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Harris' Speech Focuses On Patriotism, Abortion, Gun Rights; Harris Draws Stark Contrast With GOP On Abortion Rights. Aired 11- 11:30a ET

Aired August 23, 2024 - 11:00   ET

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

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[11:01:32]

JIM ACOSTA, CNN ANCHOR: It is the end of the week, but the beginning of a new leg in the race for the White House. Inside United Center here in Chicago, Vice President Kamala Harris promising a, quote, new way forward in the biggest moment of her political life. Harris took center stage at the Democratic National Convention, cementing her place in history.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KAMALA HARRIS (D), VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES, CURRENT PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I accept your nomination to be president of the United States of America.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: Welcome to a special edition of the CNN Newsroom, TGIF, I'm Jim Acosta live at the DNC in Chicago. The battle for November is now officially on, kicking into high gear as Kamala Harris going right after her Republican rival.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HARRIS: We know what a second Trump term would look like, it's all laid out in Project 2025, and its sum total is to pull our country back to the past. But America, we are not going back. We are not going back. We are not going back.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: And what one of the big moments of the night captured in that historic speech, a photo of Harris's grandniece, who also had a starring role on the DNC stage. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And what are you here to do?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: To teach you how to say your auntie's name?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: OK. So how do you pronounce it?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: First you say, Kama, like a common a sentence.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Then you say, la, like, la, la, la, (LAUGH).

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Put it together and it's one, two, three, Kamala.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Everybody over here say, Kama.

CROWD: Kama.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Everybody over here say, (LAUGH).

CROWD: La.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: Democrats are indeed riding high from their convention, but now comes the hard part. The sprint to the November election is now just 74 days away. And joining me now is the Democratic Lieutenant Governor of Illinois, Juliana Stratton. Governor --Lieutenant Governor, I should say, thank you very much for your time.

We appreciate you coming in. Your assessment of -- of this convention, there were a lot of nerves going into this week. A lot of nerves about what might take place inside the convention hall. A lot of nerves about what might take place outside the convention hall. But relatively drama free convention, what do you think?

LT. GOV. JULIANA STRATTON (D-IL): Well, it absolutely was a drama free convention by and large. I mean, I think that we planned, well, a couple of years of planning. We had on every level, from law enforcement, Secret Service, the FBI, lots of other partners, and, of course, an incredible host committee and team of volunteers, organizers, so many people who have come together.

Of course, Governor Pritzker being the governor, leading and inviting everyone to our great state, along with Senator Tammy Duckworth and so many other elected officials. It just was a beautiful week, and we're excited about the top of the ticket with Vice President Kamala Harris and Governor Tim Walz.

But we're also just so excited that the whole world got to see Illinois, the city of Chicago, shining on the stage during this historic week.

ACOSTA: And you know, one of the things that obviously is the case, there's a -- there's a lot of momentum coming out of this convention. Folks are inside the Democratic Party are feeling very good about the case made by the party by Kamala Harris. But this is going to be a fight to the finish. And it's going to be tight, maybe not in Illinois, but a lot of other important states, especially here in the Midwest. Where -- where do you think this campaign should go from here? What message would -- would you like to see Vice President Harris hammer home in the weeks ahead?

[11:05:20]

STRATTON: Well, we started to hear very clearly the message that she's going to be hammering home throughout this week and certainly in her remarks last night. I think the message is the contrast. I mean, Kamala Harris is someone who is going to move us forward. We're not going back. And she's bringing people together. She wants to be the president for all Americans.

She wants to make sure that she uplifts every community and ensures that people have a fair shot at living the life that they desire. On the other side, we have in -- as a contrast, Donald Trump and J.D. Vance, who want to take us backwards, strip us of our rights, who don't want to uplift all Americans, but want to be focused on themselves, and, you know, their billionaire friends.

This is a distinct contrast of who wants to move our country forward, who wants to destroy our democracy. And I don't -- I think the choice is very clear.

ACOSTA: And Lieutenant Governor, one of the big messages this week was, Democrats are really trying to reclaim this idea of patriotism. We saw the USA signs and -- and so on in the convention hall all week. Let's listen to how Kamala Harris framed that last night.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KAMALA HARRIS, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: You know, our opponents in this race are out there every day denigrating America, talking about how terrible everything is.

I love our country with all my heart.

We love to fight for the ideals we cherish and to uphold the awesome responsibility that comes with the greatest privilege on Earth, the privilege and pride of being an American.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: Lieutenant Governor, why was that an important message this week? Is it because it's a weak spot for the Democratic Party? Why -- why do you think it was important to hammer that point home all week long?

STRATTON: Well, because I think Vice President Harris was demonstrating the patriotism and how we are all Americans who want to uphold our democracy, and we have someone on the other side who is destroying our democracy, whose intent on being an authoritarian, who does not want to protect our individual liberties and freedoms.

I mean, I think you heard all this week, freedom was a sort of a theme that we heard every single night. And I think we're at this place. I think one of the things she said that last night that really struck me was, this is not just one of the most consequential elections of our lifetime. But she said this is one of the most consequential elections in the history of our nation, in the history of our democracy. We are at the precipice of being able to say we are going to protect everything that we value, what this country was built on, and how do we move forward with that, versus something that will really, quite frankly, just destroy it. And -- and we just can't do that. And so to see the flags flying and to see everyone talking about freedom, this is showing that we, as Democrats, we welcome everyone to come under this big tent and say, we are Americans, we are patriots, and we want to say we are here to move the United States of America forward with the right leader. And that leader is Kamala Harris.

ACOSTA: All right. Lieutenant Governor Juliana Stratton, thank you very much. And thanks for hosting us here in Chicago and Illinois all week. We had a great time.

STRATTON: Thanks so much.

ACOSTA: Really appreciate it.

All right, this week's convention showed a remarkable shift in how Democrats approach the issue of abortion rights. Vice President Harris has a stark warning for women if Donald Trump wins in November. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HARRIS: Get this. He plans to create a national anti-abortion coordinator and force states to report on women's miscarriages and abortions.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[11:09:22]

ACOSTA: Coming up next, I'll be speaking with a Minnesota candidate for Congress who is also an OB-GYN. Stay with us for that.

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ACOSTA: All right. Breaking news, this just into CNN, we're learning that multiple Secret Service employees have been put on administrative duties in the wake of the attempted assassination of Donald Trump. CNN's Zach Cohen joins us now. Zach, what have we learned?

ZACHARY COHEN, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY REPORTER: Yes. Jim, that's right. A source telling CNN that multiple members of the Secret Service's Pittsburgh field office and a member of Donald Trump's security detail that was involved in the planning of that July 13th rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, have been reassigned to administrative duties and in order to work from home.

This obviously coming as the Secret Service continues to face immense pressure to hold members of the service accountable for the security failure that led up to the assassination attempt of Donald Trump. That's been a prevailing question as to how the Secret Service let, a shooter get a clear line of sight at Donald Trump during that rally and ultimately fire eight rounds killing a rally goer and also hitting Donald Trump himself.

[11:15:02]

Now, look, Acting Secret Service Director Ronald Rowe has indicated previously that he wanted to wait until an internal investigation into what happened was complete before handing down any disciplinary action. Obviously, that something has shifted there. This is a clear disciplinary action being taken by the acting director.

And I -- And I want to remind people too, obviously, the former director of the Secret Service who was in that position at the time, Kimberly Cheatle, has already resigned in the wake of the assassination of Donald Trump.

So the service really still looking at what happened, trying to hold those who were involved in the failures accountable. And we will probably see more actions like this down the line as that investigation wraps up.

ACOSTA: Yes. And Zach, I mean, a lot of this is still focusing on how it was allowed that this shooter was able to get up on that roof, have that line of sight at the former president.

COHEN: That's absolutely right. And --

ACOSTA: Yes.

COHEN: -- acting -- acting Director Rowe even acknowledged that that was a failure on the part of the Secret Service, that that roof should have been covered. And we were reporting earlier today, even that the communication breakdown that led up to the Secret Service not even being aware that anyone was on the roof despite a warning from local officers that was prompted by a failure to pick up radios that were left for the service by local police where that warning was transmitted.

So still a lot of questions as to how the Secret Service allowed these security lapses to happen. What they're going to do to fix it. But as of today, they are taking concrete action to at least hold the individuals that were involved in the planning and some of the individuals who were involved in that response accountable for their actions.

ACOSTA: And Zach, what is the -- the next stage in this investigation? What do you think comes next?

COHEN: Yes. They're absolutely looking into still, the communication breakdowns. We know that on Capitol Hill, they've -- both Democrats and Republicans in the House have assigned members to participate in a task force that is looking specifically into the security failures around the assassination attempt. They will travel to Butler, Pennsylvania next week for their first visit to the rally site.

We're going to see them hand down a lot of recommendations. And there will be continued pressure from Capitol Hill to really discipline any official at the Secret Service who was involved and who contributed to the -- to the security failures. We're going to see how Acting Director Rowe handles that. He is in this job on a temporary basis and replacing the now resigned Kimberly Cheatle.

ACOSTA: All right. Zach Cohen, thanks very much for breaking that for us. We appreciate it. We'll get back to you if there are further developments.

In the meantime, back to the DNC and Vice President Harris last night predicting what a second Trump presidency would mean for women and reproductive rights.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HARRIS: As a part of his agenda, he and his allies would limit access to birth control, ban medication abortion, and enact a nationwide abortion ban, with or without Congress.

Simply put, they are out of their minds.

One must ask, why exactly is it that they don't trust women? Well, we trust women.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: And many of those restrictive policies are found in the conservative blueprint Project 2025. But Trump himself, he says he is not endorsing them. Dr. Kelly Morrison joins us now. She was a Minnesota State Senator and is now running for the U.S. Congress as a Democrat, and she's been a practicing OB-GYN for more than 20 years. Dr. Morrison, thank you very much for joining us. What did you make of Harris's warning last night, and how big of an issue is this going to be in the final stage of this campaign?

DR. KELLY MORRISON (D-MN), CONGRESSIONAL CANDIDATE: Well, good morning, and thank you for having me. It's a pretty exciting time in Minnesota here. Our governor is the official Democratic nominee for vice president. The state fair started yesterday. We're -- we're pretty fired up here in Minnesota, certainly reproductive rights, I think the Vice President said it so well. We need to trust women.

We've seen a maternal health crisis unfold across the country in the wake of the Dobbs decision. And I think we have to, you know, Donald Trump ran for office in 2016. And his win is one of the reasons I got into politics and ran for the state legislature in the first place, because he ran on appointing justices to the court with the explicit goal of overturning Roe versus Wade. It's one of the few campaign promises that he kept. That's exactly what he did, and that's exactly what happened.

So I knew, and -- and people in the OB-GYN community knew what -- what his election would mean for reproductive healthcare in the country. So I was proud as the only OB-GYN in the Minnesota Legislature to help lead the effort to protect and expand access to reproductive healthcare here in Minnesota. But we need to understand that even in states that have passed protections, those will be at risk if Trump is elected president. So this is an essential part of this campaign. We have an opportunity as Americans to vote for freedom and the future.

[11:20:07]

ACOSTA: And -- and Dr. Morrison, I'm sure you've noticed this, Donald Trump has tried to pivot back towards the political center on this issue of abortion. What have you made of that?

MORRISON: Well, I'm sure he wishes and hopes that abortion would not be part of the campaign because he understands now how unpopular that is. We've watched ballot initiatives pop up across the country in blue states and red states and in purple states. Americans, regardless of their political affiliation, don't want politicians making their medical, their private medical decisions for them and they don't want them in their bedrooms.

You know, Governor Walz sharing his family's infertility struggle, I think, really captures how this is an issue that touches all of us. This is not just a women's issue or a girl's issue. This is an American issue.

ACOSTA: And Dr. Morrison, nine states are set to have abortion measures on their ballots come November. You have a medical understanding of how nuanced maternal and reproductive care is. And one of the things that came up time and again during this convention, we heard story after harrowing story from women talking about these just nightmare experiences that they've been through in their respective states because of some of these draconian laws that have been coming down from elected officials on the -- on the Republican side.

MORRISON: That's right. I mean, some just incredibly brave women and families shared their stories. Harrowing is the word that you use, and it's very accurate, absolutely terrifying and dangerous. And I think it's one of the reasons it's so important that at this moment in history, we have a pro-choice, OB-GYN in Congress, who understands the science and the medical, clinical decision making that goes into these decisions, even in some of the states who have enacted exceptions for the life of the mother, as they put it, are -- are -- are dangerous in themselves. They further endanger women's lives, because pregnant women can withstand a lot of blood loss. They can withstand a lot of insult up until the moment that they can't.

And so at what point is a woman's life in danger? You cannot legislate that. You need to leave that decision making to the patient and to her medical care providers. We don't need anti-choice politicians in our hospitals and in our examining rooms making those decisions. The medical nuance is important, and it needs to be left to patients and their doctors. We need to trust women, as Vice President Harris so aptly put it.

ACOSTA: And Dr. Morrison, finally, one of the more touching moments of this DNC centered around Tim Walz's son, Gus, who is overcome with emotion watching his father speak, I think it just touched a lot of people around this country. And we -- that did not stop some on right wing social media from mocking him. I mean obviously, you know, we don't want to elevate and amplify those kinds of people out there. But I -- I do want to give you a Minnesotan a response, a chance to respond to that because of -- of just that touching moment that we saw the other night. What did you make of that?

MORRISON: Well, I don't think there were many dry eyes among Americans, regardless of their political affiliation, watching that moment. This is obviously a -- a father and a mother and their two children who love and adore each other. That was a moment that didn't surprise us here in Minnesota, because we know and love our governor, and we know how much he loves his children.

Remember too that he and Gwen named their daughter, Hope, after their struggle with infertility, because she represented Hope in the future to them. So I think the contrast between this political family and the other choice is pretty stark. These are people who -- who love their families, who care about their neighbors and who care about Americans.

ACOSTA: Dr. Kelly Morrison, thank you very much for your time this morning. We appreciate it.

MORRISON: Thank you for having me.

[11:24:19]

ACOSTA: All right. Still to come, this could be the day that Robert Kennedy Jr. drops out of the presidential race. He is in Phoenix today, on the same day that Donald Trump says he'll have a special guest at his Arizona rally. A coincidence, we'll discuss what happens, or what could happen if these two join forces. That's coming up.

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ACOSTA: Robert F. Kennedy Jr., will give a speech just hours from now. We're expecting that in Arizona, it comes less than 24 hours after he withdrew from that state's presidential ballot. Sources say Kennedy is expected to end his campaign today and could throw his support behind Donald Trump.

Let's discuss with former press secretary for governor, Doug Burgum's presidential campaign, Lance Trevor, he's back with us and Democratic campaign consultant Tim Hogan. Lance, let me go to you first. I mean, you know RFK Jr.'s campaign, it's kind of -- it's -- it's sort of road pizza right now, it's not doing that well. Does he offer that much help to Donald Trump if he throws his support behind him?

[11:29:58]

LANCE TROVER, FORMER SPOKESPERSON, BURGUM PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN: I was talking to a pollster about this yesterday. They had some interesting insight for me on this. If you look at the polling prior to Joe Biden dropping out of the race, Harris was taking about equal amounts of soft Democrats and soft Republicans.