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CNN This Morning
Gov. Walz Makes Debut As Harris VP Pick; Yahya Sinwar Named New Political Chief Of Hamas; Tropical Storm Debby Forecasted To Make Second Landfall. Aired 5-5:30a ET
Aired August 07, 2024 - 05:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[05:00:38]
KASIE HUNT, CNN ANCHOR: It's Wednesday, August 7th.
Right now on CNN THIS MORNING:
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KAMALA HARRIS, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Welcome the next vice president of the United States, Tim Walz.
(APPLAUSE)
(END VIDEO LCPI)
HUNT: From a relative unknown to Kamala Harris's running mate, Tim Walz gets his warm welcome on the campaign trail.
Plus:
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. J.D. VANCE (R-OH), VICE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: My view on it is it just highlights how radical Kamala Harris is.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: The GOP waste no time rolling out their attack lines against Kamala Harris's pick.
And --
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GOV. JOSH SHAPIRO (D), PENNSYLVANIA: Tim Walz is a great man.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: How Josh Shapiro went from the odds-on favorite to falling short in the race to be Harris's choice for vice president.
(MUSIC) HUNT: All right. Five a.m. here in Washington. A live look at Capitol Hill on this Wednesday morning. I believe it's Wednesday. It's a Wednesday, yes.
Good morning, everyone. I'm Kasie Hunt. It's wonderful to have you with us.
The message from Minnesota Governor Tim Walz. Let's win this thing after vice president, the current Vice President Harris chose him to be her running mate.
(VIDEO CLIP PLAYS)
HUNT: In front of a raucous crowd in Philadelphia, Minnesota Governor Walz stepped onto the national stage alongside Harris. This the first of many appearances to come to.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HARRIS: To his fellow veterans, he is Sergeant Major Walz.
(APPLAUSE)
HARRIS: To his former high school students, he was Mr. Walz.
(APPLAUSE)
HARRIS: And to his former high school football players, he was coach.
(APPLAUSE)
HARRIS: And, in 91 days...
(APPLAUSE)
HARRIS: ... the nation will know Coach Walz by another name -- vice president of the United States.
(APPLAUSE)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: Here was how Walz introduced himself and he is largely unknown to voters.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GOV. TIM WALZ (D-MN), VICE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: In Minnesota, we respect our neighbors and their personal choices that they make.
(APPLAUSE)
WALZ: Even if we wouldn't make the same choice for ourselves, there is a golden rule -- mind your own damn business.
(APPLAUSE) (END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: Harris and Walz planning a battleground state blitz over the next week, a reminder, just three months until election day.
Joining us now, Catherine Lucey, White House reporter for "The Wall Street Journal", and Sabrina Rodriguez, she has national political reporter for "The Washington Post".
Welcome to you both.
I -- Catherine Lucey, let me start with you. I was in the room in Philadelphia last night. The energy was unlike anything I felt in years, really probably a decade for a Democratic event and this is -- the crunch time here is just insane, quite frankly, here was what Tim Walz had to say about how the next three months are going to go for this ticket. Watch.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
WALZ: So, we got 91 days. My God, that's easy. We'll sleep when we're dead.
(CHEERING)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: We'll sleep when we're dead.
(CROSSTALK)
HUNT: But probably the right approach here, as they kind of sprint to the finish line. What did you see in this rollout last night for Harris and Walz?
CATHERINE LUCEY, WHITE HOUSE REPORTER, WALL STREET JOURNAL: But one obviously, as you said, was the energy. I was at the Atlanta rally last week. I haven't seen Democrats this excited and this joyful. I think it was the same in Philadelphia. People were dancing, people were happy, people were excited, and they have managed to keep that momentum going.
So this feels like part of that, right, pushing forward. But there was a really strong message from Harris about the kind of person that she thought Walz was. You know, she really leaned into Coach Walz. I've heard that she likes the comparison to Coach Taylor on "Friday Night Lights". And so, she clearly is sort of introducing him --
HUNT: He needs more hair for that.
(LAUGHTER)
HUNT: And I can't -- like, you know, maybe my crush on Coach Taylor is showing a little bit.
LUCEY: Yeah, there's a conversation. (LAUGHTER)
LUCEY: He's not going to start wearing shorts in a board, but --
[05:05:01]
HUNT: But I get it, he's going to be Coach Walz to America.
LUCEY: She really wants to introduce him as America's dad. He's from the heartland. He is a hunter. He's a former football coach.
She really leaned into the idea -- and the idea that he could inspire shut-eye inspired his students. And so I think that's -- that's certainly the message she wants to send. Republicans are aggressively trying to frame this as a really liberal choice and lean into the policy.
But she was really making a personal argument, I think, last night.
HUNT: Yeah, Sabrina, one of the places where we have seen Walz -- contrast with Josh Shapiro who has kind of a suburban back ground, right, is that he actually comes from rural America. He highlighted that he was born in Nebraska. He was raised on a family farm.
And he wore in the video that he where he was taking the call from Kamala Harris, the asked to get this job, he's wearing a camouflage hat and the Harris campaign very quickly you can see it there very quickly turned that into campaign merchandise that seemed to sell out pretty quickly if you were looking at the social media feeds from Harris staffers, they had to race to get more of these hats.
They say Harris-Walz on them. They're camouflage. This is a different appeal to some of the voters that quite frankly Democrats have lost in recent cycles to Donald Trump.
What do you make of how they sold his biography in this way?
SABRINA RODRIGUEZ, NATIONAL POLITICAL REPORTER, THE WASHINGTON POST: I mean, there's no question that going into this that was part of the calculation in selecting Tim Walz as her running mate. I mean, he offers something very different on the ticket, then Kamala Harris does no question. I mean, her from being a prosecutor to California Democrat.
I mean, having him on the ticket offer something specifically for the middle-class American in the Rust Belt, for the working class white man. This is sort of like an area of big focus for them.
I mean, we know that the finalists were overwhelmingly white men. But specifically when we look at Tim Walz, I mean, it is the quintessential Midwestern dad and that hat, for example, I mean, that is not like, oh, he was just strategically wearing that to resonate with people when that announcement was made.
I mean, we've consistently seen him at events and speaking with that typical outfit and not to leave too much on that. But I think that's just a representation of who he is and how he's going to be engaging with voters.
He is coming to it. The fun fact I keep mentioning is the fact that he's the first Democratic vice presidential candidate on the ticket to not be a lawyer, the first time since 1964, 60 years.
I think there's no way of that not being part of the calculus here. I mean, his background as a teacher, his background as a football coach. It's really that bringing home that point that he's going to be able to connect with people in a way that maybe the traditional profile of a politician in Washington can't.
HUNT: Yeah. Well, Catherine Lucey, I don't know -- I know you worked in the Midwest for the long time. How much do you know about hot dish?
LUCEY: Oh, I have some hot dish recipes.
HUNT: OK, because Tim Walz keeps winning hot dish contests, apparently, I think we have a picture. I actually -- I admit my family's from Michigan.
LUCEY: Yeah.
HUNT: We never did hot dish, but this is also something that -- you know, when they say there's some folksy charm, this is it, right?
LUCEY: That is, it is -- it's a nod to the middle of the country. I mean, hot dishes. I mean for people it's a -- it's a casserole --
HUNT: Please tell us, please.
LUCEY: It's -- I'm not from Minnesota, but it's particularly big in Minnesota. It is a casserole dish, often layered a bunch of stuff into it. I have a recipe for one where you sprinkle Ritz crackers on the top. Often they involve tater tots.
HUNT: Yeah, this seems to involve tater-tot -- no -- ground turkey --
(CROSSTALK)
LUCEY: I'm sure Tim Walz and his family have brought hot dish to neighbors when things happen and that's the kind of thing that Midwesterners do.
They're going to lean into all of this, the idea that he is from a town of several thousand people. He went to state schools. He grew up in a small community.
HUNT: There it is. Hormel bacon, Jennie-O ground turkey.
LUCEY: Yes, combining --
(CROSSTALK)
HUNT: One package tater-tots. I did eat a lot of food like this on the campaign trail, I will say when I was covering Romney's campaign. LUCEY: I mean, it's good, but it is different than what you were eating in San Francisco. And I think they want that profile here, right? There's -- it's been a very long time since you've --
HUNT: It's not a latte liberal look.
LUCEY: No, it is definitely not. It's a hot dish.
HUNT: Catherine Lucey, Sabrina Rodriguez, thank you very much for starting us off this morning. I really appreciate your time.
All right. Coming up next here on CNN THIS MORNING: Hamas taps a new leader after the assassination of the previous political chief.
Plus, what went into the vice president's decision to pass over Josh Shapiro to be her running mate.
[05:10:03]
And both campaigns pressed to define the other in this brand new presidential campaign with Tim Walz now on the Democratic ticket.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HUNT: Hamas has a new leader this morning. The terrorist organization choosing Yahya Sinwar to take over one week after the assassination of the former leader, Sinwar is believed to be the mastermind of the October 7 Hamas attack against Israel.
It is not clear how his appointment will impact Gaza ceasefire talks, but secretary of state Antony Blinken says the fate of those negotiations is in Sinwar's hands.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ANTONY BLINKEN, SECRETARY OF STATE: It is really on him to decide whether to move forward with a ceasefire that manifestly will help so many Palestinians in desperate need. This is the moment, this is the decisive moment.
[05:15:02]
The negotiations have reached their final stage.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: Blinken says the U.S. has communicated directly to Israel that no one should escalate this conflict, even as Israelis brace for retaliation from Iran.
CNN's Max Foster joins us live now from London.
Max, good morning to you.
Sinwar, of course, is considered to be one of the most extreme hard line members of Hamas. And especially considering his role in the October 7 attacks is believed role.
What kind of signal does this send?
MAX FOSTER, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, it's significant. If you imagine that Haniyeh was head of the political wing of Hamas, so overseeing the negotiations in Qatar and Egypt with Israel over a peace deal? And also of course, the United States as well.
He's now gone, obviously, assassinated in Iran. Sinwar is a guy on the ground, is the military boss and anything that Haniyeh agreed had to go through Sinwar. So a co-leadership, perhaps many people would argue that Sinwar was always running things because he's running the midriff on the ground, which of course allegedly also includes that attack in Israel, which horrified the world.
What we have now is a situation where Sinwar is both a political head and the military head. So he's consolidated power. He's more extreme. He's more hard line than Haniyeh. So the negotiations become more hard line.
The big question of course, is what that means for the negotiations. How can Israel negotiate with someone who they directly blame for the October 7 attacks, the negotiators will be harder as well because he's more hard line.
The other question, will he want to negotiate with Israel? So a huge question mark over what this does to the peace deal. And whatever anyone thinks of Haniyeh, he was easier to operate a work where according to many diplomats around the world, than Sinwar will be -- will ever be. And also Sinwar's obviously hiding out. We don't know where he is.
How did you get messages through to him?
HUNT: Well, I was going to say, Max, I mean, I feel like you and I throughout the course of covering the war talked about how it was often difficult logistically to get information in and out to this guy because he was always moving, he was always hiding. They were going to great lengths to make sure his communications were pretty basic and not using technology so that he couldn't be found.
I mean, how does that impact everything?
FOSTER: Well, from what we understand it, a lot of these big decisions are made face-to-face, not necessarily directly between the key players, but the message gets passed on face-to-face because as you say, all the communications can be compromised and, you know, Sinwar is now target number one for Israel. They're going to be all over any sort of communications he might be having.
So, it's going to be -- you know, we just don't know where he is. Is he even in Gaza? The assumption is that he's in tunnels somewhere. Some people suggesting it could be under Egypt without them knowing, with them knowing who knows.
It's just a complete mystery, but it slows everything down if they're dealing with him as opposed to someone based in Qatar as Haniyeh was, who had a relationship with Qataris. There was a much clearer line of communication. It makes everything much more complicated, more difficult, and more intransigent probably.
HUNT: All right. Max Foster for us this morning -- Max, always grateful to have you. Thank you so much.
FOSTER: Thanks, Kasie.
HUNT: All right. Coming up next here on CNN THIS MORNING, another member of the Squad in the House ousted. That and more in our morning roundup.
Plus, Tropical Storm Debby forecasted to make a second landfall tomorrow. Our meteorologist Allison Chinchar will have the latest.
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[05:23:00]
HUNT: It's 22 minutes past the hour.
Here's your morning roundup.
Squad member, the Congresswoman Cori Bush, loses her Democratic primary against St. Louis county prosecutor Wesley Bell. This marks another win for the pro-Israel group that also helped oust Congressman Jamaal Bowman in New York weeks ago.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. CORI BUSH (D-MO): Pulling me away from my position as congresswoman, all you did was take some of the strings off.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: Bush will keep her seat in the House until January of next year.
Elon Musk's X, formerly Twitter, filing a lawsuit against a group of advertisers over the alleged boycott of the company. The antitrust suit claiming that a major ad group organized two collectively withhold billions of dollars in advertising from X.
A federal hearing continues today following the blow out of a Boeing 737 door plug in January. Boeing factory workers testimony yesterday they revealed they were pushed to do their work too fast and to do jobs they weren't qualified for, including checking that door-plug.
All right. Time now for weather. Tropical Storm Debby still slowly making its way across the eastern coast of the United States. The storm expected to produce historic rainfall totals in parts of the Carolinas, both Florida and South Carolina have already seen more than a foot of rain.
Let's get to our meteorologist, Allison Chinchar. Allison, Good morning. What are you seeing this morning?
ALLISON CHINCHAR, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Much of the same because the system isn't moving very fast, were still going to go through a lot of the same stuff again today, you can see video here from Savannah, Georgia, those flooded roadways, even some car stalling out that tried and attempted to at least drive through it.
This is Manatee County, Florida. You can see the water up close to some of the properties that are go through here and not just one or two, but significant amount of properties in that particular county.
[05:25:00]
Here's a look at Tropical Storm Debby. It actually did increase in strength overnight. We are now up to winds of 45 miles per hour.
Now that it's back over open water, it's able to restraint than a little bit before its expected to make its second landfall in the U.S., likely somewhere in South Carolina near the Charleston area before finally getting pulled up into that front. It's been affecting much of the northern -- northeast coast.
Now, in the short-term, however, were still going to be dealing with flooding. We've still got a high risk for today, still focused across much of the Carolinas for Thursday, same thing, but we start to see a shift in direction once that system finally begins to move inland, but the potential for heavy rainfall is there.
You look at how much rain has already fallen. Areas south of Tampa around Sarasota, northern Florida, and they base around the Lake City area. And in the portion between Charleston and Savannah, all of those areas have picked up between 15 to 20 inches of rain, so far. And now were going to be adding even more rain on top of it.
This is a look at some of those heavier bands really starting to slide into north and South Carolina. But we've also I had some very heavy rain across the Northeast and more rain is continuing for some of those areas. And unfortunately, Kasie, even after getting several inches just in the last 24 hours.
HUNT: All right. Lots to look out for.
Allison Chinchar for us this morning -- Allison, thank you very much.
All right. Coming up next here on CNN THIS MORNING:
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
WALZ: You know it, you feel it -- these guys are creepy, and yes, just weird as hell.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: Tim Walz as the attack dog for Kamala Harris.
Plus, Josh Shapiro, electrifying hometown Philadelphia crowd last night. We'll explore why Harris past him over here.
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