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DNC To Kick Off In Chicago; Harris Tops The Polls Against Trump; President Biden Expected To Pass The Torch To Harris At The DNC; Trump Continues To Attack Harris; CNN Reports On Harris's Deep Caribbean Roots; Hamas Accuses Netanyahu Of Obstructing A Ceasefire Deal. Aired 5-6p ET

Aired August 18, 2024 - 17:00   ET

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

[17:00:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

JESSICA DEAN, CNN HOST: Hi everyone, I'm Jessica Dean in Chicago with CNN's special coverage of the Democratic National Convention, and the stage is set here in Chicago. We're less than 24 hours away from the opening of the 2024 Democratic National Convention. Vice President Kamala Harris's ascension to the top of the ticket making this a dramatically different event from what we were expecting just a month ago.

So let's take a look at this week's schedule. Opening night will feature the man many thought would be accepting this nomination, President Joe Biden. Former President Barack Obama headlining Tuesday night. On Wednesday, Governor Tim Walz delivering his vice presidential acceptance speech. And it's all building up to Thursday night when Vice President Kamala Harris will accept the Democratic nomination for president.

A party that was struggling to gain any momentum will be going into this convention week with the wind at their backs. We have new polling from "Washington Post," ABC News and Ipsos out this morning. It shows Harris up four points in a head to head matchup with Donald Trump. That is outside the margin of error. CNN's Jeff Zeleny is joining us now. Jeff, there's a lot to dig through in this new polling that we're getting and it really underscores how dramatically different this landscape is.

JEFF ZELENY, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: I mean, Jessica, we cannot overstate how different this race is. It was one month ago today that the Republican convention was ending in Milwaukee. Think of everything that's changed in one month. But that is all going to be underscored here on the convention floor. When you talk to Democrats, they are united. They're excited. But they also know that this is still a tough race.

Let's look at those polls again. So interesting that "Washington Post" poll, it is showing Vice President Harris 49 to 45 percent for the former president. And when you add in RFK Jr., it tightens somewhat. But the reason this is happening, if you look inside these polls, there's no doubt the vice president is consolidating her base. Younger voters, voters of color, and female voters are rallying behind her.

If you look at our CNN poll of polls, which is an average of all the polls, that is showing, again, within the margin of error, the vice president there at 50 percent, Donald Trump at 48 percent. But it shows that Democrats are back in the game. But again, a very close race. However, look at these battleground polls. This is certainly more instructive than the national polls.

The "New York Times," the Siena College polls shows that the vice president now has a lead in three of the four of these. Georgia the only exception here. This is coming on the heels of last week's polls in the blue wall states of Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylvania. So taken together, this is something Democrats have not really enjoyed this moment yet in this race. they are at a narrow advantage, but it's an advantage nonetheless and momentum is on her side.

So perhaps the biggest question, the biggest thing coming out of these four or five days from now, does she keep that momentum? And conventions are scripted affairs. So there's every reason to think that she will, as she is sort of filling the blanks here with a roster of people raising her up. Former presidents, the current president, et cetera.

DEAN: Right. And still a lot of Americans being introduced to her in a meaningful way for the first time in a lot of ways. Now listen, this convention was dramatically upended when the president dropped out. This was going to be one convention a month ago. It's another one now. These, as you mentioned, highly scripted affairs, planned months and months and months in advance. What are you expecting to see this week?

ZELENY: I think what I'm expecting is to really, as we're watching the changing of the guard moment, there's no doubt when President Biden walks into this hall tomorrow night, he's going to get the loudest welcome, the biggest welcome, a hero's welcome. But then he will take his leave and this is now her party after that. But I think every person speaking from the stage, they're going to be talking about her sort of giving a lesson for Democrats on the way forward.

I'm really looking at the speeches from the former presidents. I think few people can frame this argument better than Barack Obama and Bill Clinton. I'm thinking back to the 2012 convention when Bill Clinton was brought on to explain to Americans why the economy would be better under Barack Obama. So both of them will be in that role.

And also the speech from a Doug Emhoff on Tuesday night, he's going to be telling people who Kamala Harris is.

[17:04:58]

She is famous, but she's unknown in respect. So that's what this convention is about, sort of filling in some of the blanks around her. And then it's off to the races.

DEAN: It is going to be fascinating to see. And then look, that first debate is right around the corner.

ZELENY: It sure is. And she's already been preparing for that as she's getting her speech ready for the convention.

DEAN: It is a condensed time frame. All right, Jeff Zeleny, thank you as always. And I want to turn now to the senior spokesperson for the Harris Walls campaign, Adrienne Elrod. Adrienne, always great to have you on. Thanks for being here.

ADRIENNE ELROD, SENIOR SPOKESPERSON, HARRIS-WALZ CAMPAIGN: Good to be here.

DEAN: Jeff just laying out kind of what's at stake here, what we've seen kind of transpire over the last month.

ELROD: Yep.

DEAN: You've been involved. You were with the Biden campaign, now with the Harris campaign.

ELROD: Yep.

DEAN: What has that shift been like and what can people expect that might be different than the convention they were going to see just a month ago?

ELROD: Yeah, well, look, it has certainly been a shift, right, because President Biden was our nominee and now Vice President Harris is our nominee. But a couple of things. You know, the campaign team is largely intact. I mean, the same people who were running different departments on the campaign are still running those departments. Jen O'Malley Dillon, the chair of our campaign, is still the chair. Julie Rodriguez is still the campaign manager.

So a lot of the infrastructure is still very much the same. And the message is, you know, obviously Vice President Harris has her own message that she's delivering. But in terms of what we stand for, the values of being the Democratic Party, the values of, you know, fighting for working class people, you know, fighting for the middle class, you know, looking forward, not backward, those values are still very much intact and very thematic of our campaign.

And what you will see this week here in Chicago is, you know, President Biden really passing the torch to the next generation, to borrow a very commonly used phrase. And Vice President Harris will talk about her vision. She'll lay out her plan.

And you'll see a number of validators talking about her, you know, people who worked with her when she was attorney general, people who worked with her in the Senate, people who had worked with her at different parts of her career, really going on stage and validating her. And, you know, to the point that you and Jeff just talked about, really kind of reintroducing her and what she stands for to the American people.

DEAN: And getting at that point, kind of nestled deep in this new CBS News-YouGov poll is that statistic, I think, is really interesting, which is that 36 percent of voters say they still don't know what she stands for compared to 14 percent for Trump. That could be an opportunity for you all to really impress upon people her message and have her introduce herself.

It's also an opportunity for the Trump campaign to continue to define her. How do you blunt them from doing that and make sure it's your message that gets to those 36 percent?

ELROD: Well, you know, first of all, that's what the next four days will be like here. We will be telling the story of her, what she stands for, what her vision is for the American people. Stephanie Cutter, who is brilliant, who ran the 2020 convention and the inauguration for President Biden, is leading the charge here, really making sure that we're telling that story.

So we have a really smart team in place that is using messaging and incorporating that in a way that I think the American people who are tuning in hopefully every night will come out of this understanding what her vision is, what her priorities are as the nominee. But look, I mean, you know, sure, the Trump campaign can try to define her all they want. They've been throwing, you know, kind of some of these garbage attacks at her that are not sticking.

We also just announced the $360 million, think about that, Jess, $360 million ad blitz on digital and broadcast media, really making sure that we are ensuring that the American people understand her and what her vision is, fighting for middle class families, lowering costs for Americans, while also drawing that contrast with Project 2025, which Trump has, no matter what he tries to do, his fingerprints are all over that agenda.

It would be incredibly divisive if it becomes, you know, part of the American, you know, system if he becomes president, if it's enacted. So we're going to make sure that over the next few weeks, when early voting starts in Pennsylvania, which is in mid-September, that every single American understands what's at stake here in this election and every single American understands that Vice President Harris is in this race to fight for them and to protect their values.

DEAN: And tomorrow night, as Jeff alluded to, we are going to see President Biden really passing torch, you just talked about that as well. We have reporting he's -- from our colleagues, he's still smarting is the word they were using over him being forced to abandon his run, but that he's also looking to his legacy. He's also looking to see how he can help Kamala Harris win in the fall. How do you expect him to kind of strike that tone and what do you think we're going to hear from him tomorrow night?

ELROD: Well, I certainly don't want to get in front of President Biden's message, but he has made it very clear when he decided to drop out of the race and, you know, immediately endorsed Vice President Harris. And she made it clear that she worked hard to earn every single delegate vote. And she did. That was a process that she wanted to make sure that people understood that she was earning that.

But I think you're going to see President Biden continue to do what he has said the whole time, which is she has been my partner. She was part of every single major piece of legislation that his administration passed, which, by the way, is a lot for major economic bills, putting the first black woman on the Supreme Court, creating over 15.5 million jobs and counting.

[17:10:04]

We could go on and on here. He's going to make it clear that she was a partner in those accomplishments, but that she also has her own agenda that she's going to --

DEAN: Well, because that's the interesting thing, right? Because Biden was not selling himself to the -- to a lot of voters on the economy, on immigration. That's where she's also still struggling as issues. And he said that he doesn't expect her to really, you know, deviate from his policies. But she is going to want to have some --

ELROD: Well, that's one of the reasons why she gave an economic speech in Raleigh, North Carolina, on Friday, where she talked a lot about how she's going to continue to find ways to lower costs for American families, how her economic policies are going to continue, the trend that we've seen in the last eight or nine months of reducing inflation.

But also, again, making sure that we're building out the middle class, making sure that we're putting more pockets in the bank accounts of American families and making sure that we're not fighting for corporate interests. That was something a major part of her platform that she really talked about in her economic speech. And a lot of those policies are the same as President Biden's.

But I think over the next few weeks, you will see her continue to show that she does share a lot of his values, but she has her own plan to going forward. But I think she's got it. She's excited about all the work that they did together. They've been true partners.

And I think you will see President Biden tomorrow night really talk about that strong partnership, that strong bond that they have had ever since he chose her to be his running mate in 2020, and that she's been a consistent part of all the success of this administration has had.

DEAN: Yeah, I think back to 2020 and we were in a parking lot. So this -- this is different.

ELROD: This is a little bit different.

DEAN: Yeah.

ELROD: We haven't had an in-person convention in eight years. It's really exciting. You can feel the energy all over Chicago. It's really exciting. They're rehearsing the roll call right now coming together, which we just announced today. You may remember, Jess, in 2020, there was a virtual roll call where we had people in every state, you know, having their exciting moment.

DEAN: Was it Rhode Island and the lobster?

ELROD: The lobster in Rhode Island. Now we're going to do this in person. DJ Cassidy did that in 2020. He's now in person doing it. So it's just really going to be an exciting four days and we can't wait to show you all, all the work that we've been doing behind the scenes to make this come to life.

DEAN: All right, Adrienne Elrod, thank you so much for being here.

ELROD: Thanks so much.

DEAN: Always good to see a fellow Arkansan.

ELROD: Yes.

DEAN: Our special coverage from the DNC here in Chicago is just getting started this afternoon. Still ahead, Vice President Harris and her campaign making some big strides among crucial voting groups. We're going to dig into those numbers the week ahead, also with -- and more with our political analysts here in Chicago. You're in the "CNN Newsroom."

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[17:15:00]

DEAN: Vice President Harris and Governor Tim Walz, along with both of their spouses, swinging through Pennsylvania on a bus tour today. Meantime, we're here in Chicago. I'm here with an A++ panel of CNN political commentators, Democratic strategist Maria Cardona, former special assistant to President George W. Bush, Scott Jennings, former communications director for the DNC and senior adviser for the Hillary Clinton 2016 campaign, Karen Finney, and former Trump campaign adviser David Urban. I mean, look, look at who we have here.

DAVID URBAN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: A bunch of formers.

DEAN: I know.

MARIA CARDONA, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Right.

DEAN: A bunch of formers. Long, long resumes there. Karen, let's start it off with you.

KAREN FINNEY, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Yeah.

DEAN: Tomorrow, first night, this is going to be full.

FINNEY: Yeah.

DEAN: The sitting president, Joe Biden, who everyone thought until about a month ago was going to be accepting this nomination, is going to come here and speak on the first night and effectively pass the torch.

FINNEY: Yeah.

DEAN: How important is it to get that tone right for setting, you know, up for the rest of the week and for Kamala Harris? FINNEY: It's going -- it's very important, but it's an important

moment in our party because Joe Biden did say he was going to be a bridge. And so that's what tomorrow is going to be. We're also going to hear from former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. And I think there's a real love and recognition in our party that you wouldn't have a Kamala Harris without Hillary Clinton putting all those cracks into that glass ceiling.

And with Joe Biden, I think I heard Jeff say this earlier, there is so much love and adoration for Joe Biden, for the courage that he has shown, for the work. I know my Republican colleagues are going to criticize the record, but we like to talk about, I don't know, 16 million jobs, getting us out of COVID and frankly, just the excitement of being able to be here in person.

We talked about this even at the Republican convention, because four years ago we couldn't be together. So it's going to be a very exciting night. I actually also think it means we have a -- we start out with a big night and it's going to get even bigger as the week goes out.

DEAN: Yeah. And Maria, I was asking Adrienne Elrod, who's with the campaign about this, but deep kind of nestled into that CBS News poll is an interesting statistic that 36 percent of Americans don't know what Kamala Harris stands for.

CARDONA: Yeah.

DEAN: Only 18 percent for Donald Trump. So he's pretty well defined.

CARDONA: Right.

DEAN: Love him, hate him, wherever you come down on him, Americans do kind of know how they feel about.

CARDONA: Right.

DEAN: This is an opportunity still for both sides.

CARDONA: Yeah, it absolutely is. And I think what you're seeing from the Kamala Harris side is that it is an opportunity to build on what we have seen thus far. It's more than just a moment, but it's a movement.

[17:19:58]

Jessica, as I talk to so many of the groups that we work with that are going door to door that, you know, when Joe Biden was in, they were like, yes, we're going to vote. But there wasn't the excitement and the energy and the mobilization that exists with somebody like Kamala Harris. What we're hearing is that she represents not just the now, but the future. She represents potential. She represents, frankly, the American dream.

And as an immigrant on this panel, I am so excited and proud that Kamala Harris is a first generation American daughter of immigrants. And that is the kind of message that she can really speak to the totality of communities that make up this great country. And I think in contrast with Donald Trump, who focuses on darkness and fear and division, talking down the American economy, talking down the country itself, I think that's going to be a contrast that's going to work in her favor.

DEAN: Scott, I just want to zoom out. We have the new ABC-Ipsos poll. It shows for the first time Harris leading. It's a national poll, so take that with for what you will. But outside the margin of error, 49 to Trump's 45. I've talked to you many times. You've said sugar high, honeymoon. Is it still that or are we starting to see a real shift in this race, do you think?

SCOTT JENNINGS, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, the battleground tracker from CBS today had him tied in the battleground states. Look, it's a real race. I mean, it's a real race. Either of them could win. It's a different race than it was when we all left Milwaukee. There's no question about that. I do think you started to see when you mentioned that nobody really knows what Kamala Harris stands for. We started to learn about that on Friday.

DEAN: Well, the poll. I was missing the poll.

JENNINGS: Am I not allowed to comment on that?

DEAN: Yes. No, I didn't make it up. Spoken with data.

JENNINGS: No, no, I'm agreeing with you. I'm agreeing with you. People don't know. People don't know because is she the liberal U.S. senator? Is she the person who ran for president on the most far left platform in the -- even as far left as Bernie Sanders? Is she the vice president who tried to handle some issues with the border? Is she the person now who sends out unidentified spokespeople to walk back all of her previous positions?

What we started to learn Friday is that she's the person who wants to institute all kinds of interesting government price controls and massive upheaval in our free market economy. So people don't know what they're going to have to learn. And the challenge for Trump, and that's why the polling is moving, is that he's got to define her before she defines herself as something that she obviously is, which is a radical Democrat. He can beat radical Democrat. Generic Democrat, it's close. Radical Democrat, he's in the game.

DEAN: Yeah. And so, David, digging into that also in that same poll, independents have now swung from -- from plus four for Trump in July to plus 11 for Harris now. I looked at women, too, really swinging hard Harris's way. If you're the Trump campaign and I know you talk to them a lot.

URBAN: I talked to them yesterday.

DEAN: What do you do about that?

URBAN: I talked to the president yesterday. I spent a good deal of time with him. DEAN: What do you say about that?

IRIVIN: Listen, I think Scott writes a good point, right. Kamala Harris, the vice president, is currently undefined. Tomorrow night, you heard Karen say, look, Joe Biden is going to be in this room, right. The guy who was supposed to be here Thursday night has now been moved to Monday night because he got fired. He wasn't doing a good enough job so he got fired by everyone who is going to come here and say you're the greatest thing in the world, but you weren't great enough because we fired you.

So, she's got to kind of divorce herself, right. The current vice president has to divorce herself from the current administration, which she's a part of. In that poll you talked about, that CBS poll, the three key things that people in America care about, poll after poll, the economy, inflation, and the border.

Trump leads -- I just want to get these right, I don't want to get them wrong -- Trump is ahead -- people trust 71 percent on immigration to secure the border. On inflation, 61 percent of Americans trust Trump over Biden, I assume Harris. And on the economy, 56 percent. Those aren't close numbers. Those are the three most important things of voters.

I told the former president he needs to keep talking about those things. He's to continue to drive those messages home. You're going to see events these coming weeks that are going to focus on jobs, the border, crime, small events. And this is going to be a close race. Nobody expect it to be a blowout. It is not going to be a blowout. It's going to be 50,000 votes there, 25,000 votes here. Erie County, Pennsylvania, right. Luzerne and Lackawanna Counties, Northampton County, Bucks County, how those counties go.

DEAN: Yeah.

JENNINGS: They decide the future of the United States. So anybody thought this is going to be a blowout on the Trump side or the Democratic side, whether it's Biden-Harris or Harris-Walz is sadly mistaken. They need to tune in, watch through election night because it's going to be that close.

DEAN: Yeah, I mean, I think everybody can agree this is a tight race. Hang tight. We have more to talk about. We're going to squeeze in a quick break. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[17:25:00]

DEAN: And we're back with our panel now. David, I want to go back to you because I wanted to talk about this before we had to go to break. Trump has been holding rallies once again in several battleground states. I want to play some clips of what he's been saying, though, because you were talking about the issues. Here were some of the things he's been saying.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT, CURRENT PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Have you heard her laugh? That is the laugh of a crazy person. As soon as she laughs, the election's over.

I'm a better looking person than Kamala.

It was a coup of a president. This was a coup and they stole the presidency of the United States from him.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DEAN: Okay, David, you were just making the point as you went to break. You said you talked to the president yesterday.

URBAN: I did talk to him yesterday.

[17:29:59]

DEAN: You -- they're --

URBAN: Apparently didn't listen to me, okay. I'm not that effective, obviously.

DEAN: You just laid out all of those issues where he leads on that he could be an effective messenger on. Why is he going that route?

URBAN: You know, the crowd there loves this stuff, unfortunately, right?

DEAN: Yeah.

URBAN: I mean, in Wilkes-Barre yesterday, there were about 10,000 people, it was a big crowd, and they love it. Big, big, big applause rounds. But I remind the president that, you know, those are the folks that are voting for him already, and the more that he drives home the message on the border, the economy, crime, keeps it tight, I think we do better. I think he's better received. I think it's a tighter message for the media, and on and on.

And I think in the coming days, you're going to see events that focus more laser-like. They're going to go to manufacturing facilities. We could talk about the economy a little bit more tight, not big rallies where he can kind of go on for an hour and a half.

So, look, I think that's the formula that got him here in '16. He feels like, I got it here once, I'm going to go with it again for a certain period of time. I don't think it's as effective as his other messaging. I told him so. I'm going to keep telling him so.

DEAN: Yeah. Karen, what were you going to say?

KAREN FINNEY, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: I was going to say they put him in front of a whole bunch of groceries and he couldn't stay on message. So, I'm not -- but you know what, David? Okay.

URBAN: Try my best.

FINNEY: You know, you try, you try. Look, here's one of the things we saw today and reported. We're seeing that far-right supporters like Nick Fuentes are trying to pressure the president and his aides, saying that he's not going far enough. They want him to go darker, harsher to what Maria was talking about. So, it'll be interesting to see. Does he listen to David or does he listen to some of these far- right extremists that he is -- that he's so dependent on?

And the last thing I'll just say, look, we want to talk about the economy because Trump left this country a mess in the middle of a pandemic. Cumulative inflation was 8%. Inflation is now cooling, 16 million jobs. Kamala Harris has a plan for the future, and she's very focused on us. So, let's have that conversation.

DEAN: And Scott, specifically women are driving a lot of momentum for Kamala Harris. And I'm listening to some of what Trump was saying, just in that particular mashup. Obviously, as Dave noted, he did talk about other things, but he tends to go for these very personal attacks on Kamala Harris. How does that help you with female voters who you're going to need to win?

JENNINGS: Well, it doesn't help or hurt me. I work here. So, I'm not on any ballots that I know of. Look --

DEAN: To your knowledge.

JENNINGS: He's got -- yeah, he's got it half right. That is the laugh of someone who will raise your taxes. That's the laugh of someone who's going to make inflation worse. That's the laugh of someone who's -- if they institute their economic plan.

DEAN: But why attack her left? Why not just say this is what she'll do? I don't know. I'm just asking.

JENNINGS: I mean --

(LAUGHTER)

-- you want me and David to go back to the thing over here? It's not a very big space we're in. We can huddle and we'll write all of it out and we'll fax it over. Look --

DEAN: Does it frustrate you?

JENNINGS: -- this is -- this is -- this is who Donald Trump is. It's who he was in 2016 and 2020. He won one. He lost one. Right now, he is in a fight. He's in the fight of his life. Independents are going to decide. They were with him. Now she's in the race. They're wavering. And the way to get them back is very clear. Hey, if you're mad about inflation, maybe we don't put the people back in charge who caused it. That's the message. Print it. Frame it. Hang it in the loo. That's all you got to do. That's all you got to do. URBAN: He did have a good point. He said, listen, Kamala Harris said she's ready on day one. Her day one was three and a half years ago. He needs to just keep talking about that, right? That was his message in front of the groceries in Bedminster. He just needs to stick to that message.

FINNEY: Yeah. Let's talk about what's happened all the day since.

DEAN: Absolutely.

CARDONA: And that's the problem. You know, David and Scott are right. But he's not going to listen to them. He's not going to listen to you, David.

JENNINGS: Wait a minute. You were very influential.

CARDONA: He's not going to listen to you, David, because it has happened time and time again. And here's the other thing. Ever since Kamala Harris became the Democratic nominee, she represents, let's be real here, everything that Donald Trump is scared of: A strong woman, a strong Black woman, a strong woman who also is of Asian descent, daughter of immigrants, completely and totally accomplished, a former prosecutor, D.A., A.G., senator, vice president.

He doesn't know how to embrace that and actually run a disciplined campaign against her. So, what does he do? He picks out her laugh. He picks out her looks. He picks out everything that he thinks is scary to his base. But right now, he needs to play addition and he doesn't know math.

And so, I think at the end of the day, it's not going to work for him. He's going to alienate independence, alienate women and all of those issues while they are top of the issues we know from all the special elections. And in 2022, there are other issues that underlie, like the issue of reproductive rights and democracy, that are going to be front and center.

URBAN: He's talking about the Time magazine cover, by the way, in that clip there --

DEAN: Yes.

URBAN: -- where Kamala Harris is a nice, beautiful Sophia Loren sketch and Donald Trump is this scowling face -- Time magazine.

DEAN: He has been on cover.

URBAN: Why can't they -- why can't they put me in a nice picture like that?

DEAN: I want to play -- hold on. I want to play a new clip that we have from Vice President Harris where she appears to be sharpening her attack against Donald Trump. Let's listen to it.

[17:34:54]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KAMALA HARRIS, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES, U.S. PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: This campaign is about a recognition that, frankly, over the last several years, there has been this kind of perversion that has taken place, I think, which is to suggest -- which is to suggest that the measure of the strength of a leader is based on who you beat down, when what we know is the real and true measure of the strength of a leader is based on who you lift up. Anybody who's about beating down other people is a coward.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FINNEY: Yeah. Well, look, I mean, Donald Trump has said -- I mean, I love these guys talking about the economy. When Donald Trump has actually said what he wants to do in government is use the levers of government to go after -- exact retribution, to go after his enemies. And she's actually talking about, how do you lift people up? How do you lower the cost of groceries? How do you help get children out of poverty? How do you help make housing more affordable?

And the other thing that we have that I think is driving Republicans insane is just the joy. I mean, we've been listening to this amazing music. People are happy. People are excited. The phenomenal team here at the DNC. I want to give a shout out to Mignon Moore (ph), a Black woman whose brilliance brought this convention together and is bringing in the city of Chicago into this moment, into this joy, into this historic moment.

JENNINGS: The joy will continue until morale improves, everybody.

(LAUGHTER)

URBAN: One quick Pennsylvania note.

DEAN: Quickly. Yes.

URBAN: The reason that Kamala Harris is not in the city of Pittsburgh, I think she'll continue, she landed at Allegheny Airport, the Pittsburgh Airport in Allegheny County, but then came over to my county of Beaver County, is because the city of Pittsburgh is embroiled in a completely antisemitic fight right now, where the city council is going to introduce, they're going to have a vote, a referendum on a BDS movement there.

So, boycott the best sanction on Israel to preclude anybody in the city of Pittsburgh from doing business with Israel. The progressive wing of the Democratic Party is at odds with the other Democrats. It's a huge, messy fight. And the Harris campaign wants nothing of it. They're going to stay away. Just a little preview of what we might see on the streets out here and why Josh Shapiro is not on this ticket.

DEAN: We're going to talk more about --

CARDONA: That is not true, Dave.

FINNEY: Do not do that. That is not true. CARDONA: That is not true, Dave. Come on.

FINNEY: That is antisemitic for you to say that. Don't you dare. Don't you dare.

URBAN: Why? Is it not true?

FINNEY: Don't you dare.

CARDONA: It's not true.

FINNEY: No, it's not true.

CARDONA: No, it's not true. That's not the reason. That's not the reason.

URBAN: Not one of the reasons?

CARDONA: No, that's not one of the reasons.

URBAN: I'm just saying -- no, no. I'm not saying -- no, no, hold on.

DEAN: Okay, hang on. We've got to wrap this up.

FINNEY: I'm not playing this game.

URBAN: Kamala Harris is not antisemitic. I'm not saying she is. There's a distinct wing in your party that does not like the current policy towards Israel. That is anti-Zionist and antisemitic. It is true.

FINNEY: That is not why Josh Shapiro is not on the ticket.

URBAN: It's not part of the reason?

FINNEY: Full stop.

URBAN: Not part of the reason?

FINNEY: No.

DEAN: We've got to put a button in it. We've got to put a button in it. I'm so sorry. Up next, a small town in Jamaica is being thrust into the global spotlight as the world learns about Vice President Harris's Caribbean heritage and what that means for her identity. CNN's special coverage from the democratic convention continues in just a few moments.

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DEAN: Now to a new CNN report. Jamaica to the world. A small town on a small island celebrates Kamala Harris's meteoric rise. CNN recently sat down with some of Harris's relatives in Brownstown, Jamaica. It's a rural coastal town with about 12,000 residents. They shared their remarkable insights about the vice president's origins, her ascension, and her historic presidential nomination.

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SHERMAN HARRIS, SECOND COUSIN OF VICE PRESIDENT KAMALA HARRIS: I feel some sort of tears from my eyes, too. You know, it's like tears of joy, you know. I'm very happy for her, you know. Because in this family, success is not -- is not anything too much for us, because it's a family of success in all we do. We have never ventured in much failure, you know. So, we are always successful in whatever we do.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DEAN: Let's discuss now with CNN's Fredreka Schouten. She's part of the team behind this report. It's so fascinating. You guys really got to talk to a lot of people that have such a unique perspective on Vice President Harris. You write Kamala Harris is -- quote -- "The first Black woman, the first Jamaican American, and the first Asian American to become a major party's White House standard bearer." And we were hearing from her cousin there. What more did you find in Jamaica?

FREDREKA SCHOUTEN, CNN NATIONAL POLITICAL WRITER: It is interesting. This is such a small town. It's a little market town nestled up in the mountains. But they have such high expectations, as you heard from her cousin.

There was -- there -- her great grandmother is a big figure in this family. They call her Miss Krishy (ph). And she died in 1951. But she helped raise Kamala Harris's father, Donald Harris. And they're -- she just held them to such high standards. They talk about her as though she's still alive. Even people who don't know her, they talk about, you know, how much she expected of the children, her beautiful dress. And the fact that they have always sort of dreamed big, despite sort of the very small-town circumstances that they come from.

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I mean, her father, Donald Harris, grew up in this town, ended up getting his Ph.D. from Berkeley, and became the first Black economics professor who was tenured at Stanford University.

DEAN: It's a pretty amazing story and amazing trajectory. And it sounds like, from what you're describing, they're both surprised by it, but not surprised by where she's ended up.

SCHOUTEN: Exactly. Exactly. I mean, they really expect their family members to do well. Sherman Harris, whom you just met in that clip, is a businessman in town. He still runs a quarry on the family property. As we drove around town, people sort of greeted him with a sign of respect. But they're thrilled, of course.

I mean -- and in some ways, it really is sort of a quintessential American story. I mean, both of her parents were immigrants. And I think the public is getting to know more about her family history now. Her mother was from India, her father was from Jamaica. They arrived in California. They met as graduate students at Berkeley University.

And one generation after that, their daughter stands on the cusp of history. I mean, in a few days, she's going to accept the nomination of a major party to be president of the United States. That's remarkable.

DEAN: It is incredible. And did they say, will they be watching, I will assume, this week?

SCHOUTEN: Absolutely. I mean, they watched the inauguration. There were screams, there were, you know, tears of joy. And they're going to be watching this week. Sherman, her cousin who still lives sort of on the family property on this hillside overlooking the town, has a big widescreen TV. He's going to be watching in his living room as his cousin steps into American history.

DEAN: That is something. All right, Fredreka, thank you. A wonderful report. You can find it on CNN.com. Thanks so much. We appreciate it.

Coming up, we have new reporting on President Biden's thinking heading into his big speech right here tomorrow. Much more straight ahead from the Democratic National Convention in Chicago.

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DEAN: We're going to have much more straight ahead live from the Democratic National Convention in Chicago. We are also following new developments tonight from the Middle East. Hamas is accusing the Israeli prime minister of undermining talks around a ceasefire and hostage deal with new conditions.

CNN's Jim Sciutto is joining us now live from Tel Aviv. And Jim, we've been hearing expressions of optimism around this latest round of negotiations through the weekend. This latest exchange, though, perhaps tempering those. What are you learning?

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: No question, Jessica. Israeli officials expressed cautious optimism. President Biden a few days ago said the sides were closer to agreement than they ever have been before. State Department officials call this an inflection point in these negotiations as the U.S. secretary of state arrived here in Israel just this evening.

But, also this evening, Hamas released a statement that seems to throw some cold water on that optimism. It assigning blame to Israel, to Netanyahu specifically, it says, for putting up new obstacles to the talks. This is how Hamas put it in a statement this evening. It said, "After listening to the mediators about the recent round of talks in Doha, it became clear to us once again that Netanyahu continues to place obstacles to reaching an agreement, sets new conditions and demands in order to thwart the efforts of the mediators and prolong the war."

There are a lot of issues brewing here, Jessica, including who will control the border between Gaza and Egypt. Also, proposals from the Israeli side to have some sort of security corridor in the central part of Gaza that Hamas says will effectively split Gaza in half. Blinken will go from here to Cairo later this week to continue to meet with negotiators.

But the real concern here, Jessica, is that that optimism we're hearing from the U.S. and Israeli sides is not shared by the Hamas side. And when you start to get to the stage of these negotiations where folks are assigning blame, the negotiators are starting to point fingers about who might be responsible if these talks fall apart, that's a worrisome stage, Jessica. That said, hope is not gone, but it's a change in rhetoric and it's certainly a change in perception from the Hamas side of these talks.

DEAN: And so, Jim, as we look ahead to the next few days, what do you anticipate unfolding? I know you've been there in Tel Aviv. Also, what's the move been like?

SCIUTTO: Yeah. So, here in Tel Aviv, I will say that the concerns about an immediate expansion of this war, perhaps an attack from the north by Hezbollah or attack from Iran, that the immediate fears of that have dissipated somewhat for now, in part because all sides to be invested for now in these negotiations that were in Qatar last week will now move to Cairo this week.

But if the talks fail to make progress again, you do run into a more dangerous testy period here, right, where if folks are pointing fingers, the talks break apart. Concerns then rise again against about perhaps Hezbollah or Iran exacting what they say is revenge that they want to carry out against Israel for that attack against the Hamas leader in Tehran a number of weeks ago.

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For now, status quo. The concern is, though, that the sides are entering this with far different expectations of how close they are to an agreement. We'll be watching very closely for how this proceeds later in this week.

DEAN: All right, Jim Sciutto in Tel Aviv for us, thank you so much. We appreciate it. Ahead, we're going to take you inside the Harris campaign and the whirlwind effort to crystallize her strategy, her messaging, as our special coverage from the DNC continues. You're in the "CNN Newsroom."

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