Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

Trump Holds Rally At Same Venue Harris Rallied Thousands; Harris Meeting Top VP Contenders This Weekend; U.S. Sending More Military Assets To The Middle East; Concern Grows Over Wider Middle East Conflict; Tropical Depression 4 Strengthens To Tropical Storm Debby; Secret Service Failures Before Trump Assassination Attempt. Aired 5-6p ET

Aired August 03, 2024 - 17:00   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[17:01:00]

JESSICA DEAN, CNN ANCHOR: You are in the CNN NEWSROOM.

Hi, everyone. I'm Jessica Dean in New York.

And the battleground state of Georgia once again taking center stage, posing a new challenge potentially for Donald Trump after the shakeup on the Democratic ticket. Any minute now, the former president is set to take the stage at a rally in Atlanta.

You see Senator J.D. Vance, his running mate there talking to the crowd. This is the same venue where Vice President Kamala Harris held a raucous rally with nearly 10,000 supporters just four days ago.

CNN's Alayna Treene, is there for as we await, the former president. And Alayna, the Trump campaign has been working on its messaging strategy as it shifts to take on Kamala Harris, not Joe Biden. What are you seeing so far and how has that developed in the last several days?

ALAYNA TREENE, CNN REPORTER: Well, the messaging has been changing. I think we know that just two weeks ago, Donald Trump was in an entirely different place in his campaign. It was just after the Republican National Convention.

His team as well as the party overall was calling for unity. He was trying to stick to policy. That's what his team was encouraging him to do at least.

And now, he's really reverted back to that 2016 playbook. It's very reminiscent of his attacks on Hillary Clinton what we're hearing him do with Kamala Harris right now.

And I can tell you, Jessica, that even today, I've been looking around the room. They've had the jumbotrons filled with headlines promoting some of the false claims that Trump himself made this week about Harris' heritage. We heard some of Donald Trump's surrogates tonight, including this

woman named Mikayla Montgomery Republican black activist who essentially repeated some of the lies about Kamala Harris that got Donald Trump had made this week.

So they're not running away from that. They are leaning in to those harsh comments.

Now, you can hear it's very loud behind me. I apologize.

But I do want to point out that J.D. Vance has also been really leaning to into his attacks on Harris as well. Also arguing that she does not deserve what he calls a promotion.

Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

J.D. VANCE (R), VICE PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: But anybody who is sue blind to see Bidens incompetence or, let's be honest, too dishonest to admit it doesn't deserve to be commander in chief. Kamala Harris is not getting a promotion to the presidency of the United States.

The Democrat Party bosses would like to install her as their new nominee and is the next president. But remember, she has not received a single vote for president.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TREENE: So Jessica, you could hear there, he was referring to how she did not go through the primary process like Joe Biden and that is a point that Donald Trump himself has been making repeatedly this week as well, arguing that the country did not choose Harris. She does not deserve to be the one running.

So I think you're going to continue to hear some of that from Donald Trump himself tonight. I'm told you can also expect him to lean in to those very controversial comments from that National Association of Black Journalists panel this week where he argued that Harris had turned black in the last few years. I'm told he's going to repeat some of those claims on stage and try to label as a phony.

And again, all of those claims are very false, Jessica.

DEAN: And Alayna, I also want to ask you about the fact that Trump is backing out of this planned debate with Vice President Harris. It was set to take place next month on ABC News. He wants to set terms for a new debate that he wants on Fox News.

What more are you learning about this? What are your sources saying about that?

TREENE: I mean, it's very unclear right now, Jessica, if we're actually going to see these two face off because it seems that they are very much at a stalemate.

[17:04:43]

TREENE: Donald Trump is doubling down saying, and we heard him actually just say this earlier today that if Harris does not agree to that September 4th Fox News debate that he claims that he has agreed to that he will not be debating her. That it's either that debate or he doesn't want to go up against her.

Harris on the other hand, is arguing the opposite. She's arguing that both the Trump campaign and the then-Biden campaign had agreed to a September 10th ABC debate and that she's going to show up there no matter what.

And so look, when I talk to Trump's advisors, they say that they no longer have to abide by that agreement, that commitment to debate with ABC later in September because it's no longer Joe Biden, who was the one who would be as part of that agreement.

And I really think what they're trying to do here is to take more control of this debate. It's very clear in my conversations that they're of course more concerned about debating Harris than Biden, particularly after Biden's incredibly poor performance at that CNN debate in June.

So that's where a lot of this is coming from, but I do know as well that they think the country deserves to have the debate. Trump himself has said he thinks it's his obligation.

But right now, they are very stuck in the mud on the details and using it as a way to attack one another. So it's unclear how this will get resolved, Jessica.

DEAN: All right. Alayna Treene for us there in Atlanta, Georgia. Thank you so much for that reporting.

Let's discuss now with CNN senior political commentator and former senior adviser to President Obama, David Axelrod. David, thanks for being here on a Saturday afternoon with us. We appreciate it.

DAVID AXELROD, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Yes. Good to see you, Jessica.

DEAN: Good to see you too. Let's talk first -- we have a lot to discuss -- but let's talk first about this debate.

I had Anthony Scaramucci on last hour, he made the case, he thinks Trump will ultimately debate, but that he's kind of using this to get back into the news cycle to try to wrestle away some attention from Kamala Harris.

What do you think about him backing out of this debate, trying to propose this new one?

AXELROD: Well, look, he's been signaling this for a few days, you know, when Rachel Scott where maybe she questioned him sharply at the National Association of Black Journalists. He went on a rant about ABC and fake news and so on. I think that was a prelude to what we just saw today.

But listen his whole message has been built for two years now around strength. He's strong. He's the guy who can handle these problems and so on. And now he's got a younger and more agile opponent when it comes to debating. And he doesn't want to debate.

And I don't know that it's a great look for him. I do think at the end of the day, he may feel he has to debate. He also may feel like I'm ahead right now. Do I want to take that risk?

But in any case, it's not a very strong look. He wants to have an adaptive debate on his home turf, which he considers Fox News to be, in front of a crowd, which is his sustenance. And it makes it feel like he needs like an adaptive debate because he thinks his opponent is too strong.

DEAN: And as sources told CNN that Harris, for her part, is still planning to show up for that ABC debate, for that time slot, even if he doesn't and take that time to talk to the American people. What do you think of that step and how they might use that.

AXELROD: Well, the fact is that ABC has some say in this, and I imagine if she does show up, that it would take the form of an interview. And in some ways, you know, that -- I don't know if it's more preferable or less preferable, but you have to prepare for those as well. And we'll see how ABC handles it.

But it's interesting to me what -- more than anything, Jessica, what it reflects is just how the world has shifted in 13 days, you know, that where Trump is running away from debates and trying to change the terms of the debates and the polls have shifted in a way that chose him to be in the lead, but not in the lead the way he was after that last debate with Joe Biden.

So I think there's a -- you know, there's a justifiable sense of concern in his camp that this thing could get away from him. It may be their race to lose but it's a race that could be lost, which is something they didn't feel when they left that convention in Milwaukee.

DEAN: Well, and she has his background as a prosecutor and she's really trying to create this contrast between someone who is a convicted felon standing on the stage with her and her prosecuting felons.

AXELROD: Well, the other thing is the two of them on a debate stage, the whole scenario shifts. You got a guy who's 78-years-old, who frankly isn't all that coherent all the time himself, who suddenly looks like the past and not the future.

And so it's not -- it's -- this is not the scenario the Trump campaign wanted. They thought they had this race under control. It is much more -- it is much more of a contest now.

[17:09:50] DEAN: Yes. And look, she has a lot of momentum. But if you do look at the polling, this is still a really tight race. This is going to be a hard fight for either side -- tough based on the numbers we're seeing right now.

AXELROD: 100 percent. Look, I mean -- I mean any - anyone -- you know, there's a lot of irrational exuberance on the side -- on the Democratic side of the aisle right now because there was despair for some period of time about what November was going to look like.

Now people feel like there's a chance. But it is absolutely Trumps race to lose right now. He is ahead and he is ahead in most of the battleground states. They are close, they can be won by either candidate. But there's a lot to be determined in the next 90-whatever days -- 96 or what it is left.

So yes, I think it's a wide-open race, but Trump has the advantage right now and nobody should -- nobody should be, nobody should be -- everybody should be sober about that on the Democratic side.

DEAN: Yes. And to that end, we saw the Harris campaign bringing on really some of the biggest name in Democratic politics that we've seen over the last several presidential cycles, people that you know quite well.

David Plouffe, of course, who managed Obama's 2008 campaign. Democratic operatives like Stephanie Cutter, Mitch Stewart, David Binder. You've been in the trenches with these folks. You've seen them run campaigns. Is this a situation where it's for Democrats all-hands- on-deck trying to kind of get everyone that they can.

AXELROD: 100 percent.

(CROSSTALK)

AXELROD: First of all, let me say, David Plouffe was my partner. He was the manager when I was the chief strategist for the Obama campaign. I think the greatest campaign operative and manager of our lifetime or at least my lifetime, our lifetime or at least my lifetime. My lifetime Jessica is a lot longer than your lifetime.

So I am -- I'm and everyone on it -- Stephanie cutter is brilliant, Mitch Stewart one of the best field operatives I've ever seen, David Binder not just a great poll pollster but the best qualitative researcher in the Democratic Party. All great strategic thinkers.

This is a great addition and yes, I mean, Democrats should view this as the Olympic team, right. You want to get your best play. You may be on different sides within intraparty stuff at times. This is a time for all Democrats to be on -- you know, on the same team.

And I think what this is on the part of the -- of the Harris campaign is a recognition of that. We want to get our best players on the field and mix them in with the players we already have.

And you know, the question will be, how do you make that cohere? How do roles play out? And there's not a lot of time to figure that out, so they need to do that.

DEAN: It really does feel, you know, like a snap election in a lot of ways.

And I'm also curious --

AXELROD: Yes.

DEAN: -- because you lived through this, you know, 2008 even 2012. Those are getting obviously further and further away. What is different for your friends and colleagues who have now gone into the Harris campaign about a campaign in 2024 -- obviously this is unique in a million ways.

But just where we are in the political world and the state of affairs in this country versus where we were even in 2012 or 2008.

AXELROD: You know, that's such a great question because technology churns at such a rapid rate, the social media churns at a much faster rate.

There are many different outlets, many more outlets than we saw in 2012, certainly than 2008. And one of the things about David Plouffe as a campaign manager was his view was we should study industry and study the state of the art and see what the state-of-the-art technology was.

So we have 57 data analytics people in 2012, we had virtually none in 2008 because that's big data was, you know, emerging as a huge tool.

And so, you know, the thing about every single person who they added here, and I'm sure people who are already on board, these people are up to date. They know what modern media environment looks like. They know what the technology offers a campaign.

And it's so important to have that so they've, you know, they've added significant firepower with these four and they had some already.

DEAN: And we know that Vice President Harriss, I believe as we speak, is getting these final rundowns from this vetting process. The finalists on her -- finalists for who she might select to be her running mate. Obviously, this is a very big decision.

Some Americans, you know, it really can speak to Americans to give them more information about who she is, how she wants to govern by who she chooses.

What are you kind of -- I'm sure everyone wants to talk about veepstakes. I'm sure they ask you a lot, but what are you telling people when they say David, what should she be doing? Who should she be picking?

[17:14:54]

AXELROD: Yes. Well listen, I think this works on a lot of different levels. I mean, one is -- the one you very appropriately suggest, which is this is the first presidential decision you make.

And so people will take a lot from it, especially for Kamala Harris is stepping up to the lead role in this drama. The first thing you want to make sure is the person is qualified and can plausibly be president if the need arises. Nine presidents have risen to the presidency. And so you always have to be aware of that.

The second is you want someone who's not going to embarrass you and I would suggest that this is a problem for Trump because he kind of -- there is question on both fronts relative to his VP choice. So this is an opportunity to create a comparison with J.D. Vance, with relatively scant experience and hasn't done a heck of a lot in public. He's only been in the Senate for 18 months. That's the only office he's ever held. He's never really run anything.

So here you have an assortment of governors. You have a Senator in Mark Kelly, who was an astronaut, who was a fighter pilot, who is strong on the border, guy from a battleground state and who is an expert on national security. And you have an array of governors.

But ultimately this may come down to a math problem, Jessica. The state that she has to win I believe and most people do to win the presidency is the state of Pennsylvania.

So that's put a lot of focus on Josh Shapiro, the governor, the very popular governor of Pennsylvania, and the question of whether he on the ticket might provide a little bit extra in what promises to be a marginal race. And that's why there's a lot of focus of attention on him right now.

But every single person on this list would pass the tests that I suggested in the first place that there is sort of table stakes test of qualifications and of unlikely to embarrass you.

So she's got a good array of candidates to choose from and there are a lot of opinions in the Democratic Party about the way she should go.

DEAN: Yes. There sure are a lot of opinions, no doubt about it.

Dare I ask what you might predict, who you might predict?

AXELROD: You know, it's hard to say, but I think you've got a lot of smart political people there who are looking hard at the numbers. And I do think that may give Shapiro the edge. There has been some resistance from some of the folks on the left in the Democratic Party because of his outspokenness about the University of Pennsylvania president who didn't condemn genocide or didn't suggest -- or suggested genocide might not be grounds for discipline, supporting genocide might not be grounds for discipline when those protests were going on.

But, you know, you may view him as too moderate. But those numbers loom large to me. They really do.

But you know, Pete Buttigieg, great -- one of maybe the best communicator in the Democratic Party. J.B. Pritzker, the governor of my state has been fantastic and surprising because he was new to politics leader of the state, very strong Trump critic. A lot of energy behind Tim Walz, the governor of Minnesota who has really gone after this. I mean, he's been on everything but the home and garden network in the last few days. So, you know that he's going after it.

And then Andy Beshear, who I think a lot of Americans remember from some of the travails that have -- natural disasters that have hit his state and how he's handled himself then.

So she's got a lot of great choices here. I think the math may lead her to Shapiro, but I can't say it for sure.

DEAN: Well, she will get to decide and then we will -- we will find out and see how it develops.

David Axelrod, thanks so much. Always good to see you.

AXELROD: Good to see you. Thanks, Jessica.

DEAN: Still ahead, Israel and the Middle East bracing this weekend as Iran promises quote "bloody vengeance" for the killing of a Hamas political leader.

Plus the Secret Service is making changes as we learn new details about how a gunman could come so close to shooting former president Donald Trump.

And breaking news -- the storm headed to Florida now tropical storm Debby. After picking up power from the warm Gulf waters, it is expected to become a hurricane before it makes landfall.

We'll have more on that for you.

You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.

[17:19:31]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

DEAN: The U.S. is sending additional military assets to the Middle East, including a carrier strike group, warships, and fighter squadron. This as the Middle East is now bracing for possible Iranian retaliation for the killing of a senior Hamas leader in Tehran earlier this week. The group blames Israel for that attack.

Journalist Elliott Gotkine joining us now from London. Elliott, of course, Iran is warning of retaliation. This as we see a key ally, the U.S. of course, a key ally of Israel, beginning to move in these warships and other things.

[17:24:45]

ELLIOTT GOTKINE, CNN JOURNALIST: Wery much so, Jessica. And I suppose Israel, the United States, the Middle East itself, is braced for that Iranian response. I think it's pretty much a given now that there will be a response. The big questions which we don't have answers to is when that response will come and from where it will come.

In terms of the when, you'll recall back in April when Iran held an unprecedented barrage of missiles and drones towards Israel that on that occasion it was well telegraphed what Iran was going to do, and Israel was waiting several hours for this kind of slow-motion flotilla of Missiles and drones to arrive. This time around they don't seem to be telegraphing what their intentions are.

And as I say, the other big question that remains to be answered is where any response from Iran would come from. Will it be from Iran itself? Will it be from its main proxy, Hezbollah in southern Lebanon which has been firing on Israel since the 8 October in support of the Hamas-led terrorist attacks and which has been exchanging daily fire with Israel. Will it come from the Houthis in Yemen or perhaps other proxies, other militia inside of Iraq, which are backed by Iran.

There's also of course, the possibility that the response could happen outside of Israel perhaps something on the lines of what we saw in the 90s in Argentina when Hezbollah was widely blamed for attacks on the Israeli embassy and a Jewish cultural center there.

So those are the two big questions.

And of course, while Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is warning Israelis in his words of challenging days ahead and one supermarket has told that a spike in sales of basic goods, Israelis as a whole, Jessica, I think are just getting on with their lives as normal for now.

DEAN: All right. Elliot Gotkine with the latest reporting for us. Thank you so much for that.

I want to talk more about this with former U.S. National Intelligence manager for Iran Norman Roule and former State Department Middle East negotiator Aaron David Miller. Great to have both of you here.

Norman, let's start first with you. Eliott just laid out what is the big question which is, what might this retaliation look like? You have to think that Israel did factor in there would be retaliation if they were going and they haven't taken of course responsibility for this.

But there was a strike in the middle of Tehran and that there might be some retaliation for that. What do you think it might look like?

NORMAN ROULE, FORMER U.S. NATIONAL INTELLIGENCE MANAGER FOR IRAN: Good evening to you and to Aaron.

The Iranian retaliation needs to resolve a number of challenges. First, they need to prevent this from turning into a regional war which would seriously damage Iran's national economic and political objectives at a very sensitive time in the regime.

At the same time, they need to reset deterrence. They need to demonstrate to regime hardliners that the regime knows what it's doing. They need to stand with Lebanese Hezbollah that recently suffered the

loss of its senior, most military official to the Israelis. They need to stand with the Houthis who recently were attacked by the Israelis following a Houthi attack on Tel Aviv.

This is the sort of response that takes some time to work out. It will involve a number of different tools beginning perhaps with cyber, ending perhaps with some sort of saturation event. But again, they're going to try to calibrate this and that takes time.

DEAN: And Aaron, we hear kind of what, what Norman's laying out there. A lot of people I think look at this and think, is there any way that -- you know, is it all but assured that this escalates into a full-out war or can it be calibrated as Norman's saying on both sides where it doesn't expand to that.

What do you think?

AARON DAVID MILLER, FORMER STATE DEPARTMENT MIDDLE EAST NEGOTIATOR: I mean, I think Norm's right. I think he laid out the analytical propositions very well. Look, I think the situation Jessica over the next week or ten days.

And remember he took the Iranians two weeks after to respond in April 13, 14 after the strike -- Israeli strike on the IRGC general in Damascus. So we may -- we may have a little more time here.

But I think the situation -- we're in for a bad patch and the situation is going to get worse before it gets worse (ph).

I think the key is going to be what is the nature of the Iranian response? How much damage so they do? Will civilian casualties be involved?

because then of course you get to the issue of the Israeli response. And I think it's not -- I think it's impossible to say. I think we still can avoid a major regional war, something the Middle East has never experienced before but I think there are too many uncertainties right now in order to make that sort of prediction.

Again, the Iranian response, its severity and then, of course, the second is, how the Israelis are going to respond.

DEAN: Right. And so then Norman, you go to the question of U.S. involvement and we have the reporting that the military has sent these additional assets, including carrier strike group, warships, fighter squadron.

Does that deter Iran? Is Iran factoring all of that into their decisions here?

[17:29:43]

ROULE: Well, Iran will have two challenges.

First, they will understand that whatever they move in their country in terms of military assets, or movements of their proxies will likely be picked up by U.S. and Israeli intelligence. So they're not going to be able to do this entirely without giving a heads up.

The second aspect is the U.S. military force in the region is enormous and extraordinarily competently lead. You have not only the finest aircraft. We have the F-35s, the F-22s, the F-18s.

There are unconfirmed reports we've even sent B2 bombers with the massive ordinance penetrators that can destroy any facility in Iran.

Let alone our anti-missile ships, the amphibious landing crafts in the Eastern Mediterranean and, of course, the aircraft carrier task force "Theodore Roosevelt."

So Iran's military is quite professional. They know they can't compete. So they want to a head-on-head confrontation with the U.S.

DEAN: And, Aaron, that's kind of laying out the military piece of this.

Politically, maybe more importantly, diplomatically, what does that look like as we enter into to what we just described as -- as -- I think you described it as a rough patch that we're about to see.

DAVID: Yes. I think there may be a role for diplomacy. But again, the blood is up now on both sides. There's a serious possibility and danger of miscalculation.

I think messages have been sent to the Iranians from everyone, basically, to understand the implications, if its operation is to be successful.

But again, I think, right now, the diplomats are not -- not front and center. This is a kinetic exercise and a serious one at that. The implications, I think, for the hostages and the ceasefire negotiations, they're also quite dire.

The Israeli prime minister has now made returning the hostages a priority. And (INAUDIBLE) saying, why are the key Palestinian decision-makers not (INAUDIBLE) He's determined to keep the hostages.

So even before the escalation, Jessica, I think the odds of a deal were fading.

The real question is, when the dust settles, if it settles, what, in fact, will be the situation on the ground and will there be any hope of de-escalating war in Gaza?

Unless you do that, we're going to be left with the several wars of attrition that are just going to grind down. Always carrying with them the risk of a serious miscalculation and an escalated conflict.

DEAN: Yes. And meantime, those hostages still -- would still be being held against their will.

All right. Aaron David Miller, Norman Roule, thank you so much. We appreciate it.

MILLER: Thank you.

DEAN: Evacuation orders are piling up in Florida and the National Guard is mobilizing while people brace for Tropical Storm Debby, which is likely to be a hurricane by the time it hits the Florida coast. The latest track ahead in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[17:37:04]

DEAN: New this hour, Tropical Storm Debby now taking aim at the Florida coast. The storm is gaining power from the warm waters of the gulf. And it is forecast now to be a category one hurricane when it hits.

Meteorologist Elisa Raffa is in the Weather Center with the storm's development, its potential path.

And, Elisa, it sounds like we don't know a ton about its path right now.

ELISA RAFFA, AMS METEOROLOGIST: We do know it is headed towards the Florida coast. After that is where it gets a little hairy because it kind of stalls and sits over the next week.

So here it is. This is Tropical Storm Debby, just named as of a couple of minutes ago. You can see the center of it is sitting just offshore of Cuba in the Gulf of Mexico.

And that's why it's starting to get its act together and intensifying, organizing a little bit better. This ocean waters are just so warm.

We now have new hurricane warnings in effect for parts of the big bend of Florida. That's where we could be getting pretty close to a category one landfall as we go into Monday as this this thing intensifies.

That's because on its path, there's really no wind energy in its way that would kill the hurricane. So we don't have any of that.

And we have crazy warm ocean temperatures. You need ocean temperatures below 80 degrees to weaken a storm system. We've got some ocean temperatures nearing the low 90s. So just incredibly near record warm. And that is food and fuel for these hurricanes.

Because we are looking at it possibly intensifying, we are finding the numbers in the forecast increasing. Increasing storm surge, four to seven feet in that big bend of Florida there around Cedar Key.

As you get towards Tampa Bay, looking at two to four feet of storm surge. One to three feet down near Marco Island.

Again, with that at turn into Florida expected going into Monday, we could find some tropical-storm-force conditions as soon as Sunday night.

Then as we go into the work week, look at what happens. It just sits and meanders and just continues to spin. These spaghetti plots are almost laughable because look at the loop-to-loop they do.

And it's not really because we don't know where it's going. It's because it has nowhere to go. Look at these two different areas of high pressure. You have a stationary front to the north.

Really, Debby just kind of gets squeezed and has nowhere to turn because that front is in its way.

The reason why this is so important is because when you have a slow, stalled tropical system that could give you prolific amounts the rain. We're talking about possibly measuring rain in feet.

A widespread swath of maybe six-to-12-inch totals from Florida up the Georgia and Carolina coastline. But I am increasingly worried about a pocket somewhere in the low country of Georgia and South Carolina that we could be looking at maybe even upwards of two feet of rain.

So something that we need to watch incredibly closely. Multiple days already slated for a moderate risk of heavy rainfall through Monday, Tuesday, and even into Wednesday -- Jessica?

DEAN: All right. Elisa Raffa, with the latest for us, thank you so much for that.

[17:40:53]

Communications breakdowns, extra radio chatter. The Secret Service says all of that and more contributed the mistakes that happened the day someone tried to kill former President Donald Trump. What we've learned about - what we've learned from the agency's new top dog. That's coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

DEAN: It's been three weeks since the would-be assassin made an attempt on the former president's life. We're still learning new details about what happened that day.

The acting head of the Secret Service is reiterating his own agency is responsible.

[17:45:03]

CNN's Whitney Wild has more on what he says went wrong as lawmakers continue to push for accountability.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

WHITNEY WILD, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT CORRESPONDENT: Director Rowe revealed some pretty major breakdowns in communication. And what he said was that there was radio traffic, there were text messages and there were phone calls, but it was -- it was pretty scattered among the different agencies.

And what we know is that that's a very critical breakdown because local law enforcement had been tracking that shooter for quite some time. It was only until about 30 seconds before the shooting started that they realized he had a firearm.

And they, the local law enforcement agencies, put that information out over the radio. But the problem was, there were two command posts. What Director Rowe described was a unified command post where local law enforcement agencies were stationed so they could hear one another's radios there.

But there was another area where the Secret Service was located and that was their security room where they were with a Pennsylvania state trooper.

That information, that radio traffic did not get to the Secret Service. And so the Secret Service agents and counter-snipers did not know that gunman had a firearm until he started shooting.

Here's what Director Rowe said about how these two command centers -- how these two command centers were working, and why that radio traffic became so hampered.

RONALD ROWE, ACTING DIRECTOR, SECRET SERVICE: On the day in Butler, we had a Pennsylvania state trooper in our security room. They also had a unified command post that had some of the other agencies that were onsite that day.

It is plainly obvious to me that we we're not -- we didn't have access to certain information, not by anybody's fault. It just so happened that there was a sense of urgency that there might have been radio traffic that we missed.

WILD: The other big question here is about accountability. And Director Rowe made very clear that he's not going to discipline anyone or fire anyone until the results of an internal investigation are complete.

He said that that is also not information we are going to be getting in real time but, instead, he said, at some point, he'd be prepared to make what he called a high -level statement to assure everyone that there was some level of accountability associated with this massive failure.

Whitney Wild, CNN, Chicago.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

DEAN: Whitney, thank you.

Coming up, riot police in northern England mobilizing by the hundreds as protests sweep through cities, including some violence days after a stabbing attack that killed several young girls.

You're in the CNN NEWSROOM. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

(SHOUTING)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[17:52:06]

DEAN: Happening today, violence erupting in several cities across England. Far-right activists clashing with police and anti-racist protestors. There's also been reports of looting, vehicles set on fire, some police officers injured.

It all began following a stabbing attack at a dance class earlier this week. Three little girls we're killed, several others we're wounded. A 17-year-old was arrested at the scene.

Then false information about the suspect's identity spread online, fueling the protests.

Ahead of his 100th birthday, former President Jimmy Carter told his family he's hanging on so he can vote in the presidential election. Telling them, quote, "I'm only trying to make it to vote for Kamala Harris."

That is according to his grandson, who relayed a conversation Carter had with his son, Chip, this week. "The Atlanta Journal-Constitution" first reported on that conversation.

Carter has been in hospice for more than a year. He was diagnosed with cancer that's spread to his brain in 2015.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

DEAN: The new four-part original series, "1968," looks back on a year marked by seismic shifts in American politics, social movements, global relations, and cultural icons.

It was a year with striking parallels to our current political moment.

Here's a preview.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Nixon knew that he was making one of the great comebacks in American political history. And he was able to tap into his own sense of renewal.

RICHARD NIXON, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: As we look at America, we see cities enveloped in smoke and flames. We hear sirens in the night. We see Americans dying on distant battlefields abroad. We see Americans hating each other, fighting each other, killing each other at home.

And as we see and hear these things, millions of Americans cry out in anguish, did we come all this way?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Nixon's speech was designed to say, you know, I hear you. And unless we stop shouting at one another, we can't hear one another.

I mean, it's very powerful, powerful words.

NIXON: It is a quiet voice in the tumult of the shouting. It is the voice of the great majority of Americans, the forgotten Americans, the non-shouters, the non-demonstrators.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Nixon wrote that speech, contrary to a lot of his speeches, where he would be getting help from his speech writers. That speech was all Richard Nixon.

NIXON: America is in trouble today, not because her people have failed, but because her leaders have failed.

And what America needs, our leaders to match the greatness of her people.

(CHEERING)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Richard Nixon presenting a face of placid calm in a year of chaos and things are looking pretty good for Richard Nixon.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DEAN: The CNN original series, "1968," back-to-back episodes, air tomorrow night starting at 9:00 p.m.

[17:55:02]

We're also honoring this week "CNN Hero" who has lived a nightmare familiar to many Americans. Her daughter died from a fentanyl overdose at 26.

And now she's turning her pain into healing for women struggling with addiction in her hometown of Johnson, Vermont.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DAWN TATRO, CNN HERO: Our Johnson always had a lot of life in community. And I was seeing that just go away.

This whole street was one of the hardest-hit places for gangs moving in and drug dealing. I don't think a lot of people realize it's here, it's embedded in your community.

But with Jenna being so involved in that, I really learned so much about the places.

We did everything that we're supposed to do as a family but it doesn't matter who you are, because that drug basically owns you.

So many of the struggles that Jenna went through, I realized there were gaps. So we started building Jenna's Promise, helping women that are struggling with addiction.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DEAN: For more on how this mother took her pain and turned it into healing for women struggling with addiction, you can go to CNNheroes.com.

We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)