Return to Transcripts main page

CNN This Morning

Harris, Walz and Vance Campaign in Midwest; Vance Questions Walz's Military Record; Biden on Peaceful Transition if Trump Loses: 'Not Confident'; 'Large, Extremely Dangerous' Tornado Touches Down in North Carolina. Aired 6-6:30a ET

Aired August 08, 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: It's Thursday, August 8. Right now, on CNN THIS MORNING.

[05:59:56]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. J.D. VANCE (R-OH), REPUBLICAN VICE PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: What bothers me about Tim Walz is the stolen valor garbage.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: J.D. Vance attacking Tim Walz over Walz's military record as the two veterans vie for the same job.

Plus.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KAMALA HARRIS (D), U.S. VICE PRESIDENT, 2024 PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: The courts are going to handle that. We're going to beat him in November.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: Kamala Harris shutting down "Lock him up" chants from a crowd in Michigan.

And the role foreign intelligence played in foiling a terrorist plot that forced Taylor Swift to cancel three shows in Europe. The latest update from authorities ahead.

And then later, Dr. Anthony Fauci is here to talk about his new book and this ongoing summer COVID surge.

All right, 6 a.m. here in Washington, D.C. A live look at the White House on this Thursday morning. Good morning, everyone. I'm Kasie Hunt. It's wonderful to have you with us.

The so far high-flying Harris campaign hitting the Midwest amid some of the first signs, perhaps, that honeymoon may be coming to a little bit of a close, or at least coming down a little bit.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HARRIS: I'm here because we believe in democracy. Everyone's voice matters. But I am speaking now. I am speaking now.

And he intends to end the Affordable Care Act. You know what? If you want Donald Trump to win, then say that. Otherwise, I'm speaking.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: Kamala Harris there, interrupted by what we believe were pro- Palestinian protesters. A reminder, of course, that Harris has some work to do to win over voters who were unhappy with Biden's policies.

J.D. Vance, the -- on the Republican side, also swung through the Midwest. And he is trying to turn one of his opponent's strengths into a weakness.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VANCE: When the United States Marine Corps, when the United States of America asked me to go to Iraq to serve my country, I did it. I did what they asked me to do it, and I did it honorably. And I'm very proud of that service.

When Tim Walz was asked by his country to go to Iraq, you know what he did? He dropped out of the Army and allowed his unit to go without him.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: OK. It is important to note that both vice-presidential candidates are military veterans. There is no question that both men served with honor.

Vance spent four years in the Marine Corps as an enlisted combat correspondent. He deployed to Iraq for roughly six months.

Walz served in the Army National Guard for 24 years. He deployed to Italy in 2003, and he retired in 2005. That was the same year that he launched a successful campaign to represent Minnesota in Congress. Two months after Walz retired, his unit received orders to deploy to

Iraq. They did so the following year.

Here was Walz explaining this decision in a 2009 interview.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. TIM WALZ (D-MN), DEMOCRATIC VICE PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: I left in April of 2005, and this was what -- you know, for me, it was just short of 25 years. And it was -- it was to run for this office. We were really concerned that we were going to try and do both. There's always the Hatch Act and some of the things that you have to be very careful of.

(END VIDEO CLIP) HUNT: Walz, of course, referring there to the Hatch Act. That's the law that limits political activities for federal employees, including those who are in the service.

Joining me now to discuss: Isaac Dovere, CNN political reporter; Karen Finney, CNN political commentator; and Republican strategist Doug Heye. Welcome to all of you.

So, Isaac, this of course, has been a high-flying time for Harris and now her newly-minted running mate, Tim Walz. That overwhelmingly positive rally rolling him out.

They are -- and this is sort of the question that I've been having all the way along. I mean, it is inevitable that this campaign is going to start to kind of hit the ground. There's going to be -- there are going to be bumps in the road, right?

And we're starting to see that. She gets interrupted by protesters. We saw, you know, a first glimpse of how she's going to handle that, in this high-profile way.

And of course, there are going to be attacks from the other side.

What is your view of how they are starting to handle this? What's going on behind the scenes in terms of how they are viewing these issues; speed bumps, significant, et cetera?

ISAAC DOVERE, CNN POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, look the heckling incident is different from the stuff about the military records.

I think that what you saw into the Harris campaign was actually a lot of pleasure with how she handled it; and feeling like she was able to get interrupted and have that moment that seemed to go over well with her supporters.

I have been at rallies where Joe Biden has been interrupted. I've been at rallies where Barack Obama has been interrupted. They did not handle it in the same way.

Joe Biden would often say like, Look, let me -- why don't you come backstage. We'll talk afterwards.

Obama would get really angry. And he did not like when people interrupted him.

So, this is the first time that we saw that happen that way for Harris.

The military records stuff, as I just said, is different. And I think what we have here is the Republican campaign -- and J.D. Vance is the carrier for it -- trying to find a way in on Tim Walz and on the campaign.

[06:05:06]

Look, I didn't serve at all, I should say. J.D. Vance served four years and then six months in Iraq as a public affairs officer. Tim Walz, 24 years, he said, and was mostly not deployed, though he did one deployment to -- to Italy to support the operations in Iraq --

HUNT: Afghanistan.

DOVERE: I'm sorry, you're right. I apologize.

And so, this is, I guess, we're weighing one service against the other.

It's also true that Donald Trump did not go to Vietnam very famously and skipped out on that service.

There is a reminiscent feeling for a lot of Democrats and other people I've talked to the swiftboating stuff from the 2004 campaign with John Kerry.

And -- and Walz has, within that, been -- he's been coming on to the campaign trail here very quickly. And the campaign has been trying to catch up with his record.

I can tell you from talking to the campaign yesterday about this, they are trying to figure out what to say. And they -- there are some issues with the timeline that they have to sort out here. That interview that you played helps them make the case that he was thinking about his long game.

KAREN FINNEY, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Also, so I mean, there was my understanding is there were allegations made that suggests said that somehow, he ditched his unit when, actually, you look at the timeline, that's not the case.

He had already filed the paperwork for separation. These orders come later. And then later the next year, they deployed. So --

HUNT: But they're basically saying that it looks like he bailed out of service just in time to avoid getting sent to a conflict, right?

FINNEY: Exactly. Which is -- A, that's not true. B, the other thing that J.D. Vance has taken issue with is a comment that Tim Walz made. It was actually about gun safety.

And he was talking about carrying weapons of war in war. He didn't say he was in combat. He was talking -- you know, and he actually was a munitions expert, if I'm -- if I'm not mistaken.

HUNT: Let me -- let me play those comments.

FINNEY: Sure.

HUNT: And then I'm going to play what Vance said just so that we can read our viewers in here. Let's start with Walz here, talking about weapons of war and gun control. Watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) WALZ: I'll take my kick in the butt for the NRA. I spent 25 years in the Army, and I hunt. And I gave the money back. And I'll tell you what I have been doing. I've been voting for common sense legislation that protects the Second Amendment, but we can do background checks. We can do CDC research. We can make sure we don't have reciprocal carry among states.

And we can make sure that those weapons of war that I carried in war is the only place where those weapons are.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: And then this is how Vance characterized what we heard there from Tim Walz. Watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VANCE: He was making a point about gun control. He said we shouldn't allow weapons that I used in war to be on America's streets.

Well, I wonder Tim Walz, when were you ever in war? When was this -- what was this weapon that you carried into war, given that you abandoned your unit right before they went to Iraq? And he has not spent a day in a combat zone.

What bothers me about Tim Walz is the stolen valor garbage.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: Ao Karen, I mean, Walz did say that I carried in war, and we do know that that doesn't seem to be the case. But he did -- would have trained extensively in preparation for it with these types of weapons.

FINNEY: Exactly. And so, my read of it is, you know, he was, I think, talking about the training.

Now, he did deploy in support of, I suppose. My understanding is they could have been deployed further into the war zone.

But more importantly, I think, again, two things. No. 1, the top of the Republican ticket not only didn't get out -- you know, got himself out of Vietnam, got himself out of any kind of service, never wore the uniform of the United States; called John McCain a loser; has a pretty wretched record when it comes to treatment of veterans and our men and women in uniform, particularly those who have been captured or injured.

But here's the last thing I want to say.

You know, Walz served honorably for over 20 years. So, few, less than 1 percent of Americans, ever serve in our armed services.

So more importantly, we should honor that service, but we should not lose the thread of what he was actually talking about in terms of gun safety and the idea that you can be a hunter and be -- support the Second Amendment and believe in common sense gun safety measures. HUNT: Certainly, part of what the Harris campaign, I'm sure, wants to

bring to the table.

Doug Heye, bottom line here? Who do you have a view? Who do you think is right in this, but also, how -- more importantly, how much does it matter?

DOUG HEYE, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: Well, a few things. One, Tim Walz, welcome to the major leagues. You know, you're no longer a governor of Minnesota who nobody's really ever heard of. You are in the spotlight right now.

And after three weeks of nothing but the most positive coverage of oh, my God, Kamala Harris is the greatest person ever to walk the earth, has never done anything wrong, and should be celebrated and honored and won't get one word of critical -- any critic, criticism. And by the way, won't sit down for an interview to get tough questions. We're now in the major leagues.

And what's J.D. Vance's role here on this campaign? Is to throw sand in the campaign's eyes. And that's what he's done. And they're reacting to this.

[06:10:04]

We'll find out exactly what's true, what's not. I don't love questioning people's service. I want to honor those who've served. I think we want to encourage people for military service, for any kind of public service.

But we're in a political campaign right here. We know that Donald Trump fights dirty. And if you want to say this is dirty fight, fine, bring it. Here's where we are.

FINNEY: And here's what I would say. I mean, I think one of the tactics we see, right. So, J.D. Vance will throw something like that out. We'll have this conversation, sort of the mainstream media.

But really, it's about what's going on underneath, sort of online in the dark corners of the Internet. This is the way lies get perpetuated.

And I do think that the campaign was quick. I mean, I was asking for information. They were able to get it pretty quickly in terms of what the actual timeline was.

And I think they recognize, to your point, Isaac, about, you know, we need -- they needed to push back and get the clarity out there as quickly as possible.

(CROSSTALK)

HEYE: And I think the question for all of us, does this story go away in two or three days, you know, as far as a mainstream story, not just, you know, certain talk radio hosts or, you know, online trolls or whatever talking about it? And do -- to your ultimate question, do the people care? We'll see.

DOVERE: On Saturday that -- the news broke about Doug Emhoff's affair in his first marriage. The response to it was that Emhoff came to me with a statement about it very quickly on Saturday morning.

We are now almost 24 hours into Vance making this attack, and we haven't heard from Walz directly. We've got campaign aides trying to answer that don't know about his record.

I think that this is going to end up being whatever Vance himself -- sorry. Whatever Walz himself has to say about this.

HUNT: Right. I mean, when you have to vet a vice president in two weeks or less, you're going to run into this kind of problem.

All right. Coming up next here on CNN THIS MORNING, with just five months left in the Oval Office, Joe Biden still has an agenda. We're going to take a look at the president's priorities. He's done a new interview, ahead.

Plus, incredible video shows the moment that a missing boy was rescued from a pond. That's one of our five things you have to see this morning.

And if there is one word to describe the race to the White House in 2024 it just might be "weird."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WALZ: We're not weird. That's for sure.

VANCE: I think it's pretty weird.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This band of right-wing weirdos.

SEN. JOHN FETTERMAN (D-PA): Really, really, really weird dudes.

GOV. JOSH SHAPIRO (D-PA): It's kind of a weird insult.

HARRIS: It's just plain weird.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: But on the other side, they're just weird.

DONALD TRUMP (R), FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT, 2024 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE (via phone): Nobody's ever called me weird.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:17:07]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Joe! Joe! Joe! Joe! Joe! UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Joe! Joe! Joe! Joe! Joe!

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Joe! Joe! Joe! Joe! Joe!

HARRIS: And I know we are all deeply, deeply grateful to Joe for his lifetime of service to our nation. And we thank you, Joe Biden, each and every day for all you are and all you still have yet to do.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: A crowd of Democrats chanting his name and his own vice president thanking him publicly. Joe Biden's decision to exit the race making him a hero to many of his party, taking the spotlight off of his presidency, with just five months left in office.

In a new interview with CBS, Biden is expressing concerns over what Donald Trump might do if Trump loses in November.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Are you confident that there will be a peaceful transfer of power in January 2025?

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: If Trump wins, no, I'm not confident at all. I mean, if Trump loses, I'm not confident at all. He means what he says. We don't take him seriously. He means it, all the stuff about if we lose, it'll be a blood bath.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: The panel's back. Isaac, I mean, you could see sort of the mistake that he made there, part of why we ended up where -- where we are.

However, there's also kind of this -- this darkness to what he was saying that's not been front and center as Harris has campaigned here. But there does seem -- I mean, this is going to be a close election, right?

What is the view and how much preparation is going on behind the scenes among the newly-minted Harris campaign about the possibility that Biden has put out there?

DOVERE: Well, again, this is not new from Biden. He's been warning about this before he -- before all of the drama politically over the summer so far. This was something they kept coming back to.

I don't think that, so far, this has been a major focus of the Harris campaign. It's been a campaign for about 17 days now. They have a lot of things to go over (ph).

(CROSSTALK)

HUNT: They've had a lot --

HEYE: A lot of plates to spin. DOVERE: But it has been a focus of Democratic lawyers who've been gearing up for this. And look, the -- a lot of what the Harris campaign is, is the Biden campaign. There were people on staff themselves who were working on this, who are still on staff now at the Harris campaign.

HUNT: Doug, how -- how worried should the country be about the possibility that Biden raises there?

HEYE: Look, the possibility is absolutely there. And what we've seen is, you know, it's interesting to me that, as talking about stolen valor and all that, and how it can go in different directions with either -- either campaign.

The Trump campaign and Republicans are really pushing look at what happened in Minneapolis, and the images there are very stark. Fair points. And did Governor Walz respond in time and so forth? Trump praised him, but Trump says things and all of this.

HUNT: You're now talking about when we saw the George Floyd --

HEYE: Yes.

HUNT: -- protests, riots? Yes.

HEY: Well, if you're Republican, and you think that's bad, I remember a day called January 6 were people were engaged in violent acts. It was inspired by Donald Trump.

[06:20:08]

So, there's so much politically that can spill back in either direction on this. I think the country should be concerned.

But when we look at polling that says -- where voters, I'm concerned about the state of democracy, I think when we watch the media, more often than not, it's Donald Trump bad.

Trump voters are concerned about the state of democracy, too, rightly or wrongly. Wrongly, they think the election was stolen from them. But that erosion in trust, which didn't happen just when Donald Trump took an escalator down in New York. This has been going on for -- for years, if not generations, I think affects all of us.

FINNEY: That's not -- I think that's not fair only because Donald Trump has been perpetrating this lie for years now; not -- campaigning on it, raising money on it.

And we now know the actions that he also took in 2016 to hide what was going on with Stormy Daniels to have an impact on the election, to -- and now we know about the fake elector scam.

HEYE: If -- if Donald --

FINNEY: We know about factor electors. We know about whole -- all sorts of things he was doing in 2020 to hold onto power. It's not unfair to say. Yes, we should be concerned.

HEYE: But again, if we look at polling, Republicans are concerned about the state of democracy, too. And I think Stormy Daniels is so extraneous to this, because that would then say that --

FINNEY: But I'm not talking about pulling. I'm talking about what somebody actually did to try to impact the outcome of an election.

HEY: If you want to be, then, critical of what the Bill Clinton campaign did, and how they went after and targeted women, and how they denied rape allegations and all of those things, I think we can have that conversation.

And I say that as a Republican who was the first Republican to say, I'm never going to support Donald Trump. I don't like Trump. I think his messaging is -- is bad. I think a lot of his actions are bad.

But I think we have to realize that this erosion of trust in the country goes in -- in a lot of different directions. And when Hillary Clinton questioned whether or not she won or lost; when Stacey Abrams -- St. Stacey of Abrams, how she's been treated in the media -- did the same thing.

Yes, Donald Trump's microphone is a lot louder. Yes, he's more pernicious with it. But this erosion of trust didn't come from just one person.

HUNT: Yes. Well, I think we should also just note that the actual violence that was perpetrated -- the first time we've had a non- peaceful transfer of power was with Donald Trump. I think that's just an important thing to remember.

All right. Coming up on CNN THIS MORNING, flooding across the Carolinas and a large and extremely dangerous tornado. Tropical Storm Debby is still causing all sorts of damage.

Plus.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Lock him up! Lock him up!

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Lock him up! Lock him up!

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Lock him up! Lock him up!

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: What Kamala Harris is telling supporters who want to see Donald Trump behind bars.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:26:52]

HUNT: All right, 26 minutes past the hour. Five things you have to see this morning.

A missing 5-year-old boy with autism rescued from a pond by a Florida deputy.

The child left his home through a second-story window and wandered off before his family called 911. He is OK. And back at home.

A dog in Tulsa being blamed for starting a house fire by chewing on a lithium-ion battery. The battery exploded and caused a fire on the dog's bed.

Fortunately, all of the pets in the house escaped through a doggy door. Careful out there. Yikes. Oh, my goodness.

OK. Alaska's capital city is dealing with an unprecedented flood. A melting glacier near Juneau burst into a nearby river, swamping more than 100 homes in up to four feet of water in just hours. Yikes.

Nothing says state fair like butter and cheese. Check out this display on the left, the great American cheese sculpture crafted from nearly a ton of yellow and white cheese in Indiana.

On the right, the cholesterol special: a cow made from 500 pounds of butter in Illinois. I will say only one I've ever seen of these in- person is in Iowa, so it's fun to get some video of Indiana. Why not?

All right. A woman in South Carolina said she had to do a double-take when she saw this in her yard: an alligator just floating by after flooding in her home -- outside her home in Charleston. The city has seen a foot of rain from Tropical Storm Debby.

Can you imagine, like, looking out your window and there's some -- just -- just chilling in the backyard is an alligator. Oh, my dear lord.

OK. Overnight, a quote, "large, extremely dangerous tornado" touching down in North Carolina. This is the tenth tornado that Tropical Storm Debby has produced.

A new tornado watch was issued early this morning by the Storm Prediction Center for parts of Eastern North Carolina and Southeastern Virginia.

Let's get straight to our meteorologist, Allison Chinchar, with the latest.

Allison, good morning.

ALLISON CHINCHAR, CNN METEOROLOGIST: And good morning to you.

Yes, this video from yesterday, near the Pender/Sampson counties line, you can see that tornado in the distance back there. Again, this was one of perhaps a couple of tornadoes yesterday, not just in North Carolina, but spread out over the country.

And we still have a tornado watch for today. This valid until 1 p.m. Eastern Time today; again, encompassing portions of North Carolina, as well as Virginia.

We do still have some active tornado warnings. They've been off and on throughout much of the morning. That's likely going to continue throughout the day.

And it's not just tornadoes, but also the flooding component of this. You can see a lot of that really heavy rain spreading now into cities like Raleigh, as well as Charlotte, North Carolina.

And look at all of these red shaded areas. Those are flash flood warnings taking place. And this one with the white outline, that is a flash flood emergency. They've had already up to eight inches of rainfall in that area.

And even more is expected, not just in North Carolina, but you can see pretty much up and down the Eastern Seaboard widespread four inches of rain.

HUNT: All right. Allison Chinchar for us this morning. Allison, thank you very much.

All right. Still ahead here on CNN THIS MORNING, Taylor Swift fans left disappointed after three Eras Tour shows are canceled, but it's a dramatic reason why. We're going to have the latest details on the foiled terror plot behind it all.

[06:30:00]