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CNN This Morning
First Democratic Senator Calls On Biden To End Reelection Bid; NATO Formally Declares Support For Ukraine To Join Alliance; Western Heat Wave Breaking Daily Temperature Records. Aired 5-5:30a ET
Aired July 11, 2024 - 05:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[05:00:35]
KASIE HUNT, CNN ANCHOR: It's Thursday, July 11th.
Right now on CNN THIS MORNING:
New calls for the president to bow out of the race coming from inside his own party.
Plus, a Hollywood A-lister, a major Biden fundraiser who's just turned his back on the president's campaign.
Plus, Ukraine's president and the House speaker meeting face-to-face for the first time.
(MUSIC)
HUNT: All right, 5:00 a.m. here in Washington, a live look at the Capitol dome on this Thursday morning.
Good morning, everyone. I'm Kasie Hunt. It's wonderful to have you with us.
Support for President Biden's reelection bid seems to be slipping. Vermont's Peter Welch now the first Senate Democrat to call on Biden to step aside. He wrote this, in an op-ed, quote, I understand why President Biden wants to run. He saved us from Donald Trump once, and wants to do it again, but he needs to reassess whether he is the best candidate to do so.
In my view, he is not for the good of the country. I'm calling on President Biden to withdraw from the race. Welch's demand was one of three that came yesterday from Democrats, bringing the total number of defectors in Congress to ten.
Oregon Democrat Earl Blumenauer joining the calls for Biden to drop out of the race while New York Democrat Pat Ryan who represents a swing district, writes this, quote, for the good of our country and the future of our kids and grandkids. I am asking Joe Biden to step aside in the upcoming election and deliver on his promise to be a bridge to a new generation of leaders.
But it was really the former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi who raised eyebrows and many questions when she made these comments yesterday.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. NANCY PELOSI (D-CA): It's up to the president to decide if he is going to run. We're all encouraging him to make that decision because time is running short. I want him to do whatever he decides to do.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: Why is that noteworthy? Because the president seems to have already declared what he wants to do several times, and she is saying, hey, let's keep thinking about this.
Still, some Democrats on Capitol Hill are still unwavering in their support. It seems.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. JOHN FETTERMAN (D-PA): He's the only person to ever beat Trump's ass in an election. I'm proud to stand with Joe Biden and I'm showing up tomorrow with brass knuckles.
SEN. DICK DURBIN (D-IL): At this point, I think he has a strong campaign and a strong message to deliver. I believe he's going to move forward. I'm going to support him.
SEN. CHRIS COONS (D-DE): He's going to be our nominee at the convention. He is going to be our candidate for president the fall. He is going to be our next president of the United States.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: All right. Joining me to talk more about this morning is the "Axios" publisher, Nick Johnston.
Nick, good morning.
NICK JOHNSTON, PUBLISHER, AXIOS: Good morning.
HUNT: I was -- I was thinking about this morning. This has really been a roller coaster ride for the president over the course of the last few days. Monday, he came out strong with this letter. It seemed as though he was on his way to solidifying some support. He talked to the CBC. There seemed to be kind of a realization among Democrats that okay, he's not going anywhere.
But yesterday seemed to really shake that.
JOHNSTON: There are still this drip, drip, drip, drip. So I had dinner with an old source of mine, a former chief-of-staff on the Hill for a Democratic congressman and ask him like, how did this stuff play out behind the scenes on politics?
And he referenced the old Hemingway quote about how you go bankrupt. It's gradually then suddenly. And so, I think were very much in the gradual phase right now. This drip, drip, drip, this small, so people coming out just in the time that the 12 hours since your producers email me, can you come on the show today? And I started taking notes.
We had to more House Democrats come out. We had one more Senate Democrat come out. We had one Academy Award-winning actor come out and say, Biden, should be out the ticket and then the huge scoop from my colleagues at "Axios", Stephen Neukam and Hans -- Hans Nichols last night about Chuck Schumer privately telling donors that he's open for a change at the ticket.
And so, I think the consensus, what my -- what my old source was telling me that there's a lot of House members, there's a lot of Senate members who are feeling this, and probably saying this privately. They don't want be the first one, but it's drip, drip, drip. There's one at a time, one at a time. Are we going to see two or three more today building to that moment when it's like, okay, then the dam first.
I think that's the real concern that the White House is having -- that they haven't arrested to slow continuing process of folks one by one keeping this story in the news, saying it's time for a change.
[05:05:03]
HUNT: Right.
Well, I'm glad you raised -- you know, we can put up a little bit about Schumer privately signaling to donors that he's open to a new a presidential ticket. This, of course, reporting from you all at "Axios" and you note that in public, he's been very insistent that he is for the president. But I think this really reflects at the realism.
You know, I was talking to Ron Brownstein was on our air earlier in the week basically saying, look, they could potentially lose the Senate -- so many Senate seats that it's something Democrats can't get back for perhaps a generation.
JOHNSTON: Right, right. And I think that's what motivates a lot of people politically when you start these polls coming out, when you see that Biden on the ticket is dragging down other folks, other Democrat officeholders in the House and in the Senate. That is again, that movement like, if you read the statements if those folks who are coming out saying we want to change, that is what they're saying that they don't think he can win and they don't think that they think that he will be a drag on the rest of the ticket.
And like what is the one big motivated you can always count on members the Congress of, political -- saving their political skin. And if they think they're going to lose a race, that it's going to cost them a majority, that cost them their seat and it makes it much more likely to come out and make these kinds of statements.
HUNT: Nick, can I ask you what would move the president at this point? Because it's -- at the end of the day as much as we're talking about these Democrats who are trying to convince him to do one thing or the other, at the end of the day, only the president seems to be able to -- JOHNSTON: That is the -- that is the $64,000 question in this town
right now. That is what everyone is burning up the phone and trying to figure out where is that person like? So who is the person who's going to convince Jill Biden had changed her mind. I think what is very interesting to me, I think what people are paying attention to is that slight change of phrase of Nancy Pelosi.
Remember Nancy Pelosi could still be speaker if you wanted to right now. She's in Congress. She has passed the baton to a younger generation. She pulled off this transition quite deftly and I think there are a lot of people in the caucus looking to how she says this.
Now, of course, I don't think she's a person that's going to come out like George Clooney and say he should just drop out. But I think she is very much a bellwether and is actually probably a very smart political minus seeing like, okay, when does this flood swift from gradual to sudden? I think her words will be that moment.
HUNT: Well, and I think, you know, Nancy Pelosi's track record shows that above all, she is someone who wants to win and she typically knows how to do it, especially in the House and listening to her yesterday, it seemed pretty clear to me that she believes that it's going to be a real challenge for Democrats to hold the House.
JOHNSTON: And I think that's what people take so closely to the slight evolution of her language.
HUNT: All right. Nic Johnston for us, starting us off this morning, Nic, always grateful to have you.
JOHNSTON: Yeah. Great to be here. Thank you.
HUNT: All right. Coming up next here, the NATO summit overshadowed by the struggles President Biden is facing. We'll bring you the latest from that. Plus, some of the biggest stars in Hollywood calling on the president to exit the race.
And then there's this, why Michael Cohen is making a plea to the Supreme Court. We'll have that morning roundup ahead.
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[05:12:19]
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: This new pledge sends an unmistakable message to the world that every NATO member is committed to doing their part. To keep the alliance strong, we can and will defend every inch of NATO territory. And we'll do it together.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: President Biden addressing the NATO summit that is ongoing here in Washington. The Western military alliance releasing a joint statement yesterday, formally declaring their support for Ukraine's addition to NATO, writing, quote, Ukraine's future is in NATO.
On that same day, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy met with House Speaker Mike Johnson on Capitol Hill, was the first time the two have met since Johnson stuck his neck out for Zelenskyy in April, passing a foreign aid package on the House floor.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REPORTER: Do you support additional aid to Ukraine, Mr. Speaker?
REP. MIKE JOHNSON (R-LA), SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE: We're going to have a conversation here and not answering questions.
REPORTER: Will you have Ukraine to recover (INAUDIBLE) army?
JOHNSON: I'm not going to answer your questions right now.
VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT: We'll work on it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: All right. Joining me now to discuss, CNN international anchor, Max Foster.
Max, good morning. Always wonderful to see you.
So, let's just dig in a little bit to this formal show of support, them coming to Washington to try to say this with one voice, of course, with President Biden struggles overhanging all of it.
MAX FOSTER, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Yeah, absolutely. I mean, it was a big show of support for Ukraine, but then all of those leaders you see in those meetings are big sort supporters of Ukraine. The question is, what will NATO look like in future if those leadership positions change? Most notably Biden to Trump, but also you've got to -- Emmanuel Macron, who has got his own issues within his own country, lot of anti, you know, Ukrainian aid political currency flying around there currently right now. So, will they be able to live up to the commitments they make.
Now, that's one big question. Also, you know, a big reaction from Beijing to the statement that came out from NATO. That part of the communique, effectively calling China an enabler of Russia. In that war, which came, got a big reaction in Beijing, and a very punchy thing to say.
But I think that speaks to you know, what NATO represents right now, which is the traditional Western alliance facing individual countries around the world, now grouping together as an alternative, not necessarily to NATO, but certainly to that axis of power.
HUNT: Right. No, that makes sense. And, Max, we were talking yesterday about kind of the looming change on horizon and, you know, it was Zelenskyy who kept saying, everybody is waiting for November.
[05:15:11] A couple of things happen in November, obviously, potentially the war against Russia and Ukraine gets much more difficult, but there's also the U.S. election and that, of course, the specter of Donald Trump coming back into office really impacting what's going on with Ukraine.
And we were talking yesterday about how Trump in the past has basically tried to hold other NATO countries accountable for what he calls their fair share, which in fairness, the agreements that have been made for people to spend a certain amount of money on defense contribute to the alliance.
But political reported this yesterday the headline is Trump considering cutting back intelligence sharing with Europe officials warn, and they say that Trump advisers have told allied countries that reducing intel sharing would be part of a broader plan to scale back U.S. support and cooperation with the 32-nation alliance.
So it sounds like this may be going even farther.
FOSTER: Yeah. I mean, that would be pretty extraordinary. And I think the view of a lot of intelligence agencies on this side of the pond will be, isn't it, wouldn't it be completely counterproductive? There really firmly established major sharing excises, particularly what we call the Five Eyes, which is the U.S., U.K., Australia, New Zealand, and Canada, and that was formed during World War II, but, you know, full sharing effectively certainly on behalf of the U.S. partners with the U.S. which is hugely beneficial to the U.S. They have all of these extra agencies can effectively work through, but also between all of the allies in Europe, that gives America eyes across the world with Japan as well, so across large parts of Asia, if you combined Australia with that.
So, it would be an extraordinary move and you wonder why Trump would do that, because it would weaken Americans security but he's got his own theories about why he would do that. Of course it does. Also affect the security of Europe because we would have less informed, less well-resourced intelligence, but it's so ingrained in our institutions and security systems. It'll be a lot to unravel.
HUNT: A lot to unravel indeed. I think the question really would be, who really would benefit from that? I'm sure that the -- that Trump and the Trump team would argue somehow that the U.S. and they often use America first as their framing, but it does, you do have to wonder, is it really just Vladimir Putin, President Xi, and China? Who might benefit from something like that.
Max Foster, thank you very much for being with us this morning. I really appreciate it.
All right. Coming up next here, we're going to your morning roundup. Rudy Giuliani, trying to block two Georgia election workers from collecting millions from him.
Plus, trying to recover from Hurricane Beryl in life threatening heat.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) [05:22:33]
HUNT: All right. Twenty-two minutes past the hour. Here's your morning roundup.
Michael Cohen asking the Supreme Court to revive his lawsuit against former President Trump. Cohen sued Trump and other federal officials for allegedly retaliating against him for writing a tell-all book. Supreme Court will decide in the fall whether to hear arguments in Cohen's appeal.
Rudy Giuliani will find out his fate in bankruptcy court by the end of this week. Creditors argue the former New York mayor has not been forthcoming about his finances. The judge is widely expected to dismiss the case, and that would leave Giuliani on the hook for millions.
An American Airlines flight aborting its takeoff after multiple tires exploded on the runway. You can see smoke and debris billowing from the wheels of the Boeing 737 as it attempts to depart Tampa. No injuries were reported.
All right. Time now for weather. The National Weather Service in Houston issuing a heat advisory for today. The highs are expected, the low to mid 90s with feels like temperatures potentially rising to 106 degrees.
So, air conditioners will be working over overtime. This poor guy in suburban Houston feeling the heat for sure.
Let's get to our meteorologist, Derek Van Dam, our weatherman.
Derek, you're back, how you been, bringing us to speed.
DEREK VAN DAM, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Back from Houston.
HUNT: I know. I hope you're cooling off a little bit in our air conditioned studio.
Tell us what we've got for today.
VAN DAM: Okay. So not everybody is as fortunate as that dog there in the image, in the video, you saw just a moment ago with air conditioning because we still have about 1.3 million customers without power.
I just arrived home from Houston. Many locations in Harris County without power because of Hurricane Beryl. And, of course, with heat indices he's into the triple digits today and yesterday look, its been downright uncomfortable, so the race is on definitely to restore power and cool people off.
Look at this. This is what it feels like as you step outside today, upper 90s, local variations to that again, could top the triple-digit mark. It's not just Texas. It's also over the western parts of the U.S. You know, we've been talking about record-breaking heat specifically
into the Las Vegas region. You can see on our heat risk indicator map that shade of purple across southern Nevada and into Central California. That is extreme heat conditions. And of course that is dangerous.
This is interesting, Vegas had five consecutive days where the mercury and the thermometer climbed to 115 or higher. It's never done that for that long of a stretch, really incredible, puts it into context.
[05:25:03]
Over 100 record highs possible over the western U.S. through the course of this weekend.
Check out the triple-digit heat from Bakersfield, Fresno to Palm Springs. And oh, yeah. Remember, we've been tracking Hurricane Beryl or what was Hurricane Beryl for several weeks now.
Well, it created a swath of tornadoes across Texas into portions of the Ohio River Valley, and then yesterday across Upstate New York.
So in total, several of these offices actually issuing the most number of tornado reports and tornado warnings just because of the stubborn what was Hurricane Beryl.
So, yeah, we'll say goodbye. Good riddance to that storm as it exits the country.
HUNT: For real. All right, our weatherman Van Dam, Derek, thank you. I really appreciate.
VAN DAM: All right.
HUNT: Coming up next here, how Vice President Harris is dealing with President Biden's political crisis.
And the group of Democrats who are trying to throw the president a lifeline.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JIMMY KIMMEL, COMEDIAN: Nancy Pelosi said that time is running short for Biden to decide whether he's going to stay in the race.
You know, things are crazy when an 84-year-old Nancy Pelosi's telling an 81-year-old Joe Biden to retire. What is going on?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
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