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Stock Plunge On Renewed Fears Of Recession; Trump On Market Turmoil: "Trump Cash VS. Kamala Crash"; Source: Harris's Running Mate Search Now In Its Final Hours; Trump Workshops Attacks Against Harris With Campaign Upended; Trump Lashes Out At Democrats And Republicans He Deems Disloyal; Usha Vance Defends Husband's "Childless Cat Ladies" Comments. Aired 12-12:30p ET

Aired August 05, 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]

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DANA BASH, CNN HOST, INSIDE POLITICS: Welcome to Inside Politics. I'm Dana Bash. And today we are following breaking news on three critical stories. On Wall Street, a global market meltdown, stocks are plunging as investors worried that U.S. could be heading toward a recession. In the Middle East, Israel is preparing for a retaliatory strike from Iran or Hezbollah or maybe both. There's a lot of fear that that could come within hours.

And here, look at Washington. We are tracking who's coming and who's going at Vice President Harris's residence. Her choice for the number two spot on her ticket could come at any moment. We are going to start though with the markets.

CNN Richard -- CNN's Richard Quest is here to break it all down and try to explain to our viewers and to me, why this is happening. Explain the sell off?

RICHARD QUEST, CNN EDITOR AT LARGE: Dana, the fundamental reason for the sell off is the fears that the Feds high interest rates. 11 increases in two years, has basically clobbered inflation and has also hobbled the general economy. We saw that on Friday with the unemployment and the job creation numbers. They were poor, too bad, not dreadful, poor too bad.

But now everybody is starting to say the Feds left it too late to reverse course and cut interest rates. And so, this is the effect. Stocks are starting to fall because there is a fear now. The economy will slow, still a minor chance of a recession. Less than 30 percent say most people, but it's a question of fear.

And since you're talking Inside Politics, you have -- Dana, you have to factor this in to the equation. Donald Trump is already calling this the Kamala crash. There is a political angle to this, the Fed too late, the Donald (Ph), Kamala Harris, part of the whole Inflation Reduction Act, the whole stimulus package at the beginning of the Biden administration. This politics wreaking throughout. BASH: I just have one quick follow up question. If the Fed would have lowered interest rates as many expected them to do, last week I believe it was. Could this have been prevented?

QUEST: No coulda, shoulda, woulda would have had to be much earlier. The so-called monetary lag takes about six to 12 months. What they would have done would have been to have created an impression that the Fed was helping Kamala Harris. The Fed says, I see no politics. I hear no politics. We move forward regardless of politics. And they've done it before, they just move forward. But either side would claim a move at this point.

As indeed in September, if they do not move in September, Dana, choose your restaurant and buying your dinner. All right, they're going to move in September. They've telegraphed it so well. People can't accuse them of being politically biased.

BASH: That sounds fun. I will choose my restaurant and we can have dinner no matter what happens. Thanks, Richard. Appreciate it. Joining me here in New York today, CNN's John Berman, Maggie Haberman of The New York Times, and Michelle Price of the Associated Press.

I mean, it's so interesting. Yes. OK. The Fed says that they're not political. They try to do things outside of politics. But there are people who think that they didn't do the production in part because they worried that the thumb would be on this scale. But if they lower the interest rate, even at all in September that's closer to the election.

MAGGIE HABERMAN, SENIOR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT, THE NEW YORK TIMES & CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Correct. And they're going to face accusations of playing politics. If that's the case, you have two dynamics here. One is, as Richard said, Donald Trump is already seizing on this --

BASH: Let's put that up on the screen while you speak. And I'm sorry to interrupt you there. Where is it? There you go. Trump cash versus Kamala crashed. Go ahead.

HABERMAN: Right. And so, I think that this is giving Trump something, you know, to frame the race around, to frame her around after she has had a real honeymoon period in the headlines, and that has been stymieing him and his team in a way that's been pretty palpable.

And then you are going to have -- the vice president have to explain fiscal policy of this administration. You are going to see in the next three months, two and a half months, Republicans and Trump try to tie her to Biden, you know, as firmly as possible that the Biden record is her record. It's been surprising. There hasn't been more of that. I think that this gives them an open eye.

BASH: John, I spoke to Laphonza Butler, who is the appointed senator from California also happens to be somebody who was an aide to Kamala Harris, very close with her and asked her about that very question about how she says, of course, before the markets dropped. It was on State of the Union yesterday, but it was about how she navigates her own vision for the economy versus the fact that she's part of this administration. Let's listen.

[12:05:00]

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SEN. LAPHONZA BUTLER (D-CA): There is no doubt that there's fear and anxiety for working families all across this country. And the history and the record of vice president -- of the vice president is that she has stood arm in arm, shoulder to shoulder with those working families her entire career. I think she's going to own that and expect her to have an economic plan that continues to include all of the American people.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: John?

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: In the what now? 15 days of her rollout. So far, every time she has spoken, she has seemed conscious of this to try to not make the mistake that President Biden sometimes maybe talking about the economy painting, a super rosy picture when people might not be feeling. She got to the -- I hear you part of that message more quickly, maybe than he did every time. She spoke, but.

The challenge here is this, right? Biden, when he was still running and his entire team, they were trying to explain why people were feeling so bad at the economy -- about the economy when the numbers were so good. It gets more challenging if the numbers aren't so good.

BASH: Yeah. Right.

BERMAN: Right. So that is something that the Harris team, I don't think we're thinking about when they began their campaign 15 days ago, but now have to think about it. It's something you know, things keep changing, and they're in a new place today.

BASH: It's 15 days, but it does feel like 15 years, at least 15 months.

MICHELLE PRICE, NATIONAL POLITICAL REPORTER, THE ASSOCIATED PRESS: Yeah. I mean, the Trump campaign has already started, not only using that hashtag, but they've been repackaging the memes that the Harris's team has been putting out there. They just a little bit ago this morning, posted the brat meme with, you know, the stock market is taking in the font.

That everything that has been in this honeymoon period might seem kind of silly compared to when people are looking at their 401(k)'s or when they're going to start looking at gas prices, or they're looking at what it costs at the grocery store. That the hype that is kind of coming back down to earth, we might be entering that phase that the Trump campaign has been waiting for.

BASH: And I'm going to get to MJ Lee in one second. But I just want to ask you because you know Donald Trump's brain on these things more than anything. As you were talking about what they're doing with the brat meme. I'm thinking about back in 2020, when the stock market the economy was really great pre COVID. And he was feeling wonderful.

And although the stock market isn't, you know, Wall Street isn't Main Street and it's -- if they're definitely different. He's a New Yorker and that's his worldview.

HABERMAN: It's his go to.

BASH: His go to.

HABERMAN: He has treated the stock market as something of a poll. We saw that in the White House years well before COVID in 2017 when he did his tax cuts and then he did his tariffs. And he had some of his advisers -- most of them outside of the White House, but not only outside the White House, saying to him, these are creating cross currents. And this is potentially a problem. He would say the stock market's doing great. The stock market's doing great. And he often looks to some tangible and often. It's miracle sign that he can say, look, see, I was right.

And so, look, he has set this up a bit where it's heads, he wins, tails, everyone else loses. You know, he says if there's a crash --

BASH: That's shocking, Maggie.

HABERMAN: There's a crash, it's because, you know, he was right. And if it's -- if there isn't a crash, it's because they want him back and they know he might be coming back. But I do think to John's point, voters -- it's not Main Street, but there are a lot of voters who understand this, and they can see on their TV screen. This is not good news.

BASH: Yeah. No question. OK, let's turn to what's happening with the vice president as we are all on pins and needles, trying to figure out who she's going to pick. Today she is going to join the president though in the Situation Room to discuss the situation in the Middle East. As she is zeroing in on who she will choose for the ticket with her.

Yesterday she met at the Naval Observatory, the vice president's residence with at least three finalists for the job, Senator Mark Kelly of Arizona, Governor Josh Shapiro of Pennsylvania, and Governor Tim Walz of Minnesota. MJ, you are in Philadelphia, where the vice president is going to hold her first rally with whomever she chooses. That will be tomorrow. What are you hearing from your sources today?

MJ LEE, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, Dana. Sometime in the next 24 hours, we expect Vice President Kamala Harris to unveil what is arguably one of the most important political decisions of her career. I am told that as of this morning, the vice president had not yet actually made that decision. And it is a decision that is widely expected to happen sometime later today.

And once that decision is made, she would, of course, inform a small group of advisers, and then of course, the actual running mate as well. And then sources did caution just in terms of the timing, that while that is the expectation on the timing, if at the stroke of midnight, the vice president has not yet made that decision yet. Of course, he would take more time. So, nothing in terms of the planning and the decision-making process and the timing is firmly set in stone.

Now yesterday as you mentioned, Dana, the vice president was in Washington D.C. at her home at the Naval Observatory, interviewing at least three of the finalists. Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, and of course, Arizona Senator Mark Kelly. And we understand from our reporting that there are two big questions that she has been is asking and keeping in mind as she has been going through this process. And those are, who can actually help her win and who can help her govern.

[12:10:00]

Now, we are here in Philadelphia where tomorrow night, Vice President Kamala Harris and her future running mate will hold their first joint political rally of the campaign season. And then they're going to be traveling to a number of battleground states together, for a total of seven cities over the course of a couple of days in five different states.

So that just goes to show you how quickly they're going to transition to a two people ticket and a two people team. When we are going to actually find out this decision is really anybody's guess. But the campaign is certainly trying to keep this really under wraps, and they are trying to drum up that enthusiasm in the lead up to that actual announcement, Dana?

BASH: MJ, thank you so much for that. Appreciate it. Back here, John Berman, that reporting who that she is focused on who can help me win, who can help me govern. If I were her, I would try to find somebody who could do both.

BERMAN: Yeah. That's a good thing. You don't get a chance to govern by the way unless you win.

BASH: Yeah. I mean -- yeah.

BERMAN: Let's just stipulate, Dana, I think often you sort of reverse engineer and after you've picked someone, you say, well, I picked them because they can help me win and help me govern there. So that's nice, but I don't think it's definitive or conclusive in this case.

And one of the things that struck me about this is something I read in your paper today, Maggie, which is Reid Epstein and his team, when they were running about the beefsteak. They basically said, there was no contentious primary for Harris. This is right. But we're seeing it now. We're seeing the factions fighting each other now over who the vice-presidential selection pick will be.

And the idea that maybe Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro, who may have been the front runner Friday, peak too early. You know, we're talking about this campaign, that's all compressed into two weeks. You pick too early by a few hours, is that possible? It could cost him because it gave people a chance to complain. We'll just going to wait and see over the next few hours. BASH: Well, complain and also really go after him. And then the OPPO (Ph). This -- I remember this happening four years ago when Joe Biden was picking somebody, we knew it was going to be an African American woman, he said that. And the OPPO was going -- that was going around. These are -- this is Democrat on Democrat, which you do see in a big way and during primaries that happened then, and it's happening now as well.

Josh Shapiro, they're going after him for a whole host of issues. Then you have somebody like Chris Christie, who was on Sunday on with George Stephanopoulos. Here's what he said about the potential for Josh Shapiro.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHRIS CHRISTIE, (R) FORMER NEW JERSEY GOVERNOR: It's going to show whether she's really trying to reach out to her entire party, and by extension, the entire country. I think she needs to pick someone who's more moderate than her. It should be Josh Shapiro. I don't think this is a hard choice. He's a very talented politician. He's extraordinarily popular, 65 percent job approval in the state she needs to win.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: Now, just for context, of course, Chris Christie has not endorsed Donald Trump, nor will he, but he hasn't endorsed Biden yet.

PRICE: Right. And you have to wonder how much the headlines we're seeing today might be influencing this choice. You know, it for -- it's her to pick somebody who's got governing experience versus a senator, somebody who's had to manage a budget. You know, Governor Walz's has had budget surpluses in the last two years in his state.

Josh Shapiro, you know, you've got headlines in Israel. That's a place where it's been used some of the criticism and opposition in his own party has been an issue there. But it's also something for some of those moderate voters. That could be a strength. His perception as a moderate on fiscal issues, his stance on fracking. I mean, today in the light of those headlines in the stock market, they could be looking at that as a positive for Vice President Harris.

BASH: Yeah. And I just want to say because I feel like it bears repeating that the attacks on Josh Shapiro for his stance on Israel and protests. He has the same stance as the non-Jewish contenders, and they're picking at him and we should not let that go unsaid. But it is again, noteworthy who is coming out for home, the UAW President, Maggie, Shawn Fain came out for Tim Walz.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SHAWN FAIN, PRESIDENT, UNITED AUTOMOBILE WORKERS: We really liked Tim Walz from Minnesota, also think he's an awesome guy for labor. 100 percent behind labor, obviously, there's this candidate we think are better for labor. And ultimately, look, we know this, Kamala Harris is for labor. She's for working class people. (END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: And as you answer that, one of the things that was pointed out to me by a senior Democrat this morning was that I mentioned the OPPO against Josh Shapiro. I mentioned the OPPO -- well, I didn't mention, but there's OPPO against Mark Kelly, not as much against Tim Walz. Some of the Democrats are saying, well, maybe it's the Republicans who are stirring things up as well against Josh Shapiro and Mark Kelly, because they're most concerned about Pennsylvania and Arizona. And what those two potential candidates could bring not as much about Tim Walz?

HABERMAN: Yeah. I mean, without guessing if people sourcing, it is definitely true that the majority of people I hear who say that they think unemployed, the Josh Shapiro would be a great pick for Kamala Harris or Republicans who would not vote for her under any circumstance. And so, they are looking at this both from a math perspective and from -- if you don't take this opportunity and you lose Pennsylvania, then you will be kicking yourself. And those are all real concerns.

[12:15:00]

Some of the jockeying that we're seeing right now, and we all know this is about at minimum 2028, or maybe 2032. And so, you have to look at this less about what this ends up looking like for the future of this race, at least within the Democratic Party. The Republican piece of it is very much about what happens in Pennsylvania, because Pennsylvania is key to a democratic win in the fall.

BERMAN: I just think it's interesting that people are talking about the notion of Shapiro maybe as a somewhat risky picking Tim Walz as a safe pick now. As if Vice President Harris has the luxury of making a safe pick, it just shows how the race maybe has shifted in their own perception of where things are.

BASH: Yeah. Very much shifted in that 15 days that you reminded. All right. coming up. Donald Trump is doing exactly what Republicans wish that he would not do. He is lashing out, not just at Kamala Harris, but at a popular Republican governor he deems disloyal. And later, 10 years ago, John Berman. there you see him that was 10 years ago. He was reporting on a wild and mysterious story of a dead bear found in the middle of Central Park. This is him now a decade later, by the way, you look exactly the same.

BERMAN: I wasn't giant one year gray back then.

BASH: Stay with us to break down the stunning revelation about who put that bear there. Robert Kennedy Jr. That's the answer. This campaign is weird. That's the buzzword. This by far is the weirdest story yet. We'll explain it later.

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[12:20:00]

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BASH: Donald Trump seems to be rattled by Kamala Harris. And as my colleagues Eric Bradner, Kristen Holmes and Alayna Treene put it in a terrific piece of reporting to topsy turvy weeks up ended Trump's 2024 campaign. And we saw that firsthand this weekend.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT AND 2024 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: So, we have to work hard to define her. I don't want to even define her. I just want to say who she is. She's a horror show. We're going to defeat crazy Kamala, Kamala. You know, there's about 19 different ways of saying it. She only likes three. She was here a week ago, lots of empty seats. But the crowds you got was because she had entertainers. She is considered more left wing than crazy Bernie Sanders. Look at her. She's worse than Bernie. And she happens to be really a low IQ individual.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: OK. Going after your opponent on the other side of the aisle, the person you're running against, that makes sense, attacking a popular fellow Republican.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: Your Governor Kemp and Raffensperger are doing everything possible to make 2024 difficult for Republicans to win. Kemp is very bad for the Republican Party. He wouldn't do anything. He could have ended the travesty with a phone call because I did nothing wrong.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: He also called Governor Kemp, a bad and disloyal guy. And Maggie, Kemp, released a tweet I believe it was where he said, Mr. President, stay away from my family because he also said something about his wife. Please stay focused on Kamala Harris.

HABERMAN: Yeah. I mean, the going after the wife was sort of the cherry on the top of this whole attack. I mean, what we saw this weekend in that rally, and frankly, what we saw at the NABJ event was the mean spiritedness that has been around Donald. I mean, he often is very mean in his attacks.

There is a different level of it that we have seen, basically, since he lost the 2020 election. And it's been harder to discern because he hasn't been as public, or he got indicted in that rally the Republican field. But this was sort of more evocative of January 2021, than anything that we have seen in the last year.

And this is what he does when he feels like he's under threatened or his corner or threatened. That's right. And so, you're seeing all of that, you know, nobody needs to wonder whether he is concerned about the state of this race.

Just look at what he's saying on the trail. Part of what his advisers hope he will do is frame an attack against the vice president as fake. And you've seen him do some of that in his rallies. He did say that. But then it veers into other stuff, and it veers into racist statements about whether she's actually black. And that is at risk for him of reminding swing voters. What they did not like about him and why they didn't vote for him in 2020.

BASH: Yeah. I mean, all the talk about Trump amnesia is gone. People have their memories back but just the memories back. But, Dana, especially in the Georgia scenario, Kemp is not just a popular governor. He's a part of the governor who's ground game is vital in that state and Donald Trump's campaign basically doesn't have a significant one.

HABERMAN: Donald Trump lost that state in the presidential election and is probably primarily responsible for losing three senate races there. He is objectively bad at politics in Georgia. And he has not shown the ability to pivot off that.

BASH: Can I just -- can I just follow up on what you were saying. And, John, I want you to respond to this. This is some reporting from our colleagues. That campaign -- Trump's campaign seems complacent one source close to Trump told CNN. There's no ground game that we can see, no media operation said another, multiple sources close to Trump told CNN that there were growing calls both publicly and privately among those outside allies for a campaign shakeup citing in part the need for more original 2016 Trump loyalists to be involved.

[12:25:00]

I'm just going to go out on a limb here and say, this is not about the campaign. This is the camp -- this is the candidate.

HABERMAN: And it's also not accurate. I mean, they do have a media operation. They do actually have -- there are a bunch of pieces that they have. I don't think it's that the campaign is complacent. I think it's that the campaign was shaken by what took place. But this campaign has run better than any campaign we have seen and the candidate is the issue.

BASH: Yeah. And I just want to say, I don't -- I don't think you were saying this. The reporting is accurate. It's the sourcing. It's the complainer.

(CROSSTALK)

HABERMAN: It's the people who are saying that point --

BASH: I knew that's what you're not --

HABERMAN: You're just not true, but thank you for --

BERMAN: Look, I thank one of the things -- one of the worst things that can happen to a campaign is hubris. And we may have seen it toward the end of the Republican convention, almost as Donald Trump was delivering his acceptance speech, he veered into a territory where I think his campaign. And the people in that hall would have preferred, he not been, which is on this sort of personal unhinged attack, rambling a little bit, and then the minute Harris got into the race. Three days later, he's been unable to regain his voting.

BASH: There is one person, a new person to the team or extended team that we heard from for the first time, and that is Usha Vance. J. D. Vance's wife. Let's listen to what she said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

USHA VANCE, J. D. VANCE'S WIFE: What he's really saying is that it can be really hard to be a parent in this country. And sometimes our policies are designed in a way that make it even harder. J. D. absolutely at the time, and today would never ever, ever want to say something to hurt someone who was trying to have a family who really, you know, struggling with that. And I also understand there are a lot of other reasons why people may choose not to have families, and many of those reasons are very good.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: Retention Jennifer Aniston?

PRICE: Yeah. No campaign, again, wants to still be in this position of trying to explain that your candidate doesn't have animus toward people who don't have children. And having his wife that you're talking about, and this is -- this is helpful. This is kind of what the campaign was doing with the RNC when they had a lot of women coming out, speaking about Trump as a father, as his softer side as they were trying to show it.

The fact that they are now being forced to do this with his running mate. You know, it shows us they're still struggling to get past this a little bit. But she is a powerful messenger --

BASH: She sure was.

PRICE: She has a, you know, she had a very powerful career of her own that I think she just stepped back from her job the day that he was announced as the running mate. And we've heard from some Republicans who would like to see her out more. She has been coming out with the Senator on stage, but she has not been speaking as much. But you know, you see in interviews that she seems to be an asset for him in the campaign, if she chooses to go forward with that.

BASH: Yeah. I mean, when you have to explain and you do it pretty well, while your husband said that people are cat ladies, maybe you should be out there more, but we'll see. Ahead, a very different story. We are going to go live to Israel, which is preparing for a possible retaliatory strike from Iran or its proxies, which could come soon. Stay with us.

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