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New Senate Report Reveals Secret Service Failures Around First Donald Trump Assassination Attempt; New CNN Poll Shows Harris Leads Among Voters Under 35 by 12 Points, Trump Has a 9-point Lead With Men. Aired 12:30-1p ET

Aired September 25, 2024 - 12:30   ET

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

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DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT AND ANCHOR OF 'INSIDE POLITICS': A new Senate report reveals stunning failures from the secret service around the attempted assassination of Donald Trump at a Pennsylvania rally in July. The report comes as CNN spoke with nearly a dozen current and former secret service agents who described an alarming level of dysfunction within the agency.

Joining me now is CNN National Security Reporter, Zachary Cohen and CNN Senior White House Producer, Betsy Klein, who has an eye-opening new piece on cnn.com about what's really going on inside the secret service right now.

Zach, I want to start with you on this bipartisan report.

ZACHARY COHEN, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY REPORTER: Yeah. Lawmakers are saying that this report outlines what is the perfect storm of security failures and there's bipartisan agreement that those failures were calls predominantly by incompetence on behalf of the -- on the part of the U.S. secret service. And they're saying that a lot of these failures were ultimately preventable and have not been resolved in the months since the assassination attempt occurred.

And look, one of the biggest and most shocking revelations in here, according to lawmakers, is that nobody that they interviewed from the U.S. secret service or local police law enforcement could tell them who was actually in charge --

BASH: Wow.

COHEN: -- of security and implementing a security plan at Donald Trump's July 13 rally. Take a listen to what Senator Gary Peters -- obviously, he is the chairman of the committee that put this report together -- what he said when they asked that simple question to these witnesses.

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SEN. GARY PETERS, (D-MI) CHAIRMAN, HOMELAND SECURITY COMMITTEE: We could not find one point of contact who said this is the person in charge of making sure the plan was adequate and making sure there were supervision that it was being implemented properly. So, we found a lot of finger-pointing of saying, well, it was a collaborative plan. Many people worked on it, but no one individual. We had local law enforcement saying they weren't being told. We had secret service saying they were telling them. It was clearly not what you would expect to see when it comes to securing a principal like the former president.

COHEN: So, the consequence of that was really several balls were dropped, right in, specific lapses happened and includes a failure to set up a visual barricade that would have blocked a clear line of sight to the president when he was on the rally stage. They lacked a plan to secure that building that the shooter ultimately climbed on the roof of and fired those shots at the former president.

And then there's also ineffective communication, radios were not working, people forgetting to pick up their radios that would have allowed them to hear warnings about a suspicious person prior to the shooting. There was also a breakdown in intelligence sharing before the rally happened. And specifically this relates to that threat from Iran.

BASH: Right.

COHEN: We know Iran wants to and has said it wants to assassinate Donald Trump. There was credible and clear intelligence passed along to the secret service before the rally on July 13 about that threat. There were some additional security assets provided, but not the entire presidential-level package that the acting director says that Trump now receives. So, there are some questions as to why more assets weren't provided given that heightened threat level there.

And then of course, there was the unclear chain of command and inadequate surveillance resources. The surveillance resources couple along with that entire package that Trump didn't get until after the rally. So ,ultimately look, you have lawmakers, Republicans Rand Paul, Democrats like Senator Blumenthal, all agreeing that something has to change at the service and Senator Blumenthal said very clearly today that he thinks that those changes have to happen that the top of the secret service leadership.

BASH: Yeah. Well, obviously, the person who was in charge of the secret service then is no longer there. Now, you have an acting. And Betsy, you cover the White House. I covered the White House years ago. It's not just the president who relies on the secret service and their talents and remarkable dedication. It's people who work for the president. It's the press who covers the White House.

And yet, they are historically very -- I mean, they follow the rules and they're very, very cautious about speaking out. It takes a lot for them to want to speak out about frustrations internally and your new reporting reveals that -- reveals a lot because they are speaking out.

[12:35:00] BETSY KLEIN, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE PRODUCER: Exactly. I mean, this is a notoriously tight-lipped agency. People don't want to talk about exactly what you just laid out and yet, now they are talking. And one former agent I spoke with, he suggested that the assassination attempts on Former President Trump really are symptomatic of a deeper- rooted problem at the agency. And they also just underscore the strain that this really unprecedented threat environment and the high- intensity, high-stress workplace has really placed on these agents.

And just talking to our sources, current and former agents, we are getting of a picture of this agency with low morale, burnout, staffing and retention issues, and also poor management. And just to walk you through a little bit of that on staffing, the Former Director Kimberly Cheatle, she said that they need 9,500 employees at the secret service. Right now, they have about 8,100. So there are some gaps there and they're having a hard time keeping the agents they do have. There are retirement -- retention issues, attrition is a huge problem.

Just think about the long hours, the enormous amount of travel, little work-life balance, and a lot of frustration with management. And then another issue that consistently comes up is pay caps. A lot of these senior agents are subjected to a federally-mandated pay cap, so they are working overtime and once they hit that cap, they're working without pay.

BASH: Well, you would think that would be one of the things that they would change because, obviously, everybody is working over this threat environment. Thank you so much to both of you for that great reporting. Nice to see you both here.

Coming up, cue the memes and TikTok videos, a new CNN poll shows Kamala Harris with a commanding lead among under-35 voters. But is it enough to put her over the edge in November? CNN's Harry Enten is crunching the numbers, there he is at the magic wall, the bearded Harry Enten, don't go anywhere.

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BASH: Brand new CNN polling out today shows Vice President Harris leading with voters under the age of 35. Her problem is, she's not winning them by the same margins as Joe Biden did in 2020. And I want to go straight to CNN's Harry Enten at the wall to break it all down. Harry, what are we learning?

HARRY ENTEN, CNN SENIOR DATA REPORTER: What are we learning? You know, you were mentioning that younger voters under the age of 35. All right, let's take a look here. This is the Harris versus Trump margin. Voters under the age of 35, what have we got? We got Kamala Harris up by 12 points. Now, if we thin ourselves down a little bit, let's go under the age of 30. What do we have? We have an even larger lead for Kamala Harris. She's up by 17 points. But I think it's really important, Dana, to put this in a historical perspective as well as a perspective of what the other polls are showing. So let's do that right here.

Let's take a look. All right. Democrat versus Trump, under the age of 30, if you go back to September of 2020, look at this lead that Joe Biden had. He had a 28 point advantage, but Joe Biden was really struggling among younger voters when he dropped out of the race in July. Look at this, he was only up by seven. Now, look at the average right now, this includes our CNN poll, which is actually very close to the average, includes some other polls as well. What do we have? We have Kamala Harris up by 18 points. So she's doing significantly better than Joe Biden was when he dropped out of the race, but ten points worse than he was doing back at this point in the 2020 cycle. So it's sort of a half empty, half full type of glass if you're kind of looking at it.

But let's dig down a little bit deeper. OK, let's go into those swing states and I want to look at what I think is one of the most interesting nuggets. This is not from our CNN poll. This is from The New York Times/Siena College, but I really think it gives you an indication that voters under the age of 30 are not a monolith (ph). Let's look at men voters, and let's look at female voters, women voters. Look at this, among women voters, look at this lead for Kamala Harris in the key swing states for voters under the age of 30, a 38 point advantage.

Male voters, men voters, Donald Trump was actually leading them by ten points. That is a 48 point gender gap, woof -- but of course, are these voters going to actually turn out and vote? Extremely motivated to vote in the 2024 election? Overall voters, look at this, 64 percent for voters under the age of 30, it's just 49 percent. I think the key question isn't just who they're going to vote for, it's whether they'll turn out and vote.

BASH: Yeah.

ENTEN: Oftentimes, younger voters are less likely to turn out and vote, and I think this year is going to be quite similar to that.

BASH: Yeah. I mean, so fascinating. Also, I have to do a correction. I said something about your beard because the last time I saw you on TV, you had a beard and I can't really see the monitor that well from here.

ENTEN: It's a stubble. It's a stubble.

BASH: But, you did have a beard and you shaved it?

ENTEN: My girlfriend got to me.

BASH: So, maybe you are not part of the manosphere? What you are about to talk to?

ENTEN: Maybe not.

BASH: OK, that's OK.

ENTEN: You know, I have my own entity. It's OK. BASH: You are -- you are in the Entenosphere.

ENTEN: There we go.

(LAUGH)

BASH: Thank you, Harry. I appreciate that.

ENTEN: Thank you.

BASH: We are going to talk about the manosphere. What am I talking about? Well, Donald Trump, as we just heard from Harry, leads Kamala Harris by nine points with men, according to CNN's new national poll. But groups like 'White Dudes for Harris' are trying to narrow that gap.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We are all pretty sick of hearing how much we suck. Every time you go on line, it's the same story. We are the problem. And yeah, some white dudes are. So, I've been doing my own research and decided to check out Kamala Harris and Tim Walz. And before you jump down my throat, they're actually talking to guys like us. No lectures, no BS, just real solutions to protect our freedoms and help us take care of the people who matter.

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BASH: New polling from the Democratic research group, BluePrint, looked at the top issues for male voters and how Harris can win them over.

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Joining me now is the lead pollster for BluePrint and founding partner of Slingshot Strategies, Evan Roth Smith. Smith, nice to see you again. Can you explain what you mean when you talk about the manosphere?

EVAN ROTH SMITH, FOUNDING PARTNER, SLINGSHOT STRATEGIES: So, the manosphere is this collection of individuals, YouTubers, podcasters, but also an issue set that plays at some of the insecurities, grievances that men, some men, and it turns out not all that many men have today. And they receive a lot of attention as part of why we see these gender splits, why young men look so different than young women when it comes to their ideology and their partisan attitudes.

But on things like political correctness and transgender issues which are part of it, which is why Donald Trump is running an ad on that, the role of men and women in society, we find all of those really pale in comparison. The manosphere is not that important compared to real bread and butter issues. We call them meat and potato issues when we are talking about male voters.

On the economy, on prices, on health care, on social security and Medicare, it turns out men are not too far gone and most of them care about normal economic things and their dissatisfaction with the Democratic Party on some those economic things. And so it's driving partisan behavior, not crazy retrograde beliefs about women and the state of --

BASH: Right. It's economy versus culture wars, which is sort of an old-fashioned way to say it. I'm just going to read a little bit about what you wrote. Harris' vulnerabilities among men are on immigration, the economy, inflation, national security and taxes. However, men trust her more than Former President Donald Trump on transgender issues and abortion, suggesting that a message focusing on foundational political issues rather than what engaging with the latest male-dominated debates, would be most effective in winning them over. It seems like that's kind of what they're trying to do.

SMITH: I think it is. And it's a little counterintuitive if you read some of these things about what's going on with men and what men might be concerned about or some of these scarier trends that we see in online communities. But yeah, it's, it's the bread and butter issues, and Harris has a message to give to men.

BASH: Well -- so, on that, she's going to give a speech this afternoon. Her campaign is building it as a big one because they understand that the economy is a big vulnerability. And obviously, you are adding another layer to that -- the economy with male voters is a big vulnerability. What's the kind of the key thing that she should say or espouse in this speech to reach those voters?

SMITH: She should hit her middle-class tax cut. She should hit some of her rhetoric on price gouging. But when we asked men what they think the worst development for men in society right now in the last few years was, it wasn't DEI, it wasn't the role of women in society, it wasn't workplace sexual harassment trainings. It was the decline of American manufacturing, pull everything else out of the water. And I believe she is set to roll out some incentives around that and things like that. But that's who she needs to be to reassure men on the economy.

BASH: Anna Greenberg who is a Democratic pollster sat in your seat a couple of weeks ago and said, a lot of the men in the electorate who used to be reliable Democratic voters are just gone, they are now Trump voters. We can't get them back.

SMITH: Some of them are, but it's less that they're Trump voters or anti-Kamala voters. It's that they are just becoming more fiscally conservative because they're increasingly prioritizing these economic concerns, increasingly seeing them through Republican lens. So, the Republican Party is more appealing to a lot of men than the Democratic Party. And in that regard, Kamala Harris has no bigger issue than any other day (ph).

BASH: We just want to quickly get to the favorability of each of the four candidates at the top and bottom of the ticket, Donald Trump, 49 percent with men, 33 percent women; J.D. Vance, 40 percent with men, 25 percent with women; Harris, 45 percent with men, 60 percent women; Walz, 36 percent men, 50 percent women. I just want to zero in on that Walz number, 36 percent of men. Is it -- does it have anything to do with the fact that he's a man behind a woman, or is it just like he's a new guy on the scene?

SMITH: He's a new guy on the scene, about a quarter of men, 24 percent, just don't have an opinion of Tim Walz yet and his numbers really aren't that far on net from where J.D. Vance is. Vance has just been in the spotlight a little bit longer. And of course, he was a national figure for his book before that.

BASH: Yeah.

SMITH: So, people are a little more familiar with him.

BASH: Evan Roth Smith, I always learn so much from you. Thank you so much for coming on.

SMITH: Thank you for having me.

BASH: Coming up, Joe Biden just sat down with the ladies of "The View" and Whoopi Goldberg appears to describe Donald Trump as a 'bug'.

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WHOOPI GOLDBERG, ABC HOST OF "THE VIEW": Then, he just wouldn't -- he was like a bug. He just kept being there. He was like a bug right there, zzzzzzz, so you felt --

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BASH: We have a lot more coming up, don't go anywhere.

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[12:54:17]

BASH: President Joe Biden is giving his side of the story that shocked the political world this summer. Check out what he said on "The View" earlier today.

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JOE BIDEN, (D) PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I never fully believed the assertions that somehow there was this overwhelming reluctance on my running again. I didn't sense that. And although the polling, (inaudible) Biden polling was different, the fact of the matter is my polling was about were always within range of beating this guy.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yeah.

BIDEN: And -- but, what I did was, I think there were -- it makes sense. There were some folks who would like to see me step aside, so they have a chance to move on. I get that. That's just human nature, but that wasn't the reason that I stepped down.

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BASH: Joe Biden was the first sitting president to make a live appearance on "The View."

Now, to the best kind of breaking news, an "Inside Politics" baby has arrived. The beautiful little girl, Kingsley Elisha Monroe, the daughter of our amazing producer, Kimberly Brown. Kingsley arrived on September 19 weighing in at four pounds 12 ounces. She was more than a month early, likely because she didn't want to miss the home stretch of this wild presidential race. We are so thrilled to report that mom and baby are healthy and well. Congratulations to Kimberly and her husband, Chris. Kingsley is perfect and your CNN family is so incredibly happy for you. We can't wait to meet her.

Thank you for joining "Inside Politics" today. "CNN News Central" starts after the break.

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