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Harris, Trump Try Out New Lines of Attack; Biden to Call for Supreme Court Reforms; Simone Biles Dazzles in Return Despite Injury; 30M+ Face Heat Alerts in Central, Southeast U.S. Aired 6-6:30a ET

Aired July 29, 2024 - 06:00   ET

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

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN ANCHOR: It is Monday, July 29. Right now on CNN THIS MORNING.

[06:00:14]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT, 2024 PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: If a crazy liberal like Kamala Harris gets in, the American dream is dead.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCIUTTO: Well, apocalyptic rhetoric there. Donald Trump trying to pin down his new lines of attack on his new rival.

Plus, President Biden set to unveil plans to reform the Supreme Court, or at least try to.

Plus --

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

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SCIUTTO: A rocket attack killing 12 children in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights. Israel vowing retribution.

And this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. TIM WALZ (D-MN): But these guys are just weird. That's --

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCIUTTO: It's getting weird. Kamala Harris and her top allies rolling out new messaging to describe Donald Trump and J.D. Vance.

It is 6 a.m. here in Washington. Here's a live look at the White House. Good morning, everyone. I'm Jim Sciutto in for Kasie Hunt. Good to be with you this morning.

Ninety-nine days until America votes. It is all about messaging now. Kamala Harris and Donald Trump testing out new attack lines to see what sticks.

Harris and her allies already deploying their new strategy. They're trying to cast the former president and his V.P. as weird.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WALZ: We're not afraid of weird people.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No!

WALZ: We're a little bit creeped out, but we're not afraid.

DOUG EMHOFF, SECOND GENTLEMAN: It's not about her, or her opponent really. This -- no matter what kind of weird stuff they keep saying.

KAMALA HARRIS, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Donald Trump has been resorting to some wild lies about my record. And some of what he and his running mate are saying, well, it's just plain weird.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCIUTTO: Trump's messaging is much darker. He's trying to make the case that Harris is dangerous. And worse, in his words, than President Biden. He won't be softening the tone -- A lot of talk about that, you'll remember -- any time soon.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: She's a radical left lunatic.

She has no clue. She's evil.

I want to be nice. They all say, I think he's changed. I think he's changed since two weeks ago. Something affected him.

No, I haven't changed. Maybe I've gotten worse.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCIUTTO: "Gotten worse."

Let's bring in Elaina Plott Calabro, staff writer for "The Atlantic"; Meghan Hays, former special assistant to President Biden; and Matt Gorman, former senior communications advisors to the Tim Scott presidential campaign. Good to have all of you here with me this morning. Hope you had your coffee.

Meghan, I want to begin -- this weird line of attack is interesting to me, because the Biden approach had been Trump is a genuine danger to democracy, right?

They're -- they're dealing with him and Vance with a little bit of a smile and saying, you know what? They're kooky, as opposed to a danger. One, is that deliberate? And two, do you think that's smart.

MEGHAN HAYS, FORMER SPECIAL ASSISTANT TO PRESIDENT BIDEN: I think it is deliberate, and I think it is smart. I think what they're trying to appeal to a younger audience, right? You've seen a lot of things go viral in the last week or so.

And I think they're just using normal rhetoric and normal tones that everyone talks about. And so, it's more, you know, conversational, I think. So, I think it is smart. Smart tactic for them.

SCIUTTO: Matt, you hear all the attack lines from Trump there. I mean, again, offensive? Whatever you want to call it. Lunatic, you know. All this kind of stuff.

There was all that talk a million years ago -- what, like ten days or two weeks ago -- that Trump was going to be softened by his experience of this near assassination attempt. He said it in so many words.

First of all, there was no evidence of that. Second of all, he said in so many words, he's going to be worse. So, he's -- that -- that turn, that moderation ain't going to happen.

MATT GORMAN, FORMER SENIOR COMMUNICATIONS ADVISORS TO THE TIM SCOTT PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN: There's a new race, right? Like he's run against Joe Biden. He had a comfortable lead. And you know, he wasn't -- he didn't put the pedal the metal, which he does now, running against Kamala.

And the weird stuff is funny, in a way, because I think it's one of the reasons why you don't let the candidate or candidates or principals kind of do a lot of the messaging.

I think it's problematic in two respects. No. 1, when it's weird, it reminds me of when a candidate I used to work for, in numerous ways, would only rely on their biography. It's like congratulations, you grew up with no indoor plumbing, but then how -- you fail to make the next step.

What does weird mean for the voter? And so that is what they're failing right now at.

And the second part is, there's a bit of a distance. And you saw this with Tim Walz yesterday. They're weird, but then they're also a threat to democracy. And one is trivial, and one isn't. So, there's a dissonance there.

SCIUTTO: You've got to pick.

GORMAN: They have to pick. And so, it's fun -- it's a little -- very online right now and we just have fun with it. If this is going another week or two, that's what would tell me a little bit red flag.

SCIUTTO: Well, let's look at how it's playing. Granted, it's early. But let's look at the favorability ratings post-RNC.

Harris has gotten a big jump, a shift of 12 points. He was -11 just after the RNC. Now she's plus one.

Trump has gone down. We can put this up on the screen. He's gone down five points since then.

I imagine Republicans look at the number. And again, it's early and we've got to get to, you know, see how these numbers play out over the next several weeks. But that's not a good week for Republicans.

[06:05:05]

ELAINA PLOTT CALABRO, STAFF WRITER FOR "THE ATLANTIC": No. And it sounds almost banal to put it this way, but I think we can't overestimate the impact of just having a Democrat at the top of the ticket who is out there on the ground.

SCIUTTO: Yes, 100 percent.

CALABRO: And we're not talking about 8 p.m. bedtimes anymore.

But the sheer visibility of Kamala Harris in the one week since, you know, she became the presumptive nominee, I think is just such a stark contrast from Joe Biden that that's -- that's huge for voters right now, all across the age spectrum.

SCIUTTO: And the energy level, the communication: the clear communication, vibrant communication. That's -- that's a marked turn for Democrats.

CALABRO: Absolutely.

SCIUTTO: Meghan Hays, I'm sure you've been looking at the numbers, as all of my Democratic friends and contacts have. Some of the public polling clearly shows a shift in that the race is at least closer, although I've spoken to Democrats who said that if the race were held today, Harris still would not win, but she's moving positively in the voting groups that she needs to. Is that -- is that your read of where it stands?

HAYS: Yes. And I also think she's showing up the coalition, the base coalition that the president was losing. And I think that she's out there, and she is providing a new energy. She is raising a lot of money. And I think that is exciting to Democrats.

I think she's bringing in these independent women voters that we were struggling to get before that Trump and Vance definitely need to get. And like, we have to still remember, the election is going to be one in five or six states, and 10,000 or 20,000 votes each of these places. So, it's very close in all these battleground states.

And so, shoring up the base and getting some of these independent Nikki Haley voters to come to the Democratic Party, I think is like where we were going to be successful here in November.

SCIUTTO: So Matt, J.D. Vance -- Trump chooses J.D. Vance at a dramatically different moment in this race, a million years ago, ten days. A couple weeks ago. GORMAN: It seems like it, yes.

SCIUTTO: You might call that a confidence -- I'm calling it an over- confident choice.

Now, you have J.D. Vance, who's -- who's had some stumbles. No question. And also, you have this, you know, "childless cat ladies" kind of line which -- which they're getting a lot of mileage out of here.

Was he a mistake for Trump, given the race is fundamentally different?

GORMAN: No, no. Because also, you can't -- you can't look in the future too much on that. What I will say is this, right? We're seeing this a little bit now. We always kind of joked and made front of the Republicans keeping going on Sunday shows and the V.P. search process. Now, Democrats are with Mayor Pete and others out.

But look, why -- what was the one thing Vance was better than any other vice-presidential kind of aspirant in the process? He was the best communicator. He was the best on mainstream media.

So, what I would do now is you have to put him back out there. You have to make sure -- you can't hide him away on, you know, kind of right-leaning podcasts. Put him back out that. That was a strength. That's what won him this. Have them go back out there again.

SCIUTTO: But is he -- is he the best communicator when you're trying to -- if you're not trying to win over Donald Trump Jr., say, and you're trying to win over Nikki Haley voters and others, is J.D.

Vance your best bet?

CALABRO: J.D. Vance, to me, and the reason, for months going back, I always knew he would be the pick for Donald Trump, is that he had a coalition within Trump's orbit that no other candidate did.

You might have a couple of individuals -- Susie Wiles, someone else who loved Marco Rubio; a scattered few who loved Doug Burgum. But J.D. Vance again, Don Jr., Eric Trump. All of the people that work around them have been lobbying for this pick for months.

So, I think that's what made it settled. I don't know how much it had to do with how great he was as a communicator, necessarily.

SCIUTTO: Right. Let's look briefly before we go, Meghan Hays, at the numbers. This is a FOX News polling over the weekend, battleground states. The only states and the real -- only polling that really matters in this race. We'll put it up on the screen.

But Michigan, Trump-Harris tied. Pennsylvania, tied. Wisconsin, Trump a little bit ahead, but basically a tie statistically. And a larger lead for Harris in Minnesota.

These are different numbers than Biden was polling. How do they -- when you look at those, do you see a fundamentally different race? HAYS: Yes, absolutely. And I think that the enthusiasm and excitement

that's shown the last week. But I think that Democrats need to be careful. We have this bounce, because we're enthusiastic about the ticket now.

SCIUTTO: Right.

HAYS: Then we're going into the convention. We'll have a V.P. pick. But then the false -- it's going to be a slog. This race was always going to be close.

SCIUTTO: Yes.

HAYS: It's always going to -- was always going to be one or two points. The three- to six-point thing wasn't -- I don't think was realistic.

And I think that we're just -- we are leveling out where we were supposed to be. And when we hit after the Democratic convention, it is going to be a slog through the fall.

SCIUTTO: Yes. Now it's a knife fight, right?

HAYS: Yes.

SCIUTTO: Matt Meghan, Elaina, thanks so much. Not going to be the last time we talk about this.

Coming up, President Biden set to call for term limits and other significant reforms to the Supreme Court.

Plus --

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, PRIME MINISTER, ISRAEL (through translator): The state of Israel will not let this pass in silence. We will not overlook this.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCIUTTO: Israel vowing that Hezbollah will pay the price for a deadly rocket attack.

And Democratic Congressman Eric Swalwell, who's going to join me live to talk about the state of the presidential race, in his view.

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[06:15:21]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BIDEN: I'm going to call for Supreme Court reform, because this is critical to our democracy, Supreme Court reform.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCIUTTO: President Biden, making good on a commitment from last week's Oval Office address. Today, he is set to unveil his plans for Supreme Court reforms.

That includes a term limit of 18 years for justices; a binding ethics code; and a constitutional amendment that, if passed, would limit immunity for presidents.

Biden's proposal comes after months of increasingly sharp criticism of the court's conservative majority.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BIDEN: There are going to probably be two more appointments to the court. There's probably two people going to resign -- resign, retire. Just imagine the court if he has two more appointments coming back, with them being forever.

[06:15:06]

The Supreme Court made a terrible decision. I think the justices he appointed have, in fact, been the most conservative. And I -- I would argue if you're targeted -- survey constitutional scholarship, it -- they seem out of touch with what the founders intended.

The Supreme Court has never been as out of kilter as it is today. Look, the fact of the matter is that this has never been a court that's been this far out of step.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCIUTTO: My panel is back with me now.

Meghan, if I could begin with you, because as a practical matter, certainly not going to happen before Biden leaves office. And you know, the political hurdles took to passing this through Congress and so on.

So, is this -- is it really a legacy announcement here, or is it about motivating voters in this election to focus attention on -- on a president's power, right, in determining the direction of the court?

HAYS: I think it's both. I think the president has always been someone who's for the institutions. And I think that this court specifically has gone a little far right.

And the ethics violate -- or the perceived ethics violations, I think, are disturbing to him and upsetting. So, I think that it is the legacy.

But I also think it is -- it is motivating for voters. I think that Roe v. Wade being overturned was a huge wake-up call to Democrats, especially.

So, you know, I think it is a little bit of both for him. SCIUTTO: Now, let's look at the numbers here, because the confidence of the Supreme Court is -- is way down. It's only been going in one direction, down; in a recent poll to well below 20 percent.

But this is key, too. When you ask people what Supreme Court justices are driven by: more likely to provide fair, independent checks on other government branches, 28 percent; 70 percent believe more likely to shape the law to fit their own ideologies.

I mean, the truth of the matter is that's a problem for both parties, because it gets to the credibility of the institution, which frankly, has an enormous amount of power over people's lives, arguably, to some degree, more than Congress, more than the elected bodies.

GORMAN: Yes, I mean, I think that -- that tells me is that the court didn't necessarily get more polarized, but we did and how we view it, right? It's almost like Congress now.

SCIUTTO: That's not entirely true. I mean, with the end of the filibuster, you can -- you can get justices confirmed that have positions that, frankly, wouldn't have gotten them confirmed in the past.

GORMAN: But we've been having that fight for over 20 years now, right? Why is it in these last 20 -- or last two years, suddenly, with these -- this rash of rulings, has that happened, right?

I think -- and look, I think the play you're seeing here is almost an inverse of what Republicans did in 2016, right? Trying to make the Supreme Court an issue, motivating the voters in the same way they tried -- the Republicans haven't done successfully for years.

Look, you're not going to get -- maybe, maybe, maybe some sort of ethics thing in, maybe. And not any time soon. But the rest are going to be non-starters. It's more of a campaign thing, more than anything else.

SCIUTTO: But Trump himself seems to be aware of the political dangers here, particularly as relates to Dobbs, right? Because he will -- he will claim credit for, as he did, Supreme Court justices that he appointed, that overturned it. But pull back from a national ban.

And he doesn't advertise it with certain voters. So, he sees the dangers here of that particular decision.

CALABRO: You know, it's -- I find -- I found it so striking at the debate, among the other striking things of that debate, was that you had the Republican candidate, whose heart is not really in an abortion ban necessarily. This is not an issue that gets him going ideologically.

Contrasted with Biden, who is the same way but on the Democratic side. But still trying to convince their own bases that they are the right pick to sustain that coalition.

And what we saw in 2022, especially with Democratic voters, is that they are motivated to turn out --

SCIUTTO: Right.

CALABRO: -- based on the issue of abortion. I think that's why the predicted red wave never crashed, as it was supposed to.

And I don't think that anybody, especially Republicans, should underestimate the degree to which it can again motivate voters in November.

SCIUTTO: It is interesting, and I want both your thoughts on that, because there is a school of thought among Republicans that -- that, you know, yes, you drove voters in 2022, but it's a fading issue in 2024.

Do you buy that? And then you, Matt. Do you buy that?

HAYS: No, I don't buy it at all. I mean, like, look what happened in Arizona.

SCIUTTO: Yes.

HAYS: Like, I just don't think that's a fading issue. I think that it is very important for women.

I think you see --

SCIUTTO: Yes.

HAYS: -- it's polling really well for women. It also polls for independent women, which is again where we need to win the election.

So, I just -- I don't think it's a fading issue for Democrats.

SCIUTTO: There's no way for a Republican candidate to -- to play that issue, right? Women voters are not going to be snowed by wishy-washy positions on this topic.

So -- so how does -- how does a Trump, how does a Vance handle it?

GORMAN: It's -- what I think it comes down to is, right. Abortion is one of those issues as a Republican that -- that, you know, puts a lot of our party on our heels. And I think what this -- I'm convinced that this -- this election is going to come down to is, you have certainly abortion, rightly so, has an historical precedent to have kind of a good election motivator.

You also have immigration now as what are those single-issue voters going to go on, right? In the past -- 2020, 2022 -- who -- who's crawling over broken glass to vote? People who were voting on abortion.

[06:20:03]

So, what you have is abortion on the left, where the left loves to talk about it, right not so much. Abortion [SIC] is vice versa. The right loves to talk about, the left not so much.

And with -- those are going to be doing battle, I think, for salience. And with the economy floating above all. Whoever wins that abortion versus immigration battle is going to tell us a lot of who's going to win this election.

SCIUTTO: All right, stay with us. More to discuss.

Just ahead, four puppies and their mother saved after spending days trapped in the California Park Fire. Check out those pictures there. You've got to see this, this morning.

Plus, highlights from the Paris Olympics as Team USA brings in its first gold medals over the weekend.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SCIUTTO: Well, Team USA is off to a hot start at this year's Summer Olympics, winning three gold medals during the opening days of the competition this weekend. That's good for 3rd so far. Their 12 medals overall are more than any other country.

But the biggest news is who may or may not be going for gold. Amanda Davies joins us now from Paris. So, tell us what you're following.

may or may not be going for gold. Amanda Davies joins us now from Paris. So, tell us what you're following.

AMANDA DAVIES, CNN SPORT: Morning, Jim.

Never before has anybody in gymnastics brought a crowd the likes of Lady Gaga, Tom Cruise, Anna Wintour, Ariana Grande. That is the Simone Biles effect, making her Olympic return.

And while she gave people a scare with a heavily taped ankle and calf, with some the images of her sitting on the sidelines speaking to the Team U.S. doctor, pretty scarily reminiscent of what we saw in Tokyo.

Thankfully, she was able to perform in style. It didn't stop her helping Team USA qualify top, as well as posting the highest score in the individual all around.

And she says she's doing as well as she can ahead of Tuesday's final. But from Team USA's oldest female gymnast in over 50 years to the pool and the oldest U.S. swimmer since at least 1904 to win their first Olympic medal.

Congratulations, 31-year-old electrical engineer Nic Fink, grabbing silver by the tips of his fingernails in a really tight 100-meter breaststroke final.

But as far as the home support was concerned, the night belonged to 22-year-old Leon Marchand, a student of Arizona State University, who's got his sights on emulating the success of Michael Phelps.

He's been working with Phelps' coach Bob Bowman and last night claimed France's first Olympic swimming gold since London 2012, winning the 400 IM in Olympic record time.

He added a gold medal to the gold goggles he wears. And pretty worryingly for his rivals, he's got three more events to go.

And we don't know how many more times we're going to be seeing two legends of tennis on course as they approach the ends of their careers.

But in some epic scenes, Britain's Andy Murray fought back from the brink in his doubles match with partner Dan Evans to make sure his retirement's postponed for at least one more day.

And 14-time French Open winner Rafael Nadal has secured himself an epic, if tough, second-round singles match on the court. That's been the scene of so many of his most iconic moments in Paris.

He's up against none other than 24-time Grand Slam champion Novak Djokovic. Incredibly, Novak still looking for his first Olympic gold. It's going to be a great day.

SCIUTTO: Yes, Amanda. What an exciting weekend there.

So, do we think Simone Biles is going to be OK going forward?

DAVIES: Well, from what we saw yesterday and from what she said to the media, yes.

There was a little jig as she finished her performances. It was a thumbs-up. Was definitely strapped. She was definitely not feeling 100 percent, but she looks like she's good to go.

SCIUTTO: Boy, this French swimmer seems to be, like, swimming on an entirely different level.

Amanda Davies, thanks so much for joining.

All right, 27 minutes past the hour. Five things you have to see this morning.

Take a look at a hot air balloon landing right in the middle of a neighborhood near Tacoma, Washington. According to Seattle Ballooning, winds pushed the balloon off course, forcing the pilot to land safely in the street, with a little help from the neighbors.

Jhonattan Vegas had a run-in with the law on his way to winning the PGA tour's 3M Open on Sunday. Take a look at this tee shot on 12. It landed on a police officer's arm.

Vegas got a free drop, parred the hole and went to capture his fourth career win. He did not hit off the police officer's arm.

Parents competing in the Olympics now have something never before offered at the Games -- amazing, this has never been the case -- a nursery in the Olympic Village.

It includes private spaces for nursing mothers and play areas, and a family lounge.

The firefighters are still struggling to contain an enormous fire in California. The Park Fire has already burned an area of greater than the size of Los Angeles. It is only 12 percent contained by firefighters.

An evacuation warning has been issued for the town of Paradise, which was incinerated, you may remember, by the deadly Camp Fire back in 2018.

A helicopter rescue team saving a Rottweiler and her four puppies, who were stranded in the Park Fire -- check them out there -- after the owner was forced to evacuate.

Cute little ones.

While the West could see a bit of relief from record heat earlier this week, parts of Central and Southeastern U.S., they face more triple- digit temperatures.

Meteorologist Derek van Jam [SIC] -- van Dam, tracking all of this for us.

Gosh, when I look at your map, all I see is red. So, tell us where the worst of it is.

DEREK VAN DAM, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes, good morning, Jim.

So, this is the 30 million Americans that are under the risk of excessive heat this week. So, Omaha to St. Louis, Oklahoma City to Dallas. This is an area that's going to see the potential, at least, for triple digits, if not upper 90s, above-average temperatures for many.

Ao if it's not over the West, it's over the Central and Eastern parts of the country, right?

[06:30:00]