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First Day Of Republican National Convention In Milwaukee; Biden On Secret Service: "I Feel Safe"; Special Counsel To Appeal Dismissal of Trump Classified Docs Case. Aired 5-5:30a ET

Aired July 16, 2024 - 05:00   ET

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

[05:01:09]

KASIE HUNT, CNN ANCHOR: It's Tuesday, July 16.

Right now on CNN THIS MORNING:

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LEE GREENWOOD, MUSICIAN: Ladies and gentlemen, the 45th president of the United States and soon to be the 47th president of the United States.

Please welcome Donald J. Trump.

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HUNT: Donald Trump gets a hero's welcome at the RNC just days after surviving an assassination attempt.

Plus, pointing fingers. The Secret Service and local law enforcement playing the blame game after the fatal shooting at Trump's rally.

And President Biden sits down for a major interview. He talked about his age, his faith in the Secret Service, and whether it was a mistake to call for a bullseye on Trump.

(MUSIC)

HUNT: All alright, 4:00 a.m. here in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, it is 5:00 a.m. in Washington, a live look at the Fiserv forum where everything went down last night where this convention will continue to unfold this evening.

Good morning, everyone. I'm Kasie Hunt. It's wonderful to have you with us.

A dramatic entrance and moment last night in that Fiserv Forum for Donald Trump as he arrived for the first night of the Republican National Convention. It was his first public appearance after a would- be assassin nearly took his life.

(VIDEO CLIP PLAYS)

HUNT: With his right ear bandaged, he gave a fist-pump to the crowd in Milwaukee, as he formally became the Republican presidential nominee for the third time in eight years.

Joining him in the moment, his newly announced running mate, Senator J.D. Vance of Ohio, the 39-year-old Vance, just 18 months into his first term as a U.S. senator, just sit on this one for a moment because I do think it is worth reflecting on the magnitude of the way that this felt in the hall last night, a real celebration and coming together for a party. It is very clearly Donald Trump's now.

And that wrapped into it, people who perhaps may have been still skeptical of former President Donald Trump because of what happened on Saturday.

But the other big news, of course, was the selection of Vance, who previously was a sharp critic of Donald Trump's.

Let's listen to a little bit of that.

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SEN. J.D. VANCE (R-OH), VICE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I'm a never Trump guy. I never liked him and I've -- but I've noticed this willingness from people who think a lot, like I do, that, look, we told you so.

To all these white working class voters, we told you so. We told you that Trump was going to be terrible candidate.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: Now, though, of course, fans will be with Trump at the top of the Republican ticket as those delegates approved his nomination without objection.

Our panel is here to discuss. Catherine Lucey, White House reporter for "The Wall Street Journal", Mychael Schnell, congressional reporter for "The Hill", Matt Gorman, former adviser to Tim Scott's presidential campaign. We also have with us Meghan Hays, former message director, message planning director at the Biden White House.

Welcome to all of you.

Mychael, I'm pretty sure you've been up overnight.

Matt Gorman, you've got the facial hair that J.D. Vance now. You're looking at that old clip --

MATT GORMAN, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: I do. Trend setter.

HUNT: -- why he got that beard.

GORMAN: Does it look great?

HUNT: It adds a lot.

Let me start with you in terms of what we saw last night because being in that hall, I will say, you know, I've covered a number of these political conventions. It was one of those moments that stands out as one that you are going to remember later for obvious reasons.

And the president -- former president was honestly, he was subdued. He almost seemed I couldn't quite see close up enough, but he almost seemed emotional as he greeted the delegates in the hall.

GORMAN: You know, I kept leading to hear when Trump would emerge, right?

[05:05:01]

He didn't come as they normally do, introducing your vice presidential nominee, he let Vance, do that by himself. And so, I kept waiting. What was the moment they were going to use to have Trump emerge with its first time, and it was a great moment.

And you're right. He did seem a little bit more subdued in that that is consistent. What we've been talking about since is this going to be a little bit more of a different Trump, but maybe even in the short term and we see that carry through the convention.

HUNT: Mychael Schnell, thank you for -- you're here with Laura Coates in that very chair, how many hours ago? Not very many hours.

MYCHAEL SCHNELL, CONGRESSIONAL REPORTER, THE HILL: Who's counting? Who's counting?

HUNT: But we're very grateful to have you. Can you talk a little bit about this -- the sort of spectrum of the people that we heard from last night. It did range from some of the hardest core MAGA people like Charlie Kirk for example. But it also included Sean O'Brien of the teamsters as clearly the Republicans are trying to lean into expanding -- the changing nature. I will say there is a political realignment that were all living through.

SCHNELL: Yeah. I mean, I feel like Vance is the encapsulation of that. You showed the clip just before he was a self-proclaimed, never Trumper. Now he's on the ticket with Donald Trump. So, I think it shows how the Republican Party has changed over the past eight years now with, as you mentioned, Trump being this the third time, he's the nominee.

And you're right. There were a wide array of Republicans who spoke last night. I think that this all plays into the idea that they're trying to push unity at this convention, especially in the wake of the shooting at Saturday's rally. This has been a really important message.

I spoke to somebody -- I spoke to Senator Tommy Tuberville yesterday, before sort of things kicked off, he said he had been at the convention center and in Milwaukee for about 24 hours at that point. He said he felt like the rhetoric was being brought down, the temperature was being brought down at this convention in light of Saturday's events.

I think that that really got into the minds of a lot of folks and Republicans right now, want to show a united front and that's about what we saw last night.

HUNT: And, Catherine Lucey, one of the things that we've been talking a lot about is how or whether the incident on Saturday has changed Donald Trump and Jon Karl at ABC had an interview with him on the phone, asked if the former president of a close call with a bullet striking has right here changed him.

I don't like to think about that, but yes, Trump said, adding that the incident has an impact and it seems like you could see it on his face last night.

CATHERINE LUCEY, WHITE HOUSE REOPRTER, THE WALL STREET JOURNAL: Yeah, it's -- only read so much from this moment, but he certainly, he was subdued. He seemed emotional. His family seemed emotional and he played his record quiet role, right? He was taking it in and taking in this night the whole the whole hall when he came in, I think as you said, when you were there, it really was an electric moment.

And so I think were going to see how this plays out through the week. We know Republicans really want to emphasize a message of unity, bringing together these disparate factions and we have to see what this means for his speech going forward also.

HUNT: Right, for sure.

Meghan Hays, we have talked so much, of course, in recent weeks about President Biden's debate performance. Also, of course, Donald Trump, the assassination attempt that we witnessed Saturday in horrific fashion.

But there is this bottom line reality about this election, about basically every election that the economy often dictates which way any race goes. And you did see the theme of the Republican convention last night was make America wealthy again. But I think the moment that stood out to me he was one where they brought her name is Sarah Workman. She cast her as, hey, here were going to hear from everyday Americans, but she spoke very eloquently about her own personal story, received a standing ovation.

I want to just play a little bit of that and talk about on the other side, watch.

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SARA WORKMAN, ARIZONA SINGLE MOTHER: The Democrats' open border policies have shattered my family. With drugs so readily available, my husband fell victim to the drug epidemic. It tore our family apart. And now I raise my son alone.

But I know there is hope.

(APPLAUSE)

WORKMAN: That is what this election represents for all of us who have been forgotten over the last four years

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: This does seem to be something that I mean, she put it very personal face on, something that, you know, I'm used to hearing from politicians and much less personal way.

When you see that, how do you think about the president's team? The president's team, and what they should be doing being around, what they're telling voters.

MEGHAN HAYS, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Look, I think that when you get down to the conventions versus the policies that these are times where they get to highlight their stories and highlight the policies aren't working for them and working for them at the convention. But I mean, the President Biden and his team, had a bipartisan border bill up and the Congress didn't pass it on the direction of Donald Trump.

[05:10:04]

So, where I understand where they're personalized. I also -- we can't lose sight of the reality here. And there aren't, these policies aren't -- this is not the time to highlight where the Democrats and the Republicans are disagreeing at their convention, but they are highlighting what the Democrats are doing wrong to bring people and they need independent voters.

This woman is very touching. Obviously she's talking about her husband and losing her husband to drugs and that's very upsetting.

And, obviously, addiction touches the Biden family very closely as we all know, but I just like we cant lose sight of reality that they did try to have a border bill. They did try to do things and they are being stopped by MAGA extremists.

So I just you know, its a little what we expect in a convention for being honest and the Democrats will have the same story, the highlight and the Republicans will counter. So --

HUNT: All right, fair enough.

Okay, coming up next here, new details out of Pennsylvania where a gunman tried to take Donald Trump's life.

Plus, beefing up secret service protection. Robert F. Kennedy Jr. will now get his own detail.

And severe weather hits the Midwest with hail, tornadoes, and high winds.

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[05:15:29]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I feel safe with the Secret Service. But look, you saw the -- what we did see was the Secret Service who responded risked their lives responding. They were ready to give their lives for the president.

The question is should they have anticipated what happened. Should they have done what they needed to do to prevent this from happening? That's the question that's -- that's an open question.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: All right. President Biden weighing in on his own security detail just days after the attempted assassination of Donald Trump.

Now, Trump's vice presidential pick, Ohio Senator J.D. Vance, demanding answers after the massive security failure.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VANCE: I think there needs to be a full-scale investigation. We need to understand what happened, because clearly mistakes were made. And look, the Secret Service ran up there. They put their bodies over and they reacted quickly. That's not what worries me.

What worries me is why was there a shooter 150 yards from the president of the United States? It doesn't make an ounce of sense.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: CNN reporting this morning that the incident has pitted local law enforcement against the Secret Service, both arguing it was the other group's responsibility to secure the building where the gunman was locating -- located, and now a source tells CNN that he local sniper team was stationed inside the building where the gunman was located, and the FBI and DHS are warning of possible retaliatory attacks according to a rare joint intelligence bulletin obtained by "Politico". No specific targets were mentioned in that.

Our panels here.

You know, let me actually, Meghan Hays, can I bring you in here? Because we did hear from the Secret Service director in an interview yesterday, shed spoke to ABC News, but there have been a number of press conferences that law enforcement has done that the secret service easily could have had leadership attend they declined to do that.

And now, it's a bit unseemly for the people that are charged with protecting the president. He is their protectee, the former president, and the president of the United States, to basically say, well, it's to point these fingers. It, I guess I am really struck by what feels like a lack of accountability on this.

I'm wondering your take and what pressure you believe the agency's leadership should come under for this.

HAYS: I mean, I think they're under an incredible amount of pressure right now. I mean, the buck does stop with them. They are in charge of protecting, all of these folks.

I would say that like I said yesterday, you know, we need to wait for an investigation, and nobody's should be pointing fingers at anyone.

I would have -- I mean, I'm not sure that way would have gone out there unanswered questions if I were in her position right now, I don't think there's enough answers to have an interview. I think that just creates more questions than answers in these types of situation. I mean, it's an unfortunate situation, but they need to do an investigation. They need a thorough investigation, and then they need to present that to folks and then answer the questions that the additional questions that people have.

So where it's unfortunate, but these men and women are at the RNC protecting, you know, a number of protectees that are there. They're still on the road protecting the president and vice president and their families. They have an incredible job and I don't want to lose sight of the job that they are still doing every single day.

Did they have a massive security failure on Saturday? Absolutely. But do we need to find answers and figure out what happened? Yes. We also need to do that.

HUNT: Sure. I mean, fans noted this and I've tried to note this repeatedly on the air as well. That, of course, we saw agents leap into action. No one is trying to question their heroics that were on display in that moment.

But Matt Gorman, the broader issue is one where I was watching a little bit of the interview that at the draft Dr. Cheatle did with ABC, and she almost seemed reluctant to say the buck stops with me. She did say that in the end, but it clearly was putting her in an uncomfortable position. And that's dissonant.

GORMAN: And remember, she took over after a series of scandals about five or six years ago in the Secret Service. There was a fence jumper, you know, repeated fence jumpings in the White House. There's also an issue down in Colombia with the conduct of some agents down there.

So this isn't suddenly a pop-up thing that's certainly something is, you know, the Secret Service. And I'm not surprised to see law and local law enforcement and Secret Service going back out and there's an old saying that you put one finger at the government. There's always five more pointing back right at you. So you're going to see a little bit of a CYA moment here, I think between the two of them.

HUNT: Yeah. Well, and our John Miller, our law enforcement analysts that formerly of the New York police department, noted that the president or the former president goes to New York City. There are over 1,000 law enforcement officers available at the disposal of the Secret Service to help.

And that's just not the case in a place like Butler, Pennsylvania, right?

[05:20:00]

Mychael Schnell, what do you expect to see you cover Congress day in and day out already. They've been trying to figure out what the best way is to approach this. There will be an investigation, but what do you know about -- about how they're going to go about it?

SCHNELL: Yeah. The next big day to watch out for is Monday, the House Oversight Committee already has a hearing scheduled with Secret Service Director Cheatle, and she's expected to come and testify and answer questions from lawmakers on both sides of the aisle. Oftentimes, we call these congressional hearings grilling. I think that this one is definitely going to be a grilling, just the fact that it was an assassination attempt on the former president, A. And the fact that, B, there's bipartisan agreement here, that there was perhaps a lapse in the system of why this was able to happen.

So, Monday is going to be a very big day. It's the first day that Congress is back in session after this long recess, Republicans here in Milwaukee for the convention, it's going to be a really interesting day on Capitol Hill.

HUNT: Yeah, for sure.

All right. We've got a lot more to get to this morning. Coming up next, Donald Trump's classified documents case gets dismissed. The latest on special counsel Jack Smiths next move.

Plus, President Biden gives his first interview since the assassination attempt on his political rival.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BIDEN: I told him how concerned I was, and want to make sure I knew how he was actually doing. He sounded good. He said he was fine.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

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[05:25:41]

HUNT: All right, 25 minutes past the hour. Here's your morning roundup.

Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. will now get Secret Service protection. President Biden made the call yesterday, just days after the attempted assassination of former President Trump.

The special counsel's office planning to appeal the ruling by a federal judge to dismiss Donald Trump's classified documents case. District Judge Aileen Cannon tossed the case yesterday on the grounds that the appointment of special counsel Jack Smith violated the Constitution.

Teoscar Hernandez becomes the first Dodgers player to win the MLB's homerun derby. The slugger had a grand total of 49 home runs, earning him the title and a million bucks. It was his first time ever appearing in the contest. It's awesome.

Lets go now to weather. The Midwest -- in the Midwest are cleaning up after severe weather caused more than 350 storm reports stretching from Iowa to Illinois. We also saw some of it here in Wisconsin, but it was Chicago. They've got some of the worst of it. This is video of a lightning strike last night near Buckingham Fountain. Some travelers at O'Hare airport were forced to shelter in place, and this is what it looked like inside a plane on the tarmac at O'Hare during some of the worst of it.

Let's get to our meteorologist Elisa Raffa.

Elisa, I find flying into O'Hare is generally a poor life decision. In the best of times, obviously, they had some particularly challenging circumstances yesterday. What are folks looking at today?

ELISA RAFFA, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Yeah. I mean, there were some observed tornado warnings around O'Hare last night, around Chicago. You could see all of the warnings from the line of storms that came through and triggered so many tornado warnings for Chicago.

We had wind gusts in that line of storms to 105 miles per hour, 97 mile per hour wind gusts in Holy Cross, Iowa, as well, Chicago O'Hare clocking 75 mile per hour wind gusts in that line of storms, is still more than 500,000 people across the Midwest without power this morning from all of this intense wind that came through.

Here's a look at radar right now. You can see the intense line of storms has waned weekend overnight, but we'll continue to find this maybe reignite some as we go into the afternoon today, we do have a severe risk that lines are part of the Midwest, the Ohio valley going into the Northeast for damaging winds, maybe some isolated tornadoes and some large hail. So we could see these storms blow up again this evening across the Ohio Valley, probably were not looking at as intense of an event tonight. And then the storms do pushes to the East Coast going into tomorrow -- Kasie.

HUNT: All right. Elisa Raffa for us -- Elisa, thank you very much.

All right. Coming up next here on CNN THIS MORNING: Who is J.D. Vance, Donald Trump's pick to be vice president?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VANCE: He just said, look, I think we got to go save this country. I think you're the guy who could help me in the best way. You can help me govern, you can help me win. You could help me in some of these Midwestern states like Pennsylvania and Michigan and so forth.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

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