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Interview With Former Atlanta, Georgia, Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms; Interview With Rep. Seth Moulton (D-MA); Interview With San Francisco, California, Mayor London Breed. Aired 11-11:30a ET
Aired August 21, 2024 - 11:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[11:00:09]
JIM ACOSTA, CNN HOST: Captivating an audience, hoping to get a carry the party -- it look like a house party last -- here in Chicago -- to the White House.
It's day three of the Democratic National Convention in Chicago.
ABBY PHILLIP, CNN HOST: And day two might be a tough act to follow. Let's be honest. The roll call Tuesday seemed more like a dance party. People were ready to go to the club, Jim.
ACOSTA: Oh, yes.
PHILLIP: Than a formal procedure. There was a deejay. Lil Jon, he had an electrifying performance to tee up Georgia's delegation.
And the former first couple Barack and Michelle Obama, they kept that energy going with a passionate speech, both of them, complete with zingers directed squarely at former President Donald Trump.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MICHELLE OBAMA, FORMER FIRST LADY: She understands that most of us will never be afforded the grace of failing forward. We will never benefit from the affirmative action of generational wealth.
If things don't go our way, we don't have the luxury of whining or cheating others.
BARACK OBAMA, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: There's the childish nicknames, the crazy conspiracy theories, this weird obsession with crowd sizes.
(LAUGHTER)
(CHEERING)
(APPLAUSE)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ACOSTA: All right, welcome to a special edition of CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Jim Acosta live at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago. PHILLIP: And I'm Abby Phillip.
And here are the headliners for tonight. We have got former President Bill Clinton, former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, and Governor Tim Walz. He will formally accept the vice presidential nomination from his party tonight.
And coming up here in this hour, I'm going to speak with San Francisco Mayor London Breed, as well as Tennessee State Representative Justin Pearson. You might remember that he was expelled in 2023 for protesting gun violence. He was on the floor as well during that roll call, Jim.
ACOSTA: That was a powerful moment. And I will be joined by Texas Congressman Joaquin Castro, also Congressman Seth Moulton in just a few moments.
But, Abby, I did want to ask you, because this struck me. I mean, yes, everybody's talking about the Obamas and these big speeches that they came with last night.
PHILLIP: Yes.
ACOSTA: But I really was struck by the address to the convention from Doug Emhoff, the second gentleman.
PHILLIP: Yes.
ACOSTA: Because he -- I mean, each of these conventions, when you have a new nominee, I mean, you have to lay out the story of this couple. And we saw it with George and Laura Bush back when they were making a bid for the White House, Bill and Hillary Clinton.
And it kind of felt like one of those moments last night where we learned about this couple.
PHILLIP: Yes.
And Doug Emhoff, as the second gentleman, he is an unconventional figure for a lot of reasons.
ACOSTA: Yes.
PHILLIP: I thought that the speech was really true to him. It was funny. It was interesting. It told their, in a lot of ways, modern story of a modern marriage.
And, Jim, the video that played before Doug came onto the stage was narrated by his son, Cole.
ACOSTA: Yes.
PHILLIP: And it was produced by his ex-wife, Kerstin Emhoff, who was here in the hall. That really says so much about the nature of their family, a blended family, as he said multiple times last said.
(CROSSTALK)
ACOSTA: Blended families.
Yes, and a lot of Americans can relate to that. I mean, blended families are very much the norm for so many folks these days.
And last night, Kamala Harris tweeted that she was watching the second gentleman as he was giving his speech.
PHILLIP: Yes, I believe that they circled Air Force Two over the Chicago area for a little while so that she could catch the end at that speech.
ACOSTA: Yes, quite a moment there.
My first guest is Congressman Seth Moulton, Democrat from Massachusetts. He's also a Marine Corps combat veteran who served four tours of duty in Iraq.
Congressman Moulton, thanks very much for joining us.
I did want to ask you about Tim Walz. I mean, he's the big speaker tonight, the vice presidential nominee. He spent 24 years in the National Guard. As you know, some Republicans, including vice presidential nominee J.D. Vance, a veteran himself, accuse him of -- quote -- "stolen valor," which is a very loaded term, falsely suggesting that he served in combat, that Tim Walz said that he served in combat, which is not exactly the case.
Some veterans find it offensive that one veteran is going after another. Where do you fall in all of this? What do you make of some of that criticism? And how should the governor respond tonight?
REP. SETH MOULTON (D-MA): I think it's incredibly offensive. It's offensive to veterans. We shouldn't be denigrating the service of other veterans. We should be lifting them up, and we should be celebrating the fact that the vice president of the United States is going to be a veteran from our recent wars.
That's the first time American history that we will have an Iraq or Afghanistan veteran -- or a war on terror veteran, I should say, post- 9/11 veteran on the ticket. And that's really something that we should be celebrating, especially at a time, by the way, when recruiting is down, when we need more people to be inspired to serve in the military.
Each of these men served in important ways. Neither of them served in combat, but I -- but both served in important ways, and we should be celebrating that service.
[11:05:04]
That's exactly what Tim Walz is doing, by the way. He spent a lot more time in service, 24 years. He understands how important all the different ways in which you can serve the country are, and he has been celebrating, even celebrating J.D. Vance's service. J.D. Vance, in contrast, is following in the footsteps of Donald
Trump, a draft dodger who avoided serving in Vietnam, who has denigrated veterans his entire time in politics, from attacking John McCain to calling World War II veterans losers and suckers.
I mean, J.D. Vance is just following in the footsteps of this draft dodger to attack Tim Walz. It's shameful.
ACOSTA: Well, let me ask you. New this morning. I mean, Politico is reporting that 50 Republicans in Congress, all military veterans, have issued a blistering letter to Walz.
We can show a little bit of this. It bears the letterhead of the Trump/Vance campaign. It says -- quote -- "You have violated the trust of our brothers and sisters in arms. Their blood, sweat, and sacrifice are the only reason our nation is able to exist. Until you admit you lied to them, there is no way you can be trusted to serve as vice president."
What's your response?
MOULTON: How did he lie to them? I don't understand. I mean, the one accusation that he said he carried a weapon of war in war...
ACOSTA: Right.
MOULTON: ... he should have just used a different single word, during a war, not in the war. He wasn't actually in the war.
And let's be clear.
ACOSTA: The Harris campaign has said he misspoke.
MOULTON: He misspoke one word; 24 years of service, you're going to denigrate and throw out because of one misspoken word? I mean, that's shameful.
Every veteran on earth, myself included, has said some words that were incorrect in our lives.
ACOSTA: And I do want to switch gears a little bit, something that former President Donald Trump said yesterday, getting back to the conversation about the Obamas.
I don't know if you saw this, but the former president now says that he likes Barack Obama and Michelle Obama. Let's listen to that.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES (R) AND CURRENT U.S. PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I like him. I think he's a nice gentleman, but he was very, very weak on trade. But I happen to like him. I respect him and I respect his wife.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ACOSTA: What did you think of that?
(LAUGHTER)
MOULTON: I think he's finally getting some good advice.
And -- but look, this is not Donald Trump's character. Donald Trump hates veterans. He hates the Obamas. I mean, he hates anyone who's opposed to him, because that's what bullies do.
ACOSTA: And I do want to ask you. You very much were on the side of things that President Biden should step aside, make way for a new nominee. That has happened.
In "The Boston Globe," you wrote an op-ed and it said this: "This is bigger than one president or party. It's about America. Let's win this election, Mr. President, and in the process ensure you have the legacy you deserve."
I'm not sure if the president exactly followed your advice, but he did step aside. How has the party handled this? And do you think that this passing of the torch has happened?
MOULTON: I think it's...
ACOSTA: It's now Kamala Harris' party?
MOULTON: Absolutely.
I think it's been extraordinary. I think the party has handled it well. Remember, 65 percent or so of Americans didn't want either Trump or Biden to be the nominee. One party has responded to that call for change. And we have a new nominee.
The energy, the excitement, the hope that you feel here in Chicago simply wasn't even -- it wasn't even in the cards four weeks ago.
And I was -- I was glad that President Biden, when he gave his speech, he said something really important, which I also said in that op-ed, which is: This is not about me.
That's a Marine phrase that I put in that op-ed. I said, you have an amazing job and an amazing legacy, Mr. President, but this is not about you. It's bigger than you. It's about the country. It's about the party. It's about the future of America.
He said that in his speech and it's really propelled us forward.
ACOSTA: All right, Congressman Seth Moulton, thanks very much for your time. We appreciate it.
MOULTON: Thank you.
PHILLIP: And still to come: Donald Trump says San Francisco was a great city, and now he calls it -- quote -- "almost unlivable." He blames California's former Senator and Attorney General Kamala Harris. San Francisco's mayor will join us, and she will respond to all of that.
That's next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[11:13:26]
PHILLIP: Welcome back to a special edition of CNN NEWSROOM live from the Democratic National Convention in Chicago. I'm Abby Phillip.
And it was a golden moment for Golden State Democrats last night.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GOV. GAVIN NEWSOM (D-CA): California, we proudly cast our 482 votes for the next president, Kamala Harris.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIP: That was California's Governor Gavin Newsom formally delivering the state's delegates to Vice President Kamala Harris. And standing next to them is former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi beaming with pride as she witnessed one of the Bay Area's very own ascending to the biggest stage in American politics.
Joining me now, another one from the Bay Area, San Francisco Mayor London Breed.
The Bay Area is having a moment. California is having a moment. What is it like for you to see your friend...
LONDON BREED (D), MAYOR OF SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA: Well...
PHILLIP: ... Vice President Kamala Harris, at this moment in her life?
BREED: Well it's unbelievable.
There was so much emotion running through me when I was watching as all of the states were going through the nomination process. To think that this is someone I know, that I call a friend, that I call a mentor, I mean, there's so many emotions.
But, more importantly, I'm so proud of her and I'm proud that she is representing California.
PHILLIP: You said that, last night, watching the former President Barack Obama, Michelle Obama was a full circle moment for both of you, for both of you and Vice President Harris...
BREED: Yes.
PHILLIP: ... longtime supporters of the Obamas. Why was that?
BREED: Well, we actually traveled, Kamala and I, together to Springfield, Illinois, when he made his announcement in 2007. We were there together.
[11:15:06]
It was the first time I had a chance to meet -- well, actually, I met him in San Francisco, but just to talk to him after he made that speech. And we thought, whoa, this is big. This is possible. There's something going on here. And we were there to share that moment together.
PHILLIP: One of the things about this convention is that now you have got Donald Trump running against someone that maybe he didn't think he would be running against, but the arguments are going to be about some familiar topics, especially crime in major cities.
I want to play for you what he had to say about your city just recently.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: San Francisco, you know, is a -- was a great city 15 years ago. Now it's considered almost unlivable.
You can't live there. You're allowed to rob a store as long as it's not more than $950. Has anyone ever heard of that? You can rob a store. And you have thieves going into stores with calculators calculating how much it is, because, if it's less than $950, they can rob it and not get charged. That was her.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIP: And, just to be clear, we fact-checked that. A lot of that is not true. It's false. But what's your response?
BREED: Well, my response is that you have to fact-check everything that Donald Trump says, because, oftentimes, it's really about trying to tear something down, rather than build it up.
What is not talked about is San Francisco is experiencing one of the lowest crime rates it's seen in a decade, the largest decline in retail theft. The city is thriving, last year, 34-point-something billion dollars in venture capitalist investment. And it's still the artificial intelligence capital of the world.
So San Francisco is beautiful. It's thriving. Things are going great. And we have big city problems like any major city. But when you look at the facts and you look at the data, you will see San Francisco is one of the safest cities in the country.
PHILLIP: One of the things that the vice president rolled out in her economic plan is a plan on housing. And she wants to build three million units in the next several years, which some analysts say is really not all that realistic.
But what do you make of what she's put on the table in terms of housing? I mean, it's no secret San Francisco is an expensive city to live... BREED: Definitely.
PHILLIP: ... one of the most expensive in the country.
What do you make of it?
BREED: Well, I'm excited about that and what it means.
I mean, even the public housing that I grew up in, 300 units torn down, 200 built. And we have not produced the kind of housing that we should, even in a dense city like San Francisco. And I think it's possible.
Recently, we had a state law in California that passed that allow housing as a right, meaning the bureaucratic layers that oftentimes get in the way of housing production, they're all wiped out. And we're going to be able to move forward aggressively in building more housing.
And I love the fact that the president is putting housing production at the forefront of the conversation.
PHILLIP: Last thing. I mean, what's your message to your own party? What lessons have you learned about how to address the attacks on Democrats about crime, about public safety, which is important and is a concern for people?
BREED: Yes.
PHILLIP: But the playbook from Donald Trump is often about stoking up fear.
BREED: Yes.
And my message is, we stay true to our values. Look, we believe in accountability. So, someone crosses the line, we need to do what's necessary to make that arrest and to hold somewhat accountable. But we also don't believe that accountability just means jail time.
It could be a second chance or new opportunity. But, ultimately, we are prosecuting people. We are holding people accountable. And the party needs to make sure that we don't run from that, that we strike a balance and we talk about that more, and we get the facts out there, rather than the information that's put out there that tries to tear our cities all over the country that are run by Democrats down.
We are responsible for lifting them up. And that's what I'm doing here at the convention.
PHILLIP: All right, London Breed, the mayor of San Francisco, California, thank you very much for joining us tonight.
BREED: Thank you.
ACOSTA: All right, great interview.
Still ahead this hour, Michelle Obama's message: Hope is making a comeback.
Much more on the powerful speech from the former first lady, invoking stories from Kamala Harris' childhood to her career as a prosecutor. We will take a deeper dive with a Harris biographer. He says he has -- she has always been underestimated.
More on that next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[11:23:58]
ACOSTA: Welcome back.
Donald Trump has been mocking Kamala Harris' laugh, insulting her intelligence, and questioning her racial heritage, suggesting there's something that's just not quite American about her.
PHILLIP: And, of course, the vice president, the daughter of Jamaican and Indian immigrants, was born in Oakland, California.
But the former president saying that she happened to -- quote -- "turn black" comes from a pretty familiar line of racially coded attacks that America's first black president and his family are all too familiar with.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MICHELLE OBAMA, FORMER FIRST LADY: 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.
(CHEERING)
(APPLAUSE)
M. OBAMA: Who's going to tell him that the job he's currently seeking might just be one of those black jobs?
(CHEERING)
(APPLAUSE)
M. OBAMA: It's his same old con.
Going small is petty, it's unhealthy, and, quite frankly, it's unpresidential.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[11:25:05]
PHILLIP: All right, let's discuss this with former Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms and Harris biographer Dan Morain. He's the author of "Kamala's Way."
Mayor, that line in this room, my ears were ringing when she said that because it was so loud in here, "one of those black jobs." I mean, she really went at what a lot of people who know Donald Trump really well say is what is bothering him so much about the state of the race right now.
KEISHA LANCE BOTTOMS (D), FORMER MAYOR OF ATLANTA, GEORGIA: Yes, she was absolutely incredible last night.
And Michelle Obama is fantastic on any given day. But I think being in her hometown of Chicago, there was a comfort and just a willingness to not mince words that we all needed last night. And I can only imagine that Donald Trump is continuing to cringe, because what we have seen is that he's unraveling.
And he really has issues, obviously, with Barack and Michelle Obama and so many other people who don't fit into the mold of whatever he thinks American is. And what made me happiest of all, even my 22-year- old son, who can be a bit fickle on politics, was excited last night. And that's what we need going into November.
ACOSTA: And, Dan, let's take a listen to how Michelle Obama characterized the vice president and her story last night, because a big, important part of this convention is introducing the American people to Kamala Harris' story.
And Michelle Obama helped with that last night.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
M. OBAMA: Kamala Harris is more than ready for this moment. She is one of the most qualified people ever to seek the office of the presidency.
She is one of the most dignified, a tribute to her mother, to my mother and to your mother too. The embodiment of the stories we tell ourselves about this country, her story is your story. It's my story. It's the story of the vast majority of Americans trying to build a better life.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ACOSTA: Yes, Dan, what did you make of that?
DAN MORAIN, AUTHOR, "KAMALA'S WAY: AN AMERICAN LIFE": Kamala Harris is a true American. I mean, you can agree with her politics or not, but this is an American story, child of immigrants, grows up, goes to a historically black college, an amazing story.
And she goes to a public law school, not Columbia, not Yale, the University of California at Hastings. It used to be called Hastings. Now it's California, the school of law in San Francisco.
I mean, this is an American story.
ACOSTA: Yes.
PHILLIP: What do you think -- how do you think Vice President Harris is going to talk about that? Because, in a way, the story of her kind of political ascent has been navigating all the aspects of her identity. What do you think is the most effective way for her to communicate who she is in light of these attacks from Trump?
MORAIN: She talks about herself as -- she's -- almost guaranteed she's going to talk about her mother. Her mother had a huge influence on her, you know, basically a single mom, although they shared custody.
But she's going to talk about her roots, which, I mean, she was a prosecutor. When she ran for district attorney in San Francisco, the headline of the "Chronicle" endorsement was: "Harris, For Law and Order," right?
I mean, she's a tough prosecutor. That's her background.
PHILLIP: And she hasn't always talked about that. Yes.
ACOSTA: No, that's right.
And also, I think, Mayor, the way Doug Emhoff talked about their blended family, I think that resonated with a lot of voters.
And I do want to ask you about your critical battleground state of Georgia. They were putting on quite a show last night. I don't know if you caught any of this. Let's listen to how the Obamas extended an dollar branch to moderate Republicans, talk about it on the other side.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
M. OBAMA: No one has a monopoly on what it means to be an American, no one.
Look, I don't care how you identify politically, whether you're Democrat, Republican, independent or none of the above. This is our time to stand up for what we know in our hearts is right.
B. OBAMA: The vast majority of us do not want to live in a country that's bitter and divided. We want something better. We want to be better.
Mutual respect has to be part of our message.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ACOSTA: Yes, I mean, it was kind of a shocker that Joe Biden was able to capture Georgia last time around. How is it feeling on the ground there?
[11:30:00]
