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Trump To Announce VP Pick At GOP Convention In July; 'Double Haters:' Key Voting Bloc Not Sold ON Biden Or Trump; Gamestop Shares Up More Than 40% On 'Roaring Kitty. Aired 6:30-7a ET

Aired June 07, 2024 - 06:30   ET

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

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[06:32:48]

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JIMMY FALLON, "THE TONIGHT SHOW" HOST: Listen to this. One source said that Trump's VP pick could be influenced by the fact that he likes people who are rich and have hot wives. Well, at least he's taking this seriously. He really means it. Those are the only two questions on the forum. Look. Are you rich? How hot is your wife? Anyway, don't be surprised when you hear it. Please welcome my new VP, Jelly Roll.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KASIE HUNT, CNN ANCHOR: All right. Donald Trump has been narrowing down his list of possible VP candidates. He confirmed in an interview last night, it seems that he will announce his running mate at the GOP convention next month. His campaign sending vetting materials to several prospective candidates in recent days. Among them North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum, also Senator JD Vance of Ohio and Marco Rubio of Florida. CNN reports that Vance and Burgum are accompanying Trump on his west coast swing this week.

So I mean, David Chalian, where are we on the veepstakes (ph) speculation? Who's up, who's down? What do you think?

DAVID CHALIAN, CNN POLITICAL DIRECTOR: I mean we are definitely in a new phase. There's no doubt about that. This request for materials, this is amping up, and we're in the window where that would make sense. I do kind of love if indeed, Trump does reveal the pick at the convention, because for decades, it's always been like, are the conventions of any news anyway? They're just messaging vehicles. That would be an actual like news event at a Republican National Convention. And that would be kind of great to cover for us.

HUNT: Would be a little Trumpian, right? Like to go ahead and do that and make that show.

CHALIAN: A real dramatic reveal, yes, exactly. But news nonetheless. I mean, it is interesting. Donald Trump has kind of revealed for us in an interview last month where he said that he really thinks people vote for the top of the ticket and that the VP is not really a major factor. I tend to agree with that analysis. I think he's probably right about that. But nonetheless, these are the two oldest men seeking the presidency. And so looking at who their number two is a heartbeat away from the presidency is something that I think in this environment, it may not be a thing people vote on, but I do think it's like information that voters are going to take in as part of their overall calculus.

HUNT: So let's just refresh. I mean, because this is -- and Sarah, we can talk about this too. But Donald Trump is obviously choosing among a group of people who, while they have all turned around and become very interested, apparently, in taking on this kind of a role with him, didn't actually start out that way. Let's just play that tape.

[06:35:16]

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Would you ever do business with Donald Trump?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't think so.

UNKNOWN MALE SPEAKER: Why?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I would. I just think that it's important that you're judged by the company you keep.

SEN. J.D. VANCE, (R) OHIO: There's a movement to sort of gloat over the fact that the elites were right about Donald Trump, right? I'm a Never Trump guy. I never liked him.

You all have friends. You all have friends that are thinking about voting for Donald Trump. Friends. Do not let friends vote for con artists.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HUNT: I mean Sarah.

SARAH LONGWELL, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: Well, yeah. Look, it's brutal, but this is -- this is the world I have watched most Republicans. I don't know what J.D. Vance thinks Never Trump means actually, because it means never. But look, they all bent the knee, and there's nothing Donald Trump loves more than taking these people who once opposed him and making them bow down and beg for a job.

I will say it's interesting. I really thought Trump was going to pick a woman ultimately, but we have seen multiple of the women who sort of would have been top contenders kind of self-Immolate on the tarmac, you know, like Kristie Noem had the unfortunate incident with the dog, and Katie Britt had her unfortunate, very strange response after the State of the Union. And so they're no longer on there at Elise Stefanik, the only woman sort of still in the mix.

You know, Donald Trump does like the theatrics, though, of some of these things, I always kind of thought he would try to pick somebody who was newsy. But the more I watch this, the more I think Marco Rubio makes sense for him, in part because you get to humiliate him just a little bit by making him change move out of Florida so he could do it. But also it does bring Normie (ph) Republicans on side, in a way that Donald Trump has mostly done anyway. But for people who are it's the equivalent of taking Nikki Haley without taking somebody who actively ran against him hard in the primary.

ASHLEY ALLISON, FORMER WH SENIOR POLICY ADVISER: But do you think to for the Normie Republicans, that's your term, not mine. Do you think, though, like, if he -- whoever he picks, their script, is going to have to change and fall in line with Donald Trump's script, which then doesn't make them on sides with the Normie Republicans, or does he just kind of let them be so minute in the coverage of his campaign. I just -- it's also the interesting, like, arc of the never Trumpers, like most people, started like, okay, I'll vote for Trump, and then slowly progress to never Trumpers. These people reverse engineered it and to J.D. Vance, like, started a never Trumper. And the work, the things he continued to do that was worse and worse, worse. He was like, oh, yeah, okay, I'm good with that, you know.

LONGWELL: Yes. But you have to understand something about the Republican psychology here, which is that many of them are not like Marco Rubio codes Normie. This is what -- it doesn't matter what he says. He's a pre Trump politician that for a lot of voters who are really uncomfortable where the Republican Party has gone under Trump, is kind of like, okay. That makes me feel better, even when what he says now is very much in line with Trump.

HUNT: All right. I want to turn out of this, because there is a critical group of voters this election cycle that we are constantly talking about, and they are the so called Double haters. They say they won't vote for Donald Trump, but they're also not committed to voting for Joe Biden. And Sarah Longwell spoke to nine of these double haters, and this is what she writes about many of them. Quote, "They had familiar stories. They supported Trump in the past as the lesser evil. They couldn't stomach Hillary Clinton in 2016 they were lifelong Republicans who couldn't imagine voting for a Democrat. Some of them remember watching the apprentice and admiring Trump for his perceived business savvy. But the events of January 6 and general fatigue with Trump's antics have made these voters not very likely, or not at all likely, to vote for him again in 2024."

Sarah, bring us inside the room. Hear me. What did you hear from these people?

LONGWELL: So we talked to these voters the day after Trump's conviction, and we specifically screened for people who had voted for Trump twice but really didn't want to vote for him again, because I view this as our persuadable group of voters. The problem is, is that they're -- they're out on Trump. They're just like, I can't vote for this guy again. He's too toxic. You know, he's a he's whiny. But then they're like, but also, I can't vote for Joe Biden.

The reason we talk about the double haters is that these are people who, and it is, it is, it's different, right? Because we have two functional incumbents. The persuadable set are people who don't want to vote for either person. And right now, it's tough to actually get a good look at them in the polling, because for a lot of them, they're like, yes, third party. They're like, third party, curious. But then if you ask them anything about RFK or tell them something about them, they're like, oh, you know, like, maybe I don't like that.

And so they're just -- and they're not that tuned in either. They just know that they don't like them, and so they're not paying that much attention, because they know both these guys, and they're like -- but when push came to shove in that group, five of them went for Biden, which was really interesting to me.

[06:40:15]

HUNT: In the wake of the conviction.

LONGWELL: In the wake of the conviction, and they did say that the conviction mattered to them, although for a lot of them, they also like January 6 was a red line for a certain kind of voter who isn't going back to Trump, and it just is.

HUNT: Yes. David, as we're kind of having this conversation, I do want to bring in there's some new swing state polling out from Fox News this morning. And as Sarah is suggesting, there might be, you know, a lot of voters out there who, after January 6, just can't do it. There are some striking numbers in Virginia, which, you know, Biden won, I believe, by 10 points. Yes. And now it shows it 48-48 obviously registered voters, margin of Error, 3% there. What is this?

CHALIAN: Yes. And you know, it is not the only poll that has showed Virginia within the margin of error, but it is the most recent and reputable one that we have. That's an astonishing number seeing that. That is going to send some chills in Wilmington, down the spine of the folks working there, because if you look at where the Biden campaign right now is targeting and advertising, Virginia is not currently on the list. If there's another poll, if this is not a one off, and we see this repeated, trust me, they're going to start advertising Virginia too.

When you're adding states that you think are already sort of in your corner, the road to 270 is getting a lot more complicated for you. Right now, the thinking in the Biden world is that the easiest path to 270 is repeat the blue Wall, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin. That's hang on to that Omaha area single electoral Nebraska, and you're there. I mean, that doesn't. You can lose Nevada, Arizona, Georgia to Donald Trump if you win that. But a state like Virginia, if that gets into the real toss up category, your math to 270 becomes a lot more complicated.

HUNT: And we're talking about Virginia on election night. I mean, the map is the map has changed. Shall we say?

All right, coming up here, more financial trouble for right wing conspiracy theorist Alex Jones. And with a six week abortion ban now in effect in Florida, we're live with the Democratic Senate hopeful who believes reproductive freedom could be her winning issue.

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[06:46:48]

HUNT: All right. 46 minutes past the hour. Here's your morning Roundup. The Gamestop craze is back, following a roller coaster few weeks for the meme stock. Shares were up more than 40% yesterday after the investor best known, this is a ridiculous sentence as roaring kitty scheduled a YouTube live stream for Friday. Okay. So there you have that.

Former Trump Chief of Staff Mark Meadows is set to appear virtually for arraignment in an Arizona court today. Meadows is one of several Trump allies to be indicted in that state over the group's efforts to overturn his 2020 election loss to Joe Biden.

Alex Jones agreeing to liquidate his assets. The right wing conspiracy theorist owes more than 1.5 billion with a B dollars in damages to Sandy Hook families for his lies about the 2012 school massacre. The move paves the way for a future in which Jones no longer owns his platform Info Wars.

And the rough treatment Caitlin Clark is receiving in the WNBA, getting some attention from the NBA Commissioner. Adam Silver says Caitlin Clark can take care of herself.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ADAM SILVER, NBA COMMISIONER: It's not nothing new in basketball that there's sort of Welcome to the League moments, especially for heralded rookies.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HUNT: I mean, Sarah, is he right about that?

LONGWELL: I think so. I mean, kids -- look, I think it's so fun that everybody's talking about the WNBA and Caitlin Clark, you know, continues to drive this conversation. And look, people are being a little mean to her, and they I don't love it, but it's okay. She can handle it.

HUNT: He seems to say, she take herself. Yes, no?

ALLISON: I think she can.

LONGWELL: Let's not be too precious about women basketball.

ALLISON: I love this. I love it. I love women's basketball. I just think people should, like, look at the whole arc of women's basketball and like they're great athletes, and so is Caitlin Clark, and I think she can take care of herself. She'll be all right.

HUNT: There's a lot underneath what Ashley said. We all know that.

All right. Now this, it's been a little over a month since a six week abortion ban went into effect in Florida, once a swing state in recent elections, of course, has voted Republican. But nearly two years after the Supreme Court's Dobbs decision that overturned Roe versus Wade, some Democrats there are more hopeful that this can change their electoral fortunes. As the New York Times reports Democrats plan to try to regain a foothold in Florida by championing reproductive freedom with a proposed state constitutional amendment on the ballot this year that would establish a right to abortion before viability, which is known as amendment four.

One of the women making that case is former Congresswoman Debbie Mucarsel-Powell. She is the Democratic candidate in Florida hoping to unseat Republican Senator Rick Scott, and she joins me now.

Congresswoman, it's wonderful to have you on the show this morning. Thanks for being here.

DEBBIE MUCARSEL-POWELL, (D) FLORIDA SENATE CANDIDATE: Good morning, Kasie. Thank you for having me on.

HUNT: Congresswoman, there's been a lot of speculation and focus on this ballot initiative, especially as it comes as women in Florida are grappling with this new reality that abortion is banned after six weeks. Are you seeing evidence that this is making it harder for Republicans in your state to hang on? Is there more money coming in for you on this? How does it feel as you are out there campaigning every day?

[06:50:09]

MUCARSEL-POWELL: Kasie, I have been traveling the state now for a few months, and I can tell you that this is a top issue for Republicans, Democrats, independents. It's an issue that really unifies Floridians. Over 60% of Floridians reject such an extreme ban on abortion, a six week ban when most women don't know that they're pregnant. Rick Scott has doubled down saying that he would vote against this abortion amendment. He has said that he would support any anti-abortion bill that comes in front of him.

And you know, just an example, I was having a conversation with a 72 year old man, and I asked him what his top issue was, and he said, abortion. I was surprised to hear that, but he said that he had lost his aunt before Roe v Wade had been enacted, and it had completely destroyed his family. He now has two daughters, and he said, you know, for me, we need to make sure that we protect our daughters and women's freedoms here in the state of Florida, it's extremely dangerous, as you know.

I come from Latin America, Kasie, and we have legalized access to abortion in Colombia, in Venezuela, not, not Venezuela, sorry, in Colombia and Argentina and in Mexico and because it's directly linked to high rates of violence against women. I'm a mom. I have two daughters, I'm extremely concerned about this ban, and it won't mean anything. If Florida passes this abortion amendment and then Rick Scott gets back to the Senate and then pushes for a national abortion ban. So this race has become much more critical than ever.

HUNT: Congresswoman, I want to show everyone what Senator Scott has had to say about IVF, and then also about the Dobbs decision, because they are, of course, linked together. IVF coming into jeopardy in Alabama, potentially elsewhere, because of the ramifications of the fall of Dobbs. Let's watch and ask you about it.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SEN. RICK SCOTT, (R) FLORIDA: I support IVF. I got family members going through IVF. It's a way to build a family.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: So would you support legislation then that would federally protect IVF?

SCOTT: Well, I mean, I'll look at anything like that.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do you think the Dobbs decision was correct?

SCOTT: Well, yeah, this --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That was the result of it, right?

SCOTT: These decisions should go back to the state. That was a good decision.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HUNT: So he's saying that the Dobbs decision was a good one, but also that he might consider federal legislation to protect IVF. Do you believe he would do that?

MUCARSEL-POWELL: Absolutely not. And I think that the majority of Floridians know who Rick Scott is, and they don't trust him. You cannot trust him. This is someone who, when he was CEO of a health care company, committed the largest Medicare fraud in the history of this country. They had to pay out almost $1.7 billion back on that fraud, and he's now using that money to lie to Floridians. He has bought a seven figure ad to say that he supports this, but he stands next to extremists who have signed on to the life of conception bill. He's he actually voted just a couple of days ago against protecting access to contraception.

He has become a poster child of extremism in the Senate, and that is why this race really is extremely critical. Not only does he want to go back to the Senate case, but he now wants to become Senate Majority Leader, and he will absolutely enact an agenda that will attack a woman's right, not only to choose but also to have access to contraception.

HUNT: Congresswoman, we've been talking today about some new polling that's out this morning in swing states, especially in the state of Virginia, where it is showing that that state which has voted blue recently by 10 points in the last election, now tied for between President Trump -- former President Trump, and President Biden. There have, of course, been many national polls that show, if anything, Donald Trump seems to have an edge in this race. What is President Biden doing wrong that this is the case? MUCARSEL-POWELL: Well, look, I've been talking about the disinformation that we've been seeing now for over two years. People are relying on receiving their news on their phones, and we know that social media is filled with conspiracy theories, and we continue to see that. And I also think that it's extremely important for the President to travel all over the country to make sure people know all the policies, not only that he has enacted, but policies that he wants to continue to work on if he gets reelected.

We have an affordability crisis in Florida, Kasie and I can tell you that a lot of the issues that we're facing in Florida are because of the failed policies that have been enacted in the state by the legislature. We have the highest property insurance rates that we have seen in the country. And so there are things that we can do at the federal level to make sure that we find relief to the high cost of living for Floridians and for people all over the country. And I think that it's important for us to make sure that we continue to connect, not only with voters in the swing states, but voters, young voters all over the country that right now feel disengaged.

[06:55:09]

HUNT: Congresswoman, do you think Democrats should go out of their way to label Donald Trump a convicted felon and campaign more aggressively on that?

MUCARSEL-POWELL: Well, I don't know if it's going out of our way. Kasie. Let's be honest here. It's the reality that the former president is now facing. This was a trial, a fair trial. He had every opportunity to defend himself, and 12 jurors, independent jurors. This has nothing to do with party. This has nothing to do with the White House or the Department of Justice. This was an independent trial brought by the state of New York, and 12 independent jurors found the former president guilty on all counts. It was a unanimous decision, and it's a fact. And I think that it's important for Americans to realize what happened in New York and the dangers that we're facing if the former president has a chance to get back to the White House.

I was in Congress when he was in the White House. And we saw the attacks, not only against women, against families, but we also saw his attacks and demonizing immigrants. We have to make sure that people understand the rise in anti-Semitism right now. It won't stop there. There will be targeted attacks against all groups that don't belong his mad (inaudible) cult.

HUNT: All right. Former Congresswoman Debbie Mucarsel-Powell, Congresswoman, thank you very much for your time this morning. I appreciate it.

MUCARSEL-POWELL: Thank you, Kasie.

HUNT: All right. Now this, President Biden said in a recent interview from France, he would not pardon his son Hunter if hunter is found guilty in his federal gun trial.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Let me ask you, will you accept the jury's

outcome, their verdict, no matter what it is.

JOE BIDEN, USA PRESIDENT: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And have you ruled out a pardon for your son?

BIDEN: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You have.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HUNT: All right. Today marks day five of the trial, which has at times been painful for the Biden family court proceedings delving into a difficult period in which Hunter struggled with drug addiction after the passing of his Brother Beau. Beau's widow, Hallie Biden, who had a romantic relationship with Hunter, at one point, described how he introduced her to crack cocaine.

David Chalian, this many layers to this trial, but the President's statement about pardoning his son, a remarkable one, not pardoning his son, to be clear.

CHALIAN: Yes, that he would not pardon his son, which, when you think about how for Joe Biden family, above all else, and yet he sees that it seems in some way untoward for a president, just like he won't go to the trial as president, which is happening in federal court, to pardon his son in this matter. Now we'll see if he holds to that and how this all plays out. He clearly also enjoys the contrast for how Trump handles pardons. There's no doubt.

I just want to say about the First Lady, though, here. Leaving France, coming back, expected back in court today, to go back to France tomorrow in a state visit, sort of the matriarch of this family. I think she gets under noticed in that role, because we think of it as such, Joe Biden's clan. But what Jill Biden is doing in in I think standing in for her husband, who can't be there to try and be the rock for the family at this time, is a role we just haven't seen from her on the public stage.

HUNT: Really interesting. Sarah, you have talked with focus group participants about Hunter Biden. What do they say about all of this?

LONGWELL: Yes. It's so interesting because Hunter Biden comes up a lot, and the way voters -- the voters are very compassionate about it, almost to a surprising degree, where they say, man, you know, everybody's got somebody like this in their family, like and people talk about their own experiences and dealing with whether it's kids or people in their family. And so they -- what they say about is, they say, look, if it turns out that Joe Biden was somehow involved in hunters activities, they will take that into account. But like, other than that, they see it as Hunter Biden just being sort of a black sheep. And they feel a certain amount, yeah, compassion.

HUNT: Really interesting. All right, I will leave you with this. It's the end of an era. After four decades of hosting the beloved game show Wheel of Fortune, Pat Sajak farewell episode set to air today. Gosh, look at that. He was so young. Sajak has hosted the show for 41 years alongside Vanna White and his voice. I mean, we've all heard it, right? He has been in all of our houses for decades.

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VANNA WHITE, WHEEL OF FORTUNE, CO-HOST: Honey Glazed ham.

PAT SAJAK, WHEEL OF FORTUNE HOST: Yes. That's it. And in a strange coincidence, that was my nickname in high school.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Bun Warmer.

SAJAK: Yes, that's it. My nickname in high school.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HUNT: My nickname in high school. With big shoes to fill, Ryan Seacrest set to take over hosting duties. Vanna White will continue as cohost. She had this goodbye for Sajak.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

WHITE: 8,000 episodes went by like that. You're like a brother to me, and I consider you a --

(END VIDEOTAPE)