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Today: Biden To Call For Supreme Court Reforms; Israel Strikes Inside Lebanon After Golan Heights Attack; Simone Biles Dazzles In Return Despite Injury Scare. Aired 5:30-6a ET

Aired July 29, 2024 - 05:30   ET

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

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[05:31:00]

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN ANCHOR: It is 5:30 a.m. here in Washington. Here's a live look at Capitol Hill. Good morning, everyone. I'm Jim Sciutto in for Kasie Hunt. Great to be with you this morning.

Kamala Harris' rise to the top of the ticket is igniting the Democratic Party. In a little over a week, Harris' campaign reports more than $200 million in donations; two-thirds of them from first- timed donors -- that's key. A newly setup TikTok account has more than 3.2 million followers already. More than 170,000 volunteers have signed up to help the campaign and that's remarkable.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KAMALA HARRIS, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We're the underdogs in this race. But this is a people-power campaign, and we have momentum. And since then, in battleground states, people have been flooding our offices around the country to volunteer.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCIUTTO: Donations and volunteers are not the only numbers going up for Harris. A new ABC poll finds Harris' net favorability is also on the rise, up to plus-one. That's a 12-point swing from just after the RNC convention, which is, what, a week and a half ago? Trump has a net favorability in that same poll of negative-16, down since the RNC.

Joining me now, Stephanie Lai, White House and politics reporters for Bloomberg News. I mean, they couldn't have asked for a better first week, right, both in terms of fundraising numbers, the number of volunteers, but also seeing -- let's put those favorability numbers back up on the screen here -- of how hers is going up and his is going down.

STEPHANIE LAI, WHITE HOUSE AND POLITICS REPORTER, BLOOMBERG: Exactly. And this is sort of the first week that we're seeing that Donald Trump is not in charge of the narrative, right?

SCIUTTO: Um-hum.

LAI: You know, all these polls are showing a bump in favorability, even perhaps voters who are more likely to vote for Harris. When it was Trump and Biden there was a much bigger margin. And so this is not a comfortable position to be in if you're in the Trump camp.

And so, we've seen them say time and time again that they're not concerned. They expected some sort of momentum for Kamala Harris in the first few weeks of her campaign just given the fact that there is a lot of excitement. In fact, one of his senior advisers penned a memo on this. But the polls still aren't giving --

SCIUTTO: Yeah.

LAI: -- a very comfortable narrative for the Trump people.

SCIUTTO: I mean, the things that -- they have to opportunities to maintain the spotlight here, right, because you've got a VP pick coming and then you've got the DNC where typically, you might get like a week of -- well, in the current environment maybe three days of attention. But in terms of the news cycle the Harris campaign can extend this a bit.

LAI: Right. So they have up until the end of August, really, because the DNC is going to officially nominate Kamala Harris in the next week or two. They'll then nominate the VP.

SCIUTTO: Yeah.

LAI: And then we go into Chicago. So this is three weeks where Democrats can really seize on the spotlight.

SCIUTTO: So this attack line that you've heard a lot from -- well, the vice president and also the Republicans calling Harris a DEI hire. I understand why that appeals to the MAGA base here. If Trump needs to appeal to middle-of-the-road voters, this is not the way to do it because it seems to be energizing Harris supporters.

LAI: Right. A lot of strategists have been warning that if they choose to take on sexist or racist attacks this could really backfire --

SCIUTTO: Yeah.

LAI: -- for the campaign because this is not the type of attack that moderate swing voters really care about. They just want to hear about what are you going to do for the economy, for immigration. And so while Trump has also been making those sort of attacks he has also really tried to hammer home on the fact that this is the record that he's running on versus painting that picture with the Biden campaign.

SCIUTTO: Yeah. It was interesting to see Donald, Johnson and others -- even them saying publicly hey, guys, let's attack on policy. Let's not attack on these issues.

You and your team at Bloomberg have some new reporting about Trump's change regarding crypto regulation. I mean, it's notable, right, because he's clearly running with this now. But tell us about that change. LAI: Yeah. So, I mean, this is something that we've seen happen over the course of a couple of years, really. Back in his first administration he was not a fan by any means. And over the course of just getting to know more crypto industry executives it seems like he's really likened to the idea of crypto and ensuring that the industry doesn't have as many regulations.

[05:35:03]

You know, just over this last weekend he vowed to fire SEC chair Gary Gensler to ensure that there are more -- or less regulations in place.

And so, this is something that we've seen happen over the course of time, partially because he likes designing NFTs is what we've learned.

SCIUTTO: Forgive me for imagining that this might not be policy and might be more politics. I mean, does he sense that there is a way to juice his support with a particular category of tech bro kind of voters here? Is that -- is that what he's looking to do?

LAI: Certainly. The campaign has even told us that this is a prime group to get votes and donations.

SCIUTTO: Donations, yeah.

LAI: Just since he's accepted crypto donations, they've already raised $4 million.

SCIUTTO: Yeah.

LAI: So this is really a boon for them.

And the other portion of the electorate that they're targeting are voters that might otherwise support RFK Jr., which is another --

SCIUTTO: Ah, OK.

LAI: -- dynamic in this race that we have to account for.

SCIUTTO: Understood. And is the sense still that RFK Jr. is pulling votes more from Trump than from, well, the Democratic candidate? Of course, it was Biden and now it's Harris.

LAI: It's still unclear with the polling. I mean, it's only been a couple of weeks --

SCIUTTO: Yeah.

LAI: -- so I guess time will tell.

SCIUTTO: Stephanie Lai, thanks so much for joining.

Well, this is just into CNN. President Biden set to call for Supreme Court reforms at an event in Austin, Texas later today. The president is making a push for term limits, as well as a binding ethics code for the justices, as well as a constitutional amendment eliminating immunity for presidents.

Biden hinted this was coming at his Oval Office address just last week.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I'm going to call for Supreme Court reform because this is critical to our democracy -- Supreme Court reform.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCIUTTO: Joining me now to discuss, Mychael Schnell. She's congressional reporter for The Hill.

So, we've known Biden has been planning this for some time. We know that this has been on a list of Democratic hopes -- let's call it that for now -- for some time as well. Why now? I mean, why is he pushing this now? Is it a legacy play for him?

MYCHAEL SCHNELL, CONGRESSIONAL REPORTER, THE HILL: I think it's two factors. A) We're still seeing the fallout from that immunity -- presidential immunity --

SCIUTTO: Yeah.

SCHNELL: -- decision that came. I believe it was earlier this month.

SCIUTTO: Um-hum.

SCHNELL: That really shocked a lot of Democrats and galvanized them on the ground and got a lot of -- you know, it fed into the narrative among Democrats that they are concerned about the conservative bent on the Supreme Court and they're concerned about the various decisions that have been coming out from that court, chief among them being presidential immunity. And, of course, the Dobbs decision that overturned Roe v. Wade.

So I think that we're finally seeing some action from that anger that has been building up for months -- even over a year now.

SCIUTTO: Um-hum.

SCHNELL: That's A.

And then the second thing is what you mentioned. I think part of this is legacy. President Biden, in a way, is embarking on his swansong now. He is officially in the final months of his presidency. Not just the presidency but political career, really, that has spanned decades.

SCIUTTO: Yeah.

SCHNELL: He wants to have a memorable mark and do as much as he can in this final -- what is it, four-month stretch until he passes the torch to whoever wins the election. So I think it's also definitely part of that legacy act factor. SCIUTTO: Yeah. I mean, to think about the immunity decision is -- even a lot of conservatives were surprised by how broad the Supreme Court went there.

I mean, the issue though is that this would require a lot of things that just don't exist today.

SCHNELL: Right.

SCIUTTO: A large majority in both houses of Congress. I mean, we've got a constitutional amendment passed today with state involvement. It just -- I mean, it raises the simple question: are any of these reforms realistic? I mean, certainly not before Biden leaves office --

SCHNELL: Yeah -- no.

SCIUTTO: -- but, I mean, in the near term? In the long term?

SCHNELL: It depends on what happens in November.

SCIUTTO: Yeah.

SCHNELL: Look, right now, Democrats have a chance of taking the House. In terms of the Senate, it really looks like a foregone conclusion day-by-day that Republicans are going to take control of that. Now the White House is a true toss-up with the change of the ticket with Kamala Harris taking the nominee position. You know, that has put things more into contention.

But when we talk about having a trifecta for Democrats to be able to get this done, highly unlikely --

SCIUTTO: Yeah.

SCHNELL: -- next year.

SCIUTTO: We do have the top Democrats in the Senate -- Chuck Schumer, Elizabeth Warren -- they both commented on the idea of Supreme Court reform. I want to play that and get your thoughts on the other side.

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SEN. CHUCK SCHUMER (D-NY): This is a MAGA right-wing court. It's already taken the right away -- the right to choose. It could very well go further on that. I fear it will. And it even threatens democracy when it says that a president can get immunity even for certain acts in the presidency. So this court is just a morass.

SEN. ELIZABETH WARREN (D-MA): And I think what Joe Biden will do over the next six months is he's going to keep drawing that to the attention of the American people and reminding them when they vote in November, the Supreme Court is on the ballot. And that is a good reason to vote for Kamala Harris and to vote for Democrats in both the Senate and the House.

(END VIDEO CLIP) SCUITTO: It strikes me that Sen. Warren there just described what the real point of this is. Is it -- I mean, is this about getting out the vote? Reminding voters that it's the president who chooses the Supreme Court justices. If you want more of this, you go one way if you don't. I mean, is this a political play?

[05:40:05]

SCHNELL: I do think a large part of it is. Look, it's not just us who can read the Senate map right now and the dynamics --

SCIUTTO: Yeah.

SCHNELL: -- with House races. It's pretty clear that Democrats are not going to have trifecta next year. Look, we could be wrong. There could be some sort of blue wave that gives them that majority in all three places -- but it's unlikely at this point, and Democrats are aware of that.

But they also know that the conservative bent of the Supreme Court and some of those conservative decisions that have come out from --

SCIUTTO: Um-hum.

SCHNELL: -- the bench have really angered their voters on the ground -- galvanized them. A lot of folks are hoping for a repeat in some sorts of 2022 when the Dobbs decision --

SCIUTTO: Yeah.

SCHNELL: -- overturning Roe V. Wade blunted that expectation of a red wave and had better than expected Democrat performance.

It just has been proven that Democrats are very energized and galvanized on this issue of Supreme Court --

SCIUTTO: Sure.

SCHNELL: -- so top Democrats are hoping to push that to -- those folks to the ballot box with that issue this year.

SCIUTTO: Now, former President Trump -- he's attempting the same thing as regard to the Supreme Court. This is how he was describing how Democrats might influence the court if elected. Have a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: She'll appoint hardcore Marxists to the Supreme Court to shred our Constitution and all of our religious liberties. She will do that, absolutely. She will try as hard as she can to add as many justices as possible to the U.S. Supreme Court. We don't want that to happen, do we? In other words, she wants to pack the court, which is their number one agenda -- and we can't let that happen. We're not going to let that happen.

(END VIDEO CLIP) SCIUTTO: I mean, he doesn't know the meaning of the word Marxist or is deliberately misleading on that.

But they also think they can move voters on influence of the court as well.

SCHNELL: Yeah, sure. Because remember, for years, Republicans have been campaigning on the idea of putting their types of people -- conservative folks on the Supreme Court and getting real wins. And the matter of fact is --

SCIUTTO: Yeah.

SCHNELL: -- over the past two years or so they have gotten that. Again, going back to the Dobbs decision. It was such a seismic decision in this political environment, not to mention the true ramifications it has logistically.

So, definitely, conservatives and Republicans are trying to make gains on just the Supreme Court being in the spotlight right now.

SCIUTTO: Yeah.

SCHNELL: Because -- well, Democrats are coming at it from we need to stop this in-play defense. Republicans, completely on offense.

SCIUTTO: Well, even Trump knows that Dobbs is dangerous territory --

SCHNELL: Yes.

SCIUTTO: -- for him. Actually, not just a little bit.

Mychael, great to have you on this morning.

SCHNELL: Thanks, Jim.

SCIUTTO: Thanks so much for joining.

Coming up next on CNN THIS MORNING --

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ANTONY BLINKEN, SECRETARY OF STATE: We stand by Israel's right to defend its citizens from terrorist attacks.

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SCIUTTO: Israel launching an attack against Hezbollah deep inside Lebanon, raising fears of a wider regional war.

Plus, American gymnast Simone Biles performing through pain as Team USA competes for gold from Paris.

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[05:47:12] (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER (through translator): I can say that the state of Israel will not let this pass in silence. We will not overlook this.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCIUTTO: Overnight, Israel's military following through on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's promise to respond to this weekend's attack in the Golan Heights. Israel released this video of strikes on what it says were Hezbollah targets deep inside Lebanese territory. This in response to rocket strike in the Israel-occupied Golan Heights that killed 12 children on Saturday.

Still no end in sight to Israel's war with Hamas. The latest round of ceasefire talks ending without a deal leaving many to fear the fighting in Gaza could escalate into a broader regional war.

Here is Secretary of State Antony Blinken.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BLINKEN: One of the reasons that we're continuing to work so hard for a ceasefire in Gaza is not just for Gaza but also so that we can really knock (PH) an opportunity to bring calm -- lasting calm across the blue line between Israel and Lebanon. We want to see Israelis, we want to see Palestinians, we want to see Lebanese live free from the threat of conflict and violence.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCIUTTO: Joining me now to discuss, Joel Rubin, former deputy assistant Secretary of State for President Obama. Joel, good to have you on this morning.

JOEL RUBIN, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST, FORMER DEPUTY ASSISTANT SECRETARY OF STATE, OBAMA ADMINISTRATION (via Webex by Cisco): Good morning, Jim. Great to be with you.

SCIUTTO: The read for some time, going back to October 7, has been that despite the risk of escalation that really, none of the parties want escalation, including Hezbollah and Lebanon that Israel focused on Gaza for now. That even Iran, perhaps, doesn't want to go there at this point.

Do you see this as a potential spark to changing that dynamic?

RUBIN: Yeah. You know, Jim, in the Middle East there is never a shortage of spoilers and unfortunately, Hezbollah loves to play that role. They relish it. July-August tends to be the time when flair-ups and major conflict happen between Israel and Hezbollah -- the last big one in 2006.

And they're in these tense ceasefire negotiations, as you mentioned, about Gaza. And then boom, here comes Hezbollah launching an attack unprovoked into northern Israel, killing young children.

So the lid is starting to come off. That said, it doesn't change the fundamentals, which is the need to get stability and a ceasefire and hostage deal in Gaza. But clearly, Hezbollah chose to do this at a moment of extreme sensitivity in those negotiations, and that's a problem.

SCIUTTO: So who actually wants a ceasefire deal among the parties? As I understand it --

RUBIN: Yeah.

SCIUTTO: -- if Hezbollah is playing spoiler here there are questions inside Israel --

RUBIN: Yeah.

SCIUTTO: -- about Netanyahu's own priorities here, whether they're his own political survival or getting a deal across the finish line.

[05:50:00]

And, of course, Hamas -- there have been reads that Hamas wants to extend the conflict rather than have a ceasefire deal.

So who -- other than the negotiators -- Blinken, Bill Burns, the Qataris -- actually wants to get a deal across the finish line?

RUBIN: Well, the Lebanese people and the Israeli people, too, certainly do want to see this calm down.

But in terms of the players at the table, you're right -- you've identified them. We, the United States, Egypt, Qatar, and the Lebanese government as well, which is sort of hosting this Hezbollah body, although if attacked, Lebanon will certainly close ranks.

SCIUTTO: Um-hum.

RUBIN: But they don't want to see their country decimated and destroyed. It was in 2006. And they don't want it to turn into a look of --

SCIUTTO: Yeah.

RUBIN: -- Gaza.

So those are the players. And Iran is out there sort of pulling some strings, to be blunt, regarding Hezbollah. They need to find a way to get Hezbollah to not just throw in darts right in the middle of these negotiations if they want to see it calm down.

But I do think, to your point, the players seem to be itching for a fight. And that's the real problem for our negotiators is that just as they get close, these spoilers come in. This is the history of these conflicts. And hopefully, they can walk and chew gum at the same time. Keep the negotiations going but -- SCIUTTO: Yeah.

RUBIN: -- understand there are going to be these strikes back and forth.

SCIUTTO: I wonder what you think the Israel prime minister's view is of Biden's --

RUBIN: Yeah.

SCIUTTO: -- role in this right now given Biden, in effect, a lame duck? I spoke to Josh Rogin on Friday, and he said that his view was that Netanyahu feels no pressure, therefore, from the U.S. to get a deal across the finish line and he will -- if he does a deal, he'll do it on his -- on his own time.

RUBIN: Yeah, there is a couple of conflicting paradoxes here, right? First and foremost, the American president -- the commander in chief -- when they are free, as President Biden is now, they have a lot of latitude unilaterally to engage and pressure -- and engage without really worrying about the re-election campaign.

At the same time, Prime Minister Netanyahu -- he can't completely try to shape in one direction or the other because he doesn't know who is going to win.

And so I do think Josh is right, but I do think that President Biden -- he has a lot of tools unilaterally to lean in now and really engage in his passion, which is foreign affairs, for the next six months and do so without the concern about spending time on the campaign trail --

SCIUTTO: Yeah.

RUBIN: -- as well as worrying about what Congress will say and do for him.

So he has tools to do unilateral pressure if he wants to and to really lean in on this. And I think this could be a legacy moment for his -- him as well.

SCIUTTO: Well, we'll see how the parties respond.

Joel Rubin, thanks so much.

RUBIN: Thanks, Jim.

SCIUTTO: Well, despite playing hurt, Simone Biles put on another dazzling performance in her Olympics redemption tour in Paris.

Andy Scholes joins me now with this morning's Bleacher Report.

I mean, this is -- it's fantastic. I mean -- and again, by the way --

ANDY SCHOLES, CNN SPORTS ANCHOR: Yeah.

SCIUTTO: -- when she had that injury I'm watching and I'm thinking oh no, please, not now.

SCHOLES: After what happened three years ago --

SCIUTTO: Yeah.

SCHOLES: -- everyone is just hoping that Simone Biles has a happy and healthy Olympics this time around. And when that happened yesterday everyone really just holding their breath. Simone seemed to injure her calf while she was warming up on the floor exercise, but she taped it up and went back out there and just started doing some Simone Biles things.

She was favoring that left leg but still powered through her floor routine, which she finished first in. Biles also landing her signature Yurchenko double pike on the vault. And the four-time Olympic gold medalist finished qualification with a huge lead in the standings.

Biles and the women's gymnastics team -- they're going to be back at it tomorrow competing in the team final.

The U.S. men's national team, meanwhile, opening up play against Serbia yesterday and there were some questions on whether or not Kevin Durant was going to be healthy enough to play for Team USA. He didn't play in any of the exhibitions. But he answered those questions with an epic first half yesterday. Durant coming off the bench starting a dazzling eight for eight from the field. He ended up missing just one shot for 23 points, playing just 17 minutes.

LeBron James was also flexing on Serbia. He had 21 points to go along with nine assists and seven rebounds.

The U.S. would win big 110-84.

And check out this awesome pic of LeBron. Him just flying through the air. Just pretty remarkable what he's doing at 39 years old.

Team USA is going to be back on the court Wednesday against South Sudan.

The U.S. women's soccer team, meanwhile, an impressive performance against the fourth-ranked team in the world, Germany. Early in the first half, Trinity Rodman going to get in the box here -- a nice cross -- and finds Sophia Smith who buries it to the put the U.S. in the lead.

Then later in the half, they'd be up 2-1. And Smith, a strike outside the box. It deflects off the fender and bounces perfectly off the post and in for the goal.

The U.S. would win that one 4-1 clinching a spot in the quarterfinals with one group staged game still to go against Australia.

[05:55:00]

Jim, what's your favorite part of the Olympics?

SCIUTTO: So, I watched the women's team play in one of their warm-up matches --

SCHOLES: Yeah.

SCIUTTO: -- just like a week before they went. So it's been -- it's been great. It's been great to watch them do well.

Listen, I mean, I like -- I like watching the swimming -- no question. It's great to see that.

SCHOLES: Yeah. They do -- they did some photo finishes yesterday that were just amazing.

SCIUTTO: Yeah, it's good stuff. They're not bad. They're faster than me.

SCHOLES: A fun two weeks.

SCIUTTO: Andy, thanks so much --

SCHOLES: All right.

SCIUTTO: -- for joining.

Coming up next on CNN THIS MORNING --

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: She was a bum three weeks ago.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCIUTTO: Donald Trump honing his, well, impolite attacks on his new opponent just 99 days out from Election Day.

Plus, Rep. Eric Swalwell -- he's going to join me to talk about the race reset and where he thinks this is going from here.

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