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Biden Bows Out of Presidential Race, Endorses Kamala Harris; Interview with Representative Seth Moulton (D-MA); Trump Campaign Now Planning Attacks Against Harris. Aired 10-11p ET

Aired July 21, 2024 - 22:00   ET

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

[22:01:24]

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN Breaking News.

JAKE TAPPER, CNN ANCHOR: Tonight, Vice President Harris appears to be consolidating many of the Democratic Party's factions and leaders behind her candidacy for president of the United States just hours after President Biden shocked the political world with his sudden announcement that he would not in fact seek a second term. All 50 Democratic Party state chairs have signaled their support for the vice president as have a number of potential opponents, potential ones, for the Democratic presidential nomination.

And moments ago, the Democratically aligned PAC ActBlue said today has been their biggest fundraising day of the 2024 cycle. They say grassroot supporters have raised $46.7 million for Vice President Harris' presidential campaign. The vice president tonight says in a statement, quote, "I am honored to have the president's endorsement in my intention is to earn and win this nomination." She also said, quote, "I will do everything in my power to unite the Democratic Party and unite our nation to defeat Donald Trump and his extreme Project 2025 agenda."

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: Biden's exit from the race comes almost four weeks exactly before the Democrats' national convention begins and after Biden had suffered dozens of defections from Democratic congressional lawmakers unhappy with his debate performance and persistent concerns about his ability to serve another four years in office.

Our Phil Mattingly reported a short time ago that a source says two of Biden's closest advisers presented him data on Saturday that showed him a path to victory was, quote, "basically non-existent."

TAPPER: We start tonight with Massachusetts Democratic Congressman Seth Moulton, who had called for President Biden to exit the race.

Congressman Moulton, thanks for joining us. You endorsed Vice President Harris this afternoon. How does this nomination process play out in an ideal scenario? And who is your favorite to be her running mate?

REP. SETH MOULTON (D-MA): Well, we don't know exactly how it's going to play out. A lot of people are calling for an open process. I think that's fine. I think that Vice President Harris is going to earn and win this nomination as she said. It doesn't mean it's going to be a coronation. I think that's good for the Democratic Party, but it's amazing how much support she's already consolidated.

She has tremendous resources. She can tap into all the campaign infrastructure that the president already has on the ground across the country. And she has the experience of shadowing him for four years in the White House. She's clearly the most ready to take up the reins here and ensure that we have a good chance of winning this election.

TAPPER: The Republican speaker of the House, Mike Johnson, wrote in a statement, quote, "As second in command and a completely inept the border czar, Harris has been a gleeful accomplice, not only in the destruction of American sovereignty, security and prosperity, but also in the largest political cover-up in U.S. history she has known for as long as anyone of President Biden's incapacity to serve."

It is clear that Republicans are going to pounce on both Harris' record on immigration. But what do you make of this cover-up line of attack, which was also highlighted today by the Republican National Committee and vice presidential nominee, J.D. Vance? You yourself have said publicly that when you saw President Biden at Normandy a few weeks ago, he didn't seem to recognize who you were.

MOULTON: Well, look, I think there are some questions that people will ask here, but if this is the best argument that they can come up with against the vice president, it shows that Republicans are already on the defensive here, that they're concerned. They clearly wanted to run against Biden. They now have a nominee or a potential nominee at least who brings tremendous energy, courage, vision, and the experience of a career prosecutor to run to prosecute this case against Donald Trump. I think Donald Trump is in for a real run for his money.

[22:05:02]

As soon as they see Vice President Harris on the debate stage they're going to be very concerned. And she also has this amazing position of being able to embrace the best parts of the president's legacy, like the CHIPS and Science Act, the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law that Republicans across the country are praising, even though many of them voted against that of course, while also having the freedom to distance herself from policies where she might have disagreed with President Biden.

That's a great position to be in. And as she unfolds her platform in the coming days, I think you're going to see she's in a very strong position to prosecute this case against Donald Trump.

TAPPER: Given what you described in your piece in the "Boston Globe" about President Biden not recognizing you, given accounts from people like George Clooney who say that when he saw President Biden in Los Angeles in June, it was the same person that everybody else saw on the debate stage, given the debate performance, given other accounts of President Biden seeming to have cognitive issues, do you have any doubts about his ability to finish out the remainder of his term? MOULTON: From everything we've seen today, Jake, he's able to make the

decisions that he needs to make as commander-in-chief. I think this is a legitimate question. I'm not going to deny that this is a legitimate question, but I have confidence in the president today to continue doing his job as president of the United States.

TAPPER: All right. Congressman Seth Moulton. Thank you so much for your time. Good to see you.

MOULTON: Good to see you, Jake.

COOPER: We're joined now by our Jeff Zeleny for more on Harris' candidacy.

So what are you hearing from Democratic sources about President Biden's decision and what it means for Vice President Harris?

JEFF ZELENY, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Anderson, Vice President Harris began the day as Joe Biden's running mate. She's ending the day looking for one of her own. And that really ends this extraordinary bookend of American politics that upended this presidential campaign. But it's been extraordinary to watch hour by hour by hour. Since President Biden offered his endorsement, other Democratic endorsements also kept coming through.

Let's take a look at just a few of those. It started with former president Bill Clinton and Secretary Hillary Clinton, John Kerry, of course, the former secretary of state and Democratic presidential nominee back in '04, Pete Buttigieg, Senator Patty Murray, some 25 senators, more than 60 House members. But perhaps more importantly of all some of her rivals are people who thought that would be their rivals also offered their endorsement. Gavin Newsom, for example, North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper, the list goes on and on.

But really the extraordinary support also is extending out to the state delegations. 50 chairs, all Democratic chairs have endorsed her on a phone call. The Tennessee delegation endorsed her. I spoke with the Tennessee chair earlier and he said he believes it's important to show the country that the Democratic Party is unified around someone, but particularly the one -- the people we are looking at tonight are potential running mates.

We know that North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper is someone who has a relationship with Vice President Harris. They served as attorney generals together. Those two spoke on the phone earlier today. Also, Governor Josh Shapiro, of course, of Pennsylvania, Mark Kelly of Arizona. Certainly he has a strong life story. Governor Gretchen Whitmer is the only person on the screen there who has not offered her endorsement yet of the Harris campaign. However, she did speak on a staff call in Michigan and she said it's all time to get in behind the Harris campaign.

So even as all this was going on, it is now called a Harris for President campaign, literally the name on the door has changed. So, Anderson, it's been an extraordinary day, but as we near an end to it she's coalesced so much support. There is still time, of course, for other Democrats to throw their names in, but that looks like an increasingly closing window here for the idea of an open convention.

COOPER: Yes, I mean, let's talk about that time. I mean, how soon would other Democratic candidates have to declare in order to be competitive for the vice president?

ZELENY: Look, it's a bit of a moving target here. This virtual roll call that we've been talking about so much is likely to happen between August 1st and August 7th. That is the window. So by then, someone would have to do the work that the vice president has been doing all day long, so we will see if anyone sort of raises their hand here, but the number of people who would do that, it really is diminishing.

So as this week goes along, most Democrats were speaking with things that she will have it wrapped up. Former president Barack Obama is one of the Democrats, Nancy Pelosi as well. They have not endorsed her, but I am told that is more to make this look like an open process, that competitive process that she needs to sort of win people over. And an aide to former president Obama tells me tonight that he's going to play the same role he played in the 2020 primary campaign. Just sort of wait and be a unifying factor should he need to be after all this process.

Anderson, but we cannot state enough how much work that the vice president has done throughout the day. Of course this contingency plan has been put into place -- Anderson.

COOPER: Yes. Jeff Zeleny, thanks very much.

[22:10:02]

I'm joined once again by our reporters and political analysts. Also joining me, Anthony Scaramucci, White House communications director briefly under former -- the former president.

Anthony, first of all, what's your reaction to this -- the remarkable events today? And do you think moderate Republicans, independents would be on board with Kamala Harris' candidacy?

ANTHONY SCARAMUCCI, FORMER TRUMP WHITE HOUSE COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR: I mean, my first reaction is a little bit of sadness for President Biden, given his long tenure and career, and then my second reaction is he's a very faithful patriot and public servant, and I would call on other public servants which would include people like Governor Romney, even some of the generals like General Kelly and others to think about the sacrifice that President Biden just made, and to recognize the danger of a return of a Donald Trump presidency.

And I think he led here in a way that will be long remembered. And there are a group of people that know the danger of Donald Trump. They need to speak out now. The same way Joe Biden made this sacrifice on behalf of the American people, these other public servants and political leaders need to do the same thing. Those are the thoughts that I have. And of course, the independents will coalesce around the vice president.

Remember, there are 14 states now, Anderson, that you can no longer have reproductive freedom in and I think this is a very big danger for the Republican Party. I think they've miscalculated this. And there's a big opportunity here for Vice President Harris to take a mantle of leadership for the Democrats and beat Donald Trump in November.

COOPER: And Kaitlan, obviously the Trump campaign wanted, it seems, President Biden to be the candidate. What is their next move?

KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR, THE SOURCE: They're going to be watching closely. I mean, we're seeing tonight the forces that are kind of coalescing behind Vice President Harris. It's still not 100 percent that she is going to be the nominee, but they're already looking -- and if you look at what campaign aides to Donald Trump and his allies are posting on Twitter, they're already finding everything that she said in Democratic debates in the 2020 Democratic primary.

Anything that she said, any moments from her first year in office as vice president, they're resurrecting all of that. So I do think it is kind of a known quantity of what it is that they're going to try to use against her. What did she say about fracking? What did she say about electric vehicles? All of these other issues they're going to be pulling all of that, but they're also watching really closely to see what this means.

What do the numbers look like when you actually can see polling? There's been a hypothetical polling of what a head-to-head matchup with Donald Trump would look like. But if that becomes a reality and she's the nominee, what does that look like? And I thought when Hillary Clinton came out and got behind Harris as the nominee earlier, she is a woman who knows what it's like to run against Donald Trump for the presidency, to be on that debate stage with him, and so I thought that was notable as well because that's a question of what that dynamic looks like for Donald Trump.

He knows how to run against Joe Biden. He already did it in 2020. He was preparing to do it now and after that debate thought it would go well. It's an open question of what it would be like to have him against Vice President Harris.

COOPER: Yes, go ahead.

JAMAL SIMMONS, FORMER COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR FOR VP KAMALA HARRIS: Because, you know, one thing is very interesting, we have spent three and a half years talking about what Kaitlan just mentioned of people talking about Kamala Harris' foibles or any flaws she may have had in the speech or what her laugh is like. I think we're just not used to hearing women laugh who are in power.

But we hear all these questions about her. Here's the thing. No one has spent $1 defending Kamala Harris, that's the Democratic Party. We've never had a promotional add about Kamala Harris as a Democratic Party. And yet, she is in the margin of error with Donald Trump on many of these polls. I think there's a lot of room to grow for the vice president to get more popular once people actually start a concerted effort to defend her, which we haven't really seen yet.

VAN JONES, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: I think, look, there are three contests that are happening right now. There's a contest to who's going to be nominated by the Democratic Party. Right now it looks like Kamala Harris is running away with it. Right now she's a steamroller. Somebody might be able to stop her, not clear. If the contest who's going to be number two, a lot of the people who we thought were going to be challenging her for number one might be actually going for number two.

Number three, there's a contest to define Kamala Harris and I think that Republicans are going to -- are in for a surprise because we're seeing energy now that is shocking to a lot of people. Before it was going to be the old man versus the con man. That was the frame. Now it's going to be the prosecutor versus the prosecuted. That's going to be the frame. And I don't think they're ready. There are 19,000 women on a phone call right now.

Jotaka Eaddy's organization, Win with Black Women, has 19,000 women tonight. Nobody saw that coming. And it's not going to be just black folks. You also have young people. You can't just win with just black folks and young folks, but they matter. The mere fact that some of the TikTok upsurge is happening right now, people remixing Kamala Harris' dance moves, taking her statements and remixing it with they not like us.

There's something happening as a volcano and I think it's because when you think you're going to lose and you spent three weeks miserable, sad, upset, imagining what it's going to be like to have Donald Trump president.

[22:15:07]

And you have a tiny crack of hope, it just explodes and you're right now you're seeing an explosion.

ABBY PHILLIP, CNN ANCHOR, NEWSNIGHT WITH ABBY PHILLIP: Yes. I think it's --

DAVID AXELROD, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: These things are so -- presidential campaigns or so interesting because the dynamics can shift, you know, in ways that you never anticipate very, very quickly. We left Milwaukee on Friday, they had, you know, this was quite a week. The president escaped death. He had this convention that was well-produced and, you know, it looks like they've got their act together. They're unified and so on.

And this thing is -- you know, feels like it's over. And then, and now, you know, just listening to you, Van, I'm like I expect there'll be a parade outside.

(LAUGHTER)

JONES: I'll lead it.

(CROSSTALK)

AXELROD: Right. I mean, we should, but it also should be a reflection to us -- JONES: Invitation tomorrow as well.

AXELROD: That we really don't know what's going to happen from here but what we do know is that this is now a race and it wasn't yesterday.

JONES: Somebody shook up the soda bottle in sometimes.

ALYSSA FARAH GRIFFIN, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, and I think -- I'm pretty frankly stunned by this Democrats coalescing like how quickly this happened and this whip operation and that she's very likely going to go uncontested. And because it's the short window, it's really through three months and a week until election day. I think that you're going to see a lot of these people that she's, you know, vetting as vice president or senators who've come out and endorse her.

They're going to be deploying them to swing states. One of my frustrations with the Biden campaign is they had surrogates but the operation wasn't strong. This feels like Democrats being like all hands on deck.

AXELROD: All hands on deck.

GRIFFIN: Behind our person. Every tall in the party is going to go out and make the case and they finally have something forward looking to talk about, which is a young, vibrant candidate.

PHILLIP: This is going to be a big test of whether or not the Trump campaign is really about Biden's policies, or whether it's about Joe Biden being old. And I think there's actually a lot of evidence in the data that suggests that Biden's age, his fitness for office has been the major dragging force of his approval rating for the last couple of years now and so, you know, there is something that changes the race about that, even though they want to run on the same record, they want to say Kamala Harris is Joe Biden, same record.

She's a completely different person and that does different things to the base. It's going to do different things to moderate voters, and, you know, talking to Democrats obviously, we've been talking about her options for, you know, the second person on the ticket, but there's a lot of consensus even among progressives. It's actually kind of hilarious to me, liberals, very left-wing people are like, OK, she needs a moderate white guy --

(LAUGHTER)

PHILLIP: People or Democrats are kind of wildly pragmatic in this moment because --

JONES: That's how we got Joe.

PHILLIP: -- they are so desperate for something that changes the dynamic of this race and allows it and to have a shot at beating Trump. AXELROD: Give me a skunk at the garden party moment. Just as an

admonition. First of all, yes, you're absolutely right. The age issue was the issue that drove a lot, but the way the message worked was he is too old, he is not in command and things are out of control, and under that heading came inflation, came the border, came, you know, their depiction of crime, despite whatever the crime statistics actually are, but, you know, crime in the cities. Those issues are still going to be potent. They may rotate them in some way. And so she has to be prepared for how she's going to deal with those issues.

The second thing is what I've said throughout this night, which is, you know, Barack Obama used to say when we were running, I am proudly of the black community, but I'm not limited to it. And I'm running to be president of the whole country. You know, I've heard people who are advocating for the vice president tonight and sometimes in the context of very narrow kind of parameters, you know, and she needs and she can get more votes than simply the base and that's where their focus should be because I think it's going to be easier in certain ways to rally the base than it is to get the additional votes they need.

COOPER: Anthony --

SIMMONS: Yes, but one issue we haven't mentioned is -- Anthony has got to go -- is abortion. And I do think David brings up all these other issues around the economy and immigration and whatever. But in 2022, that was the issue of abortion, that was the issue, abortion, and then freedom and democracy that really moved voters in the last midterm. And I think people are still banking on those issues moving again this year.

COOPER: And Anthony, what do you think Vice President Harris' biggest vulnerabilities are as a candidate?

SCARAMUCCI: The number one thing they're going to prey on is the immigration issues. They think she owns that but up against that is their wanting to deport 15 million people.

[22:20:02]

Once that reality sets in for the American people, those communities are not going to want that, but I think it's the immigration issue but think of the positive here for one second, Anderson. She has Joe Biden's record to run on and it is a very good record. He has onshore manufacturing. He's building bridges, roads, and tunnels around the country. We even have microprocessor factories being built in the country.

The economy is healing and growing. And it's the most powerful economy in the world right now. And she is very bright and very articulate and she can energetically tell that story in all of those swing states.

COOPER: And Kaitlan, CNN is learning that the Trump campaign, they've been researching DNC rules and bylaws. Do you know to what effect?

COLLINS: Well, they were worried that they find themselves in this scenario. I mean, it's a shock to everyone that this actually happened I think even though you could see that drumbeat building, but they were looking out to be prepared for this. This was something they were watching closely when they were at their own convention. We've seen how they've changed their own rules to benefit Donald Trump. And one thing if you noticed, if you paid attention to the other speeches, they weren't all aired in primetime last week at the Republican convention, but they started hours before that.

Harris was brought up so many times in people's speeches. Peter Navarro, other allies of Donald Trump's, a lot of them mispronounced her name, probably intentionally, which is something you often see a lot of her detractors do on other outlets. And I think that they were preparing for this moment, kind of laying the groundwork of what this could look like if this moment did arrive, where it was clear that potentially people would get behind her.

I think people a week ago thought there would be more of a competitive race to take the nominee than what we're seeing play out seven hours since Biden announced he's not going to be in the race. I will note one other thing, though, is Harris is going to be leaning on these top Democratic allies, the ones that have been having these very blunt conversations with President Biden. I'm told tonight that Senator Schumer and Harris plan to meet soon.

Obviously, they had a conversation earlier. All of those moments will be critical into what the next few weeks look like for her.

PHILLIP: On the Trump campaign and their concern about the DNC rules, one of the things that they've been looking at is whether or not they would have grounds to challenge a change at the top of the Democratic ticket. I'm not a lawyer, but at this stage, it's early enough that Democrats seem well within their rights to do that. But I don't think we can take off the table an attempt at any number of lawsuits, legal challenges, all kinds of things.

They might just throw spaghetti at the wall to try to muck up the works on this one. I -- in a conversation with a top Trump campaign official to ask about this and the answer was, we're not going to talk about that, but we are going to keep all of our options. This is something that they have a plan for as well, but the timing of this I think works out best in Democrats' favor. If they can get this locked up before that August 1st to 7th window, it will allow them to be well within their own rules to establish a nominee, to have the delegates vote, and to go into their convention knowing what that looks like. And the challenges, if there are any, would be frivolous.

AXELROD: Can I just say a word about this? I've heard the speaker of the House and others in the last 24 hours talk about what an affront to democracy it would be if Biden were taken off the ballot and the disenfranchisement of voters.

(LAUGHTER)

AXELROD: This is a weird argument for them as they're defending what happened on January 6th. I think I would stay away from it if I were them.

COOPER: I want to thank everybody.

Money talks and big in bucks. Democratic donors have had a lot to say now that Biden is out of the 2024 race. Pamela Brown on the money moves being made after the president's endorsement of Vice President Harris. That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[22:26:20]

COOPER: Just to demonstrate how Democrats are coalescing around a potential Harris for President campaign, the Biden-Harris campaign story is now listing various Kamala merchandise under its "What's New" section, including T-shirts, stickers, and a mug featuring a picture of a young Kamala Harris.

Pamela Brown joins us now with more of tonight's breaking news.

So what have you been hearing from donors -- Pamela.

PAMELA BROWN, CNN ANCHOR AND CHIEF INVESTIGATIVE CORRESPONDENT: Well, I've been speaking to several donors along with my colleague Jamie Gangel, and what the sense is from speaking to them is that money is now rolling in. One donor told us tonight I'm going to go in big. The sense we got from several donors, some of them were big ticket donors, others were on the smaller side. Also fundraisers we spoke to. Was that there had been a lot of hesitation after the debate.

People were holding their money. They even withheld money that they had already pledged. And now they are essentially opening up their purses again with this news about Joe Biden stepping aside in the presidential race and his endorsement of Kamala Harris. And they are putting money behind Kamala Harris right now. Now, it is important to note as well the strategy behind this, Anderson.

A lot of the people we spoke to admitted that, yes, it is important to in these early hours raise a lot of money for Kamala Harris to send the signal that she should be atop the ticket. We did speak to some though, who are uneasy about this saying, look, there should be a more competitive process that should play out here, but, you know, there's still going to donate. So there is that dynamic at play.

But the bottom line is that the Biden-Harris campaign formally amended their filings with the FEC to declare her as a candidate for president. And as she remains on the ticket, she could assume the war chest from the campaign by the end of June, it was $96 million, and what you're seeing here is just a reinvigoration from these donors and people who would stop their fundraising plans for July and August. Those are back on as well. So certainly a new energy today.

COOPER: And what about small-dollar donors?

BROWN: Yes, that is really important to note. We are hearing from small-dollar donors, from ActBlue, which of course gets donations from those small donations, $5, $10. They got $27.5 million in the first five hours of Harris' presidential campaign. Then, get this, Anderson, just two hours later ActBlue said $46.7 million donations have rolled in. That is an increase of $19 million in a two-hour span.

To help drive this, you're also seeing members of Congress like Adam Schiff send out fundraising e-mails, pushing those grassroots voters to ActBlue. But certainly that is also sending a very strong message here of the support among not just the big ticket donors, but the small ticket donors as well behind Kamala Harris in these early hours, Anderson.

COOPER: Pamela, thanks so much.

TAPPER: All right. Let's discuss with our panel.

Bakari, let's start with Pamela Brown's new reporting. Are you surprised at how much money is coming in so quickly? No?

BAKARI SELLERS, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Not at all. One of the things Kamala Harris has always been from district attorney to attorney general, a United States senator, to candidate for president of the United States was a great fundraiser. Yesterday when they were in -- I forget where they were. It was one of the rich parts of the country. Cape Cod, I think it was. I think that's where it was. Like Martha's Vineyard to Cape Cod is somewhere --

DAVID CHALIAN, CNN POLITICAL DIRECTOR: (INAUDIBLE), on Saturday.

SELLERS: Yes, but we don't really travel much from South Carolina, but shoutout to all those folks up there. They were supposed to raise $1 million, but they raised $2 yesterday. She and Secretary Buttigieg. And so, you know, and it's also energy. I mean, grassroots donors. I just had one of my good friends, Janicia (INAUDIBLE), text me. She's a Delta, but she's a part of the Divine Nine. She's like I just contributed. Now, tell me how to get tickets to the DNC.

I mean, it's just a new energy for the past four weeks. We just get, you know, our ass busted and head kicked in. Democrats, it's just not a whole lot to be excited about.

[22:30:03]

We always find ourselves fighting and fighting and trying to tell a message and talk about Project 2025. But whenever that happens, you know, just the headwinds we were facing and those of us out there who really wanted to stand with Joe Biden, it just -- it was a difficult job because of the headwinds we were facing. Those headwinds are not there anymore. And so now we get to envelope ourselves and do what something Joe Biden said he wanted done, which is finish the job. And I think Kamala Harris is going to be able to do that and raise the money to do it.

TAPPER: OK. Yet more evidence that we're living in a simulation, Vice President Harris is going to speak tomorrow at the White House. She'll be honoring the NCAA championship teams. Like if we thought this was being written by Aaron Sorkin. I assume you think we're going to hear something that might be related to her running for president?

CHALIAN: I would imagine, although she's doing an official event, so I wouldn't expect it to be like a real campaign speech and I think she wants to give President Biden the space to talk to the American people about his decision beyond the letter that he sent today to step down from this race. But she's -- what do you want to say, Bakari?

SELLERS: No, I was saying it was already on the president's schedule. She's just stepping in as vice president.

CHALIAN: Yes, yes, exactly. He's not going to be there because he's still convalescing from one more day in Rehoboth.

TAPPER: I said we're living in a simulation.

CHALIAN: Yes, yes. But yes, I would imagine, obviously, we're going to pay a lot more attention to this NCAA event than we ever thought we were going to be paying attention tomorrow. I see now our colleague Betsy Klein notes that they've re-branded the rapid response social media operation under now Kamala HQ they're calling it instead of Biden-Harris HQ. So all the mechanics, all that infrastructure that we've talked about, about why it logistically is, this is the path of least resistance. We're seeing that come to fruition.

I also think, Jake, in addition, we talked about all her potential opponents that may have thrown their hat in the ring, that aren't endorsing her. We've talked about the union groups that have certain coalition groups and it's also interesting me, just watch the vulnerable incumbent senators who were up for reelection this year. You know, Bob Casey in Pennsylvania, Sherrod Brown in Ohio, just within these first few hours getting out there and making it clear that they are also with Kamala Harris, even though they are part of the reason Biden made this move, right?

They were assessing what does this do to my chances on the ballot. And yet they're coming in in support of her.

DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: You know, I said to you earlier that for Kamala Harris and her team, it's really like creating the plane while you fly it but maybe not so much because there has been some quiet a modeling of the plane, just to keep the analogy going as the, as it has been more and more clear over the past couple of weeks, that president Biden is -- would be likely to get out, although I obviously they kept changing.

SIMMONS: I didn't think it was likely.

BASH: I was just going to say it was a roller coaster of sorts. One day was yes, the other day it was no.

SIMMONS: I thought he was going to stay in the race. I really did.

BASH: Well --

SIMMONS: I was wrong.

BASH: Well, let me say that, I mean, you can speak to this, but the preparation has obviously paid off because he just kind of take a step back and this is sort of where it was going with my point, the fact that we all not only woke up this morning, you had a great show on "STATE OF THE UNION" with all this great news and all of this incoming and nobody including apparently the vice president of the United States knew that this was going to happen until like 1:00 this afternoon Eastern Time.

And the fact that here we are nine hours later and all of this has happened, which is not just her work, but also the energy, the change on a dime inside the Democratic Party, from woe is me and I can't believe this, to energy is exactly what Democrats wanted and I do think, I mean, I haven't had a chance to say this. It is a testament to your former boss and the fact that this is not an easy thing to do.

It was hard to get him there. He clearly was not -- understandably was not happy about the way that many of his colleagues and people who did support him more publicly pressuring him but he got there and this feels like a completely different race.

CHALIAN: Well, Dana, we now have to see if that energy that you're talking about inside the Democratic Party translates broadly to the general election electorate and does this change up, actually change the game of this race.

BASH: You're right but you know, you know better than anybody. It has to start with the energy from right there.

CHALIAN: Sure.

BASH: And if the energy isn't there with from within, it almost doesn't matter what the suburban swing voter is going to do. If you don't have the base, who's going to get out there if they'd rather just sit home.

(CROSSTALK)

TAPPER: Kate, what's your understanding of how, just as a former staffer who still has friends that work in the White House, what's your understanding of how difficult this was and is your -- is your understanding the same as what Phil Mattingly reported that ultimately Ricchetti and Donilon, his two longest time maids, longest serving aides, I think since the 1980s, right?

[22:35:10]

KATE BEDINGFIELD, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: True for Mike. Yes.

TAPPER: Yes. Came and just like presented him with data, didn't say you have to drop out, but it's just data saying there's no path. It's done. And basically, he was confronted with, you're not going to be president in January 2025. It's just a question of how you're not going to be president in January 2025.

BEDINGFIELD: Yes. Look, this was an excruciating period of time. This three weeks was excruciating for Joe Biden, for the people who work for him I think, you know, in my mind that actually just further underscores how significant it is that he made this decision and, you know, to Dana's point, I mean, energy. We have seen energy, you know, kind of regenerate in the party tonight, which I think, again, only goes to show you that he, you know, he really -- he did make a selfless decision here.

You know, there's nobody that he -- nobody's political acumen that he trusts more than Mike Donilon and Steve Ricchetti. I mean, Mike Donilon has really -- has been with him since 1981 and has been with him through every single up and down of his political career. And so you know, having worked for him at times when, you know, he was in a political valley and looking to Mike and Steve and others for advice, I think I imagine that what happened that finally kind of had him reckon with this was Mike saying to him, you know, I don't see a path here.

And I think, look, I think that's a testament to the fact that Biden has people around him who he trusts, who care about him. You know, I don't think we should take it lightly that he ultimately got to this place because I just think this was an incredibly hard decision and you can't -- I mean, here's the other thing about polling, right? I mean, this is kind of, we've talked about this over the course of these three weeks.

I mean, you know, you can't look at a poll and say definitively you will not be successful three and a half months from now.

TAPPER: Right.

BEDINGFIELD: You can absolutely say, you know, your coalition of support is eroding, the key voters you need to get there aren't going to get there. But you can't look at a head to head and say definitively you cannot win this race in three and a half --

BASH: Which is why I was told that he was telling some of his closest advisers, look back. At this point, Bill Clinton was third behind Ross Perot and George H.W. Bush.

BEDINGFIELD: And that's a reasonable, you know, that's a reasonable thing to do if you're looking at the data. But, again, I would just say, I really -- I think that reflects well on the president that he was able to accept and get to this place and recognize that he didn't have the best shot to defeat Donald Trump because he believes that Donald Trump cannot be president of the United States again.

TAPPER: It is certainly a contrast with how Donald Trump reacted when he actually lost an election in 2020.

SELLERS: That's right. One of the things I was going to say is David Chalian and Dana always bring up good points, but I think they brought up the central point of where we go from here, which is that this plane is being built as you said in the air, and we have that energy within the party and it's something that Axe talks to me about all the time. Just how to be a better elected official, how to see the world of politics, how to be a better public servant, is how do you go out there and pull more people into your orbit.

And one of the things I would say to Kamala Harris or whenever I have an opportunity to speak with her again is this campaign has to throw all caution to the wind. This campaign has to be big. It has to be magnanimous. That means that in one day you have to go talk to white women in the suburbs of Philadelphia. That same day, you have to have a town hall with black men in Detroit. You also have to go eat cheese curds in Milwaukee, right?

You have to be able to do those things that some people were concerned about whether or not Joe Biden could actually do. Hit this stop, hit this stop, hit this stop, meet these people because at the end of the day, what is going to sell Kamala Harris is they're going to -- they're going to say she was a ho, they're going to talk about her laughter. They're going to talk about her being black. They're going to say --

BEDINGFIELD: They're going to intentionally mispronounce her name.

SELLERS: Oh, and I hate that. Oh, my god, I hate that. That is so disrespectful.

BEDINGFIELD: I don't think I understand that.

SELLERS: I don't know. Smart people in it. They're going to say she's not born here. I mean, I hope the American public has really set on seeing what the underbelly of America, I don't want to just castigate the Republican Party, looks like. She's going to have to be strong in the face of that and do something that Democrats do not do well. We sometimes find ourselves in this ivory tower. Kamala Harris has to destroy that ivory tower and meet voters where they are.

SHERMICHAEL SINGLETON, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: I mean, look, let's look at the Real Clear Politics poll average. Unfavorable, 52.3 percent for the vice president. 38.1 percent favorability. That is a problem beyond the Democratic base. We know that this election will not be won with just the base alone. You are to your point going to have to reach beyond and move some of those swing voters.

We have talked a little bit about some of the Nikki Haley voters. John King was talking about some of those voters who've said, we aren't comfortable necessarily of voting for Vice President Harris. We don't think that she's up to the job. Can she maintain that same coalition from 2020 that gave President Biden the 81,000 vote difference across four states that led him to the White House? And that's a very serious mathematical strategic question to ask that Democrats are going to have to figure out.

[22:40:01]

SELLERS: That's a good point. That's a good point. And it's also the burden of being vice president, right? Because as vice president of the United States, I mean that job is just difficult because you don't get to chart your own course. The messaging you get for the day is not what Kamala Harris feels in our heart that day and, you know, just naturally her gut, but it's what the president wants you to do. And she's been extremely loyal.

But my pushback to you, Shermichael, and when people get an opportunity to know her, she's going to have to overcome a lot of those things that women in politics have to overcome, right? Because she's been D.A., she's been attorney general. She's been United States senator and she's been the first female who's been vice president of the United States of America. And if I put that on the table and you still want to choose somebody who went bankrupt all these times, who had Trumps steaks, who had a non-profit or for profit college, et cetera, et cetera, and was a TV star then that is one thing. But she has to be able to make that case and show people the full body of who she is, and I (INAUDIBLE).

SINGLETON: No, I think that's a fair point. I'm not going to go to the litany --

TAPPER: Just to defend Shermichael, he has never defended Trump steaks.

SINGLETON: I'm not going to go through the litany --

SELLERS: But he does have Trump sneakers.

(CROSSTALK)

SELLERS: Did you buy those Trump sneakers?

SINGLETON: No, I like a nicer sneakers.

(LAUGHTER)

SINGLETON: No offense to the former president. I'm not going to go through the litany of things that you just mentioned. But again, Bakari, we cannot I suppose ignore that consistent data that showcases some of the issues for the former vice president. And I want to be sensitive of the moment because this is a big moment for -- or current vice president, right. This is a big moment for her. I don't want to take that away, but I'm a strategist. And I have to be honest and look at the data, and the data showcases this is not a shoo-in for her.

TAPPER: Nope.

SINGLETON: But then it does showcase that there are some huge hurdles for Vice President Harris that she's going to have to overcome.

SELLERS: You're echoing that. I've had a lot of black folk call me today and a lot of women call me today, and say, well, if Hillary Clinton can't do it, then nobody can do it. They're not going to elect a black person. They're not going to elect a black woman. And my response has always been you know, we have to believe in the things that are unseen. That's what makes this country great. And I believe she's going to have to tap into that and it's going to take a lot of luck. It's going to take a lot of quality campaigning, but we have to give it --

SINGLETON: We all have dreams but that doesn't mean that dream will become a reality.

TAPPER: Thank you, everyone. More on how the Republican playbook for winning back the White House

could change now that President Biden has decided not to run in 2024. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[22:41:28]

TAPPER: As we have been reporting more Democrats are backing Vice President Kamala Harris after President Biden's exit from the 2024 race. That includes Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Democrat of New York, a former top Biden supporter. And the big question now is how will team Trump shift with the president no longer seeking reelection?

Let's bring in two of our political commentators on the left and the right. Paul Begala and David Urban.

Paul, let me start with you and let me start by playing something that AOC posted on social media before President Biden's shocking announcement earlier today.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. ALEXANDRIA OCASIO-CORTES (D-NY): Huge amount of these folks in these rooms that I see that are pushing for President Biden to not be the nominee also are not interested in seeing the vice president being the nominee.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: Now AOC this evening has endorsed Vice President Harris. There has been a wave of Democrats rallying behind her. There are some notable Democrats who have not yet come out in support of Vice President Harris. Do you think that she, Vice President Harris, is the best Democrat to take on Trump?

PAUL BEGALA, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: I do. I do. Because she's a prosecutor. If Mr. Trump wants to know what's coming, Google the tape of when she was Senator Harris and she took on Bill Barr, then Trump's attorney general. Brilliant lawyer, Bill Barr is. And she carved him up in the Senate Judiciary Committee. Absolutely carved him up.

Right now, I guarantee you, Donald Trump doesn't know whether to scratch his watch or wind his butt. OK. He has no idea what's about to come. This woman is going to put him on trial and she's already got the frame. You know, I first met her she was a local prosecutor in California running for attorney general. And she had this great stump. She used to say, my proudest moment is when I walk into a courtroom and I look at that judge and I say, your honor, Kamala Harris, for the people.

Well, there's her slogan and she's going to say Trump is for himself. I'm for the people. Trump is for himself. And I'm serious, she's just going to -- she's going to tear into him and I just can't -- as a Democrat cannot wait and this is why I think you're seeing so much enthusiasm.

TAPPER: David Urban, I want to play something that was said by former Republican presidential candidate, Governor Nikki Haley, in January. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NIKKI HALEY (R), FORMER PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: The first party to retire its 80-year-old candidate is going to be the party that wins this election.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: Is she right?

DAVID URBAN, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: No, she's wrong, and listen, Jake, you'll remember, if Paul wants to talk about going watch the tape and watching how Vice President Kamala Harris is going to do during debate, why don't you remind him, Jake, because you were the moderator of how Tulsi Gabbard dismembered, literally dismembered the now vice president in your debate and I think that was the end of her career as a presidential candidate.

So, Paul, you may want to go back and look at some other tapes. Also, Jake, as you know, and Paul knows this, too. In the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Pennsylvania is an energy state. Might as well be Texas. And the vice president is vocally and vociferously opposed to fracking. She said, I will do everything in my power to stop fracking. And in the commonwealth of Pennsylvania, you might as well you hate the Steelers and despise the Eagles because it is about the same.

You're not going to be able to run, Bob Casey is not going to be able to run, down-ballot. She's going to have to either have epiphany and change her position on fracking or get some religion someplace else.

TAPPER: Paul Begala, we heard from House Speaker Mike Johnson --

BEGALA: Fracking. We're talking about fracking?

TAPPER: Well, at least it's a policy issue.

BEGALA: That's hilarious.

TAPPER: Paul, it's a policy issue. Speaker Johnson today said the Republicans are likely --

URBAN: And it's real.

TAPPER: Yes. Likely to file legal challenges if President Biden should exit the race. Biden hasn't been formally nominated. Do potential legal challenges concern you at all?

[22:50:07]

BEGALA: No. The party has had these rules for decades, maybe even over a century. This is how parties pick their nominees. And it tells you something that the Republicans want to run to the courts now. It tells you first they believed that the courts are rigged and they may be right about that. I don't know. But also tells you that they're scared.

See, this is the thing. You can always tell, Zell Miller, one of my mentors, used to say, a hit dog will holler. OK. When they're squealing like this, it's because they're scared. If they weren't worried about Kamala whipping their guy, they'd be saying, well, we welcome her to the race and we wish her the best and the sort of thing that sort of people used to say when politics was a little more of a genteel sport.

They're really, really worried and I don't diminish the fracking issue, but it's not a top of mind issue. You know what is? Kamala Harris is going to turn to Trump into Mr. Vance, Senator Vance, his running mate, and say, you're soft on Putin but hell on women. OK. I'm going to take on Vladimir Putin and stand up to him. And I'm going to defend America's women who you're attacking. And I just think that's a hell of a thing for somebody so dynamic and a woman like Kamala Harris to be able to say.

TAPPER: David, does this make this -- does what happened today make it tougher, easier, or the same for Donald Trump to win in November?

URBAN: Listen, I think it's about -- it's a little -- it's the same, right, Jake. Listen, I will give it the enthusiasm and energy. You know, Bakari was right, you know, before there was no, the party was flat, people were dejected. Now look, there's a glimmer of hope. It reminds me of that, the line in "Dumb and Dumber." So you're saying I got a chance, there still a chance, right? Like that's where the party is right now.

And Paul, listen. I know you haven't run a race in Pennsylvania in a long time, but come on back to the state and see fracking is a big deal, buddy. It's a big deal. It is a deal breaker. It cost Hillary the election. So unless Kamala Harris changes her stripes, she's not going to win the commonwealth and neither is Bob Casey if he hopes his wagon door.

TAPPER: All right. David and Paul, thank you so much. Anderson?

COOPER: In the last hour, presidential historian Doris Kearns Goodwin reminded us that Lyndon B. Johnson was the last president to drop out of a reelection race. The year was 1968. Doris told me that Johnson felt, quote, "relief and accolades" after his decision and the same might be for President Biden. Goodwin also talked with our Randi Kaye about Johnson's surprise announcement. Here's her report.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LYNDON B. JOHNSON, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT: I do not believe that I should devote an hour or a day of my time to any personal partisan causes.

RANDI KAYE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): 56 years ago, President Lyndon B. Johnson suddenly ended his campaign as Joe Biden did today. JOHNSON: I shall not seek and I will not accept the nomination of my

party for another term as your president.

KAYE: That stunning announcement during what was billed as a speech about Vietnam shocked the country.

DORIS KEARNS GOODWIN, PRESIDENTIAL HISTORIAN: When he withdrew from the race, he talked about the fact that he just wanted to use those remaining months for presidential duties, hoping to bring the war in Vietnam to a close rather than campaigning. And the response was extraordinary.

KAYE: At the time there was widespread disappointment in Johnson's handling of the Vietnam War, and his approval ratings were down. Like with Joe Biden, there were concerns about LBJ's health and there were doubts he could win a second term.

GOODWIN: He'd done something for an ambition for the country rather than himself. That in all of his 37 years, he had never sacrificed himself this way.

KAYE: After Johnson withdrew, Vice President Hubert Humphrey announced his candidacy. Senator Robert F. Kennedy of New York was also in the running for the nomination but wouldn't survive the primary season. After declaring victory in the California primary in June 1968, Kennedy was assassinated in Los Angeles at the Ambassador Hotel.

GOODWIN: Bobby Kennedy was killed and then that summer they go to the Democratic convention with the war still going on. Chaos reigns.

KAYE: The 1968 Democratic convention, which also happened to be in Chicago like this year's convention, followed not only the assassination of Robert F. Kennedy, but also Martin Luther King. The country was in turmoil and protests have broken out over the Vietnam War.

Chicago Mayor Richard Daley called up the National Guard to protect the convention arena and put thousands of Chicago police on 12-hour shifts. There were also tense moments on the convention floor among competing sets of delegates pushing to be seated. Even some of the media was roughed up, including CBS's Dan Rather, while trying to talk with anchor Walter Cronkite from the convention floor.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Water as you can see --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't know what's going on, but this -- these are security people apparently around Dan obviously getting roughed up.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What happened is a Georgia delegate at least they had a Georgia delegates sign on was being hauled out of the hall. We tried to talk to him to see why, who he was and what the situation was.

[22:55:03]

And at that instant the security people, well, as you could see, put me on the deck. I didn't do very well.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think we've got a bunch of thugs here, Dan. If I may be permitted to say so.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, mind you, Walter, I'm all right. It's all in a day's work.

KAYE: In the end, Hubert Humphrey won enough support from delegates to become the nominee. But after all the upheaval in the party, it wasn't in the cards for Democrats that year. Republican Richard Nixon ultimately defeated Humphrey to become the 37th president.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COOPER: And Randi joins me now. Did LBJ gave his aides much notice that he was going to drop out of the race?

KAYE: Well, Anderson, back in 1968, President Johnson had actually prepared two versions of that very famous speech, one that included his withdrawal from the race and one that did not. So actually nobody really knew which way he was going to go, including his Vice President Hubert Humphrey. But years later, one of his former aides wrote in a memoir that even earlier that day, the day of the speech, Johnson still didn't know if he was actually going to end his campaign.

In fact, according to the book, Johnson had said, I won't know whether I'm going to do this until I get to the last line of my speech. So apparently, Anderson, he figured it out just before he got to that last line and he did pull out. But it didn't end so well for his vice president at the time.

COOPER: Yes. Randi, thanks so much.

The news continues with Laura Coates next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)