Return to Transcripts main page

CNN This Morning

Biden and Trump Gear Up For Historic CNN Presidential Debate; CNN Projects Bowman Loses Primary Race in New York. Aired 6:30-7a ET

Aired June 26, 2024 - 06:30   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:30:29]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, (D) THEN 2020 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: -- call out his lies. Everybody knows he's a liar. I just want to make sure --

DONALD TRUMP, (R) THEN 2020 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: But you agree. Joe, you're the liar.

BIDEN: I -- I -- I want to make sure --

TRUMP: You graduated last in your class not first in your class.

BIDEN: God, I want to make sure --

CHRIS WALLACE, FOX NEWS ANCHOR: Mr. President, can you let him finish, sir?

BIDEN: No, he doesn't know how to do that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KASIE HUNT, CNN ANCHOR: It will be Joe Biden and Donald Trump's first face-off in four years, set for Thursday. New polling shows 57% of Americans are likely to follow coverage of the CNN presidential debate, and it's gearing up to be a consequential showdown.

Both men will be on stage, their legacies on, you know, up for the test. But according to new CNN reporting, some top Democrats are urging Biden not to focus on his legacy tomorrow night, instead advising him to spend more time going after Trump directly.

Here to talk about how these candidates are preparing are two people that couldn't be better to do it, Senior White House Correspondent here at CNN, Kayla Tausche, and CNN Reporter Alayna Treene, who covers Donald Trump for us, along with some others on our team.

Ladies, thank you so much for being here.

ALAYNA TREENE, CNN REPORTER: Yeah, good morning. HUNT: Kayla, let me start with you, because this is your reporting on Democrats and how they want to see Biden play this out. What have you learned?

KAYLA TAUSCHE, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, there are some statistics that the President has a tendency to lean on, to try to explain that the economy actually is doing better than voters feel, and that's the 15 million jobs created, the fact that the domestic growth in the country has continued to be good, and the fact that inflation is improving. But the problem is that still hasn't really improved the way that voters feel about the cost of living, which has been considerably higher than it was four years ago, and also notably pre-pandemic.

They're saying, don't waste your two minutes of response time going deep into the litany of accomplishments, which hasn't moved voters so far. Focus on Trump. Focus on the contrast. Focus on the choice. Try to recenter that for voters who are newly engaged.

But to that end, when he's focused on that contrast and that choice, there's a thing that he's not going to be doing that he has employed in prior debates, and that is unveiling new policies or new personnel. You may remember in March 2020 when CNN hosted a debate between Biden and Senator Bernie Sanders. President Biden, or then-candidate Biden, came out and announced that he'd pick a woman for vice president. He was a new supporter of student loan forgiveness, and he reiterated a pledge to put a black woman on the Supreme Court. And Sanders' advisers say that was a really effective strategy. It earned a lot of media.

But I'm told that Biden, if he decides to employ that strategy, won't do it until a later debate because he really wants to make this one about the substance. His aides are helping him practice substance and stamina at Camp David. Long working days. Some staff are staying in cabins. And so that's really where their -- that's really where their strategy is at debate camp right now.

HUNT: Yeah, I was going to say debate camp. Exactly, summer camp.

Alayna, we have seen Donald Trump, I mean, Maggie Haberman, who has been a student of Donald Trump for so many years, was on our air last night talking about how these moments for him, you can see meanness come out sometimes.

I'm curious what your reporting is in terms of how he is thinking about this. He's doing more preparation, I think, than he seems to be publicly admitting.

TREENE: Absolutely.

HUNT: But there also just -- there seem to be some nerves in the Trump camp as well about what temperament, shall we say, will be on display tomorrow.

TREENE: Well, I think anyone who says they know exactly which type of Donald Trump is going to show up on the stage on Thursday is lying. I mean, even Donald Trump's own advisers note that they don't know if Donald Trump is going to kind of meander and rant and show his more aggressive side.

But they are advising him, both Donald Trump's own advisers as well as many of his allies on the outside, that they want him to focus on the issues. And there's really three specific issues that they think they really want him to zero in on, which is the economy, immigration and crime. Now, these are all issues that the Trump campaign sees as being his best issues looking ahead to November and ones that they think Biden is more vulnerable on.

But they also are the ones where they see that Donald Trump is pulling higher. If you look at the economy, if you look at immigration and the border, a lot of different polls are showing that Donald Trump does very well on those issues. So they are urging him to talk about those and focus less on his grievances.

Now, as for the panic that's kind of happening behind the scenes, it's been interesting because, you know, for months we heard the Trump campaign say, we will debate anywhere, anytime, anyplace. We're really hearing a different -- them sing a different tune over the last week. Part of that is they do want to manage expectations. They are, I think -- I was told that when they learned that Joe Biden and his campaign were going to be spending a full week at Camp David preparing for this, that was kind of a turning point in where they realized we do need to go on offense more and try to raise the expectations for how he will perform, because we know that Trump himself and his team have been the ones essentially calling him senile for the last several months.

[06:35:05]

The other part of it, too, is some of the pre-spin we're seeing with them. Rather than working the refs, attacking the refs and the moderators and really trying to already frame this debate as being rigged, and that's something that's exactly out of Donald Trump's well-worn playbook, which is, you know, he's done it with the election, he's done it with the courtroom, he's done it on the campaign trail, saying that something is rigged and that, you know, it's kind of an insurance policy depending on how he does in the debate stage.

HUNT: Kayla, how is the Biden team thinking about this? I mean, you point out he's got all these options that he could, you know, do to try to get attention or whatever, but for this, it does seem like the bar is he's just got to show up and prove that he is actually not in as bad of shape as the Trump people keep trying to tell voters that he is.

TAUSCHE: But they also don't want that to be the story, right? They don't want to say the bar was low and the President of the United States stepped over the bar and he managed to not fall asleep on stage or create a viral moment or a deep fake or a cheap fake. They don't want that to be the takeaway.

They want him to outperform. They want him to be the type of Joe Biden that the American people saw at the State of the Union, which is seen as something of a corollary. I mean, he got very high marks for the State of the Union, for the high energy, for the content, for the delivery.

And there was a lot of practice, including at Camp David, for that address. And notably, it started at 9 p.m. as well. So for people on the Republican side who are saying, this is past Biden's bedtime, he's just going to show up.

HUNT: I heard he's a night owl.

TAUSCHE: Yeah, exactly. He is -- he tends to be a night owl sometimes. But that's -- that's the corollary that they're drawing and saying he outperformed there, and that's what they're hoping this time, too.

HUNT: All right, let's talk briefly about the reporting you have on Veepstakes because this, you know, everyone except for me seems to like this Washington Parliament game. I sort of dread it every four years.

TREENE: Oh, me too.

HUNT: But you write that Donald Trump Jr. has made his affinity for Senator J.D. Vance well known. Rupert Murdoch has urged Trump World to consider North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum. Fox News host Sean Hannity has gone to bat for Florida Senator Marco Rubio.

I mean, these seem to be the names in the mix, Alayna. The other big question is -- is -- is this going to be a move Trump makes at some point in the next couple of days as he's trying to gain control of the news cycle in some way that benefits him?

TREENE: There has been a lot of speculation about whether Donald Trump would move up his self-imposed deadline. He has said repeatedly, as has his team, that it's more likely and that he plans to announce his pick in the days leading up to the convention or at the Republican National Convention next month.

However, there's been a lot of speculation around whether he may announce at the debate or at his rally in Virginia on Friday. I'm told that a lot of that is just the rumor mill and it's speculation. But also, you never know with Donald Trump.

And when he decides he wants to make this announcement, I think some of it is also going to depend on how the debate goes if they need to change the narrative, we could see a difference. But as for all of the people in Donald Trump's ear about this, that's another thing. I just find it fascinating the different -- there's so many people that Donald Trump speaks to frequently that he respects, who he listens to, who are pushing entirely different candidates.

And so, it was fascinating to kind of pull back the curtain and see who -- who's going to bat for who and who's in Trump's ear on this.

HUNT: I would just say, I wouldn't want to report this under my byline until it comes out of Donald Trump's mouth. I got to tell you. TREENE: No, it's so true.

HUNT: Because I feel like you just really never know. Kayla Tausche, Alayna Treene, thank you both very much for being here. Hopefully see you in Atlanta.

TAUSCHE: Will do.

HUNT: All right, let's turn now to continue our conversation with Michigan Democratic Congresswoman Debbie Dingell and Tennessee Republican Congressman Tim Burchett, who joined me to talk more about the debate. Thank you both for being here this morning.

Congresswoman Dingell, let me start with you, just in terms of the expectations for President Biden. The Trump team is trying to raise them, as we were just discussing. I want to ask you, we talked a lot about this ahead of the State of the Union, where President Biden performed in a way that Democrats were really happy with.

How are the nerves going into this around the potential for President Biden's performance to meet or not meet what people hope are their expectations?

REP. DEBBIE DINGELL (D-MI): I think people love to wring their hands and have a lot of angst and play this game of how well are either candidates going to do. I think that President Joe Biden is doing what he's got to do to prepare for this debate. I can't quite say I think that President Trump is. And I think you're going to see a very clear split between the two visions that the men have.

HUNT: Congressman Burchett, I want to play a little bit of what Donald Trump had to say at his rally on Saturday in Philadelphia. He was kind of raising questions, asking the crowd that was there for him, you know, how should I approach President Biden in this debate? Here was Donald Trump.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: How should I handle him? Should I be tough and nasty? Or should I be -- should I be -- she said, no. Should I be tough and nasty and just say you're the worst president in history? Or should I be nice and calm and let him speak?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: Which Donald Trump do you think we're going to see?

REP. TIM BURCHETT (R-TN): I think you're going to see a little bit of both. I think he's going to be -- you know, he doesn't have much trust in the system of debates because of, you know, Hillary Clinton was leaked debate questions the last time, and that's been a documented fact. And so a lot of people on our side are just really unsure about this.

[6:40:15] And I have a theory about debates, and my friend Debbie Dingell is wonderful to be here with me. But you bring your side, I bring my side, and we both leave thinking we won. I don't really think a lot's going to -- nothing will happen from this because people already have predetermined expectations. And I think all you're going to do, their team is going to get soundbites from Donald Trump and we'll get soundbites from Joe Biden, and they'll probably both be taken out of context.

And -- and that's -- and this is what this will be because I really just think the time has passed for debates because these aren't really true debates. It used to be debates, people would travel the country and in the history of Tennessee, I mean, they literally had a stump that they put out and one guy for governor would get up and speak and the next one would and people would ask questions and it would be that. And there's really just not that, this, because of these arbitrary agreements. So I really don't think much will become of this.

HUNT: I mean, there was some evidence that the 2020, the first debate in 2020 helped President Biden pretty significantly.

DINGELL: I would actually agree partially with you. There is a certain drama, everybody's all worked up, everybody's doing the hand-wringing, but both of these candidates could make serious mistakes that could then have impact from now until November. And both of these candidates have an ability to deal -- I mean, the Trump campaign's been setting these expectations that he's not going to be able to make it through the night. They're trying to -- I think you're going to see two different visions. We're going to see their visions at night.

I think Joe Biden's going to come out prepared. He's going to talk about protecting people's liberties, their freedoms, working to fight the middle class and protecting women. I've -- I don't -- you know, I've seen, unfortunately, all sides of Donald Trump. I've seen the total charming man. I've worked with him on trade issues. I was the person in 2015-2016 that said he was going to win. He liked me then until he didn't like me.

So I've been the woman he's gone after, too. Is he going to talk about issues and stay calm or is he going to be the Donald Trump we all know he can be? And I think he can't help himself if he gets really worked up.

HUNT: What do you think?

BURCHETT: I think Donald Trump's going to dominate this debate. I think he's going to come prepared. I think he's going to hit issues that are important to Americans. We're $600 more out of pocket every week just to buy groceries, just to survive. I think the border is a disaster. I think he can lay that right at the foot of Joe Biden. And -- and I think worldwide our -- our status has dropped considerably under Joe Biden and his leadership.

HUNT: So the one big issue, of course, that's looming over all of this, you know, and as we've been talking about the analysis of the debate, is the stakes for this are in some ways each man needing to show that they are capable of doing the job. That's certainly how both sides frame it. And Mitch McConnell, not from -- not from Tennessee, but neighboring state, nearby part of the country.

BURCHETT: I make Corvettes up there.

HUNT: He had this to say --

DINGELL: He liked his Corvettes.

BURCHETT: Yeah.

HUNT: I love -- I have a Corvette. I -- you know.

BURCHETT: My wife wants one. Now I'm in trouble, so there you go. You two are going to gang up on me here.

HUNT: Mine is from 1989, and I have to say it's a beautiful machine. But let's watch Mitch McConnell.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. MITCH MCCONNELL (R-KY): The other problem the President has, something I'm familiar with, is how old he is. But the two candidates are almost the same age, so it's going to be really interesting to see how they play off each other.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: I mean, the reality is right now we are a country of old men.

BURCHETT: Old white men.

DINGELL: You know what? I love white men.

BURCHETT: I do too.

DINGELL: I love black men.

BURCHETT: I'm OK with them.

DINGELL: I love all kinds of men. It's whether you're up to doing the job. Age is a state of mind, and I think people have to see. I want each -- I want people to look at the vision. I worry about, you know, the vision of Donald Trump, by the way, who said he will be a dictator on the first day. I think one of the toughest issues, and everybody's going to be listening to this, Tim, for Donald Trump is the women -- is the right of women to make their own health care decisions.

That's an issue he gets very flustered over. He knows it's an issue that matters to every woman across this country, and I think that that's going to be one. He wants to give tax cuts to the wealthy. What's that going to do to the budget? How are we going to protect the middle class?

I'll make you this bet right now. Nobody's told me to do this, so I'm already totally off-scripted.

HUNT: OK.

DINGELL: He'll go after EVs somehow, some way.

HUNT: Electric vehicles. That's your -- that's your neck of the woods.

DINGELL: OK, he cannot --

BURCHETT: It's 3% of the pie. It's a disaster.

DINGELL: I'm not the conservative.

BURCHETT: I mean, you've got slave labor making your batteries. I mean, you can go EV all you want. I'm a motorhead. I like to smoke gas.

DINGELL: I love cars, but I also --

BURCHETT: But it's not happening.

DINGELL: I was there.

BURCHETT: It's not working.

DINGELL: But I'm going to tell you it's where the world's going. If we want to see a leader in innovation and technology --

(CROSSTALK)

[06:45:01]

DINGELL: We're not forcing the world, the world's going there, and we've got to make sure we're there.

HUNT: Well, we can at least agree that we love the Corvette, right?

DINGELL: We love the Corvette. And we love each other.

BURCHETT: Just don't put an electric motor in it.

HUNT: I know they did it with the Mustang. I'm still not sure about that.

BURCHETT: Don't drive it -- don't drive it through a car wash. That's all I can tell you.

HUNT: All right.

DINGELL: F-15 truck. Performance. Great.

HUNT: You all are very good sports.

BURCHETT: You can't pull anything with an electric vehicle.

HUNT: I'm glad that the biggest fight we're having is about electric vehicles, and not something else. You know, maybe this whole thing could be a model of civility. I wonder if we'll see it on the debate stage.

DINGELL: We are two people that respect each other.

BURCHETT: We're friends.

DINGELL: We are friends.

BURCHETT: We're friends.

HUNT: Congresswoman Dingell, Congressman Burchett, thank you very much for being here today.

BURCHETT: Thank you so much.

HUNT: All right. We are officially entering, as you may have noticed, what's likely to be the final frenzied days of the Supreme Court's term with the justices poised to hand down opinions on their remaining cases through the end of the week. Already, we've seen early divisions and bitter internal and ideological conflicts as the court turns towards several high-stakes decisions on emergency abortions, the power of federal agencies, and, of course, Donald Trump's presidential immunity claim. Trump argues that he has absolute presidential -- absolute immunity from criminal prosecution.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: You have to leave immunity with a president. If a president is afraid to act because they're worried about being indicted when they leave office, a president of the United States has to have immunity, and the Supreme Court's going to be ruling on that. If they don't have immunity, no president is going to act. You're going to have guys that just sit in office and are afraid to do anything.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: Another case before the court would impact the sentences of some January 6th rioters. A former Pennsylvania police officer who was at the Capitol on January 6th is challenging his federal obstruction charges. The former president was charged with violating the same obstruction law for different reasons, along with some 350 other rioters.

Our panel's back. So is Evan Perez, who I've mistakenly said thank you to earlier in the show. Evan, let me start with you on the immunity question in particular because we are entering these kind of final days of Supreme Court decisions. They added Thursday and Friday, but we expect potentially this could go into next week here. There are a lot of dynamics on the court at play here. What are you kind of looking for as we enter this intense phase?

EVAN PEREZ, CNN SENIOR JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Well, for us, I mean, I think the big, big question that looms over all of this is whether the court rules in a way that allows the election interference trial to go forward. Judge Tanya Chutkan is locked and loaded and ready to go. We think that if the court sends it back to her as we expect that they will, that they will likely say that the former president does not have absolute immunity based on the oral arguments. That seems to be the direction they're going.

The question is how much work does she have to do, the judge have to do, before restarting the trials, and how much time does she want? I mean, the big -- the big, I think, controlling factor is how much time do you need to be able to get a jury together?

So it looks like about maybe five, six weeks. You know, so conceivably, if Judge Tanya Chutkan gets this trial back from the Supreme Court, you know, she could be trying to start a trial in August sometime or early September. And the question is, Kasie, is that enough time, right? Because the election is right upon -- right -- looming right behind it, and so the decision will be on the part of the judge.

HUNT: Evan, as you often think of things in terms of the sweep of history, and this is, I think we shouldn't lose sight of the fact that, you know, this is about -- it's not just about this one person, it is about the presidency broadly speaking, but it also, as Evan notes, has the potential to sweepingly affect this election and whether or not voters get a chance to understand, is a jury going to convict Donald Trump for what happened on January 6th or not?

EVAN OSNOS, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: It's really worth stepping back and reminding ourselves just how extraordinary this is. You know, you've got Donald Trump, of course, who's already been convicted in one case, and I think one thing we've learned from that, is that it is very hard for us to anticipate reliably what the public response could be. You know, there was a lot of smart people who said, this is actually going to help Donald Trump.

Hasn't been the case. The reality, of course, is we know that his polls have suffered since then. The idea of the immunity of the presidency coming up in the fall right before this election could very well focus attention on something that would not benefit Donald Trump.

The idea that it would introduce that whole set of questions again for Americans. Do we want to put our hands, put ourselves in the hands of Donald Trump and all of the legal uncertainty and chaos that comes with that? That would not be a welcome development.

HUNT: Kate Bedingfield, how do you see how this decision is going to actually impact the race? Obviously, we don't know what -- what it is going to say. The likelihood seems to be that it is going to delay the case so much that voters don't actually have a chance to -- to see --

[06:50:07]

KATE BEDINGFIELD, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Yeah.

HUNT: -- what they -- what they would do. But, I mean, how do you think about this from a political strategic point of view? BEDINGFIELD: Yeah, well, look, I mean, I think either way we know that Biden and the Biden campaign are going to continue to talk about the threat that Donald Trump poses to democracy based largely on -- based largely what happened on January 6th, based on his election denialism from 2020.

So, you know, I think there is certainly an argument that getting to a resolution in this case would have significant political impact because I think we've seen the fallout from the conviction, you know, just a month ago, six weeks ago, has hurt Trump.

But whether, you know, whether this transpires before the election or not, I don't think it fundamentally changes the argument Biden is making about what Americans saw with their own eyes on January 6th. I mean, that's the other piece of this. I mean, it was televised, people have seen the video.

This is not -- you know, this is not something where you need the ultimate decision from the court to make a determination about whether, like Donald Trump was involved. We've seen significant reporting that shows that, you know, he didn't do anything to prevent the crowd from storming, from looking for Mike Pence, from, you know, committing violence.

So, you know, I think it doesn't change the way that Biden talks about these issues broadly. And I would imagine that if anything, it probably impacts Trump and the way Trump talks about all of this more than it impacts the Biden campaign strategy.

HUNT: You want to briefly go?

DAVID URBAN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Yeah, real quickly. So I disagree with both Kate and Evan, obviously, because if you look just -- it's just the numbers, right? So the verdict in the Trump case, record fundraising. Trump got a bump in the polls. I think that the electorate --

(CROSSTALK)

URBAN: The electorate's kind of discounted it, right?

BEDINGFIELD: I mean, the first Fox poll that showed Biden leading nationally. I mean --

URBAN: I will take that and run with it. You keep telling your guys something.

BEDINGFIELD: And what qualifies as a bump in the polls?

URBAN: Keep whistling past the graveyard. And listen, I think that -- I think that, you know, President Biden, he's got to talk about democracy. He's got to talk about abortion because of the things that move the needle on the Democratic side. He's got to defend the border, foreign policy, crime. I think he's in a bad spot. If he's defending his record, he's in a bad spot. If he's on attack on Trump and those things, that's where he's got. He doesn't have anything else to argue about. So he's going to go there. That's what you're going to hear Thursday night. It's going to all be about democracy. A woman's right on jobs. And that's where he's going to stay. Trump's going to want to talk about the Biden record.

HUNT: All right, 51 minutes past the hour here. Here's your morning roundup. The closed-door espionage trial for "Wall Street Journal" reporter Evan Gershkovich in Russia will continue on August 13th, according to Russian media. Gershkovich has been in prison since last March.

CNN has learned that later today, President Biden is expected to pardon U.S. veterans who were convicted over a 60-year period when the military banned gay sex. The pardon will affect about 2000 veterans.

Steve Bannon's upcoming criminal fraud trial in New York will no longer be overseen by the same judge who presided over Donald Trump's hush money trial. Bannon is preparing to report to prison on Monday for defying a congressional subpoena in a separate case.

And the Tesla Cybertruck is being recalled again, this time because of a defect with the four-foot-long windshield wiper and a piece of trim that can fly off. This latest recall involves almost all of the nearly 12000 Cybertrucks that are currently on the road. Have you guys seen these on the streets and -- I mean, there was one in D.C. I was -- it was insane. I like -- I mean, it looks like a military tank.

BEDINGFIELD: Exactly.

HUNT: I mean, it's huge.

URBAN: It reminds me of the old the old Hummers, right? When they're back and when Arnold Schwarzenegger was driving around town.

HUNT: Yeah.

URBAN: It's kind of -- kind of that.

PEREZ: I don't think I don't think Representative Burchett and Dingell would be seeing that.

(CROSSTALK)

HUNT: It's electric, right? I assume it is.

PEREZ: It is.

HUNT: Yeah. OK, well, then definitely not Burchett.

PEREZ: Yeah.

HUNT: All right. Let's get back to politics, in a major defeat for progressive CNN projecting that House member Jamaal Bowman is out after an ugly and expensive primary battle.

Westchester County Executive George Latimer defeating him by more than 15 points. According to AdImpact, it was the most expensive House primary race on record. Outside pro-Israel groups pouring millions into the race to back Latimer's bid. Bowman taking this dig at his rival last night.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. JAMAAL BOWMAN (D-NY): Now our opponents, not opponent, may have won this round at this time, in this place. But this will be a battle for our humanity and justice for the rest of our lives.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: So, of course, Bowman is the first member of the "Squad" to lose one of their seats. This is really exposed, Kate, the divide in the Democratic Party over Israel and Gaza. It's a very emotional one. What do you think it says about the state of things broadly?

BEDINGFIELD: Yeah, look, no doubt. Israel-Gaza was a huge piece of this race. But I think one kind of piece of the narrative that isn't getting as much focus this morning, I think, is important is, you know, Bowman also voted against the infrastructure bill. He was, sort of, had consistently moved away from Biden's agenda. That was a centerpiece of a lot of the ads that were --

[06:55:14]

HUNT: He also pulled a fire alarm.

BEDINGFIELD: He also pulled a fire alarm. But -- but -- so I think it's a confluence here of the candidate struggling and not being a great candidate. And I would argue that, you know, the idea of running away from the Biden agenda didn't help him here. It was a centerpiece of the ads that were running against him.

URBAN: It's lower Westchester County. They're not -- it's not a flamethrower district. It's a pretty sedate, kind of suburban district. They don't want Jamaal Bowman. He's a bad candidate.

HUNT: Well, I mean, half the district is the Bronx.

URBAN: Yeah, but it's still a very nice, you know, a nicer area, like Gentile. It's Gentile, right? I mean, in their politics, I'm saying it's not a progressive kind of like rah-rah, right?

HUNT: I see.

URBAN: So --

HUNT: You're saying it's not a fire. They don't want fire.

URBAN: Yeah, they don't want firebrands. They want somebody --

PEREZ: The Bronx is nice. I mean, you need to.

URBAN: No, but I was just there. But I'm saying Latimer fits the district better.

HUNT: No one is saying bad things about the Bronx.

URBAN: No, the Bronx is beautiful. I just drove through it the other day coming back from the airport. It's great, great spot.

HUNT: All right, we are unfortunately out of time. Thank you guys so much for being here this morning.

Be sure to tune in tomorrow when President Biden and former President Trump face off in the CNN Presidential Debate. It starts at 9 p.m. Eastern. It'll be broadcast live from CNN World Headquarters in Atlanta.

Thank you all so much. Look at that. That's that, the outside of that, the spin room or the debate hall. Thanks very much to our panel. Thanks to you for joining us.

I'm Kasie Hunt. Don't go anywhere. CNN News Central starts after this quick break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:00:00]