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Biden Facing Increasing Democratic Opposition; Western Heat Wave Breaking Daily Temps. Aired 6-6:30a ET

Aired July 11, 2024 - 06:00   ET

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

KASIE HUNT, CNN ANCHOR: It's Thursday, July 11. Right now on CNN THIS MORNING, President Biden, just hours away from a press conference that could potentially break his reelection bid as more Democrats call on him to exit the race.

[06:01:25]

Plus, this at a NATO dinner last night.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The allies in this room not only share a common language -- don't share a common language. We do not share a common border.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: A verbal stumble from the president at a time when his every word is subject to incredibly intense scrutiny.

This as a Hollywood heavyweight calls on the president to step aside just weeks after raising millions for his reelection campaign.

And millions left picking up the pieces from Hurricane Beryl in record-breaking, life-threatening heat.

All right, 6 a.m. here in Washington. A live look at the White House on this Thursday morning. Good morning, everyone. I'm Kasie Hunt. It's wonderful to have you with us.

President Biden started this week writing to leaders in his own party, demanding they stop questioning his position at the top of the ticket. "It's time for it to end," he wrote.

But on this Thursday morning, just hours from when he'll take the stage for what is perhaps the highest stakes press conference of his half-century career in politics, it has not ended.

Nancy Pelosi is still asking questions. So is Democratic Senator Peter Welch and George Clooney. Yes, that George Clooney, writing this brutal assessment just weeks after he posed for this photo with the president.

Clooney says this, quote, "It's devastating to say it, but the Joe Biden I was with three weeks ago at the fundraiser was not the Joe 'big F-ing deal' Biden of 2010. He wasn't even the Joe Biden of 2020. He was the same man that we witnessed at the debate."

Vermont's Peter Welch on Wednesday became the first Democratic senator to say that Biden should step aside, writing, quote, "For the good of the country, I am calling on President Biden to withdraw from the race."

Those comments make Senator Welch the tenth congressional Democrat to call on Biden to step aside, with similar statements on Wednesday from Representatives Pat Ryan and Earl Blumenauer.

But it was these comments Wednesday morning from the former House speaker, Nancy Pelosi, who is someone whose counsel Biden actually values, now sounding open to the possibility that Biden could change his mind.

(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 -- to make that decision, because time is running short. I want him to do whatever he decides to do.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: CNN has learned top officials from Biden's campaign will brief Senate Democrats during a special meeting this afternoon. And Axios now reporting that Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer is privately signaling to donors that he is open to a Democratic presidential ticket that is not led by President Biden.

At least three other Democrats in the Senate have indicated in private meetings that they don't believe that Biden can beat Trump.

There are others, though, publicly supporting him, but you can really see the division.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

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, and I'm going to support him.

SEN. JOHN FETTERMAN (D-PA): I'm proud to stand with Joe Biden, and I'm showing up tomorrow with brass knuckles.

SEN. RICHARD BLUMENTHAL (D-CT): I am deeply concerned about Joe Biden winning this November.

SEN. CHRIS COONS (D-DE): He's going to be our nominee at the convention. He is going to be our candidate for president in the fall. He is going to be our next president of the United States.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[06:05:08] HUNT: All right. Let's bring in our panel. CNN chief national affairs correspondent Jeff Zeleny; former White House communications director Kate Bedingfield; and Republican strategist Sarah Longwell are all joining us this morning. Good morning, all.

JEFF ZELENY, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Good morning.

HUNT: Kate Bedingfield, look, I want to start with you. You also, as all of this was kind of cascading yesterday, you tweeted this to those that you used to work with at the White House: "If they have data that supports the path to victory that they see, they should put it out there now and help people who badly want to beat Trump rally around it. People want to see the path."

You've been here several days this morning [SIC]. We have been following this bouncing ball together, where Biden has been up, and now Biden seems to be down.

How difficult was yesterday for him? And how different is his situation now than it was 24 hours before that?

KATE BEDINGFIELD, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Yes. Well, it definitely felt like the mood shifted a bit on Capitol Hill. Obviously, when you saw Nancy Pelosi come out and essentially put the conversation back on the table and say, let him get through NATO this week and then, you know, we're going to -- essentially, she's signaled, were going to have another discussion about this.

So obviously, that's not -- you know, that is a weaker position than he was in the day prior, when it seemed like he had kind of put all of that to rest.

You know, I think they are in a position right now where there are a lot of people -- I mean, you heard, you know, obviously, Senator Fetterman has stood very strongly by him. You've heard others say, you know, he can win this race.

I'm actually somebody who believes that he still can win this race.

This is a moment where people want to rally behind him, I think. And the campaign needs to give people a reason to do that.

I mean, I think all of this anger and frustration, it all comes from a shared desire to beat Donald Trump. Democrats feel that Trump is an existential threat. They are scared about the prospect of losing this election. They want to win.

I think the Biden team would serve Joe Biden well to put forward some data that shows, here's our path, and help people rally around the idea that he can win. Because the public data right now isn't good for him. And that's influencing the way people are thinking, because it's politics.

HUNT: Yes. Sarah, you talk to voters all the time, including many voters who would also like to see Donald Trump not get reelected. What are they telling you about the debate? SARAH LONGWELL, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: Yes. Since the debate, I've

done nothing but focus groups. I've just listened to voters. I've talked to black voters, to swing voters, to Democratic voters who voted for Hillary Clinton and then Joe Biden and are now undecided.

And here's the main takeaway from the voters that Joe Biden desperately needs: these swing voters, these double-haters. He was already behind with them. They already had concerns about his age. That has now calcified into a belief from these voters that he cannot do the job for four more years.

And they are desperate for a change. They actually think that a change signals strengths, not weakness. And they're sort of begging for an alternative.

I mean -- and look, the language that they use is tough. They -- they are extremely unhappy with this choice, and they say things like we've got an insurrectionist on one hand and somebody who's not there on the other hand.

Or they even -- they use much more unflattering terms than that. And it is -- it is all around this sense that Biden can't do it.

And the thing that I'm seeing in the public polling, as well, that's got me more concerned that I don't think people are talking about enough is the race is tightening in places like Minnesota; in places like Virginia; in places where the map is expanding for Donald Trump in ways where, as somebody who's also a strategist who is actively running a campaign, Republican Voters Against Trump, who was trying to rally people to vote against Trump, to build an anti-Trump coalition, I am watching states that were not on the table, not on the map that were -- that were not even thought about as competitive getting competitive. And that is a huge problem right now.

HUNT: Yes. Really, really very remarkable when you put it that way.

Tim Ryan said this on Twitter: "The voters will not believe us about January 6," talking about the stakes with Trump. "If we don't tell the truth about June 27," which is, of course, the date of the debate.

Is that a sentiment you're getting, too?

LONGWELL: Yes. People feel like -- people understand what damage control looks like. And so, the voters will say things like, I watched that George Stephanopoulos, you know, interview. That wasn't any better. And, you know, they're just trying to walk this back, but we all saw what we saw.

This is the thing. And I mean, I -- the frustrating thing is that voters have eyes. There's a lot of people telling you, just grab your sword, go out on offense.

And look, I believe in offense. I wanted this campaign to play offense for a long time, but you cannot ignore the fact that these -- everybody saw it. If they didn't see it on the actual debate, though lots of people did, they saw it in social media. And people are not, they are going to believe, you know, their lying

eyes or whatever the expression is. They know what they saw.

HUNT: Right. Well, and if they saw it on social media, they're not going to have seen the back half of the debate where Democrats say, well, Biden came back.

And are you -- Jeff, I want to let you get in here a little bit with your kind of reporting and what you're hearing around what Sarah said, and also what you're hearing from the White House.

[06:10:03]

ZELENY: Look, I mean, as of now, it's becoming clear -- more clear where Democratic leaders and party elders are. It's less clear whether any of this has changed President Biden's thinking.

Obviously, he was very busy yesterday with -- with the NATO leaders and other things.

But at the end of this week, whatever he decides to do -- it's still his decision -- this is a much more complicated race for him.

To Sarah's point, I was talking to Democratic advisers in Minnesota yesterday. They are very worried about Minnesota. You might ask, why Minnesota?

Think back to 2016. Minnesota was the closest defeat for Donald Trump to Hillary Clinton by about 1.5 percentage points. So, I always call it the reddest blue state in the country. So, Minnesota is an issue.

New Hampshire is an issue. Virginia, New Mexico. So, we're looking at potentially a map --

HUNT: There are people who talk about New York.

ZELENY: -- if Biden does stay in. I mean, maybe the New York. I think the New York --

BEDINGFIELD: That may or may not be a real thing.

ZELENY: -- like, local party officials are -- I mean, New York party officials are looking for money in these districts. It's not going to be a runaway.

But speaking of money, we spent a lot of time yesterday talking to donors. And yes, President Biden sort of dismissed them as the elites in the party. It's a real issue. They have built a very big campaign, a robust Biden campaign with these offices and a huge advertising budget.

Right now, they will not be able to keep the lights on with the amount of money coming in.

So, at the end of the day, does a press conference even change this? I'm not so sure about that. But my eye is on the Senate lunch. We've all covered a lot of those, been to a lot of them. It is absolutely pivotal today. When Jen O'Malley Dillon, and Steve Ricchetti and Mike Donilon, three top Biden advisors, go to the Senate Democratic lunch, the message they get, I think, is one that we know, because we've talked to these senators.

So yesterday, a tough day for President Biden. It's really hard to see that changing.

HUNT: Right.

ZELENY: But again, it is his decision, and we don't know if this has changed his thinking.

HUNT: Right. Well, we're going to -- we're going to talk next about this big press conference he's got on the horizon.

Up next, it's really all anyone is talking about here in Washington. Should he stay or should he go? Ohio's Democratic congressman, Greg Landsman, here with his take on the president's reelection bid.

Plus, a verbal stumble during a NATO toast. Is Joe Biden ready for tonight's big press conference?

And this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Governor, the "Wall Street Journal" numbers are in, and Pullman's (ph) down a point.

GEORGE CLOONEY, ACTOR: I'm moving in the right direction. Dan, are you still single?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Married to the campaign, Governor.

CLOONEY: Correct team.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: George Clooney, not a politician. He has played one on the big screen. We'll talk about his plea to President Biden, ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:16:58]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BIDEN: The allies in this room not only share a common language -- don't share a common language. We do not share common border. But we are neighbors. We're neighbors, because we all share common beliefs in dignity, equality, democracy, and freedom.

(END VIDEO CLIP) HUNT: President Biden addressing NATO leaders at the White House dinner last night, the president stumbling a little bit over his words there. A small mistake that would have been probably overlooked in basically any other context.

But Biden's every step and every word now under intense scrutiny as he attempts to reassure Democrats that he is fit to run again. That pressure will reach a peak tonight as the president holds a solo press conference wrapping up the NATO summit.

The -- we were talking as we were coming into this about, whether it's fair or unfair, you know, he has some -- he's a man who stumbles over -- has stumbled over his words in the past, Kate.

But this moment for him tonight is -- they've set it up. The White House has set it up as, look, these are two tests. George Stephanopoulos interview, the NATO press conference. You [SIC] now got Pelosi out there saying, hey, you [SIC] got to reopen this question of what you're going to do.

Is there -- is there a way for him to -- is there an upside here? I mean, it -- it seems like if he gets through it, fine. There are still going to be all the questions. But if he trips up, that's potentially it.

BEDINGFIELD: Well, there's -- look, there is definitely scrutiny on the press conference tonight. There's obviously scrutiny on his performance overall, given what happened in the debate, understandably.

I do think, though, things like, you know, like we were just watching this clip. He said, "do not" instead of "do" and corrected himself, the way anybody reading off a paper, as I imagine everyone sitting at this table at some point on television has said the wrong words, right?

HUNT: There but for the grace of God.

BEDINGFIELD: Right, right? But so -- but this is also -- in some ways, that's an opportunity for the Biden campaign.

The base is fired up about this. They feel like Biden is being unfairly attacked, that there is an over-torquing on, you know, every last thing that people are piling on, that it's people who are sitting in Washington and criticizing him.

You know, there is an opportunity here for some of this piling on to energize parts of Biden's coalition that he frankly needs to energize.

I mean, we've seen him over the course of the race so far. He seems to be underperforming with some of the -- the key constituencies that helped him get elected in 2020.

And there is -- there is energy for this, because people feel like, you know, you're picking on him for saying "do" instead of "do not" and correcting himself. I mean, it's -- there's a little bit of, like, give me a break there.

So, I think that there's an opportunity for the Biden campaign to kind of, you know, put their armor on and kind of weaponize that piece of it a little bit.

HUNT: Very briefly, do you agree with that? Do you think that --

LONGWELL: I mean, yes. I think, look, these -- there is some energy from the base. I certainly get attacked on Twitter any time I release focus group information --

HUNT: Oh, yes.

LONGWELL: -- that says this.

And look, it's great to see Whitmer out there for him, and surrogates are suddenly out in force. Like, there is -- there is -- the circling the wagons, I think, has given some energy around the base.

The problem is just the swing voters, the even sort of soft Democrats, all of the people you need in these swing states, they're falling off a cliff. And I think that's the problem.

[06:20:10]

HUNT: Yes. All right. Coming up next on CNN THIS MORNING.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MICHAEL DOUGLAS, ACTOR: And I can tell you without hesitation, being president of this country is entirely about character.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: Hollywood A-listers lining up to ask President Biden to step aside. Actor Michael Douglas, who played the president there -- Andrew Shepherd, I believe -- the latest defector.

And before we get to that, in your morning roundup, first Hurricane Beryl, extreme heat, and Houston, we have a problem.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:25:05]

HUNT: All right, welcome back. Time now for weather.

The West enduring a brutal heat wave, with daily records and prolonged heat expected to continue. The National Weather Service in Houston issuing a heat advisory for today. Highs expected in the low to mid 90s with feels-like temps going up to potentially 106 degrees.

Further West, California Governor Gavin Newsom addressing the heat and its impact on wildfires.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) GOV. GAVIN NEWSOM (D-CA): Seeing unprecedented record heat. These heat domes over the entire Western United States, over and over and over and over and over again. Record-breaking temperatures.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: All right, let's get straight to our weatherman, Derek van Dam with more on this.

Derek, good morning.

DEREK VAN DAM, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes. Kasie, I just returned home from Houston, where the heat wave has settled in, but there's still 1.3 million customers without power. A large majority of them in and around the greater Houston area, Harris County.

Heat advisories there in place, heat indices. This is what it feels like as you step outside. Up to 106, just absolutely brutal, especially if you don't have that opportunity to cool yourself off without electricity and, obviously, air conditioning.

Now, it's not just Texas. It's also over the Western U.S. We've been breaking records, sounding like a broken record here. In Las Vegas, five consecutive days where the mercury in the thermometer climbed at 115 or even higher. So all-time record highs set for that city earlier this week. Daily record highs continue to be broken for that location.

And other locations, too. In fact, 100 or more record highs possible through the course of this weekend.

Now, remember Hurricane Beryl, that's what brought the power outages to Texas. Well, guess what? It tracked through Northern sections of New England. This is coming out of Eden, New York. Some tornado damage. And it's from the remnants of what was Hurricane Beryl. And this is just incredible to see the path from this tropical system that moved all the way across the Eastern Seaboard.

There were 54 tornado warnings issued yesterday by the upstate New York office, and a record-breaking number of tornado warnings across portions of Louisiana, with the system earlier in the week. And that's just really saying something.

So, we're going to say goodbye and good riddance. This is what's left of Beryl. And we can't say goodbye soon enough -- Kasie.

HUNT: Indeed. We also have had 28 suspected heat-related deaths related to all of this. Derek van Dam for us this morning. Derek, thank you very much.

All right. Coming up next here, we're going to talk to Democratic Congressman Greg Landsman of Ohio about how President Biden can dig in or not.

Plus, how the Biden campaign is responding to losing the support of actor and mega fundraiser George Clooney.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BIDEN: Thank you all for coming.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Can you respond to George Clooney?

(CROSSTALK)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:30:00]