Return to Transcripts main page
Erin Burnett Outfront
Harris Delivers Unexpected Remarks After Netanyahu Meeting; Report: Trump Team Grapples With Harris' Rise: "Wakeup Call"; Vance Under Fire After "Childless Cat Ladies" Remark Resurfaces; New Video Shows Russian, Chinese Bombers Flying Near Alaska Before Being Intercepted By NORAD Fighter Jets. Aired 7-8p ET
Aired July 25, 2024 - 19:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[19:00:38]
ERIN BURNETT, CNN HOST: OUTFRONT next:
Kamala Harris demanding Israel reach a deal to release the hostages. The vice president choosing to speak from the White House, seizing on her momentum, getting a boost today from some new poll numbers. Is this a honeymoon or is this the real deal?
Also breaking, a wake-up call. New reporting from inside Trump's team about how they were caught flat-footed by Biden dropping out, and now, scrambling to get back on track.
Plus, the backlash building over J.D. Vance's "childless cat ladies" comment, as Trump maintains Vance will help him in the Rust Belt. But will he? So, Harry Enten has a deep dive on those numbers.
Let's go OUTFRONT.
And good evening. I'm Erin Burnett.
OUTFRONT tonight, the breaking news, the Vice President Kamala Harris, just speaking at the White House after meeting with the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Now, these remarks were not originally on her schedule, and they were actually more extensive remarks than President Biden made after his meeting with Netanyahu, Harris revealing details about what she called a frank conversation with the Israeli prime minister. And she made it clear that she wants an end to the war in Gaza.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KAMALA HARRIS, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: As I just told Prime Minister Netanyahu, it is time to get this deal done. Let's get the deal done so we can get a ceasefire to end the war. Let's bring the hostages home, and let's provide much needed relief to the Palestinian people.
We cannot look away in the face of these tragedies. We cannot allow ourselves to become numb to the suffering, and I will not be silent.
(END VIDEO CLIP) BURNETT: Today's meeting comes as her campaign is getting a boost from a new poll by "The New York Times". And what this showed was Harris narrowing the gap against Trump. But Trump got a post-convention bounce, but when you look at it all in aggregate, Harris is now four points ahead of where Biden was polling in the same poll before he dropped out, which puts the race in a statistical dead heat 48 to 47.
Now, you know, we'll see. Does this -- do you just continue to surge up or not? Obviously, you haven't had the convention bounce from the Democrats yet. The poll does show Harris making strides with groups that Biden had been struggling with, which includes perhaps most notably young voters, 56 percent of those between the ages of 18 and 29 back Harris, with just 16 percentage points more than Biden. That's a pretty stunning number.
Independents, 45, Biden had 37 there. So doing significantly better there as well and with Latinos, 57 percent back her. It was 41 percent for Biden.
So that is obviously dramatic and electoral politics in the United States, it doesn't get more dramatic than that. In fact, it's unprecedented for anything to move like that. So that's the reality of the situation. The question is, is it for now or forever?
But you do see that energy in the Harris campaign events that we've seen so far, too, what they've been getting in terms of the boost from the polls. Today, Harris speaking to an energized group of voters from the American Federation of Teachers.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HARRIS: While you teach students about democracy and representative government, extremists attack the sacred freedom to vote.
Just think about it, so we want to ban assault weapons and they want to ban books.
In this moment, we are in a fight for our most fundamental freedoms, and to this room of leaders, I say, bring it on.
(CHEERING)
HARRIS: Bring it on. Bring it on.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: Those three words now, she'd been sort of a mantra, bring it on, the same message that she had for Trump today when she told reporters she's ready to debate the former president.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HARRIS: Many of you been asking me about the debate, and I'll tell you, I'm ready to debate Donald Trump. I have agreed to the previously agreed upon September 10th debate. He agreed to that previously. Now, it appears he is backpedaling but I'm ready. (END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: MJ Lee is OUTFRONT live outside the White House to begin our coverage tonight.
MJ, Vice President Harris delivering this address tonight. You know, it's significant. You don't -- you wouldn't usually necessarily be in the meeting and certainly not make comments afterwards as a VP. But this is now a completely new situation, right?
[19:05:01]
And it was a moment for her to make a foreign policy statement, also a campaign moment outside the White House.
MJ LEE, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, you're totally right about that, Erin. I think the last two hours gave us a really clear window into how the vice president is very quickly trying to shift gears and adjust to this new role that was thrust upon her just four days ago, CNN was TV pool for this meeting between the vice president and the prime minister. And typically, as you know, what happens is a small group of reporters goes into the room, we get a shot of the two leaders meeting and then were quickly brought out. And that's it.
But instead, the small group of reporters in that room, but we were taken to a holding room and we were told by the vice president's team that she is actually surely going to deliver remarks as soon as that bilateral meeting wrapped up, which as you point out, is not typical.
Clearly, this was a vice president wanting to seize this moment that she was in, and the fact that the prime minister was in town and had met with her to put her own marker down on one of the most difficult foreign policy its the issues that she is set to inherit from the president if she were to go on to win the presidency.
One senior official, I was talking to right after the remarks that there was no question that this was a part of the vice president in the recent days trying to really prove herself in a different way. They described it as the vice president putting a punctuation mark at the end of a really eventful, an important day and just keep in mind, Erin, up until Sunday, Israel was one of the biggest issues where whenever it came up, the White House would say there is no daylight between the vice president and the president. And I do think this is going to be a really important space to watch, to see if in the coming days and in the coming weeks, we do start for to see a little bit more daylight creeping between the two.
BURNETT: All right. MJ, thank you very much.
And hear for our conversation, Astead, let me just start with you.
It is interesting how quickly she was able to seize that moment, right? A moment where because of being vice president, she can be in that room and then looked like a commander in chief, right?
ASTEAD HERNDON, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Yeah.
BURNETT: And to take she did it and she sees it and she went -- she went immediately to do that. So, you know, what are you hearing from your sources to this fundamental question? And I know there's not necessarily definitive answer right now. But is this burst of exuberance and polls surge? Does it have longevity?
HERNDON: Yeah, I think that's what folks are looking at. I think you pointed out an important point. Harris gets the benefits of incumbency as she's in the office, right now because I think were going to see the White House intentionally leaned on her in these big moments to be able to show her someone who's grown over the past several years.
I remember that was reporting on her last or they will make a point to say that she was more respected globally that even she was appreciated domestically by Democrats. That's been a place where she's seen a lot of emphasis.
I think they're going to try to roll that out and I do think that even if the policy differences between her and Biden and Gaza are small, the rhetorical differences in the kind of empathy for Palestinians that she's made a point to show over the last several months might be the kind of tonal difference so you see between her and that the top.
But to the point about, does this last, part of that is the question of whether she can capitalize the upside that she clearly has in differences from Biden. The groups that are most marginal Democratic voters, younger people, Black and Latinos, folks were outside the process. They're clearly more favorably see her than Joe Biden.
The question will be, does that turn into preference that actually moves votes consistently? And I think that's going to have a policy question behind it that we haven't really gotten to yet.
BURNETT: Right.
Now, and, Alyssa, to this point about commander in chief and Netanyahu happens to be the man of the moment, the commander in chief got to meeting would be Democratic commander in chief, and now of course, he is going to go meet Trump tomorrow at Mar-a-Lago. So he's going down there and that's significant.
So what are the optics of that, especially when Trump came out and actually said, thought it was interesting, they got a PR problem, is really you need to wrap this up, Bibi, basically.
ALYSSA FARAH GRIFFIN, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, this underscores how much the whole world is kind of caught flat-footed by what happened, that it was going to be Joe Biden. Netanyahu came to give this address yesterday, thinking it was Trump versus -- versus Donald -- Joe Biden. And now, you've got Kamala Harris as the person running. I think it was incredibly savvy of her to give these remarks.
And I would say this, they were nuanced. There was a little something for everything. She condemns sexual violence by Hamas. She said it committed unwavering support, but then also leaning into saying she recognizes the plight of the Palestinians.
This is, I think were most of the country is and something that Joe Biden has struggled to articulate during this crisis. It'll be interesting to see how tomorrow goes. There's a lot of bad will, I would say, between Trump and Netanyahu, Trump never got over the fact that he congratulated Joe Biden when he won the election. But I also think that that relationship can be healed.
BURNETT: David, so let's just throw the poll up again from "The New York Times", that's the one that shows Harris statistically tied with Trump. He gets a post convention bounce. She gets obviously significantly more than that because Biden was down six points in the same poll.
So what do you think, David, in terms of how -- how real this is? I mean, its, its a moment in time, is it more than that?
[19:10:01]
DAVID AXELROD, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, I think it's real. The question is, is it sufficient? She -- what she is doing is she's beginning to coalesce the Democratic base that helped elect Biden four years ago. And the Democrats need to win national elections. And that includes enthusiasm and participation and support from younger voters, from the African American community, from Hispanic voters.
She's doing better than Joe Biden. Was those voters were drifting away from him, which accounted for a lot of his problems. So that is a good sign. And the fact that she's close this gap so handsomely in just a few days is a good sign.
But if the election were today, shed still lose and shed probably lose by a significant margin in the Electoral College because Democrats have to be ahead in the national poll to win because of the way population is distributed around the country. But this is certainly good news for her in the question is can she expand beyond.
And one other point, she does open up new fronts in the electoral map. You know, one of the reasons why she has suffered in the Sun Belt states is loss among African American voters, loss among Hispanic American voters in places like Nevada and Arizona, even New Mexico. And the fact that she's doing better among those voters is a good sign that she might be able to fight her way back into those states and that would give her more options on the path to 270 electoral votes.
BURNETT: Mayor Bottoms, you know, do you think that that opening of the electoral map -- I mean, how huge do you think this is going to be for her? I mean, Biden had essentially given up on I think it's fair to say North Carolina. I would say Georgia, too, and now, are these really states she could win?
KEISHA LANCE BOTTOMS, SENIOR ADVISER, HARRIS CAMPAIGN: Absolutely. No one believed that we could win Georgia in 2020, and here we are. And in fact, the vice president is returning to Georgia again on Tuesday. She has been here multiple times. There was a whole list put in today's "Atlanta Journal Constitution" newspaper of all of the visit that said she's made to Georgia.
And she's not only focused just on Atlanta, but also some of the metro areas in some of the other cities in the state. Specifically, she's gone to Gwinnett County where there's a lot of diversity in Gwinnett County, and I believe right now in Georgia, 34 percent of the electorate is African-American. So that's going to make a significant difference having her at the top of the ticket and the enthusiasm is very real here.
BURNETT: Astead, you know, the Harris campaign Trump's interview, they responded to it, they said 78-year-old criminal, right, emphasizing two important points there, age and conviction, and then added, quote, is Donald Trump okay?
Now, here's the thing. The people who are running this campaign are the same people same were doing the Biden campaign, and that is just not something that would have been said or if it did even noted. This is just -- there's just a completely different aura.
HERNDON: Yeah. Yeah. There's a couple of things in that, just one statement, I think it shows the possibilities that Harris has, that Biden doesn't.
The age contrast that she can make that immediately puts the spotlight back on Donald Trump, the same questions people are asking about Biden in terms of fitness and diminishing kind of mental acuity will be placed on Donald Trump.
I think the other one that she is comfortable with her prosecutor record this time. This is a difference from four years ago. When I was covering her presidential run, she was frankly tied in knots between the moderate and progressive wings and not owning her criminal justice history. That is not going to be the case this time. You're going to hear her talk about that and kind of own that most specifically.
And I really think the third thing is the Dobbs decision gives their chance to be most offensive on the best issue for Democrats. Joe Biden was not capitalizing on that issue in the same way that a lot of Democrats are across the country. And she is better suited for that.
GRIFFIN: Well, she caught the Trump campaign flat-footed because I think they were expecting progressive left Kamala Harris, somebody who supported the green new deal, or somebody who ran away from her law enforcement credentials. And she is running a general election campaign. She is running as a centrist Democrat.
Her message, if you watch, he gives the same stump speech every time she speaks, which works in a three-month race, she's talking about paid family leave, rebuilding the middle-class. It's an economics message, a hint of reproductive rights. And then character over a criminal. Like that's a message that resonates. She's not going through a litany of left-wing priorities, and I don't think that's what they expected acted from her.
HERNDON: That's where she's most comfortable, where she is right now. She was uncomfortable four years ago when she was trying to appease the left.
BURNETT: David, what do you think is the backstory here to President Obama? Of course, he's going to endorse her. He'll probably do it with great fanfare. But that doesn't change the fact that he's the last one to do it. And, you know, he didn't just jump in the water feet first.
AXELROD: Yeah. Well, I don't think he wanted to look as if he was putting his finger on the scale. He didn't know whether others would jump in the race and he thought he could help pull the different strands of the party together if there was, in fact, a fight for the nomination.
[19:15:04]
And he wanted her to win this thing on her own. And what she did was she went out and just organize the hell out of this thing in a very short order and secure the nomination within a couple of days.
So, you know, now, I think, yeah, he's going to be a full-throated supporter. They've been friends for a long time. I don't think there's any the question of his support.
But I don't think he wanted to be -- I don't think he wanted to be a kingmaker. I don't know if you call a queenmaker, I don't know, a candidate maker. A candidate maker here.
BURNETT: Yeah.
AXELROD: But I think he wants to be a strong and avid supporter and I think he will.
BURNETT: Mayor Bottoms, what's your single greatest concern right now?
BOTTOMS: Voter turnout, that's always the biggest concern, making sure that we get people out to the polls. It's great that we're all excited. I think the other great part about now candidate Kamala Harris is she does get to keep her day job. So we get to see someone who is well-established on the world stage. She's met with more than 150 world leaders, traveled to 20 countries.
Now, we just got to make sure that we are getting people to the polls for its enthusiastic as we all are. If we don't get people to turn out, I mean, it's a turnout game, that's it. Every election --
BURNETT: It's really amazing. I mean, I just take us step back and all this and say, it is amazing in the world that we're in, in this country, that it is all ultimately still comes down to turnout. Thank you all very much. I appreciate it.
And next, J.D. Vance getting pummeled by the left for his comments about childless cat ladies. Jennifer Aniston speaking out. It's almost very poignant, as Harry Enten has some new numbers on just how high helpful Vance may be or may not be to Trump in what for Trump are the must-win Rust Belt states.
Plus, the breaking news, we've got incredible new reporting tonight from inside team Trump, as they are scrambling to take on Harris, and their surprising admission about Harris's appeal.
And just in, new video of U.S. fighter jets intercepting Chinese and Russian bombers flying together off the coast of Alaska. It was a first, but what does it mean?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[19:21:08]
BURNETT: Tonight, Senator Mark Kelly of Arizona, who is a VP potential pick for Kamala Harris, went on the attack against J.D. Vance.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. MARK KELLY (D-AZ): What I really worry about is what he would do be in one heartbeat away from presidency. So, if Donald Trump and J.D. Vance were back in the White House, it would be an utter disaster.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: All right. Those comments come as Vance's entry to the national stage is off to a rocky start.
Sunlen Serfaty is OUTFRONT.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SEN. J.D. VANCE (R-OH), VICE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We love this country and we are united to win.
SUNLEN SERFATY, CNN WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Ten days since Donald Trump named him his running mate --
VANCE: We got to -- we're going to work hard for every single vote.
SERFATY: -- J.D. Vance is confronting a dramatically reshapes political landscape.
VANCE: We've got to make more of our own stuff. We got to make it with our own workers hands, and we're going to do it for our own people right here in the United States of America, right here in Michigan.
SERFATY: As Democrats elevate Vice President Kamala Harris to the top of the Democratic ticket.
VANCE: I would be shocked if they tried to do another switcheroo if her poll numbers don't get a lot better because it's clear these guys don't actually care about democracy.
SERFATY: Now, Vance waiting for Harris to pick his vice presidential rival.
VANCE: I was told I was going to get to debate Kamala Harris and now President Trump's going to get to debate here, I've kind of pissed off about that.
SERFATY: All while attempting to define himself on the campaign trail.
VANCE: My life wasn't all that different from a lot of people who grew up in Middletown Ohio. It was tough, but it was surrounded by loving people.
SERFATY: With some moments that have fallen flat.
VANCE: Democrats say that it is racist to believe -- well, they say it's racist to do anything. I had a diet Mountain Dew yesterday and one today, I'm sure they're going to call that racist, too. But it's good. I love you guys.
SERFATY: And Vance has been sparring with potential Democratic VP contenders.
GOV. ANDY BESHEAR (D), KENTUCKY: The nerve that he has to call the people of Kentucky, of eastern Kentucky lazy.
VANCE: Nobody gave me the governorship and nobody gave me a job because of my father was. I'm proud of that.
SERFATY: As Vance steps forward in the national spotlight, he's drawing more scrutiny from late night comics.
JIMMY FALLON, COMEDIAN: This woman said, I thought J.D. Vance is the oldest sister on "Full House.
And, finally, Mike Pence said, whoever he is, may God have mercy on his soul.
SERFATY: And criticism of past comments like this.
VANCE: We're effectively run in this country via the Democrats, via our corporate oligarchs by a bunch of childless cat ladies who are miserable at their own lives and the choices that they've made. And so, they want to make the rest of the country miserable, too.
And it's just a basic fact. You look at Kamala Harris, Pete Buttigieg, AOC, the entire future of the Democrats is controlled by people without children.
SERFATY: Actress Jennifer Aniston, issuing a rare political statement, writing, I truly can't believe this is coming from a potential VP of the United States.
And Kamala Harris's stepdaughter getting into the mix saying: How could you be childless when you have cutie pie kids like Cole and I? I love my three parents.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SERFATY (on camera): And when asked for a response to the criticism over his comments, a spokesperson from the Vance campaigned claims the words of Vance are being twisted and a representative of the Vance campaign provided us with a statement from Vance's sister in which she says, quote, J.D. was raised by some of the strongest women I know, and went on to marry an incredibly strong woman in Usha. J.D. is a testament to the women in his life and the attacks from the media and Democrats that assume anything otherwise, is vile -- Erin.
BURNETT: All right. Thank you very much, Sunlen.
And, you know, J.D. Vance's appeal or lack thereof in some cases is raising questions about Trump's choice for his VP. And you know, Trump -- Trump prides himself on picking stars and no, I mean that -- that's part of his M.O. If you've known him for 20 years, you know, we all know this about him.
[19:25:00]
And it's a conversation about J.D. Vance that Harry Enten kicked off on this show earlier this week when Harry shared these eye-popping stats and now policies that showed that Vance has the lowest net favorability rating of any VP nominee following convention since 1980, which is as far back as polling goes, can go back any further.
And Harry is back with me now. Its more new numbers on Vance and --
HARRY ENTEN, CNN SENIOR DATA REPORTER: What it going kind graphic up there. I will thank for it.
BURNETT: But, you know, you did this -- that this is -- this is crucial. I mean, to compare to those that included Sarah Palin and Dan Quayle and all those -- those VPs that you looked at the analysis, you've got the Rust Belt where he's from and he said Trump I chose him for the Rust Belt.
ENTEN: Correct.
BURNETT: Okay.
So what would we see in that? I mean I guess let's hear it. They've laid it out. So we'll play it.
ENTEN: Yeah.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
VANCE: He just said, look, I think got to go save this country. I think you're the guy who could help me in the best way -- you can help me govern, you can help me win, you can help me in some of these Midwestern states like Pennsylvania and Michigan and so forth.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: Does J.D. Vance help Trump in those states?
ENTEN: Not according to the favorable ratings. You know, his favorable rating is below 30 percent. His unfavorable rating is up above 40 percent. That creates a net favorability rating of minus 16 points. He does worse in his home region at minus 16 points than he does in the average of all polls, which is a minus five point at favorability rating. So the people who know him best, the region that knows him best, they
like him even less than America likes him. And, of course, as you pointed out, again, in that kind intro, is he has historically unpopular for a VP nominee coming out of his first convention as the VP.
BURNETT: All right. So let's specifically look at some former Republican vice presidential candidates. What do you see?
ENTEN: Yeah. You know, you mentioned Sarah Palin. How about Dan Quayle as well? These are two folks who I think most people remember is not being particularly popular.
The amazing thing was coming out of their conventions. They actually were pretty popular. Quayle with a plus 15 point net favorability rating. Sarah Palin with a plus 26 point net favorability rating.
Again, Vance at minus five points is just off the charts and falling off the chart in the wrong direction, not up above the chart, but down below the chart. The fact that he has historically unpopular even more so than VP nominees, who of course went on to infamy, at least in --
BURNETT: Well, I mean, right. So you look at what happened to those two and they plunged. You know, some may say, well, maybe there's nowhere to go, but up for Vance lets put but margins that's not true. It can get worse.
ENTEN: It can get definitely --
BURNETT: Don't know which way it will go.
All right. So when this comes to the broader country, you talked about how, where the area that knows him best right now and the favorability likes him least, but undecided voters. And that's what this is about. There are more of them than a lot of people care to admit.
ENTEN: Yeah.
BURNETT: And prior to the seismic shift in the race, many of them may have gone for Trump. Now who knows what they're going to do? How does Vance play there?
ENTEN: He doesn't play well with them at all. His favorable rating is just 5 percent, just 5 percent hold a favorable rating, 29 percent hold an unfavorable and that makes a net favorability rating of -24 points. That's worse than his net favorability ratings over all.
The fact is, if undecided voters are going to make up their mind based upon J.D. Vance, they're going to make it and make the choice for Kamala Harris.
BURNETT: Five percent favorable?
ENTEN: Five percent favorable.
BURNETT: Ever heard of anything like that? ENTEN: I really haven't. There's still a lot of folks who are
undetermined on him, but that 5 percent is not something I think is going to go on his wall of fame.
BURNETT: All right. Harry, thank you very much.
ENTEN: Thank you.
BURNETT: And next, we're going to take you to a swing state that Biden won, but barely, and ask there what voters are saying about Harris. It's part of our Special Voters OUTFRONT series.
And we've got new reporting tonight. This reporting is actually from inside Trump's campaign. And what they're actually saying about Harris and why they were counting on a bloodbath after Biden dropped out?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[19:32:39]
BURNETT: Tonight, Kamala Harris turning to Beyonce for her first campaign ad as the presumptive Democratic nominee, arguing that this race is all about freedom.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
(MUSIC)
HARRIS: The freedom not just to get by, but get ahead.
The freedom to be safe from gun violence.
The freedom to make decisions about your own body.
We choose a future where no child lives in poverty, where we can all afford health care, where no one is above the law.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: But will Harris and her message resonate with swing voters, the swing voters that she needs to win over?
Nick Valencia is in Georgia tonight for the latest in our Voters OUTFRONT series.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
NICK VALENCIA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): If the election were held today, Margarita Eberline doesn't know who she'd vote for.
The elevation of Vice President Kamala Harris in the race hasn't made things any clearer for her.
MARGARITA EBERLINE, GEORGIA SWING VOTER: No, it's not exciting to me. It's not like, oh, wow, the easy answer. It's not an easy choice for me. It still isn't. People are assuming that because I'm a Latina woman that, oh, I'm going to be excited about her and it's not that easy for me because I worry about character.
We had somebody that was the right hand of somebody that was not healthy who was silent about it. And that concerns me.
VALENCIA: Eberline lives in Gwinnett County, a key suburban county in a swing state where she believes her vote is more consequential than ever.
In a recent memo, Vice President Harris's campaign said it sees securing swing voters like Eberline as part of a pathway to victory.
Do you think a lot of people are burned out with politics at this point?
EBERLINE: Absolutely.
VALENCIA: In 2020, Joe Biden won Georgia by less than 12,000 votes, becoming the first Democratic presidential candidate to carry the state since 1992.
But in 2024, we're finding that Democrats have their work cut out for them if they're hoping for a repeat.
How is it changed your opinion seeing her as a potential nominee for the Democrats?
PING SORIANO, GEORGIA SWING VOTER: Oh, yeah, 50, 50.
VALENCIA: Fifty-fifty?
SORIANO: Yeah.
VALENCIA: You still have to learn more and research more?
SORIANO: Yes.
VALENCIA: If the election was today, you wouldn't know which way you would vote.
SORIANO: I am so in doubt right now. But give me a place about three month. You know, we'll be ready.
SHEILA HOLLEY, GEORGIA SWING VOTER: It's not like, you know, I want to vote for her because she's Black. That's not the reason this year. It's just because we just to make sure Trump is not elected.
[19:35:06]
VALENCIA: What makes you want to vote for Trump?
Aber Martinez doesn't need any more time to make up his mind. He saw our camera and shouted Trump 2024.
ABER MARTINEZ, GEORGIA TRUMP VOTER: I rather vote for Trump, no matter what. They're going to keep bringing the liberal agenda, and I'm -- I'm not for it. I'm just sorry. VALENCIA: For Margarita Eberline, some progressive policies are
troubling, but it's Trump's rhetoric specifically on immigration that makes it hard for her to support him.
EBERLINE: I'm a conservative person and I just cannot make peace with anybody that uses hatred in their rhetoric, and that uses division as a strategy.
VALENCIA: Eberline also questions whether either outcome will even make a difference for her and her family.
EBERLINE: I'm not from a privileged background. I was the first in my family to go to college and I went to a really good university and all of that, and I feel like I've checked all the boxes but relatively speaking, like my life's not easy.
And no matter who wins, the financial implications are not necessarily going to be easy for me.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VALENCIA (on camera): Overall, our biggest takeaway and talking to voters throughout the day, its just the overall lack of enthusiasm about the upcoming election. Voters just aren't animated in the same way they were four years ago. And for as instrumental as Georgia was in 2020 for Joe Biden, what's clear to us, Erin, is that Democrats are fighting against a lot here in 2024 and Vice President Harris's name just hasn't ejected that excitement into swing voters -- Erin.
BURNETT: It's very interesting. All right. Thank you very much.
And let's go now to the Democratic governor of Colorado, Jared Polis.
And, Governor, I appreciate your time. It was very interesting what Nic just said and I know it's early, but obviously we have seen that pop in the polls already. The woman he was speaking to, Margarita Eberline, she said people assume because I'm a Latina woman, I'm going to be excited.
But this is -- Harris right now, she said she's not exciting to me. Do things like that, do reports like this, give you any pause of a concern?
GOV. JARED POLIS (D-CO): No. You know, let's talk about different groups of voters and I certainly hear from a lot in Colorado. We're politically diverse state as well, Republican representatives, Democratic representatives.
First of all, Democrats are excited, so you find people that we're saying -- you know, I'm voting for Joe Biden, but I'm not sure about it or I'm doing it to stop Trump. Now, they've somebody to vote for, right? A powerful vision to protect our freedoms for our future.
Now, let's talk about those undecided voters, right? People that for months had been saying, oh, I don't know, I don't like Donald Trump. I don't like Joe Biden. Now, there is somebody new. There is that new option. She has to
introduce yourself and close the deal and she has the skills to do it. The more people get to know her.
BURNETT: Yeah.
POLIS: They see she's smart. They see she's on top of it. And they see that she's a powerful vision for moving our country forward and protecting our freedom.
BURNETT: So just a few hours ago, the House and in that number, Governor, there were six Democrats. They voted to rebuke Vice President Harris over the administration's handling of the southern border.
And I want to ask you about this because the border crisis, of course, (AUDIO GAP) Colorado. Denver's got one more than 40,000 migrants since the start of last year. That's 5 percent of the overall city population of the entire city of Denver. It's cost $58 million. That's a lot of money that could have gone. I'm sure to some really important needs that Denver already had.
Are you worried about what immigration could do as an issue to Vice President Harris?
POLIS: While, I think more and more, people are realizing that Donald Trump is to blame for the lack of border security. We had a solid bipartisan bill. Republicans, Democrats investing in border security, locking down border, and guess what, the Republicans in the House aren't even allowing it to come to a vote. They refuse to pass it.
Absent congressional action and investment in border security, there's only so much any president can do beyond rhetoric. And frankly, with President Biden's action, that he's taken, the influx of immigrants is down 55 percent at the border. So they made some progress, but they meet Congress still locked down that border and secure it and pass immigration reform.
BURNETT: Now, Governor, you've said you take a serious look of being Kamala Harris is running mate. If asked and I know you've been humorous about it and some senses, however, if this happened, okay, if it's you and you are vice presidential nominee, Jared Polis, you will be against J.D. Vance, and he is seeing obviously a lot of controversial comments he made re-emerge, childless cat ladies among them. Here are some of the others.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
VANCE: We are effectively run in this country via the Democrats, via our corporate oligarchs by a bunch of childless cat ladies who are miserable at their own lives and the choices that they've made.
It's just a basic fact. You look at Kamala Harris, Pete Buttigieg, AOC, the entire future of the Democrats is controlled by people without children. And how does it make any sense that we've turned our country over to people who don't really have a direct stake in it, (END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: Governor Polis, what would you say to Vance if you were on the same stage as him?
[19:40:00]
POLIS: Well, first of all, look of all the people in the country that Donald Trump could have chose, this reflects his judgment. He chose J.D. Vance. This is not somebody who is a normie. He's not a normal person.
You don't attack people, whether they have cats or dogs, you know, some people have kid, somebody will have dogs and cats, some people, we have two kids and a dog. I mean, I'm allergic to cats or I'd probably the cat, too.
Why are politicians talking about that? What would the American people want to hear is your plan for reducing costs, for improving education, for growing our economy. That's what we should be talking about, not attacking different kinds of families just because you don't like cats or dogs or whatever it is.
BURNETT: All right. Well, Governor Polis, I appreciate your time. Thank you, sir.
POLIS: And it alienates the cat lady vote, which is an important demographic.
BURNETT: Well, if one looks online and says one of the most popular videos, and we all know it is cat videos. So that's just a fact. Well, well see where that heads.
All right. Governor, thanks. I appreciate your time.
POLIS: Always a pleasure.
BURNETT: All right.
And next, we have breaking news, some surprising details tonight from inside the Trump campaign and they're talking about what they think Harris's appeal is. It's some fascinating new reporting next.
Plus, an alarming showdown. New video of Russian and Chinese bombers together off the coast of the United States.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[19:45:23]
BURNETT: Breaking news, a quote, great wake-up call. That is what one Trump campaign insider says they're experiencing now that Vice President Harris is the likely Democratic nominee. That same Trump insider telling my next guest, quote, it's going to be harder. What we could have gotten in earned media, we will have to now pay for. And another warning of Harris, quote, we underestimate her cultural appeal and her power at our peril.
OUTFRONT now, Marc Caputo, national political reporter at "The Bulwark", who broke this story.
And, Marc, all of this is your brand new reporting. So I mean, just how it -- look, 10 days ago or two weeks go. Anybody talking about this potential switch on the Democratic side, they thought that Harris -- they didn't want Harris, they wanted anybody but Harris, and it was the same thinking in the Trump campaign.
Now, it's Harris and you see the energy and you see the surge in the polls and all those elites got it completely wrong. How much of this take Trump's campaign off guard?
MARC CAPUTO, NATIONAL POLITICAL REPORTER, THE BULWARK: I think not the switching out, the switcheroo of Biden and Harris or Biden with Harris, but the blowing up of Kamala Harris, you know, being a Miami resident, I think in terms of hurricanes. And this looks like a tropical storm that found the right patch of warm water in the Gulf of Mexico and rapidly intensified into a hurricane. And what the Trump campaign is realizing is, OK, we have to batten down the hatches and we need to execute a new game plan and do it rather flawlessly because they are in a real tough fight now and they weren't just, what, six, seven, eight days ago. I've lost track of the days at this point.
But the reality is, is Kamala Harris poses a much greater favor threat, and challenge to Donald Trump than Joe Biden did. And Donald Trump's campaign knows that.
BURNETT: And Donald Trump it appears knows that. I mean, your reporting is that they -- her -- her appeal her cultural appeals specifically is something that he can see that your sources are telling you that the campaign, if they do not get that will underestimate it at their peril? Those are the words?
CAPUTO: Those are the words. As has been said before, politics is downstream of culture. And one of the interesting things about Donald Trump and a key to understanding is appeal and resilience in the electorate is that Donald Trump was a cultural figure before he was a political one.
Kamala Harris is little different. She is a political figure and she is on the cusp of becoming, if not, is now a cultural figure. My 16- year-old daughter, for instance, who could not give a hoot about politics, suddenly knows all of these facts about Kamala Harris through TikTok.
BURNETT: Yeah.
CAPUTO: And that says something. She's breaking through to the other side.
BURNETT: And that is crucial.
You also talk about the Trump campaign. If that Biden was replaced back to my original point about how they got it wrong. And the Democratic side got it wrong, too, about Harris, right, that Trump's side thought it would be a bloodbath, an open primary that's really what they counted on?
CAPUTO: Well, I wouldn't say they counted on, but that's what they expect it. I mean, they heard the conversation coming out of Democrats -- out of Biden's senior advisers as leaked to others in the media, who basically said, look, they don't believe that Kamala Harris could win.
And so, the Trump campaign heard that. They also noted, look, in 2020, Kamala Harris ran up pretty terrible campaign and did a bad job as a candidate.
Now, we are early in the process. Tony Fabrizio, who is the top pollster and strategic adviser for Donald Trump, issued a memo and by the way, he issued a memo because he sort of had to saying, look, Kamala Harris is going to gain steam, gain momentum over the next few days but it's eventually going to settle out. That's the Trump campaign's position.
But they do acknowledge that she is serious and they do privately acknowledge that they underestimated her. I don't think they're going to be doing that going forward.
BURNETT: Yeah. Also, it's going to be fascinating.
All right. Thank you so much, Marc, with all that new reporting.
CAPUTO: Thanks.
BURNETT: And next, U.S. fighter jets intercepting Russian and Chinese bombers together off the coast of the United States. We have new video tonight of that incident. There's never been an incident like this before.
Plus, breaking news, a father who son is being held by Hamas tonight, today, was in the room. The Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, about an asked him why, why is there no hostage deal? That father, Jonathan Dekel-Chen, is next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[19:53:00]
BURNETT: Breaking news. We've got new video showing Russian and Chinese bombers flying off the coast of the U.S. near Alaska. They were then intercepted by U.S. fighter jets. It's the first time ever that China and Russia together flew together and flew like this off the coast of the U.S.
Oren Liebermann is OUTFRONT at the Pentagon.
Oren, what more are you learning about this?
OREN LIEBERMANN, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well, Russia and China are trying to portray this as simply exercising together, increasing their cooperation and operating together and certainly that is a part of this. We have seen Russia and China pushing their relations forward, but of course it's where they chose to do this. That's what's raising concerns in the United States.
This is the first time Russia and China have been intercepted together. And the first time China has ever been intercepted in Alaska is air defense identification zone.
Now, it is international airspace, Russia and China are allowed to be there, but its airspace that the U.S. looks at as part of its national security, to about 200 miles out from the Alaskan coast. And that's where Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said earlier today that these bombers were intercepted by U.S. and Canadian fighters. It's a Russian TU-95 bomber, that bomber in the top right of the screen there, one of Russia's largest bombers the Chinese H6 bomber that is Chinas largest bomber.
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said, they are aware that this may happen more, and they keep an eye out specifically for this, it's not uncommon for Russia to be intercepted in Alaska's air defense identification zone or ADIZ. Again, what's noteworthy here is that China was intercepted this time.
China considers itself a near Arctic nation, whatever that means, and its trying to push more into the North and that means, as we just saw here in this video, pushing towards the United States and airspace, maritime space, the U.S. watches very closely.
I'll end by pointing out that earlier this year, just a few months ago, the commander of U.S. Northern Command said he sees China trying to push north. They're doing that with cooperation with Russia. And he said he was expecting something like this, this year. The question now, how often does it start happening?
[19:55:00]
It's not uncommon to see Russian aircraft testing the limits here and pushing the limits. Now, we're seeing them do it with the Chinese.
BURNETT: Yeah. All right, Oren, thank you very much.
I guess, near Arctic, if Russia becomes a vassal state then you become Arctic.
All right. We've got more breaking news tonight as well. Vice President Kamala Harris just moments ago calling for a ceasefire deal to free hostages held captive in Gaza. She said it's time to get a deal done and then she named every one of the Americans who are still held hostage in Gaza tonight.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HARRIS: There are American citizens who remain captive in Gaza -- Sagui Dekel-Chen, Hersh Goldberg-Polin, Edan Alexander, Keith Siegel, Omer Neutra.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: The first name that Harris said was Sagui Dekel-Chen, held by Hamas for 293 days. His father, along with the other hostage families, sharply questioning Netanyahu in a meeting today, asking him point- blank why he was slow-walking negotiations on a deal. This is according to long time Israeli reporter Barak Ravid of "Axios".
And Jonathan Dekel-Chen joins me now.
As you have so many times, Jonathan, over these past -- these past 293 days, and today, you were there. Now, obviously, being able to meet with the prime minister is not something you get to do, usually, right? And he's here in the United States. He meets with President Biden. He's in that room.
You were there asking and families I know with incredible frustration -- why has Netanyahu slow-walked negotiations on a deal for hostages? What did he say to you?
JONATHAN DEKEL-CHEN, FATHER OF ISRAELI-AMERICAN HELD HOSTAGE BY HAMAS: Well, thank you, Erin.
Indeed, we -- six of the seven families of the U.S. hostages were represented at that meeting today. We asked some very difficult questions to the prime minister, mostly trying to impress upon him the urgency of the moment. Hostages are dying in captivity.
We do not understand why more progress has not been made in a quicker fashion, which would, of course, get our loved ones home. But also end the suffering of over him a million civilians in Gaza.
What we did get without going into the details of the conversation is a promise, both from the prime minister and from President Biden that they completely understand the urgency of this moment. And they also understand that it is incumbent upon all sides to work as quickly as possible to get this done.
BURNETT: This is now such an unprecedented situation in every way you got vice president Harris at the top of the ticket, right? She came out and spoke after her meeting with the prime minister. He is going to be meeting with Donald Trump, the former president, tomorrow in Mar-a-Lago. They obviously had a close relationship. President Biden is the one who moved the embassy, the U.S. embassy in Israel, that was very significant. They do have a tight relationship. Him and Prime Minister Netanyahu.
And yesterday at the speech to Congress, Netanyahu praised Trump and Trump also called for a ceasefire. Here he is.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
TRUMP: I'd make sure that he gets over with fast. You have to end this fast. It can't continue to go on like this. It's too long. It's too much. You got to get your hostages back.
(END AUDIO CLIP) BURNETT: Do you think former President Trump has more leverage with Netanyahu than President Biden or Vice President Harris?
DEKEL-CHEN: Well, it's hard for me to make that qualitative judgment, Erin, what I can say is that it is now clear given former President Trump's statement yesterday, and I believe immediately after the RNC, that anyone who has the illusion that a change of administration, the United States is going to give more freedom of action to Israel to somehow negotiate some bigger or better deal, it's just -- it's an illusion.
And therefore, there's nothing to wait for. The Israeli -- the Israeli military and intelligence leadership has been absolutely clear that the time is ripe, right now to complete this deal, we need Hamas, obviously, to agree to this and prefer the safety and the well-being of its own citizens over continued warfare.
But assuming -- assuming they're willing to do that, then it's incumbent upon Israel to do everything it must to, to end, to end the conflict now.
BURNETT: Jonathan, I have to ask you because there were hostages, they found that the IDF says found bodies. They said these were hostages, at least in some of the cases, who had been actually killed on October 7, that they now were finding out, but they were killed.
How -- what is the latest that you've heard from the Israeli government? Have they told you whether they believe where Sagui is, whether what they believe his condition is.
DEKEL-CHEN: Well, we haven't gotten any firm confirmation of life since late November, early December and its anyone's guess on any given day what the fate of the hostages going to be.
On our kibbutz alone, kibbutz Nir Oz, there are still 33 hostages being held by Hamas. Of them, seven have already been confirmed dead, but they were alive on October 8.
So, clearly there's an a present danger to all of the hostages. Friendly fire, or execution by Hamas.
BURNETT: All right. Well, Jonathan, thank you very much. Jonathan Dekel-Chen, his son, Sagui is in Gaza.
Thanks for joining us.
"AC360" starts now.
