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CNN This Morning

Mallory McMorrow is Interviewed about the Presidential Race; Pelosi Speaks About Biden; Caroline Marks is Interviewed about Winning Gold; Trump Says Abortion is Much Less an Issue. Aired 6:30-7a ET

Aired August 09, 2024 - 06:30   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:35:08]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KAMALA HARRIS, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE U.S. (D) AND U.S. PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: It's about the collective. It's about understanding no one should ever be made to fight alone. That we are all in this together.

GOV. TIM WALZ (D-MN), VICE PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: We know - we know that unions built the middle class, the rest of America has to. You know who doesn't believe that? Donald Trump.

This guy doesn't know the first thing about unity or service. He's too busy serving himself.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KASIE HUNT, CNN ANCHOR: Kamala Harris and her new running mate, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, at a union hall there in the Midwest as they try to shore up critical support in blue wall states.

Joining me now to discuss how that project is going so far, Michigan State Senator Mallory McMorrow. She's live in Royal Oak, Michigan.

Mallory, thank you so much for being here.

MALLORY MCMORROW (D), MICHIGAN STATE SENATOR: Thank you.

HUNT: So, let's start here in Michigan. And I spoke to Debbie Dingell on the show this week as well, who, of course, knows the state so well. You are one of the younger leaders there. You kind of have emerged as the face of that. And I'm interested in your sense of how the Harris-Walz ticket has changed what's going on, on the ground, especially among young voters, considering how much trouble President Biden had, not just because of all of the sort of national issues around his age, but especially because of how the war in Gaza was playing in your state. What is the difference today?

MCMORROW: I think it has changed the race dramatically. You know, a few weeks ago there was an older woman who stopped me in the grocery store and held my arm and asked if we were going to be OK. She was so nervous out of deep respect for the president that we were going to lose, that all of his accomplishments were going to be erased.

And then you look at the rally that we had in Detroit this week, 15,000 plus people. There was a Whitney Houston singing along. I think as it relates to young people, when it comes to reproductive rights, when it comes to the economy, and even when it comes to the approach in the Middle East, I think young people are excited and fired up and it is a whole new ballgame here in Michigan, and it feels good.

HUNT: I - we have been sort of asking this question. There has been this honeymoon period in the wake of Biden dropping out. The Harris campaign has been really flying high. I think the question is inevitably, this campaign is going to get tough. We saw this question about Governor Walz's service in the military, that Republicans have been trying to raise, pointing to comments he made where he said he carried a gun in war when he had not deployed to a combat zone.

Do you think that kind of attack is effective? And how would you respond specifically to what they have said about Governor Walz?

MCMORROW: You know, I don't think it's effective at all. And frankly, it's really disrespectful. I have deep respect for somebody like Jason Kander (ph). And in his last book, he talked about this idea that among certain folks there's this attack that your service is not enough. This comparative service.

So, you know, what I say is, I'm grateful for Governor Walz's service. I'm grateful for J.D. Vance's service. Anybody who steps up to serve this country owes - we owe them a debt of our gratitude. And I think that that's just such a disingenuous line of attack that sends a message to veterans that if you didn't serve the right way, your service is not enough to this country. And that is completely acceptable and un-American.

HUNT: We learned yesterday that there will be a debate between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump scheduled for September 10th on ABC, though last time that we saw Donald Trump debate a woman, of course it was Hillary Clinton back in 2016, and there was one instance where he seemed to sort of follow her around the stage. It's more complicated to debate a woman. What do you expect from the debate? How do you think voters should be taking this in? And what are the risks for Donald Trump in taking on - Kamala Harris would be the first woman president if elected?

MCMORROW: You know, it's been interesting to see if his selection of J.D. Vance because this is somebody who is following Kamala around in the same way that Trump followed Hillary around, you know, stalking her airplane on - on the jet bridge and things like that. But I think that it is a big risk to Donald Trump. And you see that.

I watched his press conference yesterday, which was just a rambling, incoherent string of supposed attacks where he spent more time than anything else on crowd size, as you pointed out, you know, comparing himself to Martin Luther King Junior.

I think he's lost. And I think voters are going to see a very clear contrast between a young, dynamic, competent woman prosecutor, and a rambling old man who is just trying to keep power for himself so he stays out of prison.

HUNT: One thing we have seen Donald Trump do is have - build significant advantages with male voters over female voters.

[06:40:00]

The gender gap has grown in the Trump era. Do you think male voters in Michigan are ready to vote for Kamala Harris?

MCMORROW: I think so. And I think her selection of Tim Walz as a running mate was a perfect choice. We saw White Dudes for Kamala Harris, one of these Zoom calls, get organized. And I've seen some really smart commentary that Tim Walz presents finally a counter to this GOP hypermasculinity that they've presented as what it means to be a man. And what Tim Walz presents is another version where you can be fun and joyful. You can love your daughter. You can be a family man. You can be a veteran. You can love football. And all of these things are acceptable as what it means to be a man. And, frankly, this is the Midwest dad vibes that we desperately need versus the very weird vibes coming from J.D. Vance.

HUNT: It's an interesting way that you put it that way. I mean one of the sort of themes of the RNC was - was most definitely testosterone. So, the idea that there is an alternative vision being presented through Walz's is an interesting one.

Mallory McMorrow, so grateful to have you. I hope you'll come back soon. Hope to see you at the DNC.

MCMORROW: Thanks.

HUNT: All right, now this.

Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi shedding new light on President Biden's departure from the 2024 race and her involvement and feelings around the process. Pelosi is denying reports that she pushed Biden out, but she's making this pretty significant admission about concerns she had about the president's team. This is part of her interview with "The New Yorker."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DAVID REMNICK: It's like you felt his pain.

REP. NANCY PELOSI (D-CA): I've never been that impressed with his political operation.

REMNICK: Biden's operation?

PELOSI: Yes, I'm not. I mean I just hadn't been. They won the White House. Bravo. So, my concern was, this ain't happening, and we have to make a decision for us - this to happen. And the president has to make the decision for that to happen. So, people were calling - I never called one person. I - I kept true to my word. Any conversation I had with it was just going to be with him. I never made one call. They said I was burning up the lines, I was talking to Chuck - I didn't talk to Chuck at all.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: Pelosi told CNN this week that she's not spoken with Biden's since he announced his exit from the race.

Toluse, very interesting. She - I mean it would explain why nothing leaked. She says, I didn't make a call. I didn't talk to Chuck. She did go on "Morning Joe" and say, hey, you made that decision, maybe you should think again about that decision and let us know.

TOLUSE OLORUNNIPA, WHITE HOUSE BUREAU CHIEF, "THE WASHINGTON POST": Yes, and that opened the floodgates for a number of Democrats to come out and call for Biden to get out of the race. There is clearly some bad blood between these longtime allies who have spent a lot of time together, they're age mates, they are really important partners in terms of Biden's legacy because they worked together on a number of key things that were part of his administration terms of the major legislative wins.

Now, they're not speaking. And that is a major break. And it's clear that she feels offended. Biden feels offended. They are sort of behind the scenes - they have been sort of putting the knife in one another's back and now she's going out publicly and doing so. And it's very clear that there's a lot of bad blood in this relationship. It remains to be seen how they're going to be able to get things back (INAUDIBLE).

HUNT: It is quite the knife from Pelosi to say, hey, your political operation's no good.

KAREN FINNEY, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Yes, pretty clear statement there. She's - I mean, you know, look, Speaker Emeritus Pelosi, she knows - she's a very good communicator. So she knows what it meant to say that in an interview, in the same way as you point out, when she went on "Morning Joe," in the same way that she knew that that would send a signal to others who are seen as being allied with her to then come out and make those statements, and what that would mean in sort of the political zeitgeist here in Washington.

Again, it was harsh. It was - it was - I - there's not - I don't have another word for that.

HUNT: Yes, we'll just leave it there.

FINNEY: Yes.

HUNT: OK. Coming up next here on CNN THIS MORNING, who better to talk about the Olympics with than a gold medalist. I'm so excited about this. Surfing champion Caroline Marks is going to join us live.

Plus, the latest on Trump's claims he was on a helicopter that had to make an emergency landing.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) DONALD TRUMP (R), FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT AND 2024 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I went down in a helicopter with him. We thought, maybe this is the end. We were in a helicopter going to a certain location together. And there was an emergency landing. This was not a pleasant landing.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

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[06:48:43]

HUNT: All right, 48 minutes past the hour. Here's your morning roundup.

Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis arguing in a new filing her office should be allowed to proceed with its election interference case against Donald Trump. Trump and his co-defendants argue Willis should be removed due to the romantic relationships she had with one there her prosecutors. An appeals court is expected to rule on the issue by March.

Delta lashes out at cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike, calling its apology for the outage that left travelers stranded for days as vastly inadequate. The airline claiming CrowdStrike was, quote, grossly negligent and was solely responsible for the more than 7,000 flights that were canceled.

An 18-year-old Iraqi national detained in Vienna in connection with the alleged plot to attack a Taylor Swift concert. The suspect reportedly comes from the same circle as the main suspect who was a 19-year-old Austrian with ties to ISIS.

All right, let's turn now to the Olympic games. While most of the world's greatest athletes have been performing in Paris, one U.S. Olympian was competing 10,000 miles away in Tahiti. This is the dream assignment. Surfer Caroline Marks taking home gold earlier this week, becoming the second consecutive American woman to win the surfing competition that debuted at the Tokyo games in 2021.

[06:50:06]

And Olympic gold medalist Caroline Marks joins us live now from New York this morning.

Caroline, good morning to you. I'm so grateful to have you on the show. Congratulations, first of all. A huge win.

Just tell us, what was going through your mind as you got on your board and then realized you'd won gold?

CAROLINE MARKS, OLYMPIC GOLD MEDALIST SURFER: Oh, good morning. Yes, thanks for having me.

Gosh, it was definitely the most surreal moment of my life. And it's - it's pretty cool. And just to, you know, have that medal around my neck and, you know, listen to the national anthem was just so amazing.

So, yes, just a super surreal moment. The craziest moment of my life for sure.

HUNT: Caroline, you grew up in Melbourne Beach in Florida. And I'm told that you actually used to surf during hurricanes. I spent some time growing up in Florida. When I - this was the last thing that you were ever supposed to do. But clearly it worked for you. What was that like? How did you get where you are?

MARKS: Yes. I mean, I just - I grew up with a big family. I'm one of six. My older brothers all surfed. And they're the reason why I got into surfing. And so kind of whatever they did, I wanted to do. And we kind of just ran wild and would surf in hurricanes, and surf anything. We just loved to be in the ocean.

So, yes, they're a huge part, my other brothers, with where I am today. And so, we had a lot of fun. It worked out.

HUNT: Indeed, it did work out.

What do you - what would you say to other little girls who, you know, see what you've been able to do? Maybe they don't think of this as a sport that women would do first. Maybe, you know, they have friends who are guys who see them doing it. I mean, what's your message to them?

MARKS: Yes, I mean, I think dream big. Shoot for the stars. You know, I think it's really cool now. Growing up, I feel like there was so many more guys surfing than girls. And now it's - you see a lot of - a lot of girls in the water. It's almost equal. And sometimes there's even more girls in the water than guys. So, it's really cool to see, you know, that - it go in that direction.

And, yes, I mean, I think, make sure whatever you do, whether it's surfing or a different sport, or anything in life, just make sure you're having fun doing it and around positive people. And for me that was my family and my friends and it was just always so funny to me and I'm just really grateful to have it as my career as well. So, just have fun with it and dream big.

HUNT: Yes, for real.

Caroline, you've been pretty open about the mental and physical challenges that you faced as a surfer. This is something that a lot of athletes have very admirably started to talk more openly about. What would you say to people who feel like they're struggling and don't know how to prioritize this piece?

MARKS: Yes, look, I think mental health is a super interesting subject. You know, sometimes you feel like you don't - you can't really talk about it or no one can relate to you. And I think vulnerability is really powerful and it's OK to talk about it and it's totally normal.

And, you know, I think for me, I really leaned on people that I knew were there for me, and that was my family and my close friends. And sometimes when you're going through a hard time, you know, they know you better than you know yourself. So, lean on the people that you know are there for you and it's totally OK to talk about and you will get on the other side and things will get better.

So, yes.

HUNT: Things will get better.

Caroline Marks, at so grateful to have you this morning. Congratulations again. It was really cool to see you win a medal. I really appreciate your time.

MARKS: Awesome. Thank you so much for having me.

HUNT: Yes, thank you.

All right, now back to politics.

Abortion access has been front and center on the campaign trail since the Supreme Court overturned Roe versus Wade two years ago. It has largely been a winning issue for Democrats up and down the ballot.

Donald Trump trying to claim, not worried about it ahead of November.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT AND 2024 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I think that abortion has become much less of an issue. It's a very small - I think it's actually going to be a very small issue.

I think the abortion issue has been taken down many notches. I don't think it's of - I don't think it's a big factor anymore really.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: Don't think it's a big factor anymore, really.

Matt Gorman, you're the Republican at this table. Does he need to be disabused of that notion? Because I have to say, it seems like it still is a very significant issue.

MATT GORMAN, FORMER SENIOR COMMUNICATIONS ADVISER, TIM SCOTT FOR AMERICA: I mean, I think you talk to campaigns and they realize what a potent issue it's been historically and when it can be. Look, I think what it's going to come down to is you have kind of two sets of single issue voters. On the left, you know, there's a - those who are very, very focused on abortion and many in the right, right very focused on immigration. And, you know, each have been proven there's, you know, basically a crawl over broken glass component to get to the polls on this. And you have the economy kind of looming above all. Whoever kind of wins that battle of this single issue voter in the fall, I think these are going to be very instructive in where this election is going. FINNEY: See, I think that's the miscalculation because Americans -

what the data is showing are looking at reproductive freedom as a much broader issue. For some people it is an economic issue. For some people it is a human rights issue. For some women it is about equality.

And one of the things we're seeing is that in young men of color, specifically, concerns that - and younger voters, I should say.

[06:55:06]

If the Supreme Court can take away this right, what else could they do? And particularly when we're also then talking about access to IVF, and in some states - I think there's about 20 states now are on the ballot, we're looking at access to contraception being reined in. That is part of the Project 2025. And particularly access to abortion care is also part of Project 2025. People are very concerned about it. And it is going to be a real motivator for voters.

And I think part of what it's going to do is, it's going to impact turnout. And so if you are a reproductive freedom voter and you're looking at - I mean, if - or if you're a - and, again, I think it's a broader swath of what brings you on that issue, you're probably going to vote for the Democrat.

HUNT: Interesting. We're, obviously, about to find out.

I also want to talk about another moment from the Trump press conference where it involves Willie Brown and a helicopter crashing, but then it turns out the didn't actually really happen.

Let's watch what Trump said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT AND 2024 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Well, I know Willie Brown very well. In fact, I went down in a helicopter with him. We thought, maybe this is the end. We were in a helicopter going to a certain location together. And there was an emergency landing. This was not a pleasant landing. And Willie was - he was a little concerned. So, I know him - I know him pretty well. I mean, I haven't seen him in years. But he told me terrible things about her.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: So, "The New York Times" reports this. "There was only one problem with that story. Or maybe two. Or maybe three. It wasn't the famous former San Francisco mayor on the helicopter flight at all. It was Gov. Jerry Brown, the former governor of California, who bears little resemblance to Willie Brown. There was also no emergency landing, and the helicopter's passengers were never in any danger at all, according to Governor Gavin Newsom, who was also on the flight. Jerry Brown, who left office in January 2019, said there a spokesman, quote, there was no emergency landing and no discussion of Kamala Harris. I call complete B.S., Mr. Newsome said, laughing out loud." Toluse.

: What do you do with that. I mean Trump often sort of veers into sort of non-sequiturs and talks about things that maybe didn't happen.

HUNT: And to be clear, this is - this is Jerry and Willie Brown. So.

: Twins, practically. It's - it's - it's - and Trump has had issues with, you know, mixing up names. And I do think that when he gets on the debate stage with Kamala Harris, if he does things like that where he starts veering into things that no one cares about, it's going to look bad for him. And Joe Biden was speaking to reporters yesterday and he said he was confident that Kamala Harris would do great at the debate if he - if she allowed him to talk. And I think Democrats want to see more of Trump doing things like that.

HUNT: All right.

FINNEY: Yes. Because he knows him so well, he doesn't know the difference. Oh, OK.

HUNT: I mean it is striking. I will say that now, you know, Trump's mistakes, right? There were - Democrats would complain people would seize on Biden's mistakes, ignore Trump's mistakes. There are a lot clearer in this - in this setup, anyway.

All right, on this Friday, I will leave you with this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAYA RUDOLPH, COMEDIAN: They avoid taking any responsibility for -

BECK BENNETT, COMEDIAN: We do not.

RUDOLPH: Mr. Vice President, I'm speaking. I'm speaking.

BENNETT: Yes. Well, I'm just trying -

RUDOLPH: But I'm speaking.

BENNETT: Oh. But, yes, but I -

RUDOLPH: Yes, yes, but I'm speaking.

See, I'm speaking right now (speaking in foreign language), Nevada, Arizona, some parts of Texas. I'm speaking.

BENNETT: I -

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: We know Maya Rudolph is returning to play Vice President Kamala Harris on "Saturday Night Live," but who's going to play her running mate? You might have been thinking, certainly the internet was, that "SNL" legend Steve Martin looks a lot like Tim Walz. Very sadly, you are out of luck. Martin tells "The LA Times," he was approached about the role this week, but he declined, saying he is not an impressionist. The "SNL" election season casting is a rite of passage for candidates at this point. You may remember Alec Baldwin famously taking on the role of Donald Trump eight years ago.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KATE MCKINNON, COMEDIAN: I mean this man is clearly unfit to be commander in chief.

ALEC BALDWIN, COMEDIAN: Wrong.

MCKINNON: He is a bully.

BALDWIN: Shut up.

MCKINNON: He started the birther movement.

BALDWIN: You did.

MCKINNON: He says climate change is a hoax invented by China.

BALDWIN: It's pronounced China.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: This is clearly just an excuse to play all the greatest of this because let's go back -- remember the earlier days of the show we had Dana Carvey as George H.W. Bush.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DANA CARVEY, COMEDIAN: I'm talking three, four percent tops, no more than five. That's set. So, read my lips, no huge new taxes.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: I love it.

Who should play Walz or anyone else?

FINNEY: Oh.

GORMAN: I don't know. The current - the current Trump - the one who does Trump now is far better than Alec Baldwin.

[07:00:01]

Alec Baldwin was the worst Trump out of the three they've had an "SNL." Just my - my take.

HUNT: I mean the lips were like very -

FINNEY: Yes.

GORMAN: It was too exaggerated. It wasn't - it wasn't a good impression. That's my opinion. HUNT: Oh, well, I don't know. I think that's an - I love you, you're a good friend of the show.

GORMAN: I - I'm here for the takes. I'm here for the takes.

HUNT: But -

GORMAN: But, yes - yes, you know, I don't - I think he was - I think the least funny one.

HUNT: All right. Fair enough.

FINNEY: (INAUDIBLE).

HUNT: I'm sad, though, that it's not going to be Steve Martin. I'm a huge Steve Martin fan.

FINNEY: Agreed.

HUNT: All right, thank you guys for spending Friday with us. I really appreciate it.

Thanks to all of you for joining us as well. I'm Kasie Hunt. Don't go anywhere. "CNN NEWS CENTRAL" starts right now.