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CNN International: Now: Harris On Way To Philadelphia For Rally With VP Pick Walz; U.S. Officials: Iran And Proxies Preparing For Possible Retaliatory Attack Against Israel; Stocks Bouncing Back After Massive Sell-Off. Aired 3-4p ET

Aired August 06, 2024 - 15:00   ET

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

[15:00:55]

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN HOST: It's 8:00 pm in London, 10:30 p.m. in Tehran, 2:00 p.m. in St. Paul, Minnesota, 3:00 p.m. here in Washington. I'm Jim Sciutto.

Thanks so much for joining me today on CNN NEWSROOM. And let's get right to the news.

You are looking at a live picture in Philadelphia. The crowd filing in to see Vice President Kamala Harris introduce her running mate. He is Minnesota Governor Tim Walz. Walz, high school football coach, teacher, Army National Guardsman, who brings with him more than a decade in the House and now two statewide wins in a big Midwestern state.

Walz became a dark horse in Harris's expedited VP search in the final days and had what one source told CNN was great chemistry with Harris, which helped her make her final decision.

Walz is already in Philadelphia for that event just moments ago, Harris gave a thumbs up as she took off for the key swing state, kicking off a week-long battleground state blitz launching this new Democratic ticket.

With me now for more, CNN senior White House reporter Kevin Liptak.

Do we know the decision-making behind the scenes why she chose Walz?

KEVIN LIPTAK, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Well, I do think that chemistry that you mentioned was a very big deal for Vice President Harris. She is a vice president. She knows what a relationship with a president can be and what it can't be. And she was very intent on finding someone who she could have a vibe with.

And as she interviewed these candidates over the weekend, Mark or Tim Walz was the one who had the best chemistry. They have a similar sense of humor there around the same age and I think when you talk to her campaign advisers, certainly his biography played a huge role.

You know, he's someone who has not spent his entire career in Washington. He was a high school teacher. He was a coach. You know, this is someone who came to politics relatively late in life. But it was this interpersonal relationship that was so important for the two of them. And that is how she picked this.

She found him trustworthy. She thinks he'll be loyal. You know, it's a hard thing to be a vice president. You have to operate in the shadow of someone else. That's not something every politician can do or can do easily, at least. And that's what they think they've found in Tim Walz.

SCIUTTO: First, of course, they have to win the race and its been issued to see, of course, the Democratic Party is going to rally around the top of the ticket what to hear praise from all sides of the Democratic Party today, Joe Manchin, from the centrist part of the party, to Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, what does that tell you? Is that just messaging or is there genuine unity around him?

LIPTAK: Well, I think it's interesting because when you look at Tim Walz's record, he actually does kind of span the spectrum of the Democratic Party. When he was in Congress, he was a relatively moderate congressman. He was focused on agriculture issues.

By the time he went and became the governor, his record became a lot more progressive. He saw things like enshrining the right to abortion in Minnesota, legalizing the right to legal marijuana recreational marijuana. So he does kind of span this ideological spectrum that the party is looking for.

The other thing that the Harris folks are looking at is messaging and you've seen that just over the last couple of weeks. He sort of debuted this idea of Trump and his running mate J.D. Vance as weird. I think there's a little bit of a clip of him saying that. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. TIM WALZ (D-MN): These guys are just weird. That's who they are. So, it ain't much out. Don't give them the power.

Is he a danger to women's health? Yes. Is he a danger to world peace? Yes. But don't give him more credit than he needs. He's just a strange, weird dude. And how often in the world do you make that bastard wake up afterwards and know that a Black woman kicked his ass and sent him on the road.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LIPTAK: So I don't know that every politician can make that sound as natural, incredible as he was able to do. That's what they like about him. He's down to Earth. He's kind of salt of the earth kind of guy. Their real hope is that will bring in the kind of voters that have been flocking from the Democratic Party for the last several elections and bring them into the fold.

SCIUTTO: Yeah, it is a marked change from the Biden message, which would she has been that Trump is a genuine danger to democracy, which Kamala Harris may very well believed, but it's a switch to say they're just weird and strange as opposed to the Death Star, basically.

LIPTAK: Very much.

[15:05:00]

SCIUTTO: Kevin Liptak, thanks so much.

Well, Tim Walz is not the only vice presidential contender in Philadelphia today. J.D. Vance visited the City of Brotherly Love this morning. And while at a campaign event, he answered questions on his presumed challenger.

Alayna Treene is here with all the details.

Alayna, tell us what Vance had to say about this ticket here. And I wonder, of course, there's going to be spin. It's a campaign, but are they worried about this decision or happy with this decision?

ALAYNA TREENE, CNN REPORTER: Well, I'll start with what they're trying to frame him as and how they're trying to paint him. And first of all, I just want to note that over the past several weeks, we've been reporting this, that the Trump campaign has really struggled to define Vice President Kamala Harris herself. They've been trying to workshop different attacks to see what sticks with her.

However, they have been really hot out of the gate after they learned that Walz was going to be her pick with the attacks. They're trying to paint her the same way we're seeing them paint Harris, which is to define him as more liberal than both Harris and Joe Biden to try and really focus is on his record as governor.

I think you heard Kevin there explain how in Congress, his 12 years in Congress, Walz was actually a little bit more moderate. They don't really want to focus on that. They want to focus on his record as governor and tried to paint him as being very progressive and pushing the Democratic ticket to the left. And we did hear Vance talk about this today when he was in Philadelphia I want you to take a listen to what he told reporters.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. J.D. VANCE (R-OH), VICE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Tim Walz's record is a joke. He's been one of the most far less radicals in the entire United States government at any level. But I think that what Tim Walz's selection says, is that Kamala Harris has bent the knee to the far left of her party, which is what she always does.

Kamala Harris is running as a San Francisco liberal. She has governed as a San Francisco liberal and she's chosen a running mate who will be a San Francisco style liberal.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TREENE: Now that last line again, they're trying to also group Walz together with Harris. He's, of course, from Minnesota. He grew up in a small town in Minnesota, but they're trying to argue that he will have the same types of policies as Kamala Harris. And specifically that she had when she was attorney general in California. But, look, as to your second question, Jim, it's hard to say how concerned they are. I can tell you who they were more concerned about, and that was Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro. When I talked to a lot of Donald Trumps advisers, they said that they were kind of had a sigh of relief today when they saw that Harris did not select Shapiro because their big concern was that Shapiro could help her in Pennsylvania and of course that is a state that both campaigns believe is crucial to them winning in November.

Another key line of attack, I know that they're going to be using is not necessarily about Walz, but against Harris, not selecting Shapiro, what they've been trying to argue is that she did not choose him because he's a -- he's a Jewish governor. People have criticized as them on the left for how he has handled his kind of being critical of the war between Israel and Hamas and the demonstrators and the protests around that. They're saying that that was something that Harris ran away from.

So, you're going to hear a lot of this type of language and rhetoric as they continued to figure out how do we define not only Walz but Harris overall.

SCIUTTO: Yeah, and she's married to a Jewish man. The U.S. Secretary of State is Jewish, the Senate majority leader is Jewish.

TREENE: And Walz has been -- and Walz has been a key defender of Israel, I should add, as well.

SCIUTTO: Exactly. Alayna Treene, thanks so much.

So to speak more about this with Democratic pollster Margie Omero and former Republican Pennsylvania Congressman Charlie Dent, knows a thing or two about the Keystone State.

I am going to begin with you, Margie, you're a pollster. I'm sure -- we know the Harris campaign was polling hard on this on number.

Can you tell us where and how Walz might help her and where he might hurt her in any way?

MARGIE OMERO, DEMOCRATIC POLLSTER: Well, people may be polling about the VP pick. It's very difficult even if you had more time to truly get at the hypothetical of introducing somebody to the battleground who is not necessarily known, especially for swing voters, or any extra time and attention to get to know any of the folks who are on the list.

So even if there was polling like, what do you think of this hypothetical person or this hypothetical person or here watch this video, it still is not the same as actually having the camera be trained on -- on the someone being on the podium and speaking to a crowd and getting the kind of regular viewership and attention that comes with being a VP candidate.

So I don't think this is like a polling driven decision. I think this is like a do-no-harm. And who does Vice President Harris want to beat in this partnership with and I think that she had an incredible array of really strong talent that people were all across the Democratic ecosystem were really in voters, were really excited about.

And I think when you look at Tim Walz, the image that I think people should think about and the contrast it creates is him being surrounded by a little kids helping pass a law to have a free breakfast for kids who need it and all the hugs and smiles and that genuine delight he shows and being with other people.

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And think of what a contrast that is with President Trump, former President Trump. And have you ever seen any kind of image of him like that? So it just really suggest like a caring, empathetic, genuine, authentic person that I think is a value added to Vice President Harris ticket to the political dialogue altogether.

SCIUTTO: Okay. Charlie, so the conventional thinking about the number to candidate that a lot of thinking that Governor Shapiro of Pennsylvania was in the running right up to the final minute here was that he might make a difference in winning Pennsylvania for the Democrats.

So my question is, one, do you believe that? Do you believe it was a mistake for her not to go with the Pennsylvania governor?

CHARLIE DENT (R-PA), FORMER U.S. REPRESENTATIVE: Well, let me just first say I know Tim Walz. He's a friend and he was a good, honorable congressman. He served as a moderate congressman when he was there.

But I thought that Josh Shapiro provided more value to Kamala Harris for the simple reason that there were a lot of Shapiro Trump voters in 2022. If you look at the map, Trump -- I mean, Shapiro won in a lot of places that Trump did. I could not say the same thing about Walz and Biden. Walz and Biden, when you look at the electoral map 2022 in Minnesota. They basically wanted the same areas. That is not true of Josh Shapiro.

And if you look at the Philadelphia media market in particular, and that's about 40 percent of the vote of the entire state. That's where Shapiro is, especially strong. And that's where Harris needs to run up the numbers.

And I thought on the margins, Shapiro could have helped her win Pennsylvania? So I thought that Shapiro was the obvious smart choice because Harris has no path to victory in this election without Pennsylvania, she can't win without it.

So I was really quite surprised. And also Shapiro could probably help Democrats nationally was some of the erosion they're experiencing but Jewish voters in the aftermath of the Israel Gaza war and all that's been happening there.

SCIUTTO: So, Margie, what's your response to that?

OMERO: I think, you know, look, I can't speak to Harris's decision- making. I think they're both really good choices. I think there -- there's Pennsylvania, there's also voters are around the back battleground who are going to meet whether it's Walz or whether it was Shapiro are going to meet these candidates and really liked them.

And then the other thing I would notice what is the impact and that taking away from Walz or anybody else, what is the impact of the vice presidential pick generally historically? And historically, it's not that great. It's more likely to do harm than it is to actually provide a boost.

It's fun and it's exciting for us to all to talk about it. It is a very early decision for our campaign that's still new, brand new. Ultimately, we've seen in past years, we did a study once wants where we tried to look at different potential VP picks for Trump in '16 and there was only one candidate who were hurt him? Nobody really helped him.

And the only candidate potential candidate who heard them was Ivanka, if he had picked Ivanka, which was being circulated and floated at the time. So if you picked Ivanka, that would have hurt him. Everybody else, it would have had no change.

So I think by that measure, is it really true that one candidate would have guaranteed a state or have this impact? I don't know if that's true in this election the way it hasn't necessarily been true in previous elections.

SCIUTTO: Charlie, we know Republicans are there already are characterizing him as a far-left liberal as you note, when he was in Congress. He was quite centrist, but as governor, his -- if you look at his records, pass universal free school meals, which I think is largely a popular issue across party the lines. Enshrining the right to abortion, obviously more controversial, particularly controversial gender-affirming care in the law. Universal background checks, that's something which a lot of bipartisan support, making 100 percent of Minnesota is electricity clean by 2040 has become a partisan issue.

Is his record easily caricatured by Republicans as leftist?

DENT: Well, to be fair Tim Walz is probably more progressive than Josh Shapiro or Mark Kelly, but he's not a wild-eyed progressive either. So I think we have to level set this a little bit.

But I think I do believe that Walz will be vulnerable on a Minneapolis burning. I'm sure there are going to be images of the fires of the riots that occurred in 2020.

So I think on the law and order issue, I suspect Republicans will come after him pretty hard. That's where I really think his vulnerability is.

You know, look, he's on the popular side of the abortion issue. There's no question. People want to keep abortion safe and legal. He's on the right side of that and they're not going to beat him up over school lunches. So I'm not really sure how they're going to really caricature him

other than on that law course, men issue. And the riots of 2020 in Minneapolis, which is right, really think there is a challenge and I agree. The second in command is not going to drive the vote. People are going to vote -- vote for or against Kamala Harris because of Tim Walz. This is they're not going to vote for or against Donald Trump because of J.D. Vance, who really doesn't add anything to the Trump ticket, that Trump didn't already have.

[15:15:08]

SCIUTTO: Yeah. Well, I guess question is, do you lose -- could you potentially lose and it's such a -- it's a tight margin in this election. So you wonder. Margie Omero, Charlie Dent, thanks so much to both.

OMERO: Thank you.

DENT: Thank you.

SCIUTTO: Still ahead, new reporting on rising Middle East tensions and fears. Israel is bracing for a possible retaliatory attack from Iran, which blames Israel for the killing of a senior Hamas leader right on its soil.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SCIUTTO: Iran and its proxies are beginning to make preparations for potential military retaliation against Israel for the killing of a senior Hamas leader in Tehran last week, U.S. officials tell myself and my colleagues Natasha Bertrand and Katie Bo Lillis.

Iran blames Israel for the attack that killed Ismail Haniyeh, although Israel has not yet claimed any responsibility. The U.S. believes an attack by Iran and/or its proxies is likely in the coming days.

Hamas has just announced Haniyeh's replacement. He is Yahya Sinwar, the mastermind of the October 7 attacks now, the top official in Gaza. We're also learning that President Biden today spoke separately to the leaders of Qatar and Egypt about continuing diplomatic efforts to deescalate regional tensions.

For more on all this, I want to bring in CNN, national security correspondent Natasha Bertrand, and I know you've been covering this run-up to expected military action for days now.

What is the current footing from the U.S. perspective?

NATASHA BERTRAND, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Well, the U.S. doesn't know exactly how Iran and/or Hezbollah are going to respond to this. They have seen as you've said, some movements, preparations being made by the Iranians and by Hezbollah. But at this point, it's not clear to the U.S. whether there's even going to be any kind of coordinated action between Hezbollah and Tehran.

And you actually saw Nasrallah, the leader of Hezbollah, actually kind of hinted this earlier in remarks saying that, you know, these -- these actors could go it alone in terms of retaliating against Israel for their assassinations of a top Hamas figure and a top Hezbollah leader.

[15:20:14]

Or they could do it in conjunction. But the U.S. right now is just kind of bracing for some kind of retaliation, some kind of attack on Israel, even if it's not totally clear what that is going to look like at this point. According to U.S. officials, they are expecting something to happen here in the next several days. But, you know, officials have also cautioned that they don't necessarily believe that it is going to be as big as massive as what we saw back in April but when you know, prior to a Iran launching this huge barrage of missiles and drones at Israel, they saw very market movements of missile launchers, for example, and other large equipment that Iran was putting in place essentially for that attack.

It's not clear that they are seeing, you know, the exact same kind of preparations being made, if anything, it's kind of smaller movements here and there. But, you know, this is why they're trying to work for frenetically behind the scenes on diplomatic efforts to try to get everyone to back down from the ledge here, just in case there's something that they're not necessarily seeing about some kind of massive attack that Iran and its proxies are planning.

And, of course, the U.S. military in the Middle East, they are bracing for potential larger attacks against U.S. military personnel in Iraq and Syria as we saw just yesterday, and Iran-backed group attacked the Al-Asad air base in Iraq and injured seven U.S. personnel, including five U.S. service members.

So, really, you know, the U.S. military has positioned assets all around the region to prepare for this. But still, those diplomatic efforts are really working hard behind the scenes.

SCIUTTO: Yeah, the regions so much on a knife's edge. Natasha Bertrand at the Pentagon, thanks so much.

Joining me now to discuss, Steven Cook. He's senior fellow for Middle East studies at the Council on Foreign Relations, author as well of "The End of Ambition: America's Past, Present, and Future in the Middle East".

Good to have you on Steven. Thanks so much for joining.

First, I want to begin on this decision by Hamas to name Haniyeh's replacement as Yahya Sinwar, the architect, of course, of the bloody brutal, brazen October 7 attacks. What's the significance of that move?

STEVEN COOK, AUTHOR, "THE END OF AMBITION: AMERICA'S PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE IN THE MIDDLE EAST": Well, I think it underlines the fact that there is not going to be a ceasefire in Gaza very soon. There's been a lot of focus on Prime Minister Netanyahu's efforts to undermine or walk away from a ceasefire. But Yahya Sinwar has not wanted a ceasefire either. There are text messages and other messages from him to the now deceased Ismail Haniyeh, suggesting that he believed that there was no need for a ceasefire because he believed that Hamas was winning in the Gaza Strip.

So I think when Secretary Blinken said a while ago that the two sides were on the 10-yard line, I think he meant they still had 90 yards to go because we're not anywhere close.

SCIUTTO: Yeah. It's a shame. And of course you have to think of the hostage families in the midst of this.

All right. Let's talk about the expectations of a retaliatory strike by Iran and/or its proxies in the region, including Hezbollah. There is a view and granted these are assessments that this attack might not be as big and coordinated as some feared. Do you share that view?

COOK: Look, it's hard to know. We do know that the combination of Iran and its proxies have significant capabilities. We've seen all of that since October 7, and they certainly have been threatening a coordinated response.

But, of course, we have a tendency to build these groups up and it takes them some time to get ready. The Iranians are not as good as we make them out to be, in addition to the fact that the United States has moved fairly significant amount of military power into the region. A new squadron of F22 Raptors, lots of naval assets with their own unique capabilities.

And, of course, the Israelis have communicated that if they see Iran or Hezbollah getting ready to fire on them, they reserve the right to preempt those attacks. So there are things that are putting brakes on what the axis of resistance might be planning.

SCIUTTO: All right. So on the flip side, what is putting pressure on the accelerator, so to speak is that Iran's last attack on Israel in April, brazen attack, dozens of missiles and drones, was largely unsuccessful because that network you described there of the U.S. and its allies in Israel, shot down the vast majority of those missiles, somewhat of a military embarrassment for Iran.

Does it need to prove something here militarily? There's always this talk about reestablishing deterrence. What's your read?

COOK: Well, Ayatollah Khamenei told the comedy has said that it is necessary to punish the Israelis after they are believed to have killed Ismail Haniyeh while he was under the protection of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

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It -- there is any incentive for the Iranians to launch a significant strike in some manner that sends the message and does some damage to Israel. The question is whether they can do it? Already, the Saudis have indicated that their airspace will not be violated, that they'll defend their airspace. The Jordanians are under significant public pressure yes, sure not to shoot down -- not to shoot down Iranian missiles. But nevertheless the Jordanians want to be part of a regional security order led by the United States.

So, the Iranians have every incentive. The question is whether they can actually really do it.

SCIUTTO: Before we go speaking of the relationship between the U.S. and Israel right now, and Biden and Netanyahu in particular, there's been a diplomatic effort here to keep the region from exploding further and then includes U.S. pressure on Israel not to overreact or however you want to describe it.

Is Netanyahu is still listening to President Biden in your view?

COOK: He hasn't been listening to President Biden for the better part of the last 10 months, the Israelis want to have maximum maneuverability and they want assurances that the U.S. cavalry is going to come should they get in trouble. And we're seeing them take significant risks in the belief that the United States will back them up.

SCIUTTO: There you go. The proof is in, well, proof is in a number of steps we've seen in recent months.

Steven Cook, thanks so much for joining. Author, as we said of "The End of Ambition: America's Past, Present, and Future in the Middle East".

Well, just a few moments ago, Vice President Harris is Twitter account known now as X posted the moment that she called Governor Tim Walz to ask him to be her running mate.

Let's take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. TIM WALZ (D-MN): Hi, this is Tim.

KAMALA HARRIS, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: It's Kamala Harris. Good morning, Governor.

WALZ: Good morning, Madam Vice President.

HARRIS: Listen, I want you to do this with me. Let's -- let's do this together. Would you be my running mate? And let's get this thing on the road?

WALZ: I would be honored, Madam Vice President. The joy that you were bringing back to the country, the enthusiasm that's out there, it'll be a privilege to take this with you across the country.

HARRIS: Well, let me tell you, I have just the utmost respect for you. I have really enjoyed our work together, and you understand our country, you have dedicated yourself to our country in so many different and beautiful ways. And we're going to do this.

We're going to win, and we're going to unify our country and remind everyone that we are fighting for the future for everyone. So, let's get out there and get this done, okay?

WALZ: Let's do it. Do the work in front of us. Let's win this thing.

HARRIS: That's right. All right, buddy, I'll see you soon. Take care. Thank you.

WALZ: Thank you, ma'am.

HARRIS: Okay. Bye.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCIUTTO: While the ultimate political proposal there and that message of unity, interesting that that is what she's emphasizing speaking to him. We'll continue to cover the repercussions of that decision at any moment now.

The vice president could arrive in Philadelphia where she will formally introduce her running mate. We're going to keep an eye on that, and whether she will speak to reporters as she arrives. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:31:40]

SCIUTTO: If you could believe it, we're just 16 days into Kamala Harris's bid for the White House. And when that campaigns started, not many outside of Minnesota had heard the name Tim Walz. So who is the second term governor and former high school teacher? What does he bring to the ticket?

Joining me now, "Bloomberg" opinion columnist Patricia Lopez, she started covering Walz when he first ran for Congress back in 2006, and CNN political analyst Julian Zelizer, both of them have pieces out on this choice.

I want to begin with you to Patricia, if I can, given that you've been covering him for 18 years. You write in your piece that he is in many ways the perfect counterbalance to Harris. He brings deep experience as a governor, House contacts from six terms, and an every man backstory that made him stand out.

Is that last bit that stands out to me, is that the key behind this pick do you think for Harris and the campaign?

PATRICIA LOPEZ, BLOOMBERG OPINION COLUMNIST: I think it is. You know, he's somebody who was born in western Nebraska, Ranch Country, very small, you know, area and he's been a teacher all his life and he's been a National Guard in all his life. And, you know, there is just sort of an every day, he's a regular, he's a regular guy. He didn't go to a fancy college. He's not a lawyer, which already sets him apart for most candidates that were out there that I think its been decades since we had a VP who wasn't a lawyer first.

SCIUTTO: Yeah, that'll be a relief for a lot of Americans, I could imagine. Command sergeant major in the military, too -- and I know from covering the military, the command sergeant majors man, senior NCOs, they are -- they are well-respected.

Julian, you wrote that Waltz completes the Harris ticket and you say in your piece that she hopes to send a message of seriousness and stability. And you also do a bit of history here in terms of how other presidents going back to Carter, Reagan, and others looked to, to complete their ticket to some degree. Can you tell us how you believe she does that here?

JULIAN ZELIZER, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Yeah. I do think the experience both on Capitol Hill and as governor are important. It just shores up the image that Harris certainly wants to advocate of competence and stability. He's also a little unusual. I mean, he's a counterpoint to the kind of conservative populism that both Trump and Vance are promoting.

He appeals to those same constituents, but with a message that government has a role to play with a message that pluralism and diversity are not something to be scared of. And I think that is very attractive to the Democrats right now. He can appeal to the liberal side of the party, while not alienating the moderates.

SCIUTTO: Patricia, Walz's personal connection to reproductive rights reportedly played a role in Harris's decision. He enshrined that in law in the state of Minnesota and just as we're speaking here, we're looking at a live picture from Philadelphia, that's where we're going to see the vice president quite shortly as we do, we'll let you know.

But I'll ill continue that to ask you, Patricia. He enshrined it in the law there. We know this will be central to her campaign message. Was that central to this decision here as you see it?

LOPEZ: I think it probably figured very largely.

[15:35:00]

You know, one of the outings that she took was she was the first vice president -- sitting vice president to visit an abortion clinic. She visited a Planned Parenthood -- Planned Parenthood clinic here in St. Paul, and it became very clear that abortion was going to be -- and reproductive freedom was going to be front and center in this campaign. And I'm not sure that anyone has done more than Minnesota to roll back all of the obstacles to reproductive freedom to ensure that they have full scope, including things like in vitro fertilization, which is what Governor Walz and his wife relied on to start their families.

SCIUTTO: Hmm, it's a great point about IVF.

Julian, I want to ask you a very direct question about race here. It's already become central certainly to the Republicans message here in that Donald Trump has attempted to question Kamala Harris's racial identity. Is it important in the simplest terms? Is it impactful to have a white man on the ticket with her and was that do you think part of the calculation here? ZELIZER: I would assume it's part of the calculation. It's not a

mystery in the former president has made it an issue already. And some are comparing it to Barack Obama in 2008, picking Joe Biden as his running mate, and trying to achieve that kind of balance.

So, I'm sure it was a consideration. But interestingly, she didn't go with the most conservative of the -- again, she went with something of a liberal populist who's very media savvy. But I think that is a calculation the campaign was making.

SCIUTTO: Walz, Patricia, does not shy away and by the way, we continue to show live pictures from Philadelphia. Vice President Harris's plane there, we'll show you as she exits there, arriving for that Philadelphia rally.

He's got progressive victories in his state. Those include things like pre-universal meals, universal background checks, enshrining abortion, as I have mentioned, but also gender -- gender care.

It seems that his tack is not to shy away from those legislative achievements, but to set -- but to wear them, you know, as a matter of pride, a badge of honor.

LOPEZ: He does. And that's -- that's still unusual for Democrats. I think Walz is someone who really owns his agenda. He doesn't -- he's unabashed about it. He doesn't apologize for it. What he does try to do is reframe it in a way that makes it understandable to regular people, how this affects their lives.

I think, you know, sometimes that succeeds better than others, but he probably does a better job of it than most of the politicians out there.

SCIUTTO: Yeah, it's messaging is so important.

Julian, you make appointment -- I think when vice presidential choices happen, so often the focus can be on whether that choice brings a state. There's not a lot of evidence through the years that a vice president has won a state for the presidential candidate. But you do talk about a general tack that Jimmy Carter, outsider felt he needed an insider, went with Walter Mondale. Of course they want and 1976, Ronald Reagan outsider to some degree, went for an establishment Republican, won twice.

We mentioned Barack Obama, going for someone older with more foreign policy experience, that it doesn't always work. We know certainly but there is some historical precedent that did it can work to add in effect to the tickets overall resume and profile.

ZELIZER: It enhances the ticket. It does not carry states. This is little evidence of that other than something like 1960, a different era when Johnson helped kind of win over taxes for John F. Kennedy.

A, it adds to the image of the nominee. And so it will send a message about who should he is and how she intends to govern on the decision itself becomes away. We evaluate her meaning in the next few weeks, if this turns out to be solid and --

SCIUTTO: Julian, standby if you don't mind. We're seeing -- we're seeing Kamala Harris, the vice president and the second gentleman Doug Emhoff walked down the steps there in Philadelphia.

There are some reporters gathered there. We're seeing if she did more than wave and hop into the SUV. She did not speak to reporters and we lost the signal there.

But again, she's arriving in Philadelphia for the rally there, at which she will formally introduced Tim Walz and begin in a barnstorming tour. I could imagine on this campaign as we get just over 90 days to the election.

Julian, I interrupted you, but I do want to ask you what the focus will be in these coming days as she goes from battleground states two battleground state to kick off this campaign at least now with the complete ticket.

[15:40:02]

ZELIZER: I think her non-Trump message will be important. What does she have to say about the future that isn't simply about stopping the former president from having a second term? How does she intend to unify the party?

And finally, back to Trump -- how does she intend to frame him? Will she go after him aggressively and will she speak about him in ways that other Democrats have struggled to do?

So far, she's been able to achieve that. I think those are the three pillars of her message and the performance itself that people will be evaluating. She has a lot of momentum right now. And so, I think all question is, can she keep it going?

SCIUTTO: And how will -- Tim Walz will really be something of an attack dog as is often the case, and in campaigns with vice presidential candidates.

Patricia Lopez, Julian Zelizer, thanks so much.

ZELIZER: Thank you.

LOPEZ: Thank you.

SCIUTTO: Coming up next, the markets, they're bouncing back after a global rout on Monday. We're going to check in on where things stand as we close out the trading day.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SCIUTTO: After Monday's tumultuous day for investors is some calm returning to Wall Street as we head to the closing bell. Global markets have indeed bounced back.

Let's go to CNN's business editor at large and host of "QUEST MEANS BUSINESS", Richard Quest.

Listen, it was a rough day yesterday.

RICHARD QUEST, CNN BUSINESS EDITOR AT LARGE: Yeah.

SCIUTTO: And if you -- if you believe some of the headlines the world was falling into a giant sinkhole, does -- it appears it's climbing out of that sinkhole today. Is the worst over?

QUEST: Oh, it would be a ration foolish man who said that. No, and the reason is because we can't really know what's going to happen in terms of the Middle East, Ukraine, oil prices, et cetera, et cetera.

But if the -- if look, if the economic data out of the U.S. doesn't get worse, if this is the scenario that we sail on, then yes, I don't -- I think we're going to have a bit more volatility, you know, a bit more of indigestion.

[15:45:05]

This is indigestion, Jim. This is the market having a bilious bout because it didn't like the numbers. It's worried about A.I.

But overall if that's the worst, we've got, I would expect volatility and no more.

SCIUTTO: Understood.

Is there -- what's the next marker for the health of the actual economy, the general economy? When will we next get a piece of data that can indicate whether there is some truth to a hard landing scenario?

QUEST: I think every Friday when we got the new jobless claims numbers, that's always incredibly important because then we get to see exactly how the slowdown in labor markets, then you've got the next unemployment numbers and you've got inflationary numbers.

Now, what I expect to see, I expect to see inflation continuing downward pressure and I expect unemployment, I expect number of jobless claims to go up. I expect anything to do with employment to show weakness because that's what's driving the Fed towards cutting interest rates.

SCIUTTO: So look, look, talk about rates because the markets -- the markets have already driven down yields on treasuries, looking out. I mean, is -- has the stock market already priced in an interest rate cut by the Fed of a quarter-point, half-point. Is that already priced in or would that be then some good news for it to celebrate?

QUEST: That's -- that's happening now. And that is exactly the process that's taking place. The market is pricing in what's likely to happen.

Once you've got rid of the indigestion that you have to put yesterday completely to one side. And lets take a four or five-day horizon because that shows us pricing in as opposed to knee jerk reflex. The market is inevitably, as I've always said, it's like a kid on a and sugar high.

SCIUTTO: Yes.

QUEST: And sometimes it just sort of throws a wobbly and that's what we've seen. But over the next few days, we will get a better direction. It's perverse, Jim, perverse to assume that this market would collapse or that there would be a full scale horrible recession, technical maybe, but that's the way things look now at the moment.

SCIUTTO: Some calm from Richard Quest. Thanks very much.

QUEST: Thank you.

SCIUTTO: And be sure to join Richard next hour on "QUEST MEANS BUSINESS" because he does.

Well, Simone Biles has wrapped up her Olympics with four medals, three gold, one silver, before leaving Paris as the most decorated American Olympic gymnast. She spoke to our Coy Wire.

Have a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

COY WIRE, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Simone, you just seemed like you want another level of excitement, of gratitude for this moment, this time around. Why were these games so important to you?

SIMONE BILES, U.S. GYMNAST: Well, it's important to me because nobody forced me to be out there on that stage. I solely did it for myself and I'm in a really good spot mentally and physically. So doing this just for me, it meant the world.

WIRE: And you overcame a lot to get here. We all know that.

Did you feel any of those demons start to come creeping in the mind again? And if so, how to deal with them?

BILES: Yes. I dealt with them in therapy, obviously, you always have those thoughts coming in the back of your head, but just trying to say as positive as possible, going back to what I know, thinking about my therapy tactics and it worked.

WIRE: That's so important.

BILES: Yes.

WIRE: Iconic moment, the podium, bowing down to Rebeca there. Young girls out there today are getting torn apart left and right, torn down.

BILES: Yeah.

WIRE: How important was it for you to show the world, it's okay to adjust you each other's crowns?

BILES: No, absolutely. I think it was really important for that moment. Obviously, it was just me and Jordan being me and Jordan. But I know it was really special and it was very impactful for kids to see that.

You went with grace, you lose grace.

WIRE: Yeah. Now, this iconic moment out, these games, in my opinion was when you clap back as some people, talking about your appearance and young girls deal with that all the time, the stress that to fit in. What is your message to those young girls out there who might be feeling like they're not enough or they're not fitting in?

BILES: You guys are beautiful, confident. You guys are so smart, stand in your power, believe in yourself, and you guys are going to be just fine, and I'll be here to support you every step of the way. I know it's hard, but you guys are going to do it. And you're going to do big things.

WIRE: Incredible.

All right. This time stop when you're 12 feet in the air flipping through. For us, mere mortals, can we just close our eyes and you walk me through what you're feeling, and what your sense and as you're flipping through one of your maneuvers?

BILES: Honestly, sometimes it feels like time goes really fast, like the floor comes sooner than it should. But most of the time it does feel like you're up there for a awhile and you're just waiting to come back down, but it is really exciting.

WIRE: What would you say your spirit animal or spirit character that switch that flips when you have to go out there and dominate, and that thing that's allowed you to win 11 Olympic medals?

BILES: Okay, so I would actually be a honey badger, like honey badger in the gym, sloth outside.

WIRE: Slothy Simone.

BILES: Yeah.

WIRE: I think you need a new chain now. That was pretty dope.

BILES: Thank you.

WIRE: All right. Now you've got some time to enjoy your family, especially your husband, Jonathan, always.

[15:50:02]

You get to enjoy some football.

BILES: Yes.

WIRE: He's been here supporting you. Are you going to be at his games, being hype -- hype moment for him?

BILES: Absolutely. I feel like I'm his biggest supporter besides some of our other family that we have, but it's always exciting watching him play on that field.

WIRE: Okay. If they played, the Falcons or my Bills this year, please don't show up. We don't need anymore juice for them.

BILES: That's actually -- they play the Bills this weekend. So, good luck.

WIRE: You say good luck.

BILES: Yes.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCIUTTO: One, happy Olympic champion there. So little factoid, the GOAT necklace she was wearing there. It has some diamonds in it, 546 diamonds to be exact. She deserves it.

Coming up after the break, how Capitol -- Capitol Hill Democrats are reacting to Vice President Harris's pick of Governor Tim Walz, former congressman for her running mate.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SCIUTTO: We're turning now to our top story. Vice President Kamala Harris has picked Minnesota Governor Tim Walz as her running mate.

Prior to becoming governor, Walz spent more than a decade as congressman working in that building over my shoulder, representing Minnesota's first district. Now, he will be second in line for the presidency if the Harris Walz ticket were to prevail in November,

CNN's Lauren Fox covers Capitol Hill. She joins me now.

So, Lauren, after weeks of worry by Hill Democrats following President Biden's debate performance. I'm curious what the mood today is. I mean, you know, better than anyone that particularly down-ballot Democrats were very worried about Biden at the top of the ticket. Now, they have the full ticket are they comfortable? Confident?

LAUREN FOX, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: I mean, there really ecstatic and this is really across the political spectrum on Capitol Hill when you were talking to Democrats, you have people who are representative of the new Democratic coalition that is usually a group of more moderate, more swing district Democrats who feel like this is someone who can go into their districts, campaign, help them win, help them bring enthusiasm to the ticket and really give them a relatable message for white working class voters across the Midwest that they can really use in their own races.

Then you have progressives who are also over the moon with this choice, it's really interesting. Delia Ramirez, who is a Democrat from Illinois, a progressive, she actually texted me a picture of a dancing penguin when I asked her what she thought of the choice sort of depicting the fact that she is also just really excited, jumping for joy. She said because of the kind of progressive policies that he passed when he was Minnesota's governor.

[15:55:01]

And so, that is really why there is such broad excitement in the Democratic Caucus right now for this choice. And you have to remember where Democrats were less than a month ago now, right? They were in this place where they didn't know if Joe Biden was going to remain at the top of the ticket. They were very concerned both publicly and privately about what he could mean for down-ballot races.

And they were specifically worried about what it could mean for the House. You know, a lot of Democrats feel like they have a very good shot at taking back the House of Representatives. And right now, they feel like with the top of the ticket with Kamala Harris and now Governor Walz, that they are in a position that they are really going to be able to show a stark, stark comparison to the Trump-Vance ticket.

SCIUTTO: Amazing. It's only been 16 days since the top of the ticket change.

Before we go, can you tell us what Walz's time as a member of Congress was, what issues he focused on?

FOX: Yeah. I mean, one of the most significant periods, right, when he was in the House of Representatives was really this trip two-year stretch where he was the ranking member of the House Veterans Affairs Committee. This is an issue that's really important to Walz because he was the top ranking at the time, enlisted member ever to serve in Congress.

And that is something that he really took with him. And he had a competitive race to get that slot against Mark Takano. And while he was there, he really focused on veteran suicide prevention as well as started having some hearings on the issues of toxic exposure to burn pits. Another issue that of course we know President Joe Biden was really passionate about.

SCIUTTO: Yeah, Biden blames his son Beau's death on those burn pits.

Lauren Fox, thanks so much for joining.

And thanks to all of you for joining me today. I'm Jim Sciutto in Washington.

"QUEST MEANS BUSINESS" is up next.