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Obamas Fire Up the DNC with Energetic Endorsement of Harris; Roll Call Vote Filled with Music, Celebration; Harris, Walz Officially Nominated; Protesters Face Off with Police Near Israeli Consulate; Blinken: Israel Accepts Bridging Proposal, Now Up to Hamas. Aired 4- 4:30a ET
Aired August 21, 2024 - 04:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[04:00:00]
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
(Performance by Rapper Lil Jon)
BARACK OBAMA, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We do not need four more years of bluster and bumbling and chaos. We have seen that movie before, and we all know that the sequel is usually worse.
MICHELLE OBAMA, FORMER U.S. FIRST LADY: Who's going to tell him that the job he's currently seeking might just be one of those black jobs? America, hope is making a comeback.
KAMALA HARRIS, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE U.S. (D) AND U.S. PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: They have nominated Coach Walz and me to be the next vice president and president of the United States of America.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANNOUNCER: Live from Atlanta, this is CNN NEWSROOM with John Vause.
JOHN VAUSE, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, everyone. I'm John Vause in today for Max and Christina.
It's Wednesday, August 21st, 4 a.m. right now on the U.S. East Coast. Yes, 4 a.m. and 3 a.m. in Chicago, where Democrats have wrapped the second night of their nominating convention, a night we saw the Obamas take center stage, landing a one-two political punch on the Republican nominee Donald Trump.
Former first lady Michelle Obama warned Democrats of difficult days between now and the election in November, and she issued a call to action. But mostly she delivered a searing indictment of the former president.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MICHELLE OBAMA, FORMER U.S. FIRST LADY: Of the two major candidates in this race, only Kamala Harris truly understands the unseen labor and unwavering commitment that has always made America great. For years, Donald Trump did everything in his power to try to make people fear us. See, his limited, narrow view of the world made him feel threatened by the existence of two hardworking, highly educated, successful people who happen to be black.
(APPLAUSE)
M. OBAMA: I want to know who's going to tell him, who's going to tell him that the job he's currently seeking might just be one of those Black jobs.
(APPLAUSE)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: Barack Obama closed out the night with the first black president in U.S. history, endorsing the first black woman for president. Obama also declared the torch had been passed, a reference to Kamala Harris taking over from Joe Biden at the top of the ticket. But much of his address to delegates was spent mocking and ridiculing Trump, and Obama was in rare form.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARACK OBAMA, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Here's a 78-year- old billionaire who has not stopped whining about his problems since he rode down his golden escalator nine years ago. It has been a constant stream of gripes and grievances that's actually been getting worse now that he's afraid of losing to Kamala. There's the childish nicknames, the crazy conspiracy theories, this weird obsession with crowd sizes.
(APPLAUSE)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: More now on day two from CNN's Brian Abel.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
B. OBAMA: I am feeling hopeful.
BRIAN ABEL, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): During night two of the DNC, the 44th president, Barack Obama, giving an authoritative endorsement of Vice President Kamala Harris, saying why she should be the next to occupy the Oval Office.
B. OBAMA: America's ready for a new chapter. America's ready for a better story. We are ready for a President Kamala Harris.
ABEL (voice-over): Former First Lady Michelle Obama delivering a twist on her famous they go low, we go high line.
M. OBAMA: Going small is petty, it's unhealthy, and quite frankly, it's unpresidential.
ABEL (voice-over): And a Trump administration alum, Republican Stephanie Grisham, arguing why former President Trump shouldn't be reelected.
STEPHANIE GRISHAM, FORMER TRUMP OFFICIAL: He has no empathy, no morals, and no fidelity to the truth.
ABEL (voice-over): While Harris skipped night two to campaign in Milwaukee.
HARRIS: Together we will chart a new way forward.
ABEL (voice-over): Trump in Michigan Tuesday, faulting Harris for the Biden administration's response to immigration.
[04:05:00]
DONALD TRUMP, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT, 2024 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Millions and millions of people are pouring into our country through a border that's unchecked, unvetted.
ABEL (voice-over): Back in Chicago, Harris's chief advocate, second gentleman Doug Emhoff, sharing why the Kamala Harris he knows is who to vote for in November.
DOUG EMHOFF, HUSBAND OF U.S. VICE PRESIDENT: I learned what drives Kamala. She finds joy in pursuing justice.
ABEL (voice-over): In Washington, Brian Abel reporting.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LIL JON, RAPPER: Take out the worst Let's go, let's go
Take out the worst Hey, everybody get your hands up Hey everybody, get your hands up. Hey, everybody, get your hands up.
Now, say, we're not going back. We're not going back.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: The ceremonial roll call of state delegates, which officially nominates the party's presidential and vice presidential nominees, is often dull, procedural, and did I mention dull? Not so this year at the DNC, with music unique for each state.
For Georgia, there was also a surprise live performance of Turn Down for What by rapper Lil Jon. California Love by Tupac was among the songs played for Kamala Harris's home state of California. And for Tim Walz and delegates from Minnesota, Prince, of course.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Great state of Minnesota, how do you cast your vote?
SEN. AMY KLOBUCHAR (D-MN): I'm Amy Klobuchar, the senator from the great state of Minnesota, where nearly everyone votes and purple rains.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The great state of California, how do you cast your vote?
GOV. GAVIN NEWSOM (D) CALIFORNIA: California, we proudly cast our 482 votes for the next president, Kamala Harris.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: Putting the party into party politics, it seems. Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and vice presidential nominee Tim Walz will speak to delegates tonight.
Very different scene not far from the convention center Tuesday with a second day of clashes between pro-Palestinian demonstrators and Chicago police, this time outside the Israeli consulate. According to local reports, dozens were arrested.
Tens of thousands have gathered in Chicago to protest the Biden administration's support for Israel and the war in Gaza. CNN's Ryan Young has the latest from outside the Israeli consulate.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
RYAN YOUNG, CNN SENIOR U.S. NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: So a lot of back and forth tonight with protesters and police. I want to give you the scene, though. You can see the officers who are stacked here ready in their riot gear, their helmets. They're on the right.
Now, that's where protesters have been most of the night. They move them back this direction. Now, you can also see on the other side of the street, there's another group of officers who've all lined this street right here. They've created this barrier so that the protesters could not leave this boxed in intersection. The building they were all protesting is right over here.
If you walk this way, you can see this building right here, Accenture Tower. That's where the Israeli consulate is. Some of those protesters obviously wanted to get inside, but that was stopped by the large police presence.
Now, if you look over here, that's the last bit of group of protesters that's left. A small fraction of them took off in another direction, and there were bike officers who followed them as well. This has been intense, and I have to say that because there's been real pushing and shoving between protesters and police officers, and we believe at least one person was taken into custody.
At some point, officers addressed the large group of protesters and asked them to leave the area. If you walk this direction, you can see the mess that has been left behind by some of the signs that were thrown out here. But this is really the intersection of where everything has been talking.
So protesters like this one here have continued to stay in the street, get in the face of the officers yelling, and there's been back and forth. So far, it doesn't seem like there's been any injuries.
Now, a counter-protesting group showed up about a half hour ago. They were on the other side of that large contingent of police officers. I'm going to ask my cameraman to raise his camera up just a little bit, and if you look in the distance, you can see that the officers have actually shut down that back side of the road as well.
So this was a coordinated effort to make sure this entire intersection was protected, but at the same time, the intensity of this situation really, really got pushed into a corner at some point.
As people started falling or running, that was shut down. It doesn't seem like anybody was injured at this point, but we continue to watch the action that's going on here in the streets.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: Our thanks to Ryan Young for that.
Donald Trump was campaigning in Howell, Michigan Tuesday, a town historically associated with the Ku Klux Klan. He was there to deliver remarks about law and order and crime, but quickly veered off topic, warning of destruction and death if Democrats retain control of the White House.
Trump also said he's open to appointing Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to his administration if the independent candidate drops out of the presidential race and endorses him.
[04:10:00]
Details now from CNN's Kristen Holmes.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN U.S. NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Former President Donald Trump in Michigan on Tuesday trying to still counter-program the Democratic National Convention with these smaller quote-unquote messaging events that the campaign is referring to them as. They are held in these smaller venues with smaller crowds, and it is an effort to try and keep the former president on message. Now, we were able to catch up with the former president and ask him a very specific question.
Earlier in the day, RFK's running mate, Nicole Shanahan, had said the two of them were considering leaving the race and endorsing Donald Trump. I asked him what that endorsement would mean for him and whether or not he would consider giving RFK an administration role. Take a listen.
HOLMES: Can I ask you about RFK? Because just moments ago, his running mate said that they were considering endorsing you. Have you considered him for a role in the administration? And what role would that be?
TRUMP: Well, we haven't, but I would love that endorsement because I've always liked him.
HOLMES: Would you also consider putting him in the administration?
TRUMP: You're asking me a very unusual question. I haven't been asked that question yet. I like him a lot. I respect him a lot. I probably would if something like that would happen.
HOLMES: Now, this, of course, comes a day after Trump said he would consider giving Elon Musk a role in the administration or an advisory role. Two people, RFK and Elon Musk, who are not traditional Republicans at all. They just happen to be people who support Donald Trump. In fact, RFK is a sure progressive in many areas.
I asked Donald Trump about that specifically, saying, what would you say to traditional Republicans who don't want to vote for that administration? He essentially brushed that off, saying that he believed that they were smart, going on to say that Republicans like him, and if he likes them, then he could put them in the administration. But all in all, clearly right now, Donald Trump is still trying to get his message across, trying to break through as Kamala Harris, the change at the top of the ticket has really shaken up this race, and right now she is in control of the media spotlight.
Kristen Holmes, CNN, Howell, Michigan.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: Live now to Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, and Thomas Gift, early riser or up late, not too sure which, director of the Center on U.S. Politics at the University College, London. Thanks for being with us.
THOMAS GIFT, DIRECTOR, CENTER ON U.S. POLITICS, UNIVERSITY COLLEGE LONDON: Thanks so much, John. It's great to be with you.
VAUSE: OK, so the focus was on Chicago, the DNC. Vice President Kamala Harris did speak to supporters about 90 minutes away in Milwaukee. Here's part of what she told them.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HARRIS: This is not just about us versus Donald Trump. This is about two very different visions for our nation. One, ours, focused on the future. The other, focused on the past. And Wisconsin, we fight for the future.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: Did that shift get underway in earnest last night in Chicago, as opposed to just focusing solely on Trump, you know, focusing on the other issues, the things that actually matter, policy, that kind of stuff? Because it seems Trump has been seriously demoted from existential threat to American democracy to now being the punchline of a joke. GIFT: I think you're absolutely right. I do think that most of that started after the Trump assassination attempt. Democrats did get a lot of criticism from Republicans that they were going overboard in terms of making the case that Donald Trump represents an existential threat to democracy.
After that, there were some reporting that privately a number of different Democrats didn't think that Trump actually represented this major threat to democracy, even if he certainly represented a challenge to one. But I do think that Harris realizes that this all can't be about Donald Trump. In large part, I think the election is a referendum on the former president, but she still has to offer a positive vision.
That started a couple days ago whenever she gave a big economic address about policies that she hopes to enact if elected. And I think it continued here at the Democratic National Convention.
And you're right, it's interesting. It's almost demoting Trump in some sense, not giving him sort of all the attention that he has gotten for the most part whenever Biden was the nominee.
VAUSE: Well, the main speakers on Tuesday was in fact a double act, the Obamas. Former first lady did not hold back. At one point, she essentially called out Trump for being a racist. Here she is.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
M. OBAMA: His limited narrow view of the world made him feel threatened by the existence of two hard-working, highly educated, successful people who happen to be Black.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: Well, her husband, Barack Obama, has spent a lot of time just simply mocking Trump. Here he is.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
B. OBAMA: Here's a 78-year-old billionaire who has not stopped whining about his problems since he rode down his golden escalator.
[04:15:00]
There's the childish nicknames, the crazy conspiracy theories, this weird obsession with crowd sizes.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: It does seem the speeches were going after Trump in a way that others haven't really gone there successfully in the past. But also, these two Obamas appearing at this conference, it highlights a very stark difference between the Harris and Trump campaigns. Harris has former presidents and former first ladies, you know, out on the stump. Obama's about to go and do whatever Kamala Harris needs to be done.
As for Donald Trump, there's not one elder statesman from the Republican Party who was at the convention, the RNC convention.
GIFT: Yes, exactly. And most notably, Mike Pence wasn't there, his former vice president, or anyone from his cabinet. I mean, a lot of those individuals actually resigned. There was huge attrition during the Trump administration, and so people who actually worked for him haven't given him an endorsement.
Last night was really about reclaiming the winning vibes of the Obamas. In 2008 and 2012, both Obamas spoke, both got rousing ovations, and both tried to draw this direct line between the kind of hope and change, yes we can themes, and the Kamala Harris campaign.
The Obamas definitely got in some jabs, but mostly, again, they were kind of belittling the former president. I think mostly last evening was reminding Democrats what energy and enthusiasm for their candidate looked like, and that resonated because Harris has really rejuvenated the party that just a few weeks ago was feeling dejected and staring down what many thought was an almost certain loss.
VAUSE: Yes, it is a different scene entirely compared to what was expected. And for the past few days, we've seen speaker after speaker calling out former President Trump and the role he played in overturning abortion rights and the need to defend those rights moving forward. On Monday, Trump was asked about that by CBS News.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: Democrats and Republicans, everybody wanted to do this for 52 years, and I got it done, and we should never be in the federal government. The federal government should have nothing to do with this issue, and it's being solved at a state level, and people are very happy about it.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: So no regrets?
TRUMP: No regrets, no, I wouldn't have regrets. Again, I did something that most people felt undoable.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: It's like Edith Piaf, I guess. You know, Trump likes being on every side of every issue, and often gets away with it. This time, though, ending abortion rights seems to be a different matter, and it seems like he's now decided essentially to own it because he has no choice, I think.
GIFT: Yes, I mean, it's an interesting pivot because for a while, you know, Donald Trump did really see abortion as a huge political liability for the Republicans, and rightly so. I mean, in 2022, Democrats really overperformed in the midterms, in large part because of the abortion issue, also the case that Democrats won a lot of these state-level referendums on abortion. Democrats have, I think, falsely accused Trump of supporting a national abortion ban. I think he's kind of settled on, let the states decide.
But I also think that there's some concern now that, you know, a lot of evangelical Christians and the pro-life movement are kind of not as enthusiastic about Trump as they once were. That was especially reinforced after the Republican platform came out, and it disappointed a lot of Republicans because they thought it was kind of watered down on the issue of abortion.
But it's a tough one for Trump because he knows that large rows, particularly of suburban women, are voting on this issue, and it's for Democrats, not for him. At the same time, he has to shore up some elements of his own base.
VAUSE: A bit of a catch-22, I guess. Thomas Gift, thank you for getting up early. Thank you for being with us. We really appreciate it.
GIFT: Happy to.
VAUSE: U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken has ended his latest diplomatic tour of the Middle East, leaving with no ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas, but he's urging both sides to get a deal over the finish line. During Blinken's ninth trip to the region since October 7th, he met with officials in Qatar and Egypt, as well as Israel, which Blinken says has agreed to a bridging proposal to try and close the remaining gaps in a potential ceasefire agreement.
The war in Gaza is now into day 320, and in the past 24 hours, more than 40 people were killed in Israeli strikes across Gaza, including eight in a strike on a school in Gaza City, used as a shelter for displaced Palestinians. The IDF says Hamas was using the building as a command center.
Meantime, Israel has released images of the operation which recovered the bodies of six hostages from Hamas tunnels under the city of Khan Younis. An investigation is underway to determine cause of death.
And earlier today, fires broke out in several parts of the Israeli- controlled Golan Heights after dozens of rockets and missiles were fired from Lebanon.
Live now to Tel Aviv, CNN's Nic Robinson standing by for us at this hour. Nic, you know, we've got this ceasefire agreement which seems to be going nowhere, each side sort of blaming the other for not happening, and it just sits there, and Blinken has gone.
[04:20:00]
So what happens now?
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Now there's technical teams that are supposed to be sort of working on the technicalities of how some of those gaps might be bridged, but when Secretary Blinken left, he said it was down to Hamas now to come out and support the bridging proposal. He said it got that commitment after a two-and-a-half-hour one-on-one meeting with Prime Minister Netanyahu, which he really sort of heralded as a success.
But already there's a sense that that's not going as planned. Yesterday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met with a small group of hostage families. Now these are a particular group or a couple of groups that are actually fairly supportive of Prime Minister Netanyahu and his approach to the war, and he told them that he wouldn't be giving up control of the Netzarim, rather, of the Philadelphi Corridor. That's the border between Gaza and Egypt.
He said it was of, you know, a strategic value to Israel, and that seems to be at a variance with the commitment that is given Secretary Blinken. One U.S. official called those sorts of statements counterproductive to trying to get a ceasefire, and even just yesterday, Secretary Blinken pushed back on that idea. This is what he had to say.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ANTONY BLINKEN, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: The United States does not accept any long-term occupation of Gaza by Israel. More specifically, the agreement is very clear on the schedule and the locations of IDF withdrawals from Gaza, and Israel has agreed to that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTSON: Yes, so there's a real sense here that nerves are stretching on this. Pressure's being applied. Hamas hasn't signed up to it yet. Their indications are that they feel it's totally one-sided towards Israel.
So, you know, the positivity that U.S. officials came in here with, I'd say that doesn't exist at that sort of level at the moment. The one takeaway I guess you can have at the moment, that part of the push for the effort to get the ceasefire talks going again was to de- escalate tensions with Iran, and Iranian officials are now talking about a calibrated response to the assassination of Ismail Haniyeh, the Hamas leader, on their territory in Tehran just over two weeks ago.
So maybe that could be seen as a positive, but the talks themselves seem to be going nowhere fast -- John.
VAUSE: You know, it has to be remembered in all of this, there are the relatives of the hostages who are still being held in Gaza. This is now 320 days of what many describe as a living hell.
ROBERTSON: Yes, and many of the hostage families would agree with Secretary Blinken that really these talks are a last-ditch chance, you know, to bring about the return of the hostages. And I think while we talk about the hostages, let's also, you know, you mentioned the casualties and the deaths in Gaza yesterday.
Just to add one statistic to that from the Gaza media ministry, they say another journalist was killed yesterday in one of those strikes. That brings to the total 170 journalists killed in Gaza so far, according to Gaza officials.
But for the hostages themselves -- for the families of the hostages, that wait is desperate. For some of the families yesterday, they had the sad knowledge that they were going to receive the bodies of their loved ones.
Avraham Munder was one of those, 79-year-old. His family, until then, had pretty much believed him to still be alive. I talked with his niece. This is what she told me.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MERAV MOR RAVIV, NIECE OF AVRAHAM MUNDER: The family has their own officer, an army officer, and I just got a call from him this morning, early in the morning, and he said that my uncle's body was released by the army. We had a small hope that he's still alive, but he was 79 when he was kidnapped. Actually, he had his birthday on December, during captivity.
We knew that he's not in a good condition because we had the hostages that came back the beginning of December, and they told us the condition was terrible.
ROBERTSON: How is the family coping?
RAVIV: I can't say lucky because, you know, we started thinking in another way of thinking, like you're lucky if the body comes back. It's not luck.
ROBERTSON: Things have come so bad that you're just happy to have a body back.
RAVIV: Yes, but it's not. I mean, I don't want it to be like a normal thing.
[04:25:00]
ROBERTSON: Did Prime Minister Netanyahu do enough? Could he have saved Avraham?
RAVIV: Of course, I'm sure of that.
ROBERTSON: Does this leave you angry, bitter with the government?
RAVIV: Of course, of course, of course.
ROBERTSON: What's your message now to the Prime Minister? Now you have this horrible sad news.
RAVIV: That the values I was raised in Israel were life and the holy, can you say the holy of life?
ROBERTSON: Yes.
RAVIV: Of being alive and the friendship and that you don't leave your friend in the battle or whatever. And suddenly those values just went away. We were saying all the time that there's no time for the hostages. We knew it from the first day.
(END VIDEOTAPE) ROBERTSON (on camera): So sadness and solace for Avraham Munder's family today. He'll be buried in Nir Oz, the kibbutz where he spent 60 years of his life. And he'll be buried next to his son who was killed on October the 7th by Hamas in Nir Oz. And his wife and daughter and grandson will be there too. They, of course, were taken prisoner by Hamas and released in November last year. They understood better than most precisely what Avraham went through.
VAUSE: Thank you. Nic Robertson, live for us in Tel Aviv.
Well, bringing down the house at the DNC. Live music, dancing, and back-to-back Obamas. In a moment, we'll have more on their message with Democrats and all Americans.
Also, a Mediterranean vacation turned tragedy when a superyacht goes down with passengers believed trapped inside. We'll have the very latest on the search in a moment.
And the end of Eras in Europe. The Taylor Swift caravan moves on. We'll run the numbers on how much of an economic boost came from Taylor Swift's tour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VAUSE: King Charles visited Southport on Tuesday, the town where a mass stabbing left three young girls dead and others badly hurt last month. The children were attending a dance class featuring Taylor Swift music. The King met with some of the injured children and their families, while also expressing sympathy and empathy for residents.
After the knife attack came a wave of angry protests and riots by far- right groups targeting asylum seekers after false claims spread about the identity of the attacker.
Taylor Swift also spent time with families affected by that fatal stabbing. Some were allowed backstage to meet with Swift after she performed at Wembley Stadium. Swift says the attacks left her in complete shock. Thousands of Swifties raised nearly half a million dollars in support of those families.
Swift's European leg of her mega-tour is over and a two-month break is now waiting for the singer.
Anna Stewart visited with some Swift fans in London.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ANNA STEWART, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Lights, camera, fans smile. With August slipping away, Taylor Swift's European tour is coming to a close, leaving behind windfall profits. Swift has dazzled fans in Dublin, shakin' it off.
