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Global Tech Outages Hit Airlines And Businesses Worldwide; Microsoft: "Underlying Cause" For Global Outage "Has Been Fixed"; Biden Says He'll Be Back On Campaign Trail "Next Week"; Rep. Landsman Joins Calls For Biden To Withdraw From Race; Trump Starts With Calls For Unity, Then Repeats Old Grievances. Aired 12:30-1p ET

Aired July 19, 2024 - 12:30   ET

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

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[12:31:49]

DANA BASH, CNN ANCHOR: We're following a growing, developing story, a massive worldwide cyber outage. Airports, banks, even healthcare systems are all feeling the impact. Cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike says the outage isn't a cyberattack, it's a software issue.

CNN's Isabel Rosales is live for us at Atlanta's Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport, where I can't even imagine what it's like there. People are stranded, scrambling for their flights to take off, not sure what's going on. What's the latest, Isabel?

ISABEL ROSALES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Dana, this is not only the world's busiest airport, but it is also the airport with the most cancelations here currently in the U.S. So, yes, a lot of frustrations. I've seen passengers here with tears in their eyes. They are dealing with a lot on the phone trying to figure out what they're going to do.

And this is what we're seeing. Just these massive lines. Folks like inching forward because even if their flights have resumed, we know that all major carriers were grounded this morning. The problem is with checking them in. They are being manually checked in.

We see right here, airport staff actually calling them out by their flight number, by the city, and that is how they're being checked in, prioritized based on when they're leaving. Here's Olivia real quick, let me introduce you to her. She is trying to go back home to go to work. What has this been like for you today?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's been very overwhelming, very stressful. You know, I felt scared. I'm not really sure how to feel about it.

ROSALES: Yes. And to know that this all came from a computer system outage, impacting the whole world, impacting the DMV, New York City police, hospitals, all of this.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes. It's scary. We don't know what it's going to be like. This could happen again. And it's just -- what are we going to do the next time? It's -- you know, I've been waiting here for three hours. I'm finally being called to go and get my luggage bag. Yes.

ROSALES: Just a lot of waiting around and what else can you do, but wait. Best of luck to you, Olivia --

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Thank you.

ROSALES: -- making it back to work. But you got a good excuse if you can't make it back. Back to you, Dana, also letting you know 300,000 passengers expected at this airport today along.

BASH: My goodness. Yes, I mean, especially that it happened on a Friday with people trying to get away for the weekend. It's very overwhelming. Thanks for that report.

Up next, there is a growing sense it's over. That's what a Biden aide told CNN yesterday. Coming up, we'll talk to a House Democrat who's going to make some news about what he thinks the President should do. Don't go anywhere.

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[12:39:07]

BASH: Just minutes ago, we got a new statement from the Biden campaign to sum it up. The more things change, the more things stay the same when it comes to President Biden's attacks on Donald Trump. But the President, most importantly, laid down a marker with this new statement that he is going to be back up and at it as soon as he is over COVID.

He said, "I look forward to getting back on the campaign trail next week to continue exposing the threat of Donald Trump's Project 2025 agenda while making the case for my own record."

Joining me now is a Democratic congressman, Greg Landsman, who represents the Ohio district where Republican vice presidential nominee J.D. Vance grew up and still lives today. Thank you so much for being here, Congressman. I know you have been skeptical about President Biden's ability to defeat Donald Trump. But you have now decided that you're going to take that a step further. Where are you now?

[12:40:06]

REP. GREG LANDSMAN (D-OH): Yes, I mean, I think the country wants change. I've had days in the district, which has been really helpful. And the district, by the way, it's Cincinnati, Southwest Ohio. It's it's a 50-50 district. We have an equal number of Democrats, Independents and Republicans, almost a perfect district, the best in the country.

And, you know, we want what I think most Americans want, which is normal and a return to normal. And pragmatism, a bipartisanship, someone we can rely on, and a leader that can help us get through this moment. If you watched last night, Trump's not that person. I'm so glad that he's OK after the assassination attempt on his life. I mean, that is -- it was horrible. And, you know, as he says, he should be on a beach or golfing somewhere. And I agree, that's where I think he should be. He should step down. Trump is unfit to be president, whether it's upending our democracy, you know, taking away freedom from tens of millions of women and girls, including my wife and daughter or, you know, wasting trillions on billionaires and big corporations at the expense of the rest of us.

And Biden has done an incredible job. He saved our democracy. He put the economy back together and he's rebuilding the country with the bipartisan infrastructure bill. But I think a big part of his legacy should be him stepping aside and allowing for that new leadership. And I think the country is ready for that. Voters here are ready for that. And that will create a level of enthusiasm and hope that people are desperately looking for.

BASH: So just to be clear, you are now calling for President Biden to step aside and no longer be a candidate for president again?

LANDSMAN: Yes, no -- yes, yes. I think, you know, the President's been great and deserves credit for -- I mean, let me be clear. I think it will be an historic presidency. I think he will go down in history as somebody who saved our democracy, who brought us out of a global pandemic, who led the effort to rebuild the country and helped us through this rocky time.

But I do think that the American people, folks back here want a new leader, somebody that isn't Trump, and that isn't Biden, that can help us get through this moment and the next few years where we return to normalcy, we protect our democracy, we restore freedom, and we build an economy around workers, and not billionaires and these big corporations.

BASH: So Congressman, if not Joe Biden, which you're saying now it should not be, then who?

LANDSMAN: Yes. Well, I think the vice president would be an incredible leader and in terms of this matchup. I mean, she's -- she'll excite young people which we desperately need. And she's a prosecutor, former prosecutor. So she'll be in a good position to make the case that Donald Trump isn't fit to be president. That he tried to overturn an election, which is disqualifying.

That he, you know, took reproductive freedom away from tens of millions of people. That he's wasted trillions of dollars and he wants to spend trillions more on billionaires and big corporations and not us. And she will be able to walk the American people through Project 2025, which, you know, we all should have in front of us.

You're talking about a plan that they're going to push that would approve abortion surveillance restrictions on birth control, defund the FBI, dismantle union protections, cut Social Security, cut the ACA, taking millions -- taking healthcare away from millions and millions of people, get rid of the EPA. I mean, it is a deeply, deeply disturbing --

BASH: Yes.

LANDSMAN: --vision, and so, I think she can do that.

BASH: Congressman, we are out of time. I just have one final question. The White House, the campaign, they're pushing back --

LANDSMAN: Sure.

BASH: -- saying, calls for him to step aside, it's only helping Donald Trump, because he's not going anywhere. Real quick, your response.

LANDSMAN: I don't think that's true at all. I think the President loves this country, and I think he'll do what's best for the country. And I think passing the torch is the right thing to do. And that is the way to ensure that Donald Trump doesn't win the presidency, but also doesn't have control of three -- over three branches of government by also having the House and the Senate.

[12:45:10]

So, you know, we've got a couple of weeks. And, yes, I think he'll do the right thing. I hope so.

BASH: Congressman, thank you so much for joining me. Please come back. I know we have a lot of other issues to talk about.

LANDSMAN: Thanks.

BASH: Thank you.

So, will, what happens over the next 72 hours? Maybe more. Greg Landsman in Congress coming out. Will that determine what happens in November? Two strategists who know better than anyone are here, and we'll talk to them in minutes.

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[12:50:08]

BASH: As Donald Trump celebrates this week, the Biden campaign finds itself on a teals. One Democratic governor in close touch with the party officials says the next 72 hours, rather, are big. Joining me now, former Senior Adviser to Barack Obama and CNN Senior Political Commentator David Axelrod and Republican Strategist, David Polyansky, who served as Ron DeSantis's deputy campaign manager. Thank you so much for being here.

David, I want to start with you -- David Axelrod, I want to start with you, first of all, on what we just heard from the congressman from as he says, a 50-50 district. He's saying this after he has heard from his constituents, including Democrats, juxtaposed with a brand new statement that we just got from President Biden saying I'm back on the campaign trail soon. I'm in.

DAVID AXELROD, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Yes. Well, first of all, it's these frontline members who are most concerned because there is an impact on the people who are running below the President if he is underperforming, and right now he is underperforming. And there is great concern that there's no way back.

So this is a matter, not just of whether the President beats President Trump or former President Trump, but whether these -- the Democrats have a chance to take the House, whether Democrats can save as many senators as possible. They've got a lot of exposure there.

There's a lot at stake. State legislatures are at stake. So there's a lot of rumblings around the Democratic Party.

BASH: Yes. And I just was told in my ear, Zoe Lofgren, who is a longtime congresswoman from California, just said that he should step aside.

AXELROD: Listen, I think this is going to be a louder and louder drumbeat, and this is something that the President needs to consider. He says he's going to be out on the trail. He's going to look around and there are not going to be a lot of democratic politicians around him because they're going to try and save themselves.

BASH: Well, you know, on that, I was talking to a Biden official yesterday who says, like, much like you have both done a lot of campaigns that this person has as well is that you go out and you get a sense when like the party's over because people don't show up. And until he got COVID, that wasn't happening with President Biden.

I was getting texts when I said morale is low at -- in Wilmington saying, no, no, they're knocking on doors. They're feeling good. But you've been in campaigns --

DAVID POLYANSKY, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: Look --

BASH: Not Democratic campaigns.

POLYANSKY: No, I haven't, but we share a lot in common --

AXELROD: Yes.

POLYANSKY: -- especially losing ones. And this is a losing campaign right now. And it looks like a fatally driven campaign. Campaigns that are losing leak, campaigns that are losing -- lose support, both public and private, and campaigns that are losing lack momentum and energy. And that's what you see on the other side of the aisle.

So as Republicans, I can't believe it was five days ago that former President Trump was -- there was an assassination attempt on him, but over the last five days, post that, this is a party that comes out united, excited, energized, ready to go, leading in the polls, leading on the financial side.

And when we look across the aisle, 59 days from mail-in ballots going out in Pennsylvania, we don't even know who their nominee is going to be. And if it is Joe Biden, it just doesn't have a pathway to victory.

AXELROD: Well, tellingly, his party is also a party that wants Joe Biden to stay in this election.

BASH: You're nodding your head.

POLYANSKY: Sure.

BASH: Yes.

AXELROD: I mean, they're very candid about it. I had Tony Fabrizio, the pollster for the campaign at an event for my Institute of Politics the other day here in Milwaukee, and I asked him why they hadn't run any ads attacking the President around the debate, and why they hadn't really made much of it. And I said, you get the feeling that you don't want him to drop out of this race, and he said, yes, that's right, you know.

So I think that's a data point really in this consideration that the President should make because I think he believes, as most Democrats do, perhaps all Democrats, that Trump represents a considerable threat.

POLYANSKY: As a strategist, you owe your client or the candidate, their family, you owe the party, you owe donors, activists, and everybody in between a real understanding of what your path to victory is. And there is no path.

BASH: I don't want to let you go before talking about what we saw --

POLYANSKY: Sure.

BASH: -- behind us, because it was a very long speech that the former president gave. He did at the beginning. He gave in parts of the speech that his aide said he was going to give, and then he went full Trump. As somebody who was on a campaign working against him during the primaries, I know you're not there right now.

POLYANSKY: Two.

BASH: I mean, how would you -- hoe problematic is that, honestly? Does it portend a problem for the general?

[12:55:05]

POLYANSKY: No. Look, Americans know Donald Trump inside and out. They know who he is, they know how he acts. They know how he campaigns. And he is ahead in every metric measurable. And now we've --

AXELROD: Relative to the President.

POLYANSKY: Relative to the President. And we've even put Virginian play right now. And so, no. I mean, look, do I wish it was a 30-minute speech last night? Yes. Because the first 30 minutes were amazing. It was amazing. The last 30 minutes, we probably could have done without --

AXELROD: Well --

POLYANSKY: -- and we could have done without elector (ph).

AXELROD: Part --

POLYANSKY: But it's not going to impact.

AXELROD: Part of the problem is that it was a grievance sandwich in a unity bun, and it didn't exactly compute, you know.

POLYANSKY: But it was an --

BASH: That was such an Axelrod, wrapping it all up.

POLYANSKY: But it was an A plus week all across the board.

BASH: OK, and speaking of wrapping it all up, thank you so much for being here. Thank you for having us here in Milwaukee. Great to be here.

Thank you for joining Inside Politics. CNN New Central starts after a quick break.