Return to Transcripts main page

Inside Politics

Rep. Hillary Scholten Calls For Biden To Drop Out Of Race; Source Close To Biden Fundraising Efforts: Money Is "Drying Up"; New Poll: Biden, Trump Tied Among Registered Voters; New Poll: 85 Percent Of Americans Say Biden Is Too Old For Another Term; This Hour: Senate Democrats Huddle With Top Biden Aides; Hoyer: I Think Biden Is "Still Working On" A Decision About His Candidacy; New GOP Ads Target Vulnerable Dems Over Biden's Health. Aired 12-12:30p ET

Aired July 11, 2024 - 12:00   ET

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

[12:00:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MANU RAJU, CNN ANCHOR: Today in Inside Politics, the drumbeat grows louder. Another House Democrat is calling on the president to get out of the race. Hours before a news conference where Biden must prove he's up to the task of running against Donald Trump and serving four more years as president.

Plus, scandal the century. Well, that's how Republicans are framing the Biden campaign turmoil in the new ad. As the GOP accuses opponents in down ballot races of covering up concerns about the president's age.

And treading climate protections, criminalizing pornography in disbanding the commerce and education departments. Those are just some of the controversial plans in Project 2025. Now Donald Trump claims he knows nothing about it. But we have new CNN reporting tying him to more than 200 people who crafted those 900 pages.

I'm Manu Raju in for Daba Bash. Let's go behind the headlines at Inside Politics.

We start with some very unwelcome news for the Biden White House. An 11 congressional Democrats says the president must drop out of the race. That's Congresswoman Hillary Scholten of Michigan, who says that Biden should allow a new candidate to lead Democrats into November.

For the good of our democracy. She says in a statement. I believe it is time for him to step aside from the presidential race and allow a new leader to step up. CNN's Kayla Tausche is at the NATO summit and Lauren Fox is on Capitol Hill. But first I'm going to start with you, Kayla, what are we expecting ahead of that critical press conference?

LAUREN FOX, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: For sure. We arrive at this meeting, but you know what they are facing right now in the Biden campaign is an uphill climb to convince Democrats that Biden has what it takes right now to win in this matchup again in November against Donald Trump. We talked to several members this morning including senators Blumenthal and Senator Peter Welch. Welch just came out last night in an op-ed against Biden's campaign saying that he does not think the president can win. Here's what they said this morning.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. RICHARD BLUMENTHAL (D-CT): My hope is that they will present analytics data that show a path to success in November, based on facts, not just rhetoric.

SEN. PETER WELCH (D-VT): I'm expressing my opinion. You know, ultimately the president is going to have to make his own decision. I think the issue is not about -- it's not about telling us. It's about showing voters that's in the presidency, you know, he's making real efforts to do that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAUSCHE: And just minutes ago, another Democrat from the state of Michigan, this time representative Scholten came out, saying that she is no longer believing that the president has what it takes to beat Donald Trump, calling on him to step aside in this race. We should note that.

We just also spoke with Hakeem Jeffries, not too long ago. He told reporters, Manu, that when he gets done talking to all of his Democratic caucus, and he said that that is taking considerable amounts of time. He does plan to convene a discussion with his leadership team about Biden's path forward and what they want to do as a Democratic caucus. Manu?

RAJU: All right, that is, of course, my great colleague, Lauren Fox, who is outside the where the Senate Democrats will be meeting in just a matter of minutes with Biden campaign officials. And we're supposed to go to Kayla Tausche, we will go to now, who is going to give us a lowdown on what we expect from the president at this news conference tonight. What are you expecting for the president in this high-profile moment for him?

KAYLA TAUSCHE, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, certainly aides have been preparing the president for this all week. But you have to imagine that the feedback from his top campaign and White House brass from that meeting on Capitol Hill is going to play a critical role in framing the president's mindset as he steps out on that stage tonight.

Certainly, they believed that earlier in the week, they were in a place where the president's burst of activity had quelled some of those concerns among the Democratic Party. But the cascade began again in a swiftness that surprised many inside the Democratic Party themselves.

Now donors tell us in their words, everything is frozen. Some officials involved in negotiations here at NATO tell me everyone is hedging. But publicly there is still quite a bit of confidence from Biden's team.

[12:05:00]

Jake Sullivan, his National Security Adviser spoke with reporters just a few moments ago and said that there had been what he described as a drumbeat of praise from world leaders at NATO for not only the U.S.'s leadership role in this summit this week, but also the role of President Biden in expanding and strengthening the alliance.

Sullivan was asked specifically about whether the president's debate performance surprised him having worked with Biden for the better part of a decade. He said no. And that in -- he bought President Biden story that he had a bad night. And that's what Sullivan said today.

RAJU: All right. Kayla, there was a new inflation report out this morning with actually some good news as the president tries to tout the economic message. What did we learn from that?

TAUSCHE: Well, it was the first time that prices fell since the pandemic. This has been something that hasn't happened for the entirety of President Biden's term. And it's something that in speaking to his economic team throughout the spring, they had seen glimmers of hope, and the numbers representing consumer confidence and consumer sentiment that are tied closely to inflation.

They believed if they could round that corner going into November, then perhaps the feelings about the economy would change ahead of the election. Of course, the problem now, Manu, is that there are now many serious, many legitimate concerns on the president's health and his fitness for office that could supersede any more positive feelings that voters have about the economy at this point.

RAJU: All right, OK. Kayla Tausche for that -- thanks for that report. And having brand new ABC News, Washington Post poll that found a staggering 67 percent of Americans, and 62 percent of Democrats -- and Democratic leaning - leaners, and 54 percent of Biden supporters believe that President Biden should step aside. And yet that same poll found the race tied nationally, 46 to 46. That's basically unchanged since before the debate, according to this poll.

So, what does all of this mean? Joining me to at this table to break this all down our CNN's Gloria Borger, CNN's David Chalian, and the Washington Post's Leigh Ann Caldwell. Good to see you all.

So, let me first just on the news of this, another member coming out today, 10th Democrats in the House. Hillary Clinton saying that Biden should step aside. There's 11 now in both the House and the Senate. How long can the Biden campaign sustain this?

You know, day-by-day, more and more members coming out. Assuming it continues, which it's probably safe to assume unless he has an unbelievable job tonight. But there probably be some criticism after tonight anyways, how long can he sustain this?

DAVID CHALIAN, CNN POLITICAL DIRECTOR: Yeah. I mean, I think he could have a flawless press conference tonight. And I still don't think that's going to all of a sudden assuage the concerns Democrats have about the president's ability to defeat Donald Trump. The answer to your question, though, Manu, is for as long as the president wants to, that's how long they can sustain it. Because it's up to the president, if he is going to step down from this mess.

He has made clear and there's been zero indication yet. And I've seen anywhere that he has changed his mind here. The indication is coming from outside, right? The indication is coming from Nancy Pelosi, who says, he still has a decision to make. Even though, he says he's made a decision.

So clearly, if this press conference is resembling of the debate two weeks ago, I think you're going to see floodgates open. And I think every Democrat on the Hill is going to call publicly for it, basically, not everyone. But I think that even if he does have a solid performance, it's not going to stop. What is the fundamental concern that Democrats have, which is, many of them do not believe he can do anything to win this race against Donald Trump.

RAJU: And yet, they were pointed Biden allies, will point that Washington Post poll that said, look, nothing has changed. Everything is the same. We're going to do just as well as everyone else, and maybe ignore the other numbers that 67 percent of Democrats and Democratic leaners don't want to him to run.

GLORIA BORGER, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, what about the poll numbers in the battleground states, which is -- which is what actually we all care about because that's where the election is going to be decided. And there are polls that have shown that he has lost ground in the battleground states. And that's why you have members from the state of Michigan, for example, a battleground state saying, he can't win it, he ought to get out of this.

And so, you know, this meeting between the Biden people and the Senate people could be very difficult because they're looking out to save the Senate and their jobs are on the line. And you've heard people like Jon Tester say, well, Biden can't win the state of Montana. So, you know, they've got lots of questions that need to be answered. And the -- this press conference he's going to do today.

I mean, what are we all expecting a different Joe Biden to show up? I mean, he's not Benjamin Button. He's not aging backwards. He is who he is. And so, I think we can overplay every appearance. We see Joe Biden, I mean, he is who he is.

[12:10:00]

RAJU: Yeah. I mean, it's just you talked a lot of the members on the Hill that are raising these concerns. They're behind closed doors and meeting with these Biden campaign officials. What do you -- what do we expect from this meeting that's happening this hour behind closed doors? And they're probably going to lay out how they think they can win. Is that going to be enough to win over those skeptics that you've been talking to?

LEIGH ANN CALDWELL, CO-AUTHOR, THE WASHINGTON POST'S "EARLY BRIEF": So, there's two different things here. So, President Biden, the Biden people are going to lay out how they can win the presidency, and looking at a very flexible, not us specific polls. Meanwhile, there's a whole other data I'm told from my sources that the Biden campaign isn't pointing out.

And it's looking quite bad, not for the Senate and for the House. And that the numbers are cratering in some of these critical states for some members and that's when everything's about self-preservation --

RAJU: Absolutely.

CALDWELL: They of course want to defeat Donald Trump. They do think he's an existential threat. But also, they want to save their jobs as well. And that's what they're thinking about. So, I'm not sure if -- what Jen O'Malley Dillon tells senators today is going to be enough. We're just going to have to see because what it comes down to is poll numbers and data. And if they think they're going to hold on to the Senate.

RAJU: And just about this press conference tonight. I mean, you had mentioned, David, about just how much he can actually do potentially win over a lot of these skeptics, even if he has, you know, perfect press conference, which you -- I don't think we can expect a perfect question from Joe Biden. Maybe this is one reason why he has struggled in some of these forums. He's had so few of them in his time as president.

And just this past year in 2024, four press conference -- just four press conferences. There's 12 in 2023. OK. Well, how does it compare to past presidents? Trump had twice as many, Obama more, George W. Bush more. And you know this -- do you think this has an impact on how he has been able to respond. He's going to be able to respond and able to respond their questions from reporters because he hasn't been doing it as much?

CHALIAN: Well, I think he hasn't been doing it as much because his team doesn't believe it benefits him to do it as much. So, I don't think -- I think they clearly made a calculation. If you look at those numbers, compared to previous presidents, that it would not help their cause to have the president out there in script -- unscripted settings, like a press conference.

This is part of what has been a clear plan to sort of protect him from these kinds of moments, whether or not that has ultimately served him well. The history books will have to write, but he has clearly done fewer of these. Now, I don't think American voters are like press conferences, we need more press conferences. I think that's more of us that do that then voters do.

But I do think he is at a whole new level of scrutiny now for every single one of his public appearances since that debate two weeks ago. And I do think the American voters are dialed into that. What does he look like? How does he sound? Does it change their sense that he's up for four more years of this or not?

BORGER: No, I keep thinking back to the fact that they didn't put them out there during the Super Bowl. They mean, why not?

RAJU: That's kind of a big audience.

CHALIAN: And I think we have the answer to why not.

BORGER: Well, now we know the answer to why not. Maybe we should have assumed that answer then. But now we know the answer to why not. Because even though you get a lot of softball questions during that kind of an interview, they didn't want him out there with that -- with that large audience. So, everything becomes perilous. Every answer becomes fraught. And that's not a good place to be.

RAJU: Meantime, I'm just told that Steny Hoyer, who used to be the House majority leader, now he's still a senior House Democrat. Just Said, I think he's going to make a decision. I think he's still working on that. I don't have any comment beyond what I just said. As we told reporter just moments ago, outside the Capitol, he as in Joe Biden. OK. Joe Biden says, he's made the decision, but it's not the decision that Democrats want to hear.

CALDWELL: I mean, the fact that they're still talking about that they want him to change his mind about it, means that what Joe Biden's decision has been -- is not satisfying to them. And so, you know, who was going to be able to change his mind. Everyone is in agreement that it's Joe Biden that's going to be able to change his mind. But meanwhile, you have Nancy Pelosi. Where many people think that if there's anyone on Capitol Hill who can get through to Joe Biden, that is Nancy Pelosi.

But part of the problem is and part of the reason I'm told, Nancy Pelosi went on television yesterday to go a little bit further, Clyburn last week -- close even a little bit last week too, is because there's so much concern on Capitol Hill that nothing is able to pierce through the Biden bubble and he is not getting the truth or the message that he needs to hear. So, we'll see if Joe Biden is still in the decision-making process, but it doesn't seem like that. His staff is definitely not in a decision-making process.

[12:15:00]

BORGER: Well, there's also the possibility that he's angry and digs in more because he said, I made the decision as you were saying. I said I'm in it.

CHALIAN: But that Hoyer quote -- Manu, you probably know better than anyone. When Hoyer is reading word for word, the Pelosi talking --

(CROSSTALK)

CHALIAN: You're not as how they operated necessarily all the time when they were in leadership.

RAJU: But she gave the rest of the team some -- permission or some marching orders and they're sort of following it.

CALDWELL: Yeah. RAJU: You know, she's no longer leader or speaker. All right. Next. Republicans hope Joe Biden will be an anchor on every vulnerable House Democrat. We'll show you how brand-new GOP -- a new GOP ad, accusing them of hiding what they say is the scandal of the century.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[12:20:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

RAJU: House Republicans have a new attack line. They hope will take down vulnerable Democrats in November. Just listen to a part of this new ad against Alaska Democrat Mary Peltola.

(PLAYING VIDEO)

RAJU: Not so subtle. So, what do you think about that strategy?

CALDWELL: Well --

RAJU: I mean, they're tying -- I mean, this was going to be -- the Republicans who are going after the Democrats in these swing districts obviously, wanted to nationalize these -- this race for some time. It's easier to do that in a presidential cycle, of course --

CALDWELL: Yeah.

RAJU: But with Biden's issues perhaps even easier.

CALDWELL: Absolutely. I mean, Democrats have been trying to tie Republican candidates to Trump right, and their attempt to nationalize the race. And now, Republicans think that they have something. They had a see weakness. They are seeing the same numbers internally that other -- that Democrats are seeing too, most likely. And that Biden is a liability for some many of these candidates, and so they're going to take advantage of it.

RAJU: It's interesting today on the Hill, one person trying to take advantage of it was the Ohio Republican candidate from -- who's running in the Senate race. The seat that's currently occupied by Sherrod Brown, the Republican Bernie Moreno held an impromptu news conference outside of Sherrod Brown's office in the heart office building.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BERNIE MORENO (R) OHIO SENATE CANDIDATE: Sherrod Brown has been very, very close personal friends with Joe Biden for decades. He knew that Joe Biden was in cognitive decline. It took George Clooney a couple hours to figure that out from weeks ago. Sherrod Brown is known for years.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

RAJU: Now, Sherrod Brown also behind closed doors, said that he thinks that Joe Biden is going to lose. He wouldn't go as far publicly yesterday when I asked him about it, but he said he's only responded to the concerns of voters successful.

CHALIAN: Well, this is going to be part of the pressure. It's interesting, because what Republicans are actually -- they may end up doing here is giving Democrats more firepower to go to Biden with, to try and get him to step down from his candidacy. And if he does that, these ads won't work for very much longer, obviously.

So, there is a bit of that here at play. But this is going to be ammunition that Democratic candidates on the House side, on the Senate side are going to take to their leadership and being like, this is becoming an albatross around our necks. And we -- and it's not just Joe Biden general, but it is Joe Biden at that debate -- post-debate, how the country sees him as frail.

We know the country sees a decrease in his acuity and abilities over time. And that is now a campaign problem for them. And they are going to use that as part of what they asked their leaders to go talk to Joe Biden.

RAJU: It's such a good point because they want to be talking about the economy. They want to go -- actually they want to be talking about really the opponent. They don't really want to be talking necessarily about the reg -- they want to be talking about Trump. They wanted to know who they're running against, the character flaws of their opponents and the like. But because of all this, then we deal with all these questions about Joe Biden --

BORGER: If they wanted to, and they probably don't. But if they wanted to, because they'd probably rather be talking about Project 2025. If they wanted to, they could flip the script and say, there's a conspiracy among Republicans about Donald Trump and his mental acuity. And who he is and who he has been, and, you know, the felonies and the being a liar and all the rest of it.

So there -- you know, there is a way for the Democrats to flip this. I'm not sure they're in the mood to do that at this particular moment. Because I think they'd rather get to the substance of what a Donald Trump presidency would mean for the country. But, you know, this is a convenient little thing for Republicans.

CALDWELL: Yeah. I'm just going to say, I'm not sure that voters are going to blame members of Congress for Joe Biden's --

(CROSSTALK)

CALDWELL: Right. So, I mean, it's OK to tie. They're going to try to tie them to Joe Biden, but I'm sure, it's separate. It's Joe Biden's impact on down ballot races is because of where voters are, not because voters are going to blame down ballot candidates because of Joe Biden's age.

CHALIAN: And we should note that two examples right, in very red Alaska, and red leaning Ohio these days, right. These are -- these were tough races if Joe Biden was running a flawless campaign. These are tough races for Democrats.

[12:25:00]

RAJU: I just want to -- I just look at the people who have called -- the Democrats have called on Joe Biden to step aside where the kind of districts that they come from. There are actually a mix. There are some from very blue districts like Lloyd Doggett who was the first one to come out, 52 points, Joe Biden carried his district by.

And then, you could down -- recently we've been seeing this trickle of more the swingy districts. Hillary Scholten today is a prime example. She has -- her district, Joe Biden carried by 8.5 points, but still, that's enough that could potentially flip in November. She's considered what they call frontline candidate, a vulnerable Democrat coming out.

And in the Senate slide, you're seeing something similar, a lot of -- they're not going out, like Tammy Baldwin, for instance, she's raising a difficult race. She's not calling on Joe Biden to step aside, but she's clearly concerned. She was asked about all this. She said the voters back home has still have concerns about Biden. So that's where the pressure points going to go.

BORGER: Well, and she's not showing up with him either. I think Jon Tester is another example, who's been a friend of Joe Biden's. And now says, he can't win the state and he's in a tough reelection in that state. And Biden's age will be an issue, and he knows -- you know, he knows that.

And what we see in a lot of these Senate races, is these candidates outperforming Biden right now. So, they want to keep it that way.

RAJU: They may have to do by a lot.

BORGER: And they may -- that's right. That's right.

RAJU: Yeah. We shall see. All right, up next. Days ago, House Democrat Gerry Connolly told CNN, he isn't giving up on Joe Biden. But he said the president needs to show his mental acuity in a way that puts to rest the doubts. So, has Biden put those doubts to rest? We'll check in with the congressman, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[12:30:00]