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Harris Riding Momentum Wave As She Gains Support In Polls; Trump Struggles To Focus Attacks On Harris & Walz. Trump Campaign Says It's Been Hacked by "Foreign Sources"; Debate Stage Showdown; Harris- Walz Win Could Lead to First Native American Governor. Aired 8-9a ET

Aired August 11, 2024 - 08:00   ET

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

[08:00:34]

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

(MUSIC)

PAMELA BROWN, CNN HOST (voice-over): Momentous swing.

CROWD: Kamala! Kamala!

BROWN: The Harris-Walz ticket builds enthusiasm with a battleground blitz.

KAMALA HARRIS, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I will proudly put my record against his every day of the week.

BROWN: As their GOP rivals sharpen attacks.

SEN. J.D. VANCE (R-OH), VICE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Kamala Harris is a chameleon. She's a fake.

BROWN: Can Democrats turn momentum into votes?

Plus, back on the trail, Trump ramps up the campaign with a Montana rally as he looks to regain the spotlight from his surging opponents.

DONALD TRUMP, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT & 2024 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Kamala Harris, you're fired. Get out of here.

BROWN: Can he focus his message and regain the lead?

And hack revealed. Trump campaign documents sent to the media by an anonymous email. And what the campaign says was a foreign hack. How will this shake up the race?

INSIDE POLITICS, the best reporting from inside the corridors of power, starts now.

(MUSIC)

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN (on camera): Well, good morning to you and welcome to INSIDE POLITICS SUNDAY. I'm Pamela Brown, in for Manu Raju.

Vice President Kamala Harris continues to gain momentum in her bid for the White House with Election Day just 86 days away and the Democratic National Convention just right around the corner. New polling out this weekend shows Harris is gaining with likely voters in the must win battleground states of Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. But the matchup is still close, with no clear leader in any of these states.

And while there are undoubtedly still difficulties ahead for Harris, the campaign is certainly hoping to get an even bigger boost in those blue wall states from Harris's newly minted Midwestern running mate.

Minnesota Governor Tim Walz made his debut on the trail with Harris this week as they barnstormed seven battleground states, making their pitch to voters while also trying to draw a clear contrast to Trump and J.D. Vance.

Here's a glimpse of what they said at their final stop in Las Vegas last night.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HARRIS: Someone who suggests we should terminate the Constitution of the United States, should never again stand behind the seal of president of the United States.

In this campaign, I will proudly put my record against his every day of the week.

GOV. TIM WALZ (D-MN), VICE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Again and again and again, Donald Trump made decisions to weaken this country, to strengthen his own hand. If this guy gets an opportunity again, he won't only pick up where he left off. It will be much worse than it was last time.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: And meanwhile, as his campaign deals with a major hack, Donald Trump returned to the trail Friday for the first time since Harris formalized the Democratic ticket. He campaigned in Montana to try and boost the GOP candidate and a competitive Senate race. But he didn't waste any time lobbing attacks at Harris and walls as he tries to figure out the best way to attack and define their ticket.

We have a lot to unpack this morning. Let's break this all down with Cleve Wootson from "The Washington Post", Susan Glasser with "The New Yorker", "Semafor's" David Weigel, and Jasmine Wright with "NOTUS".

Thank you all for being here.

Jasmine, I want to start with you, the Harris-Walz battleground blitz, it's done. I mean, this is their first week, right? They traversed the country going to these key states.

How does the campaign think the rollout is going so far? JASMINE WRIGHT, NOTUS 2024 REPORTER: I think they're actually pretty

bullish about it, given all that that's happened. Since Walz has joined the ticket, they've raised, you know, more than $40 million from a lot of grassroots donors, some of them first time donors. I think that they feel like the reception is going well. They feel that the attacks, they could at least foresee some of them, particularly maybe on his military record and other things coming from Republicans.

So they feel bullish about it. They feel like they're in a good place. And I think that they're getting a lot of confidence from these major rallies that they're having across the country.

Las Vegas, I think there was 12,000. They I saw reports that they had to close the door. There were 4,000 more people out in line because of the heat. Michigan, we're just talking about it 12,000 to 15,000.

So I think they're coming into this new week really confident. And, of course, we're going to see her in San Francisco. At least we're going to see reports of her in San Francisco at another high dollar fundraiser.

[08:05:01]

BROWN: Yeah. The crowd size is something that Donald Trump has taken note of for sure.

Susan, there is this question, though. You know, Jasmine just laid out, you know, this momentum that the Harris Walz tickets is seen. But you have to ask, are they still in the honeymoon phase or is there a real shift in how voters are seeing? We are seeing the numbers of rise for Harris when you look at the latest polls, this weekend.

SUSAN GLASSER, STAFF WRITER, THE NEW YORKER: Yeah, that's right. After a race, remember, that was stuck for so long. You know, we were talking about things like doom loop and the immovable American electorate when it was look like it was a Biden-Trump rematch for really the last couple of years. And so, this is dramatic movement in the context of an electorate that's very, solidified and polarized. I think it represents a real change.

But the question I'm looking for, and we'll see coming out of the Democratic Convention later this month, are we returning to what we expected all along, which is essentially a dead even race? This is largely Democratic voters and Democratic leaning independents who have returned to the Democratic ticket. They were unenthusiastic about Joe Biden.

So what we're looking to see, I think, is whether she gets out in front and builds a discernible lead as opposed to something that is within the margin of error. I think that's a possibility for her. But so far, I would say what's happened is that you've seen Democrats come back and not only return to the Democratic ticket, but to express real enthusiasm that wasn't there before.

So it's changed what's possible in the map. And also this week, you saw the expansion again of the map, not just those three key states in the Midwest, but also Arizona, Nevada and Georgia back in play, which for Biden, I think had become out of reach.

BROWN: I think that's a really important point that the last two stops of the battleground blitz were in Arizona and Nevada, and you have the Cook Political Report saying that these are now toss up states, right, instead of leaning Republican states.

What is she doing right now that is working, that is now making those states more in play?

CLEVE WOOTSON, WASHINGTON POST WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Well, I think some of it is just simply the momentum. You know, Democrats have asked for a new candidate and they got a new candidate and as she goes out into these other states, they, you know, people are showing up. People are, you know, they're excited about walls. They're excited about Harris.

I think one of the things that I've talked with Harris people over the last couple of days about is how long will this momentum last? You know, they're excited. They're very proud of the last three weeks. But like, can they keep it going past the convention and for the next 80 some days.

BROWN: Yeah. And it's worth noting right. You have the momentum right now. But she hasn't sat down for a formal interview, though. She said that she told her aides that she wants to by the end of the week, or the month, I should say.

(LAUGHTER)

BROWN: Maybe by the end of this week, I don't know. We'll see, maybe it will be.

WRIGHT: I think for them, maybe it will be by the end of the month.

BROWN: But you have that you have, you know, she hasn't really rolled out significant views on her policy, although she said her economic policy, platform will be coming out.

And, you know, the race isn't necessarily going to be smooth sailing for her ahead as we wait for these issues. But when it comes to immigration, it's interesting that she's really taking that head on. She's going on the offensive, right.

Let's look at this ad when she talks about that and the economy, Dave.

DAVID WEIGEL, NATIONAL POLITICAL REPORTER, SEMAFOR: Uh-huh.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

AD NARRATOR: Kamala Harris has spent decades fighting violent crime as a border state prosecutor.

She took on drug cartels and jailed gang members for smuggling weapons and drugs across the border. Fixing the border is tough, so is Kamala Harris. HARRIS: We know our immigration system is broken and we know what it

takes to fix it -- comprehensive reform that includes strong border security and an earned pathway to citizenship.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: What do you think about that approach?

WEIGEL: Well, she's executing a pivot that the Biden administration made more than six months ago at the State of the Union and that ad, that speech, that's a good example of what she has benefited from by being the nominee without a contested primary. I think the primary electorate Democrats put together in 2024 was going to be different than 2019. But what she said on that stage, what she said in that ad that would have gotten you heckled in a room in Iowa in 2019.

All of the positions that Democrats moved left on, she has been able in this campaign to reposition herself and to the frustration of Republicans. What I've heard is that she's doing this without that many, without any interviews with a few tarmac questions. So she has abandoned the most progressive, unpopular positions that she had -- not all progressive positions are popular, but, you know, not -- not considering crossing the border a crime, for example. She abandoned that in a statement to reporter. She has not been asked about it.

That's what Republicans are getting a little frustrated by is that how much can she adjust and make old news, make it so that we wouldn't necessarily ask her for a new immigration position by the time she sits down? Because that's one less conflict. That's one less question for her to perhaps trip over.

That's one more thing she navigated without all of the turmoil that Trump did, except a little bit like Trump skipping debates this time. He was able to skip accountability in that -- in that way, she's been able to skip left wing accountability by being the nominee right now.

[08:10:00]

BROWN: Yeah.

WOOTSON: Yeah. It's probably important to note also that she's just she knows this attack is coming right. They've labeled her Biden's border czar from since the third month of her vice presidency, you know, voters tired to it. Republicans have tried to tie it to her, you know, and during this honeymoon phase or sugar high phase, she's trying very much to sort of go on offense and change the narrative before those attacks come, because they're already coming.

WRIGHT: I think also on the economy, I mean, we saw her roll out that she would eliminate taxes on tipped work or tipped wages yesterday. People were like, I'm surprised by that. I don't really know why.

BROWN: It's something that that Trump had proposed.

WRIGHT: It's something that Trump's -- right. So now he's saying that she's following him. But I don't really know why that would be surprising to people.

In 2019, she rolled out multiple policies like this. Her first major policy was a $13,000 raise on teachers on their wages that would, you know, accumulate billions of dollars. But it was still something that she put a lot of weight behind. She also proposed a $6,000 wage -- I mean, $6,000 tax credit for working families.

So this is something that's very much so in her arena. So yes, she is shifting a bit on those 2019 policies, more so on immigration than others. But these are also very much so in her kind of care economy bank of ideas that she has been very adamant about since entering national politics in 2019.

BROWN: Yeah. It's interesting. I want to follow up with you because talking about, you know, the Harris campaign ready for the attack, you have new reporting out, jasmine, about the fact that they knew there were going to be attacks on Tim Walz and his military record, that he had actually warned the campaign, right?

WRIGHT: Right. Yeah, I talked to multiple people inside of the vetting process and inside of the campaign throughout this week as he was getting attacked on his military record, and they told me that this was something that came up in vetting. Now, he did a more than two hour long vetting interview with the vetting team, led by Eric Holder, before he met with Harris.

This was something that came up. They went extensively, they said through his military record, and he said, in fact, you know, these are places that I've been attacked before. We could likely see me being attacked again. So I think that they were particularly ready for it.

Now, if there were some mistakes happening as they tried to defend it, I think that that is true too. But also it's much different than what we saw when this happened in 2004, right? Democrats didn't push back here. We saw Democrats very quickly coming to support Governor Walz in his record.

BROWN: But it is interesting, actually, last night. And hat tip to Dana Bash for bringing this to my attention, when Vice President Harris was introducing Tim Walz, she did not mention that he was a veteran. She named all the other titles. He's a dad. He's a husband, governor of Minnesota, was a teacher. Didn't mention that.

It was interesting. And it was -- it was worth noting.

We're going to continue this conversation. Stay with us.

Coming up, Harris rises in the polls raising Republican fears. Is Trump up for the task of defeating his new challenger? We're going to discuss that question after this break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:17:16]

BROWN: Well, Trump's campaign hoped a recalibration was on the horizon with the introduction of Kamala Harris's running mate as a new opportunity for their nominee to go on the attack. But we've seen a not so different Donald Trump on the campaign trail this week. And while he did make some new jabs at Harris and walls, there were plenty of off script tangents and a lot of energy dedicated to Joe Biden.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: We're going to get Joe Biden out of the White House. What's he doing now? Greg, what's he doing?

You know, they took it away from him. They really did. They took it away. The guy had 14 million votes. She had none.

What do you like better? It doesn't matter anymore. But what do you like better, crooked Joe or sleepy Joe? Sleepy Joe, crooked Joe.

Joe is bad. Joe couldn't hear. He couldn't. He couldn't do anything.

We spent $100 million fighting crooked Joe Biden, and then all of a sudden, they decide to take him out and put somebody else in. She never got one vote.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: Well, even before his rambling press conference on Thursday and his rally in Montana, "The Wall Street Journal's" editorial board posed the question many Republicans are asking, will he lose another election?

They write: Mr. Trump seems to think he is still leading in the polls against a feeble incumbent. The former president doesn't seem to realize he is now in a close race that requires discipline and a consistent message to prevail.

My panel is with us -- with me now to discuss.

So, Susan, to start with you, you wrote about this after the press conference, and you just have to wonder, how much is Donald Trump miss running against Joe Biden?

GLASSER: Well, possibly more than anyone else in America, except for the former, except for the current president himself. You know, you've seen Donald Trump in every stage of anger and denial.

The other day, he even tried to claim that it was unconstitutional for Biden to no longer be the candidate against him. Not surprisingly, he can't cite any particular provision of the Constitution. That would be the case.

Donald Trump is running the race of Donald Trump, and you know, if "The Wall Street Journal" thinks that Donald Trump needs message, discipline and focus in order to win, well, then he's definitely not going to win, because Donald Trump, at 78, is the same candidate that he was in 2016 and 2020, except, you know, for eight years older and a lot angrier and more grievance-laden than he was even in those previous races. So what we've seen from him, it's not just the focus on Biden, which

is sort of odd and distracting. It's that his attacks on Harris have failed to land. He seems flailing all over the place, you know, throwing nasty nicknames up at the wall, not being able to come up with one.

His latest nasty nickname that he was using on social media. Even his own vice presidential running mate, J.D. Vance, said, no, I'm not going to use that. It's sort of unpronounceable.

[08:20:01]

I don't even know how to say this nickname for her.

But the point is what I saw this week from Harris and Walz was something that Biden wasn't able to do, especially in the final stages of the campaign. It's take the race directly to Donald Trump.

I think Democratic strategists and many Republican strategists believe if this election is a referendum on Donald Trump, well, then Donald Trump is going to lose. And so the more the focus is on him and the less that it's on either Harris or her running mate, the more that Democrats are going to feel confident going into the fall.

BROWN: Yeah, it was interesting, even when there was the example of when there were protesters at one of the Harris rallies, she stopped and said, if you want Donald Trump to win, then keep on doing what you're doing.

You know, it was just interesting the way you have seen that repeatedly, how the Harris campaign is making this a referendum on Donald Trump and the reality that Donald Trump is facing, Dave, is that he no longer has the wind at his back, right? The momentum is no longer with him like we saw right after the assassination attempt.

And yet he is reverting back to his old ways. You have to wonder, does he actually think this is going to help him? What is going on here?

WEIGEL: Well, he's done this sort of thing before. We know that in the summer of 2021, Trump was asking people if he thought these theories that he could be reinstated to office by challenging the election if they were real or not. So Trump can stick to something after it's effective.

And that's Republicans were happy. I talked to you this week about J.D. Vance. Even ones who liked him in the first place were annoyed by the rollout, he they were happy in particular because Vance pays attention to currents across the media potential vulnerabilities of opponent.

He really was trying as he followed Harris and Walz from city to city and coming up with a repeatable message based on something that reporters were chasing. This was the Walz guard service, and Trump wasn't really doing that.

Trump can't for some reasons he didn't serve, so he's less credible. But you could see how much more coherent the attacks from Vance were, even if they didn't land. They were directed at Harris, they were directed at Walz. There was a coherent this ticket is going to make the country worse argument.

And Trump doesn't do that. Trump rallies much less, I think in August 2016, he had 27 rallies throughout the month. He is not on track to do that.

So he does less in public and even the interviews he does, either they're less helpful, like the NABJ interview, or they're friendly interviews where they he just kind of gets back to his cul-de-sac of complaining.

BROWN: Right.

(CROSSTALK)

GLASSER: Well, I will say there's nowhere near the level of scrutiny on Donald Trump's age and fitness for office. And I find it actually it's kind of remarkable. We've seen something very unprecedented in American politics this last few weeks, which is a forcing out of an incumbent president by his own party over questions about his continued fitness for office.

I have not seen the same kind of drumbeat around Donald Trump's performance. You've heard this ridiculous spin this week from Republicans saying, oh, well, we need to talk about policy. When we talk about policy, Donald Trump's going to talk about policy.

Donald Trump is not going to talk about policy. He is not capable. His version of policy is to shout incoherent things about inflation or to say, to make crazy claims that are untrue about how he had the greatest economy in the history of the world.

And I think that that's where you see the energy from the Democrats is understanding that they now have the ability to cast in sharp relief this election as a question of, do you want this 78 year old guy who's for the third time running for Republicans to be the president of United States again?

It was Nikki Haley, I think, who said earlier this year the first party that gets rid of their 80 year old candidate is going to be the party that wins this fall. And I just I think that that's the focus that we now have in the election with Biden's exit.

WOOTSON: Well, I should say there is a degree of recalibration going on with Donald Trump. A lot of times, Donald Trump's rallies and even these press conferences are areas where he workshops arguments, he workshops attacks and all of that stuff.

And even the Democrats, even folks who are diehard Kamala Harris, understand that it's only a matter of time until one of these things, whether they be incoherent and not great now until one of these things sticks and seeps through, or there's some mistakes that she -- she makes or, or whatever. And so I do agree that there is a certain amount of randomness to it,

but I also think there's some experimentation going on that he's trying to figure out what is going to, you know, really hit with his base.

BROWN: But the reality is, as you point out, Dave, he has not been out there as much as we have seen in his past presidential campaigns. He only spoke twice publicly this past week.

But, Vance, on the other hand, as you pointed out, he's been dispatched to follow Harris in these swing states. And he's also been doing interviews. He sat down with CNN's Dana Bash for "STATE OF THE UNION", where she asked him about Tim Walz and Kamala Harris's campaign, calling him, quote, weird.

Let's listen to his response.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VANCE: So I think that what it is, is two people, Kamala Harris and Tim Walz, who aren't comfortable in their own skin because they aren't comfortable with their policy positions for the American people. And so they're name calling instead of actually telling the American people how they're going to make their lives better. I think that's weird, Dana, but look, they can call me whatever they want to.

DANA BASH, CNN HOST, "STATE OF THE UNION": They have done both. They have both policies and they are trying to define you as well.

[08:25:02]

I want to --

VANCE: No, no, if you go to Kamala Harris's campaign page right now, they still don't have a policy --

BASH: Well, let's talk about policy versus --

VANCE: -- policy positions about what they're going to do. I think that's really insulting to Americans.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: How is the Harris campaign looking at that?

WRIGHT: I don't -- I think that they're pretty dismissive of that argument. I think it's one thing to say that American voters don't know how the vice president would be as president, what her policies would be, but I think it is not very landing to say that Tim Walz, a governor of Minnesota who has a very clear track record as executive leadership, doesn't know who he is. I don't think that people are going to buy that.

I think it is a fair argument to say that they don't have their policies laid out. Now, I think their argument would be, look, we just started this campaign less than three weeks ago, but I think it's a fair argument. We, of course, heard her yesterday say that she's going to lay out her economic plan next week. It's going to be about how to tackle inflation, how to tackle, price, price gouging, high prices.

We expect that she's probably she's been talking a lot about immigration. She's probably going to go into other facets of the economy, foreign policy there, here and there. So I think that that is a fair argument. But I don't know if it's going to land with the American public that these two to these two politicians don't necessarily know who they are.

And I also think that they're, labeling him as weird has been effective. It has made its way across the Democratic Party. We even, I know I read that "New York Times" report where even Trump apparently said, you know, they're calling J.D. Vance weird. They're not calling me weird, right?

So I think it is seeping into the national, the national idea that J.D. Vance might be a little weird. And I think that that is to the credit of Tim Walz and to the credit of Democrats taking it up. But still, they're going to have to come out with policies, right? I do think that they -- that J.D. Vance makes a good point, and he's going to hammer away at that.

BROWN: Yeah. Until we learn more, right? I mean, and it is a fair point to make.

All right. Thank you all. Stay with us.

Up next, the Trump campaign gets hacked. Our legal and national security analyst will be here to break down the fallout.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:31:25]

PAMELA BROWN, CNN HOST: Developing overnight, the Trump campaign says it has been hacked in a foreign election interference attempt. The campaign confirmed the hack yesterday after "Politico" reported it received emails from an anonymous account with internal documents from the campaign's operation.

A Trump spokesperson said, quote, "These documents were obtained illegally from foreign sources hostile to the United States intended to interfere with the 2024 election and sow chaos throughout our democratic process."

Now, the Trump campaign is blaming Iran, but it hasn't provided specific evidence of the allegation and it's unclear whether Iran was actually involved. The Iranian mission to the United Nations said, it does quote, "not accord any credence to such reports." And the FBI told CNN, quote, "We have no further comment or information at this time."

Meanwhile, the White House says, it strongly condemns any attempts at foreign election interference.

Joining us now to discuss is CNN legal and national security analyst Carrie Cordero and Susan Glasser is still here with us as well.

So Carrie, just help lay out, what do we know so far? Or what kind of information may have been stolen.

CARRIE CORDERO, CNN LEGAL AND NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: Ok. So I think if we're trying to put the pieces together, what we've got is we have the Trump campaign saying that they were hacked. We have "Politico" saying that they received something from what looks to be a nefarious source.

And then there's a third piece. The third piece is this past week, Microsoft issued a new report that they summarized on their Microsoft blog, which said that Iran was targeting the 2024 election.

So when we take those three pieces together, what I'm gathering from that is that the Trump campaign is putting those together. Now the question that still is outstanding is whether or not the U.S. government has been communicating with the Trump campaign and has confirmed any of this information.

And on that front, I think at this point, it really would be helpful if the intelligence community would sort of put these pieces together so that the news organizations and the public have an accurate understanding of what the U.S. government's assessment is.

BROWN: Yes, a little more transparency would be helpful as we try to assess what's going on here.

But I mean, you know, if indeed this was a hack, right Susan, this would not be the first time something like this has happened in the presidential campaign, right?

Just go back to 2016, Russia hacked the DNC's emails and passed them along to WikiLeaks. Here's what Trump had said as a reminder about that during the campaign.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: Russia, if you're listening, I hope you're able to find the 30,000 emails that are missing. I think you will probably be rewarded mightily by our press.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: So what are the implications for the campaign if what's been hacked apparently gets out?

SUSAN GLASSER, STAFF WRITER, "THE NEW YORKER": Yes, it was interesting to hear that sort of very sanctimonious statement about the sanctity of the Democratic process from the Trump campaign now that it appears that the Trump campaign is being targeted.

The "Politico" report said that what they received specifically was a 270-something page dossier that appeared to be an internal vetting dossier of J.D. Vance as a vice-presidential candidate possibly for Donald Trump. And that it was dated some months ago. And the Trump campaign confirmed to "Politico" that that was an

accurate -- you know that that was a real document that they had received. So that's why there seems to be some real -- it's not just a generic statement about, you know, we've been hacked.

[08:34:47]

GLASSER: And that Microsoft report on Friday also described a specific incident that appear to match the description of this. They said that there was an effort essentially to -- spearfishing of a former senior Trump official -- campaign official --

BROWN: Earlier this summer, correct?

GLASSER: -- exactly. That seemed to be the chain of this particular document. Of course, we don't know did they obtain anything else? Was it the intention of this source whether Iran-backed or not to go ahead and dribble out the information as we saw in 2016 with the Russian hack of the DNC and the Clinton campaign.

So there's a lot of unanswered questions. But remember that Iran has been targeting Donald Trump and former officials from his administration for quite a long time.

There's still a lot of fury on Iran's part because Trump ordered the assassination in early 2020 of the IRGC leader Qassem Soleimani. And many Trump former officials, such as former secretary of state Mike Pompeo have been under consistent -- and John Bolton, the former national security adviser, they've had to have Secret Service protection for years because of ongoing threats from Iran to Trump officials.

BROWN: Right? And so it does bring up the question, what threat does Iran pose to this election? Not just Iran, but other foreign adversaries, right?

CORDERO: Right. So putting this in context of, you know, going back, you showed the clip from eight years ago. So this is not an isolated event by any stretch of the imagination.

We look at 20:16. There was substantial Russian interference. Then 2020 when the U.S. intelligence community was actually much more forward-leaning in terms of what they provided publicly. We knew that there were lower level of Russian attempts. There were Chinese sort of interest in the election and then there also were Iranian efforts to potentially interfere or what they're really trying to do is just create confusion, sow chaos.

And that's why it's so important for citizens to understand that when they are consuming information online we have not only sort of domestic misinformation, but we also have these foreign countries like Iran in particular, that is engaging in this activity trying to affect, influence the election.

One of the things that the Microsoft blog said is that one of the activities Iran is supposed to be doing, according to Microsoft is creating different Web sites, different sources of information online.

Some of them are right-leaning, some of them are left-leaning. Their goal is just to confuse and create chaos amongst the American -- American electorate.

BROWN: Yes. To undermine democracy, basically.

All right. Thank you all for that.

Up next, Donald Trump says he'll debate again this September up against his brand-new opponent after the first debate of 2024 changed the race and history.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: If we didn't have a debate, he'll still be there. Can you imagine? If we didn't have a debate? Why the hell did I debate him?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[08:37:36]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: After weeks of debate about whether to debate, Donald Trump announced this past week that he agreed to face Kamala Harris onstage this September. And both candidates began setting expectations.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: She can't do an interview. She's barely competent and she can't do an interview.

But I look forward to the debates because I think we have to set the record straight. And she was a bad debater by the way, very bad debater.

KAMALA HARRIS, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I'm glad that he's finally agreed to a debate on September 10. I'm looking forward to it. And hope he shows up.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: The only confirmed matchup will be on September 10th. Trump did mention two other potential debates as well: September 4th on Fox News, and September 25th on NBC.

Wow while the terms of those two are up in the air, the vice president says she's happy to have a conversation about other debates after the September 10th match-up.

So let's discuss. We have our panel back joining us. So all right, the debate has been agreed to. We know what each of these candidates look like on the debate stage because they've been there before. This is Trump's third cycle appearing on the debate stage.

Here are some of the most memorable moments.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: I really don't know what he says at the end of that sentence. I don't think he knows what he said either.

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: -- to condemn Proud Boys. --

(CROSSTALKING)

TRUMP: Proud boys, stand back and stand by.

HILLARY CLINTON, FORMER U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: It's just awfully good that someone with the temperament of Donald Trump is not in charge of the law in our country.

TRUMP: Because you'd be in jail.

Such a nasty woman.

CLINTON: The Social Security trust fund.

SEN. TED CRUZ (R-TX): Donald, Donald, relax.

TRUMP: Go ahead. I'm relaxed. (INAUDIBLE)

Don't worry about it. Don't worry about it Little Marco.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Gentlemen.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: All right.

So I want to bring you in, Susan, because you were just talking earlier in the last panel about Donald Trump and how you see him rambling more and that you know, he's a different candidate now than when he was in 2016 and even 2020. What would you expect from him on the debate stage?

GLASSER: Yes, you saw that clip -- that last clip you just played there in 2016. You know, he really looks not just younger, but he was -- he was much more sharp, I think in his ability.

Now, the test for him will be can he even put together, you know, a clear case against Harris. if you look at that debate with Joe Biden, you can say that was already the most consequential debate in American history in the sense that it resulted in the exit of a candidate, the Democratic candidate.

But what's very interesting is that Trump really didn't win that debate as much as Biden lost it. He did not, you know, land any very significant attacks. And so that's one thing to watch for.

[08:44:49] GLASSER: The other thing for Harris though is this expectations game. She's been really built up as the prosecutor who's going to prosecute the case against Donald Trump.

So in some ways, because she's so much younger, because she's perceived as sharper, because she has this background as a prosecutor, I think there's going to be a lot of pressure on her. She's going to go into it potentially even as the favorite.

And so I think that that's something that her campaign is going to have to work to tamp down the expectations going into that discussion.

DAVID WEIGEL, SEMAFOR NATIONAL POLITICAL REPORTER: She's been built up, but I think by people who cover her as a good debater. With Donald Trump, as you heard, and with conservative media and Republicans, she is seen as a lightweight who cannot debate her way out of anything.

JASMINE WRIGHT, NOTUS 2024 reporter: She's incompetent. All the words that they've said.

WEIGEL: She has been memed for four years from her worst moments, from clips where she sort of loses her place, or overexplained something.

And so they're in their traditional expectation setting around Harris. They're already, Trump can't help himself. Vance, can't even help himself really. He talks about her being a chameleon.

There already setting her up to succeed by not being as bad as the absolute worst TikTok you've ever seen of Kamala Harris.

BROWN: Yes. And actually, let's play some of those big debate moments from Kamala Harris against Mike Pence and the infamous fly during the Democratic primary, even back to her run for Senate. Let's watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HARRIS: Mr. Vice President, I'm speaking.

MIKE PENCE, FORMER VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I have to weigh in.

HARRIS: I'm speaking.

We have a predator living in the White House.

You know there was a little girl in California who was part of the second-class to integrate her public schools and she was bused to school every day. And that little girl was me.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You have a minute and a half?

You have a minute and a half, Miss Harris.

HARRIS: So there's a clear difference between the candidates in this race.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: Cleve, what are you expecting.

CLEVE WOOTSON, WHITE HOUSE REPORTER, "WASHINGTON POST: A couple of things. One, I think she needs to get some reps in. Like I think that there is -- there's this sort of sugar-high momentum moment where she hasn't actually been in front of crowds without a teleprompter.

And for a lot of politicians, even at the top of their game, it's about, you know, are you taking questions that you don't know that are coming? Are you dealing with attacks? Are you carrying (ph)?

I think that she, you know, has a very good reputation as someone who can take it to Trump. She's taken it to Trumps officials. That's how she ascended in politics.

But I think that there are also some questions about how he's going to deal with those questions coming at her, you know.

BROWN: Yes.

WOOTSON: And she's tried to label Donald Trump as chaotic and as weird. If he's controlled, if he's able to sort of keep it under wraps and keep it under control and all that stuff that may be very, very hard to do.

BROWN: That's a big if right there.

WRIGHT: I think we just have to lay the land here, right the vice president is not going to do a debate September 4 for Fox News. Let's just be very honest here.

I mean, this is a crazy time politics. Anything can happen, but I would be insanely shocked to see that happen. I think we're going to see her on September 10, whether or not the former president is there. That's up for debate. But I think that well see her at ABC stage on September 10.

I think Cleve is his right. I think that she needs to get back into the mode of trading jabs, trading questions with the press really being on her foot, really -- really thinking in the moment.

But the vice president is somebody who preps really well for these types of debates. She preps in advance. She already started to prepping for her debate with J.D. Vance before President Biden dropped from the ticket.

She is now back in prep mode for now, her being at the top of the ticket versus Trump. I think that's going to continue throughout the month of August.

Really try to make sure that she's prepared. Really try to make sure that she's able to show a contrast in a way that President Biden wasn't able to do at his debate.

So I think they're taking this very seriously. And I think that they're going to try to get those reps in and house in those prep sessions potentially, maybe she'll sit for an interview potentially.

I think we're going to continue you see her taking more questions on the tarmac with a point of trying to get back into the flow of tit for tat, tit for tat.

But I think you're right, Cleve. I think that she does have to get into a moment where she feels like she's on her feet thinking in real time, answering questions that are serious. But also she should be prepping those one-liner. I think we're going to hear "I am speaking" multiple times.

WOOTSON: Time's up if you are speaking but --

WRIGHT: Exactly.

(CROSSTALKING)

BROWN: By the way, depending on the debate rules we'll see if she has to say "I'm speaking".

WRIGHT: That's true.

WOOTSON: Also important to point out that she's never debated Donald Trump, you know. And that's just --

(CROSSTALKING)

BROWN: But you do have to wonder if there would be a more comparable foe for her on the debate stage than a J.D. Vance.

WRIGHT: She likes being put in those positions.

WEIGEL: Yes, it could go either.

WRIGHT: She likes going on the attack, right? She likes being able to be that prosecutor.

(CROSSTALKING)

GLASSER: Yes, I do. I think that if she can get into that prosecutor mode, it could be very effective for her.

[08:49:49]

GLASSER: But you know, it depends on the rules and how much there enforced, you know, whether Trump is interrupting her every minute or not.

In some ways, the rules worked against Joe Biden in that first debate that he had. So you know, I think we'll see. But Harris has a tendency to over prepare too, so you know. I don't know.

BROWN: Over prepare. That was the thing that some of Biden's allies said he was overprepared.

All right. Really interesting. We will have to wait and see for this debate if it actually happens. You all think it will happen. So we're looking forward to September.

Up next, making history. The reason Kamala Harris' VP pick could lead to another big first for the United States.

[08:50:27]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: Well, Harris wouldn't be the only woman to make history if she wins the election in November. Peggy Flanagan, the current lieutenant governor of Minnesota, could become the nation's first Native American governor.

Under the Minnesota Constitution, Flanagan would automatically be elevated to the job if Harris won the White House and Tim Walz became vice president.

According to her bio, Flanagan is currently the highest-ranking indigenous woman serving in statewide elected office. Since she was elected in 2018, she established the first office to reduce and end violence against indigenous people in the state. And in addition to making history for indigenous people, Flanagan would also become the first female governor in Minnesota.

Well, that's it for INSIDE POLITICS SUNDAY.

Up next "STATE OF THE UNION WITH JAKE TAPPER AND DANA BASH". Dana's guests include Republican vice-presidential nominee J.D. Vance, former South Bend mayor Pete Buttigieg, and Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders.

Thanks again for sharing your Sunday morning with us. We're going to see you next time.

[08:56:12]

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