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Today: Netanyahu Meeting With Trump At Mar-A-Lago; Netanyahu Meets With Trump After Harris Meeting Yesterday; Sunday Marks 100 Days Until Election Day; NYT: Democrats More Hopeful Amid Harris Vibe Shift; Trump: Can't Commit To Debate Given Democrats' "Political Chaos"; Sources: Harris Plans To Pick A Running Mate By August 7. Aired 12-12:30p ET

Aired July 26, 2024 - 12:00   ET

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

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PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN ANCHOR, INSIDE POLITICS: Today on Inside Politics, a whole new race. Remember last Friday, if you can, when Republicans leaving their convention, they seem to see Trump and a win in November as a foregone conclusion. Well, what a difference a week makes. But this is just -- is this just Kamala Harris's honeymoon phase? Or can the vice president build on that clear burst of Democratic momentum.

Plus, the presumptive Democratic nominee needs a running mate in fast. I'll talk to the top pollster who says, he knows who it will be and who it should be. And energized, optimistic and nervous. That's how some older voters in a crucial swing state are feeling about the change at the top the Democratic ticket. CNN's John King is getting the pulse of Pennsylvania. It's all over the map series.

I'm Phil Mattingly in for Dana Bash. Let's go behind the headlines at Inside Politics.

First off, 24 days until the Democratic convention, 42 days until the first mail ballots go out. And 102 days until Election Day. And boy, who knows how many more wild and unprecedented turns this campaign could take between now and then.

But today, foreign policy is front and center in this race as the former president meets with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu behind closed doors at Mar-a-Lago. That meeting comes just a day after Trump's new opponent met with Netanyahu back in Washington.

Vice President Kamala Harris says, she conveyed her unwavering support for Israel, but told Netanyahu it's time to get a ceasefire deal done. And that she will quote, not be silent about the suffering in Gaza.

CNN's Kristen Holmes is in West Palm Beach, right by the former president's resort. And Kristen, what are we expect? This is a complicated relationship between these two men. What do we expect from this meeting today? KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: To say the least, it certainly is very fraught. We know that while he was in office, they were very close. They -- Donald Trump himself said that he was one of the staunchest supporters of Israel to ever sit in the Oval Office. But that relationship had sense soured, particularly after Netanyahu congratulated Joe Biden on his win, becoming the president and move that Donald Trump said was disloyal.

And I will tell you that after that October 7 terror attack, I was here in Palm Beach at a speech of Donald Trump's. And when he really laid into Netanyahu saying, essentially that it was his fault that there was a security failure. And that was not something that a lot of his supporters, particularly his Jewish supporters were very happy about. Donald Trump has since turned that around. At one point saying that he stood with Netanyahu.

So again, to say this is a real roller coaster is really an understatement. But right now, Netanyahu is sitting down at Mar-a-Lago with Donald Trump. We expect to see some pictures from the meeting as well as a readout.

But Phil, obviously, just to make one thing very clear. Donald Trump is still a civilian. He might be a former president, but he's not allowed to have any sort of negotiations with a foreign leader, that is illegal under the Logan Act.

So, any kind of readout we're going to get is going to be what we've seen with Viktor Orban, or with Zelenskyy, where they say that we talked about how we could have a good working relationship moving forward, not any promises, or at least he's not allowed to make any promises to Netanyahu, if he were, in fact, to be elected. But obviously, this is a big deal right now, something that we are watching very closely, particularly as we know that election is just right around the corner.

MATTINGLY: All right, Kristen Holmes, for us very interesting day near the Mar-a-Lago resort down there. Appreciate your time as always. Joining me now with their reporting and analysis, CNN's Alayna Treene, Jeff Mason of Reuters, and Semafor's Kadia Goba.

Alayna, I want to start with you, because you have this great piece out this morning with our colleague Kylie Atwood. Where one Trump adviser kind of framed Trump's willingness to meet with Netanyahu, is like a level of benevolence. I'm paraphrasing a little bit. But what you wouldn't necessarily always associate with the former president, and in particular, this relationship. One of the Trump advisers went out of this?

ALAYNA TREENE, CNN POLITICAL REPORTER: Well, so interesting, because they actually said that there is no overarching message or goal that Donald Trump wants to really convey to Netanyahu during this meeting that they're going into it.

It's going to be open ended. However, of course, we know that Donald Trump has repeatedly said, he wants to see this war end quickly, that it's a public relations nightmare for Israel, though. He also provides no specifics on how he would do that.

I think it's going to be really interesting. I think the big thing about this meeting is it really is an opportunity for them to reset relations after what Kristen just laid out, which is years of their relationship deteriorating after Donald Trump departed the White House. I also think, you know, the timing of it. It's just -- it's in such a critical moment in both this election, but also, of course, the war in Israel between Israel and Hamas.

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And I think it's also just fascinating how Netanyahu is hedging his bets. I mean, he met with Biden. He met with Harris. He's meeting with Trump and Trump's advisers even acknowledged that. They said look, this isn't the only foreign leader who has arrived on our doorstep or at Mar-a-Lago. They realized that Trump very could -- well could be the next president. And they are trying to, you know, work on their relationships as much as they can.

So, I think it'd be very interesting to see how this goes. We are expecting a readout of this meeting. The meeting should be happening now or just about ending. So hopefully, we get that soon and we need those details.

MATTINGLY: They have an up and down relationship during the administration. They got a lot of stuff done, particularly on Israel's priorities inside that administration. But the reason is, it totally fell apart was because Netanyahu had the gall to call President Biden and acknowledge that he won the election for another day.

Jeff Mason, on the Democratic side yesterday was fascinating. Like I don't -- we sat in the West Wing together for many, many years. Vice president delivering a statement after meeting to cameras very rare, doing it when the president had also had a bilateral meeting, and she became the face of it, never seen it before. I want to play one thing. So, take a listen.

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KAMALA HARRIS, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE U.S., (D) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: As I just told Prime Minister Netanyahu, it is time to get this deal done. So, to everyone who has been calling for a ceasefire, and to everyone who yearns for peace. I see you and I hear you.

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MATTINGLY: It was a very strong statement. I'm interested in the behind this -- like, how did this happen in terms of their communication as Phil Gordon talking to Jake Sullivan. How did they reach this point? What do you think the message was supposed to be?

JEFF MASON, WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT, REUTERS: Well, I think that was as much candidate Harris speaking as Vice President Harris. And I think that's a really critical thing to underscore. Also, the fact as you said, Phil, that she came out and made a statement after the president already had a meeting with Netanyahu as well. That's something that I don't think would have happened a week ago, if she were not now heading towards the top of the Democratic ticket. I don't have any intel on discussions between their offices. I do know that they are -- I think they're preparing for the fact that she's going to have to create some distance between Biden as she runs for reelection as the presidential candidate.

Although, she's also tethered to his record because their record -- his record is their record. But on this issue, she is setting at least a tonal difference. She's done that before. She did that a couple of months ago when she spoke about this issue. And she definitely when she came out and yesterday saying, I will not be silent. That was -- that was a signal and those were strong words. And that was intentional.

MATTINGLY: Yeah. Look as a jaded and cynical watcher of all things, politics, and who's heard every word from all of the people that currently live in the White House right now or work at the White House right now. That was a, whoa, OK, we're at that point level. And I think to that point, you're -- I think you're now officially on the hair -- covering the Harris campaign for Semafor.

Jeff framed it really well, in terms of the political candidate versus the vice president here, political candidate kind of speaking yesterday. This was a huge issue for the Democratic coalition. A coalition that we have seen explode with -- I don't know some combination of relief, enthusiasm as well. Just bid good over the New York Times.

Had this voter quoted and said, it was just going to be this horrible, slow slog between two old men that nobody liked, said Lisa Burns, an art teacher from Connecticut. Everyone I know is happy. How do you have the vibe shifts carryover beyond week one?

KADIA GOBA, POLITICAL REPORTER, SEMAFOR: Well, I mean, I think you should look at probably -- definitely, Kamala Harris is running for president. We see it in her speeches. We see it in the groundswell of advocates doing these zoom calls were started earlier in the week or black women collaborated and raised a ton of money on Zoom calls.

Now, next week, there's like Kamala, or white men for Kamala. So, I think it's a matter of reaching a demographic that probably was a little inhibited about supporting Joe Biden. Those swing voters in different states throughout. We saw her go into Wisconsin, right?

We see different advocates pushing the swing state voters and we also see are appealing to that young group, which I think is also going to push her over, especially young groups in swing states. They seem energized. I think it's a matter of keeping that momentum up. And you know, really pushing this candidate that some people didn't really expect would be at this point in this -- in this election.

MATTINGLY: Yeah. No, I certainly didn't. A lot of people didn't until about three weeks. It hasn't even been a month since the debate, which is wild to me. This is weird because somebody framed it to me, who advises the campaign. Right now, we're bringing our people home. And that was a huge issue in the coalition, black voters, young voters, Hispanic voters. The Biden team just couldn't quite start closing the gaps on what their coalition used to be.

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Take a look at. This is a great graphic art to put together of the latest New York Times poll. And what it showed about the demographic breakdowns compared to the 2020 exit poll from CNN, two different entities that were doing the surveys.

But the numbers are striking in the sense that Harris has a 15-point lead on women, in 2020 Biden had 15. 18 to 29, a huge weak spot for the Biden campaign. Harris is now plus 18, Biden is plus 24. Black voters, Harris a plus 46, Biden significantly higher than that. In 65 plus, where Biden had like a weird level of strength over the course of the last several months. Trump has kind of back to his -- the area he was at.

I think that's my question, Jeff is, all right, we know that they're bringing their coalition. So, to get us great point like that's -- those are energized folks. Democrats are going to vote for her. That's what they want. They needed that. But that doesn't win you the election in and of itself?

MASON: No, it certainly doesn't. And there's no question that she's had a bit of a honeymoon period. And I think the question that you asked, it's a good one is how long does that last. Certainly, she needed to get those groups back. And certainly, Biden was really struggling with those groups.

And that's why there was a sense of depression among many in the Democratic Party, because not only were they losing the ability to bring independence over in swing states that matter, but they were losing the core part of the Biden-Harris coalition. She's got him back. But she needs to also appeal to independence. That's just politics one-on-one in this country.

How does she do that? She probably does a little bit more distancing on some things with Biden. On the other hand, she also emphasizes the things about their record that both sides care about climate change, abortion. And we've heard her talk about that a lot.

She was the leading spokesperson on that, as vice president, she'll keep doing that. But that's the question is, does she get across the finish line with the people who need -- who she needs to win the election, not just the base itself?

MATTINGLY: How are the Trump folks looking at this? Because they're looking at that same slice of like 150,000 voters in seven states, knowing that that's going to be what wins or loses his race? What did they think in terms of countering her?

TREENE: I think it's a struggle. When I talked to them, look, they are obviously trying to define her. We saw a lot of that on Wednesday night when he was at his rally in North Carolina, the first since. You know, Biden had ended his campaign, and she became the heir apparent. But there's still questions about how this works. They don't really know. And remember, I mean, they really largely ignored Kamala Harris throughout their entire campaign. They were so focused on going after Biden, their entire campaign playbook. The millions they spent on data and modeling, and ads, were all focused on an unpopular 81-year-old man.

Now everything has changed. And there's a lot of uncertainty. And I think we are going to see them keep test driving. A lot of these attacks continue to try to define her. But it may not be the same thing that we heard on Wednesday. They're going to keep workshopping that. As for, you know, the specific question of these different demographics.

And, you know, it's seeming like Harris is bringing, as we all said those coalition's home. Those were the same coalition's that, you know, Donald Trump's campaign are going very hard after and they thought that the race could be won by getting more black voters, more Hispanic voters, younger voters, all of that. But particularly thinking that could help them on the margins and what they thought was going to be a very tight race, or maybe they were leading. So, everything is different now.

MATTINGLY: Yeah. Peel off two or three percent of political blocks of a coalition and you win. All right guys, stick with us. We got a lot more to get too. Remember all those think pieces about how debates don't matter. Yeah, those didn't work out very well. So, when will vice president and the former president actually face off? It's actually an open question right now. We're going to tell you why, next.

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MATTINGLY: What happened to anytime, anyplace? That's how the vice president is responding to Donald Trump saying, he won't agree to a debate until the Democratic nominee is official. The Trump campaign released a statement that says, in part, general election debate details cannot be finalized until Democrats formally decide on their nominee. There's a strong sense by many in the party -- in the Democrat Party, namely Barack Hussein Obama that Kamala Harris is a Marxist fraud who cannot beat President Trump, and they are still holding out for someone better.

The campaigns use of the 44th presidents middle name is neither subtle, nor remotely original for the former president. But the bottom line is Trump agreed to debate with Biden, not Harris. My great group is back with me. All right, Trump campaign, of course.

Look on some level -- on a purely political level, I understand the team being -- his advisers saying like, let's wait and see how this shakes out. You know, you made the point last block about how much is very up in the air right now. They're trying to fill everything out. Didn't necessarily require that kind of a statement, but what is the game here?

TREENE: They're pushing this off. I think that's obviously clear. They're not committing to anything. I do think when I talk to Trump's team. They do want to have a debate at some point. They're just not ready to commit to it just yet.

Now, I will say that it's pretty ironic because, you know, that June 27 debate with CNN, Donald Trump and Joe Biden were both just the presumptive Republican and Democratic nominees. Neither of them had gone through their conventions and been formally the nominee. And so, I would -- you know, their statement in justifying that isn't entirely, you know, a sound, I guess.

But the other part of this too is, it's kind of just plays into what I was mentioning that they have a lot that they're figuring out. They don't know what a debate with Harris would look like yet. She really became the person that they realized that he's going to be say, facing off with earlier this week.

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I think the whole idea as well that things could still be changing. I mean, they know as well as we do. We all watched it together. In the 48 hours after Harris launched her campaign, the money, the democratic enthusiasm, the endorsements from every large Democratic Party leader and now the Obamas as well shows that she's most likely going to be the one he faces office.

So, that's where they're thinking about it behind the scenes. I do think we will see some sort of debate. Trump himself has said he wants it, but they're just not ready to commit to it. And obviously, they're not as eager to debate Harris as they would do it.

MATTINGLY: Yeah. It's worth noting, and I'm stunned by this. Apparently, Trump's Democratic sources aren't great because the Obamas did endorse, like 12 hours later.

MASON: I was just going to say. Like, that statement didn't last or that didn't age very well, because today the Obamas endorsed Vice President Harris. Somewhat late, I might add, at least publicly, given the fact that the rest of the party lined up behind her, as you were saying within 24 to 48 hours. Obama didn't want to stay above the fray a little bit in case that open process ended up happening. It didn't really -- I mean, it was there for the taking, but no one took it other than the vice president.

And what that means for former President Trump is, you know, they can say whatever they want. There's no debate now within -- no debate within the party, not about a debate, just to be clear. It is very clear within the Democratic Party who their nominee is going to be, and she wrapped it up awfully quickly.

MATTINGLY: Yeah. I mean, people focus on your unintentional pun, but was there a shoulder shimmy there?

(CROSSTALK) MATTINGLY: Kadia, it's interesting as we've kind of all tried to devour every poll we see, which by the way folks breathe, like we don't know, and we haven't gotten swing state polls. But the former president was coming off of a very traumatic attempt on his life. And also, a convention that universally maybe save for his speech. Everybody said went extraordinarily well for the people who organized it.

And it shows to some degree. And the New York Times poll we were talking about that showed the burst of enthusiasm for Harris. Trump's favorability rating is actually up four points from July to 48 percent, at a high right now. In terms of the temperament, cares about people, Trump is at 48 percent, and cares about people Harris is at 51, temperament to be president 49 percent, 52 percent for Harris. He's not doing poorly by his standards.

GOBA: I think this is always going to be and will be a very close race regardless. I think what Democrats are probably looking at is, wait, she is up further than or she is -- you know, she's increased her stance beyond what Biden did.

And that is probably the one thing that are making people a little short, especially donors who have to chip in on funding, and you know, create those -- you know, help create those commercials that are going to -- you know, supposedly hit Trump hard. So, I think it's going to be a tight race regardless. I think looking at her and see that she is doing better than Joe Biden is a huge, like booster for the base.

MATTINGLY: Yeah. And I think it's important for me here, right. One Democrat told me yesterday -- two days ago, ask, what kind of the takeaway was. He said, we have hope. That certainty. nothing's guaranteed. There's a long way to go. And there's still the hill to climb. I think the Obama has actually said that Harris was an underdog and their framing of things. But they've got something to work towards now as opposed to where they were before.

All right guys, stick around. Coming up. Will the vice president pick a swing state governor, a former primary rival or senator who's literally been in the space. Frank Luntz is here to tell us what he thinks Vice President Harris needs in a running mate. Stay with us.

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MATTINGLY: This gives me a question, who will be Vice President Kamala Harris's running mate? The vetting price -- process very much in full swing with just days to go until Harris is expected to make her choice. Sources tell CNN, she's going to do it by August 7. Candidates on the shortlist have all been in the spotlight this week, remarkable availability for media hits. We'll call it auditioning on the ticket.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) GOV. ANDY BESHEAR (D-KY): I am honored to be considered and regardless of what comes next. I'll do everything I can between now and Election Day to elect Kamala Harris

SEN. MARK KELLY (D-AZ): Again, this is not about me. This is about the future of this country.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MATTINGLY: He's going to make a decision that's the right decision for her, for the party and for the country.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You are on the list -- the short list?

GOV. TIM WALZ (D-MN): That I don't know. I've seen it out there and it's a little weird.

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MATTINGLY: Joining me now is pollster and communication strategist, Frank Luntz. Frank, appreciate your time. You're normally associated with Republicans and our Republicans message things on the talk. You have a sense here, both on the political side, but also where this may be going. What do you think?

FRANK LUNTZ, POLLSTER AND COMMUNICATION STRATEGIST: I think that she's going to choose someone who specifically brings a state, a swing state. To me, Josh Shapiro and Mark Kelly are the two leading candidates. Because both of them, they have enough support, enough credibility, enough of a very powerful background.

They will add to her ticket and do something that Donald Trump did not do, which is he doubled down on working class voters. I like to call them paycheck to paycheck voters that I think she's going to take the other strategy, which is take a state off the table. And there's so many candidates who would do that.

The only one that you included that I went by, is Beshear from Kentucky. Because yes, he's popular there. He did just win reelection. He's not bringing Kentucky. All the other ones that she showed are viable candidates that would change the electoral map meaningfully and measurably.