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RFK Jr's Endorsement; Kate Cox is Interviewed about Abortion; Mallory Morrow is Interviewed about Project 2025. Aired 6:30-7a ET
Aired August 21, 2024 - 06:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[06:30:00]
ALEX THOMPSON, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: They have been very aggressive at challenging his ballot access in every single state, filing lots of lawsuits, to the point that RFK Jr. may no longer see a path and say, well, if I only - if I want to try to stay relevant after election day, then I'm going to back Trump. I mean -
KATE BEDINGFIELD, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: I think this is also a reflection of the fact that since Kamala Harris has gone to the top of the ticket, the share of the double hater voters who were potentially going to swing this election, and - and may still, but - has - has shrunk significantly. So, I think in some ways this is also just a testament to the reality of the shifting dynamics of this election now that there is so much more enthusiasm and interest in her. People view her as a change candidate. They're not looking for this alternative.
But I would also say that this is also kind of now what's happening in public is really what's been happening from - behind the scenes from the beginning. I mean remember when he got in, we know one of Donald Trump's biggest donors was one of the biggest donors to his super PAC. I mean this has been a Trump-aided effort from the outset because they thought in a dynamic, where the race was Biden versus Trump, that - that Kennedy had the potential to swing the election to Trump. Now it seems like that's not the case.
KASIE HUNT, CNN ANCHOR: Mo, can I ask you what the sort of perception of the Kennedy brand is now that - I mean has RFK done significant damage to that? Jack Schlossberg is here. He spoke last night. He's the grandson of John F. Kennedy Jr. He was asked - my colleagues asked him about RFK. Let's watch that briefly.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JACK SCHLOSSBERG, GRANDSON OF PRESIDENT JOHN F. KENNEDY: I think my cousin should do whatever he thinks is in the best interest of our country.
DANA BASH, CNN ANCHOR: That's it.
SCHLOSSBERG: Yes.
BASH: What if it's endorsing Trump?
SCHLOSSBERG: Well, then, we would disagree about what the interests of our country are. But I'll - that's his decision.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: So that was a much more tightly controlled version of Jack Schlossberg, who, on the internet, has been openly mocking Bobby, is what they call him in the family, his accent, among other things. It's gotten some notice.
But also, I mean, this presidential bid, you know, we - we had RFK Jr. admitting that he dumped a dead baby bear in Central Park.
MO ELLEITHEE, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, GEORGETOWN INSTITUTE OF POLITICS AND PUBLIC SERVICE: Right.
HUNT: There's a picture of him with his hand in the bear's mouth. And we now that he's got a freezer full of road kill. I mean this is a bit of a train wreck for the family.
ELLEITHEE: I think it's a bit of a train wreck for RFK Jr., you know. But I - I wouldn't worry about the brand of the Kennedy family, at least amongst Democrats. They will forever be the Kennedys to us. They will forever be American royalty to us. They will always be the symbol of - of hope and generational change and turning the corner, you know, even before Barack Obama, you know, for us.
And so, I think the Kennedy brand is going to hold up just fine. I think RFK Jr., however, is - you know, you said that he's looking to stay relevant. I guess I'd quibble a little bit, he really hasn't been relevant at all in this campaign except for like a hot minute when he first got in. As soon as Kamala Harris ascended to the top of the ticket, any Democrat who was flirting with RFK Jr. came home. He's going to, I think, have a lot of self-reflection (INAUDIBLE).
HUNT: Yes, I'm (INAUDIBLE) - and look, there was a minute there when he was, you know, talking about, well, am I going to be on the debate stage or not. Now, granted, that was before what happened on that debate stage.
SHERMICHAEL SINGLETON, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Can I just jump in here quickly.
HUNT: Very briefly. Very briefly.
SINGLETON: I mean if you're looking at RFK, you're looking at low propensity voters, right? He's still pulling in around 2 to 4 percent of the national electorate. If you're Trump and you can get that endorsement, can you shave off 2 percent? Trump performs very, very well with low propensity voters. But can you turn them out has been the big question. If he gets that endorsement, maybe he can (ph), that helps in some of those battleground states.
HUNT: I guess we'll see.
Mo, thank you very much. I really appreciate you being here this morning.
ELLEITHEE: Thank you.
HUNT: All right, still ahead here, the DNC leaning in in - on how the abortion issue is impacting women, sharing their stories. We're joined by one of those women, Kate Cox, who was forced to flee Texas to get an abortion.
Plus, another big topic, the Republican framework that's known as Project 2025. Why Democrats are trotting out giant books with that title, up next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[06:38:11]
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KATE COX, FLED TEXAS FOR EMERGENCY ABORTION: When I got pregnant, doctors told us our baby would never survive. And if I didn't get an abortion, it would put a future pregnancy at risk. But Trump didn't care. And because of his abortion bans, I had to flee my home. There's nothing pro-family about abortion bans. There's nothing pro-life about letting women suffer and even die.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: That was Kate Cox during the roll call. She is the Texas mother who was forced to flee her home state to receive an emergency abortion for a pregnancy that wasn't viable. And she was, again, at the DNC's roll call last night. And she slammed Donald Trump and Texas Republicans for abortion bans that she says endangered her health and her future fertility. Cox sued Texas for denying her access to abortion care. Last night she made this very joyous announcement.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KATE COX, FLED TEXAS FOR EMERGENCY ABORTION: Today, because I found a way to access abortion care, I am pregnant again. Woo-hoo! Thank you very much. And my baby is due in January, just in time to see Kamala Harris sworn in as president of the United States.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: And joining us now is Kate Cox, from here in Chicago.
Kate, good morning to you.
First of all, congratulations on your pregnancy. This moment stood out to me last night, and I was eager to talk to you about what it felt like to be here at the convention after such a period of, I mean, you've been through so much.
KATE COX, FLED TEXAS FOR EMERGENCY ABORTION: Yes, absolutely. You know, there was so much hope and momentum in that room.
[06:40:00]
So, I'm - I'm just very honored to be here.
HUNT: So, Kate, can you kind of just remind us and take us through the journey that you have been on since you left Texas to find the care that you needed to, again, get to the point where you can safely carry another baby?
COX: Yes. And end of last year I had the most heartbreaking and complicated pregnancy. So, I was - we received the most devastating news that parents can receive, a fatal fetal diagnosis that our baby would never survive. It was a pregnancy plagued with pain and suffering. I spent nights in the emergency room instead of at home tucking my children into bed. So, we made the most difficult and devastating decision, and that was, my husband and I, together with my doctor, decided to access - seek abortion care so that we could preserve my fertility and have the opportunity to bring a baby home.
So, after what we went through, now we speak out and share our story because I think it's important to hear the stories from the women who have been through these tragedies. There's millions of Americans living under extreme abortion bans that are devastating for families and their health.
HUNT: Do you know if it's a boy or a girl?
COX: I'm having a little boy.
HUNT: Oh, congratulations.
What's next for you here at the convention? Are you planning on attending Harris' speech on Thursday?
COX: Thank you.
I will be here as long as I can. Of course. I've got little ones at home to take care of as well. So, I will be here as long as I can to show my support for our Vice President. Harris. I'm so grateful for the work she does for reproductive freedom. She trusts women and fights for our freedom.
HUNT: All right, Kate Cox, very grateful to have you on this morning. And, again, congratulations on your little boy. Thank you.
COX: Thank you.
HUNT: All right, we're going to turn - we're going to turn now to this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GOV. TIM WALZ (D-MN), VICE PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: These guys are trying to hide what they're doing. They're trying to figure out what it is. And I've said this, I coached high school football long enough to know.
I know if you're going to take the time to draw up a playbook, you plan on using it. So, this Project 2025 thing, it is simply the playbook. And they're going to call the plays straight down the line.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: Project 2025 has been a significant focus at the DNC this week. It's a reference to a plan from the conservative Heritage Foundation. It's a 920-page document that lays out conservative policies and plans for another Trump term.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MALCOLM KENYATTA (D), PENNSYLVANIA STATE REPRESENTATIVE: Usually Republicans want to ban books, but now they're trying to shove this down our throats.
SEN. GARY PETERS (D-MI): Their Project 2025 agenda is the same old, same old.
SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (I-VT): But let me tell you what a radical agenda is. And that is Trump's Project 2025.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: So, the Trump campaign insists they don't have knowledge of the project, although a CNN investigation found at least 140 former Trump administration officials helped write it.
Joining us now to talk more about this, Michigan State Senator Mallory McMorrow, who you saw speaking out about this project earlier this week. That was you there with the book.
Talk to me a little bit about why this is such a focus. It - it - it - it does tell us that clearly you can see in the data that the policies that are included in this are things that - that Democrats see an opportunity around, that these are things that potentially galvanize your voters. Why and how?
MALLORY MCMORROW (D), MICHIGAN STATE SENATE: I think that's right. And you saw Trump and the Trump campaign really run away from this once people started to realize what it is and what's in it and how wildly unpopular the ideas that were laid out by the Heritage Foundation really are.
As you pointed out, there are more than 140 Trump administration officials who were involved in writing this, promoting this. They have training videos about how to talk about Project 2025. And I think everybody by now knows who Donald Trump is. There was a sense in his first term that he was kind of bumbling his way through the presidency and figuring it out how - as he goes. But this is the plan that he would execute starting on day one for the first 180 days that would radically strip down our government and reshape it to serve only him.
HUNT: What - what in it do you think is potentially the most problematic in your view?
MCMORROW: I think there are a number of things. I mean what I touched on in night one, this idea that he would systematically replace civil servants with Trump loyalists. Now, regardless of your party, that should terrify everybody. Whether it is the safety regulators who test the products that my daughter eats, I want to make sure that those are experts, they are not party loyalists. That terrifies me. And there's also a definition of family throughout Project 2025 that really redefines that there's only one acceptable way within the Republican Party to be a family, have a child, that takes that right away from - you heard the - the story just earlier in the previous segment - strips that right away from so many women and families in a way that would devastate this country.
[06:45:19]
HUNT: Our panel's here.
Alex, you have a question?
THOMPSON: Yes. Well, you know, for you, what do you say to, you know, people in the Trump campaign and, you know, they've made it very clear they don't like this plan. They haven't liked this for a long time. And, I mean, what do you say to, you know, someone that's like, well, the Trump campaign says this - this isn't us?
MCMORROW: I think when somebody shows you who they are, believe them. The fact that Donald Trump has raised money for the Heritage Foundation, has showed up side-by-side with many of the leaders, again, you can't discount how many people from the Trump administration were involved in creating this document and now promoting it, putting it out there.
J.D. Vance wrote the upfront to the forthcoming book from the head of the Heritage Foundation. And after realizing how deeply unpopular it is, they've delayed the book. That's not to say they're not connected to it, they're just delaying it for after the election to try to pull the wool over Americans eyes, to say, this is not connected to us, it's not happening, just trust us. And that is such a disservice to Americans.
THOMPSON: Is there - is there one policy, if you could tell all Americans one policy in Project 2025 that you wish all of them knew, what would it be?
MCMORROW: Dismantling the government. I mean, I know that the idea of civil servants is kind of wonky and unpopular, but these are the experts who make every single aspect of our country function. And to turn the entire country into a political game would be a nightmare.
HUNT: Kate.
BEDINGFIELD: So, I'm curious, you've been such an effective driver of the message on this, and we've seen data polling that shows that people are starting to understand what 20 - Project 2025 is. I'm curious if you get reaction from voters in your district, kind of how when you're talking about this, how do people react?
MCMORROW: You know, I do. There was a billboard up in the metro Detroit area where I'm from weeks ago, long before this convention, that just said Project 2025, Google it. And you saw the search results on Google. People were googling it. So, whether or not it was a mistake of the Heritage Foundation to give it a catchy brand name, it's something that people - they put out there, they branded it, they wanted people to find it. There is a website with all kinds of videos about what it is. People are finding it, and they don't like it.
So, I was getting questions well before coming here about, what are we going to do about it, and how do we get that message out to people about what this really does.
HUNT: All right. Mallory McMorrow, thank you so much for being on the show.
MCMORROW: Thank you.
HUNT: Hope you'll come back.
MCMORROW: Absolutely.
HUNT: I appreciate that you're a morning person. It means a lot to us around here.
MCMORROW: Mom of a little one. I am a morning person.
HUNT: Right. Well, it's like - it's also a life phase.
MCMORROW: It is.
HUNT: I completely agree with that.
MCMORROW: It is.
HUNT: All right, coming up next here, Tim Walz set to make his speech tonight at the DNC, one night after Barack Obama had this to say about him.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARACK OBAMA, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT: Let me tell you something, I love this guy. Tim is the kind of person who should be in politics.
You can tell those - those flannel shirts he wears don't come from some political consultant, they come from his closet. And they have been through some stuff.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: We'll discuss what to expect from the vice presidential candidate tonight.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[06:53:33]
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) GOV. TIM WALZ (D-MN), VICE PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: You run a campaign based on fear like them, you're going to run into a little trouble when you run into a campaign that's based on joy.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: President - Vice Presidential Nominee Tim Walz will be taking the main stage tonight here in Chicago. It will be a major test for Walz, who just recently been thrust into the national spotlight as the Harris-Walz campaign now looks to try to convert momentum into votes.
Former President Bill Clinton is also set to speak. Four decades ago, Clinton took the DNC stage when Walter Mondale picked Geraldine Ferraro as his running mate, making her the first woman to accept the vice presidential nomination. Now, 40 years later, the first woman vice president could make history once again.
Our panel's back.
Let's just kind of do a quick whip around in terms of what you're expecting to see tonight.
Alex, what are you looking for?
THOMPSON: I'm going to see a Bill Clinton sort of still has it. You know, he hasn't really done a huge speech like this since 2012 and 2016. He was really there to just validate Hillary Clinton, try not to overshadow her. Let's see, does he still sort of bring it? I mean, he is younger than Joe Biden, but he's also not young.
HUNT: Yes.
Mo, what are you looking for?
ELLEITHEE: Also watching Bill Clinton. Barack Obama once called him the explainer in chief, a guy who can speak to those working class voters that Shermichael was referencing and frame the economic case in a way very few others can. I'm watching for that. And I'm watching for Tim Walz to bring a lot of joy to this stage after.
HUNT: I did enjoy, I will say, Barack Obama's joke about his flannel shirt last night having -
ELLEITHEE: Yes. Yes.
HUNT: Having seen a lot.
BEDINGFIELD: Yes.
[06:55:03]
HUNT: Shermichael, what are you looking for?
SINGLETON: I mean like Tim Walz has one job, which is why he was chosen, and that is to improve Vice President Harris' margins and those battleground states among key demo groups where all the data, since she's jumped in this thing, has shown she's not going to likely perform well with. Can he get that message across, not only of just hope and inspiration, but an economic sort of revitalization for those areas. If he can touch on that, with the joy and emotion, then it will be an effective speech. If he doesn't touch on that, then again this is still going to be an issue that they're going to have to figure out a way to drive home.
HUNT: And Shermichael is on it.
Kate, what are you looking for?
BEDINGFIELD: How - how Governor Walz makes the case for Kamala Harris. What is his - we've seen him be this incredible force of enthusiasm and joy since he's come out of the gate. He's been, I think, an enormous asset to her. Tonight will be a time where he will really be in the spotlight, both introducing himself, talking about his own life story, which connects, I think, with people all over this country, but I want to - I'm interested to see, how is he going to make the case for Kamala Harris? What does he - what does he think her strengths are? What is it going to sound like, that full-throated case for her? And I think he's going to be terrific. But I'm very interested to hear how he does it.
HUNT: A big moment for a guy who, again, said he never used a teleprompter before this all started to happen.
BEDINGFIELD: Yes. Yes.
HUNT: All right, thanks guys for being here this morning.
Thanks to all of you for joining us as well.
I'm Kasie Hunt. Don't go anywhere. "CNN NEWS CENTRAL" is next from right here in Chicago.
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