Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

NYT: Dem Donors Freeze $90M In Pledges As Long As Biden Stays In Race; Jake Tapper Sits Down With New British Prime Minister; Data Breach Impacts "Nearly All" AT&T Cell Customers. Aired 11:30a-12p ET

Aired July 12, 2024 - 11:30   ET

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

[11:30:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Let's continue our discussion right now with our CNN political commentators, Maria Cardona and Adam Kinzinger, as well as the former Trump administration official Matt Mowers. Maria, I want to talk about the Republican National Committee.

You saw that New York Times reporting that some major democratic donors are planning to hold some $90 million in pledged donations if President Biden remains on the top -- at the top of the ticket. I know you've assessed this very well. And you think all of this commotion that's being generated by these Democrats who are publicly opposing --

MARIA CARDONA, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Yes.

BLITZER: President Biden's remaining atop the -- a top of the Democratic ticket is only supporting Trump for that matter. But what else are you fearful of?

CARDONA: Well, I'm fearful that these Democrats are going to continue to essentially demonstrate a circular firing squad, and it's going to be chaos. And the chaos is going to be something that we created ourselves.

Look, if there's no -- there's no question that there was a lot of concern after the president's debate. And there is still a lot of concern, Wolf. But let's figure that out inside the family.

And as long as President Biden is staying, and he has said very clearly, he is staying and I am sure that that is even more of a -- of a reality. Especially after last night where he conducted himself, I think in a -- in an A-plus manner in front of the world with that NATO press conference, I think we now need to focus everything we have to defeat Donald Trump. That should be our number one priority, especially going into the RNC Convention next week. And what I would tell these lawmakers and donors and everyone who was still concerned, look at the polls.

[11:35:04]

There was a Marist poll just this morning that showed Biden up two points, at 50 percent versus Donald Trump at 48. This race did not significantly change after the president's debate, so let's focus on working hard. We know we have a lot of work to do.

I've been hearing from grassroots Democrats who are saying we are one hundred percent behind Biden. These are Latinos, young people, people who are focused on reproductive women's rights, black voters, and LGBTQ voters. People, Wolf, who know that their existence -- it is an existential threat for their communities and their families if Donald Trump is allowed to be elected for another four years.

They are concerned, they are scared, and they are telling Democrats not to pull aside, just -- you know push aside the 14 million votes that President Biden got during the nomination. Let's focus our fire not on ourselves but on the existential threat that is Donald Trump.

BLITZER: Adam Kinzinger is with us as well. Adam, the seven battleground states including Wisconsin, for example, are now sending what are called fake electors to the Republican convention in Milwaukee next week. What does that say to you about the state of your party? You're a former Republican Congressman.

ADAM KINZINGER, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: I mean, it says the party's lost. I mean, this is not -- you know, let's compare this to what's going on in the Democrats. I know if I was sitting in the middle of a campaign, I'd be frustrated if I was a Democrat in what's going on.

But that's a party that's healthy. That can have these discussions. That can have open disagreements. That's what an American political party is supposed to be.

The Republican Party has become a cult where you can't speak out against the leader. You can't say anything different than what -- whatever his whims of the day are because anybody that did have an independent thought has been excommunicated from the cult. That's how a cult works.

So, when you send fake electors to the convention, all it's doing is solidifying the fact that there is still a significant number of people, and almost every Republican elected official, that still pretends at least that the election was stolen. You're going to hear that this week at the convention. You're going to hear a very divisive message. Us versus them, a dark America, American carnage, you know, it's all over unless you put us in office, and by the way, the election in 2020 was stolen.

That's what you're going to hear. And that's why the Democrats, once they figure this stuff out, people will forget I think about this and look forward to the future whatever the outcome is. And it's an optimistic future-focused message it's going to very much pale the Republican message in contrast.

BLITZER: And Matt Mower is still with us. He's a former Trump official. Matt, former President Trump is publicly denying any knowledge at all of what's called Project 2025.

But a CNN review found more than 140 of his former advisors and allies have been directly involved in that Project 2025. And here's Trump discussing the organization behind Project 2025 only two years ago. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: This legendary institution, which is what it is, has been at the forefront of the conservative movement, helping lead the fight to defend our cherished American history, culture, and traditions. The critical job of institutions such as Heritage is to lay the groundwork. And Heritage does such an incredible job at that.

But this is a great group. And they're going to lay the groundwork in detail plans for exactly what our movement will do and what your movement will do when the American people give us a colossal mandate to save America. And that's coming. That's coming.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: He's talking about the Heritage Foundation, which has all of us know, has been a major conservative think tank here in Washington for a long time. It sounds, Matt, like Trump knows what the Heritage Foundation is all about, especially its platform and what it embraces. What's your reaction to all of this?

MATT MOWERS, FORMER TRUMP ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: Well, look. I mean the Heritage Foundation has been around for eons, right? And let's just remember what it is. It's a think tank.

Their job is to come up with what they believe are their policy prescriptions to fix the country. No different than, you know, a number of the left-wing think tanks that probably put out white papers encouraging the Biden administration to adopt.

Look, I worked on the transition team in 2016 for President Trump. I was an early appointee in the State Department helping lead those new appointees. The Heritage Foundation, along with basically everyone else in Washington, D.C. would send around personnel and policy suggestions all the time.

And look, sometimes you read them and you take them. Sometimes you consider them. Sometimes you say thanks but no thanks.

And I think that's really, at the end of the day, what's going to be the case here again. The person who's going to set the policies or the president and then the actual people he puts in the jobs in his cabinet and stuff cabinet. And so, I pay a lot more attention to that than I would what a think tank is going to come up with.

And I'd also look at one other thing. And I wouldn't always say this because most of the time a party platform becomes kind of Frankenstein. It's not often changed from every four years, a couple of tweaks here and there.

[11:40:06]

This is the first time you've seen a whole revamping of the Republican National Committee's platform. And it was because of Donald Trump's urging. And so, I will look at that platform as a closer reflection of what Donald Trump's policies are and what some, you know, 900-page document was run about that I honestly don't believe he's probably even taken a look at, to be honest.

BLITZER: Maria, as you know, Trump publicly mocked some of President Biden's gaffes last night. But he's also flubbed the names -- Trump has flubbed the names of some prominent world leaders and politicians as well. Take a listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: They never report the crowd on January 6. You know, Nikki Haley -- Nikki Haley -- Nikki Haley -- Nikki Haley is in charge of security. Viktor Orban, did every -- anyone ever hear of him? He's probably like, one of the strongest leaders anywhere in the world. And he's the leader of -- right? He's the leader of Turkey. And Putin, you know, has so little respect for Obama that he's starting to throw around the nuclear word.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: You know, the -- our voters holding these men to two different standards right now because clearly, we just heard examples of Trump misstating -- flubbing some leaders out there.

CARDONA: Yes, I absolutely think they are. And the media coverage, I think underscores that. And we should absolutely be fair. If we're going to go after Joe Biden for those kinds of flubs and for the lack of mental acuity, then there are plenty, if not more of those exact same examples that you just showed, Wolf, showing Donald Trump.

But here's the big difference. There is no way in hell -- and Donald Trump knows this and it's probably why he was mocking the president because he knows this and it pisses him off. There is no way in hell Donald Trump could ever hold a candle to Joe Biden in terms of doing the exact same thing that Joe Biden did last night, talk to reporters for over an hour, getting into the facts, getting into the nitty- gritty, getting into the policy of what is going on on the world stage, of the nuances of history, the nuances of the relationships, the kinds of things that he understands from having that experience and having that knowledge firsthand.

Nowhere -- no one ever, I think, looks at that and says -- and thinks that Donald Trump could ever compare himself to that. And that's why I think Donald Trump is actually making fun of him because he is concerned about that. And so, I think that that is something that we all need to concentrate on.

This is going to come down to the choice, the contrast. Joe Biden is in this. He's our nominee. And the focus is going to be it's between him and it's going to be between Donald Trump.

And we're going to see next week, Project 2025. As much as Matt and Donald Trump want to say that that's not the case, it is a scary MAGA agenda that does not put the American people first. Joe Biden and Kamala Harris will put the American people first. And that is what we need to be talking about.

BLITZER: Adam Kinzinger, I want to get your thoughts. Trump confusing Nikki Haley and Nancy Pelosi, for example. Viktor Orban is not the leader of Hungary. What are your thoughts?

KINZINGER: Yes. I mean, look, Trump is losing it --

BLITZER: Turkey, I should say.

KINZINGER: Yes. I mean, look --

BLITZER: Not the leader of Turkey. Yes.

KINZINGER: Yes, he -- Trump is losing it. I mean, that -- but the reality is you know, the expectation of Trump. I mean, kind of being a psycho who's dumb about foreign policy and mixes things up. That's more of a feature with him instead of a bug.

With -- you know, Joe Biden, obviously, competency is an important part of his message. And so, what you saw at the debate was counter to that. Just like, it would be huge news if Donald Trump gave a really serious press conference once.

So, I think it's a reality. It's a double standard, but this is what the Republican Party has chosen. They had many serious candidates in the primary even this time, and especially in 2016, and they chose this guy. So, it's not like it would be a surprise to anybody.

They want somebody who's going to up -- going to stand up there, reflect their anger back to them, reflect division back to them, and further divide the American people. So yes, it's a bit of a double standard. I think it's unfair, but at the same time, Donald Trump has just basically embraced his psychoticism in this stuff.

BLITZER: Adam Kinzinger, Maria Cardona, and Matt Mowers, to all of you, thank you very much. And we'll be right back with more news.

CARDONA: Thanks, Wolf.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[11:48:44]

BLITZER: All right. This just in to CNN. My colleague and friend Jake Tapper sat down with the new British prime minister. Keir Starmer said he's spoken to President Biden now several times and told Jake about their interaction at the NATO Summit this week here in Washington.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JAKE TAPPER, CNN ANCHOR: So, I know you told the BBC that President Biden was in really good form during your meeting. Obviously, we're hearing lots of different accounts from people who have had meetings with the president. And 51 million Americans watching that debate two weeks ago saw something different than really good form. If you were to witness a concerning development, would you say something? KEIR STARMER, BRITISH PRIME MINISTER: Yes, of course. But -- I mean, I yesterday spent 45 minutes with the president. We've spoken on the phone, as you can imagine, but this was an opportunity to discuss a number of issues. We were billed for 45 minutes.

We probably went on for the best part of an hour, covered a lot of ground, and he was in good form. And it was also a really good opportunity for me as a new Prime Minister of the United Kingdom just literally in week one to speak to the president about the special relationship which matters to him and matters to me. And of course, to make absolutely clear our unshakable support for NATO to be here at the NATO Summit.

[11:50:03]

So, it was a good session. Covered a lot of ground. Strategic stuff as well. And obviously, we've had two days of the council now with you know, actually a very successful outcome. President Zelenskyy is saying this is a success. And so, I do think he -- you know deserves credit for that.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: And you can catch Jake's full interview with the British Prime Minister later this afternoon at 4:00 pm. Eastern on his program, "THE LEAD." And still ahead, a major AT&T data breach. The company says nearly all of its millions of cell phone customers are affected, what you need to know. That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: New this morning. A massive AT&T data breach affecting tens of millions of people. The company now says nearly all of its wireless customers were exposed. CNN's Matt Egan is joining us to explain what happened. What are you learning, Matt?

MATT EGAN, CNN REPORTER: Yes, Wolf. This is another alarming data breach. One triggering national security and privacy concerns. AT&T says that this data breach exposed the call and text message records from mid to late 20202 of "nearly all of its cellular customers."

[11:55:16]

Nearly all of them. But this is not just an AT&T customer problem because the company says the data also exposed includes the customers of wireless providers that use its network and people who interacted with AT&T customers. So clearly the universe here is very large.

Now it's important to note that the company says that as far as it knows, at this time, this information is not publicly available. Of course, that could change. Thankfully, AT&T says the content of phone calls and text messages, that was not exposed in this breach, nor were the timestamps of the communications or the customer names here.

However, what was exposed were the phone numbers. And AT&T acknowledged there are publicly available tools that are out there that can link names to phone numbers. Also, we know what was exposed includes the duration of phone calls and how often two parties talk to each other.

Now, we know that just last hour, the FCC put out a tweet saying they are investigating. AT&T is promising to alert current and former customers. Promising to support them saying they sincerely regret this incident. Wolf, there's a lot more to learn in the coming days and weeks about what is a massive data breach.

BLITZER: Very disturbing, indeed. Matt Egan reporting for us, thank you very much.

And to our viewers, thanks very much for joining me here in the CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Wolf Blitzer in Washington. I'll be back later tonight 6:00 p.m. Eastern in "THE SITUATION ROOM."

Stay with us. "INSIDE POLITICS" with Manu Raju today starts right after a short break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)