Return to Transcripts main page
CNN Newsroom
Harris Secures Enough Delegate Support to Win Nomination; Johnson: Dems Should Expect Legal Challenges Over Harris; Harris Team Vetting Potential Running Mates; Rare, Bipartisan Call for Secret Service Chief to Resign. Aired 4-4:30a ET
Aired July 23, 2024 - 04:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[04:00:00]
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KAMALA HARRIS, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE U.S. (D) AND U.S. PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Fraudsters who ripped off consumers. Cheaters who broke the rules for their own gain. So hear me when I say, I know Donald Trump's type.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I take full responsibility for any security lapse.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You're full of s*** today. You're just being completely dishonest.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It is my firm belief, Director CheaTle, that you should resign.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: For the very first time, an Olympic opening ceremony is going to happen not inside a stadium, but actually through the main city.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANNOUNCER: Live from London, this is CNN NEWSROOM with Max Foster and Christina Macfarlane.
MAX FOSTER, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, a warm welcome to our viewers joining us from the U.S. and all around the world. I'm Max Foster.
CHRISTINA MACFARLANE, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Christina Macfarlane. It's Tuesday, July 23rd, 9 a.m. here in London, 4 a.m. in Washington, where Kamala Harris has now picked up enough delegate support to win the Democratic nomination. That's according to a CNN delegate estimate, coming just one day after President Joe Biden exited the 2024 race and passed the torch to his vice president. Biden is vowing to help elect Harris and urging Democrats to do the same.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I want to say to the team, embrace her. She's the best. I know yesterday's news is surprising and it's hard for you to hear, but it was the right thing to do. (END VIDEO CLIP)
FOSTER: Well, on Monday, Harris previewed her campaign vision and her strategy for taking on Donald Trump.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HARRIS: I was a courtroom prosecutor. In those roles, I took on perpetrators of all kinds, predators who abused women, fraudsters who ripped off consumers, cheaters who broke the rules for their own gain. So hear me when I say I know Donald Trump's type.
(CHEERS)
And in this campaign, I will proudly, I will proudly put my record against his.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FOSTER: Meanwhile, Trump has been lashing out online, calling Biden the worst president and saying Harris, who we refer to as, quote, our horrible and incompetent borders czar, will be worse.
MACFARLANE: Well, the enthusiasm surrounding Kamala Harris bid for president has sparked a major donor surge. The Harris campaign says she raised $81 million in her first day as candidate. That dwarfs Donald Trump's recent haul when he raised nearly $53 million in the last 24 hours after he was found guilty in his New York hush money case.
And Harris now has another boost. Nearly 30,000 volunteers have signed up to work with the campaign.
FOSTER: CNN's Sunlen Serfaty has a closer look at the U.S. vice president's run for the White House and her sources of support.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HARRIS: It is my intention to go out and earn this nomination and to win.
SUNLEN SERFATY, CNN WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Vice President Kamala Harris seizing the reins of the moment.
HARRIS: We have 106 days until Election Day, and in that time, we have some hard work to do.
SERFATY (voice-over): Moments after President Biden called her to say he was stepping aside, Harris launching into action, working the phones for 10 hours to trigger her deep network of support.
HARRIS: It is a very special experience to have been, as we all know, a student at the Mecca.
SERFATY (voice-over): Sources telling CNN that she made those calls some of the most important calls of her political career in a Howard University sweatshirt.
HARRIS: When you walk in those rooms you carry the voice of all of us.
SERFATY (voice-over): A small but symbolic nod to the cornerstone of the coalition.
HARRIS: This sisterhood has been a part of my life since my earliest days.
SERFATY (voice-over): That along with the Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority, the nation's oldest Black sorority, is now being called on to help power her into the Oval Office.
STACEY JOHNSON-BATISTE, CHILDHOOD FRIEND OF KAMALA HARRIS: This fight that we're up against, that I know she's going to be up against, is not going to be easy.
SERFATY (voice-over): The powerful political support within that sisterhood is one that Harris has leaned on for years.
JOHNSON-BATISTE: The Alphas and all of the Greeks, they're going to -- they're like a family.
SERFATY (voice-over): And seeing her through her early career as a prosecutor.
HARRIS: It's what's happening on a street corner that is plaguing the neighborhood.
SERFATY (voice-over): And then to the U.S. Senate.
[04:05:00]
HARRIS: I am a career prosecutor. I have visited many prisons and jails. That is a prison.
SERFATY (voice-over): Meantime, in the time since Biden's announcement, Harris is getting a boost from social media. As some Republicans are highlighting Harris-isms as a negative.
HARRIS: What can be unburdened by what has been.
SERFATY (voice-over): The memes are also attracting attention from new, younger voters, bringing new energy to even old moments. Harris quoting her mother last year --
HARRIS: You think you just fell out of a coconut tree?
SERFATY (voice-over): Now becoming something of a rallying cry for her campaign, with senators and supporters posting coconut trees as signs of support.
CHARLI XCX, POP SINGER: Very honest, very blunt, a little bit volatile.
SERFATY (voice-over): And pop singer Charli XCX declaring Kamala is brat, a reference to the singer's latest album and viral meme of the summer.
CHARLI XCX: But like, it's brat. You're brat. That's brat.
SERFATY (voice-over): With Harris' campaign quickly embracing and running with the vibe.
SERFATY: And one call among the many, many calls Harris made over that 10-hour period on Sunday was to her pastor from San Francisco, someone who has been in her life for so many years. And we are told this is one of the very first calls she made, and that the two spent some time praying together.
Sunlen Serfaty, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MACFARLANE: Interesting to see that brat pick up this note. I'm not going to go there just yet.
But anyway, the Trump campaign is already shifting its strategy with a new memo attacking Kamala Harris and calling her dangerously liberal.
FOSTER: On the campaign trail, Donald Trump's running mate, J.D. Vance, urged voters not to give Harris a shot at becoming president. He also took a swipe at Harris, what he claimed is a lack of gratitude.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. J.D. VANCE (R-OH), U.S. REPUBLICAN VICE PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: When I see her give a speech and she talks about the history of this country, not with appreciation, but with condemnation.
If you want to lead this country, you should feel grateful for it. You should feel a sense of gratitude. And I never hear that gratitude come through when I listen to Kamala Harris.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MACFARLANE: Another line of attack from Republicans claiming Harris is a so-called DEI hire. DEI stands for diversity, equity and inclusion. So they're suggesting she became vice president because she's a woman of color and not due to any of her actual accomplishments.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: 100 percent, she was a DEI hire.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She's a DEI hire, right? She's a woman. She's colored. Therefore, she's got to be good.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Do you not understand why she was chosen in the first place? She has proven to America why DEI doesn't work.
(END VIDEO CLIP) FOSTER: Well, U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson says Democrats should expect legal challenges opposing Kamala Harris becoming the Democratic nominee.
MACFARLANE: Johnson, a Republican, says states could use the courts to try and block Harris from getting the nomination. He also accused Democrats of violating Democratic principles. Here's what he told CNN's Manu Raju.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
REP. MIKE JOHNSON (R-LA), U.S. HOUSE SPEAKER: Remember that this claims to be the party of democracy, small d democracy, right? 14 million people went through the process and chose this nominee, Joe Biden. Now a handful of people have gotten together and decided he's no longer suitable. That's not how this system works. They are violating Democratic principles.
MANU RAJU, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: You expect lawsuits, plenty of lawsuits?
JOHNSON: Well, look, if it violates the rules in some of these states, I expect that there will be litigation over that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MACFARLANE: Well, Kamala Harris has secured enough delegate support to win the Democratic nomination. And the next step is picking a VP candidate. Sources tell CNN that the Harris campaign has begun vetting possible running mates.
One of the potential contenders, Kentucky governor, spoke to CNN just a short time ago, and he took a shot at Donald Trump and his running mate, J.D. Vance.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GOV. ANDY BESHEAR (D-KY): J.D. Vance is a phony. He's fake. I mean, he first says that Donald Trump is like Hitler, and now he's acting like he's Lincoln.
I mean, the problem with J.D. Vance is he has no conviction, but I guess his running mate has 34.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FOSTER: Well, meanwhile, Colorado governor, Jared Polis, says he's up for the job if Harris asks him to serve.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JARED POLIS, (D) COLORADO GOVERNOR: If they do the polling and it turns out that they need a 49-year-old balding gay Jew from Boulder, Colorado, they got my number.
(END VIDEO CLIP) FOSTER: Well, CNN's political director, David Chalian, has more on possible vice presidential candidates that Harris is thought to be considering.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DAVID CHALIAN, CNN POLITICAL DIRECTOR: Take a look at some of the possible contenders for the number two slot. You see here a whole slew of governors, many from battleground states. We'll get to that in a moment.
But notice something else here. All white men on the list. So let's zero in on some of the top contenders.
Josh Shapiro, governor of Pennsylvania, a critical battleground state Democrats need to win if they're going to win the White House. He's 51 years old, a little younger than Vice President Harris. He's a former state attorney general, the third Jewish governor from the state or Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.
[04:10:03]
Roy Cooper, 67 years old. He's a bit older than the vice president, a Southern Democrat, also a former state attorney general. And from a state Democrats are eager to really put in play, North Carolina.
Mark Kelly, battleground Arizona, U.S. Senator, 60 years old, former astronaut, really compelling biography. And of course, the husband of Gabby Giffords.
And governor Andy Beshear in Kentucky, 46 years old, younger than the vice president, former state attorney general elected twice in a red state. Notice one thing, three of these final four I took you through, former state attorneys general, just like Kamala Harris.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
FOSTER: Joining us now from Paris is Amy Greene, an American political science researcher, lecturer at Sciences Po and author of "America After Obama." Amy, thanks for joining us.
First of all, just explain to us where we're at. So Harris has the delegates and the people that would have competed against her have shown their support, haven't they? Can we just assume then she's got the nomination?
AMY GREENE, AMERICAN POLITICAL SCIENCE RESEARCHER: Yes, we can assume that the path is largely cleared for Kamala Harris. At this point, the real question was the delegate bath. Could she get to enough delegates to effectively secure this nomination?
The Democrats quickly lined up behind her. You saw, just as you mentioned, that any of her potential rivals decided to bow out. They wouldn't create more confusion, wouldn't create chaos within the Democratic Party. Once Biden pulled out, you know, there could have been a vacuum. He very naturally gave his support to his vice president. And you know, at that point, really, the Democrats had two possibilities, this hypothesis of an open convention where there would be some internal party sort of litigation as to who would emerge ultimately as the nominee or line up behind, you know, the candidate of continuity, the candidate of experience. And that's clearly the case that they, you know, the path that they chose.
They really had, you know, essentially, you know, didn't have much of a choice. I mean, they could have prolonged the process and it could have been a more open field. But effectively, they had to look where the money is, where the infrastructure is, and where the legitimacy is.
You know, Kamala Harris, as vice president, does carry the legitimacy of the functions in which she occupies today. And so really what this does is it allows the Democrats to start not necessarily thinking about who could be the ideal person, but focusing on how to line up behind that person and organize themselves and do everything they possibly can to deliver her victory this November.
MACFARLANE: Yes, and on that note, of course, all eyes now are turning to who might be her potential running mate. We heard of a few of the runners and riders there. I mean, that person will need to have swing state credibility, probably a male, you know, to bring a bit of balance to the ticket.
And we saw -- and we're seeing a list of potential candidates here. But who in your mind, Amy, would you think would be the ideal person to run on that ticket?
GREENE: I mean, the names that your reporter cited just a few moments ago are really all excellent choices. It's hard to say who would be the best. Obviously, there's a vetting process. The Harris ticket has to decide, you know, where the weak spots are. The Democratic Party will have to decide what they need, who can complete Harris the best. You know, the choice of vice president at this point is really a political tool.
So any of the people that you mentioned, you know, your Josh Shapiro, your Mark Kelly, your Beshear, those are all people that really will bring something to the ticket. You know, Kamala Harris from California, from the Senate, you know, we see that she won't necessarily automatically appeal to all voters. And so she really needs someone to come and complete that.
You know, there's been talk about Mark Kelly, a senator, obviously an American hero that many people are familiar with. He would bring, obviously, a battleground state with him.
But there's also really something to be said for the governor hypothesis. Why? We've seen a lot of America's very successful presidents come from, you know, a governorship. It's really a sort of CEO position of a state, right? And so it is also very possible that the Harris ticket would, you
know, tap a governor who could effectively bring really that political networking experience and the experience of, you know, holding a governorship.
FOSTER: It was interesting seeing the first campaign speech, wasn't it, from Harris, seeing how she's going to go at Trump. It does feel as though it's going to be prosecutor versus the villain. That seems to be the narrative there.
Do you think that's a smart one?
GREENE: Yes, I mean, I don't necessarily think Kamala Harris has, you know, much of a choice. At this point, you know, the Republican Party will spare her nothing. They've spent weeks preparing for the hypothesis that Harris will take over were Biden to step down. And so they've been really preparing their attacks.
I think for Harris to assume a sort of you know, non-attack position could certainly benefit her for some voters. But she also needs to highlight the weaknesses of a Trump candidacy.
You know, Republicans have been criticizing Harris, you know, since Sunday, but obviously, even before, suggesting all of the reasons why she wouldn't be a good president.
[04:15:00]
But it's important to remember that Donald Trump also has significant weaknesses. He's not a perfect candidate.
And so, really, the responsibility of Harris and the Democratic Party behind her is going to be to call out all of the inconsistencies, to draw out this contrasted vision of what the United States should become.
And, of course, Kamala Harris has to use all of her talents as a prosecutor, as an attorney general, as a senator to be able to do so. So, effectively, faced with this oncoming campaign season, which is going to be merciless, the Democrats have learned that, you know, they have to attack as well. And it's important to use every opportunity to really draw that stark contrast.
MACFARLANE: Yes, an awful lot to do in a matter of months, isn't it? Amy Greene, I appreciate your thoughts today. Thank you.
FOSTER: Global stock markets seem to have had a positive reaction to President Biden dropping out of the 2024 race and endorsing Kamala Harris. European stocks rose. U.S. markets made solid gains on Monday.
The S&P 500 closed up more than 1 percent. The Nasdaq jumped 1.6 percent. One expert says Biden's endorsement of Harris prevented a possible market spiral by reducing uncertainty about the race.
MACFARLANE: All right, still to come, the head of U.S. Secret Service angers both Republicans and Democrats at a contentious hearing on the Capitol Hill over the attempted assassination of Donald Trump.
FOSTER: And days after a massive tech outage caused havoc around the world, the chaos continues for Delta Airlines. Why scores of passengers are hoping this will be the day they finally get where they've been trying to go.
MACFARLANE: And later, how Kamala Harris tapped Beyonce to help her on the campaign trail.
[04:20:00]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
FOSTER: The head of the U.S. Secret Service is facing rare bipartisan calls to resign over the security failures which led to the attempted assassination of Donald Trump. It comes after Kimberly Cheatle faced a contentious hearing before the House Oversight Committee on Monday, where she was grilled by both Republicans and Democrats about the shooting at a Trump rally earlier this month.
MACFARLANE: Cheatle admitted the incident was a, quote, colossal failure but refused to step down. CNN's Whitney Wild has more.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
REP. ANDY BIGGS (R-AZ): I call upon you to resign today, today.
WHITNEY WILD, LAW ENFORCEMENT CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In a contentious Capitol Hill hearing, United States Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle found few allies. Now bipartisan calls for her to resign as House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer, who called her agency --
JAMES COMER (R-KY): The face of incompetence.
WILD (voice-over): And ranking member Jamie Raskin says she must leave as a first step to allowing new leadership to swiftly address this crisis and rebuild the trust.
REP. RO KHANNA (D-CA): I just don't think this is partisan if you have an assassination attempt on a president, a former president, or a candidate you need to resign.
WILD (voice-over): In the face of intense scrutiny, Director Cheatle immediately took responsibility for what she called a failure.
KIMBERLY CHEATLE, U.S. SECRET SERVICE DIRECTOR: The Secret Service's solemn mission is to protect our nation's leaders. On July 13th, we failed. As a director of the United States Secret Service, I take full responsibility for any security lapse of our agency.
WILD (voice-over): However, for more than four hours, Cheatle refused to answer even the most basic questions. Nine days after the attempted assassination of Donald Trump.
CHEATLE: I would have to get back to you. REP. NANCY MACE (R-SC): That is a no. You're full of shit today.
WILD (voice-over): Cheatle was asked multiple times why Secret Service agents weren't stationed on the roof where a gunman eventually shot Trump from a distance of less than 150 yards.
COMER: Can you answer why the secret of state in place, a single agent on the roof?
CHEATLE: We are still looking into the advanced process and the decision and the decisions that were made.
COMER: OK, OK.
WILD (voice-over): Members of the committee pressed Cheatle for answers about why the former president was allowed to take the stage even after she admitted the Secret Service had been notified between two and five times police were looking for a suspicious person.
Cheatle repeatedly said law enforcement didn't immediately determine that person who turned out to be the shooter was a threat.
CHEATLE: If the detail had been passed information that there was a threat, the detail would never have brought the former president out onto stage.
WILD (voice-over): The hearing comes as the agency admits it denied at some requests for additional security from the Trump team in the two years leading up to the rally, though Cheatle denied anything was withheld on the day of the shooting.
CHEATLE: For the event in Butler, there were no requests that were denied. As far as requests --
REP. JIM JORDAN (R-OH): Well, maybe they got tired of asking.
WILD (voice-over): The chorus for her resignation has only grown louder and she was confronted at the RNC in Milwaukee.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You owe the people answers.
WILD (voice-over): Still, Cheatle says she has no plans to leave.
CHEATLE: I think that I am the best person to lead the Secret Service at this time.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MACFARLANE: Well, joining us now, CNN law enforcement contributor Steve Moore. He's also a retired supervisory special agent for the FBI. Steve, great to have you with us.
I believe you're also a former FBI counter-sniper, so in a very good position to tell us perhaps what was going on behind the scenes at this attempted assassination. But first, to that hearing that we have just seen play out. It was
remarkable that Cheatle seemed very unprepared to answer even the most basic questions, and the frustration in the room to some degree was understandable, given her performance. What did you make of it?
STEVE MOORE, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT CONTRIBUTOR: Yes, I have to agree. I was astounded by her lack of either information that she had or willingness to provide it. I have to give her the benefit of the doubt in saying she wasn't willing to provide some of it, because if she didn't have that information, the only conclusion you can come to is that she's not able to really lead that organization.
And some of the things like, why did they not have somebody up on that roof? She knows, you know, Secret Service generally don't like people on high ground around them, because they'll have higher ground. They can make sure that that's clear.
[04:25:00]
And if there's a policeman up there, you know, how do you know it's a real policeman? How do you know it's not somebody faking to be a policeman? I mean, it's just basic things people know about, at least if you've worked with the Secret Service, you know.
And she couldn't even answer that.
FOSTER: I watched a lot of it and I did see the frustration because, you know, this is a democratic panel. They were speaking on behalf of the American people and Americans wanted to know some basic facts and she wasn't willing to give any of them out. But just explain why she might not have done that.
Is it a, you know, fair reason that the investigation is taking place or is it that she just didn't know and the investigation is failing already?
MOORE: If she didn't know, then she -- then there's no excuse. She would absolutely not be the person to lead the Secret Service through the investigation of what happened. That's if she didn't know.
If she knew and didn't want to reveal techniques and practices that the Secret Service uses, which I would understand, that should have been her answer. She should have said that would reveal tactics and procedures that the Secret Service uses and we don't want to make those public. I get both things.
But I mean, just simply right now before that event, there had to be an operational plan, an ops plan, as we used to call it. And it's going to detail everything from who's on the detail, what their responsibilities are, maps of the location to where the nearest trauma hospital is. That existed before the event.
That has most of the answers that they were asking. So she either needs to come clean and say, I'm not willing to provide it or explain why she doesn't have something that they knew before the event. MACFARLANE: Steve, just to draw on your experience for a moment, I think one of the more stunning revelations of this hearing was the fact that the Secret Service had been informed of an individual on the roof somewhere between two to five times before the gunman opened fire. I mean, why in that instance was Trump even allowed to go up on the stage? Why was there no Secret Service agent on that roof?
MOORE: That's a really, really important question to have answered. Let me just put it in perspective. If a person climbs on that roof and they are a suspicious person, that is still not authorization to shoot them.
I mean, that's not a crime punishable by immediate death. If a person all of a sudden produces a weapon, then maybe. But they have to actually see that.
What really bothers me is that they had a person who was obviously suspicious. He had ranging devices which are used by long-distance shooters and they didn't aggressively pursue this person. I mean, at that point, you don't say, oh, let's keep an eye on him.
That's like somebody kicking your door in at three in the morning and you tell your spouse, I'll keep an eye on him. No, it is time for action. It is time to get that person separated and find out what's going on.
The lack of a response beforehand, forget the snipers, forget bringing him out on stage. Why weren't they addressing that very suspicious individual who is a potential threat?
FOSTER: Absolutely, Steve Moore, thank you so much. I mean, you just asked so many questions about it and you just wanted some basic facts.
MACFARLANE: You can understand the calls for her to resign now, right?
FOSTER: Yes. Well, you know, to say, you know, surely an assassination attempt where someone actually gets injured, you know, that undermines your position, doesn't it? And I guess you could have then explained why it was, which is what Steve's saying. It gives some reasons as to why there were failures. All she was saying was there were gaps, but that was such an obvious thing to say.
MACFARLANE: She was not helping herself, it seems.
FOSTER: The Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, meanwhile, in Washington will explain why his trip is fraught with tension.
MACFARLANE: And later, one of the world's top golfers is playing around with Donald Trump, why he says it's about golf, not politics.
[04:30:00]
