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CNN This Morning
Biden's NATO Press Conference Gets Mixed Response; Biden Announces $225M Security Aid Package For Ukraine; Western Heat Wave To Stretch Into The Weekend. Aired 5-5:30a ET
Aired July 12, 2024 - 05:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[05:00:38]
KASIE HUNT, CNN ANCHOR: It's Friday, July 12th.
Right now on CNN THIS MORNING:
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I wouldn't have picked Vice President Trump to be vice president if I think she's not qualified to be president.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: An uneven performance from the president on the world stage, Democrats still scrambling to figure out what to do about the top of their tickets.
More defections in the ranks, 17 Democrats now publicly calling for President Biden to pass the torch.
And an embarrassing introduction and a new aid package for the president of Ukraine.
(MUSIC)
HUNT: All right, 5:00 a.m. here in Washington. A live look at the Capitol dome on this Friday morning.
Good morning, everyone. Happy Friday. I'm Kasie Hunt. It's wonderful to have you with us.
We're going to begin with the good, the bad, and the ugly from President Biden's closely watched NATO press conference. The president speaking to reporters for almost an hour, at times showing his depth of knowledge on a wide range of issues. He also was more animated at the point when he talked about gun violence and he was at other points in the press conference.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BIDEN: More children are killed by a bullet than any other cause of death. The United States of America, what the hell are we doing? What are we doing?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: But then there were moments like this at the very start of the press conference.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BIDEN: Look, I wouldn't have picked Vice President Trump to be vice president if I think she was not qualified to be president. S o start there.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: More House Democrats are joining the growing chorus of party members calling for Biden to end his reelection bid.
Just minutes after that press conference ended, Jim Himes, the ranking Democrat on the Intelligence Committee, send out a statement calling for Biden to stand down.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. JIM HIMES (D-CT): But this is the moment and the next 96 hours, perhaps, is the moment to set aside the poetry, the loyalty and the love and ask yourself a hard question. Which is, are you sure he's going to win? Because you're not just gambling your own political reputation, you are gambling the future of the United States of America.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: There are now 17 congressional Democrats calling on Biden to bow out.
We've got a strong start this morning. Joining me now, Farnoush Amiri, congressional reporter for "The Associated Press", Stephen Neukam, politics reporter for "Axios", and Julia Manchester, she is national politics reporter for "The Hill".
Welcome to all of you. Thank you so much for being here.
Julia, let me start with you in terms of big picture. You know, as I was talking to Democrats and other sources throughout the evening, the general sense was he came out of the gate with that misnaming his own vice president, that caused an incredible cringe, collective cringe. But then he did go on in many of their view to have a stronger performance, particularly fluid on foreign policy issues, China Ukraine, other things.
But the bottom-line question is, is it enough to fundamentally change this conversation? What is your reporting about whether it did?
JULIA MANCHESTER, NATIONAL POLITICS REPORTER, THE HILL: The sense I'm getting that it is not enough. And we saw that when we saw Congressman Jim Hines and Congressman Eric Sorenson after the press conference call on him to step down. I think the next coming days today will be definitely a bit of a test for President Biden going forward.
You know, I think talking to a number of my sources, what I hear is that it was good, but it was better than the debate, but it's not enough to stop the bleeding ultimately, and that's the issue that President Biden and Democrats have.
HUNT: Farnoush Amiri, you cover Capitol Hill day in and day out. You saw Jim Himes there. Congressman Brad Schneider tried to capture the sense of foreboding that many have every time Biden takes the stage. Let's listen to that.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. BRAD SCHNEIDER (D-IL): We can't have a situation where every day, we're holding our breath, whether it's a press conference, debate, or rally. And I think we're at historic moment where the president can pass the torch -- torch to the next generation, not only unite the Democratic Party, but unite the country.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[05:05:05]
HUNT: What is your latest reporting on how this is impacting the way members on the hill are thinking? We're going to get Jim Clyburn later on this morning, also speaking out in public.
FARNOUS AMIRI, CONGRESSIONAL REPORTER, THE ASSOCIATED PRESS: Yeah. I mean, what, you know, my sources were saying leading up to the press conference was, you know, obviously, we're hoping he does better than he did at the debate, but we expect the dam to break shortly after.
And you know, I think his performance at the debate and many folks texted me and called me and said, you know, I was holding my breath, but he did not do as bad as I thought he would do, expectations for him, you know, arguably were very low and the calling the president of Ukraine Putin did not set the tone right for the day and for the evening. But many of them said maybe the dam will hold for a little longer, but it's a matter of when not if it will break. And I think that that's the case right now.
HUNT: So, Stephen Neukam, one thing Democrats said to me was that they were -- they thought his tone around the conversation that he should step aside was better than it had been in the immediate aftermath of the debate where he was very defiant, sort of seemed to be refusing to listen to anyone. And he actually did kind of address the way his schedule has had to evolve to accommodate his age. He said that his staff off add things to his schedule.
Let's just watch that moment.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BIDEN: I love my staff. But they add things. They add things all the time. Very -- I'm catching hell from my wife.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: So, first of all, when you are president, there are things that get added to your schedule regularly. This is part of the conversation. I thought it was an interesting insight as well into the dynamic with his wife who seems to be saying, hey, you got to protect him, right? Like pushing back on staff that are trying to add things to his schedule.
What were your takeaways in terms of how we saw the president handle how his age is affected his day-to-day ability to do the job?
STEPHEN NEUKAM, CONGRESSIONAL REPORTER, AXIOS: I think you're right. The tone changed. I mean, he even sort of open the door a little bit to the idea that another Democrat could beat Donald Trump. That even though his team was on Capitol Hill this week, they huddled with Senate Democrats yesterday, essentially telling them that Biden has the best chance, has the best shot at defeating Donald Trump.
And Democratic senators who were already skeptical of the president's chances going forward, left that meeting unchanged. Their minds are not changed. That argument was not convincing enough. There was actually some tempers flared in that meeting, we're told from sources.
So not just the NATO press conference last night, but the totality of the week on Capitol Hill, the Biden team did not do enough to sort of quell concerns on Capitol Hill.
HUNT: Julia, "The Hill" was reporting last night and we've been digging into it here that Nancy Pelosi has been trying to rally people behind the scenes perhaps going farther than what she did in public we here at CNN are reporting that Pelosi and Obama potentially in conversations hear about how to move forward next. Obama's involvement, we know that there is a testy relationship there with the president and the former president, not 44, not 45. You've got a lot of the presidents and former presidents involved in the conversation right now.
But if that's the case what's -- what's next in terms of how that impacts what we see from the president and for members of Congress?
MANCHESTER: Look, the president is saying he is going to get out in public go-to more campaign events. He's doing this interview with NBC News on Monday.
So, they're hoping the campaign is hoping that sends a signal to you members of Congress that he is fit, that he's getting out there, that voters are seeing him.
But for members of Congress though, if you have Nancy Pelosi and also the former president, Barack Obama, sort of getting involved in pulling the strings there, that puts pressure on them. I think Nancy Pelosi is someone who really has her finger on the pulse in term where are the electorate is, how to move forward strategically, but also she's someone who's sort of been in this position before.
I mean, she stepped down as speaker of the House before and she understands what it means --
HUNT: She passed the torch.
MANCHESTER: She passed the torch.
HUNT: So, she's someone I think that a lot of Democrats feel that they can relate to on this. And look, she's not the leader of the House Democrats anymore, but she still obviously has that sway.
MANCHESTER: Yeah. Farnoush, who are you watching today?
AMIRI: I mean, I think, you know, the silence beyond the campaign you know, I'm with Joe, I'm riding with Joe type thing from Hakeem Jeffries, from Chuck Schumer, from Jim Clyburn, has been stunning, right? And I think that everyone in the House Democratic Caucus, everyone Senate Democratic Caucus is waiting for their leaders to indicate where they should follow along. And I think until they say something, we won't see this swell.
HUNT: All right. Well, it's -- it's Friday, but we are headed straight into a busy news weekend in a Republican National Convention.
[05:10:05]
So, buckle up, everyone. Thank you guys very much for being here. Farnoush Amiri, Stephen Neukam, Julia Manchester for us this morning.
All right. Coming up next here, President Biden unveiling a new aid package for Ukraine, but will it get to the frontlines in time.
Plus, Beryl may be gone, but the cleanup in New York is just getting started.
And more Democrats joining the chorus of calls for President Biden to step aside.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HIMES: What is plan B? That's a totally fair question. I actually think plan B looks pretty good. I don't know what it looks like, but I think we have a remarkable bench of Democrats.
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[05:15:01]
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BIDEN: Now I want to hand it over to the president of Ukraine, who has as much courage as he has determination. Ladies and gentlemen, President Putin.
President Putin -- we're going to beat President Putin. President Zelenskyy. (END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: President Biden with a cringe-worthy slip of the tongue while introducing Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at the NATO summit yesterday.
Earlier in the day, Biden met with Zelenskyy to officially announce a $225 million security aid package for Ukraine. The defense equipment includes a Patriot battery that's been highly sought after by Zelenskyy. Ukraine's President, thanking Biden for his support.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT: Together, we are preserving Ukraine's independence and freedom. And this is historic actions that who protect the world from similar wars.
BIDEN: Russia will not prevail in Ukraine, will not prevail in Ukraine. Ukraine will prevail. And I want you to know, we're going to be with you every step of the way.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: All right. Joining me now to discuss, CNN international anchor Max Foster.
Max, good morning to you. Always wonderful to see you.
I want to start with that. I mean, we saw that flubbed that President Biden had there when he introduced Zelenskyy. He obviously quickly corrected himself.
But the reality was this was a stage that everyone was watching extraordinarily closely, especially NATO allies in Europe and elsewhere who are nervous about the prospect of President Biden losing to former President Trump in November. What's the reaction been over where you are?
MAX FOSTER, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, it is making all the headlines. They didn't watch the whole -- it was very late in the day here in Europe, so they didn't not that many people watch the whole press conference where he did get a broader sense of what President Biden is capable of and focused a lot on the policy that people here are interested in.
But when they woke up all the headlines are about the gaffes. Also not so much to say Zelenskyy one, but that Harris one because he called -- he referred her -- Kamala Harris as President Trump, but he didn't correct himself, which in a way people on the radio this morning analyzing that, saying actually that's more worrying that he didn't even notice that he had said it.
But, you know, I think those two gaffes are playing very big here because people are much more focused on the headlines that came out of it. And that was -- that was the headline, wasn't it?
HUNT: It sure was. And we talked about the Trump -- the Vice President Trump issue at the top of the show with our other guests.
Max, what is your sense of what this may mean for Ukraine, in practice here? The headline in "The New York Times" is NATO pledges to Ukraine fall short for a counter offensive this year, noting this, of course, due to the political challenges in the United States that we're already facing Ukraine, even with Biden in the White House. And, of course, we've seen Zelenskyy talked repeatedly about November in his appearance here as well.
FOSTER: One thing Zelenskyy desperately wants the Democrats to stay in power. He's not going to get involved in a foreign election obviously, but for him the word of warning coming from Trump's well, Donald Trump about Ukraine, it feels as though obviously Ukraine is going to get much more of a Democrat administration.
So I think he is focused on some of those mistakes even though he's very supportive of president Biden in that press conference, I think he's thinking this is going to shorten his political lifestyle potentially. So that's worrying.
In terms of the money is a new $225 million aid package, a lot of money, obviously, and it's new. So that was really positive and it's these Patriot missiles which are vital, but also the air defense systems as well, which are vital.
You know, the overriding message from Zelenskyy yesterday in terms of policy was, you know, thank you for those, but can you please give us permission to fire them into Russia? The currently, they're not allowed to do that. He didn't make much progress on that, but it doesn't feel as if he can win the war unless its on a level playground, which is that Russia can fire into Ukraine therefore, Ukraine should be able to fire into Russia.
HUNT: All right. Max Foster for us this morning -- Max, thank you so much. Very grateful to have you. Have a great weekend.
FOSTER: Thank you.
HUNT: All right. Coming up next here, feeling the heat with the record high temperatures in the West, these crayons, they didn't stand a chance.
Plus, the list of Democrats calling on President Biden to bow out of the race keeps growing.
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[05:24:02]
HUNT: All right, welcome back.
The brutal heatwave out west shows no signs of letting up. The National Weather Service issuing another heat advisory for the greater Houston area today. Death Valley, California, is getting the worst of it with temperatures hitting 125 degrees for eight straight days. And then there's this video from the National Weather Service in Las
Vegas, proving that it is so hot there, you can melt crayons in Sin City. Let's get straight to our weatherman, Derek Van Dam.
Derek, good morning to you. Wow.
DEREK VAN DAM, AMS METEOROLOGIST: I've always wanted to try that, maybe next time, I'll do a little action figurines or something. We'll have a special on it on CNN.
HUNT: Yeah.
VAN DAM: Look, it's brutally hot. That's dangerously hot, but it's not only just stifling hot, but it's record setting and we use these words unprecedented and we don't want to sound like a broken record, but truly is.
And the reason I say this and were taking Las Vegas as an example here. The thermometer had never reached 117 degrees or higher.
[05:25:03]
And then earlier this week had reached 120 and then three consecutive days this week, the temperature has already reached 118 degrees. So, overstepping its previous all-time record highs three days in a row. We've also had six consecutive days above 115 every day since July 3rd has reached temperatures above 110.
I don't know how many ways to slice this. It's just hot, right? But that's dangerous heat.
And speaking of dangerous heat, it's brutal in Houston because there are so many people still without power, without access to air conditioning, without the ability to cool themselves off. Heat advisories in place once again today, heat indices, its how it feels with the heat and humidity on your body as you step outside -- very, very uncomfortable especially for that storm cleanup.
Now, this is what it feels like as you step outside this morning. I was in Port Lavaca, 88 already, 81 for Houston. Remember, many people without power and overnight you expect your body to be able to cool off. Well, that's just not the case with this type of weather.
And there's the heat advisories in place for much of the Western U.S. with triple-digit temperatures for the day today and through the weekend.
Now, it's also going to heat up along the East Coast. I want to talk about this as well. So be careful. D.C. to New York will reach the lower and middle 90s. Maybe perhaps some rainfall with this stalled frontal boundary that will help cool things off. But this could cause some flood concerns as well.
Kasie, so much.
HUNT: All right. Our weatherman, Derek Van Dam, lot going on this morning, Derek, thank you very much.
All right. Coming up next here, the two powerful Democrats who are talking behind the scenes about what to do about Joe Biden.
Plus --
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KAMALA HARRIS, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The most existential, consequential and important election of our lifetime.
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HUNT: Kamala Harris, with that warning to voters as she stands very just outside the harshest spotlight.
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