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First Move with Julia Chatterley
President Biden To Speak About Exiting Race; Israel's Netanyahu Addresses US Congress; Trump Speaking At First Campaign Rally Since Biden's Exit; Aired 6-7p ET
Aired July 24, 2024 - 18:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[18:00:27]
PAULA NEWTON, CNN ANCHOR: It's 6:00 AM in Taipei, 8:00 AM in Sydney, and 6:00 PM right here in New York. I'm Paula Newton in for Julia Chatterley.
And wherever you are in the world, this is your "First Move."
A very warm welcome to "First Move," and here's today's need to know. Trump on stage this hour. Former US President Trump will speak at his first rally
since Kamala Harris replaced Joe Biden in the presidential race. We'll bring you his comments live.
Biden faces the nation. The US President prepares a national address from the Oval Office for his first extensive remarks about exiting the election.
Congressional address to rapturous applause, Israel's Benjamin Netanyahu praises the Israel-US alliance in a defiant speech, telling lawmakers
democracy is on the line while protesters in DC make their feelings heard.
And Taiwan typhoon, we are tracking Gaemi as it finally makes landfall after a dramatic detour. All of that and much more coming up.
But first, we're expecting to hear from Donald Trump any moment now at a campaign rally in North Carolina. In fact, it's his first since President
Joe Biden ended his bid for reelection. The Trump campaign now turning its focus to Vice President Kamala Harris, she is widely expected to win the
nomination with Democrats approving new rules for choosing their presidential nominee just hours ago.
Now, for its part, the Trump campaign has filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission arguing that Harris shouldn't be allowed to
absorb Joe Biden's campaign funds. Senior political analyst Ron Brownstein joins me now. He has been watching all of this carefully.
Yes, it's historic in any measure. And in such a compressed schedule we've really been through just in the last couple of weeks here. I do want to go
first to Donald Trump and what we expect to hear from him.
I mean, look what he's put out in those Truth Social posts haven't been very original, quite frankly, and haven't been very sharp. Do you expect he
has something more than that prepared now for Kamala Harris?
RON BROWNSTEIN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, obviously, I think they're going to try to portray Harris as kind of an out of the mainstream
California liberal who failed at the border. We'll see how far he goes in the language of other Republicans, basically claiming that she has the job
only because her race and gender, that she's a DEI hire.
I mean, what we heard from his campaign at the beginning of the Republican Convention, that there was some kind of new Donald Trump who was going to
have a broader appeal. Obviously, that never happened. Obviously that never could happen. He is kind of a grievance politician who is mostly about
mobilizing his base. And that's where he is.
And that may be enough to win given that there's a few points of voters who are not really part of that base, who are really unhappy with inflation,
and don't give the Biden administration high marks. But when you look at the polling that's come out since Republican Convention, including a CNN
poll today, Trump is ahead but he's not really broadening his reach. And this moment that we're polling in right after the party convention is
usually a high point for the candidate. So Harris is in the game.
MACCALLUM: And I want to turn to that CNN poll. In fact, among registered voters, according to our poll, there is no clear winner, Kamala Harris at
46 percent, Donald Trump at 49 percent.
BROWNSTEIN: Right.
NEWTON: And more than that, Ron, when you look at what our poll says, nearly 9 in 10 Americans nearly are satisfied that Joe Biden is out of the
race. And when polled about their feelings about Biden's decision, 58 percent are relieved. What does that tell you?
BROWNSTEIN: You can just feel the exhale all the way across the Democratic Party. I mean, you know, they felt that Biden and the White House were
asking people to ignore what they saw and what they can very much relate to in terms of how he looked at the debate. I mean, people have experience of
this in their own lives, you know, with older relatives, parents and, you know, siblings and so forth.
And so, the sense among Democrats that they don't have to defend an argument that was pretty indefensible, on the one hand. And then on the
other, when you saw Harris yesterday and Monday make the case against Trump that Democrats want to hear him made (ph), in a way that Biden simply
wasn't capable of doing anymore.
[18:05:07]
Paula, I think, you know, Harris is going to have to play defense on all of the same issues that hurt Biden, with the exception of age. I mean, people
who are unhappy about inflation and immigration, are not any more happy today than they were on Sunday morning before he get out of the race.
The big difference is, that while she's on defense on the same issues, she can take the offense on the case that Democrats want to make against Trump
in a way that Biden could not. And I think that is why you see so much relief among Democrats at this point.
NEWTON: Yes. And she's made quite an effort in her speeches, in fact, to pivot, right? It's not just that we're against Trump, but she also talks
about some of the policies that will continue under her administration if she's elected, and obviously touting new policies that she hopes that she
can bring to the floor in us politics.
When we look at that poll, though, we've got 46 percent to 49 percent. So many people have cautioned, Ron, that, look, while that statistically may
be in the margin of error, I mean, Kamala Harris, because of the Electoral College, right, has to do much better than that in order to have any hope
of getting enough electoral college votes, right?
BROWNSTEIN: Right. Well, historic -- all of the swing states are slightly more Republican than the national average. So the assumption has been that
Democrats have to win by several points in the national popular vote in order to get to 270. That difference, that delta between the national vote
and the Electoral College may be narrowing. These Democrats have been holding -- their support has been holding up better among white voters than
nonwhite voters.
And that means they can win Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, in all likelihood, with a narrower popular vote than was true in 2020 or 2016. I
mean, the core question here, if you look at Harris as a candidate versus Biden, certainly she should be able to improve on some of his biggest
weaknesses. We talked about just the sheer day to day job of being a candidate. But also she should be able to reclaim some of the ground he's
lost with younger and non-white voters.
The question will be whether she can maintain the support that he's held among older and non-college working class white voters. Her strength among
younger and more diverse voters should allow her, may allow her to put back into play Georgia, Arizona and Nevada, which are swing states across the
Sun Belt. But if she can't do that, Paula, if her strength does not -- if she can't climb out of the hole that Biden has left her in those Sun Belt
swing states, then she's in the same position he is, which is that she has to sweep Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin in order to win.
And those are not states that are configured to her demographic strengths. They're heavily white, heavily blue collar, and they may be a little more
challenging for her even than they were for Biden.
NEWTON: Which is why, obviously, the VP pick is incredibly important, and we will get to that as well. Ron Brownstein, thanks. You're going to hang
around for us as we await the former president's speech there in Charlotte, North Carolina.
We do, though, now want to turn to the White House, where in less than two hours time, President Joe Biden will address the nation. The televised
address will give him the opportunity to explain his decision to drop out of the presidential race and reflect on his political career over the last
50 years. MJ Lee reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MJ LEE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: President Joe Biden preparing to address the American people tonight in what is certain to be one of the most defining
speeches of his career. He speaks just three days after his stunning announcement dropping out of the 2024 race. In a letter Biden, sources
said, is set to explain that decision to end his reelection campaign. In his letter Sunday, Biden wrote, it is in the best interests of my party and
the country for me to stand down.
The President also planning to lay out his agenda for his remaining months in office.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Congratulations, Mr. President.
LEE: And reflect upon his most significant accomplishments of his first term.
KARINE JEAN-PIERRE, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: So he certainly wants to build on what we've been able to do. You heard me say this has been a
certainly what he's been able to accomplish in the four years in this first term.
LEE: Wednesday's primetime address, only Biden's fourth from the Oval Office.
JOE BIDEN (D), PRESIDENT OF UNITED STATES: My fellow Americans --
LEE: The last one had come only days before, on the heels of a failed assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump. As Biden begins the
closing chapter of his presidency and half century in public service, his vice president beginning a new one, Kamala Harris quickly marching towards
her party's nomination after receiving the president's endorsement.
KAMALA HARRIS (D), VICE PRESIDENT OF UNITED STATES: I want to just share with you a little bit about him. He has extraordinary determination and
profound compassion for the people of our country. And I say that because I know that we are all deeply, deeply grateful for his service to our nation.
LEE: These seismic shifts in the American political landscape coming with breathtaking speed, following Biden's disastrous debate against Trump last
month.
[18:10:04]
BIDEN: Dealing with everything we have to do with -- look, if -- we finally beat Medicare.
LEE: The Democratic Party spiraling into chaos for three plus weeks amid growing calls for the President to drop out. New polling Wednesday showing
the country overwhelmingly approves of the President's ultimate decision and most also believe the President should finish out the remainder of his
term.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NEWTON: And our thanks there to MJ Lee. Now, on the subject of closely watched speeches, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addressed a
joint session of the US Congress just a few hours ago in Washington. Lawmakers giving Netanyahu a warm welcome as he entered the chamber, but
dozens of Democrats boycotted the speech over Israel's handling of its war with Hamas and the still growing civilian death toll in Gaza.
Mr. Netanyahu thanked President Biden for supporting Israel after the October 7th terror attacks and lobbied for more US military aid. He made no
mention of where ceasefire talks stand with Hamas, and he had harsh words for wartime critics.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER: Many anti-Israel protesters, many choose to stand with evil. They stand with Hamas. They stand with
rapists and murderers.
They stand with people who came into the kibbutzim, into a home. The parents hid the children, the two babies, in the attic, in a secret attic.
They murder the families, the parents, they find the secret latch to the hidden attic, and then they murdered the babies. These protesters stand
with them. They should be ashamed of themselves.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NEWTON: Mr. Netanyahu likely referring to the thousands of protesters who had gathered outside the US Capitol during the speech, all of this as the
death toll in Gaza approaches 40,000, that is according to the Health Ministry there. Oren Liebermann is in Washington for us and has been
watching events closely.
Oren, I'm really curious to get your take on this. I mean, in some ways, and given all the years that you've covered Netanyahu, this was
quintessential Benjamin Netanyahu. On the other hand, in terms of what he wanted to accomplish with being given, gifted this platform by the
Republicans in Washington, what did he accomplish here, especially as it relates to politics back home?
OREN LIEBERMANN, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well, for him it was purely optics. There wasn't anything new in terms of the speech, even what he
tried to portray as a new vision of Middle East alignment, what he called the Abraham Alliance, a reference to former President Donald Trump's
Abraham Accords. Even that wasn't a really new idea.
He has openly talked about the idea of normalization with the Arab states, including Saudi Arabia, leading to a breakthrough with the Palestinians,
sort of trying to flip the accepted paradigm in that case. There wasn't anything -- any groundbreaking idea that he put forward here, not even his
idea for the day after Gaza plan where he said that it would have to be some sort of Palestinian organization or faction that would recognize
Israel and could live in peace with Israel. That, too, is something he has referenced before, and no new details or ideas on how to get there in this
speech.
Crucially, as you pointed out a moment ago, what was also missing here was an acknowledgement that there will be a hostage deal, a firm declaration
that a deal has been reached, and then hostages will be released. And he's being excoriated for that back in Israel, including by the head of the
opposition there. That was one thing that were fundamentally looking to hear, and it simply wasn't there. Instead, Netanyahu chose to focus on what
he called Israel's progression towards victory on the battlefield, defeating and destroying Hamas.
And then, he chose to go after protesters, including this line where he went after the ICC for issuing an arrest warrant for him, trying to paint
that arrest warrant for alleged war crimes as something that could snowball and be a threat to other Western leaders. Here's what he said on this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
NETANYAHU: The ICC is trying to shackle Israel's hands and prevent us from defending ourselves. And if Israel's hands are tied, America is next. And
I'll tell you what else is next. The ability of all democracies to fight terrorism will be imperiled. That's what's on the line.
So let me assure you, the hands of the Jewish state will never be shackled. Israel will always defend itself.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LIEBERMANN: In terms of what he accomplished here, I can only think back to Henry Kissinger's line about Israel. Israel has no foreign policy, it's
only domestic politics. And that here, once again, he is incredibly unpopular back home, back in Israel, his popularity also waning here. You
wouldn't know it from looking at the thunderous applause he repeatedly received there, but he is trying to shore up his own support in one of the
things he does best, and that is giving speeches, giving presentations, that will always be one of his strengths. And it looks like that's what he
tried to do here.
The question, Paula, does it change anything? Does it change how anybody perceives him back home? Well, probably not but he was certainly never
going to pass up the opportunity to give a fourth of addressed to Congress, more than any other foreign leader in history, including now one of those
he admires, Winston Churchill.
[18:15:09]
NEWTON: Yes. He actually quoted him in the speech. Oren, I have to ask you, if you are Biden now in a room with him, what do you do in terms of really
trying to bring your new leverage to bear? And what is that new leverage?
You've got nothing to lose. You've got six months, a little bit more than six months in office. And you want this deal. Kamala Harris needs this deal
as well.
LIEBERMANN: Well, the question is, what more leverage do you have? You've used pretty much everything you're willing to use, including, for example,
sanctioning some of the far right, not coalition partners, but some of the elements that support the far right coalition partners. You have played
your hand very carefully, if you're Joe Biden, with weapons here, you're still pausing one shipment of 2,000 pound bombs, and now it's all out to
the finish line.
There is a sense here, a feeling that the finish line on a hostage deal here, on a ceasefire is closer than it's been in many, many, many months.
But we've been here so many times before believing that a ceasefire deal was possible. And then for one reason or another, it falls apart. Most
recently it fell apart because of an Israeli strike. They were going after senior Hamas leaders, and then suddenly the inches away from a deal became
yards or more away from a deal.
Now the question is, is this a true feeling of getting there or not? Now, we just have some reporting here that the CIA Director Bill Burns will meet
again with the key leaders here, that is the head of the Mossad and Egyptian -- Qatari officials sometime next week in a location that's not
yet determined. That is a positive sign.
And as you point out, Biden wants this deal, Kamala Harris wants this deal, and so too do to the families of the hostages who have openly called and
protested for a deal as well, as in Israel during Netanyahu's speech here. I think we're all eager to see whether this deal can happen. And Biden will
use whatever leverage he has to make it happen.
Paula, that question is, does he really have anything left with which he can pressure Netanyahu to accept a deal when many of Netanyahu's coalition
partners have threatened to take down the government if a deal is reached.
NEWTON: A lot to think about as he continues to meet with not just Biden but Trump on Friday. Oren Liebermann for us, thanks so much. And we will
delve deeper into this address later in the show with Jon Alterman. He is the Director of the Middle East Program at the Center for Strategic and
International Studies.
OK, just ahead for us here on "First Move," target Taiwan, fierce Typhoon Gaemi has made landfall now, the most powerful storm to hit the island in
years. We will have the latest. Plus, tech stock tumble, the NASDAQ suffers its worst drop in more than a year as investors give earnings. The thumbs
down is the worst of the selling over, we'll discuss.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
NEWTON: Former US president and Republican nominee Donald Trump, there you see him. He's taken to the stage in North Carolina. Let's listen in.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP (R), FORMER US PRESIDENT AND PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: And we will take back that beautiful White House, and we will very simply make
America great again. For three-and-a-half years, Lying Kamala Harris has been the ultra liberal driving force behind every single Biden catastrophe.
She is a radical left lunatic who will destroy our country if she ever gets the chance to get into office. We're not going to let that happen.
[18:20:01]
You know, I was supposed to be nice. They say something happened to me when I got shot, I became nice.
You know, I was supposed to be nice. They say something happened to me when I got shot, I became nice. And when you're dealing with these people,
they're very dangerous people. When you're dealing with them, you can't be too nice. You really can't be.
So if you don't mind, I'm not going to be nice. Is that OK? They want me to be nice. Thank you.
Kamala Harris is the most liberal elected politician in American history. Did you know that? She's an ultra liberal politician. She's absolutely
terrible. She's, as you know, more liberal than Bernie Sanders. Can you believe it? She's rated far more liberal than Bernie Sanders, and she's now
trying to get rid of her record but she can't. She's going out and saying things that she doesn't believe. And if she ever got in, she'd destroy this
country so fast.
So she was the border czar, but she never went to the border, right? She never -- she was appointed by this horrible president, this horrible guy.
How this guy got to be president in his basement? He stayed in his basement. And we did a lot better the second time than we did the first,
how this guy got to be president, what they've done to this country in three-and-a-half years, and we're going to turn it around. But what they've
done to our country is unthinkable.
As border czar, Kamala threw open our borders and allowed 20 million illegal aliens to stampede into our country from all over the world. As
vice president, she cast the tie breaking votes that created the worst inflation in a half a century, decimating middle class families and hurting
very badly, as you know, all people in North Carolina.
And by the way, Lara says hello. Lara, do we love Laura? How good is Lara? She is terrific. She has done a tremendous job. You know, I'm saying it now
because if I forget it later on, they'll say he's cognitively challenged. I don't want to be cognitively, no, but I want to thank her because she's
unbelievable. She loves it.
I'll introduce Michael in a couple of minutes, but I want to remember to introduce Lara. She's been a fantastic daughter in law and wife to Eric.
And she happened to name her one beautiful daughter, you know what, Carolina, Carolina. I said, which one? Which Carolina? She said, well,
North, of course.
Now, let's call them both. Do you mind if I call them both? They've both been great, frankly. And when Kamala Harris was sent to Europe to deter
Russia, what a joke that was, from attacking Ukraine. How did that work out? Russia answered by launching the invasion just five days after she
left.
Putin laughed at her like she was nothing. She is nothing. She's going to be -- she's so bad for us. Everything Kamala touches turns into a total
disaster. She's destroyed San Francisco with her policies. Check out San Francisco.
Twenty years ago was the greatest city in our country. Today it's not a livable city. She'll destroy our country if she's elected so we won't let
her be elected. We can't let that happen. Unbelievably, despite all of the damage she's caused, radical liberal Kamala Harris now wants -- he wants a
promotion to deliver four more years of chaos.
We've had the worst four years. You know, I say about Biden, if you took the ten worst presidents in the history of our country, added them up, they
won't have done the damage that crooked Joe Biden has done. But this November, the American people are going to tell her, no, thanks, Kamala,
you've done a terrible job.
You've been terrible at everything you've done. You're ultra liberal and we don't want you here. We don't want you anywhere.
Kamala, you're fired. Get out of here. You're fired.
[18:25:00]
And yet, the fake news, which a month ago said she was incompetent, said she was a stiff, just a dopey stiff, the worst, nobody talked to her. She
was firing her staff left and right. The staff hates her. Oh, wait till you see the stories that are going to come out about her staff.
If that were me, they'd be all over the place. But the fake news tries to cover her up. But wait till you see, she was the worst with the staff of
anybody. But the fake news is talking about lying Kamala as if she's the savior of our country. That she's so brave.
I've never seen her turn around like this. Three weeks ago, four weeks ago, she was the worst politician in America. Now they say, isn't it amazing?
Look at her, she's so beautiful. She's so magnificent. She has a crowd of 1,000 people the other day, and the fake news that they worked hard to get
that crowd.
We have crowds of 25,000, 30,000, 40,000, 50,000, 60,000, 79, 000 people. And the fake news said, oh, her crowd was amazing. It was amazing. Did you
see it? The other day, she had a maybe a thousand people, I doubt it. They worked their asses off to get those people to go and I wonder what they
gave her.
They said, oh, this is such a big crowd. She's got such momentum. I don't think she's going to have a lot of momentum after this speech because I'm
telling you about her, right? We're telling you the facts. I'm just giving you the facts. But they said it was such a big crowd, such a beautiful
crowd. They never mention our crowds, like this crowd. Look at this crowd.
You can multiply her crowds times 20 and 30, and she wouldn't get what we get, 107,000 people recently in New Jersey. We got -- we might win New
Jersey. We're up in New Jersey. Eighty-two thousand in South Carolina, 82,000.
And by the way, we would have had a number here that would have been through the roof. But, you know, we are confined. As beautiful as this
arena is, I just met the owner, he said it's an all time record. Because, you know, they have basketball, hockey, but with basketball, hockey, you
can't fill up the floors, right? So we set the all time record.
And it's a very -- he's a very nice gentleman, great family. We set the old time, Michael (ph). And if this thing were twice as large, it would be
filled up with the people outside. Sixty-eight thousand people in the great state of Alabama, 68,000.
And then we did one in the South Bronx. And that can be a rough place, but we did one and it was like a love fest. This was an amazing thing. We had
25,000 people in the South Bronx, amazing.
And if I ever had a crowd like Kamala, assuming she had 2,000 people, assuming, which I don't think she did, but if I ever had a crowd, they'd do
headline stories, Trump is over. It's all over. It's not working for him anymore. They never mention the crowd. I tell those, look at all those
cameras back there, and I always say, but they never do it. Turn the cameras around to show them the crowd but they never did.
They never did. They never want to do it. They just don't want to do it.
They don't want to do it, I don't know why. Even the semi friendly cameras, they don't turn. You know, I used to think it was a physical thing with the
camera, you know, the steel. You can't turn, you can't turn. And in 2015, it started right from the beginning, these big crowds. But now I have to
tell you, there's more spirit now.
We won in 2016. We did much better in 2020, but it was rigged. It was rigged.
But this is bigger than 2020. This is bigger than 2016. And I think the reason is you like me a lot. But you know what you really like, when you
look at the incompetent administration that we have with the inflation, with the Afghanistan, with all of the things they've done wrong,
everything.
[18:30:09]
The border, the boarder czar, oh, boarder czar, when you look at how bad they are, you say, you know, I like Trump but now I really like Trump
because we don't want to go back. Front row Joes, front row Joes, you know, front row Joes, they've been to 201. I hate to tell you that North
Carolina, they beat you 201. And they were to a rough one last week. That was a rough one.
I saw them, they were sitting in the front row and things were happening that weren't too nice, right? Amazing, right? But they were there. They
were there and they didn't move, you know, amazing. Nobody moved.
When a bullet goes off, this is a freak thing, but a bullet goes off, crowds always run. They run. They call it a stampede. Nobody ran. And we
had 55,000 people, nobody ran. You could see the small group we had behind -- and now you could see the group behind because the camera was on. We had
a tremendous, you know, like hundreds of people from the press. We had cameras going on.
And you could see behind me, they weren't -- they were like this. How about the guy right behind me in the black with the green hat? And he's looking
like this. That guy was -- I want to meet him. But they had a lot of guys like that back there. But did you see him? They've only played that clip
about 5,000 times. They see it every day. It's over and over.
But you see how brave -- normally when something like that happens, everybody but Richard will leave. Richard will stay. He's a tough cookie.
But no, everybody scrambles, they run. Nobody ran.
Same thing with the group out front, the group out front was the big group, thousands and thousands of people. Nobody left. They just stood there
watching because they saw that I was in trouble. Either I was in trouble or something was happening because I had a lot of blood on my hand. I checked
out, I said, oh, yay, what's this?
But no, they saw that. And when I went down, they saw that and nobody left. It was like -- the whole thing is like a big love fest, let's face. It's a
whole big love fest. It's amazing.
We love you, man. We love you. We love you. We love you.
That was a horrible thing. That was a rough thing. And say what you want, the Secret Service, they -- the ones on this day -- on the day is these
guys right here, the tough cookies. They ran. Bullets were flying -- bullets were flying and they were running right at me. And it was a rough,
horrible time.
And they said, sir, we have a stretcher for you. I said, you're not putting me. I'm not getting on a stretcher. They had a stretcher. I said, that's
not going to look very good if I get carried out on a stretcher. Hello, everybody. Thank you, everyone.
I said, I'm not getting -- where are my shoes? My shoes got knocked off. They tackled me so damn hard. But it was a terrible thing in so many ways.
And as you know, we lost somebody who was fantastic, Corey. Fantastic. His family is fantastic.
And two other great people, these are great people. I got to know their families a little bit. And, you know, the public has really been generous
to them too. They opened up their hearts. I won't even tell you, the numbers are so incredible. But they opened up their hearts to the three of
them. And these two were hurt very badly but they're both now in pretty good shape. They'll soon be in very good shape, so.
But I just looked down here at front row Joes, and it just reminded me of that incident a week-and-a-half ago. You were right there watching it, you
saw it. And you guys, by the way, weren't moving either. I saw you. You didn't move. You were just -- they were standing just like they're standing
right now. They were standing. They were -- they're great. They're great.
And sad -- such a -- such a distressed sick world but, you know, it could be caused. When they call you a threat to democracy, you never know what
causes it. I'm a threat to -- they're a threat to democracy. They're a threat to our country, period.
But that was some time we had. That was some -- that was some rough time but it was incredible. The people I got to know through that, I got to know
some unbelievable and really brave people.
[17:35:06]
But the next time they show that clip, which will be as soon as you get home, they'll show it about 30 times. They show it every day over and over.
But watch the people behind, they always stampede. If a bullet goes off or something happens at a soccer stadium or a stadium, and we had more people
than most of those stadiums would have, everyone runs.
Nobody ran, they stayed. And they -- and you have to look, the one guy, it just was so -- he just was so angry. He was looking, I got to meet him.
There's something about brave people that I love, right? People that love our country. He's out there. He's like, up there, up there. No, they're
great. They're great people.
And we had a great convention. We had a great convention. We had a convention that broke all television ratings. How good was the Hulkster,
right? And Kid Rock called. He wanted to be a part. He was fantastic. But they were all fantastic. It was the greatest. It was just a flawless
convention. It was great.
And the television ratings were record, setting ratings. Record, you all read that. They were record setting ratings. And it was just an honor.
The stadium was beautiful. Milwaukee was beautiful. Wisconsin's promised me they're all going to vote for me now because we put $250 million into their
economies. We're going to win the great state of Wisconsin.
But Milwaukee was great. They did a great job. The stadium is new. They built it for the basketball team, which is excellent.
(END LIVE COVERAGE)
NEWTON: And we are listening to former President Donald Trump from Charlotte, North Carolina. He is addressing a rally. This is the first
opportunity he has had in this kind of a setting to really sharpen his attacks to a new opponent that he has, Kamala Harris, the vice president.
Sabrina Siddiqui is White House Reporter at the Wall Street Journal and she joins me now as we parse this speech. I mean, Sabrina, look, he -- firstly,
did not pronounce her name properly, even once, her first name. He does that on purpose. He did call her a radical left wing lunatic, said that she
was not taken seriously by Putin. I mean, we're starting to get the shape of what is obviously going to be his attacks on his opponent.
SABRINA SIDDIQUI, WHITE HOUSE REPORTER, WALL STREET: Absolutely. And I think that, you know, when you think about where former President Trump was
just a couple weeks ago, there was a lot of confidence that you saw when he was addressing his rallies and within his campaign, you know, this sense of
almost -- of invincibility almost. And now I think what you're seeing is this -- a sense that he certainly an appearance of being a little bit more
rattled by how the entry of Vice President Harris into the campaign really could reset the race with just three months to go.
And to your point, you know, we're seeing a preview of the ways in which Trump and his allies will attack her radical left. He called her Lying
Kamala. You know, he's comparing crowd sizes, which is something he did with Hillary Clinton in 2016, to try and compare and contrast enthusiasm
for his campaign compared with that of Democrats and calling, you know, going after Vice President Harris' record on immigration.
But, you know, you're getting the contours of what the attacks will look like. But I also think you're seeing, you know, Trump visibly, you know,
having to contend with the fact that this is no longer a split screen between him and President Biden. It's now a split screen between him and
Kamala Harris, and they have to reshape their entire strategy.
NEWTON: Yes. And you can see that he is struggling with that a bit because he continues to talk about the Biden administration. Fair enough. I mean,
she must run on the Biden administration record as well. But he's still talking about the former president. And I wonder if they've really done a
lot of work on this, whether it is behind the scenes, whether well see it in future speeches.
Because he is not hitting key points that his voters hit every time. If you speak to voters who are now for Trump, especially those that might have
voted for Biden or for Kamala Harris, you know, they talk about things like inflation. They're very articulate about what they didn't like about the
Biden administration. He's not been able to do that as of yet, at least from what I've heard in this speech.
SIDDIQUI: You know, it just seems like Trump's greatest hits in some ways where he's kind of going through his grievances, you know, he's talking
about, again, the energy, you know, of his crowds, and he's placing blame, attacking members of the press who are assembled there. And then, of
course, trotting out these new nicknames for Vice President Harris.
You know, based on our reporting, it is true that the Trump campaign appears to have been unprepared for this moment, even though there was so
much conversation around the prospect of President Biden stepping aside. And it was very obvious to many that Vice President Harris would be the one
to take his place.
[17:40:02]
So I think they're trying to figure out effective attack lines. And to your point, voters have made very clear their misgivings with the economy, with
inflation, but I think that they're still trying to settle on what this campaign will look like.
And I think it also, you know, when you look at the historic nature of Vice President Harris' candidacy, you were mentioning him mispronouncing her
name. And we're expecting these attacks to get very personal and very nasty. There's also a risk that the Trump campaign will run of turning off
voters, especially the middle of the road voters, suburban women groups that they need, depending on the tenor and tone that his attacks take.
NEWTON: Yes. And that is the key there. Whether you're Donald Trump or Kamala Harris, you need to appeal to those who've not yet come onto your
side. And with that speech there, we have not seen, at least so far, any new campaign strategy to, as you say, appeal to those Moderates or those
Independents.
Sabrina Siddiqui, good to see you as we continue to follow this campaign. Appreciate it.
Now, coming up here on "First Move," the Israeli prime minister trying to drum up support for the war in Gaza while harshly criticizing protesters in
Washington. We'll show you how.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
NEWTON: And welcome back. Hundreds of protesters opposing Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Tel Aviv Wednesday night as he addressed the
US Congress. At the same time, protesters in Washington took to the streets outside the Capitol.
Now somewhere -- some were seen clashing with police and even burning American flags. Inside the Capitol, meantime, Israeli Prime Minister
Netanyahu addressed a joint meeting of US Congress, lawmakers giving Mr. Netanyahu a warm welcome as he entered the chamber.
But dozens of lawmakers in fact boycotted the speech to protest Israel's war with Hamas, and the still growing civilian death toll in Gaza as it now
approaches 40,000. Mr. Netanyahu thanked Congress for supporting Israel after last October's terror attack and lobbied for more US military
support. Listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
NETANYAHU: Fast tracking US military aid can dramatically expedite an end to the war in Gaza and help prevent a broader war in the Middle East. In
World War II, as Britain fought on the front lines of civilization, Winston Churchill appealed to Americans with these famous words, "Give us the tools
and we'll finish the job."
[17:45:00]
Today, as Israel fights on the front line of civilization, I too appeal to America, give us the tools faster and we'll finish the job faster.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NEWTON: Joining me now is Jon Alterman. He's the Director of the Middle East Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. I mean,
in certain respects, the prime minister, he stuck to type, right? It was something that we could expect. And yet where do you think all of this goes
from here? Because he certainly did not ingratiate himself to President Biden, who is in a room now looking for some type of a ceasefire deal.
JON ALTERMAN, MIDDLE EAST PROGRAM DIRECTOR, CENTER FOR STRATEGIC AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES: Well, he certainly thanked President Biden, and that
wasn't clear what he was going to do. He didn't insult President Biden, I think that was certainly something that people were worried about. I
couldn't help but notice that the prime minister's meetings in the White House were scheduled after the address of the congress to try to make sure
that there was nothing offensive in the speech.
I think that the prime minister, if you agreed with him, it was a great speech. If you didn't agree with him, you weren't persuaded. I'm not sure
that President Biden was persuaded, and I'm sure President Biden heard a lot that he was hoping to hear. He didn't hear things he was worried about
hearing.
But ultimately, the problem is that President Biden doesn't agree with Prime Minister Netanyahu about what the next phase should really look like.
President Biden keeps talking about a two state solution that's not popular at all in Israel.
And it seems to me that you may have some movement after the Knesset goes out of session for three months on Sunday with the beginning of a
ceasefire, beginning of some hostage exchange. But I don't think we're getting to some sort of permanent solution as the President hopes.
NEWTON: In terms of what they took from the speech, though, whether you were in Gaza, and it's highly doubtful that anyone in Gaza even heard about
this speech. But whether it is in the interest of those civilians that are still suffering there or in those hostages being held there, and the
families of those hostages, there was really nothing in this speech that gave them any kind of hope, unless you see it differently.
I know you're saying that the political situation in Israel might change just over the next several days, but this was quite a strident speech where
he hit back not just certainly at Hamas and Iran, but also at the pro- Palestinian protesters outside.
ALTERMAN: But his view is you have to double down on this idea of Israel is fighting to defend civilization. That is a view that is popular in Israel.
You have to remember that 80 percent of Israeli Jews polled don't think it's possible for Israel to have security living alongside a Palestinian
state.
And so, I think Netanyahu was speaking to that Israeli core of people who say, we have to continue to fight to defend ourselves. This is existential.
The hostage families would like to get their family members back. I think that was what the nod to all the soldiers was about, that we will fight
until we get them back and when we will free them. He had a freed hostage with him.
But if what you're looking for is a ceasefire and the way to a two state solution, precisely what President Biden is talking about, that's not where
the prime minister wants to go. And frankly, that's not where the Israeli public wants to go right now.
It is definitely a good point underscored, as you said, by polling and the fact that Netanyahu still is governing. And if they had an election
tomorrow, it's not clear that he wouldn't still be the prime minister.
Having said all of that, this really comes at a tumultuous time in us politics, and that is the understatement of the century right now. If
you're Kamala Harris, how do you handle this with nuance? Because apparently behind closed doors, she has been much more critical of the
Netanyahu government.
ALTERMAN: And she's still the vice president, she's still supporting the President. I think when you talk to younger voters are much more aligned
with the idea of being more critical of Israel and less supportive of Israel than President Biden has been. I think she tries to walk a line
where she doesn't show a lot of daylight with the President, but shows the sense that things may change.
I don't think she wants to run as a foreign policy president, that's my own view. But I think President Biden does want to be remember as a foreign
policy president who's going to be leaning into this. I do think that over the next three months there is possibility for more movement. Prime
Minister Netanyahu needs right wing coalition members to sustain his government.
But with a Knesset out of session from Sunday until the end of October, he will have a little less scrutiny, a little more room to maneuver. And I do
think there will be some maneuvering, I just don't think it will be as much as the Biden administration is going to want.
NEWTON: Well, that is hopeful by some measure. And so we'll hang on to that as we continue to follow this visit by the prime minister. Jon Alterman for
us from Washington, thanks so much.
[17:50:06]
Now in Gaza, Israeli airstrikes and shelling have killed at least 33 people east of Khan Yunis. That's according to a local hospital where victims are
being taken. Now, journalists in Khan Yunis reported hearing heavy gunfire from helicopters on Wednesday. The Israeli military says it's continuing an
operation in the area in response to "terrorist activity, rocket fire."
Meantime, the bodies of two Israeli hostages have now been recovered. Maya Goren and Oren Goldin were both killed on October 7th. Goren was a
preschool teacher. She will now be buried next to her husband, who was also killed in the attack.
Goldin was part of his kibbutz's civilian emergency squad. No details have been released about how either of their bodies were recovered. And we'll
have more "First Move" right after the break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
NEWTON: Turning now to the White House where in a little more than an hour, President Joe Biden will address the nation. We now have excerpts from that
speech. Mr. Biden will say, in fact, that his decision to pass the torch is, in his words, the best way to unite our nation.
We want to go straight to our MJ Lee who is going through portions of the speech right now. I mean, listen, this was always going to be a tough
order, right? Especially because the President insisted, insisted for days before he actually made the announcement that he was the best man to defeat
Donald Trump.
LEE: That's right. And it certainly has been an emotional time for everybody in the building behind me, including, of course, the President
himself. We know that this was an incredibly difficult decision for him. And for the first time tonight, we are going to hear a full explanation
from the President on why he made that stunning decision.
We did just get some excerpts from the speech that we should be hearing in just over an hour, and I want to read a part of those excerpts for you. He
will clearly try to make clear that his decision to drop out was about thinking about the country. He'll say the defense of democracy is more
important than any title. I draw strength and find joy in working for the American people. But this sacred task of perfecting our union is not about
me. It's about your families, your futures. It's about we the people.
And, Paula, the President who remember some four years ago when he was running for president back in 2020, and promised to be the bridge and the
transition candidate, is also going to say this. I have decided the best way forward is to pass the torch to a new generation. That is the best way
to unite our nation.
And based on additional excerpts that we have seen and as we have been reporting, the President is going to be laying out the agenda that he sees
for the remaining months that he has in office on the economy, on reproductive rights, on civil rights. So that is expected to be a portion
of that speech.
[17:55:05]
We also note that the President, of course, as he's talked about so many times with such frequency that he sees Donald Trump, the former president,
as being an existential threat to the country, and that he sees the current moment that we are in as being an important inflection point for the
country and for the world. And what he will say is that in America, kings and dictators do not rule. The people do. And he is also going to tell the
American people, history is in your hands.
But again, this is going to be quite a remarkable moment coming from the President sitting in the Oval Office for the first time, really, as we are
learning now, really passing the torch onto his vice president, and acknowledging that he is doing that because he thinks that this outcome is
the best outcome for the country, Paula.
NEWTON: Yes. And all the while, many, again, watching to see how he delivers this speech, to see that he's fully recovered from COVID and
certainly up to the task ahead. MJ Lee for us in the White House, thanks so much.
And that does it for "First Move" for this evening, I want to thank you for joining us. We are awaiting that speech from the President. We will bring
it to you live. That's it for now, though. I will see you right here tomorrow.
END
