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Laura Coates Live

Trump Attacks Harris And Backs Vance; Laura Coates Interviews Mayor John Giles; Biden Vows Changes To The Supreme Court; FBI Details Troubling Online Searches By Trump Shooter; Laura Coates Interviews Kristen Clarke. Aired 11p-12a ET

Aired July 29, 2024 - 23:00   ET

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

[23:00:00]

ANA NAVARRO, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: We have had 25 years now of Venezuela with Hugo Chavez and Maduro. It's up to those -- to the people in those countries to rise up courageously. The people of Venezuela did so yesterday. I think we need to stand in solidarity with them and not make it a political point for us.

ABBY PHILLIP, CNN HOST: All right, everyone, we'll see how that turns out. It's an interesting point and really important, what's going on in Venezuela.

Thank you so much here at the table for joining us, and thank you for watching "NewsNight: State of the Race." "Laura Coates Live" starts right now.

LAURA COATES, CNN HOST: Well, the Trump world finds itself on defense as the Kamala Harris universe goes on the offensive. But how long will this surge last? Tonight on "Laura Coates Live."

Well, the Harris campaign's sugar high might be giving the Trump campaign a bit of a stomachache, at least for now. The man who once said he was excited to debate now singing a little bit of a different tune. Just tonight alone, Trump stopped short of committing to a debate, saying he'd probably end up debating her. He also had to defend his own V.P. pick, Senator J.D. Vance, over his comments that childless women don't have as much of a stake as mothers.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES, PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I think they understand it. No, I think they understand it. The Democrats are good at spinning things differently from what they were. All he said is he -- he does like -- I mean, for him, he likes family.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COATES: That's all he said. Hmm. Trump defending his running mate is not exactly where you want to be 99 days before the election, particularly if you are on the top of that ticket. Now, the polls, they do show an incredibly tight race, and the Trump campaign is ready to throw the kitchen sink, maybe even the whole house at Harris, hitting her on everything from the border surge and inflation during her time as the vice president to what Trump calls her radical record as a prosecutor. In fact, Trump tonight claimed he's happy he's running against her.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: Now I have her. I would rather run against her than him. I think she's easier than he is.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COATES: Hmm. Well, looks like his running mate, J.D. Vance, may not have gotten that same messaging memo. Listen to what he had to say. We talked to private donors in just private last week.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. J.D. VANCE (R-OH), U.S. VICE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE (voice-over): All of us were hit with a little bit of a political sucker punch. The bad news is that Kamala Harris does not have the same baggage as Joe Biden, because whatever we might say, Kamala Harris is a lot younger. And Kamala Harris is obviously not struggling in the same ways that Joe Biden did.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COATES: Well, certainly, Harris is not struggling when it comes to enthusiasm. I mean, tonight, tens of thousands of self-proclaimed white dudes for Harris joined a Zoom call to rally support for her. They raised, you know, about three million bucks, and it even featured a cameo from the dude himself, Jeff Bridges.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JEFF BRIDGES, ACTOR: Kamala is just so certainly our girl. You know, I can see her being present. I'm so excited. A woman president, man. How exciting!

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COATES: If only he was in the robe like the big Lebowski. North Carolina, though, the governor there, Roy Cooper, he was also on that call. And remember, he actually was on the V.P. shortlist. And I do mean was until tonight, once he didn't learn that he took himself out of the running. A source says that he had concerns about going through the vetting process at the age of 67.

Well, joining me now, one of Cooper's fellow state executives, the Democratic governor of Colorado, Jared Polis. Governor, thank you so much for joining. I want to begin right there because you and I have previously had this conversation. You said that you like the idea of a governor for her running mate. What do you make of the decision for Governor Cooper to take himself out of consideration?

GOV. JARED POLIS (D-CO): Well, I haven't had a chance to talk to Roy since he made that decision, but I'm sure he went through a lot of soul searching and made an important decision. There's a lot to learn from different kinds of experience, whether it's experience in the business sector, whether it's experience in a governor's position, United States Senate. I think Kamala Harris is going to really surround herself, not just with the vice president but, frankly, with a cabinet that really represents the best of America.

COATES: Are you possibly going to surround that ticket? Would you be an asset to it?

POLIS: Well, there's a lot to learn from the Colorado model, right? We took a state that was, you know, a tied state, neck and neck. I won reelection with a 20-point margin. We've cut the income tax three times in Colorado. We cut property taxes and capped it. We've really focused on really growing our economy and an abundance agenda that lifts all boats. We've removed barriers to housing to help reduce housing prices and make our state more affordable.

[23:05:02]

I think that Joe Biden is leading some of those same policies. I'm confident Kamala Harris will, too, in terms of removing barriers to building apartments and new starter homes. I'm excited. I'm excited about continuing the tax cuts to make sure the middle class and Americans don't pay any more in taxes and providing additional reductions in tariffs to help grow trade opportunities for grown in America and made in America products.

COATES: Governor, have you been asked to be a running mate? Are you being vetted?

POLIS: Well, again, I -- you know, I don't know exactly what the process is. I want to share with them and I have shared with them that what we've done here in Colorado, we've taken a state that was neck and neck to a 20-point democratic margin in my reelection. But you've got to earn it every day. It's not about what you have done.

A lot of my advice to the vice president is don't focus on the accomplishments of the last four years. They're great, we could talk about them for hours, but the voters want to know what you're going to do for them tomorrow.

And as long as she runs an agenda protecting on expanding our freedoms versus Donald Trump, rolling them back on reducing costs for everyday Americans versus Donald Trump's 10% tariff, increasing the cost of everyday items by 10% and causing a recession with retaliatory tariffs that will destroy manufacturing in our country versus Kamala Harris expanding opportunities for Made in America products overseas, that's how you win. I think she has a lot of Kamala-mentum so far. With 99 days to go, we're going to keep it up.

COATES: Ninety-nine short days are very long days. And as Janet Jackson once said, to put a finer point on what you've just said, I know you used to do nice things for me, but what have you done for me lately? That will be the question for many of the voters because part of the republican message seems to be that voters don't exactly know, they say, what Harris stands for. In fact, Trump tonight, governor, suggested that the more progressive Kamala Harris from 2020 in her campaign is still that same Harris today, even though she's now the vice president. Other critics say that her policy positions are not crystal clear. Does she need to do more work to define herself in the eyes of the electorate now that she's the top of that ticket?

POLIS: First of all, you know, everybody is going to be playing these games of what people said 10 years ago, five years ago. J.D. Vance was as critical of Donald Trump as anybody. He said he didn't have the character to lead and was a failure. He said a lot of terrible things about Donald Trump, and there he is as his running mate.

Look, Kamala Harris has a lot of experience. She was a prosecutor. She's tough as nails, put criminals behind bars. Frankly, she got attacked from the left by being too tough on criminals. That's something that will serve her well as she moves into the chief executive office. Of course, she ran on certain things when she ran for president.

She has now been vice president. She has worked alongside Joe Biden. She has grown. She has developed a lot of international experience overseas as our vice president and domestic experience here. She has a chance to carve out her own agenda to protect our freedoms and to grow our economy to make America an even better place for everybody.

COATES: At the same time, though, obviously, it's a campaign, and the messaging will have to also tell voters why she believes that they should not vote for the Trump-Vance ticket. There seems to have been a messaging shift over just the last week, with Democrats calling that Trump-Vance ticket the word of the day, and the week seems to be, well, weird. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KAMALA HARRIS, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES, U.S. PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Some of what he and his running mate are saying, well, it's just plain weird.

(LAUGHTER)

GOV. TIM WALZ (D-MN): These guys are just weird. That's who they are. I mean, it's like weird, what he does, right?

UNKNOWN: I mean, on the other side, they're just weird.

DOUG EMHOFF, SECOND GENTLEMAN: No matter what kind of weird stuff they keep saying.

GOV. ANDY BESHEAR (D-KY): What was weird was him joking about racism today and then talking about diet Mountain Dew.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COATES: I mean, there's a lot of words one could choose. I wonder if weird is as impactful to the calls to suggest that Trump is an existential threat to democracy. Why is this the new vehicle?

POLIS: Look, all is fair in love and politics. Existential threat to democracy, convicted felon, weird, they're all fair. But, again, I think we have to keep the focus on what the guy would do that would hurt the quality of life of the average American, right?

When he talks about raising tariffs 10%, you know, I'm a parent of a 12-year-old, a 10-year-old, we're doing back-to-school clothing shopping, every single thing we buy, 98% of clothing imported, would cost 10% more under Donald Trump. It would cause a recession that would devastate American manufacturing, destroy agriculture and farm jobs with grown-in American produce with retaliatory tariffs.

So, I think we need a president that's going to focus on expanding markets for grown-and-made-in-America products, reduce costs rather than increase costs like Donald Trump's agenda would do. So, whatever names people call one another and obviously, in politics, people are going to do that, I like to bring it back to what the policies would mean for everyday American families sitting around the kitchen table.

American families are going to be better off under a Kamala Harris presidency than under a second Donald Trump presidency. We know what happened last time, record unemployment, inflation started to grow. Joe Biden has started to tame inflation. Kamala Harris will continue that with strong monetary policy, expanding trade opportunities, and making sure that we continue all the middle-class tax cuts.

[23:10:03]

COATES: Well, Governor Jared Polis, our kids are about the same age. So as back-to-school shopping continues, I'll see you at Target next time. Thank you so much for joining.

POLIS: See you there.

COATES: Well, in that white dudes for Harris call, Minnesota governor and potential V.P. candidate, Tim Walz, making the case for continued Harris momentum.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. TIM WALZ (D-MN): How often in a hundred days do you get to change the trajectory of the world? How often in a hundred days do you get to do something that's going to impact generations to come? And how often in the world do you make that bastard wake up afterwards and know that a Black woman kicked his ass and sent him on the road?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COATES: That might have to be a t-shirt for something. With me now, CNN political commentator and Republican strategist, Shermichael Singleton, and Democratic strategist and former senior advisor for Bernie Sanders' presidential campaigns, Chuck Rocha. Glad to have you both here right now.

Let me begin with you, Chuck. Ninety-nine days left. That just sounds crazy to me.

(LAUGHTER)

Ninety-nine days left. Did Governor Walz find the right message?

CHUCK ROCHA, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: Yes, I think he did. Ninety-nine days left. The V.P. only has one job. If you want to know the wrong way to do it, watch J.D. Vance, because the only job a vice president has is to do no harm. Go stand over there, be quiet, look nice, show up when you're supposed to show up, and be quiet. If the vice president is showing up in press clips, they're doing the wrong thing.

Tim Walz is trying to make a voice for himself. I said this earlier today. Tim Walz was a high school teacher, and he was a high school football coach. Now, for anybody who has 30 seconds to guess, you can tell I played a little high school football. A lot of us reminisce about that every day. That's the kind of person you want to be the vice president. Somebody can relate with, with real language and some real skills.

COATES: You missed your Al Bundy moment and tell the world how great you were at football. No one could have said anything about it.

ROCHA: Allstate, Texas, don't get me started. Easy.

(LAUGHTER)

SHERMICHAEL SINGLETON, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Don't get me started. List the resume for me, Chuck.

COATES: I mean, I'll go to you, Shermichael, next because, of course, I'm sure you had your own glory days as well. But let me ask you about this. "The Washington Post" reporting that Vance told donors that this was a sucker -- a political sucker punch, to have Harris now there. That's quite the word choice. To me, that suggests there's a bit of vulnerability. How do you see it?

SINGLETON: I mean, look, it suggests that the vice-presidential running mate is objectively aware that Vice President Harris is not going to be a cakewalk the way President Biden was. She's not older. She's younger. She has obviously energized Black women, a cohort of Black men, younger voters, 200 million dollars in a week, 170,000 volunteers.

I'm a strategist. Objectively speaking, when I look at metrics like that, I'm saying to myself, we have to bring our A game if we're going to compete against this person. And so, having someone on the campaign that recognizes this, not just a strategist, but one of the running mates, I think that's a very good thing.

COATES: Well, so what -- what is the game letter you would assign to the childless cat comment that was made by J.D. Vance? But more importantly, the fact that Donald Trump has to defend it. In fact, listen to what he had to say tonight to even address this moment.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) TRUMP: He made a statement having to do with families. That doesn't mean that people that are a member of a big and beautiful family with 400 children around and everything else -- it doesn't mean that a person doesn't have -- he's not against anything, but he -- he loves family. It's very important to him. He grew up in a very interesting family situation, and he feels family is good. And I don't think there's anything wrong in saying that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COATES: Is that enough?

ROCHA: No, it's just not. There's only a small little group. Shermichael knows this. Any politician, anybody who has run campaigns for 30 seconds knows that there's just a small little group of people who are actually going to make the decisions on who's going to be the president. And a lot of them are women. A lot of them is single women, and it just so happens a lot of them are single women who have cats.

That's why this thing hits at the root of what he shouldn't be doing. He can talk about her trade policies like Shermichael does, he can talk about crime, but don't talk about single women with cats. That's the last thing you want to be doing right now.

(LAUGHTER)

COATES: Well, I'm not a fan of cats.

SINGLETON: I'm a dog person.

COATES: I mean, look, I'm also not single, but --

SINGLETON: Kudos to people who love their cats.

ROCHA: You can be single noobs with whatever.

COATES: Look, I feel you about the idea of the whole cat thing. But let me tell you, tonight, my colleague and friend, Erin Burnett, she spoke to Sofia Nelson, who is a former Yale Law School classmate of Senator J.D. Vance. Because, again, it just keeps on coming. I have to wonder about the full vetting process or not. And Sofia said that Vance was extremely critical of Trump in the 80 emails -- the 80 emails that they actually exchanged over the course of their friendship. But now, Vance is a completely different person. Listen to what Sofia had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SOFIA NELSON, J.D. VANCE'S FORMER YALE CLASSMATE AND FRIEND: What I've seen is a chameleon. Someone who is able to change their positions and their values depending on what will amass them. Political power and wealth.

[23:15:00]

And I think that's really unfortunate because it reflects a lack of integrity.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COATES: So, Sofia's point there that many people are wondering as to why there was the 180-degree shift. Now, at the RNC, the entire narrative was an epiphany. People had the right to change their minds and we should not vilify and condemn them for that. But as more and more comments are coming out, not just the anecdotes or isolated incidents, does Sofia have a point?

SINGLETON: I mean, look, I think, strategically speaking, his friendship with Sofia, I would say, is a net benefit if he doesn't run away from it. I mean, Sofia represents a percent of the country that I would probably argue most people would say Republicans have not been open to, and here is a vice presidential running mate on the Republican side with, I think, a 10-year friendship with Sofia, if I remember correctly. I think that's a positive thing. I wouldn't run away from it. I would say this is a new version, a new iteration of the Republican Party that's open to all Americans, which it should be.

COATES: That's putting form over substance. I mean, they had a friendship versus what was actually said in the correspondence. That's the focus.

ROCHA: And everybody is trying to figure out who this guy is, who is J.D. And every time something else happens, whether it's cat ladies, whether it's Sofia's comments, like you get to learn more about J.D.

People are trying to learn more about Vice President Harris as well. We've got, to your point, 99 days left. People forget. We're going to start voting in this country in 65 days. People get there. It's happening now. This whole thing about momentum, it's happening now. And the more we learn, the more we see more folks are going to be with vice president.

COATES: Important point. Sixty-five days away. Ninety-nine days. Shermichael, Chuck, thank you both so much.

SINGLETON: Thanks, Laura.

COATES: Hey, up next, a sitting Republican mayor from Arizona who says that he is choosing country over party, and he's backing Kamala Harris. Mayor John Giles joins me next to explain why he is breaking ranks.

And later, President Biden takes on the United States Supreme Court. Why his plan to reform it, as unlikely as it may be to do so, has some conservatives completely outraged.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[23:21:08]

COATES: Since the Republican Party transformed itself into what some would call the Trump Party, it has become increasingly rare to see Republicans who speak out against the former president and, of course, the Republican nominee.

There have been a few over the years. I mean, we've seen retired Congressman Adam Kinzinger, a Republican, outspoken about the former president's dangers to democracy. He even sat, if you recall, on the January 6th Committee. Former GOP Congresswoman Liz Cheney, another critic who also served on that same committee. There's also Geoff Duncan, the former Republican lieutenant governor of Georgia, who speaks out quite frequently about the former president. And one thing in common with those three, well, none are currently in office.

So, what's exceptionally rare are sitting Republicans who do speak out. And even more rare, sitting Republicans who speak out and then go on to endorse a Democrat.

But tonight, we have that for you here. The Republican mayor of Mesa, Arizona, John Giles, with a piece out today endorsing Kamala Harris. And he's here with me now. Mayor Giles, welcome. You know, you're really perhaps putting yourself out there with this endorsement. I do wonder, what has compelled you to do so?

MAYOR JOHN GILES, MESA, ARIZONA: You know, it was with a lot of thought. You know, I'm certainly not anxious. I am a Republican, and I enjoy endorsing Republicans. So, this was a very considered step to take. And I also, as a mayor, you know, I love to not get involved in partisan politics at all when I can avoid it. Mayors like to focus on solving problems and on city issues and on, you know, being in the middle of -- between the 20-yard lines on all the things that there is consensus on. So, this was not something that I was excited to do or necessarily looking to do.

But, you know, occasionally, there are issues and questions that we're presented within life that are just too compelling to be silent, and I knew that I had to sleep at night and that I couldn't do that well if I didn't speak out and express my disappointment in the Republican nominee.

COATES: Had there been some who have expressed disappointment in your decision to come forward and endorse Kamala Harris?

GILES: Absolutely. Yeah, and that's to be expected. But what -- what I didn't necessarily expect was the tremendous response that I got today from people in my party and in my community, expressing support for the op-ed that I published.

COATES: Let's talk about the why. Why you are supporting Kamala Harris and rejecting Donald Trump, who is a Republican? What is the reason that you find her to be the preference and the preferred candidate over even Trump?

GILES: Well, I think that there's a minimum bar for elected officials in this country and, you know, having to do with character, having to do with commitment to the rule of law and the Constitution, and I don't feel like Mr. Trump gets over that low bar. And at the same time, I do think that the vice president is a good alternative. The contrast between the two of them is stark, and President Trump does not compare well. There are many issues that, again, being a Republican, I differ with the vice president on, but what to me is the compelling reason to support her is that I don't question that at the top of her agenda is what is in the best interest of the United States. I honestly can't say that I think that's the case with Mr. Trump.

COATES: Your words speak volumes. And I know you've written and talked about election denialism as perhaps one reason to reject him.

[23:25:03]

And, you know, Trump made comments over the weekend, saying Christians won't have to vote again if he gets back in the White House. Here he is, by the way, tonight trying to clean up those remarks. Mayor, listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: And I think everybody understood it. I didn't know there was any --

LAURA INGRAHAM, FOX NEWS HOST: Well, I mean, because it's the constant refrain. I mean, after they have done all the things that we've talked about.

TRUMP: Horrible.

INGRAHAM: All of the things.

TRUMP: Russia, Russia, Russia. All the things.

INGRAHAM: And dump their guy of 52 years. Just dump him to the side. So, they do all that. And then, they say, well, no, you can't vote for him because he's literally never going to leave office. They're actually still saying that.

TRUMP: Yeah. It's just unbelievable.

INGRAHAM: But you will leave office after four years.

TRUMP: By the way, I did last time.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COATES: Do you think that he would leave office at the end of his term if he is elected, given your concerns about election denialism and his comments about voting today?

GILES: No, I don't. You know, as I was writing this op-ed that ran in the "Arizona Republic" this morning, I remember, at one point, I had a phrase in the op-ed where I said, if Donald Trump is elected, I fear this might be the last free and fair election of my lifetime. And I struck it out because I thought, you know what, that's a little hyperbolic. That's more than needs to be said. And then, you know, he makes this statement saying that once I'm elected and I'm enthroned, you know, we won't need elections any longer. So, sometimes, Donald Trump says the quiet part out loud, and we have to believe him. I think this is one of those occasions that we got some real insight into what his priorities are.

COATES: There are many who will say that the conversation itself is hyperbolic, and then you hear statements that he has made and you have to wonder which came first, the chicken or the egg in these conversations.

You know, one of Harris's potential contenders for her running mate happens to come from your state, Mark Kelly, the senator. Would you want to see him --

GILES: Yeah.

COATES: -- in that VP spot?

GILES: Absolutely. I've had the privilege of working with Senator Kelly. He's the real, you know, John Glenn, right stuff person. And he would make an excellent vice president. So, I haven't spoken to him about this. But I do know him well. He's very talented. He does a deep dive into everything. This would not be the type of vice president that you just send to funerals. You know, he's a very capable person. I could see him being the secretary of defense and the vice president at the same time because he's very, very capable.

COATES: Well, that would be two daunting tasks at once. Let's see. Maybe he can do either or if, in fact, she chooses him in the end. Mayor Giles, nice to speak with you. Thank you for joining me tonight.

GILES: Thank you for the invitation.

COATES: Up next, President Biden makes a bold move against an unpopular court. How his proposals to reform the Supreme Court are enraging the right and maybe even rallying the left, even if they have, well, very little chance of passing.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[23:32:34]

COATES: Tonight, President Biden calling for doing away with lifetime appointments to the Supreme Court.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: I believe the best structure is the 18-year-term limit. That would help ensure the country would not have what it has now. An extreme court is the product of an attack on the confirmation process that has been weaponized by those seeking to carry out an extreme agenda for decades to come.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COATES: But just a few years ago, then presidential candidate Biden, well, he felt pretty differently.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BIDEN: No, no, no, no, no. There is a question about whether or not it's a lifetime appointment. I'm not going to attempt to change that at all.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COATES: Well, that was before the election, right? But joining me now, former U.S. attorney Kim Wehle. She's the author of the new column, "Biden's Last Project: Fix a Supreme Court in Desperate Need of Reform." Kim, so good to see you. I do wonder, is this too little too later? As my dad always says, a day late, a dollar short?

KIM WEHLE, FORMER ASSISTANT U.S. ATTORNEY: Well, the immunity decision, Laura, changed everything. I mean, the court really did almost amend the Constitution and turned it into a monarchy when it comes to committing crimes with the massive power of the office.

So, this is really an amendment to go back to where we were prior to the court manufacturing something that doesn't exist in the Constitution. And remember, these are purported textualists that are supposed to read the plain language. It's not in there, and they actually read some things out of the Constitution. I think it's really, really important to protect democracy this way.

COATES: And yet your statement, I think, would give ammunition to some to suggest it was the opinion that made people angry to say, okay, now, you can't say I'm a court. What do you say to those who will say, no, you can't impose these changes because you don't like a decision, but because it's the right thing for the court?

WEHLE: Well, I've been teaching constitutional law for a long time and it's getting harder and harder to teach basic principles of constitutional law because this court is departing from precedent, departing from the plain language of the Constitution, departing from basic grounds for taking cases. They're reaching out into culture wars, into politics. And really, it's very difficult to be intellectually honest to students about what the court is doing. It's a very, very different court than it was three, five, 10 years ago.

COATES: You make a great point because one of the things why the laws are on the books, we were always taught in law school, is about deterrence because you knew what the law of the land was.

[23:35:04]

It would change and shape behavior so no one could expect something different. But now that you don't have precedent, it's hard to predict those issues as well. But what do you make of these changes? Would term limits correct that behavior? Would it change the public opinion, which is really an all-time low for this court, I should add? I mean, we're talking in the teens at this point, which used to be a very storied institution. WEHLE: Well, it's very unusual to have this lifetime appointment for the highest courts. Other democracies don't have that. And so, it's a very anti-democratic entity. There's no accountability. They're there forever.

So, the term limit idea with presidents doing two appointments every two years would be more reflective of the country, more reflective of the people, and these people would be more accountable. They wouldn't really be kings and queens on there for life, appointed very young with arbitrary numbers, depending on which president. Barack Obama got two, Donald Trump got three, and Obama was there twice as long.

So, there are other ways of addressing the Supreme Court. This isn't the only one. But this is the one that President Biden has advanced, and I think something needs to be done and it's urgent.

COATES: I mean, Speaker Johnson has called this essentially DOA, dead on arrival. So, in terms of legislation, what could be done to do this differently?

WEHLE: Well, legislatively, you could expand the size of the court. It has been anywhere from five to 10. That is within Congress's authority. Congress could decide to rotate other judges through the Supreme Court. It doesn't say in the Constitution it has to be Supreme Court justices. Those other federal judges are there for life the same way the Supreme Court is.

There are other things that Congress could do. A code of ethics that's enforceable, ensuring that these justices don't have these egregious conflicts of interest, don't have political flags on their front lawns, things like that.

Most other -- pretty much every other federal actor in the system has checks and balances. That's why we don't have a monarchy anymore, Laura. And the Supreme Court is a little drunk with its own power, I think, the majority.

COATES: Would this cut both ways to sort of silence the critics that would say, oh, this might be good for Democrats today, but then down the road, horrible?

WEHLE: Well, the idea is it's up to the voters, right? So, elections matter. And if every president gets to rotate, you know, two justices with this 18-year term, if that's the particular thing that goes through, then the idea is voters can decide on presidents that they want to have that authority. So, if it's a Republican for many terms, then, yeah, you're going to have many justices that are Republican or Democrat. But right now, it's really, really stacked against, frankly, the populace, where under Mitch McConnell, there was no filibuster for the last three justices.

So really the Democrats in the United States had no buy-in for the last three justices that are now wiping out constitutional rights, getting rid of affirmative action and education, green-lighting racial gerrymandering, and now, again, rewriting this foundational principle that no one is above the law and every branch gets their papers graded by the other two branches, not if you're committing crimes using official power now in the Oval Office.

COATES: A lot of food for thought. We'll see how the Congress acts now that it has been said and what happens in the last of this term. Kim Wehle, always great to talk to you. Thank you so much.

Well, ahead, the newly revealed text messages that suggest law enforcement saw the Trump shooter more than 90 minutes before his attack. Plus, the latest on the investigation into the gunman's motive, including his online searches for past assassination attempts.

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[23:43:16]

COATES: Alarming new text messages revealing security failures and confusion around the assassination attempt against Donald Trump. Text messages released by Senator Chuck Grassley show that law enforcement actually noticed the shooter more than 90 minutes before he carried out his attack. And at one point, they actually lost track of him.

An exchange shows an officer sending these photos of the shooter to a group text. And someone responds with this. They, being the event command center, are asking for a direction of travel. Someone else responds -- quote -- "not sure. He was up against the building. If I had to guess, towards the back, away from the event."

Now, we learn more about what law enforcement was actually doing before the attack. Determining the shooter's motive appears as elusive as ever. The FBI revealing it has conducted more than 450 interviews to try and figure out what he may have been thinking and why.

Today, we got some insight on what has been discovered. The FBI says that he was a loner, and his social circle was limited to his immediate family. He used encrypted email accounts and aliases to buy firearms, and he searched for information on power plants, mass shooting events, improvised explosive devices, and the attempted assassination of Slovakia's prime minister.

Joining me now, former senior FBI profiler, Mary Ellen O'Toole. Mary Ellen, thank you so much for joining. I mean, you just heard about those additional details on the shooter's search history. He looked up the Kennedy assassination as well, we understand. So, what does all of this tell you about the shooter in terms of maybe a profile?

[23:45:00]

MARY ELLEN O'TOOLE, FORMER SENIOR FBI PROFILER: Well, what it tells me is that he was preoccupied with finding somebody that he could shoot, somebody that he could assassinate, and that he wasn't necessarily just focused on former President Trump.

And I think that's very interesting because if you get just a laser focus on a particular person, that really is a different type of motivation. And I think with him, once he realized that Trump was going to be basically in his backyard, in an area where he could access, then that made his victimology come up quite a bit. But I think that he was looking at other people as well, who just as easily could have been a target for him.

So, he was preoccupied with being able to shoot people, with being able to build explosives and possibly use those as well. So, I think his thinking and his ideology was a lot broader than just one particular victim.

COATES: Harder to deter and prevent that broad spectrum of focus as well. I mean, the FBI saying the shooter was -- quote -- "highly intelligent," and that he was also a loner, both online and in person. And we still don't know a motive. How hard is it to solve, given his lack of context in this short or this small social circle?

O'TOOLE: That can make it very difficult. But the fact of the matter is he is a loner, which means he wasn't trying to be by himself, he was a loner by personality. And when that happens, he prefers to operate by himself. And it's not likely that he would have brought in or even wanted to bring somebody in to his plans. So that makes it difficult.

But he also made a concerted effort to cover up his searches and to cover up how he was going about planning this crime. It's pretty clear to me that the planning was very enjoyable to him. When you look at a crime and how much effort and time the person puts into the planning or carrying out the act itself, if the effort is in the planning, that's the part that they really enjoyed. And I think for him, that is something that he enjoyed very much.

But he wasn't perfect at it. The reason that I say he wasn't perfect, because he engaged in behavior at the rally that drew attention to him from members of the tactical teams.

He was not an experienced assassin. He wasn't an experienced strategic SWAT person. So, he sat on picnic tables. He drew attention to himself. And on any other day, I would be very surprised that law enforcement would not have come down from where they were and said, what are you doing here? Talk to us about what you're doing. And he would have been arrested, but not that day.

COATES: You know, it's interesting because some Republicans are saying that they would be shocked to find out that this 20-year-old acted alone because of his age. Would it really be so unusual for somebody that age, 20 years old, to pull off and plan this solo?

O'TOOLE: Well, I think it -- I think it's unusual. I do. But I also think that's his personality. I don't think he was trying to be a loner. I don't think he was trying to be an isolationist. I think his being a loner was so severe that it could have bordered on an undiagnosed mental health issue. I'm not saying out of touch with reality. But he was very comfortable being a loner.

So, for him to bring somebody else in to planning an event that he was really enjoying makes absolutely no sense. The only persons he would have brought in are people close to him, and that would have been his family. But I think he clearly opted that this was going to be just an event for himself. We've seen that in other cases. Is it unusual? Yes. But is it likely at the 11th hour this person who's a loner throughout his entire lifetime brings in a buddy? Not going to happen.

COATES: Mary Ellen O'Toole, so insightful. Thank you so much for joining.

O'TOOLE: You're welcome.

COATES: Well, it's the 60th anniversary of the Civil Rights Act and a time when some fear civil rights are facing dangerous and new threats. What's the government doing about it? The assistant attorney general for civil rights joins me next.

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[23:53:30]

COATES: President Biden celebrating the 60th anniversary of the Civil Rights Act at the LBJ Presidential Library in Austin, Texas. He was emphasizing there is far more work to be done in ensuring that all communities are free from discrimination.

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BIDEN: We can and must be protected and expand our civil rights in America. We can and must prevent the abuse of presidential power and restore faith in the Supreme Court. We can and must strengthen the guardrails of democracy. We must have to remind ourselves who we are. We're the United States of America.

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COATES: Well, joining me now, assistant attorney general for civil rights at the U.S. Department of Justice, Ms. Kristen Clarke. So glad to have you here. Thank you for joining me this evening.

You know, I'm an alum of the DOJ. Obviously, in your very prominent role, we all look to you for guidance and for your thoughts on what the state of America really is. As a woman of color and somebody as a part of the Department of Justice, I wonder what does the 60th anniversary of civil rights mean to you, the act itself, knowing the work that needs to be done?

KRISTEN CLARKE, ASSISTANT ATTORNEY GENERAL FOR CIVIL RIGHTS, U.S. DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE: Yeah, well, it's such a great moment to take stock of the tremendous progress that we've made over the past six decades. You know, we hold our heads down and do the work at the Civil Rights Division of the Justice Department. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 is one of the main tools that we are using to stand up to discrimination.

And it's a moment to take stock of the progress, but to really remember that there's still a lot of work that needs to be done.

[23:55:04] Discrimination, sadly, is alive and well in this country. And it's laws like the Civil Rights Act that give us the ability to continue to make sure that we're making progress.

COATES: You yourself were an alum, so you know, certainly, the work that needs to be done in the Civil Rights Division and the work that it's actually doing. But you've heard a lot of people describe the work that promotes diversity or equity or inclusion or the acronym of DEI. It's leveled as an insult. It's suggested that somehow it is not only not needed, but that it is counterproductive to trying to achieve true equality.

What do you say to those who are suggesting that there is no work to be done in that space and that DEI, frankly, is unnecessary?

CLARKE: Yeah, it's needed. Diversity matters. It matters now more than ever, and we can't go back. You know, one area of our work that I think provides a powerful example of the work that still needs to be done is hate crimes. You know, hate crimes are alive and well in our country. We continue, sadly, to see antisemitic violence, anti-Arab violence, white supremacist-fueled violence, Islamophobia, homophobia.

You know, our office has been prosecuting cases, everything from the Tree of Life massacre in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, the massacres of 23 Latino people at a Walmart in El Paso, Texas. We are prosecuting the defendant responsible for the deaths of 10 Black people at a top supermarket in Buffalo, New York.

I don't see how anyone can take a step back and look at the hate that we are wrestling with in America today and say that we should abandon the project of working to ensure that we have a diverse and inclusive America.

COATES: Now, you have Project 2025 that is top of mind for many people in the electorate. I do wonder if that initiative concerns you in the DOJ.

CLARKE: You know, we've been down this path before where we've made progress and we have suffered setbacks.

COATES: Uh-hmm.

CLARKE: But we remain undeterred in our commitment to using the laws that we have and relying on the precedents that have been set by the courts to make sure that we are standing up for justice in this country. So, you know, we've experienced the setbacks, but we're not going to let it slow us down.

COATES: Is there frustration with the Supreme Court or other courts that chip away, it seems, at some of that progress and can create some setbacks?

CLARKE: We have seen disappointing rulings that have made it harder to do this work, but it's important that we dust ourselves off and that we continue to use the tools that we have to make sure that people can have a voice in our democracy, to make sure that people have equal access to jobs and to homes. It's important that we fight redlining by banks, another crisis that we continue to see today. So, we don't let the setbacks slow down the project of continuing to fight for a just and equitable America.

COATES: Finally, when I think about the work that needs to be done and, obviously, we're in an election year and many people are focused on who will be the president of the United States, the Department of Justice is often attacked as being a vehicle of weapons, of weaponizing politics or political, you know, axes to grind.

How do you stay above the fray and keep focused on the mission, not only of the Department of Justice, but the Civil Rights Division, which has really been something that not only has evolved, but is so necessary, as you describe, in this country?

CLARKE: Yeah. You know, politics has no place in the way we carry out our work at the Justice Department. We hold our heads down. We follow the law and the facts. We file cases to stand up for victims of discrimination, period, point blank. You know, I have a poster of Justice Thurgood Marshall --

COATES: Uh-hmm.

CLARKE: -- that sits in my office, a civil right American, a hero who dedicated his life and his career to standing up for the cause for justice. And, you know, it is frankly folks like Thurgood Marshall and Constance Baker Motley who shape the way that we carry out our work today. It is about standing up for the voiceless and making sure that we're doing everything that we can to beat back the discrimination that we sadly continue to see today.

COATES: The pursuit of justice seems not to have yet caught it, but maybe one day. Thank you so much for joining us.

CLARKE: Thank you.

COATES: Thanks for watching. "Anderson Cooper 360" starts right now.

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ANDERSON COOPER, CNN HOST: Tonight on "360," the Harris campaign doubles down on calling their opponent weird, and J.D. Vance claims his childless cat lady comments are being taken out of context. We have the latest from the campaign trail.

Also, tonight, breaking news in the democratic --