Return to Transcripts main page

CNN This Morning

Rodney Davis is Interviewed about Republican Politics; Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC) is Interviewed about Secret Service, Donald Trump and Republicans; Gold Star Families Criticize Biden. Aired 6:30-7a ET

Aired July 18, 2024 - 06:30   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:31:27]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT AND 2024 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE (July 21, 2016): This is the legacy of Hillary Clinton, death, destruction, terrorism, and weakness.

TRUMP (August 27, 2020): For 47 years, Joe Biden took the donations of blue collar workers, gave them hugs and even kisses.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KASIE HUNT, CNN ANCHOR: Those past RNC speeches you saw there, Donald Trump has not shied away from going after his opponents in pretty classic Trump fashion. But after his brush with death on Saturday, sources tell CNN the speech he plans to give at the RNC is vastly different than the one that he initially drafted. And they say it will focus on a message of unity.

Trump 2024 Adviser Jason Miller told me this yesterday.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JASON MILLER, Trump 2024 SENIOR ADVISER: Well, when somebody tries to kill you, you have an assassination attempt, of course it's going to change your life. It's going to change your outlook.

And I think that's even what you're going to see with the president's speech tomorrow. I think he's going to talk about his firsthand experience, but also how this applies to what's going on in society today.

President Trump, I think, is going to have a very powerful message.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: Joining us now, former Republican congressman from Illinois, Rodney Davis.

Congressman, thank you so much for being here. RODNEY DAVIS (R), FORMER ILLINOIS REPRESENTATIVE: Thanks for having

me.

HUNT: So, listen, we saw a little bit of what Donald Trump was like.

We all know what he is usually like. And I think the question that we have all been asking is, how much has this really changed him in a way that is going to carry through? Because we've seen some of the - the - there were signs last night, for example, on the floor of the convention saying, you know, mass deportations now, et cetera. I mean some of the more divisive rhetoric is still on display. But, bottom line, this is a man who had a brush with death and it does really - I mean I've hesitated to make this comparison. I - I had a - a brain tumor myself and sort of wrestled as I was going in for surgery, what was this going to mean for my life. It changed me. And this situation was so much more dramatic. I can only imagine that he must really be different, at least for right now.

DAVIS: Well, looking at the aftermath of not just the assassination attempt, I think Donald Trump changed the way he campaigned after that first debate too.

He has been a more calm, more of a candidate who wants to talk about how he can help unify the country. But that was nuclearized after the assassination attempt.

And, Kasie, you know, you were there the morning that me and my friends had to run from bullets on a baseball field. And I can tell you from personal experience, it does change who you are and it does - it does change you for the rest of your life. There's not a day that I go by that I don't wake up and - and think about that morning, that terrifying experience. And I think, as you've seen the convention go on, the talk of unity, many of us would have thought, maybe that would have waned a little bit for a partisan convention. It hasn't. That's why this convention's been such a success.

HUNT: Yes. And we're showing - showing people a little bit from that day back in 2017. And I do remember getting calls and running, you know, in the direction of what had happened to all of you, and then covering the game, of course, afterward. We should note, your colleague, Steve Scalise, gravely injured in this - in this shooting.

What do you - what do you think is incumbent on the former president tonight on stage?

DAVIS: Well, I - I think what Jason Miller said is going to hold true. He's going to be that different Donald Trump. How - I mean, I don't think anybody in America, and especially in - here in the media complex, would have ever thought that Donald Trump, a former president, could be more humanized.

[06:35:00]

But that's exactly what this convention has done. I think it's showed a different sided of Donald Trump. It's a side that I witnessed when I served with him while in Congress. And I think the world's starting to see it. And that's why I think you're seeing Donald Trump become the clear front runner in this race.

HUNT: So, Brad, I mean, what is your - do you - do you - would you be surprised, for example, if we saw a speech from Donald Trump where Joe Biden's name was never mentioned?

BRAD TODD, FORMER SENIOR ADVISER TO RICK SCOTT'S SENATE CAMPAIGN: Well, I think Joe Biden's name will be mentioned, but I think you're going to see a very different tone from Donald Trump tonight. You know, and the two - these two men, they're - they're - they're old war horses, right, and they've - they've - the public knows a lot about them, have very detailed opinions. And the key voters in this election are not happy with either one. And what that means, the tie breaker will be, which one of these guys can show a second act? It's very hard for a seasoned elected official to show a second act.

I think tonight you're going to see a second act from Donald Trump. I think you're going to see more reflective, more unifying Donald Trump. That might be the thing he needs to focus this election on the future. And that's always the challenge. Presidential elections in America are won on the future, not on the past. When you have very - two incumbents, it's very tempting to run on the past. I think tonight's his best chance to move this to the future.

HUNT: Alex Thompson, one thing, honestly, we haven't heard yet from Donald Trump on camera is his sort of reflections or experience - explaining of his experience of what happened on Saturday. We have heard - you know, he has done - he did some interviews. He called Salena Zito, who was at the rally and very close to everything that happened. He talked to "The New York Post." You know, we have a little bit of that. But we haven't heard him actually say it. We saw it - you know, his - his face on Monday night when he first came to the crowd was a remarkably different one.

I'm listening, honestly, for his recollections of the day. Are you watching for that? And what else are you looking for?

ALEX THOMPSON, NATIONAL POLITICAL REPORTER, "AXIOS": Yes, absolutely. And, you know, there's a real question of how authentic this really is. And we're in a presidential campaign. How much of this is tactical versus genuine? I mean, I feel like I've been hearing about the coming Trump pivot now for ten years. But also an assassination attempt is a traumatic thing that can really, you know, affect someone.

And the thing is, the Trump campaign has been very strategic about making little tweaks around him throughout this convention. The fact that he had his granddaughter speak last night and refer to him as a grandpa.

HUNT: Yes.

THOMPSON: You know, Trump, who has often really tried to make this alpha male strength versus not, versus weakness, you know, the fact that they are letting him soften his image at all, which is something he has resisted, clearly is a strategic decision. HUNT: It's interesting. I mean it stuck out to me when JD Vance, last

night on stage, talked about Donald Trump giving his sons kisses on the cheek; Part of me was a little bit like, oh, that feels a little bit awkward, but it does underscore you're sort of humanizing point.

All right, let's turn back now to President Biden. He is off the campaign trail following a Covid diagnosis. Biden facing growing pressure to leave the race for the White House, and that has been coming privately from Democratic leaders, including the former House speaker, Nancy Pelosi and, according to ABC, from Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer. Pelosi and Schumer, it seems, have been convinced by bad polling. "The New York Times" reports that according to a poll from Blue Rose Research, a firm that formed from but no longer affiliated with Future Forward, a super PAC supporting Mr. Biden, just 18 percent of voters and only 36 percent of people who voted for Mr. Biden in 2020 believe he's mentally fit and up to the job of being president. Mr. Schumer, according to the Democrat close to him, was also given data from a leading Democratic super PAC showing Mr. Biden's deficit growing to five percentage points or more in the must-win states of Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Wisconsin. And his deficit in three other key states, Nevada, Georgia, and Arizona, outside the margin of sampling error.

Congressman Davis, these - I mean these numbers are devastating for him and yet he is still digging in.

DAVIS: Yes, he certainly is. And I think it's indicative of who Joe - Joe Biden is. Joe Biden's always been a fighter. I don't see him exiting this race. I mean, as a Republican, I would love to see the Democrats open up the process and have an open convention. I would just sit back with popcorn and be ready to - ready to watch what happens.

We did this on a smaller scale in 2004 with some unknown state senator running for U.S. Senate, Barack Obama, when we had a great candidate in Jack Ryan, but the geniuses of the Illinois Republican Party thought, no, we can find better. And then the party - the party leaders at the time got all this attention and they decided no one in Illinois was good enough. They chose Alan Keyes from Maryland to come take on then State Senator Barack Obama. I hope they open this process.

KAREN FINNEY, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Actually, I'm thinking about the last segment, I've got to tell you, as somebody who also is a brain tumor survivor, who now has a paralyzed left vocal cord and had to change my whole life, thinking, I do hope that the president, in his speech tonight, the former president, I hope we do hear that pivot. But I also hope - it's not just about tonight, it's about what happens in the coming months. And so, I certainly hope, regardless of what happens with President Biden, that if - that - if Donald Trump has certainly faced a change, I hope it's real, and I hope it's - I hope it maintains itself.

[06:40:09]

And I hope we see that. We did here even JD Vance last night attack Joe Biden in some pretty harsh ways. So, I hope we don't hear that tonight. I hope we hear again a conversation about real differences on the issues.

HUNT: Karen, one of the things that I - you know, it's a very difficult conversation to have, of course, in the wake of an assassination attempt, but there certainly were private conversations about how if, in fact, this change is real and - and after what happened played out that it made it even more likely that Donald Trump becomes president in November. If he does manage to show people - convince people, shall I say, that he is changed by this, do you think that makes it that much more likely that he'll win in the fall?

FINNEY: Well, I certainly think it makes it easier for him to make an argument to those double-haters and to those moderates and independents, particularly suburban women who have said consider they do not like his tone, they have not liked the meanness, they have not liked the attacks. I think those voters are still very concerned when it comes to reproductive freedom. But at the same time, it may create an opening for him, honestly.

HUNT: Very interesting.

All right, coming up next here, Republican Congresswoman Nancy Mace joins me to discuss the latest in the investigation into the attempted assassination of Donald Trump.

Plus, special counsel Jack Smith appealing the dismissal of Donald Trump's classified documents case. We'll have more on that in our morning roundup.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:45:44]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DANA BASH, CNN ANCHOR: Do you think the U.S. Secret Service director should resign?

REP. MIKE JOHNSON (R-LA), HOUSE SPEAKER: I'm going to call for her resignation as well. I - look, I - I think it's inexcusable, just - just beyond the classified parts, the things that we all understand, her explanation to the - to the media that there was a slant on the roof, so there was safety concerns for -

BASH: There was a slant for the shooter too.

JOHNSON: Come on. I mean -

BASH: Exactly.

JOHNSON: It - it doesn't - it doesn't wash. And I think she's shown what her priorities are.

(END VIDEO CLIP) KASIE HUNT, CNN ANCHOR: Secret Service Director Kim Cheatle facing louder calls this morning for her to resign after the security lapses that allowed 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks to climb up a nearby building and shoot at former President Donald Trump on Saturday. Cheatle has so far said that she has no plans to resign, infuriating lawmakers who confronted her in the halls of the Republican National Convention last night.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This was exactly what you were doing today on the call. Stonewalling.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This was an assassination attempt. You owe the people answers. You owe President Trump answers.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: Joining me now, Republican Congresswoman Nancy Mace of South Carolina. She is a member of the House Oversight Committee, which, of course, has some jurisdiction and interest in pursuing this matter.

Congresswoman, thank you very much for being here.

REP. NANCY MACE (R-SC): Good morning.

HUNT: Would you join calls for the Secret Service director to resign after Saturday?

MACE: Absolutely. And I'm also urging the Oversight Committee chairman, Jamey Comer, to subpoena the director of the Secret Service, whether she's still the director -

HUNT: I believe she - I believe he has.

MACE: Yes, that was supposed to happen yesterday. And I - I fully support that. She should resign. And she ought to show up.

We had a briefing yesterday. We didn't hear from her on - the brief time I was on the call with members of Congress, we did not hear from her. And she was here instead. She should be in D.C. getting to the bottom of this. Everyone running for president should be protected. And Americans want answers.

HUNT: I mean, I will say, the conventions are - they have a special classification as national security events and typically the director is expected - I think Comer has asked for her to be - to appear in D.C. on Monday.

MACE: Yes.

HUNT: Which there was some back-and-forth about because she initially said she couldn't do that. It lasted perhaps I think it was about half an hour before she had reversed course and said, well, actually her schedule will accommodate her showing up on Monday.

What's your first question for her if in the event that actually unfolds?

MACE: Well, I'm going to get a readout from the briefing yesterday. I'm going to reserve figuring out what questions I want to ask until I know the more information. I don't want to speculate. I want to make sure I have all the information and listen to questions from both sides of the aisle, because this is something that both sides should care about.

In fact, just a month ago, Oversight Committee was investigating an issue with the Secret Service under Kamala Harris. It - there was an outbreak or a meltdown and it delayed her scheduled by over an hour. And so this should be a nonpartisan thing. Democrats and Republicans should be coming together to get to the bottom of it and make sure that - that whether there are morale issues, protocol issues, hiring issues, figuring out what it is.

We know that the building wasn't swept. The guy had a ladder. How'd he climb up on it. There were local rallygoers that were there telling and informing law enforcement there was someone on the roof with a rifle. No one doing anything. You know, I'd like to hear from all the law enforcement agencies that were on-site and how this - how this happened.

HUNT: Congresswoman, you are the first female graduate of the Citadel. There are some Republican lawmakers on the right who have suggested that part of the reason we saw what happened on Saturday was because of too many women in the Secret Service agency. You can see a number of women in the frame as they rushed Donald Trump once these shots start to be fired. And I think it's - it's important to understand - I mean certainly on - I found it important to underscore as much as we're talking about the failures at the top of the agency, that there was clear heroism from the agents that were on the scene there.

I'm wondering, do you share concerns that some are voicing about these women agents and their willingness to - to step in? One of them had apparently protected Eric Trump, who had to speak out publicly and say that he had faith in her.

MACE: Right. No. I, first of all, thank our law enforcement on the ground who are really willing to cover President Trump with their bodies, put their own lives in danger, number one. We have police and law enforcement all across the country that put their lives in danger every single day, and we want to thank them.

But when it comes to hiring practices, one of the - the things that I have heard, and, again, I want to fact check it and make sure that it's right, that there are quotas within the Secret Service about hiring certain types of people, male, female, et cetera.

[06:50:02]

I want to make sure that we're hiring the best qualified people, regardless of gender. That should be the case in - in everything, especially when you're dealing with national security, law enforcement, or even our military. So, there will likely be questions related to hiring practices I would imagine on Monday. HUNT: Congresswoman, the president, tonight, expected to take a different tone. He has - his advisers have told us that he ripped up his old speech after what happened on Saturday. That we are likely to hear a more unifying tone.

You have criticized Donald Trump in the past, at times. Do you feel Americans will be convinced by him taking a tone such as that after having experienced what it was like in his administration and now his campaign in recent years, or not?

MACE: He literally took a bullet for our country on Saturday. I think any kind of moment like that changes a man. I think he was built for this moment. I've looked at what he was saying over the weekend, him and Melania, had a very unifying message. Speaker Mike Johnson conveyed that message from President Trump, that he wants our party to have a unifying message everywhere we go and talk about it.

And I'll tell you, I come from a purple district. And last weekend people were literally pulling their cars over on the side of the road, stopping traffic, blacks, whites, Republicans, Democrats, independents, everyone had something to say. It was all very positive. People want to see us come together for the betterment of our communities, our states and our country. And he's going to do that tonight. He's going to unify a nation.

And this is a moment, it's a historic moment, and I support him, obviously. And he had us on stage last night. We're deeply appreciative. I - I understand the gravity of this moment. I believe he does too.

HUNT: Also on politics, President Biden, obviously, facing more pressure from inside his party to step aside at the top of the ticket. If President Biden stays at the top of the Democratic ticket, do you, do Republican leaders believe you will hold onto the House of Representatives in the fall?

MACE: I do. I think we can have a super majority.

Now the question is, you know, do we - if and when we win in November, I want to make sure that we put our money where our mouth is, that we make good on our campaign promises.

I've been working really hard for three years. And one of the reasons I got into this thing to begin with is I was tired of politicians saying one thing and then doing another.

Inflation is very high. Going to the grocery store is expensive. Gas is almost $4 a gallon in South Carolina. We've got women's issues that we want to address. I talked about that a little bit in my speech last night. There are a lot of things that we need to do to make our communities better across the country. And I want to make sure that we do that.

HUNT: All right, Congresswoman Nancy Mace, thanks very much for your time this morning.

MACE: Yes, thank you.

HUNT: I really appreciate you being here.

All right, 52 minutes past the hour. Here is your morning roundup.

Special counsel Jack Smith appealing the dismissal of Donald Trump's classified documents case. The formal appeal comes just days after Judge Aileen Cannon threw out the case against Trump. The appeal will be reviewed by judges in the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals.

French officials say the Seine is clean enough to swim in for the Olympics. And they are trying to prove it. The Paris mayor, Anne Hidalgo, dove in Wednesday to show efforts to clean the river of E. Coli are paying off.

CNN's Melissa Bell also playing the hero, dove in and offered her own assessment.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MELISSA BELL, CNN SENIOR PARIS CORRESPONDENT: Actually really not as smelly as I thought it would be, and feels not quite (ph) clean, but certainly swimmable.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: Oh my God. OK.

All right, then there's this. Paraguay carrying out the largest cocaine bust in the country's history. Four tons were found inside a sugar shipment to Europe. This is where the video. That is a lot of cocaine indeed.

Jack Black's company rock band Tenacious D has canceled its remaining tour dates after band member Kyle Gass made an onstage joke about the assassination attempt on former President Trump. Both Black and Gass have since apologized.

Can we talk about the Seine for a second? Like, would you swim in the Seine?

JASON OSBORNE, FORMER SENIOR ADVISER TO TRUMP'S 2016 CAMPAIGN: Oh, zero chance.

HUNT: Because, like, I mean -

FINNEY: No. No. I think we have radical agreement on that actually.

THOMPSON: No, I think it would be fun doing it.

HUNT: You would?

OSBORNE: What?

FINNEY: Of course you would.

THOMPSON: I wouldn't want to do it every day. But, like, it would be fun doing it.

FINNEY: Really?

THOMPSON: Just to say you did. Because you just said - CNN - well, it's swimmable.

FINNEY: OK, but she started with, it's not as smelly as I thought it would be. I'm sorry, if that's where you start, really?

HUNT: That's really - oh, my God, that's so bad.

OSBORNE: Even for a gold medal, no thanks.

HUNT: IT's so bad. I know. I know. I - my gosh.

OK. Anyway, let's take a moment to talk about something that I think struck a lot of us who were in the hall last night for the RNC, and that was gold-star families who addressed the crowd. They remembered their loved ones, and they also harshly criticized President Biden.

[06:55:00]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ALICIA LOPEZ, MOTHER OF LATE MARINE CORPS CORPORAL HUNTER LOPEZ: Our son Corporal Hunter Lopez, whose name Joe Biden has refused to say out loud, was killed on August 26th, 2021. He died during Joe Biden's disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan.

HERMAN LOPEZ, FATHER OF LATE MARINE CORPS CORPORAL HUNTER LOPEZ: And during last month's debate, he claimed no service members have

died during his administration.

(BOOING)

H. LOPEZ: None. That hurt us all deeply.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: He went on to name the 13 service members who were killed in a suicide bombing during the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan.

Alex Thompson, can you help us understand - I mean my heart goes out to all of these people for - who have lost their family members. Obviously, it was also very political in that they had this message against President Biden.

I remember this withdrawal from Afghanistan as well as being a turning point for the president in terms of public sentiment. It happened in the - in the late summer of 2021, not that long into the beginning of his term.

How do - how does the Biden team explain what these families were there to try to say, that they don't feel the president has acknowledged their sacrifices? THOMPSON: I mean you're right that his polling has never, ever recovered. If you look at his approval, disapproval rating, it crosses in at that time of the Afghanistan withdrawal and has never recovered.

In terms of what happened last night, this is a completely self- inflicted error on the president's part. And the reason has nothing to do with his advisers. This goes to the president himself. The president is incredibly defensive about his decision to withdraw from Afghanistan and the criticism that came after. And the fact is that Joe Biden, who is known and has plenty of evidence of having, you know, have great empathy for people in grief, it was clear at the moment that that happened that he did not meet the moment. He looked at his watch while people came off - like while the bodies came off that plane. Afterward, the families complained that he was talking too much about his own son, not about their sons. And in response to the criticism from those families, he did not reach back out.

And Joe - and Donald Trump to quick advantage. Starting in September of 2021, Donald Trump was on the phone with these families, meeting with them, spending time with them, and that's why they were on that stage last night is because Joe Biden, who is supposed to be - this is supposed to be the thing he is greatest at.

HUNT: Yes.

THOMPSON: Was to defensive to reach out to those families. And that's why this is now a political problem foremost for the election.

OSBORNE: Well, can I - can I just on one point of view that you made that Donald Trump took advantage of this situation. This is a side of Donald Trump that a lot of people don't see. And that this wasn't, in his eyes, taking advantage of a situation. This is how he is. And there's a lot of instances, and you've heard it a couple times over the last few days where he has reached out not wanting the attention of him reaching out and taking care of people. He wanted to do this. And that's what these families wanted. They just wanted acknowledgement that their sacrifice and that their families sacrifice meant something to the people that they're serving.

HUNT: I mean, look, I think it - I think it is worth noting that former President Trump did, you know, denigrate John McCain's POW service. That's reported that he called people - Americans who died in World War II suckers and losers. He has his own vulnerabilities in terms of needing to demonstrate what was demonstrated last night.

And I think, Brad Todd, the - this - there have been a number of moments, they've been labeling people like this, every day Americans, right? They've been bringing them into the convention. And there have been a number of strong moments around this. But, I mean, the way that they did this at the convention last night was honestly very - it was powerful. It was a powerful move to make.

TODD: It was. Conventions are contrived. And I don't say that in a bad way.

FINNEY: Yes. TODD: It's important to convey what your - what you want the public to see. And the public needs to see what you want them to see.

FINNEY: Yes.

TODD: Right. That's - that's news and it's important. But this was not contrived. These were real people and it was raw emotion and it was authentic. And to see an authentic moment like that, at something as scripted as a convention, I think was - it - it was moving to everyone. And I think it goes to Joe Biden's very real problem. And he's - why he's never recovered from Afghanistan.

Most Americans agreed with him that if - we should get out of Afghanistan, but I felt he did it incompetently, and then he treated these families as if their sacrifice was acceptable collateral damage. That's a real problem.

OSBORNE: Well, and just one last point on that, Brad, from my side, but is that last night, when that - the father read the names, it was not in the script for him to pause and have the audience read the names. And to a person, they read the names out loud. And you could see the emotion on the family's faces, the tears coming down, the lips quivering. It was pretty impactful.

HUNT: Very, very much.

FINNEY: I mean - I appreciate the point that President Biden has made a mistake when it comes to these families.

[07:00:03]

Obviously, Kasie, as you mentioned, former President Trump has had his own.

One thing I would say, I mean, as Brad says, conventions are about storytelling. And certainly both - whether it's a Republican convention or a Democratic convention, moments when we honor the sacrifice of people who have lost their loved ones, particularly these gold star families, which, again, you'll see that at the Democratic convention. I hope it's a moment that brings us together as Americans, to recognize that there are people who are out there fighting for us who make that ultimate sacrifice.

HUNT: That's part of why I wanted to make sure we touched on it today on the show, I have to say.

All right, thank you all for being here this morning. I really appreciate it.

Thanks to all of you for joining us. I'm Kasie Hunt. Don't go anywhere. "CNN NEWS CENTRAL" starts right now.