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CNN This Morning

New Joe Biden Campaign Ad Features Robert De Niro; Merrick Garland Responds To Donald Trump's Claim About Mar-a-Lago Search; Major Differences Surface Between Robert F. Kennedy Jr. And Running Mate Nicole Shanahan; Border Bill Fails In Senate For Second Time; President Joe Biden Honors Kenyan President At White House Event. Aired 6:30-7:00a ET

Aired May 24, 2024 - 06:30   ET

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

[06:30:09]

KASIE HUNT, CNN ANCHOR: New this morning, the Biden campaign enlisting film star and Trump critic Robert De Niro for an ad targeting Donald Trump's mental stability.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERT DE NIRO, ACTOR: We knew Trump was out of control when he was president. Then he lost the 2020 election and snapped, desperately trying to hold on to power.

Now he's running again, this time threatening to be a dictator, to terminate the Constitution.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: That ad part of the Biden campaign strategy to ramp up attacks against Trump in the month leading up to the CNN debate. Sources telling us the Biden campaign believes the message that Trump has snapped will energize Democratic voters.

Trump's campaign though projecting confidence. Trump aides telling CNN they believe formats and calendars can't change issues like immigration and the economy that they think are dominating the race and certainly can't change how Biden comes off on camera.

Joining us now CNN's Isaac Dovere. And Isaac, you have new reporting about both campaigns getting ready for this debate on June 27th.

EDWARD-ISAAC DOVERE, CNN SENIOR REPORTER: Yes, look, it's a month away. But for them, the preparations are already underway, especially for the Biden campaign, which feels like they have a plan to organize toward June 27th. With a lot of things they're going to be doing, including marking the anniversaries of the Pulse shooting in Orlando, talking about guns, marking the anniversary of the Dobbs decision, talking about abortion.

But all of it aimed at really just what they think is a very transparent, straightforward approach to going at Donald Trump on stage, which is to say, how do you defend these things? Just say what you say about this, they feel like that contrast is really going to be to their benefit. There's a lot of preparation that's going into that, on the Biden side.

On the Trump side, they have so far advisors tell us looked at this and said, they're not doing a lot of formal prep, they're not expecting --

HUNT: Which is kind of normal for him, right?

DOVERE: Yes. Although, look, notably, four years ago, and neither of these guys have debated since the last time they debated each other. It's also historic that we've never had a presidential debate between two presidents before.

But four years ago, who was preparing Donald Trump? Chris Christie, Rudy Giuliani.

Chris Christie is clearly not going to be part of the process of helping Trump this time around. And Rudy Giuliani doesn't seem like he's going to be either. And so, that's a real shift. And you see that on the Biden side, it is by and large, the same group of people around him that are preparing and they know the way that he goes at this.

Biden, one of the words that tends to be used when talking about the Biden preparations is sprawling by people who've been part of it, exhausting. That Biden can sometimes get too focused on -- or not focused enough really and just go off on tangents.

Whereas Trump does have his very clear confidence that he knows how to perform and can show that he is more energetic, has more flair, has more in the moment than Biden is.

HUNT: Yes, and trying to project like that kind of freewheeling confidence.

DOVERE: Sure.

HUNT: This and that we just played the clip up with Robert De Niro's voice. Do you expect we'll see more like that?

DOVERE: Yes, look, and one of the things in there that I think we should get a sense of is the way that they're trying to taunt Trump here. And we've seen that from President Biden all through this year.

But one of the moments there that we're seeing on screen with Trump's face sitting behind the desk in the Oval Office.

HUNT: It's not flattering.

DOVERE: It is not flattering.

HUNT: Right.

DOVERE: And it's very deliberately chosen to not be flattering to make the former president look heavy. And that is on purpose from the Biden campaign. They selected that photo from many options, but that one deliberately.

Those sorts of things that they hope will continue they think to set Donald Trump off and make him seem unstable and erratic and flail around.

HUNT: OK. Stay with us, because we're going to go back, we're going to broaden this out to the panel.

Attorney General Merrick Garland responding to a false claim by Donald Trump that the FBI was authorized to shoot him during its search of Mar-a-Lago, listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MERRICK GARLAND, U.S. ATTORNEY GENERAL: OK. And that one, that allegation is false. And it is extremely dangerous.

The document that has been referred to an allegation is the Justice Department's standard policy limiting the use of force, as the FBI advises, it is part of the standard operations plan for searches.

And in fact, it was even used in the consensual search of President Biden's home.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: Now, this all started when Trump sent out a fundraising e-mail claiming, "Joe Biden was locked and loaded ready to take me out."

The FBI says the August 22 -- 2022 search of Mar-a-Lago followed standard protocol, the same protocol used in the search of President Biden's home in January of 2023.

Dave, let's play how former FBI Director James Comey also talked about this and then we'll discuss.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: It's entitled policy statement, use of deadly force. We're putting it up there. Do you know what this -- can you talk about what this document is?

[06:35:04]

JAMES COMEY, FORMER FBI DIRECTOR: I'm smiling because it's so crazy. If you put this in a novel, it would get rejected by your editor.

COOPER: You would not write this one at all?

COMEY: You would -- I would not. This is the standard FBI protocol that applies to every search. And it simply reminds the participants in the search of what the rules are around the use of deadly force. It's not specific to Mar-a-Lago.

(END VIDEO CLIP) HUNT: And we heard our expert Michael Moore said almost exactly the same thing last hour, this is very vanilla, very standard stuff that the federal government plans for all these different contingencies.

And yet, we're seeing Trump do what we often see him do, which is take it out of context and fundraise off of it and whip people up.

DAVID LEVINTHAL, EDITOR IN CHIEF, RAW STORY: Yes. And there literally is nothing new about this. I mean, it would be wildly irresponsible. If there wasn't a document such as given what had happened at Mar-a- Lago, but hey, all you need is that nanoparticle of truth. And it makes for the greatest fundraising e-mail.

I mean, the point for Donald Trump is to whip up his supporters, drum up cash, which mind you, he needs pretty badly these days. He's at a fundraising disadvantage relative to Joe Biden's overall machine.

And when you put that all together, I mean, clearly, it's doing the job and what are the ramifications? Is Donald Trump going to, you know, have another criminal charge against him or get sued because of a fundraising e-mail? Of course not.

So, this has been a very effective approach for him, even if it has been entirely disingenuous.

HUNT: And Isaac, I just want to read from Juliette Kayyem, she wrote in The Atlantic, Trump and his fans have gone from simply damning the deep state, the loose term for anyone in national security or law enforcement who hinders his autocratic aims to portraying federal agents as assassins. It's a way of discrediting the legal process of the agencies that have legitimate official reasons to use force, the rhetoric also opens the door for Trump supporters to protect him from supposed injustices at any cost.

Again, this is more along the lines of what we have heard from him. It's just a different thread.

DOVERE: Sure. And it sort of reminds me of that famous quote -- infamous quote that was an unnamed Trump adviser during -- after the election in 2020, and said, oh, he just can't really accept the election results but he's talking about it, what could go wrong?

Well, we saw what happens, right? January 6th is what came from all of that. And this is fomenting distrust with federal law enforcement over something that is basic and standard, making people think that Donald Trump was the subject of an assassination attempt or something which is just not true.

And we don't know what will come of that. But it does seem like the kind of thing that you don't want to inject into the political discourse when we have seen that all over the place, not just from January 6th, there was a great article in The New York Times a couple days ago about how members of Congress are facing more violence than ever.

I've talked to secretaries of state all over the country who have been facing threats. This is where the political discourse is, and instead of looking at ways to get past it or even cool it down, Donald Trump is inflaming it more and more.

HUNT: Shermichael, you -- I know you talk to the Trump campaign, not necessarily about this, but about policy and that sort of thing.

Is there any concern amongst them about this sort of rhetoric dovetailing into any sort of political violence or inciting anyone or giving people kind of tacit permission to behave?

SHERMICHAEL SINGLETON, FORMER HUD DEPUTY CHIEF OF STAFF, DONALD TRUMP WHITE HOUSE: I haven't spoken explicitly about this issue.

HUNT: Right.

SINGLETON: I'm not exactly sure where the campaign is on this. But I mean, look, you have the attorney general at a press conference being asked about this very issue, because the Trump campaign has sort of regained it. They're fundraising off of it, they're sending out e- mails.

And people are wondering, well, why was this language in there not aware that this sort of customary language. And I think, for any political candidate, if you can control the narrative and the message, oftentimes, to your benefit, then in some ways you are winning.

And I think that's really a part of Trump's unique effectiveness in politics, have always been able to get ahead of something and twist it in a unique way to his advantage. And it does put the White House in some ways on the defense having to explain something that they probably don't really want to talk about.

HUNT: Meghan, I saw you wanting to get in.

SINGLETON: Go ahead, Meghan.

MEGHAN HAYS, FORMER SPECIAL ASSISTANT TO PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN: I just -- I just wonder how much this like unhinged rhetoric really is going to impact voters or these middle of the road voters and how much they're going to be turned off?

And if they're going to turn out these Nikki Haley voters or these people who are very moderate, like, is this language really helping his cause come November? Like, it might be in the short term. I'm just not so sure this helps him in the long term.

I actually think it's going to be really detrimental to him, because I just think that these suburban women are looking at this being like, this is unhinged, and the more and more he does this, it's going to impact his chances to win in November to turn those folks out.

HUNT: And it certainly as you just reported, what the Biden campaign wants to underscore is something (ph) like this.

Before we go to break, we do have new clip of the former president talking about his chances in New York. Let's listen to what he said to Fox News.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

[06:40:03]

DONALD TRUMP, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Energetic, they're entrepreneurial, and they're going to save New York and we're going to win New York and if we win New York, the election is over.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: Isaac, you're laughing. Is he going to win New York?

DOVERE: No.

HUNT: OK.

DOVERE: (INAUDIBLE) New York. First of all, it's ridiculous. He's not going to win New York. New York is not -- I don't even know, I think probably 1984 is the last time a Republican won.

HUNT: It is. That's correct. Yes.

DOVERE: And before that, I'm not sure when it would have been. That by the way is the year that Reagan won everything basically.

And moreover, Donald Trump has made these claims before in 2016 and 2020, he would say, oh, we're going to win New York. He is not going to win New York, the South Bronx no matter how many people showed up for him last night, is one of the most democratic areas of the country.

And he says this and it's not where -- it's not where the election is actually going to play out. But he is doing it because he likes to get us talking about this.

HUNT: We're talking about it, aren't we? But Shermichael, he is making his case, though.

SINGLETON: He is and I just want -- I agree with Isaac, New York is solidly blue. But you have a Republican soon to be nominee campaigning in democratic strongholds. I've been involved in Republican politics since I started, a teenage Republican side at 12. We have never --

HUNT: We're going to come back to that another time.

SINGLETON: -- we have never seen any Republican do anything like this.

DOVERE: He's doing that because he was in New York for the trial. It not because he chose it.

SINGLETON: Isaac, I certainly understand that. But he's showing up. And from my perspective, as a Republican strategist, I am proud to see a Republican actually make an appeal to people of color, whether they believe it or not, this is an important moment that we shouldn't just gloss over because of the New York trial. HUNT: All right, we -- I would like to talk more about all of this, but we're out of time. So, hang on, we have one more segment with you all.

But up next, the NCAA and the power conferences paving the way for schools to pay student athletes.

Plus, this, a star-studded state dinner at the White House featuring a surprise guest.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:46:26]

HUNT: 45 minutes past the hour now and here's your Morning Roundup. Louisiana lawmakers passing legislation that puts abortion inducing drugs in the same category as narcotics and depressants. Anyone found with the drug without a prescription could face a fine and prison time once that measure is signed by the governor.

Say Director Bill Burns is headed back to Europe to revive stalled talks on a Gaza ceasefire and hostage release deal. Qatar's prime minister will also take part according to an official there.

Americans will be traveling in record numbers this Memorial Day weekend. AAA saying 44 million of us will travel between Thursday and Monday, 38 million of those by car. It's the highest number for Memorial Day since AAA started keeping track in 2000.

The NCAA and five power conferences paving the way for schools to pay student athletes. The NCAA will pay more than $2.7 billion in damages over 10 years to past and current athletes while agreeing to a revenue sharing plan allowing each school to share up to $20 million a year with its athletes.

The Libertarian National Convention continues this weekend with independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and former Republican candidate Vivek Ramaswamy speaking to delegates in Washington D.C. today.

Meantime, top Republican strategist Karl Rove penned a Wall Street Journal op-ed saying Kennedy's, "Outlandish claims will pry more than a few wackos off Mr. Trump, perhaps enough to hand the election to Mr. Biden."

All of this as major differences surface between Kennedy and his running mate Nicole Shanahan.

CNN's National Political Correspondent Eva McKend has more on that.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The next vice president of the United States, Nicole Shanahan.

EVA MCKEND, CNN NATIONAL POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Nicole Shanahan is not a familiar name in national politics.

NICOLE SHANAHAN (I), VICE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We've got this.

MCKEND (voice over): And before choosing her as his running mate, independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. didn't appear to know her either.

SHANAHAN: As recently as a year ago, I really didn't think much of Bobby Kennedy because I didn't know much about him.

MCKEND (voice over): Still.

ROBERT F. KENNEDY JR. (I), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I'm confident that there is no American more qualified than Nicole Shanahan to play this role.

MCKEND (voice over): Now, after a series of interviews meant to introduce the Silicon Valley lawyer to voters, some key compatibility questions have been raised as well, such as are Shanahan and Kennedy aligned on abortion.

KENNEDY JR.: I wouldn't leave it to the states.

SAGE STEELE, HOST OF THE SAGE STEELE SHOW PODCAST: Right.

KENNEDY JR.: Oh, I would --

STEELE: It would say completely, it's up to the women --

KENNEDY JR.: You know, I believe we should leave it to the woman.

MCKEND (voice over): But in an interview with the Sage Steele Show podcast this month, Shanahan seemed unclear about where the top of the ticket stands.

SHANAHAN: My understanding is that he absolutely believes in the limits on abortion.

MCKEND (voice over): Kennedy supports abortion limits up to fetal viability, which experts say occur between 23 to 24 weeks. Shanahan has shown support for federally restricting abortion between 15 and 18 weeks.

And where does the duo stand on Israel's war with Hamas? Kennedy has been unflinching in backing Israel.

KENNEDY JR.: I would continue aid. Israel's fighting a defensive war, it's not a war of choice.

MCKEND (voice over): While Shanahan has been more critical.

SHANAHAN: But, you know, starting a war with Hamas right now it's not just starting a war with Hamas. It is -- it is engaging in something in the Middle East that was not very well planned.

MCKEND (voice over): Both Republicans and Democrats have pounced on the relatively unknown Independent, saying the wealthy California native was only picked for her pocket book.

[06:50:05]

TRUMP: She's more liberal than Junior by far, not a serious person and only a pot of cash to help her get her no chance candidate on the ballot.

MCKEND (voice over): The New York Times report Shanahan received around $1 billion after recently divorcing Google co-founder Sergey Brin. The threat of a third party effort with deep pockets has prompted Democrats to target Kennedy's campaign over concerns he could hurt Biden's reelection chances.

TAMIA BOOKER, DEMOCRATIC POLITICAL CONSULTANT: It's more looking like she's more like a checkbook in this situation. Because she is -- she was only involved really when he needed to get on the ballot.

MCKEND (voice over): In April, the Kennedy campaign raised more than $10 million. But some 8 million of that hall came directly from Shanahan as the pair seeks to forge a path together on the campaign trail.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HUNT: RFK Jr. also leaving open the possibility of pardoning Donald Trump during an interview Thursday saying, "I'll look at pardons for anybody. I'm not going to start announcing pardons for people. It would be improper for me to do that unless there was really clear and convincing evidence that they were not guilty."

Let's turn now to Capitol Hill where the Senate has blocked a bipartisan border bill for the second time this year, that measure earning less support than it did when it was first considered back in February. Some progressives believing it's too harsh joined with Republicans in killing it.

And even the bill's own negotiators Independent Kyrsten Sinema and Republican James Lankford voted against it this time, accusing Majority Leader Chuck Schumer of playing political games. Schumer and his fellow Democrats aiming to use the vote as ammunition against Republicans in November.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. CHUCK SCHUMER (D-NY): The contrast between Democrats and Republicans is clearer today, and will be even clearer in November. Democrats want to fix the border and get something done, Republicans want to give speeches, let the border fester and do absolutely nothing to fix the problem.

SEN. GARY PETERS (D-MI): I think you have to look at Republicans as basically being very hypocritical and are hypocrites. They just want to use this as a campaign issue. But they're not willing to actually debate these issues and vote on these issues, which is necessary for us to make sure we have a secure border. SEN. JON TESTER (D-MT): Did they forget who told them to vote against a perfectly good border security bill that would have secured the border for public -- for political reasons? Really?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: Jon Tester there. Our panel is back with us now.

Meghan, I actually want to go to you first on this. Congratulations. What -- it's May, people aren't voting for months. Is this an argument that Democrats can effectively make to say, but remember, back in February and May, we tried to pass this bipartisan border legislation, it was Republicans that wouldn't do it, which in February was absolutely true. This seems to be more of a political move this time.

HAYS: I think that they're hopeful that that will be the case that people will remember. I just am not sure in six months people will remember. We were talking during the break that we didn't remember what happened two weeks ago, the major thing that happened in the House.

So, I just -- I mean, I think that they're hopeful, I think they'll always turn to it. They'll always have the talking point to come back to, but I just don't think that folks are going to remember and like that's what they're going to drive their vote on if immigration is their number one issue.

HUNT: And I want to listen, I believe we have some sound bites from James Lankford and Kyrsten Sinema, let's listen to what they said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. JAMES LANKFORD (R-OK): Senator Schumer is just bringing this up for political reason on it. And I've said, hey, Senator Schumer, if you want to actually pass something, let's sit down and actually work this out.

But this is not a bipartisan attempt to be able to solve something. This is a partisan attempt for fundraising.

SEN. KYRSTEN SINEMA (I-AZ): All talk and no action goes both ways. Today, the Senate will hold a show vote whose sole purpose is to point the finger back at the other party, yet another cynical political game.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: Dave, when this first went -- when the bill failed back in February, Sinema was on the floor and was really, really angry at what she considered the political games around this.

And now we're hearing from her again saying this is more politics, just kind of a different shade. Do you think the American people see it that way too?

LEVINTHAL: Yes, and Lankford who you just showed, he called it in another interviewer a prop. So, you can expect that the Republicans are going to say that, especially on the campaign trail.

But, you know, when it comes to the voters, we're talking about this in national terms, but you got to look to the state level too. And you played a clip of Jon Tester. He's one person I think we should pay attention to, because what's going on with Jon Tester?

Well, he's running for reelection in Montana. It's a red state. He's a Democratic Senator, that there's going to be a closer race as we are probably going to have in any Senate race there. And what hangs in the balance, the power balance of the Senate itself.

So, remember that, if there's any -- anyone talking about immigration in November, it's probably going to be somebody like a Jon Tester.

HUNT: Absolutely. Isaac, I mean, you're following these Senate races.

DOVERE: Yes. And the immigration is an issue. It's amazingly an issue people have pointed to in Montana, we're pretty far from the southern border.

[06:55:03]

But the question here is how much this is not just about the details of the immigration bill and how much the Democrats and Joe Biden's reelection campaign can make it about what they're trying to do here, which is to say Donald Trump is the one standing in the way of Washington doing anything. And this is yet another example of it.

And on something that obviously he talks about a lot. That's where it becomes a politics.

Now, this is obviously was a political vote, a political ploy. Of course, it was also obviously a political ploy a couple of months ago when Donald Trump tanked the bipartisan immigration bill and said, this is a bad issue to give to Biden and told Republicans not to go forward with it. But --

HUNT: The thing they've actually asked for.

DOVERE: But meanwhile, the situation on the border continues, the questions of what to do about our immigration system continue. Lots of lives are affected by this. And the gamesmanship here is happening in Washington, but doesn't do anything about this problem, which we all know, for 30 years has not been addressed.

And it does come back to this question of why we had a bill that a Democratic senator or Republican senator, an Independent senator worked for months to try to get to a place that they would go for and that other Republicans worked for and other Democrats worked for and it didn't move and it is ultimately that does come back to Donald Trump.

HUNT: Right. All right, stay with us for one second.

Glitz and glamour at the White House as President Biden hosted a black tie steak dinner honoring the Kenyan president. That invite list included former President Bill Clinton and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell and actor Sean Penn, among others.

And for entertainment, country singer Brad Paisley putting a twist on his own song American Saturday Night in honor of the occasion.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BRAD PAISLEY, COUNTRY ARTIST: Oh, in honor of Kenya.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: President Biden said he was honored to have the Kenyan president at the White House and ended his remarks with an Irish toast.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: May the road rise to meet you. May the wind be always at your back. May the sunshine warm upon your face. And may the rain fall soft upon your fields. And until we meet again, may God hold you in the palm of his hand. To Kenya, to our guests. Cheers.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: Joining us now, White House correspondent Priscilla Alvarez. Priscilla, tell us more about last night's events.

PRISCILLA ALVAREZ, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, as you saw there, the White House rolling out the red carpet for hundreds of guests in the honor of the Kenyan leader. There was also a brief appearance by former President Barack Obama.

Now, of course, steak dinners are the highest diplomatic tools that the White House can employ to honor a top U.S. ally. That's exactly what they were doing yesterday.

This is a meticulously planned event that took place in a transparent pavilion on the South Lawn. We learned from the first lady's office that it was adorned with more than a thousand candles.

Now, the guests enjoyed a three course meal that we know include a chilled heirloom tomato soup, as well as lobster and beef short ribs and as you saw there, entertainment headlined by Brad Paisley and the Howard Gospel Choir.

Now, of course, this was book ending a critical visit by the Kenyan leader, it was the first day visit by an African -- an African leader since 2008.

And we heard from both President Biden and the Kenyan president over the course of the day yesterday where the two were underscoring their decades long relationship and also how they plan to further cooperate on the economy and economic cooperation as well as on other issues like for example, managing the spiraling situation in Haiti.

But at least last night, just a glitzy affair here at the White House by several guests.

HUNT: And interesting too Priscilla, we're looking at video as you're talking, we feel to see President Clinton in the crowd. And you mentioned President Obama, a lot of former presidents there last night.

ALVAREZ: Indeed, including, as you mentioned, former President Barack Obama. Remember, his father was born in Kenya while he was president. He did visit the country. Then later visited when he left office.

Now, we know from officials that the former president had met with the Kenyan leader at Blair House earlier in the day where the two had a discussion that was described as, "productive", but Obama had left before the seated portion of the dinner yesterday.

So, it's just a brief appearance from him. But as you mentioned, and you see -- you're seeing the images there, there was a lot of former President Bill Clinton, Hillary Clinton there. As well as Washington types like Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Attorney General Garland.

So, another night kept here at the White House and a glitzy one to honor a U.S. ally.

HUNT: All right. Priscilla Alvarez for us at the White House. Thanks so much.

For the panel, it was I think the most fun thing we did this morning was look at all the attendees as they were walking through and they announced them, so we got to see.

Anybody's favorite of the people that they saw coming through --