Return to Transcripts main page
CNN This Morning
Biden Defiant in Press Conference Amid Verbal Slips; Obama and Pelosi Privately Discussed Biden's Fitness to Run. Aired 6-6:30a ET
Aired July 12, 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 Friday, July 12. Right now on CNN THIS MORNING.
[06:00:14]
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I believe I'm the best qualified to govern. And I think I'm the best qualified to win.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: A defiant President Biden staying in the race, despite more calls from Democrats for him to pass the torch.
Plus --
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BIDEN: I wouldn't have picked Vice President Trump [SIC] to be vice president if I think she's not qualified to be president.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: More troubling flubs from the president in his first solo press conference since last year.
Plus, new CNN reporting on private discussions between Barack Obama and Nancy Pelosi about what to do at the top of the Democratic ticket.
And then there's the Trump campaign, preparing for the possibility of a new race, against Kamala Harris.
All right, 6 a.m. here in Washington. A live look at the house everyone is battling to live in. Good morning, everyone. I'm Kasie Hunt. It is wonderful to have you with us.
On this Friday, I would say that we have made it, but this weekend set to be potentially one of the biggest of the campaign, as we head into the Republican National Convention. But let's start with what happened last night.
It could have been worse, but it still might not be enough to stop the bleeding. That is the assessment I am hearing from Democrats as we come on the air this morning, after President Biden held the most -- possibly, the most important press conference of his political career.
He was trying to reassure voters that the disastrous debate performance was the outlier. But before he faced the White House press corps, shortly after 7:30 p.m. Eastern Time, there was this moment, which played on all three evening newscasts on broadcast.
(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 [SIC]. President Putin? He's going to beat President Putin. President Zelenskyy.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: Also easy to clip on TikTok. The president there catching his own mistake and quickly correcting it.
But when he took his very first question at the news conference last night, he didn't catch himself.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BIDEN: Look, I wouldn't have picked Vice President Trump [SIC] to be vice president if I think she's not qualified to be president. So, let's start there.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: Vice President Trump.
Democrats that I talked to did say that they felt it went uphill from that moment. For just under an hour, President Biden answered questions on everything from his own mental fitness to foreign policy, where he stressed his dozens of years of experience.
All right. Some sources I talked to said that they were heartened by President Biden's tone in answering questions about his fitness for office, where they saw a little bit less denial and a little bit more willingness to acknowledge that he needs to do better.
Still, the president insisted he was the best chance to take down Trump.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: If your team came back and showed you data that she would fare better against former President Donald Trump, would you reconsider your decision to stay in the race?
BIDEN: No, unless they came back and said, there's no way you can win. Me. No one's saying that. No poll says that.
(END VIDEO CLIP) HUNT: But everything last night, not enough for some Democrats. Just moments after Biden left the stage, Congressman Jim Himes, the top Democrat on the Intelligence Committee, joined the ranks of congressional Democrats, now at 17, who publicly oppose Biden's reelection bid.
Himes called on Biden to, quote, "make way for a new generation of leaders." He explained his decision this way.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. JIM HIMES (D-CT): My colleagues and I are worried about two things. One, 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.
And they're also worried about something very legitimate, which tortured me and continues to torture me. Which is we cannot be here anymore. This needs to be resolved -- I don't know -- in the next five to seven days. Because we just went 10 days where the story was not Donald Trump promising totalitarianism. It was how is Joe Biden going to do in the big-boy press conference?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: All right. Our panel is here: CNN senior reporter Isaac Dovere; former Obama White House staffer, Ashley Allison; former RNC communications director Doug Heye. Welcome to all of you.
Ashley Allison, I want to start with you, because the reality is, all eyes are going to be on what are the Democrats going to do next? We're set to hear from Jim Clyburn on one of the broadcast networks later on this morning. They're going to be listening for every word.
[06:05:06]
Isaac has reporting that Obama and Pelosi are discussing what to do. We're going to dig into that later in the show, as well. But what are you hearing in the text chains that I know are flying everywhere about where this goes from here?
ASHLEY ALLISON, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: I turned my phone off.
HUNT: I forgive you for that, to be honest.
ALLISON: Yes, you know, I mean, after the debate, I was with -- or during the debate, I was with voters. And I think everybody was like, ooh, dang, that was not great.
But I have to be honest, people are so terrified, including myself, about beating Donald Trump they are disappointed that we are 15 days or however many days, two weeks after the debate, and we're still having this conversation.
Look, I sat on CNN sets a year ago, and I said, if you want to run to be the Democratic nominee, I think anybody should be allowed to do it. Nobody did. Well, a couple of people did it. But --
(CROSSTALK)
ALLISON: But people are, like -- folks are acknowledging, like should be. In the clip you showed of the congressperson, they're like, "I like the Plan B." Plan B is Kamala Harris. And the fact that those individuals have called for Joe Biden to step back, I was talking with someone last night, and they said, there's one job that the vice president has. And it's when the president steps back, it's that the vice president steps up.
And so, I think we're seeing right now some undertones that many black voters, many brown voters still now live, not just in America but still in the Democratic Party. And it's that you don't trust black women, even though you say we're the backbone of the Democratic Party. You aren't listening to black voters who overwhelmingly -- I think it was 67 percent of black voters that, yes, it was a bad night, but we're still sticking with Joe Biden.
You don't trust us in moments of consequence. But you expect us to show up and show out when it's time to actually win an election. And I think people are frustrated.
Last night, I was on this network with a very similar desk, and I said, it's time to move on. It's time we understand the existential threat that Donald Trump faced. And my text chains lit up. And people who I hadn't heard from literally since I worked at the White House 12 years ago were, like, thank you for the courage and leadership.
I will say it again on this network. When I worked for Joe Biden, when I left my job in 2020 at a civil rights organization to go work for Joe Biden, I didn't go work on that campaign in June, this time last -- four years ago because of Joe Biden. I went on it because I love this country.
In this moment, I'm not saying that Joe Biden should be the nominee because I love Joe Biden. I'm saying because I love this country, and I love democracy, and I love the people that look like me and experience the hardest parts when democracy doesn't work for the average American.
So, I don't -- I don't know what's going to happen. I don't have a crystal ball. I wish I did. But it's time to get it together as Democrats. It's time to move on. It's time to rally.
And we're missing the point in these moments when 12, 15 Dems are calling for him to step down -- step down, but nobody is checking the one minute and twenty seconds every time Trump lied on that debate stage. When people are not calling out Project 2025.
It's frustrating, and it feels like you're playing with literally my life as a black woman in this country. And I'm tired of it.
HUNT: So fair enough. I would just offer -- and Isaac, I'm going to put this to you, as a counterpoint in terms of this conversation, how it's continuing. Which is that the Biden campaign itself is actually testing Kamala Harris in internal polling. "The New York Times" write -- writes this: "Under siege from fellow Democrats, President Biden's campaign is quietly testing the strength of Vice President Kamala Harris against former President Donald J. Trump in a head-to-head survey of voters. The survey was being conducted this week and was commissioned by Biden -- Biden campaign's analytics team. It's believed to be the first time since the debate that Mr. Biden's aides have sought to measure how the vice president would fare at the top of the ticket. It could be read as the team gathering information to present a case to the president that his path forward is slim, or to argue that Mr. Biden is still the strongest standard-bearer for his party."
EDWARD-ISAAC DOVERE, CNN SENIOR REPORTER: Yes, look, we don't know exactly what the -- the use of this data is going to be, if -- as it's being pulled together here. I think, to Ashley's point, it is very hard for any person who is aware of not only the rules of the Democratic Party but the -- the way the politics of the Democratic Party, the demographics of the Democratic Party, to see anyone other than Kamala Harris being the nominee, other than Joe Biden.
It doesn't mean it's not possible that someone else could be. But as this has gone on, I wrote the weekend after the debate that people thought that she would have the edge, if there would be a substitution. That has only strengthened. And her -- the way that she has gone about these two weeks and sticking very close to Joe Biden, has made that case for her in the minds of many people.
Look, this is a continuing trauma and turmoil for the Democrats. And when you go and talk to a lot of them, what they say is, I just want it to be over already. I want it to end.
And I have heard people who say to me, I don't want Joe Biden to be the nominee. I -- I want this to change, but I don't even care any more. We just need to stop. And that is what is driving a lot of people here.
I do think, also importantly, look, there are 17 House Democrats who have now stood up and said that they want Joe Biden to step aside. Most of these Democrats would -- some of them are probably not that well known outside of their district, or inside their district.
HUNT: Fair enough.
DOVERE: Right. And also, there is a longer list of people who stood up and said, We want Joe Biden to be the nominee. And there is a -- a way that we think about this where we look toward the people who stood up against the president.
And by the way, it is notable that not many Democrats are willing to take that position. And it's notable, also, that there are many people, including many people who have publicly said that they want Joe Biden to be the nominee who are saying to me and to other people, actually, no. I don't want him to be the nominee.
One House Democrat who has -- is not on that list of 17, who I was really surprised last night, said to me right before the press conference, I'm out. I don't want to do this anymore.
But again, the impetus in a lot of minds is how do we get past this?
HUNT: Yes. Doug Heye, as we've brought up this conversation, Donald Trump is obviously running. And I mean, to Ashley's point, we're not talking about him. We have not. He has been sitting back. There's memes of him popping popcorn in the wake of the debate, watching this conversation play out.
Are they at the point right now where they would rather run against Joe Biden or against Kamala Harris after --
DOUG HEYE, FORMER RNC COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR: They will tell you the same thing publicly and privately. They want to run against Joe Biden. They think that is the best option. They've been planning for it.
Now, the research department at the RNC is -- is and has been doing a lot of research into Kamala and Whitmer and -- and Newsom and so forth. But they want Joe Biden. They think he's the easiest to defeat. And that's because what we saw last night. Obviously, in the debate, in the interview.
And part of it is because why did everybody watch the debate? Why did they watch the Stephanopoulos interview? Why did they watch last night? Because Joe Biden doing unscripted events has become must-see TV for the worst reason possible. Everybody knows that he's walking on a trapeze [SIC], and they want to see if he falls or not.
That's going to continue. That's not going away. That's devastating for Biden.
DOVERE: The truth of it is, that -- that press conference, when they say, we wanted to see Biden do things, he did, for the most part, fine. He answered a lot of questions in much more depth and detail than I think Donald Trump would have been able to do standing up there.
And that's obviously not the question in a lot of minds right now. But it is potentially the question that we will come back to when we think about this election in November.
HUNT: Yes. All right. We're going to continue to talk about this, of course. Up next, on CNN THIS MORNING.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HIMES: You are gambling the future of the United States of America.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: More Democrats calling on President Biden to drop out of the race.
Plus, we've got that new reporting on private discussions between Barack Obama and Nancy Pelosi about the president's fitness for office. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[06:17:22]
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BIDEN: The bottom line is, all the polling data right now, which I think is premature, because the campaign really hasn't even started. I mean, it hasn't started in earnest yet. Most of the time, it doesn't start until after September, after Labor Day. So, a lot can happen.
I know -- I believe I'm the most qualified to govern. And I think I'm the best qualified to win.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: That was President Biden at the press conference yesterday, trying to convince his fellow Democrats he's still the right person to beat Donald Trump.
The reality right now is that a lot of Democrats simply don't believe that.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HIMES: All I can do is look at the numbers right now. No president has ever won with a 37 percent approval rating.
REP. ADAM SMITH (D-WA): You can't undo the debate. It's simply my belief that another candidate can give us a much better chance to win.
REP. BRAD SCHNEIDER (D-IL): The fact is, and as was said earlier, we can't have a situation where every day we're holding our breath. And I we're in an historic moment where the president can pass the torch to the next generation.
REP. PAT RYAN (D-NY): Joe Biden is a -- a patriot and a person of integrity. But we have to be clear-eyed that, in my view, he's no longer the strongest candidate to beat Trump.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: So, Isaac, that of course, is a selection of the officials that are here in Washington who are thinking about this. The real reality, and I've talked to several members who are going back to their districts this weekend. They -- they are talking to voters, and they are seeing polling of voters in their districts who can't get past the news conference.
And I want to play a little bit of a focus group that -- actually, it's Marc Natale (ph) that was with us earlier. In the hour, talking to swing voters about their reaction to the debate. I want to show everybody that.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What emotion does he invoke in you when you see him on TV? Like, fill in the blank: When I see President Biden on TV, I feel "X."
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Worried.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Respect. And sadness.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Scared.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Embarrassed.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Pity and disgust, all rolled into one.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: I mean, Isaac, that's what the president is up against. And as much as, you know, they are trying to change the narrative with -- with him being out there now, do you think it's possible to change what those folks think after that?
DOVERE: I think it will be hard to change it. But look, CNN had a poll after the debate. It was our snap poll. Had -- I think it was 57 percent of people said after the debate that they didn't think Joe Biden was up to the job. But 55 percent of people before the debate said that.
So, the sum of this is baked in. I think the other thing that's going on here is that the words that people use -- and I don't know if that group but in other focus groups about Donald Trump -- are pretty harsh, too.
[06:20:10]
HUNT: True.
DOVERE: It doesn't mean that we -- that Joe Biden is presenting a choice to the American people that a lot of them are thrilled to have. We've known that for a while. And that is the problem that he has been facing for months.
And that -- I think part of what you're seeing with Biden is, it was a 90-minute debate. They say the reason why it hit so hard was not just because of his performance. But it was because of the doubts about him that were long there. And that -- and the feelings that for -- among a lot of Democrats that they never wanted him to run for reelection.
HEYE: You mentioned the 17 congressional members, that they aren't well known. And that, to me, is very striking. Jim Himes is a serious thinking person. Peter Welch, senator from Vermont, I know pretty well. Very serious, hard-working person.
What we're not hearing from are, frankly, the loud-mouths. You know, the people who say, I will not be silenced, and we do nothing but hear from them. The people who say, when is Paul Ryan -- or when is Kevin McCarthy going to stand up and speak truth to power? And at best, they're implying truth to power, which means being completely insincere.
And I can tell you, as the first Republican to stand up and say, I will never support Donald Trump, it's cost me a lot of money. It's cost me contracts, friendships, jobs, all of that. No regrets. The water's warm. Having some dignity is worth it.
And if you're a speak-truth-to-power Democrat, and all of a sudden, Maxwell Frost, Cori Bush, you know, Eric Swalwell, where's he been lately? And you just zoom past microphones, or you say, not I want Joe Biden to be the nominee, but he's our nominee, so let's just move on. I've got to get to this elevator quickly, you're not a serious- thinking person.
HUNT: I will say --
(CROSSTALK)
DOVER: He -- he -- he said he supports Biden.
HEYE: He said, I support our nominee, and he kept walking, earbuds in. That's not speaking truth to power.
HUNT: -- of the Hill, remind you of the Trump era. I have to say that.
DOVER: There's definitely a lot of that going on. But look, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has actually been one of the strongest people sounding off.
HEYE: But they are few and far between.
ALLISON: Can I -- can I just say, I think that, like, we are in -- I'm going to just step away. This is, like, about -- not about Joe Biden and Donald Trump at this moment, and just talk about how politics and how elections are working right now.
Because there are -- I mean, it really, really comes to what is happening right now in our political system, as someone who has dedicated the last 20 years of her career doing this.
There have been indicators in the last six years, and there have actually been outcomes. And the indicators, the polls, the focus groups have been saying that Democrats aren't going to fare well, or that we're going to see a red wave. But the outcomes haven't matched the indicators.
And so, I think that what we're seeing right now, that the tools that we use to gauge where voters are, are a little out of date. And so, when we talk to voters, and they say, you know -- I think we're asking them the wrong questions. It's like, what do you feel when you see that? When they say, like, frustrated.
But when we say, how do you feel about Donald Trump, their concern of Joe Biden is outmeasured by their concern of Donald Trump. And so, it's like, but then -- so how do you make up the difference? And will that motivate you enough to go out to vote?
That's the question we don't know yet.
HUNT: Very quick.
HEYE: So, the focus group you showed, that's Rich Tau (ph). His focus groups are amazing. He spends a lot of time on the double haters.
The problem for Biden here is the double haters tend to skew more female, tend to skew younger. Those are the voters that Joe Biden should have already convinced, and he hasn't. That's a problem for him.
HUNT: I take your point, too, on the indicators, because -- I mean, one thing I'm trying to apply to going into this election is that it's possible that everything that we know is wrong. That has happened multiple times. And so, I think we all need to keep our minds open to something that we have no idea what's ultimately going to happen in the end. So, I appreciate that reminder.
All right. Coming up next here --
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KAMALA HARRIS, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: One thing we know about our president, Joe Biden, is that he is a fighter.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: All right. More on Kamala Harris, staying on message, standing by the president.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[06:23:21]
HUNT: All right. Welcome back.
While more Democrats publicly call on President Biden to bow out, what is happening in private right now? The most telling and possibly most consequential, CNN reporting this morning Barack Obama and Nancy Pelosi have had behind-the-scenes discussions about Joe Biden's fitness and how to move forward. Their talks focusing on how much harder it's become for the president to beat Donald Trump.
The takeaway that we are reporting is that neither of them is quite sure what to do. I guess neither is the country or the Democratic Party, anyway.
Earlier this week, the former speaker raised quite a few eyebrows when she appeared to, quite frankly, kick the exit door back open for Biden to walk through it.
(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. And that's -- that's the way it is.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: So of course, these remarks were so earth-shattering because the president, at the point when she made those comments, already announced he was staying in the race.
Isaac, this is your reporting with our colleague, Jeff Zeleny. Kind of take us behind the scenes. I mean, Obama has been -- President Obama has been so careful about how he's talked about this in public, the thinking being that President Biden is so prickly about his former boss that, if Obama were to weigh in and say Biden should leave, it would actually have the opposite effect. What have you learned?
DOVERE: That part of the dynamic here is that the Obama-Biden relationship is much more complicated than people often understand it to be. They are friendly; they are not friends. One person who knows both of them said to me a couple years ago, neither one of these people really has friends, and they're clearly not friends with each other.
