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Biden Says, Harris Will Be a President Our Children Can Look Up To; Harris Campaign Launches WhatsApp Channel for Latino Voters; Women Share Emotional Stories as Democrats Focus on Abortion Rights. Aired 10-10:30a ET

Aired August 20, 2024 - 10:00   ET

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

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[10:00:00]

JIM ACOSTA, CNN ANCHOR: The Democratic Party charges forward with a nod to the past. It is day two of the Democratic National Convention in Chicago and the message is clear, there is no going back.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. ALEXANDRIA OCASIO-CORTEZ (D-CA): We will send a loud message that the people of this nation will not go back. We choose a new path and open the door to a new day, one that is for the people and by the people.

KAMALA HARRIS, U.S. VICE PRESIDENT, DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: This November, we will come together and declare with one voice, as one people, we are moving forward.

HILLARY CLINTON, FORMER DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: This is our time, America. This is when we stand up. This is when we break through. The future is here. It's in our grasp.

JOE BIDEN, U.S. PRESIDENT: She'll be a president we can all be proud of. And she will be a historic president who puts her stamp on America's future.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: Another raucous night is on tap here in Chicago for tonight. Former President Barack Obama, former First Lady Michelle Obama are on the schedule. Vice President Kamala Harris, she will be in Milwaukee for a rally later today, but her husband, the second gentleman, Doug Emhoff, will speak here in Chicago, as will the Illinois governor, J.B. Pritzker, a big day ahead.

Welcome to a special edition of CNN Newsroom. I'm Jim Acosta live at the Democratic National Convention here in Chicago. And we have a jam packed hour awaiting all of you. Pennsylvania Senator Bob Casey will join me in just a few moments, as will United Auto Workers President Shawn Fain, and Domingo Garcia from the nation's oldest and largest Latino civil rights organization. The group is endorsing a candidate for the first time in its 95-year history. And coming up a little later than that, Political influencer Olivia Julianna will join me here. She's one of the young up and coming Democratic speakers this week. And former Illinois Congressman Adam Kinzinger will join us as well. He'll explain why as a Republican, he's speaking at a Democratic convention.

And if you were tuning in last night, you saw on the convention floor, there was almost none of the party drama that spurred President Biden to drop out of the race less than a month ago. Yes, it's only been a month. Instead, it was cheers of thank you, Joe, in a four-minute standing ovation, and the president returned that love to the crowd.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BIDEN: I love you all, folks. And America, I love you.

I've got five months left in my presidency. I've got a lot to do. I intend to get it done.

It's been the honor of my lifetime to serve as your president. I love the job, but I love my country more.

For me and Jill, we know Kamala and Doug are people of character. It's been our honor to serve alongside them. And we know that Tim and Gwen Waltz are also people of great character. Selecting Kamala was the very first decision I made before I became -- when I became our nominee. And it was the best decision I made my whole career.

And she'll be a president our children can look up to. She'll be a president respected by world leaders because she already is. I can honestly say, and I mean this from the bottom, give me my word as a Biden, I can honestly say I'm more optimistic about the future than I was when I was elected as a 29-year-old United States Senator. I mean it.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ACOSTA: All right. My first guest this morning is Democratic Senator Bob Casey from the all important battleground of Pennsylvania, a state, a commonwealth we're going to be hearing quite a bit between now and November 5th.

[10:05:05]

Senator, thanks very much for being here. We appreciate it.

SEN. BOB CASEY (D-PA): Jim, good to be with you.

ACOSTA: And what was your assessment of the president's speech last night? Has the torch been passed?

CASEY: I think it has. And it was a great moment for the president in a personal way, someone I've known a long time, someone who has given so much to our country and our party. But I think it was also a moment of significant transition. And he laid out, I think, the contrast between what their side is proposing and what our side has both accomplished and is proposing with the candidacy of Kamala Harris and Tim Walz.

ACOSTA: Well, and now you no longer have a guy from Scranton on the Democratic ticket. You know a little bit about Scranton yourself. Is that going to be a problem for the Democrats in Pennsylvania?

CASEY: Look, I think this ticket is going to run very strongly throughout the state. And they're working to earn that vote already. The ticket has already been to Philadelphia the first night of Tim Walz's candidacy. And then to Beaver County last just a couple days ago.

Now, I think it's significant that they went to that part of western Pennsylvania. Beaver County's not a blue county. No, it's a county that has leaned red and, but I think it can be a place where he can be competitive.

ACOSTA: And speaking of Pennsylvania, as you know, the former president, he's been there as well. And yesterday he was asked whether he's going to accept the results of the 2024 race. Let's listen to what he had to say and talk about it on the other side.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REPORTER: Will you accept the results of this election?

DONALD TRUMP (R), FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT, 2024 PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: Absolutely. I assume it's going to be a fair election. If it's going to be a fair and free election, the answer is absolutely I will.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: Do you buy that?

CASEY: Well, there's a track record there. Look, I think the contrast in this race on democracy and voting rights, on women's rights, on workers' rights, is right to vote. It's a contrast both at the national level and in my race. My opponent and I are on two different sides on the question of supporting the Voting Rights Act, supporting the Women's Health Protection Act to protect women's rights, and also workers' rights. We have a measure to protect union rights that he's on the wrong side of.

But I think that a lot of people have doubts, not just about their candidate, but about their party and the candidates supporting that presidential candidate, whether they will accept the results of the election. So, never have we had more on the line when it comes to something as fundamental as democracy.

ACOSTA: And, Senator, I mean, you're, No stranger to the rough and tumble politics of at the presidential level and, you know, down at the state level as well. Trump keeps saying that Democrats staged a coup by replacing Joe Biden with Kamala Harris. He's also been going after Kamala Harris's background. Let's listen to a little bit of what he had to say about that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) TRUMP: I wonder if they knew that when they did an overthrow or a coup on Joe Biden, I wonder if they knew where she comes from, where she came from, what her ideology is.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: What's your response to that? How the party should respond? And should Vice President Harris jump into that fray with Donald Trump on those issues?

CASEY: Well, Jim, I think part of the question here is how should their party respond to it? In other words, should my opponent, David McCormick, condemn that? I think he should. Does he have the guts to condemn it? That's a question I think for every Republican candidate.

You know, he says these things that are so offensive, so contrary to the American spirit, and his party just says nothing about it. There should be categorical condemnation when someone uses the identity of the other candidate and says wild things that are not true about that candidate or about democracy or about issues, but they just let them get away with it.

So I think one of the questions is not just how we respond, but how they should respond in condemning it. And I think every Republican candidate, including my opponent, should be asked, do you condemn that? Do you condemn when he says things that are so contrary to who we are as a people?

ACOSTA: And Barack Obama is the headliner tonight. What do you expect to hear from that former president?

CASEY: Well, I haven't seen his speech. But I think the important thing for everyone who makes a presentation at this convention is to talk about that contrast, the contrast on rights, the contrast on Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, the contrast on tax policy, which is going to be a big fight. Because in 2025, we're going to decide whether or not we're going to continue to give away the store to big corporations and rich people, like Republicans do when they have power, or they're going to give the middle class a tax cut, give some relief to working families.

ACOSTA: All right. Senator Bob Casey, thanks very much. They're turning on the music. That's not to wrap you up. This is not the Academy Awards.

CASEY: Jim, good to be with you.

ACOSTA: Good to be with you. Thanks, Senator. I appreciate it very much.

Coming up, a historic endorsement, a leader of the nation's oldest Latino civil rights group joins me to explain why they're supporting Kamala Harris.

Be right back.

[10:10:00]

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(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. ROBERT GARCIA (D-CA): I'll never forget the day that I became a United States citizen. Real American patriotism is loving your country so much that you want to help the people in your country. That is American patriotism. And we all know that Kamala Harris understands and knows this as well.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: All right. That was Democratic Congressman Robert Garcia of California.

[10:15:00]

He was one of several Latino politicians who spoke last night at the Democratic National Convention. The Harris campaign has now launched a WhatsApp channel tailored to the Latino community. And earlier this month, the Harris-Walz ticket picked up an endorsement from the country's oldest and largest Latino civil rights organization, the League of United Latin American Citizens, or LULAC. It's the first time the group has ever backed a presidential candidate.

And joining us now is the chairman of the LULAC political action committee, Domingo Garcia from the great city of Dallas, Texas. Good to be with you, Domingo. Good to see you again.

Your sense of how the Harris-Walz ticket is appealing to Latino voters right now. Are they doing enough?

DOMINGO GARCIA, CHAIRMAN, LATINO RIGHTS ORG. ENDORSING KAMALA HARRIS: They started slow, but I think they're really picking it up. A lot of young Latinos that are low propensity voters, I saw a recent poll today showing that about 63 percent are supporting Harris over Trump.

And so we're seeing enthusiasm. We're seeing that there's a hope that maybe Kamala Harris, the daughter of immigrants, is going to make a difference and bring Latinos out that normally would not vote or were thinking about voting for Trump.

ACOSTA: And let me ask you this. I mean, there's a lot of focus on Pennsylvania. I was just talking to Senator Casey a few moments ago. But, I mean, you could make the argument that yes, you can't win the presidency without winning Pennsylvania. It's also going to be tough to win the presidency without winning a place like Nevada this time around. It could be that tight.

D. GARCIA: We have 250, 000 members across 46 states and Puerto Rico. And let me tell you, we are working really hard in Arizona, Nevada. And I think that if Harris can win Arizona, Nevada, and we also have members in Milwaukee and Wisconsin and in Georgia and Atlanta, Latinos are everywhere.

ACOSTA: Yes.

D. GARCIA: And, you know, five to forty thousand votes, that can be the difference in this election and we believe LULAC can put the tips on the scale and help Harris win this election.

ACOSTA: And when you hear -- I was playing this for Casey just a few moments ago, when you hear Donald Trump out on the campaign trail questioning Kamala Harris' background. Obviously, we've heard this before, the birtherism that Trump was engaged in when it came to Barack Obama. What's your response to that when you hear that?

D. GARCIA: That the politics of scapegoating scapegoating and fear mongering the other, that politics is one of the reasons LULAC got involved, because we just could not see somebody spitting the Statue of Liberty and what America stands for. America stands for united. We don't pit each other against, because of race, color, or background, and that's one of the things that the Trump campaign really needs to stop doing, because that's dividing America, not unifying America. And Kamala Harris, I think, understands that and is going to be a uniter.

ACOSTA: And on the subject of immigration, what do you want to hear from the Harris-Wallz ticket? What do you want to hear from Vice President Harris?

D. GARCIA: Let's secure the border, but let's pass a bipartisan immigration reform bill that fixes a broken problem and allows people to come in here legally, take care of America's economic needs, and, you know, really honor --

ACOSTA: Because Trump is trying to attach the Biden record on the border to Kamala Harris and say it's the same record.

D. GARCIA: It's not. The fact of the matter is, we've had the lowest number of immigrants coming across the border in the last four years. The border has been, for a large extent, sealed. But we need to find a legal way for them to come in.

ACOSTA: Not the entire administration. A lot of people say, no, the border was not secure.

D. GARCIA: It is now.

ACOSTA: There was a crisis there.

D. GARCIA: It is now, and Mexico's done their part.

ACOSTA: The numbers have gone down.

D. GARCIA: Dramatically, but it's still broken. And unless we have people that are willing to work across the aisle and do something. But I think Vice President Harris will be able to do with some Republicans that work in good faith. John McCain should be a great example of that. And we can maybe get a deal done.

ACOSTA: And why endorse now? Why did LULAC decide, okay, we're going to get off the sidelines here and pick a candidate this time? D. GARCIA: There's 65 million Latinos now in America. We can be the deciding factor. The road to the White House goes through the barrios of San Antonio, Los Angeles, Phoenix, Las Vegas, as well as Chicago. And I think we can make that difference this year.

ACOSTA: And are you seeing enough -- I mean, there's been a lot of talk of passing the baton, passing the torch. Are you seeing enough Latino leaders in the Democratic Party to say, we feel included in this party?

D. GARCIA: Well, I'll tell you what, we need to do a lot more here at the convention. We need to have more Latino speakers, but it's dramatically different than what you saw at the Republican convention, where you had people saying mass deportations now and basically the scapegoating of the entire community.

But the Democrats are making significant improvements. I met with Vice President Harris last week in Vegas, and I think we got a lot of room to move forward.

ACOSTA: And you brought up those mass deportation now posters that you saw at the RNC. When Donald Trump says that we're going to have the largest deportation program in American history, if he becomes president, when you hear his allies talking about deportation camps around the country, do you take him seriously?

D. GARCIA: I take him seriously. When he says he's going to send the American army, the U.S. Army, door to door and asking people for their papers, take him seriously. When he's going to say he's going to build mass concentration camps for immigrants and the people that don't agree with him, take him seriously. We cannot afford a blimp (ph) democracy like Donald Trump's.

ACOSTA: You don't think it's just rhetoric?

D. GARCIA: No, I think he's he had children's jails when he was last time he was president. I went and protested in front of them. He took kids away from their mothers as a way to stop immigrants from coming to this country. That's pretty evil. That's pretty mean spirited.

[10:20:00]

ACOSTA: All right. Domingo Garcia, thank you very much for your time. We appreciate it this morning.

Coming up, this is why we can't have nice things. Look what you made me do. Trump falsely implies that he's gotten Taylor Swift blessing. He did not, we should note. He did not get Taylor Swift's blessing. We'll talk about that next

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ACOSTA: Welcome back to our special coverage of the Democratic National Convention live from the United Center in Chicago.

Dozens of Democrats are making their case for Kamala Harris on the convention stage all this week. And perhaps the most moving speeches aren't coming from party power players, but everyday Americans who are sharing their personal stories with the nation.

[10:25:06]

Three women who spoke last night addressed state abortion bans in a post-Roe America. Let's take a listen to that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HADLEY DUVALL, SEXUAL ABUSE SURVIVOR: I was raped by my stepfather after years of sexual abuse. At age 12, I took my first pregnancy test, and it was positive. I can't imagine not having a choice. But today, that's the reality for many women and girls across the country because of Donald Trump's abortion bans. He calls it a beautiful thing. What is so beautiful about a child having to carry her parent's child?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: As we have reported on this program, Donald Trump often brags about overturning Roe versus Wade and he's now saying that the issue won't matter that much in November.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: People wanted to get rid of Roe v. Wade.

I was able to get it done with the appointment of great justices.

It now goes back to the states. And now the states are deciding.

It's a beautiful thing to watch.

I think that abortion has become much less of an issue.

I think the abortion issue is written very much tampered down.

I think it's actually going to be a very small issue.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: All right. Let's discuss with CNN Political Commentators Maria Cardona and David Urban and CNN Anchor and Chief Congressional Correspondent Manu Raju, host of Inside Politics. Manu, good to see you here as well.

MANU RAJU, CNN ANCHOR AND CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely.

ACOSTA: Maria, let me start with you first. I mean, that was a pretty powerful moment that we heard from that young lady. And despite what Trump is saying, the abortion issue is going to be a decisive issue in this election. It is not going away.

MARIA CARDONA, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: It absolutely is not going away, Jim. And last night I think it was one of the most compelling moments, not just Hadley's story, but the stories of the other two women who went through traumatic, life-altering circumstances. They could have died because of these ridiculous laws that have been passed in red states that deny access to life saving care for a lot of these women.

And that's what Republicans don't understand. Donald Trump could not be more wrong when he says that this is not going to be an issue. They thought it wasn't going to be an issue in 2022. And look what happened.

This is an issue, I think, and we've seen this in poll after poll. It doesn't poll as the top issue, but over and over -- exactly. But over and over again, you talk to women and I talk to these women every single day out in the swing states. And undoubtedly, they always say to me, Maria, you know what, yes, the economy is important, but the economy will come back. My rights won't. And it's not just Democratic women, it's independent women, and it's Republican women as well.

ACOSTA: Yes. I mean, David, it has been driving turnout, midterms, state referendum that come out on the ballot. Are you worried that this issue is going to come back and haunt Donald Trump?

DAVID URBAN, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: No, the issue has never gone away, right, to begin with. Look, those stories were very compelling last night, but let's just be clear, you know, Donald Trump has said he will not sign a federal abortion ban if it comes to his desk as president. He's always supported exceptions for rape, incest, and life of the mother. And in certain swing states, like Pennsylvania, you have a 23-week period there. The law in Pennsylvania is very expansive. And so --

ACOSTA: You have a Democratic governor there.

URBAN: You have a Democratic governor and a Democratic statehouse, so it's not going anywhere. So, the argument that somehow abortion is going away in Pennsylvania is a little less salient than in some other states.

I don't believe that President Trump would put forth an abortion ban, nor would there be 60 votes for it in the U.S. Senate. So, it is largely an academic exercise, but it is one that's very motivating to the Democratic base. I don't deny it.

ACOSTA: Yes, and they're going to turn out.

CARDONA: But, David, you will forgive the American people when they don't believe when Donald Trump says, I will not sign an abortion ban. This is somebody who lies every time he opens his mouth. And so that's the point.

URBAN: But you expect them to believe Kamala Harris when she says she's, you know, not going to ban fracking? I mean, why should we --

CARDONA: Okay. We're not talking about fracking. We're talking about abortion. URBAN: No, you're saying, just believe my candidate but not your candidate.

CARDONA: But see, your candidate, and this is documented as one of the biggest liars in politics that we have today. And so for women, when they hear that out of his mouth, they don't believe him. He was on another network just yesterday saying how proud he was of having been responsible for overturning Roe v. Wade. So, this is an issue that women think about every single day, David, because taking away the rights, the fact that I'm raising my daughter in a state that has, in a country where she has less rights than I did. It is something that should not be accepted in this country.

URBAN: He just fundamentally believes it's a state's rights issue, it's a Tenth Amendment issue. In the United States of America, we have 50 different death penalties. If you commit a crime in New York, you're not going to get a death penalty sentence. If you commit a crime in Texas, you will.

[10:30:00]

So, there are different states, we have different election laws. That's how the United States works. The Tenth Amendment provides that.

CARDONA: Well, not acceptable for this issue.