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Inside Politics

Today: Harris And Walz Kick Off Georgia Bus Tour; Poll: Harris Cuts Into Trump's Lead On The Economy; Trump: "I Would Win California" With An "Honest Vote Counter"; CNN Obtains Dramatic New Video Of Pelosi On Jan. 6, 2021; Special Counsel Files Reworked Jan. 6 Indictment Against Trump; Tomorrow: Dana Bash Interviews VP Harris & Gov. Walz. Aired 12-12:30p ET

Aired August 28, 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]

MANU RAJU, CNN HOST: Today on INSIDE POLITICS, Georgia on my mind. Kamala Harris making her first public appearance after last week's convention. Kicking off a bus tour with Tim Walz, in a place that Joe Biden was struggling to keep on the map. We'll tell you why they're making a push all over the Peach State.

Plus, he's got to pay a price. That's what Nancy Pelosi said about Donald Trump, as she was evacuating the Capitol while rioters stormed the building. It's part of brand-new video from January 6, you'll see only on CNN. And don't leave a blank space on your ballot. Democratic Swifties are trying to get out the vote for Vice President Harris. But the question they can't shake off will miss Americana herself get on board.

I'm Manu Raju. Let's go behind the headlines at Inside Politics.

We start with Kamala Harris and Tim Walz, taking the afternoon bus through Georgia. Their first joint campaign swing since becoming the official nominees. The vice president and her running mate, think they'll put the pivotal state of Georgia back in play after Democrats began writing it off when Joe Biden was at the top of the ticket.

Harris is flying into Savannah this afternoon, and she and walls will make stops today in southern Georgia, far from deep blue cities like Atlanta. And tomorrow night, Harris will hold a big rally in Savannah. But first, she and Tim Walz will sit down with Dana Bash for an exclusive interview, her first in months and her in Walz's first joint interview. And before heading to Georgia, Walz took the campaign's message to Boston for a convention of firefighters.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. TIM WALZ (D-MN), 2024 VICE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We know exactly who built this country. It's people like the folks in this room. Words are cheap, actions is all you should care about. Make sure you're counting on what was delivered. When Donald Trump was president, he blocked overtime benefits for millions of workers. He opposed efforts to raise the minimum wage, and he even proposed slashing budgets for federal fire service programs. Those are just simply facts.

But look, it's not just what they've done, it's what they're going to do. This is the big thing. One of the goals of their Project 2025 is to screw the middle class. Look, I've said this, I'm an all-time football coach. If you draw up a playbook, you plan on using it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

RAJU: I'm here at the table with some great reporters to break this all down with me, CNN's Kayla Tausche, Bloomberg and CNN's Nia-Malika Henderson, and Semafor's Dave Weigel. Good to see all of you. Thanks for coming in, of course.

So, Kayla, you've been doing a lot of reporting. You cover the White House, of course, and the Harris campaign. What are you learning about this strategy to really make this their first big post-convention push to focus on Georgia?

KAYLA TAUSCHE, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, it's a little bit of a barbell strategy. It's been described as a rural bus tour through Georgia. But remember, Savannah has a population of 150,000 people, so she's trying to have her cake and eat it too. Hit Savannah and then go across the southern part of the state of Georgia, because narrowing the margins in rural counties is paramount for this campaign. It's borrowing from the Biden playbook from 2020.

That's one of the ways that he was able to win states like Georgia and win some of those blue wall states as well. And there have long been democratic ad buyers who have had entire strategies built around, perhaps not winning some of these rural counties, but just narrowing the margin enough to try to tip those scales. And it's played out for Harris personally, behind the scenes too.

I'm told by some Harris aides that early on in the Biden administration, when they were discussing potential personnel appointments, that she raised some objections to the appointment of Tom Vilsack at the agriculture department because he'd already done the job for eight years. And she said, it's voters in rural America, in the south, especially farmers of color who helped deliver some of those states for Biden.

Biden eventually won out with that argument, saying this massive, sprawling agency is operating remotely with a massive budget, we need someone who knows the building inside and out. So obviously, Vilsack has been there. But she feels very strongly about the importance of voters in the American south, specifically those rural voters enrolled voters of color.

RAJU: Yeah. You know, that's a great point, because he is -- as, you know, Democrats have struggled with rural America, particularly in white rural areas. But in the black rural communities, as Kayla is talking about here, that that is the focus here, winning those black rural counties, and stemming their losses in the white dominated rural counties.

[12:05:00] NIA-MALIKA HENDERSON, POLITICS & POLICY COLUMNIST, BLOOMBERG & CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Yeah. Listen, I am from the black rural south, a very small town in South Carolina. This is also part of the Stacey Abrams strategy, right? She is somebody who would go to those rural counties as well and try to swell the ranks of the black southerners in those rural counties. And then, you know, maybe attract some of these rural white -- white southerners as well.

I think somebody like Tim Walz can connect particularly with those white southerners in those rural small towns. He's sort of from a small town in Nebraska. So, I think his story will play well there. You know, she's got the personnel to do it.

Not only as Tim Walz, but with Clinton (Ph) folks who was there, who kind of perfected this strategy with Raphael Warnock in those small towns too. So, it's very smart, Georgia, obviously, very much in play. It wasn't in play under Biden. Even though he was nearly able to win in 2020. They're trying to replicate what he was able to do.

RAJU: And this is what he was able to do in 2020. If you look at the how the state ultimately broke down Trump versus Biden. Biden ran up the score in urban parts of the state. 35 points he won the state. According to exit polls in Georgia from 2020, Trump did win suburban Georgia, but not by as much as he needed to there.

In rural America, he won by 39 points. The Georgia 2016 exit polls had Clinton winning more of the urban areas, but Trump winning, you know, about the same the Trump era in the rural areas. Trump doing better in the suburbs when Clinton was on the map. But this is similar to the other state strategy, right? Like they want to do better, run up the score in big cities like Philadelphia or Detroit and not do as bad in places where they've traditionally struggled.

DAVE WEIGEL, POLITICS REPORTER, SEMAFOR: They do, and they also by being there, can draw attention to changes to voting laws that Republicans have made since the 2020 election -- since 2022. Raphael Warnock got reelected after some of those changes. But you've seen lower-level media attention to way is that -- which Republicans empowered election deniers, people who didn't want 2020 to be to be affirmed and to be sent to the Electoral College that they have more power in the system now.

So, there are a lot of interlocking messages the Harris campaign gets into by going to Georgia. I mean, they wanted to go here in the first tour got canceled because of weather. But they also back up a step -- a step to, Donald Trump has not had in 2016 or 2020 to run against a Democratic campaign that had enthusiasm, kind of everywhere.

Hillary Clinton could not go to rural Georgia and get a big crowd. Couldn't go a lot of places get a big crowd. Joe Biden couldn't try because of COVID. He was going to big cities for car rallies, and that was it. So, this is -- their opening a front that Donald Trump has not had to compete with before ever in three runs for president too.

HENDERSON: And of course, now he's feuding with the very popular Republican governor, right? WEIGEL: Especially for now.

HENDERSON: We'll see what that means on the Brian Kemp side, and he's got that place wired a real, a great ground game there. You've heard people like Lindsey Graham basically say, come on, Donald Trump --

RAJU: Let's focus on the person who're running against, not the person with same party who's not running against you, certainly not right now. Just to button up the Georgia discussion in terms of just a viewer see, the amount of money that's been spent on the airways in Georgia since Biden withdrew from the race.

$34 million for Republicans just in the past five weeks or so. 24 million for Democrats. But there has been some polling that has been taken since the Democratic convention last week. The first really that we've seen, we expect a wave of more polling to get a sense of where this race is right now.

The question about the economy, of course, central to this election, central to pretty much every single election. Trump was winning in the aftermath of the RNC. Trump versus Harris in late July, up by 11, three points now, according to the Reuters/Ipsos poll -- Reuters/Ipsos poll. So, we'll see if that stays -- if that goes in Harris's direction, or if it comes back to the 11-point Trump advantage in a couple of weeks.

TAUSCHE: Yeah. I spoke to some Democratic pollsters and strategists this morning about that very poll, and they were extremely enthusiastic about it, not because of the plus three print that you just showed, which is still within the margin of error, but because of the direction. And because of the fact that this is not only after the Democratic National Convention, but also after Harris released the first pillar, of sorts, of her economic and policy plans.

We expect more to come, including how she's going to be raising taxes to pay for much of that. But they see those numbers as moving in the right direction for them. They think that she's really just going to be able to build on that, and that shows really the enthusiasm that people talk about amorphously, but that's the manifestation of it on the ground --

RAJU: And of course, the question is going to be if she can maintain that as she answers tough questions, including from Dana Bash tomorrow night and the big CNN first interview. Of course, you all be watching it. We'll be watching it. But then what about Trump? And what has Trump been doing? What he's been saying? Well, he went on Dr. Phil's show yesterday and he was asked about a variety of things. And he talked about how he thought that he won Florida last -- California last time. It's interesting.

[12:10:00]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT AND 2024 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: If we had an honest vote counter, I would win California. PHIL MCGRAW, AMERICAN TELEVISION PERSONALITY: You think so?

TRUMP: Oh, I think so. I do. I could see it. I go around California. They have Trump signs all over the place. Look, France had mail-in ballots. They went away from them because people were cheating. Any time you have a mail-in ballot, there's going to be massive fraud. What we have to do is, get control, and then we have to change it. And it's a very simple change, same day voting.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

RAJU: OK, beyond the fact that he did not win California. About the strategy of criticizing the same day mail -- criticizing mail-in voting. When he did that last time, and Democrats went off the score in mail-in voting. And then this time Republicans did -- Trump trying to change his tune, and say, OK, you can mail-in your ballot. Everything is fine. Now he's back to what he said before. And that's probably if you're a Republican strategist, not what you want your nominee to be saying.

WEIGEL: Yeah. This is -- being at Georgia, I remember Ronna McDaniel going down to the campaign office during the runoff and getting heckled by people who thought this. This is deep in the firmament of Republican thinking. The Trump campaign is paying strategist to get mail ballots turned out in these states -- in every swing state. But he keeps under the mind the message.

I think that interview with Dr. Phil, though, is also part of this other thing the Trump campaign is doing every day, hammering home the message that Harris is not doing enough interviews. Trump is doing a ton, but they're usually with people who are asking him -- I wouldn't say, friendly softball questions, but getting in his comfort zone.

And in his comfort zone, he veers wildly off message back to things that they don't want to be talking about. Every organizer trying to get people in central Pennsylvania attorney mail-in ballots, smack their head again, a very well worm part of their head -- every week when he says this.

TAUSCHE: Trump veering, off course, at a time when the party is trying very, very hard and strategically to ensconce their position on how they want -- people who want to vote for their candidate. They vote any way they possibly can, and even getting Trump to film a recorded message for his supporters and acknowledging that some people simply can't make it to the ballots on election day, that early voting mail- in voting is OK, he said.

RAJU: Trump saying, our message or not saying a message, yeah, kind of the story of the Trump --

(CROSSTALK)

RAJU: All right, coming up. Nancy Pelosi, she unleashes on Donald Trump.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) RES. NANCY PELOSI (D-CA): There's a domestic enemy in the White House. And let's not mince words about this.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

RAJU: More of that, never before seen video from right after the insurrection. That's next,

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[12:15:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PELOSI: I do not appreciate this. I don't support this -- I'm leaving the Capitol like this. We cannot let them disrupt what we've doing.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

RAJU: You're looking at new footage of Nancy Pelosi evacuating the Capitol on January 6, as rioters stormed the building. And this was filled by the former speaker's daughter, Alexandra Pelosi, as part of an HBO documentary. Then turned over to Congress and obtained by CNN. It reveals something we have not seen before. Pelosi's unfiltered reaction to the violence and chaos of that horrific day.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: How many times did the members ask, are you prepared? Are we prepared?

PELOSI: We're not prepared for the worst. We're calling the National Guard now. It should've been here to start out. I just don't understand it.

We did not have any accountability for what was going on there and we should have. This is ridiculous. Why weren't the National Guard there to begin with? They thought that they had sufficient resources. It's not a question of how they had. They don't know.

They clearly didn't know, and I take responsibility for not having them, just prepare for more. Because it's stupid that should be in a situation because they thought they had what. They thought these people would act civilized. They thought these people gave a damn shame on us.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

RAJU: And here's what Pelosi said hours later as she left the Capitol in the early morning of January 7, when the insurrection was over, and the 2020 election results were finally certified.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You're done with Donald Trump. How does it feel?

PELOSI: I just feel sick what he did to the Capitol and to the country today. He's got to pay a price for that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

RAJU: My panel is back. I mean, it is pretty remarkable to see the -- all this new footage come out. You know, what, that were for how many years? About three plus years since January 6, 2021, and we're still learning new details about what happened that day.

HENDERSON: And it's a reminder of how afraid people were that day and how people didn't know what to expect. And they were running through the halls, including some Republicans who have in the intervening years, tried to downplay it, basically, sort of say that this was just a bunch of tourists gone wild and not an insurrection and attempt to overthrow this election.

[12:20:00]

So, you know, listen, it's never a good day for Donald Trump when footage like this comes out because it just takes you back to that moment. There you have Nancy Pelosi, who is running through the halls and nervous about what is happening. And from what we know from testimony, Donald Trump was kind of watching it unfold on TV.

TAUSCHE: But it's hard to know exactly, what if any needle this footage would move for the American people in a way that after three and a half years a series of prime-time hearings, indictments and forceful rebukes, even from members of the president's own party on that very day, failed to do in the aftermath.

And so, it's interesting to see Pelosi viscerally reacting to the events that took place, but she was angry then, she was angry now. Democrats tried to leverage this into their messaging for the last three years and it simply didn't resonate. I mean, Biden leaned very heavily into some of the darkest imagery from that day, and American people wanted to vote on other issues.

RAJU: Yeah. And Harris has not been. She's been speaking about January 6, sir, it was an issue at the convention last week, but perhaps not as much as Biden, who said that his election was about democracy -- saving democracy. That has really not been the theme so much for the Harris campaign so far.

WEIGEL: No, she hasn't. She hasn't played up this the way that Biden did. She's reframed the argument from democracy to freedom, which comes from Democratic focus groups and some of their gut. I think she has folded it, though, into a larger argument against Trump. The Trump -- when Trump is everything is clicking, like good nights the RNC.

The argument is that everything was going better for people in 2020, up through -- up until the pandemic. And he can snap his fingers, lower prices, bring peace the middle east. He's going to make things normal again. That is party news. He doesn't say it every day. And every time January 6 comes up, something related COVID comes up, there's some other distraction. It does cut against that. That is what Democrats want.

They want you -- he only talks about the RFK endorsement. They want you to think not of Trump as a calming force, but as somebody who represents chaos that only they can turn the page from. And this works with that.

RAJU: Yeah. In meantime, other January, 6 news, just yesterday, the Special Counsel Jack Smith filing a new indictment, superseding indictment, responding to that Supreme Court decision, saying the president enact in office during taking official act. Does have immunity.

This is the, of course, the charges, just to remind viewers that the former president is still facing in federal court, including conspiracy to defraud the United States, three other charges, well, including obstruction to present an official Christine that, of course, being the certification of Congress.

Trump, of course, trying to fundraise off of this. He's saying what he has been saying for most of the time about him being -- this being weaponized against him. He blamed Kamala Harris for going after him. Of course, Harris is not controlled what Jack Smith does. But nevertheless, that is Trump's effort here.

What is interesting, though, is the Harris campaign really has not said much, if anything really about this new indictment. You would think in a normal political environment, your opponent gets -- they get some criminal charges. That becomes a big issue. It is not so much.

TAUSCHE: I think they want to stay in their lane. I think they have their candidate out on the road doing something that's incredibly important for their own message, and they want to keep their eye on that ball. When it comes to Trump in these indictments and the fundraising, it is very clear that every single time these indictments come out, or the convictions or the trials come out, it provides new fundraising firepower for him.

The night of his conviction and the hush money trial, he raised $40 million from a slew of Wall Street investors on that very night. And that even led a never Trump Republican, Mitt Romney to suggest that maybe Biden should have actually pardoned Trump to take some of that oxygen away from what he's been able to do. But though, the White House wouldn't touch that suggestion with a 10-foot pole, but you know, it has provided him some real money.

RAJU: It's interesting. Does it make sense politically for the Harris campaign, not to make this an issue to the fact that, it's kind of Biden did, as Kayla was saying that didn't want to really touch any of his criminal cases here, not wanting to really get in and say much about this. Does that make sense politically?

HENDERSON: Well, you know, she does get at it, right? I mean, this whole idea of her being a prosecutor, him being a felon. She has that whole riff at the beginning of what had been her stump speech about, she knows people like Donald Trump, who are fraudulent criminals, essentially. And so, I think that's kind of baked into her message. They don't hit it as much as some people, quite frankly, want her to.

But I think she certainly has surrogates who go here. And listen, Trump is going to Trump, and he is going to sort of be his own message around this. He is connected to January 6. He is connected to trying to overthrow a free and fair election. And you don't need to necessarily argue that point.

RAJU: It is baked in a lot among -- a lot of the voters. And what will she say tomorrow? When a huge moment comes for the Harris campaign, when our very own Dana Bash is down with Kamala Harris and Tim Walz for the first in depth interview since catapulting to the top of the Democratic ticket. We'll tell you what to expect, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[12:25:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

RAJU: Hello. A CNN exclusive, our own Dana Bash will sit down with Vice President Kamala Harris and her running mate, Governor Tim Walz, for their first joint interview. It's a high stakes moment for the Harris campaign, her first sit down with a journalist since replacing Joe Biden at the top of the ticket.

And joining me now to discuss, Republican strategist Shermichael Singleton, and Jamal Simmons, who previously served as communications director for VP Harris. Thank you both for joining me.

Jamal, I want to start with you, because you used to work for the vice president. What would be your advice for her at this key moment? Obviously, whatever she says, is this going to make a ton of new. She has not done this type of sit down the answer is becoming a candidate. You're in the room, what would you be telling?