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CNN This Morning

Mass Outages Hit Airlines, Business Worldwide; Trump Gives Long Acceptance Speech, Deviates from Prepared Speech. Aired 6-6:30a ET

Aired July 19, 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: Five a.m. here in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. It is 6 a.m. on the East Coast.

[06:00:34]

Here's a live look at Philadelphia International Airport. Why are we showing you this? A worldwide IT outage has caused dozens of flights around the globe to be grounded this morning. Major airlines, including Delta, United and Spirit, all impacted at this hour.

So, if you are planning on traveling today, you might want to check on it before you get out the door.

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

We have just learned that American Airlines, which had been grounded, saying that they've been able to resolve their technical issues. They put out this statement just minutes you go saying, quote, "We've been able to safely re-establish our operation. We apologize to our customers for the inconvenience."

This issue is not just impacting airlines. Also, banks and stock exchanges in Europe and Asia.

CNN's Marc Stewart following all of these details for us from Beijing.

Marc, what is the latest? I understand we're learning more about what may have caused this?

MARC STEWART, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Kasie, since we last talked about 40 minutes ago, we are getting a little bit of clarity as to what appears to have happened.

We are hearing now from the CEO of CrowdStrike. This is a cybersecurity firm that Microsoft uses to help provide cybersecurity for its online products. And now we are hearing from this president and CEO, George Kurtz.

He says that CrowdStrike is actively working with customers to deal with a defect found in an update for Microsoft Windows. He goes on to say this is not a security incident or some kind of global cyberattack, making a point of saying that this issue has been identified and fixes -- if you will, repairs -- are now being deployed.

So, the good news in all of this is that this potential problem, this problem, has now been identified.

The issue is that it has had a lot of ramifications worldwide. Here in Asia, but as we are seeing as people wake up in the United States, it's also having far-reaching problems in Europe, as well as in the U.S.

As you mentioned, airports and airlines are being affected, including Delta, Allegiant. It appears that American Airlines is having some resolution with its flights, but a lot of carriers, not only in the U.S. but also worldwide, have been dealing with -- with problems such as Cathay Pacific here in Asia, as well as KLM in Europe.

So, we could see some lingering effects in the problems there.

Banking and finance also seeing a big impact. It was this afternoon in Asia when a lot of people working at offices suddenly saw blue screens.

But this is impacting so many sectors of life. Kasie, in particular, we learned of a grocery store chain in Australia that was having problems taking orders.

So, the problem's big and small, but if it's happening to you, it's certainly -- it's certainly significant.

HUNT: For sure, and our Tom Foreman was also reporting that, even if you've got a doctor's appointment, you might want to check on that, because some hospitals and other places are being affected. This is a very widespread problem across, as we've been saying, the world.

Marc Stewart, thank you very much for that report. Do keep us posted. I'm sure we'll be talking to you throughout the hour.

But let's get back to our big political story here in the U.S. The -- the drills are running behind us as they are breaking down the set here, the stage where, for the third time in a row, last night Donald Trump officially became the Republican nominee for president of the United States.

With that bandage still covering his wounded ear, the former president walked onto that stage last night in cinematic, Trumpian fashion.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

(MUSIC: "PROUD TO BE AN AMERICAN")

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: At one point, he stood right in the center of that "Trump" in lights.

And what followed was not the speech that Trump had planned to give even a week ago. Saturday's assassination attempt did change everything.

What it was -- with the story of that fateful afternoon in Pennsylvania. That is where Trump began his remarks.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT, 2024 PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: When I heard a loud whizzing sound and felt something hit me really, really hard on my right ear. I said to myself, "Wow, what was that? It can only be a bullet."

[06:05:16]

There was blood pouring everywhere. And yet, in a certain way, I felt very safe, because I had God on my side. I felt that.

When I rose surrounded by Secret Service, the crowd was confused, because they thought I was dead. I raised my right arm, looked at the thousands and thousands of people that were breathlessly waiting, and started shouting, "Fight, fight, fight."

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Fight, fight, fight! Fight, fight, fight!

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Fight, fight, fight! Fight, fight, fight!

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Fight, fight, fight! Fight, fight, fight!

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: And those chants of "Fight, fight, fight," they started, honestly, in this room before Donald Trump even got to them in his speech, and they continued on the floor of the RNC. It's really become an unofficial battle cry.

Trump then honored the member [SIC] -- the memory of Corey Comperatore, the rally attendee and firefighter who was killed during the shooting at the rally on Saturday.

Former President Trump used that powerful moment to call for national unity.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: In an age when our politics too often divide us, now is the time to remember that we are all fellow citizens. We are one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: Remarkable.

Now let's imagine if Donald Trump had stopped there. We would have heard that message of healing and unity. But he did not stop there. Trump spoke for another 75 minutes. His speech often deviated from the teleprompter. I could see it. I was sitting right here last night. And you could see

it, the screen. And it just froze for minutes and minutes at a time. And we heard a series of things like this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: I watched the other day on a show called "Deface [SIC] the Nation." Has anyone seen it? Every week they get another subpoena from the Democrats, Crazy Nancy Pelosi, the whole thing. Just boom, boom, boom.

The election result, we're never going to let that happen again. They used COVID to cheat.

It's nice to get along with someone that has a lot of nuclear weapons.

Or otherwise, if you took the ten worst presidents in the history of the United States -- think of it -- the ten worst, added them up. They will not have done the damage that Biden has done. Only going to use the term once, Biden. I'm not going to use the name anymore, just one time.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: Or twice. Who's counting? He did mention Biden. Does that it -- there was that one instance. Two -- two uses of the name.

But of course, he launched numerous jabs at Democrats.

In total, he spoke for an hour and 33 minutes. He broke his own record for longest nomination acceptance speech ever. He set that at 2016 at the RNC.

And what began as a convention speech, in the mold that many of his advisers previewed, became a classic Trump campaign speech.

Here was my colleague Chris Wallace, who I was sitting next to last night, about how this all went.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHRIS WALLACE, CNN ANCHOR: I couldn't help but think the people that are going to be happiest tonight are not the people at Trump headquarters. But the people -- the Democrats, maybe at Biden headquarters, maybe at the headquarters of other people who think they're going to replace Joe Biden. But Jake, we have ourselves a presidential campaign again.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: Presidential campaign again.

All right. Our panel's here. Joining me now, Stephen Collinson, senior politics reporter; Brad Woodhouse, former communications director for the Democratic National Committee; and Scott Jennings, former special assistant to President George W. Bush. Welcome, all of you. How much sleep, collectively, do we think we've all got? Maybe four

hours among us?

BRAD WOODHOUSE, FORMER COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR, DEMOCRATIC NATIONAL COMMITTEE: Six between us, maybe.

SCOTT JENNINGS, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Kasie, I'm simply running on adrenaline and Hulkamania at this point. That's it. That's all I got.

HUNT: Yes. Well, Scott, I will say, the energy that you had as we were up in that booth earlier in the evening, when Hulk Hogan did take the stage --

JENNINGS: Amazing.

HUNT: -- I'm still feeding off of it here this morning.

JENNINGS: My childhood hero.

HUNT: Stephen Collinson, I want to start, though, with big picture. And you paint these so well for us.

I mean, going into this, I mean, I had talked to advisers to Donald Trump who had said he is a changed man. What happened on Saturday is going to completely change his speech. He's not going to say Biden's name a single time. The message is going to be unifying.

And, you know, I think we laid it out there. If he had stopped, you know, 20 minutes into that speech, that's what we would have gotten. But at the end of the day, it seemed pretty clear that the man that was on that stage was still giving us a lot of what he has been giving Americans for the last eight plus years.

[06:10:01]

STEPHEN COLLINSON, CNN SENIOR POLITICS CORRESPONDENT: Right. Donald Trump knows what his people want.

I've heard a million times that Donald Trump has changed. During his presidency, he was always just about to pivot to be more presidential. But he is who he is.

I thought the speech was moving. We saw a side of Trump that we don't usually see. It was vulnerable, which he really does not like to project on most occasions.

And for anyone slightly disposed towards him, I think it could have been quite effective.

And I'd ad that people stood -- sat there for an hour and a half, if they don't like Trump, and watched all the other stuff. But there's plenty for Democrats to work with.

But inside the hall and for Trump's fans, this is almost a Spiritual experience at the end of a campaign [SIC] -- of a convention which has many of them thinking they're going to win this election. They're even going to win the popular vote, is what some people are telling me.

So, they're pretty happy.

HUNT: Brad, you look like you want to jump in.

WOODHOUSE: Well, look, I agree with Chris Wallace. I thought it was a good night for Democrats. And if you did tune in late to that speech, what you got to see was typical a Donald Trump rally speech.

It was grievance. It was rambling. It was incoherent at times. It was angry.

And you know what? One of the things that has hurt Republicans the most since -- since the insurrection is the president [SIC], President Trump. And Republicans continuing this election denialism.

And we saw it all over again last night, that somehow, we weren't in charge, but COVID robbed him of -- robbed him a second term, that we cheated. He attacked Nancy Pelosi.

I mean, it was not a unifying speech if you tuned in after about 15 minutes.

HUNT: Right. I mean, and that's absolutely fair.

I want to spend a moment, Scott, because I think this is something you remarked on last night, the showmanship. And --

JENNINGS: Yes.

HUNT: -- you were just looking, and you guys, let's put some of those -- those pictures back up. I mean, we can begin with the Vegas-style klieg lights and Trump's silhouette against his name in lights.

And then you're also looking at -- that's the White House, right? Like they built a -- basically, a stage of the White House and during many of these moments where he was talking about -- I mean, there's the firefighter's uniform, of course, Corey Comperatore, who was killed at the rally.

He had pictures from the assassination attempt plastered on these massive video screens as he was talking about what happened. There's his == his entry into the hall. That of course, just resulted in the whole place erupting.

I mean, this was Trump, the showman, at its very best.

And we can also -- Scott, I want to get your thoughts. I know you're also obsessed with what Hulk Hogan did in the convention itself.

JENNINGS: Yes.

HUNT: We can watch some of that, as well.

JENNINGS: So --

WOODHOUSE: Do we have to?

JENNINGS: This is a -- what are you -- you guys not know what Hulkamania is across the aisle?

HUNT: Here it is. Turn him up. Turn him up.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HULK HOGAN, FORMER PROFESSIONAL WRESTLER: That's enough. And I said, let Trumpamania run wild, brother! Let Trumpamania rule again! Let Trumpamania --

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: OK. All right, Scott.

JENNINGS: All right.

HUNT: It's too early. It's too early for that.

WOODHOUSE: We've had enough testosterone for one night.

JENNINGS: All right, all right, all right.

A couple things. No. 1, when I saw those -- that "Trump" in lights, remember the old Elvis staging that -- like the red "Elvis"? I mean, it reminded me of that, "A."

"B," brad, I appreciate -- I appreciate everything you said. Literally as Donald Trump was ending, your most vulnerable Senate candidate in Montana was putting out a press release, begging and demanding Joe Biden get out of the presidential campaign.

Here's what we learned last night, is that the Trump campaign is putting out feelers to Americans who aren't really all that connected or maybe just, you know, a little bit connected to our political system. And that's the point of these speakers and some of what they did this week.

I mean, Hulk Hogan speaks to a whole group of people that, you know, maybe don't ever watch political conventions.

HUNT: Right. Well, that --

JENNINGS: That's the point. And so -- and that's how Trump wins ultimately here.

Remember, he polls best among the people who are least politically engaged. This whole convention threw out people that were designed to reach those audiences, I think they did that last night.

The retelling of the shooting was incredibly effective. And what we learned at the end of the night, and at the end of the week, is that Donald Trump was ahead and remains ahead, probably by a little bit more. And that the Republicans are the party of fun.

And the party of democracy, Brad, is organizing a coupe against the president of the United States. That's what we now know.

HUNT: Well, speaking of -- I don't know if it's fun exactly.

JENNINGS: Let's -- wait, we have a dog in a wagon.

HUNT: No, no.

JENNINGS: We have Hulk Hogan. We have --

HUNT: Trying to throw to a sound bite, Scott.

WOODHOUSE: Let me tell you, the dog -- the dog was the highlight of the convention. I will -- I will give you that.

HUNT: OK. Jim Justice's Babydog.

WOODHOUSE: Oh, my gosh. Babydog.

HUNT: I know. We'll have to dig -- I mean, let's see if we can dig out some -- some V.O. (ph). But let's look at --

WOODHOUSE: I'll take Babydog over Hulk Hogan.

HUNT: Fair enough.

We put together some moments that I think perhaps Scott will identify as fun.

JENNINGS: Yes!

HUNT: I'm going to play that for you. You all can decide if you agree with Scott or not, but let's watch it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: How good was Dana? Was Dana good? She said, you can't turn him down. You just can't do it. You have to go. That's a good wife.

[06:15:06]

Jason Aldean, he's good. I like his -- I like his wife even better, by the way. She's here.

And Green Bay's going to have a good team this year, right?

And how about the Hulkster? How good was he?

When he used to lift a 350-pound man over his shoulders and then bench press him two rows into the audience.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: Slightly different than what I was expecting. I -- we -- you know, we also had Kid Rock.

JENNINGS: Yes. HUNT: Come down here and play a song that was, let me tell you, weigh different from what we heard when he played for Mitt Romney and other Republicans. I was, like, very struck by that disparity, as well, Stephen.

COLLINSON: You know, Republicans have had trouble getting celebrities to their conventions over the years. Democrats, you know, especially in the Obama era, everyone wanted to get on stage with the Obamas.

So, I guess this is an improvement. Donald Trump is a showman. I think you can learn a lot about Donald Trump and his politics by thinking about Hulk Hogan and wrestling. And that is the kind of smashmouth politics and showmanship that Trump has --

WOODHOUSE: Unity.

COLLINSON: Yes, well --

HUNT: Chris Wallace called it testosterone.

COLLINSON: Right. But that's -- that's how he appeals to a lot of people, as you say, that aren't into politics.

I didn't think Hulk Hogan was particularly unifying, as you say, but --

WOODHOUSE: Or Kid Rock. I mean "Fight, fight, Trump, Trump." I mean, the lyrics, you know.

JENNINGS: Wait a minute.

COLLINSON: We went one moment from Hulk Hogan to Franklin Graham, which was kind of a bit of an odd --

HUNT: Well, that was a real --

JENNINGS: Listen.

HUNT: That was a real swing.

JENNINGS: Listen -- listen. If you grew up in, like, rural or exurban Midwest Southern states, like the idea that you watched wrestling and then maybe went to church or vice versa, believe me, that -- that is a -- that is an experience that was very, very familiar to you.

I mean, but think about the Republican coalition, about what they're trying to put together. And ultimately, that was like the message of the week. We got a big tent. We got union -- I'm sorry, we stole your union boss. Sorry, Brad.

WOODHOUSE: Well, and then -- and then he attacked. He attacked one last night. Said he should be in jail.

JENNINGS: We got -- we got union bosses. We got Instagram influencers. We got professional wrestlers. We have singers. To your point, I've been going to Republican conventions for 24 years.

We just don't normally have this kind of popular culture star power at a convention hall. And of -- and it made the vibe in here pretty cool.

WOODHOUSE: Well, the vibe may have been cool in here, but I have to say that that performance last night, Hulk Hogan, the head of UFC, Kid Rock. I don't think that that is turning out suburban women in this election the way -- the way that -- the way that convention planners maybe think that it will.

But you know, we'll see.

JENNINGS: Brad -- Brad, who are you running for president? I mean, I think the -- the question of the morning is, who is your candidate for president?

WOODHOUSE: Well, I will tell you who our candidate for president is. Joe Biden until he says different.

JENNINGS: You heard it here first. Until he says different.

WOODHOUSE: Big caveat.

HUNT: Well, we're going to dig into that in some detail in a bit.

I mean, we finally found -- this was Kid Rock last night. We can listen to him. Let's listen to him for just a second.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

(MUSIC: KID ROCK)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: I'm playing this just to kind of underscore Scott Jennings' point that this is -- I mean, someone else -- I think it was, I think, David Urban quoted our colleague John King, by saying, "Toto, we're not in Kennebunk anymore."

JENNINGS: Yes. And that -- again --

HUNT: That, of course, a reference to George H.W. Bush --

JENNINGS: His -- his --

HUNT: -- who would not fit in here.

JENNINGS: Let me -- let me draw a line that's going to make Brad's head explode. Let me draw -- let me draw a line between Donald Trump, 2024, and Barack Obama, 2008.

Two candidates, one similarity. They each have the capacity to change the composition of the electorate.

Obama, his superpower was bringing people into politics that no one else could touch. It is the same power that Trump has. And that was what you saw in the design of this convention.

WOODHOUSE: I don't know how Trump has that power. I mean, he lost the popular vote --

HUNT: There's a lot of people -- a lot of people voted for him that don't -- don't vote in their life.

WOODHOUSE: But he's never gotten -- won the popular vote. He lost the election by 7 million votes in 2020. I don't know what this massive coalition is that he has.

And then every election that he was involved in after he won in 2016 -- '17, '18, '19, '20, '21, '22, '23 -- Republicans lost with Donald Trump's influence. I mean --

HUNT: Yes, although I will say, also -- look, your point is very well- taken. However, Donald Trump was not leading in either of the presidential elections --

JENNINGS: Yes.

HUNT: -- before in the polling, and he is this time.

All right. We've got to move.

Coming up next here, how the race for the White House has changed -- Has it? -- after Trump's off-teleprompter RNC speech.

Plus, we're covering this breaking news. A major tech outage grounding flights, causing issues around the world. Banks, stock markets, television networks. We're going to bring you the latest.

And we'll have a conversation with the former Democratic Congressman Tim Ryan. He joins me live as we sit and wonder what is Joe Biden's future?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:25:00]

HUNT: All right, breaking news impacting people around the world. This is a live look at Philadelphia [SIC] International Airport, where it doesn't seem -- or I'm sorry, it's Atlanta International Airport, which honestly, there should be a little bit more activity going on there, I would think.

This airport is one of the many experiencing major tech issues around the world, causing delays and issues for travelers.

The FAA saying that several major U.S. carriers, including Delta, United and Spirit are under a full ground stop. American Airlines tells us that they have reportedly resolved their issue.

We're also learning that public transportation, including trains and buses in Washington, D.C., have also been impacted by the outage.

In Europe and in Asia, airports, banks, hospitals, news outlets, and stock exchanges, all suffering similar outages.

The tech disruptions appear to stem from a software update issued by the firm CrowdStrike. The company's CEO says that the issue has been identified, and a fix is in the works.

CNN's transportation analyst, Mary Schiavo, joins me live now. She is the former inspector general of the U.S. Department of Transportation, as well, and can help us understand the impacts here.

Mary, this seems like a very remarkable event. How often does something like this happen? And what can people expect in terms of trying to get back -- you know, when things are going to get back up and running in a normal way?

MARY SCHIAVO, CNN TRANSPORTATION ANALYST: Well, in terms of how often this happens, unfortunately, the answer is rather vague but important, more (ph).

We have seen various outages with different systems. As you recall, last year, we had a number of outages concerning air traffic control and the -- and the ability, literally, to control and separate the aircraft.

This is different in that it includes data and transmissions on the cloud and cloud storage systems and connectivity and communications. So that affects all the scheduling, the timing, the crew scheduling, getting the planes up and out.

So, it's a little different than what we've seen sometimes in the past. But this is a massive outage. And -- and obviously, it's software that affects other companies.

Getting back to normal, well, for aviation, if you have a hiccup in the morning, by the afternoon, you're in total meltdown. So, it won't be back to normal today.

But the good news is, is the company has said -- the software company said -- has -- says they have rolled out a fix. So, you know, by tomorrow, things should be normal.

HUNT: So Mary, I'm going to -- I'm going to ask you a selfish question, but I guess it's on behalf of the thousands of other people that are starting to wake up in their hotel rooms here in Milwaukee, trying to get out of the Republican National Convention.

If you had a flight booked this morning on one of these airlines between, you know, now and noon, what would you do?

SCHIAVO: Oh, I'd be -- I'd be on the computer, trying to find if it's really going to go. I'd be looking up a backup solution. I'd be looking something else as a back-up.

And of course, now, on a lot of airlines, now, especially newer airlines allow cancellations even up to the last minute. So, people can find a backup. But it looks like for most -- for several airlines in the U.S. and elsewhere, other places in the world, operations won't be back to normal until they apply this computer fix that they know what they have to do, but it hasn't been applied at all the airlines yet.

HUNT: All right. Mary Schiavo, thanks for scrambling to get on with us this morning as we cover this breaking news. I really appreciate it.

SCHIAVO: Thank you. Thank you.

HUNT: All right. Let's turn back now to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JIMMY FALLON, HOST, NBC'S "THE TONIGHT SHOW WITH JIMMY FALLON": That's right. Biden has COVID. Luckily, he can't spread it, because Democrats have been distancing themselves from him since the debate.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WOODHOUSE: Come on! Come on!

HUNT: As a -- our panel is a little -- reacting to that. A COVID- positive President Biden is reportedly weighing whether to stay in the presidential race.

A second sitting Democratic senator is calling for him to step aside. In a statement yesterday, Senator Jon Tester of Montana wrote this: quote, "I've worked with President Biden when it has made Montana stronger, and I've never been able to -- afraid to stand up to him when he is wrong. And while I appreciate his commitment to public service and our country, I believe President Biden should not seek reelection to another term."

Why is this so noteworthy? Tester is a vulnerable Democrat, facing an uphill reelection bid, and his concerns highlight how Biden's candidacy -- candidacy could hurt the party's chances in the House and the Senate this fall.

One widely circulated internal -- internal memo said this: "Defending Biden's fitness for office is an untenable position for down-ballot Democrats."

Joining me now is former Democratic Congressman from Ohio, Tim Ryan.

Congressman, good morning to you. Thank you very much for being here.

TIM RYAN (D), FORMER OHIO CONGRESSMAN: Good morning.

HUNT: You, of course, ran for the Senate against the now vice- presidential pick in Ohio. The other Senate seat in Ohio is going to be on the ballot. Sherrod Brown is defending his seat in November, as well.

What is your reaction to what Tester said here? Are -- are you looking to see -- do you think that Sherrod Brown will follow suit? And do you agree that it's untenable.