.

Again if you're just joining us the breaking news the Arizona Sheriff's Department is seeking this man who repeatedly made threats on social media to assassinate former President Donald Trump as he is making a campaign stop in Cochise County. We'll of course keep an eye on this story and bring you the very latest as we get it.

Stay with CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: We are here in Chicago at the United Center for the final night of the Democratic National Convention. As you can see people are already streaming in. This is the big night as Vice President Kamala Harris is making her own case for why she should be the 47th President of the United States. And so people are getting ready and they are taking their seats and I'm joined now by Democratic Senator from Connecticut Chris Murphy.

Thank you so much for being with us.

SEN. CHRISTOPHER MURPHY (D-CT): Yes, this is an exciting night. I can't wait.

KEILAR: OK, so what do you hope to hear from the Vice President?

MURPHY: Well, I hope first to hear her tell the American people her story. It's an exceptional story. The child of immigrants rose to be an incredibly successful prosecutor, a difference-making U.S. Senator, somebody that has been part of the most legislatively successful administration in our lifetime.

I think people got thrown into the middle of this race because of the nature of how she became the consensus candidate that maybe not everybody knows Kamala Harris. So I hope she takes a little bit of time to tell her own story, her own uniquely American story in her own words tonight.

KEILAR: I was reading about how you have been warning Democrats of a metaphysical crisis that is facing them and that you've been doing this for almost two years now. What does she need to do? Tell us about that crisis and tell us what she needs to do maybe to address some of that.

MURPHY: Well, Barack Obama talked a little bit about this the other night when he talked about this country turning against each other, the way that we've lost our sense of the common good. Obviously this speech is going to hit Donald Trump hard. It should hit Donald Trump hard.

He is trying to destroy our democracy, take away our freedoms.

[15:45:00]

But she is going to also have the opportunity to try to lift the country up, to try to show that our politics are not so broken that we can't see past our differences.

Yes, I talk a lot about a spiritual crisis in this country, a crisis in which we far too often retreat to our corners, where we don't spend enough time getting to know each other instead of just making assumptions about each other. And I do think there is a little bit of -- maybe a lot of Barack Obama in Kamala Harris. She might be the kind of leader who can challenge us to come out of our corners and get to know our neighbors a little bit better.

KEILAR: You were a key figure in the gun safety legislation that passed following the school shooting at Uvalde, Texas. You certainly know it from Newtown, Connecticut, what these communities are facing. And we heard last night, Vice President Tim Walz addressed this as a gun owner, what he would like to see done.

And I wonder, just to be clear, I mean, what you did was historic, but it was also limited because it's so hard to get things through Congress on this issue. What can really be done? And are Democrats in danger of over promising on this issue?

MURPHY: Well, I actually don't think we've over promised at all because the results are in. Since we passed the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, the 2022 gun bill, urban violence rates in this country have dropped by historic numbers by 20 to 30 percent. We have never seen a two year reduction in violence like we have seen since we passed that bill.

So no, that bill wasn't everything we want. But what we really want is not to pass legislation, but to save lives. And we've saved a whole bunch of lives.

She's going to talk, I assume tonight about her belief in universal background checks, getting these assault weapons off the streets. And I think this is going to be a decisive issue because both in the cities and in the suburbs, people do not accept the status quo on guns. So she's been a great partner of mine and trying to change the gun laws of this nation.

She's got to tell that story of success that what Joe Biden and she did together has driven violence rates down. We're a safer nation. But she's also got to say what the challenge is ahead of us.

KEILAR: You're doing a great job, even with a drum line -- a drum line behind you there.

MURPHY: I can hear you. And I'm going to try to contain my instinct to dance a little bit.

KEILAR: I mean, it's pretty amazing. We've been hearing some of the sound checks for clearly the musical numbers coming up later. I do want to ask you finally, though, you're a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Not a whole lot of foreign policy happening at this convention. I know it's not always the sexiest issue when it comes to big political events like this. But what would you like to hear?

MURPHY: Well, I think people need to know that some of the biggest successes of the Biden administration have been due in part because of Kamala Harris leadership. Let's just take the return of those American prisoners, an unbelievably emotional moment for this country. Some of the key conversations that allowed us to bring those prisoners home were conversations not by Joe Biden, but by Kamala Harris.

She has been an amazing surrogate for the president in restoring America's reputation around the world. She is ready to leave this country on the world stage on day one, and I know she's going to dedicate part of her time tonight to that.

KEILAR: But what about on Afghanistan? Is that something that she needs to address at some point? Or is she free of it because she wasn't commander in chief during the drawdown?

MURPHY: Well, I frankly think the decision to leave Afghanistan was a very popular one. There's not a big appetite in this country to go back into Afghanistan. The mess that Joe Biden and Kamala Harris were left with was a mess made by Donald Trump.

But I actually think that, despite the way in which that happened, the courageous decision to leave Afghanistan was one that is very popular in this country.

KEILAR: Senator Murphy, thank you so much for your time on this historic night. We appreciate it, and we'll be right back with more on this final night of the Democratic National Convention.

[15:50:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SANCHEZ: The country music group The Chicks has long been outspoken about politics. Now they're preparing to take one of the biggest stages in politics at the DNC tonight. CNN's Elizabeth Wagmeister joins us now with this new reporting.

Elizabeth, what are your sources telling you?

ELIZABETH WAGMEISTER, CNN ENTERTAINMENT CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Boris. So sources are telling me and our colleague Samantha Waldenberg that The Chicks are taking the stage tonight at the DNC. They are going to open the night by singing the national anthem.

Now, shortly after we broke this news this morning, our team on the ground spotted them doing a sound check. They sounded great. So just further confirmation that we will be seeing The Chicks.

And as you said, they, of course, faced backlash back in 2003 for speaking out about then President George W. Bush. They were banned from many country music radio stations.

So this is really showcasing a new progressive side of the country music scene. It's not just The Chicks. We also saw various country artists throughout the DNC last night. Maren Morris took the stage and earlier Mickey Guyton.

SANCHEZ: And Elizabeth, there is rampant speculation about someone else that could show up tonight. The rumor is that Beyonce might make a surprise appearance. What are you hearing about that? WAGMEISTER: Yes, this rumor is really running wild. And I have to tell you, Boris, my phone has been blowing up. I have heard for weeks that the convention and the campaign have been very hopeful that they could get Beyonce. Of course, we broke the news earlier in the campaign that Beyonce gave the Harris campaign her sign off to use her song Freedom as the campaign song. So we know that she is backing the vice president.

[15:55:00]

But again, our phones are really buzzing with sources saying that she may be there. She may not. Our very own Jamie Gangel is speculating as well based on her sources. I want to take a moment to show you what she said just a few hours ago to Brianna.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JAMIE GANGEL, CNN SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT: This comes from a source very familiar with the convention schedule. Are you ready?

KEILAR: Yes.

GANGEL: Glasses on.

She's coming. She's not coming. She's coming.

I don't think she's coming. Wait. It may happen.

Two minutes later, it may not happen. So we don't know. We really, really don't know.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WAGMEISTER: So as Jamie said, we don't know. But there is a lot of speculation. And you know, when Jamie's glasses come on, you know, it is serious, Boris.

But here's what I want to say. We do know that there have been conversations between Team Beyonce and Team Harris because again, she did give her sign off for that song. So we know there's been communication.

Also, this is a historic night. This is the first woman of color who could become president. That, of course, would be very important to Beyonce.

And lastly, I just want to say none of my sources have said no. And you and I both know Boris as a reporter. If people aren't saying no, it means could happen.

SANCHEZ: Yes, Elizabeth Wagmeister. Thank you so much. You'll have to tune in and find out if Beyonce shows up.

CNN's coverage of the Democratic National Convention continues on "THE LEAD" with Jake Tapper after a quick break. Thanks for being with us.