Return to Transcripts main page

CNN This Morning

Democrats See Jump in Enthusiasm; Arrests in Matthew Perry's Death; Walz's 2006 Campaign Made False Claims; DNC in Three Days. Aired 6:30-7a ET

Aired August 16, 2024 - 06:30   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:32:46]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

STEPHEN COLBERT, "THE LATE SHOW WITH STEPHEN COLBERT": Now that Kamala Harris is at the top of the ticket, all of a sudden energy is exploding around the DNC. As one organizer put it, before it was going to be a wake. Now, it's going to be Mardi Gras. Yes. Looking forward to it. Looking forward to it. Yes. It's going to be Mardi Gras. Just don't ask Chuck Schumer how he got all those beads.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KASIE HUNT, CNN ANCHOR: OK, Democrats preparing for an exciting DNC next week, boosted by a flurry of new polls that reveal a close race and a sharp 39 point spike in enthusiasm among Democratic voters since President Biden's exit from the race last month. And for some voters who once had no plans for voting for Joe Biden-Harris, they say, represents an alternative in a once stale race.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Seeing Harris, this like gives me an actual option.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's more of an issue with Donald Trump and the options that are now available. I would not have voted for Joe Biden.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I switched because Harris is a breath of fresh air. Totally different from what we have seen so far. It's newness and change that is needed.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: All right, joining me now is the person who conducted that focus group, the very well respected pollster and communication strategist, Frank Luntz.

Frank, I'm so grateful to have you. I maybe shouldn't admit this publicly, but I was once in some of your focus groups as a student at George Washington University. So, I have been a longtime admirer of yours and I am very grateful to have you here. And I know this enthusiasm is something that you have really focused in on as kind of the central change to the race that we have seen here.

What did you learn from these voters in this particular group, and what else should we be watching here?

FRANK LUNTZ, POLLSTER AND COMMUNICATIONS STRATEGIST: Well, first, I need to apologize because if you were in my focus groups as a student at GW, I must have been in my yelling faze. I (INAUDIBLE) voters to tell me the truth, to speak up and speak out. Now I figured out how to do it in a much more quiet and respectful fashion.

HUNT: You never scared me. It was all good.

LUNTZ: Oh, I - even if I didn't scare you, I still would - I'm sure I was improper.

HUNT: I don't think so.

LUNTZ: And please accept my apologies.

The things that - the things that matter most, and that intensity is number one, because that means that you'll get your polling numbers.

[06:35:06]

It's one thing to support a candidate. It's another thing to take the time and go out and vote for that candidate.

After the Republican Convention, Donald Trump was going to convert every supporter into a voter and it was very questionable whether Joe Biden would be able to do the same. Now with Harris on the top of the ticket, she is converting more supporters into actual voters than even Trump. That's significant.

Second is that the voter pool has changed. Younger women who were opting out because they did not want to vote for someone 80-years-old are now absolutely excited and energized about this year (ph) than the focus group and they can't wait to participate. And that's going to have an impact, not just on the presidential race, but on Senate and House races as well as more traditional Democrats come to the polls.

And third, they really want to know where Harris stands. This is the one place where she may still be week. On issues like inflation, and immigration, Donald Trump still has the advantage. If he ran an issue- based campaign, he can win. If they want an attribute-based campaign, she wins. It seems strange that Trump is only talking about attributes and not focusing on the issues, which is why she's going to make her economic speech today.

HUNT: Yes, Frank, we saw that event from Trump yesterday where his campaign was clearly setting him up to do exactly what you're talking about, right? He was next to groceries that have clearly risen in cost. But instead he was saying things like, I'm entitled to attack Kamala Harris.

How do you think, in your experience, how voters reacted to moments like that from Trump?

LUNTZ: Expect it, but it doesn't mean that they appreciate it and they're going to vote for it. They've known Donald Trump since 2015. They have not known Vice President Harris. She can be defined, which is what Trump is trying to do.

The problem is, whereas the campaign is focused on substance, and where she's changed her point of view, Trump is focused on insults. If I were advising him, which I am not, I would look him straight in the eye and say, sir, you need to shut up. You need to stop behaving like a petulant child and start focusing on what the American people want, in a way that they want to hear it.

Look, if I yell at you every time you had me on, you'll stop having me on and you'll stop listening. Trump doesn't understand that. People have to tell him the truth because at this point she's gotten her convention bounds before the convention. And I think Harris could have a five or six point lead coming out of that convention if Donald Trump continues to behave the way that he has.

HUNT: Frank, do you think there's anything that could take Kamala Harris down kind of off of this high because I mean my experience covering campaigns, campaign - every campaign has tough moments, right? They all do. It's - it's - it's inevitable. And the question is, how do you handle them when they come? This is a campaign that's had to pull together really quickly. They're not necessarily - you know, they haven't faced something like that before.

But that said, it is such a compressed time period. I mean do you see a coming back down to earth? And, if so, how?

LUNTZ: Well, it's going to be in the debate September 10th. It's going to be the debate heard round the world.

Look, the issue right now is Donald Trump reminds women of their first husband - of their husband - first husband's divorce lawyer. It's - he's got a problem in how he attacks and how he presents himself. And I assume that his campaign is telling him this.

For her, she's got to show that she's got the answers, that she has the solutions, and she's not extreme. This is the one thing I hear in my focus groups, a real concern that her politics - she's from California. She did not even make it to the very first caucus. She participated in the debates and did not do well. So, voters are asking themselves, what's behind the aura, what's behind the persona? They liked the persona. They don't know the details. And the next 80 days, that's exactly what she'll have to provide. Are they centrist? Are they mainstream? Or are they extreme? That's her challenge.

HUNT: Yes, really interesting.

Frank, before I let you go, I also want to ask you about - speaking of how voters perceive extreme situations or views or not. You asked these voters about J.D. Vance, who has had something of a rocky rollout in the wake of his selection at the Republican National Convention. I want to play a little bit of what some of these voters had to say to you and ask you about it on the other side.

Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When he chose J.D. Vance, it kind of pushed me over to having an open mind.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I switched because J.D. Vance scares the heck out to me. And that Joe was just a little bit too old.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: Did J.D. Vance - did the selection of J.D. Vance hurt Trump's nomination?

LUNTZ: No one knew at the time the things that he had said in the past. He is a mini Donald Trump, prepared to say anything and everything to - to get an (INAUDIBLE), get an emotional reaction.

[06:40:09]

His debate is October 1st. And the challenge with him versus Governor Walz, that Governor Walz is going to be a good old boy, even though he's a north Midwesterner. And Vance is going to have to find some way to differentiate himself without being negative.

I really want to emphasize, I know this interview's coming to an end, that the public is frustrated and angry about the personal attacks and wants a different approach going forward. Just because it worked in 2016 does not mean it will work in 2024.

HUNT: Yes, really - really very interesting perspective.

Frank, I'm so grateful to have you. I do hope that you'll come back and join us again soon. Thank you.

LUNTZ: Thank you.

HUNT: All right, now this. Donald Trump looking to make inroads with Jewish voters with another event combating anti-Semitism. The event featured megadonor Miriam Adelson at Trump's private golf club in New Jersey. The former president's remarks included false claims about his opponent, Kamala Harris.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT AND 2024 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: The toxic poison of anti-Semitism now courses through the veins of radical Democrat Party.

And instead of expunging this hatred, Kamala Harris is pandering to it. He wouldn't even meet Bibi. He wouldn't talk to him.

(END VIDEO CLIP) HUNT: All right, that last part, not true. Vice President Harris did meet with Israeli prime minister when he - with the Israeli prime minister when he was in D.C. last month.

The thing I want to - kind of zero in on here is the - what was really going on here, Mike - and, Annie, I'm interested in your take on this too, which is that "The New York Times" had reported over the weekend and that there were angry text messages sent to Miriam Adelson, who is a critical part of the Republican kind of financial landscape. Her late husband, Sheldon Adelson, kind of created this universe. And he especially focuses on Israel - Israel, Jewish causes, in the Republican Party. And they had previously said that these angry text messages were sent. They complained that the people running Mrs. Adelson's super PAC, which was at the time on the air with $18 million a week of ads helping Trump, the text said that the officials running the super PAC were rhinos, Republicans in name only, and that they basically dishonored Sheldon Adelson's name. I mean it seems like he was trying to fix that with this event.

MIKE DUBKE, FORMER TRUMP WHITE HOUSE COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR: Right.

HUNT: Did he - did he do that?

DUBKE: Well, I think there's only one person that knows if he fixed it with this event. You know, again, this is kind of where we were talking about earlier in the program, that fixating on the people rather than the message I think misses the point. So, if the $18 million a week was delivering a message that was working, I don't care who's delivering it. You know, that - it should be what you're focused on. Message not messenger.

HUNT: Last word on this.

ANNIE LINSKEY, REPORTER, "THE WALL STREET JOURNAL": Yes. I mean the idea of sending insulting text messages to your largest donor, I'm not quite sure what you're - what the strategy is behind that. I mean - and, you know, this is not the first time that there's had to be some sort of cleanup between Adelson and this ticket. "The Washington Post" reported about text messages that Vance had sent to a sort of Republican troll that were insulting to Mr. Adelson. And it was really like, you know, yet again, there was a little bit of a makeup call that had to happen.

DUBKE: I mean, listen, this is a mega supporter of Israel who understands and is supportive of Trump because she believes that he is going to be better for Israel than the vice president. That's the bottom line. That's all that needs to be conveyed.

HUNT: No need to be mad at her I suppose in your view.

DUBKE: No.

HUNT: OK.

When CNN THIS MORNING continues, Michael Smerconish joins us live because it's Friday. We're going to get his thoughts on the two VP picks and how they're working out so far.

Plus, the current sitting president meeting with an actor who played a president on TV.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There's a promise that I ask everyone who works here to make, never doubt that a small group of thoughtful and committed citizens can change the world. You know why?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's the only thing that ever has.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[06:48:25]

HUNT: All right, 47 minutes past the hour. Here's your morning roundup.

Not the first former actor in the White House. President Biden hosts TV president Martin Sheen at the White House. Sheen, of course, and this one's for the millennials, played President Jeb Bartlett in the NBC show "The West Wing." It is unclear why Sheen was there, but speaking to reporters he called Biden one of his heroes.

Four suspects were arrested in the killing of former "General Hospital" star Johnny Wactor. Wactor was shot and killed in Los Angeles in May during an apparent catalytic converter theft. Three of the suspects, all 18, were booked on suspicion of murder.

Five people have been charged in the 2023 death of actor Matthew Perry. It includes two doctors, Perry's live in assistant, and a person referred to by authorities as "the ketamine queen." The "Friends" star drowned at his Pacific Palisades home last October. His death was attributed to the acute effects of ketamine.

Elliot, this is like a devastatingly sad story. This - one of these doctors, the investigators, read text messages calling him a moron because all of this ketamine that he was taking.

ELLIOT WILLIAMS, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Yes.

HUNT: The defense that they seem to be out there with is that eventually he became so addicted to the ketamine that he had been prescribed, that he started getting it on the street.

WILLIAMS: Yes.

HUNT: And then ultimately that was what killed him. But it really is a portrait of people who are - were just taking advantage of someone in a really horrible situation.

WILLIAMS: Yes, a few things. It's not just calling him a moron.

[06:50:01] The line from the - from the text message was, "I wonder how much this moron will pay." And the great tragedy in all I that he did - Matthew Perry did have treatment for ketamine from a physician at regulated doses and, under the law, you know, you have to have a defibrillator there and other things to make sure that if somebody has an incident that the doctor can treat them. He wasn't getting enough. And then went off-label, in effect, and went to these unscrupulous folks, even "the ketamine queen" quote, unquote, although hold attorneys push back on the use of that term, but went off label to these folks who provided him with a tremendous amount of ketamine. Sort of a tranquilizer amount of the drug. And facing - now they face up - one of them faces up to life in prison for this given the seriousness of how much they put in his body.

HUNT: Yes, really, really sad and horrible. His family has said, you know, they look forward to seeing justice play out.

All right, let's turn back to happier topics. The 2024 campaign.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. TIM WALZ (D-MN), VICE PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: Can I have white guy tacos and like -

KAMALA HARRIS, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE U.S. (D) AND U.S. PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: What is that, like mayonnaise and tuna? What are you doing?

WALZ: Pretty much. Ground beef and cheese and -

HARRIS: That's OK.

WALZ: Yes.

HARRIS: Do you put any flavor in it?

WALZ: No.

HARRIS: Oh.

WALZ: Here's the deal. No, they said to be careful and let her know this, that black pepper is the top of the spice level in Minnesota, you know?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: OK, we're going to come back around to that with our panel in a second.

Kamala Harris and Tim Walz leaning into the Minnesota governor's midwestern dad vibes in a new video last night as the two seek to frame their campaign as the underdog. Walz, though, is facing fresh criticism over how he once portrayed a DUI charge that he received nearly 30 years ago. CNN's K-file reports that as a 2006 congressional candidate, Walz's campaign repeatedly made misleading statements about this incident, including telling the press that he had not been drinking that night, claiming that his failed field sobriety test was due to a misunderstanding related to hearing loss from his time in the National Guard and that Walz was allowed to drive himself to jail that night, none of which was true.

With us now on this Friday, CNN political commentator Michael Smerconish. He is the host of CNN's "SMERCONISH."

Michael, thrilled to have you, as always.

Let's dig in here to these questions about the running mates and what we are learning here about Tim Walz and what he's saying. I mean clearly he's getting - this is - this is his first real vet on a national stage, and some of it's not standing up to scrutiny it seems to me.

MICHAEL SMERCONISH, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: So, I thought the DUI issue was a really significant and serious issue. I know that Republicans have spent a lot of time talking about the alleged stolen valor. My own opinion, for what it's worth, having studied the facts is that there's no there there. Walz spoke sloppily, should not have represented a role that he had as having been a permanent role when it wasn't.

But the DUI story is - is indefensible. Kasie, you and I know a thing or two about congressional campaigns. They're very small. They're very tight. There's usually like a paid campaign manager and a paid spokesperson and that's it. So, the idea that this came from his spokesperson and it didn't come from him, I don't buy it. And the idea that he tried to lay it off on a hearing disability from the National Guard service through the spokesperson, while denying things that the K-file investigation proved to be inaccurate, I think is a real issue for him. In the end, it's going to be about the top of the ticket. But to me, the DUI is bigger than the stolen valor allegation. Not because of the drinking, but because of the lie.

HUNT: How do you think the Harris campaign should be dealing with this right now?

SMERCONISH: Full-on. And it makes me wonder whether in the vetting process maybe this is as a result of - of the expedited nature of - of her ascendancy as the candidate. But it makes me wonder how much they really knew about it. I'm sure they knew of the DWI, but it makes me wonder whether they were aware of all the underlying facts, to the extent that the K-file is.

HUNT: Very interesting.

All right, so, let's touch on J.D. Vance then briefly because he actually has significantly higher unpopularity numbers, unfavorable numbers, than Tim Walz seems to. I don't know if this is a reflection of just his - his rollout and how people have - have perceived him since then, or if this came into play beforehand.

But what do you make of how he has been received because we were talking to Frank Luntz earlier in the show and there were a number of voters who had switched from Trump to Harris, or at least they had switched to voting for Harris, who mentioned J.D. Vance as one of their issues.

SMERCONISH: So, I guess not as many read "Hillbilly Elegy" or watched the movie as I anticipated because I thought he entered the whole process ahead of the curve, having some type of a narrative or definition that was favorable. Instead, it's the cat lady comment that is probably top of mind for those Americans who are aware of J.D. Vance. So, they've done a terrible job in rolling him out. And maybe the Trump campaign, as I assumed, thought Americans knew that narrative and would view him more favorably.

[06:55:06]

HUNT: Yes.

So, Michael, before I let you go, let's talk for a second about Donald Trump, who has conducted a series of media events over the course of the last few days, gotten a lot of advice from Republicans about how he shouldn't be doing some of the things that he's doing. What is your view of - of all of that?

SMERCONISH: He's intent on a campaign of self-immolation. I don't get it. He's all about motivation and not persuasion. Anybody remember the days when you tried to persuade undecided voters instead of just rallying your base? When he refers to the vice president as a bum, as crazy, as stupid, or as a lunatic, he's pitching to the base and he's not winning your old neighborhood in the Philly burbs nor mine. I don't get it, all this narrow casting. Everybody knows he has a ceiling. What is it, 45, 46 percent? And when you don't have an effective third party candidate, and we don't in this race, then he's really tapped out. And yet I don't understand why he's not more concerned about reaching suburban women.

Obstacles remain for Kamala Harris to be sure because she's not yet been battle tested. But I don't understand this visceral, angry reaction from Trump. When he said yesterday, I'm entitled to personal attacks, what's he talking about? I don't understand.

But look, he's defied, you know, all logic in the past, and maybe this will work. I just don't see it.

HUNT: We'll have to - we're about to find out. It's - so it's a very compressed, short election periods. So, Michael Smerconish, always so grateful for your perspective. See you next week, I hope.

SMERCONISH: Thank you, Kasie.

HUNT: All right, thank you.

Don't forget to tune in tomorrow at 9:00 a.m. for "SMERCONISH." It's right here on CNN.

We are now, of course, just three days away from the start of the Democratic National Convention. Democrats, politicos across the board heading to Chicago to roll out Kamala Harris' at presidential nomination after the whirlwind past several weeks upended the race for the White House. President Joe Biden, who just a month ago was planning to accept the nomination himself, is instead going to speak on the first night of the convention.

Here's our friend and senior - CNN senior political commentator, David Axelrod, describing what that moment could be for Democrats.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DAVID AXELROD, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, I think emotionally for the people in the room it's going to be very important. There's a lot of - there's a lot of love and affection and appreciation for Joe Biden. And there's great appreciation for the difficult decision that he made.

Yes, he expected to be speaking on the fourth night and he expected it to be his convention, and it's not going to be. But in making the decision he made, he breathed new life into the Democratic campaign.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: All right, panel is back.

I actually - can we go back to the - the tacos too. I want to talk about the tacos.

KAREN FINNEY, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Ground beef and cheese.

HUNT: And, you know what, it kind of plays into, you know, we're seeing a completely different dynamic from what we would have seen - I mean can you imagine the sort of - the way that Democrats had approached it when Biden was at the top of the ticket, it would have felt a little bit more like a funeral, I think, the convention, or it could have. Certainly that was the vibe I was picking up from a lot of people who worked inside the party when I was talking to them as he was trying to make this decision.

Instead, it is set to be this celebration of these two, you know, taco-eating - this connection doesn't work.

FINNEY: Yes.

HUNT: But you take my point, Karen -

FINNEY: Yes, I do.

HUNT: That it is a - that it is a - it is - it is - it is a very changed situation.

FINNEY: It is. I mean, look, there was a plan initially to use the convention as a celebration because actually people are excited to be back together because we couldn't be together in 2020. And I know there's a lot of people I'm looking forward to seeing that I didn't get to see four years ago. So, that was going to be part of it. And talking about Joe Biden's story.

But it has shifted in that now it's an opportunity, this amazing ark of history where you have President Biden speaking, you will have Hillary Clinton speaking, you will have Barack Obama speaking. And in terms of passing the torch, you know, I think that we have to acknowledge that Barack Obama's candidacy, Hillary Clinton's candidacy, and the presidency, obviously, of Barack Obama helped to lead to this moment that gives us a Kamala Harris as vice president and it's - and people are excited.

And the last thing I'll just say is, you know, what we're seeing on the ground and in the data that I'm looking at there - yes, there is a portion of the electorate, they just don't like Donald Trump. But there is genuine excitement about Kamala Harris. And that is going to - and - and I keep saying to Democrats, be joyful because we are in our joy -

HUNT: Be mindful of the time.

DUBKE: Could they - could they not get Biden to speak on Sunday? Because they tried to move him as far away from that last night as they possibly could. I guess he said no this Sunday.

FINNEY: You don't think he should get to kick off the convention?

DUBKE: No, I think if they actually wanted to pay the respect that you just talked about, they'd put him on Wednesday or just before.

[07:00:04]

FINNEY: No way. You give him his own night. You give him his own -

DUBKE: I - Monday - Monday -

HUNT: Well, he's going to speak the same -

DUBKE: Every convention, Monday is the night that you put out the people you have to put out.

FINNEY: No, not for this one.

DUBKE: And then, as you get down the line, you go to Thursday.

FINNEY: That's not how we're looking at it.

DUBKE: Well, that's why I guess -

FINNEY: But you can look at it that way.

DUBKE: Oh, I will. I guess Sunday was off the table.

HUNT: I was hoping to give one of you guys -

WILLIAMS: Oh, I'm staying far out - oh, no.

HUNT: Well, we are approaching 7:00 a.m. very quickly. Thanks to all of you for being here this morning. I really appreciate it.

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