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CNN Live Event/Special
Trump Arrives At The RNC Ahead Of Speech; Interview With Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL); Tonight: Trump To Give First Speech Since Assassination Attempt; Source: Top Biden Officials Believe He Must Drop Out Soon; Dem. Sen. Tester Calls On Biden Not To Seek Another Term. Aired 8-9p ET
Aired July 18, 2024 - 20:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[20:00:00]
JAKE TAPPER, CNN HOST: In past speeches, including past convention speeches.
Whatever the 45th president of the United States says tonight, the show of support he's getting here in Milwaukee is quite different. I think it's fair to say then what's going on, on the other side of the aisle with the Democratic Party.
CNN is reporting the top White House and campaign officials now privately believe that President Biden must abandon his reelection bid amid high level calls for him to exit.
With the next 72 hours being pivotal to his decision-making, we're following it all.
As we count down to the big finish of the Republican Convention featuring remarks by Trump' s second oldest son, Eric Trump, leading up to Donald Trump's climatic speech himself.
His wife, Melania, is here. His daughter, Ivanka, expected to also be in the hall. They will be making their first appearances at this convention.
Let's go right now to Kaitlan Collins on the convention floor.
Trump is in the room, Kaitlan. Tell us what the mood is like where you are.
KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN HOST: Yes, Jake, it's very clearly the last night and everyone here is obviously looking forward to what Donald Trump is going to say when he finally addresses the convention tonight.
He is seated in his box, right behind me right now. You saw him just enter a few moments ago. But he'll leave that box and not too long from now, to go backstage, as he prepares to deliver what we are told is going to be about an hour -- an hour-and-ten minutes of remarks from the former President.
I should just note that as we're in the room, there have been signs every night to kind of fit the themes where it was safety, immigration. Tonight, there are signs that say, "Bring back common sense," "Fire Joe Biden," is really popular one that we've seen tonight and of course, no surprise, "Make America Great Again."
Not a ton of Trump-Vance signs. I saw a few of them earlier, but it just speaks to obviously the message of this room is trying to send and what is happening here. Though this is also being scripted for those who are at home.
And Jake, we saw Donald Trump go into his box. Two things I do want to note, sitting right behind him, among the lawmakers who are here is Oklahoma Senator James Lankford.
Now that's notable because it wasn't all that long ago that James Lankford and some other lawmakers painstakingly crafted an immigration bill. One that was ultimately sunk by Donald Trump, when he came out against it. And then, that gave that permission structure for other Republicans to then subsequently come out against it.
It did not actually pass, that was because they wanted him be able to run on immigration in this campaign, which they have been having a slew of speeches revolve around that.
Also, another person who is in the box is one of his campaign aides, but also on his legal tea, Boris Epshteyn, who is an aide, who as we know, was indicted in Arizona recently on efforts to overturn the election there and those allegations along with a slew of other aides.
So, obviously, watching all that closely, Jake, as Trump is preparing to take the stage not very long from now.
TAPPER: All right, Kaitlin Collins on the floor looking at the super box there with senators and at least one country music star.
Dana Bash, we're told and I guess you know, the proof will be in the pudding. We'll see when he actually delivers the speech, but were told that President Trump's speech will be focused on unity. We shall see.
DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: We shall see.
Look, he has said multiple times in multiple venues since the assassination attempt on Saturday that he was ripping up a speech and he was going to give a very different kind of address and message than he had planned to do.
He planned to do a rip-roaring speech against Joe Biden and the current administration. It's hard to imagine that he's not going to do any sort of a flick to that, but it's going to be interesting to see how much he leans into that.
I ran into Eric Trump, his son, earlier today, who's going to be introducing the former president, his father, who said that he is going to give kind of a similar frame that we heard his wife, Lara, last night, and that we heard from Donald Trump, Jr., maybe even more personal than Donald Trump, Jr.
As he introduces his father, he's been working on the speech very, very carefully and that we might be a little bit surprised in what he says. I'm not sure what that means --
TAPPER: Right.
BASH: -- not sure what that means, but look, I mean, we are used to the Trump kids, especially being the pit bulls on behalf of their father -- political pit bulls but they like everyone else in their family, had big almost tragedy.
TAPPER: Well, yes, that was a horrible day.
BASH: Yes.
TAPPER: Saturday. Chris, what do you think?
CHRIS WALLACE, CNN HOST: Well, it'll be fascinating. There's been a lot of talk, it's going to be more personal that he's got with the unity talk. That will be interesting to see.
Today, I thought, what better way to prepare for tonight than to read his acceptance speeches at the last two conventions.
In 2016, he talked about the forgotten people of America and said, "I am your voice." He talked about the rigged system in America and sad, "I alone can fix it."
[20:05:03]
And interestingly enough, in 2020, of the strongest lines he was talking at one point and he said, "All children, born and unborn, have a God-given right to life," which made me reflect on the fact that there has been almost no talk at all at this convention about life and about choice and the whole abortion flight.
Obviously, Trump has had a huge victory there in the sense that his three Supreme Court justices were part of a majority that overturned Roe v. Wade, but they have seen the political threat of that because of the fact that all around the country, groups support our right to choice.
So, it'll be very interesting to see. I'm curious whether he's going to talk about life, whether we're going to hear these, "I alone can fix it" or whether, it sounds strange to say, whether we're going to see a kinder, gentler Donald Trump tonight.
I'm betting against it, but that's the fun of covering these things. We'll see what we see.
TAPPER: Absolutely -- Anderson.
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN HOST: Thanks very much.
Here, looking over the floor, Kasie, what do you expect tonight from Donald Trump?
KASIE HUNT, CNN ANCHOR: Well, I think exactly what Jake, Dana, and Chris were outlining that -- I don't expect and a source tells me that he is not planning on mentioning President Biden's name. He is not expected to do that.
Now, of course, we know that Donald Trump doesn't always stick to the scripts that he has planned. But at the outset, that's what we're looking at. I think we also can expect to see a source tells me, that he may walk through his experience on Saturday in some detail, more detail than we have heard him walk through it before.
Which again, I think may underscore the broader seems that we are talking about here. Yes, of course, unity among -- with the Republican Party, but also this idea that he seems to, and the thing that I'm -- I think going to be listening for tonight is how he describes whether this was some sort of spiritual experience for him.
Because we have seen him reference that in some of the interviews that he did right afterward. We saw his face look quite different on that Monday night, whether it lasts, whether it has changed a man who has been on our American stage for however many decades.
You know, we're still kind of learning as we go along. But I am told to expect something dramatically different than anything we've seen from him in public before.
ABBY PHILLIP, CNN HOST: Well, I mean, I think that this is going to be an attempt by the campaign, by Donald Trump to reset the narrative in public.
We should all take that with a grain of salt though, right? Because this is a man who has a long history in public. I think what he says on that stage is going to be important in -- that it tells us how the campaign wants the country to see him. But there's a lot of other data points that matter too, including what he has done and what he plans to do.
So, just to put that on the table, but I do think the real question will be talk about unity. It is going to be, what does he say to the American people? Not just to people in this room, but to the rest of the country. There's more than half of the country that believes he's a divisive figure, that is concerned about what he might mean for American democracy.
What does he say to those people and does he backtrack on some of his own previous incendiary language? Depicting the other ideological side of the aisle as the enemy of his supporters.
So, these are all -- look, I think that with Trump, what he says on a teleprompter is always worth taking into consideration, but it would be foolish of us not to take the fact that when he is off the teleprompter, he often says something completely different.
And, the pictures that they are painting this whole week has to be added to all the things that have come before it and all the things that will come after.
DAVID AXELROD, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: You know, I'm sorry.
DAVID URBAN, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: I was just going to say, look, let's -- I give the presumption of grace here. The guy almost got killed a few days ago.
I think he is perhaps a changed person. I can't imagine you get shot in the head and you don't come out different. That experience is a very profound experience. So, I think let's listen to his words and see what he says.
AXELROD: I don't have the requisite degrees to climb into his head and understand, how that --
URBAN: But I'm saying --
AXELROD: No, no, no, but I just want to make a different point, just a practical political point.
In focus groups of swing voters, one guy said, he voted for Trump before. He's not sure he can vote for him again because living with Trump as president was like having a neighbor who ran his leaf blower 24/7.
That's the image that people have of Trump. He has a chance to address those people tonight in a large audience and play against hype.
SCOTT JENNINGS, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Yes.
AXELROD: And it's very clear, they're signaling that that's what he wants to do.
JENNINGS: Axe, I think it's important context to understand that right now in America, we only have one ascendant dominant political figure, it's Donald Trump.
The president of United States is diminished. Reporting is he may be considering being on his way out.
[20:10:09]
Not since George W. Bush grabbed the bullhorn after 9/11, has anybody had a chance to capture the imagination of the country with a moment like he's got, he just almost got shot in the head.
They are signaling something new tonight. He's, for all intents and purposes, this man tonight has the entire nation's attention and yes, Abby, half the country has said, we're skeptical of him but that's the bet.
Can he rise above it and be something different and just leave this campaign behind? The polling suggests he's on his way. He could cement them.
PHILLIP: Yes, I guess my only point is, Scott, I think you're totally right. But with Trump, I mean, we are not operating in a vacuum. He's not a newbie on the scene.
With Trump, it is always words against actions, and tonight, it's going to be words. But for the rest of the campaign, it's going to be actions and we will take what he says today and we have to compare it against what he will do, maybe in 24 hours on Truth Social, and that's always the challenge for his own campaign as, as you know, Scott.
JOHN KING, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: You're going to hear from the candidate tonight who was told was told today, this is yours to lose.
JENNINGS: Yes.
KING: You are winning this race. Go out there knowing you are winning this race.
On election night, in 2016, his old people were texting recrimination saying, were going to lose. They didn't think they were going to win in 2016.
In 2020, they knew they were going to lose, which is why the president came out and tried to stop the count and say they were cheating and everything else because he knew he was going to lose.
He's going to stand on that stage tonight in a commanding lead in this race. By every hour, his position is getting better and his team has told him, Mr. President, this is yours to lose, keep that in your head.
Now, is Trump -- is the granddaughter out there to try to get suburban women? Sure, but that's not what they're looking for. They know the third-party candidates are in the race. They know the president's poll numbers are tanking.
They know if Donald Trump can get to 47 percent, he's the next president of the United States in the swing states.
And so, yes, they're trying to sand the edges and smooth him out a little bit, but that's not their main goal at this convention. Their main goal at this convention with JD Vance and with the other speakers and what they're doing on social media and how they're targeting in the nontraditional media is to turn out their voters, period. Because they think if they do that, they win.
JENNINGS: One quick issue, Van, before you go, I just -- to John. This is the first time Donald Trump's ever been ahead. He was never ahead in '20, he was never ahead in '16, and this is the first time in his life he has ever had truly politically have the tiger by the tail.
That's why to me this speech is so fascinating because he's usually in a defensive position, and tonight, he's on a dominant.
URBAN: Well, not only the lead, but he also has the party behind him.
COOPER: Right.
URBAN: In '16, as John alluded to, the party was -- on '16 on the night of the election, the party was making the call, not the campaign. The RNC was trying to undercut him.
KING: It wasn't just the RNC.
URBAN: It wasn't me, John, it wasn't me.
AXELROD: Still waters run deep. Go ahead, will you, Van.
VAN JONES, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: I think it is going to be an important speech and I think what Abby is saying is very important.
Depending on who you are, this is a very different event. It is a very different moment. I think for the people who are here, this is not just a political figure, he is a movement leader who was almost martyred. And you're going to see that receptivity.
I think for half of the country, this is a very troubling moment because we see potentially an authoritarian threat that is rising and is becoming more popular in his using kind of circus and bread and all sorts of stuff to make it cool to be a part of something that we don't trust where it's going.
And so, the question for Donald Trump and we don't know, we know it's going to be on teleprompter, it is going to be whatever it is. But he's literally hanging between having almost lost everything and on the brink of gaining everything. I don't know. I don't know what that does to a person.
There's very few people in human history that have literally almost lost everything and at the same time, almost gained everything. Something could rise in him. I'm not convinced yet.
PHILLIP: Well --
JONES: I think there's a hope that people have.
COOPER: He is also 78 years old. And some people change at a certain point of their lives.
JONES: Maybe -- I think there's a hope that people have and I understand it, that something this monumental might have something rise in him that is different, but I don't think --
HUNT: I would just say --
JONES: But I don't think that half the country believes it and have a good gun to believe at the end of the speech -- Kasie.
HUNT: My reporting suggests that even Donald Trump's staff has been surprised by the way that he has been processing the events of Saturday.
Now, that could be spin, it's entirely possible. But, the sort of way in which they are approaching it and talking about it suggested to me that they were a little bit taken aback, that this guy that they had worked for that they understood, they understand how pugnacious he is and how he wanted to change himself, what he's going to say tonight, surprised some people that have worked for him for a long time.
Now, well see if that actually plays out. But this quasi-religious question as well, I think is very important and what you said about how -- he is a, now a martyr to this movement.
[20:15:10]
Donald trump is also very, very good at putting his finger in the wind, understanding what his supporters want and need from him and doing that. And honestly this approach, would line up with both things.
COOPER: That's interesting.
Just ahead, more from the final night of the Republican National Convention, as we await Donald Trump's acceptance speech.
Florida Senator Marco Rubio joins my colleague Jake Tapper, that's next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
TAPPER: The fourth and final night of the Republican National Convention is underway.
We're counting down to Donald Trump's acceptance speech here in Milwaukee. The former president went backstage to greet his wife, former First Lady Melania Trump, who will be here this evening.
My panel is here with me as well as Florida Senator Marco Rubio, Republican of Florida.
As I said, Senator. So good to see you. Thank you so much.
SEN. MARCO RUBIO (R-FL): Thank you, guys.
[20:20:08]
TAPPER: First of all --
RUBIO: And you're actually here live.
TAPPER: We are here live.
RUBIO: I just want to point that out.
TAPPER: We are here live, as opposed to some other networks that just have a big LED, who shall remain nameless.
So, you've spoken with President Trump since the horrific events of Saturday --
RUBIO: Yes.
TAPPER: -- the attempted assassination. What are you hoping and what are you expecting to hear in his speech this evening?
RUBIO: Well, look, I don't want to speak for the president. Obviously, anybody -- he said to me what I think he said publicly, and that is I'm not supposed to be here. It's a pretty shocking moment. I think, at least in my view of it, it sort of reminds us that at the end this is not -- we're not in the entertainment business, right?
With politics, this thing we do is really about people and about the lives of people and the future of our country, and it is my sense and we'll see how it plays out tonight and I certainly don't have any insights of what the speech is about.
But it's my sense that the president views this as an opportunity to define what his movement is about. That at the end of the day, besides all the noise, people that don't like him people that obviously do like him, but he ran for president because he felt that there were millions of Americans whose government was not responsive to what they were saying.
They were angry about being left behind by globalization. They were upset that the country seemed to care more about what was happening in other countries and what was happening here. And he gave voice to that.
And I think, you will have a chance -- I hope tonight to hear that articulated in the voice of a person who realizes he's probably on the verge of becoming the president of the United States again and it's an enormous responsibility and he knows that because he's been there before.
TAPPER: Yes, you are the vice chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, on the matter of what happened Saturday, can you give us any sort of update in terms of anything having to do with the investigation, the motive of this twisted killer, would be -- well he's a killer and also what went wrong with the protection of the president?
RUBIO: Well, and obviously, the intelligence agencies operate in international realm, not domestic. There's no evidence of any sort that I've seen or heard, public or otherwise, that this had any sort of foreign linkage.
The threats from Iran against President Trump and other US officials that they blame for the Soleimani strike, that's been going on for a while and people know about it. It's a very serious one, it's a very significant threat.
I believe the Iranians, I think it was about a couple of years ago, actually put out a video of them assassinating Trump on a golf course, but I don't think that's related to this.
My perception of this from the calls we've had with the FBI and otherwise, is that clearly there was a massive error committed, irrespective of -- the Secret Service is in charge of the protection in that region, okay.
They may outsource some piece of it, but ultimately, they are responsible for it. There is no way that some 20-year-old guy should be able to walk around, crawl on a roof, and get off, how many, three or four shots. That literally came within a millimeter of a live execution of the leading candidate for president at this moment. It should never have happened.
My question is, is this part of a systemic internal organizational problem or was this an example of somebody made a big, big mistake in advancing the event?
But I will say this, the Secret Service has handled this about as bad as you can handle it. They should be doing press conferences every day. The absence of consistent and clear information is what opens the door for conspiracy theories and all kinds of other things to take off.
It's already hard enough to fight against those things. I don't know why they haven't been more forthcoming with all the information they have and they should be doing it on a regular basis now.
BASH: Could we just turn back to the politics of what the president's goal -- the former president's goal is tonight.
He is so well-known and opinions of him are so ingrained, both very positive and both very negative and we've heard for so many years, as he has campaigned that his advisers want him to try to expand beyond his base. And they're trying clearly with this convention in so many ways, trying to soften his edges, trying to give a perspective of him as a family man.
What do you, as somebody who wants him to be elected, want to continue to do from here on out in order to try to reach out to those voters who turned against him or whenever with him?
RUBIO: Yes, look, like anything in politics, there are people that are -- they are never going to be with you no matter what you do, and that's fine. That's absolutely appropriate. That's part of the political process.
I think in the case of the president, in some cases, he's been caricatured to a level, demonized by some -- to a level has really been unfair.
But at the core of his message, if you distill down his message, his message is this, Americans want better jobs that pay enough to afford life. They want lower prices. They want the border to be secure. They want the people who come here to this country to come here legally, and they want to be involved in less wars around the world and to really be more judicious about how US foreign policy is deployed.
None of these are radical ideas, these are majority positions in the country and I think reminding people at the end of the day, that's at the core of all of this.
[20:25:07]
It is a key opportunity that I think he has tonight for people that are going to be listening, that are going to be willing to give them a second look.
It's not the sympathy because of a near-assassination. It's a reminder that this guy doesn't have to be in politics, he really doesn't, okay. He was already a celebrity. He was very wealthy. He could have lived a very good life. He didn't have to get into politics.
He's paid a huge price or politics. His family certainly has and when you look at a guy that in the midst of all of that stands up and doesn't run off the stage before he does, he has the instincts or the ability to stand up and because he feels like the people that are in the crowd are here to see him and he wants them to know he's okay and he wants them to keep fighting.
I think that was a reminder to a lot of people, that this is a man that's in politics because he loves the country, whether you agree with him or not.
WALLACE: Senator, you were part of the veepstakes as to who was going to be his running mate and you were one of the top three, so you were the first or second runner up.
Theres a lot of talk now that JD Vance is the inheritor of MAGA, that he is the person that Donald Trump has chosen to be his vice president for over the next four years.
If he wins and then also kind of the inheritor of this entire movement, do you view JD Vance in that way that he's kind of moves to the top of the line of the post-Trump era.
RUBIO: Well, first of all, we haven't even finished this convention. But look, JD was going to be that whether he got picked or not. He's incredibly intelligent. I've been working with JD since 2018 on public policy before he was elected to anything.
So, even four years before he ran, I was already interacting with him. And because I'm very impressed, he is very curious guy.
I mean, he really loves to learn about it, probes and asked a lot of questions. He has that in common with Trump, by the way.
If you ever sit down with Trump just off, he will ask you nine questions before he gives you one statement. He's very probing. He likes to talk to people and makes decisions on the basis of this ongoing dialogue that he has with people.
And JD has that similar quality. He likes to learn a lot about things. Obviously, very smart, comes from a very unique background. It's amazing the road he's traveled to get to this point.
I'm a huge fan of his and always will really work very well together very closely in the Senate. And, I think he's a very good choice for him. I really do. They have a lot of chemistry between them as well.
So, I think he's going to be a really good vice president as well for the president. I mean, you guys should not make -- just think back where we are today six weeks ago, it's such a different race. Think of what has happened the last six years or 10 years.
So, to predict anything beyond that at this point is folly, other than to say that JD was going to be in the mix no matter what because of how talented he is.
TAPPER: Senator Marco Rubio, Republican of Florida, enjoy your good seats there --
RUBIO: Thank you.
TAPPER: -- either in the Presidents box or Florida has.
RUBIO: You know, I hate these things. I feel like I work at McDonald's, you know but --
TAPPER: I'll have a large fries. Thank you so much, sir. We appreciate you.
We are getting closer and closer to what could be a defining speech for Donald Trump. Stay right here. See it live along with the closing celebration at this convention. There might be a few balloons.
We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[20:32:05]
COOPER: And welcome back. We are closing in on one of the most significant speeches of Donald Trump's political career. The former president now in the arena preparing to accept his party's nomination for a third time in eight years. Now, all of this obviously playing out as the turmoil in the Democratic Party is escalating.
I want to go straight to CNN's Jeff Zeleny with new reporting on the thinking in Biden world amid growing pressure for the president to bow out of the race. Jeff Zeleny, what is the latest you're hearing?
JEFF ZELENY, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Well, Anderson, we are hearing, talking to a variety of advisers to President Biden and the campaign, even as we're here at the Republican Convention, that this is a new moment in this decision making process for President Biden. This is still his decision to make.
But a Democratic governor said earlier today in a conversation that was relayed to me, that he said the next 72 hours are big. This can't go on much longer. So a variety of people, both inside and outside the campaign, acknowledge the President has been consuming all of this information, of course, hearing calls from Democratic lawmakers to reassess his candidacy.
Why? They believe that he simply cannot win in November. Of course, that's an open question, but they are worried about their seats as well. They are worried about being branded as dishonest by trying to keep rationalizing his argument. So, Anderson, the next three days will be significant.
We'll be watching them, of course. But the President in Delaware is increasingly isolated, and he's also isolated from his Democratic Party. Of course, he's recovering from COVID-19. But Vice President Kamala Harris was in North Carolina today. She picked up the mantle, really trying to draw a contrast with the Trump-Vance ticket, but all that's been taken away and overshadowed by President Biden's indecision.
So, keep your eye on what they are doing. Again, this Democratic governor said the next 72 hours are critical. Anderson?
COOPER: All right. Jeff, we'll check in with you throughout the night.
I want to bring back my panel, starting with John King. I mean, John, there's a lot of theories, a lot of thoughts. I mean, people commenting, swirling around not -- no names attached to it. Do we know -- I mean, is this information coming from the close inner circle, to Jeff Zeleny is saying that this is a very tight circle now?
KING: The entire Democratic Party is having a conversation, a family conversation, and then there are groups within the Democratic Party talking within their groups. Let me go through several different things.
To Jeff's point about the governors. I'm told the Democratic governors have had another phone call. Remember, they had the meeting at the White House with the president. That they have had another strategy call among themselves since, essentially making the point that what are we going to do if he doesn't get out? What next steps should we plan if he doesn't take the hint and get out? That's one, and that's a big one.
Number two, I'm told the First Lady has canceled an event planned on Sunday in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Now, the President is home sick with COVID, right? So, connecting dots there might not be the right, safe thing to do, but that's a fact. A big event in Michigan, Ann Arbor, student area, where the President is struggling. The First Lady's not going to do that event.
[20:35:08]
Fundraisers, I'm now told, him not only told the Biden campaign, we're done. We're not raising any more big money for you, but now they have told the democratic House and Senate campaign committees we are not raising any more money for you.
It was put to me, quote, "They believe if Joe is at the top of the ticket, the House and the Senate are gone too. They don't want to throw good money after bad." A senior House Democrat told me a few moments ago, yes, that card has been played. Donors essentially saying, get him to leave the race, or we're not giving you any money at all.
And I just want to show you, look at this graphic on the screen right now. This is where -- this is just the last week. Since one week ago to today, the Biden campaign has spent $8.8 million on television. Donald Trump's campaign has spent $33,000 on television. Nearly $9 million to $33,000. And Donald Trump has gone up in the polls every single day. So the donors are saying, why are we going to give you more money when you're spending money at that rate? The polls say what they say. And you cannot -- this is a hard one for the President. I spoke to a Democrat today who spoke to the President several days ago. He said he was digging it and defiant, had a talk with one of the three or four people closest to the President today who says now there's a sense of inevitability.
And if you don't have money, Anderson, you can't run a campaign. Whether you're the president of the United States or not.
COOPER: Abby, what do you --
PHILLIP: There is a conversation happening outside of the President and his inner circle, and the conversation happening inside the President's mind and in his inner circle is quite different.
President Biden -- this is according to multiple Democrats that I've spoken to today -- he is feeling assailed, obviously --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.
PHILLIP: -- by his own party. He is not convinced by any of this. He's not convinced by the poll numbers that John has reported on and talked about, that he's seen from from Democrats, including according to our reporting from Nancy Pelosi. He's unconvinced that the alternatives that are being talked about are realistic.
And he is still in a place where he does not see a reason for him to leave this race. But at the same time, what John is talking about with the donors is very real. And it's actually in some ways seems to be working against the purposes of people who want Joe Biden to step aside.
The donors are upping their pressure. They are frustrated. They're angry. They feel misled. They are telling individual races and the party committees that they don't want to spend any more money. But. President Biden, I'm told, feels like that is donor pressure. He's looking at the grassroots of his party and he's saying, they're still with me.
He's saying, my delegates are still with me and nobody can take my delegates away from me. So they are in a bind right now. Everybody's in a waiting game because there's only still, as we sit here right now, pressure, the pressure is what it is. But everyone knows only one person can make that decision.
And all -- and even as, inside of his campaign, a lot of his aides have moved -- they've moved toward Joe Biden needs to step out. Joe Biden is still not there yet.
COOPER: Kasie, what do you think?
HUNT: Yes, I would just say briefly -- I mean, I take all of Abby's points, and no one can know definitively, except the people in the room with him, what's in Joe Biden's head exactly right now. I will say there has been a noted shift in posture among the immediate circle that is around him.
People that are reaching out to that inner circle are receiving replies and kind of responses that are just notably different than the ones that they have and have received in previous weeks. And I don't think we can, you know, suppose what that means. But any shift like that in this kind of an environment is really noteworthy.
COOPER: David?
AXELROD: Yes, I kind of hang with -- I've hung with some of these people for a very long time. The general sense is that this thing is on a trajectory. I'm sure what Abby -- listen, Joe Biden is a very strong, defiant guy. He believes deeply in himself. He's defied the odds before.
And -- but the confluence of things that are coming in right now are very hard to overcome. And, yes, you can deny the polls and say, well, I don't believe two-thirds of Democrats want me to drop out. You can deny the fundraising numbers until the plane can't get gassed up.
And I don't think anybody wants it to come to that point. I think this weekend he's going to hear not from -- not just from people outside his camp, but inside his camp. By the one last point about this, we talked about the fact that the president isn't going to mention Joe Biden tonight. And yes, that may serve his purposes in terms of softening his approach, but it also is, it reflects the fact, as I've said here the last few nights --
KING: Right.
AXELROD: -- they don't want to knock Joe Biden out of the race. And there's a reason for that.
COOPER: I want to place something that Senator Jeff Coons -- or sorry, Chris Coons said to Wolf Blitzer earlier today on our air.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Is he even considering it leaving?
SEN. CHRIS COONS (D), DELAWARE: Look, I think he weighs very seriously the input of those he trusts and admires, those who've served with him. And beyond that, I'm not going to get into the details, Wolf.
[20:40:06]
I think he deserves the respect of being able to reflect on this moment.
BLITZER: Does he even considering leaving the race?
COONS: Wolf, if I haven't spoken to him in the last few days. I shouldn't speak to that without direct knowledge.
(END VIDEO CLIP) COOPER: John King, I just want to ask you, because we just ran a graphic and it's based on this reporting from MJ Lee saying that senior most West Wing advisers, the President tells CNN Thursday night, they have had no discussions amongst themselves or with Biden about the President dropping out of the race. How do you -- that sounds like they're not talking to him.
KING: Well, that's what the campaign is saying on the record. Look, obviously, the President's the candidate. The President gets this. How deep are those conversations? How deep is the pushback? I mean, just to give you a little context, you know, Chuck Schumer's office issued a statement the other night, unless your source is Joe Biden or Chuck Schumer, it's speculation.
That's a way of saying it's true. We're just not going to say it's true. Look, of course, one of the questions we've all had for three weeks now since the debate is how candid are the three or four people closest to the President being with him about this. And when he repeatedly, as you've seen in public interviews, Abby's right, in private conversations, he's saying, I can still do this.
I've been counted up before. I can come back. I'm still stronger than any other Democrat out there. That's what he says back to them. What we don't know is what they're saying back to him. But one of the things they are telling him now, because they're hearing words, is that people aren't going to show up at your convention.
They are publicly going to go out there next week and say, you have to go. Do you want to -- and you're not going to have any money. And so -- and can you --
PHILLIP: Yes.
KING: -- you know, yes, look, Joe Biden's stubbornness and resilience has been his greatest character trait. He has been told he lost in '87, he lost in 2008 -- '88, he ran in '87, '88, he's been told he was never going to be president, he's the president of the United States, right?
And so tip your hat to this man's resilience. But sometimes --
COOPER: Yes.
KING: -- what a lot of people are saying is sometimes your greatest strength, stubbornness, becomes your weakest.
COOPER: Van?
JONES: You know, dreams become nightmares and nightmares become dreams. You're watching a nightmare become a dream for Donald Trump. He has had a nightmarish summer with, you know, convictions and indictments and all kinds of stuff, almost got shot, and it's becoming a dream for him.
Biden's the opposite. The dream that he had for himself as a young man, to stand up and to rescue his country and move it in a positive direction, he actually delivered on that. He delivered on that. He did beat all those odds. He has done extraordinary things. He is an extraordinary man.
But by holding on too long, it's becoming a nightmare. And the donors who have written huge checks for him, I mean, the biggest checks are the ones who are stepping back. The smartest peers. Nancy Pelosi is a political genius. Chuck Schumer is a political genius. His peers are now turning on him. And he's now -- tonight he's sick.
He's sick and he's watching all this happen. And I think, it may take him a moment, but I believe he will get where he needs to go. This is a terrible, terrible moment for Joe Biden.
COOPER: As we get closer to Donald Trump's speech, wrestling star Hulk Hogan will be on stage picking up one of the big themes of the night. Trump as a fighter, that's ahead, along with a musical performance by Kid Rock.
CNN's live coverage of the Republican National Convention continues after a quick break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[20:47:09]
TAPPER: The stage is set for Donald Trump's acceptance speech on this final night of the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee Battleground, Wisconsin. You can hear the crowd behind me cheering for Tucker Carlson, the former Fox News personality now conservative. Voice of sorts who has just finished a speech.
Right now we're getting some new details about what the former president is planning to say as he prepares to address his party and the nation. And Kristen Holmes is here with us to provide us with the details. Kristen, tell us what you're learning.
KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Jake, it's not just what he's saying, but it's also what he's going to do when he takes the stage. He's going to have both a firefighter's helmet and jacket that belonged to Corey Comperatore, who was killed in that assassination attempt on Donald Trump in Butler, Pennsylvania on Saturday.
Comperatore was a former fire chief. His viewing was today. Donald Trump was not able to make it. He's speaking tonight, but obviously this goes to what we know that Donald Trump is going to talk about this focus on what happened on Saturday.
And it's not just walking through these events step by step and this assassination attempt, but it's also focusing on the fact that he feels lucky to be alive. That he believes that there's some form of divine intervention. Donald Trump is not a religious man. He is not even a spiritual man.
But we are told by people around him that he has said over and over again that the only reason he believes that he survived something like this was because he turned his head. He was looking at a chart and he believes that that was because something, some higher spirit encouraged him to do so.
Now, again, this is what we are told he is going to really double down on in the speech tonight. We actually heard a clip of him earlier today talking about how an experience like this brings you closer to God, makes you feel like you understand God more. Obviously, we will wait and see what Donald Trump does when he takes the stage.
TAPPER: All right, Kristen Holmes, thanks so much. And we are, of course, covering the Republican National Convention here, but there is a lot of drama on the other side of the aisle as well with so many Democratic elected officials coming forward and telling President Biden they do not think he should be seeking reelection.
Most of them are conveying the message privately, or thinking it, but not saying it publicly. But increasingly, there have been Republican elected officials willing to come forward. And tonight, we just got news that Senator Jon Tester, a Democrat from Montana, the senior senator, he is up for re-election. He is in a tough re-election battle. And he has come forward.
He has issued a statement that says, "Montanans have put their trust in me to do what is right. And it's a responsibility I take seriously. I've worked with President Biden when it has made Montana stronger, and I've never been afraid to stand up to him when he is wrong. And while I appreciate his commitment to public service in our country, I believe President Biden should not seek re-election to another term."
That is only the second Democratic senator to say such a thing publicly. But Dana Bash and Chris Wallace, he assuredly is not only the second Democratic senator to think that.
[20:50:07]
BASH: That's right, and he is the first who is in a very tough re- election battle. He will be on the ballot just as Joe Biden right now is in November. And Jon Tester is from one of the most conservative red states in the nation. He is kind of a name brand there, which is why he has been able to survive and thrive, even though he is a D in front of his name.
But obviously, even he thinks that it is too much and too detrimental, maybe not just for him, but for the country and for the presidency. He is one of three Democratic senators that we reported a couple of weeks ago in a private meeting among Senate Democrats who said already he did not think that Joe Biden could win the White House. So it is significant. I mean, Jake, at this point, it is death by a thousand cuts.
WALLACE: What's so interesting, Jake, is that clearly there was a huge feeling on the part of Democratic officials, particularly on Capitol Hill, that they wanted this to happen in a graceful way, and they wanted Joe Biden to go, but to go with dignity.
And so, they tried so hard to do this behind the scenes in private meetings, whether it was Hakeem Jeffries, the Democratic leader in the House, or Chuck Schumer, the Democratic leader in the Senate, Nancy Pelosi. But Joe Biden refuses to get the message.
And so the fact that you're beginning to see more and more people, Adam Schiff yesterday, very important Democrat in the House and a close ally of Nancy Pelosi, Jon Tester in a key race this November. My guess is that once this convention ends, if the word from Delaware is that Joe Biden is still digging in his heels, you're going to start to see a murmur, and then a chorus, and then a flood of people going out in public and saying, Joe must go, which is, of course, one of the lines here at this convention.
They're -- if he's not going to go with dignity, they just are going to want him to go.
TAPPER: I wonder if that ship has sailed. I mean, the idea of going with dignity, the way the Democrat, Democratic elected officials describe it to me. President Biden is like the Bruce Willis character in 'the Sixth Sense". He's the only one who doesn't know of his demise. He's the only one who doesn't know it's over.
But speaking of godly things, let's turn back to Kristen Holmes' reporting a second ago where she was talking about how President Trump apparently, and we'll hear what he says about this in just a few minutes, believes that perhaps there was some sort of divine intervention. I'm -- that's -- I'm paraphrasing, but the idea that he turned his head at that last second and that's the only the reason why he wasn't killed, it is remarkable and obviously near death experiences have profound effects on individuals.
BASH: Yes, absolutely. It is so interesting to hear those words. You heard him speak about it, I think it was today or yesterday, a little bit as Kristen alluded to, given the fact that when he was in the White House, he was certainly in our lifetime. The President who went to church the least, he was never a particularly spiritual person and really privately, I wouldn't say he had disdain for it, but he didn't understand it.
Which has always been odd given the fact that in recent years, some of his most ardent supporters are not only sort of evangelical, deeply religious. And I have talked to many of them in various states where they were going out for him and are still going out for him, they genuinely believe that he was sent here by God. And so the fact that he is now seeing that and is going to make that connection, I can't even imagine how the room here and the delegates here are going to eat that up.
WALLACE: You know, he's going to get a very receptive audience for that, as Dana mentions. It's been so interesting. There have been a few speakers at this convention who have said they came after him, they tried to bankrupt him, they put him in jail, they even tried to kill him without saying who they is.
But the vast majority of the speakers, in the sense you get on the floor, is exactly what Dana says, which is that this is divine providence. This was an act of God, and several of the most people who I think had the greatest impact, said God isn't finished with Donald Trump and wants him to be the president. And that's why he intervened in that field in Pennsylvania on Saturday.
I -- look, the idea of him out here with the firefighter who's died Helmut (ph), this is going to be an extraordinarily emotional and powerful scene, and it'll get a very receptive audience, particularly to the degree that he weighs into the spiritual aspect of this.
[20:55:01]
TAPPER: It will be interesting, no doubt. We're about to hear from a woman named Annette Albright. She's an EDA. That's what we call here, Every Day Americans, an EDA. That's what the campaign and the Republican National Convention is calling them EDA.
Annette Albright, she is a former teacher, somebody who's frustrated with how Democrats have failed the African-American community. And she is -- it's interesting how they have sprinkled these EDAs throughout the convention. Let's listen in.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: -- from North Carolina.
(APPLAUSE)
ANNETTE ALBRIGHT, FORMER TEACHER & FORMER CORRECTIONS OFFICER: Thank you. Thank you so much. Good evening. My name is Annette Albright. I grew up in the small town of Mount Airy, North Carolina. North Carolina!
(APPLAUSE)
ALBRIGHT: Like my parents and my grandparents, I was a lifelong member of the Democrat Party. Don't worry, the story gets better from here.
(APPLAUSE)
ALBRIGHT: After completing a degree in criminal justice, I started a career working with the North Carolina Department of Corrections. I left my job in the criminal justice system to work for Charlotte- Mecklenburg School District, to engage our youth before they got stuck in the system. It didn't take long for me to realize that public schools are a part of the problem.
(APPLAUSE)
ALBRIGHT: Sadly, too many of our schools are more like prisons than places of learning. That must change.
(APPLAUSE)
ALBRIGHT: In one public high school, I witnessed a full blown riot. I saw many violent altercations between students and physical attacks on staff. During my 14 years working with the Department of Public Safety, offenders never laid a hand on me, yet I was violently assaulted by a group of students in a public high school.
(BOOING)
ALBRIGHT: The uptick in school violence was related to an Obama-Biden policy that directed schools to reduce suspension rates and keep dangerous students in the classroom.
(BOOING)
ALBRIGHT: President Trump reversed the Obama policy and put the safety of our kids first.
(APPLAUSE)
ALBRIGHT: Violence on public school campuses should not be a Democrat issue, it should not be a Republican issue, it is an American people issue.
(APPLAUSE)
ALBRIGHT: Sadly, I've repeatedly seen that the Democrat Party cares more about appeasing the teachers union, that they do about prioritizing the needs of our kids.
(APPLAUSE)
ALBRIGHT: They champion safe spaces instead of safe schools. This is completely wrong.
(APPLAUSE)
ALBRIGHT: Little by little, I begin to see the truth. While Democrats spend more money on a broken system, Republicans are empowering parents and fighting for school choice.
(APPLAUSE)
ALBRIGHT: While Democrats think school resource officers are a threat to our students, Republicans know that they protect our kids.
(APPLAUSE)
