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Harris Considered Heir Apparent If Biden Steps Down; Warning Signs Missed Before Assassination Attempt; Airlines, Banks, Hospitals, 911 Services Hit By Global Tech Outage. Aired 9-10a ET

Aired July 20, 2024 - 09:00   ET

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

REP. SHEILA JACKSON LEE (D-TX): -- want Juneteenth to be part of America's history over and over again. And so that when little children begin to study their early history, they can study Juneteenth as part of America's focus. And I -- if get that done, I can tell you that it will truly be a dream come true.

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN ANCHOR: Her family said in a statement that she will be dearly missed. But her legacy will continue to inspire all who believe in freedom, justice and democracy. Sheila Jackson Lee was 74 years old.

Thanks for being with me. Smerconish starts now.

[09:00:42]

MICHAEL SMERCONISH, CNN ANCHOR: So what's it's going to take? I'm, Michael Smerconish in Philadelphia.

I can think of only one more shoe to drop for President Biden's precarious candidacy, the delegates. Directly or through their silence, we've already heard from every other foundation of the Democratic Party, the leadership, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, the intelligencia, "The New York Times" editorial page, the "Washington Post" editorial page, David Ignatius as recline, Nate Silver. The members, four Democratic senators now and more than 30 Democratic House members have called for him to step aside. It's hard to keep up with all the announcements.

Yesterday, Congressman Seth Moulton of Massachusetts published a heartfelt essay in the Boston Globe. Moulton said that he treasured the President as a mentor and friend, someone who was vice president would invite him to breakfast at the official residence and teach them about Congress. But on the 80th anniversary of D-Day, he saw the President in a small group at Normandy, and quote, "for the first time he didn't recognize me."

Soon thereafter came to the debate at which we all watched Moulton's reflection was reminiscent of George Clooney coming forward post- debate to share what he'd witnessed two weeks prior at a Hollywood fundraiser that he had hosted. Clooney shared that essay pre- publication with President Obama who apparently didn't talk him out of its publication.

Politico reported yesterday that the party has, quote, "run out of patience and believes a decisive moment is now at hand." The President faces a mountain of polling data which shows him trailing Donald Trump in all the battleground states and frozen campaign funds.

An AP poll released this week shows that two thirds of Democrats, two thirds of Democrats want him replaced, a finding that totally belies the President's assertion that this is only the sentiment of party elites. Against this backdrop, NBC reporting that Biden family members have discussed what an exit might look like.

That's an extraordinary development given the repeated denials from the President, from his campaign, and the White House of any prospect of him standing down. As recently as Friday, the President released a statement that he will return to the campaign trail next week. With the Democratic Convention less than five weeks away, it feels like it's building to a crescendo. Uncharted waters lie ahead, not the least of which is who and how would he be replaced.

The "New York Times" reports that before the debate, Biden told confidence that he had a far better chance to beat Trump than Vice President Kamala Harris. Polling shows her approval rating is about as abysmal as his. So, will he endorse her? A blue labs draft memo obtained by Politico showed four Democrats running stronger against Trump in swing states than Biden or Harris, Senator Mark Kelly, governors West Moore, Josh Shapiro, and Gretchen Whitmer. I've long believed the best way to pick the Democratic nominee is to see the party A listers on the same stage.

James Carville suggested town halls in every region in the country. George Clooney said likewise. A Georgetown law professor at a venture capitalist proposed a so called blitz primary. They envision weekly forums moderated by cultural icons like Michelle Obama, Oprah, even Taylor Swift. Congressman James Clyburn has said that if Biden steps aside, a mini primary would be appropriate.

And Politico now reports that, "In a meeting with fellow California Democrats just last week, former Speaker Nancy Pelosi stressed the need for an open process to choose the party's next nominee if President Biden steps aside in an effort to avoid the appearance of a Kamala Harris coronation."

Still, there are several reasons why Biden might not go with the competition idea and instead endorse Harris. First, he might appreciate her on the merits, and believe that after three and a half years as his vice president, she's best suited for the job. Second, it's Harris, who could most easily control the $91 million dollars the campaign has on hand which when including allied Democratic organizations, grows to 240 million. Third, Biden might still be smarting over the way he was treated as vice president by President Obama and not want to repeat the slight. He was discouraged by Obama from running in 2016 and in 2020 Obama didn't endorse Biden until Biden was the last man standing.

[09:05:14] And there's another more fraught reason, Biden might be inclined to endorse Harris. He might feel beholden to endorse a candidate who could be the nation's first female president and a woman of color. The President has continued to draw political strength from the minority community, the same constituency that turned around his then more urban 2020 campaign in South Carolina's primary.

So, what might break the apparent impasse? Those delegates. It's quite remarkable to me that they are the only democratic constituency we've not yet heard from. But they could have some leverage, they could conceivably determine the outcome. Convention rule 13 J says this, "Delegates elected to the National Convention pledged to a presidential candidate shall in all good conscience reflect the sentiments of those who elected them." No wonder then that the Biden campaign has been working the phones and trying to prevent what could be the final rebellion.

The nation has wondered who would win the tug of war between the President and the Democratic leaders, the two sides are engaged in mutual assured destruction. This is a moment of ugliness unparalleled in modern American political history. And ultimately, it seems it can only end in the President's eventual capitulation, because in a democratic system, governance depends on the consent of the governed. That consent is gone. Now among Democrats when President Biden eventually accepts that reality. A new nominee will be left to cobble together the remains for what both sides regard as the existential mission of defeating President Trump.

I want to know what you think. Go to my website right now at smerconish.com. Answer today's poll question, is Kamala Harris now the strongest candidate the Democrats can field?

Joining me now is Jatia Wrighten, an assistant professor of political science at Virginia Commonwealth University, and Amie Parnes, Senior Political Correspondent for The Hill where she wrote this piece published today, "Democrats' stalemate over Biden candidacy escalates."

Amy, thanks for being here. You say, quote, "He's dug in," meaning the president. What's the very latest?

AMIE PARNES, SENIOR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT, THE HILL: The latest is he still dug in Michael. I mean, I think this is why we're at a stalemate. You have both sides pushing really hard. You saw what happened this week with the former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. A lot of people think that she has been working quietly behind the scenes.

A lot of people are convinced that President Obama, his silence speaks for, you know, for everyone as well. And so you have all of these forces kind of pushing and pulling, and here we are. But the thing is -- the big question is, how long can this last?

And I think you're right when you say that President Obama -- President Biden has said for years, you know, he said it in 2020 that he's the only one who can beat Trump. He's saying it again to allies. He say, look, I've been tested, I beat him. I'm the only one who can beat him. And he's convinced himself and everyone around him of that.

And then I think he thinks that, you know, if Kamala Harris is going to go in and she's tied with him in the polls, that he might as well run anyway. He's been tested, he's the president, he has an agenda, a successful agenda, a lot of people have said, so why not? So this is where we are.

SMERCONISH: Dr. Wrighten, in your opinion, can the vice president defeat Donald Trump?

JATIA WRIGHTEN, ASSISTANT PROFESSOR OF POLITICAL SCIENCE VIRGINIA COMMONWEALTH UNIVERSITY: Well, the Vice President has already defeated Donald Trump. That's how she was elected vice president.

SMERCONISH: Right. But do you think if she's the presidential candidate, she can defeat President Trump?

WRIGHTEN: In this political climate, that is not possible. But it has nothing to do with Vice President Harris's ability to do the job. It has more to do with the fact that as a black woman and a woman of color, she's going to face obstacles that her opponent would not face. So she's going to face discrimination, sexism due to her race and her sex. And those are obstacles that are manmade, but those are the obstacles that she's going to have to contend with.

SMERCONISH: So if that's your assessment that she can't beat Trump for those wrong reasons, right, because I think you're in part saying the country wouldn't vote for a woman of color, should she nevertheless be the nominee if President Biden decides he's not going to run?

WRIGHTEN: I think in a -- right now where we stand, the Democratic Party says that they stand for the democratic process, that they're protecting the democratic institutions. If that's the case, really, this is -- really shouldn't be a conversation on whether or not Biden is going to bow out. During the primary season 14 million Americans voted for Joe Biden as the presidential candidate and Kamala Harris as the vice president. So, really what we're really talking about is if we are saying or if the Democratic Party is saying that we value a democracy and its institutions, we need to honor the process. And so at this point, I'm not certain as to why the question is if he bows out, because there is no democratic process that really answers that question.

[09:10:26]

SMERCONISH: Right. But one more follow up with you and then I'll go back to Amie, but you've seen the polling data, two thirds of Democrats are saying that they don't think he should be the standard bearer. You've got now all of the Democratic leadership, essentially on record as saying, likewise. I think President Obama by his public silence is also probably a factor in all of this. You can't turn away from all that information, can you?

WRIGHTEN: I mean, I think what it comes down to is who's going to vote -- who's going to mobilize? And what I think we continue to forget is that, you know, in 2020 90 percent of black women came out to vote. And we know that when black women mobilize and vote, that they really can turn the tide of elections, whether that be at the national or the state level. And one thing that we also know is that when you're talking about an oppressed group, they know what's at stake, and a black women know what's at stake if Donald Trump wins a second term. So the question -- yes, in terms of polling, I think polling is important, but I also think what it comes down to is whether or not we mobilize voters to turn out to vote on Election Day.

So we know that, you know, polling is only so efficient, so far, right? It has -- it's something sort of like a snapshot in time. But looking at the trajectory, we know that those are not always reliable. And we should be thinking about what does that mean, and should we be basing our ideas about democracy on polling? And I also agree with this idea that in some ways, you know, Biden suggests that it's a very elitist view, right?

We talk -- we're talking about the Democratic leadership. We're not talking about some of these, like everyday voters and everyday people that will in turn, turn out to vote for --

SMERCONISH: Right. But -- I'm sure that's what -- that is what President -- Amie, that is what President Biden is saying through his representatives. But it's not two thirds of elites who were polled by the AP and NORC, it's two thirds of Democrats. I think my conversation with Jatia explains, Jatia explains just how complicated, Amie Parnes, this all becomes should he decide he's not going to run, right?

PARNES: Yes, it becomes much more complicated. And you're hearing already, I mean, there is -- the party is divided. And then if this happens, if he decides to step down, there's the potential of it being even more so divided for a little while because there are lots of people who feel like Kamala Harris, this is her right to be the nominee that she was campaigning with, that she was his vice president, she deserves this. And then there's this other school of thought that an open convention is what's needed, donors in particular. I've been told by so many donors are really pushing this idea.

They want -- they don't believe she can win. They want an open convention. They think that that's the best way. They think that can generate excitement. But then you're hearing a lot of pushback too from lawmakers. AOC came out yesterday saying, look, an open convention would be a disaster.

And plus, Michael, you add in we're running out of time, this is 100 days almost till the election. It takes time to organize, it takes time to build name recognition if Kamala Harris is going to pick someone. It takes time to build, you know, a ground game. And so I think this is worrisome and problematic for a lot of Democrats as they see this at the time.

SMERCONISH: So I'll take the final word and say, if you build it, will they come? You've heard me say I like in the abstract the idea of a mini primary. I'll take Congressman Clyburn's words, or a blitz primary. But if the vice president is one of those candidates, and we all expect that she would be, are any of the other so called A listers is Josh Shapiro really going to want to come forward? Is Gavin Newsom going to want to come?

Are they really going to get on that stage with her or in the end, does she win by acclamation?

Thank you both. I appreciate you both. That's an interesting conversation. So, I'm glad you were here.

What are your thoughts? Hit me up on social media? I'll read some responses throughout the course of the program. From the world of YouTube. What do we have?

Fine line here. I think he has to endorse her. Pick a white male for VP.

I'm sure it's a decision that -- well, I mean, there's a fundamental decision that the President is wrestling with. And assuming he decides that for the reasons I articulated at the outset that he's not going to stay in, the next important question is, does he endorse her or does he not endorse her. If he endorses her she becomes the candidate. Even without his endorsement, for all the reasons that Dr. Wrighten and I were just having that conversation, is anyone else willing to get in on such an expedited basis and compete with her? I don't know but I think this week is going to be a critical week.

[09:15:14]

I want to know what you think. Go to my website at smerconish.com. Answer today's poll question. Is Kamala Harris now the strongest candidate the Democrats can field?

Up ahead a video timeline of the assassination attempt on President Trump's life is a damning indictment of a dereliction of duty. So says Gerald Posner who has written the definitive books on both the JFK and Martin Luther King assassinations. He's here to explain. Make sure you're signing up for my free daily newsletter when you're casting your vote. You'll get exclusive content from illustrators such as Jack Ohman, the Pulitzer Prize winner.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:20:17]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: When I heard a loud whizzing sound and felt something hit me really, really hard, there was blood pouring everywhere and yet, in a certain way, I felt very safe because I had God on my side. I raised my right arm looked at the 1000s and 1000s of people that were breathlessly waiting and started shouting, fight, fight, fight.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SMERCONISH: Former President Trump at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee reliving the terrifying moments after he was shot at a campaign rally last Saturday. Lawmakers on Capitol Hill now asking the Secret Service how they could have missed so many warning signs. The 20-year-old gunman visited the location of Trump's rally in Butler, Pennsylvania twice before he carried out his plan. The first time was a week before the event. The second time was the morning of.

Investigators now believe the gunman flew a drone over the rally's location to familiarize himself with the terrain. The shooter eventually went home, returned with his father's AR-15 rifle and opened fire into the crowd striking former President Trump's ear and killing Cory Comperatore, a former fire chief who shielded his family from the bullets. Secret Service agents immediately took down the gunman. New details in the timeline leading up to the failed assassination attempt are now revealing major lapses by the Secret Service. About three hours before the shooting, the gunman was spotted acting suspiciously near the magnetometers at the security screening area.

The gunman was carrying a device that hunters use for long distance shooting. That information was passed along to the service. Video obtained by WTAE captured him lurking just past the secured perimeter of the rally for more than an hour. About 19 minutes before the shooting, officers had lost track of the gunman's whereabouts until he was seen climbing on the roof outside the security perimeter. Trump took the stage at about 6:05 p.m. without his team knowing about a suspicious mail identified by law enforcement multiple times with a hunting device.

Many lawmakers like Senator Kevin Cramer now asking the obvious question.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. KEVIN CRAMER (R-ND): The counter sniper team was aware of a threat on the rooftop 150 yards from the stage knowing identifying a potential threat of a person on a rooftop with a rangefinder. How is he -- you let Donald Trump get on the stage?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SMERCONISH: At 6:09, several rally attendees noticed a gunman on the roof or a nearby building for at least a minute and 57 seconds and flagged it to police.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, look, there he is.

TRUMP: It's not easy because we have millions and millions of people in our country shouldn't be here.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Officer.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (Inaudible).

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (Inaudible).

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Climb up here. He's on the roof. He's (inaudible). Right here. Right on the roof.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SMERCONISH: Local police officers were apparently inside and around the same building the gunman used to position himself about 150 yards from the events podium. With only a few seconds left before all hell broke loose, a man in the crowd yelled out a potential threat.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (Bleep), he's got a gun. (Bleep) (bleep).

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He's on the roof. You got to get him. (Bleep).

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SMERCONISH: The scene erupted into chaos after the former president was shot and fell to the ground Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle now facing several questions about the security breach.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Was that perimeter too small?

KIMBERLY CHEATLE, U.S. SECRET SERVICE DIRECTOR: The perimeter encompassed the area that we needed to secure for the event that we had on that day. What happened is a terrible incident and should never happen. And we are obviously going to make sure that moving forward we take whatever lessons we -- that come out of this and adjust accordingly.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SMERCONISH: Joining me now is Gerald Posner. He's a Pulitzer Prize finalist Forbes contributor, "New York Times" bestselling author of "Case Closed, Lee Harvey Oswald and the Assassination of JFK" and "Killing the Dream, James Earl Ray and the Assassination of Martin Luther King Jr." His new piece is called "A Dereliction of Duty, Serious Problems with the Shooting Timeline."

Gerald, let's begin with that perimeter that Director Cheatle just referenced. I'm putting on the screen a map of the location. My God, how the perch used by the gunman was not within the inner ring of that security perimeter is mind boggling. Your thoughts?

GERALD POSNER, AUTHOR, "CASE CLOSED LEE HARVEY OSWALD AND THE ASSASSINATION OF JFK": You're absolutely right, Michael. Look, you know, I've studied security for Secret Service both on the Kennedy and King assassinations and later on Ronald Reagan and the attempted shooting of Gerald Ford, this is the greatest breach and dropping of the ball in terms of Secret Service Security I've ever seen. And it starts with what you just said, they go out there, as you know, a day beforehand, and they start to look at areas that could be vulnerable where a shooter could be located, then they draw perimeter line, which means more security inside, you get check for a gun if you come in there, and a little less security outside. And how that building with a direct line of sight to the stage only 130 yards away, you know, a third less than Oswald was shooting it in essence at John F. Kennedy in 1963, how that wasn't included. I just don't understand that.

[09:25:43]

SMERCONISH: I never heard it expressed that way before, a third less than Oswald had with Kennedy. Let's run through some of the other evidence. This video of the rally attendees, can we play that again for Gerald and hear his analysis, as they're flagging what they are seeing, roll the tape, and Gerald, you react?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There he is tight there.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Where?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Right there. You see him?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

POSNER: Yes. You can see the shooter there on the far left hand corner of the roof. There's a figure laying down there. And then --

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What's happening?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

POSNER: What's happening? There's somebody on the tape asking the question everyone's wondering.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, look, there he is.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

POSNER: And then people point out again to the roof where you couldn't speak crops on the roof, actually changing his position from his right side to rolling on his stuff out getting ready for the shooting.

SMERCONISH: And, Gerald, I'm wondering where are law enforcement at this moment. We have a still image. As you can see the shooter repositioning himself. Put the still image up. I think what I'm seeing there as law enforcement, you know, right on the cusp of the building itself.

POSNER: Yes, you know, Michael, so we now know there are 22 Secret Service agents there at that rally, and that include the Cypress teams and 30 to 40 state police. The local police that come from Butler County, there were seven who were really doing traffic control and one sniper. We're not sure if that's a state policeman or local. But they're right at that building. And inside the building is sort of the counter sniper team that Butler County Emergency Services has. They're looking out the windows to see if they see anyone from their line of sight that might be a threat to the president when the threat to the president is on the roof directly above them. You couldn't make this up in a movie.

SMERCONISH: Is part of the problem that the left hand and the right hand are not in communication? I once did advance work for Vice President George Herbert Walker Bush, there were countdown meetings, everybody was in the same room. It was a different era. We didn't have the technology of communications that we have today. But I'm getting the impression that although these folks are shouting out the bystanders what they see, maybe they're telling law enforcement who are not relaying it to the Secret Service, your thoughts?

POSNER: No, you're absolutely right. First of all, there is a communications channel that is run from a central command post. And if somebody jumps on that communications channel and yells gun, it's supposed to go out immediately to the close protection. The Secret Service near the stage of the candidate and they hear gun and their immediate reaction is supposed to rush the candidate, no matter what else happens and lock (ph) the candidate to the forum, make sure they're protected and get them out of there. That never happens.

And the key here, Michael, is notwithstanding everything that happens beforehand. At 5:51, Secret Service identifies this as a person of interest. They put them on their little radar. And at 5:53, two minutes later, they notify the snipers. That's the report that was coming out of a Senate confidential hearing the other day together with the Secret Service head.

And then seven minutes later, the Secret Service OK's Trump to take the stage. He goes on at 6:03. So what I want to know is how is it that you notify the sniper teams that you might have a possible suspect of interest somewhere on the grounds and seven minutes later you OK the president to go on? That's really the left hand not knowing what the right hand is doing.

SMERCONISH: Gerald, thank you for your analysis. You're the one that I wanted to hear from. I appreciate you.

POSNER: Thank you, Michael.

SMERCONISH: Social media reaction from the world of X, I believe. What do we have? It says this. The level of incompetence is stunning. Why is the Secret Service not holding press conferences?

Oh my god. That is my point. After every catastrophe we see our elected officials and different agency heads, you know, standing in parkas and sweatshirts and so forth with the insignia of the state or the agency. Where is that press conference? Where is the opportunity for all of them so that they can't finger point to be standing in front of us on one stage?

And by the way, if any member of any of those investigative agencies takes issue with our timeline presentation, it's your fault, because you haven't come out and told the public what the public needs to know. It's been a week we have a right to know. In the end we're going to find out. And what you're doing and I hate to be so negative and condemning of law enforcement because I'm a great supporter of law enforcement. I'm talking about the public relations aspect of this.

I think Director Cheatle -- I'm looking at you and I'm saying, you're responsible for the internet going nuts with all of these crazy conspiracy theories. You want to rein them in? Then tell us what the facts are. Otherwise, they're going to run rampant. It's terrible.

I want to remind you, go to my Web site and vote on today's poll question. Is Kamala Harris the strongest candidate now that the Democrats can field?

Still to come, your social media reaction to my commentary, should Biden hand this to Harris? And global chaos as the world struggles to recover from a massive tech the outage. Serious questions about how this could happen. Former counterterrorism czar, national security expert, Richard Clarke, is here to explain.

Remember, vote at Smerconish.com. Sign-up as well for the daily newsletter. You'll get the work of some of our prize-winning artists, including Scott Stantis of the "Dallas Morning News" and the "Chicago Tribune." "Passing the Torch," he titles it.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:35:55]

SMERCONISH: Hey, you can find me on all the usual social media platforms and via my Web site. Here's some of the reaction that people have come in with.

How dare you and the other elite millionaires discount my primary vote. How can you say we live in a democracy but at the same time tell me you voted for him? He had the most votes, but we want somebody else. I'm over you all hypocrites.

Nikki P, if the objective for Democrats, and I'm not one, is to defeat Donald Trump, then aren't you -- first of all, I'm mindful now of what a professor said to me in a government class, my freshman seminar at Lehigh University, Dr. Frank Colon, give him a shout out. He's gone. He said, remember this, political parties exist for one purpose to win. Never lost sight of that, to win.

What is the objective of the Democratic Party? Like the Republican Party, it is to win. So, faced with what everyone has seen, 50 million watched that debate, and the data, and the intelligentsia of the party, can you really say it's the elites when two-thirds of Democrats told the "Associated Press" and NORC that they think that he needs to be replaced for all the reasons we're familiar with?

And how will you feel on November 6th if you wake up and your objective is to defeat Donald Trump and instead it's Trump who has been elected? It won't be the fault of all of those who pointed out what your naked eyes can see. It will be those who retreated with their heads in the sand, who will then say, my god, the signs were all there. Why didn't we make a switch?

What else came in in terms of social media thus far during the course of the program? Unfortunately, no she's not the strongest candidate. And Black women might sit it out if she isn't at the top of the ticket. But I think Shapiro or Beshear would win easily.

Well, Rhonda, that's -- that's the dynamic that I was discussing with Dr. Wrighten. You know, does she deserve it on the merits? How will she be perceived?

I happen to think it would be the best interest of the vice president or anyone who emerges from the process to make it competitive. Otherwise, it's going to look like a coronation.

And in the same way that some say, jeez, did she really earn it in 2020? She dropped out of that election before a single vote was cast. Biden selected her nonetheless because he had said in advance that he wanted it to be a woman. I think you can put to rest a lot of that scuttlebutt by having a shortened process.

The Brits had about this much time and they ran a full election. Democrats could get it done before the convention.

Still to come, the global cyber outage, it hit airlines, it hit banks, businesses, even emergency services. According to one cybersecurity expert, this could be the largest IT outage in history.

Might it happen again? Could it be worse? The nation's first cyber czar, Richard Clarke, will join me after the break.

Keep voting on today's poll question at Smerconish.com. Is Vice President Kamala Harris now the strongest candidate the Democrats can field?

Subscribe to the newsletter when you're voting. You'll get editorial cartoons like this. Come on that is a hell of a cartoon. Rob Rogers drew that.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:43:34]

SMERCONISH: Hey, quick time out. My producer Catherine just got in my ear and she said, your social media is blowing up with conspiracy theories about last Saturday.

And something just occurred to me. I have a name for you. Ready for this? Andrew Cuomo, Andrew Cuomo.

Do you remember in the midst of COVID every single day he would face the media and he would have a press conference and he would reveal whatever they knew at the time relative to COVID? That's what is needed right now by all branches of the government investigating the assassination attempt of former President Trump. Every day, they should be in front of the cameras and answering all questions so as to put to rest some of the craziness. That's my idea. Where's Andrew Cuomo?

Airlines, and banks, casinos, package deliveries, and emergency services around the world, recovering today from what could be the largest tech outage in history. The root cause was linked back to a software update issued by a U.S. based cybersecurity firm called CrowdStrike.

The global glitch caused many computers using Microsoft's Windows operating system to crash and triggered more than 5,000 U.S. flight cancellations on Friday. 911 -- 911 services down in multiple states and impacted banks in the U.K., South Africa, New Zealand, and Australia.

Hackers took advantage of the chaos by building phony websites that offered solutions to the outage but in reality were designed to steal a user's data and breach their devices.

[09:45:02]

CrowdStrike CEO says the underlying issue was fixed and confirmed with a senior White House official that the outage was not caused by a malicious attacker. Joining me now is Richard Clarke, the nation's first cyber czar, former White House counterterrorism coordinator, special adviser to three previous U.S. presidents. He is co-author of "Cyber War: The Next Threat to National Security and What to Do About It," and "The Fifth Domain: Defending Our Country, Our Companies, Ourselves in the Age of Cyber Threats."

Richard Clarke, welcome back. Do you buy the explanation we've been provided?

RICHARD CLARKE, FORMER WHITE HOUSE COUNTERTERRORISM COORDINATOR: Yes, Michael, I do. I've talk to enough people in affected companies and enough cyber experts around the country. I think the explanation is true, but what it reveals is a shocking lack of quality assurance on the part of CrowdStrike. And that's a larger policy issue, which is if we're going to rely on these companies, shouldn't they have to have some standards that they live up to or be liable? They're not liable. You can't sue them. They make sure of that.

So, if you are a critical software that the world depends on you need to have some regulation of your quality. Look, we all need constant software updates, but there are ways to do it. One, test the damn thing before you push it out. Number two, don't send it out to everybody at the same time. That gives us another test.

And number three have some ability to roll it back. The problem that we have now is people have to go around to each individual computer and open it up and roll it back. There ought to be a way, a safe secure way of rolling back software updates when they're a mistake.

We've seen this happened many, many times. It's about time we fix it. And for larger enterprises --

SMERCONISH: How likely that it happens again? CLARKE: Oh, it will happen again. It will happen again. It may not be CrowdStrike this time, but it will be someone that the software services that we all depend on, that the world depends on, our lives now depend on it.

You know, we regulate seat belts in cars, but we don't regulate software and we rely a lot more on software, frankly, than we do on cars. If you're running a big company the lesson here is, don't rely on one software.

SMERCONISH: So, Richard Clarke does not believe that it was malicious actor but, nonetheless, might a playbook be generated from this for China, for North Korea, for Putin, et cetera, et cetera?

CLARKE: Putin has already done it, Michael. Putin had his intelligence service attack a software vendor that no one had ever heard of but everybody was using called SolarWinds. And in the software update, he put a spy package that wasn't detected for nine months and was on tens of thousands of government and private sector machines.

The software update, attack vector is well-known and we have to fix it. We have to fix it.

SMERCONISH: How despicable that there are some bad actors out there trying to take advantage of this by immediately logging on and saying, hey, here we are, we can help you with your issues, and indeed they were no-goodniks?

CLARKE: I think the rule for everyone on the internet is know who you're talking to, know who you're dealing with. Just because they're on the web, just because they're on Instagram or something, doesn't mean that they're real or doesn't mean that they're honest.

Whether it's software updates or anything else know who you're talking to. Double-check before you click.

SMERCONISH: Richard Clarke, thank you so much. Appreciate your expertise as always.

CLARKE: Thank you, Michael.

SMERCONISH: You still have time to vote on today's poll question at Smerconish.com. I understand there's a lot of voting. I haven't peeked. I don't know how it's going.

Is Kamala Harris now the strongest candidate the Democrats can field? When you're there, sign up for the free and worthy daily newsletter. You'll get exclusive content from great political cartoonists. Steve Breen drew this for us this week.

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[09:54:03]

SMERCONISH: OK. There's the result so far of today's poll question. Interesting. Wow, lot of voting. Is Kamala Harris now the strongest candidate the Democrats can field? We're just at about 40,000 the votes. I'll leave it open. Keep voting. And it's running 60-40, no. I am sure they are watching in Rehoboth Beach.

Some of the social media reaction from today's program includes this. What do we have?

I see incompetence, not a conspiracy. I agree. Trump is a candidate, not a member of the administration. He gets the Secret Service B team.

I'm not buying into that. That denigrates the Secret Service. Trump's campaign doesn't pay the city invoices for his rallies. So, he gets the security they are willing to give him.

Misty Wood, he is a former president of the United States, and he deserves better. And the Secret Service ought to be on the horn right now to Lanny Davis. You know, Lanny would say, tell it early, tell it all, tell it yourself. And then call Governor Cuomo and ask him how to handle a situation like this. Oh, by the way, there's something else I wanted to make sure I said on today's program and it's this -- do I have time?

[09:55:04]

I think I do. So, something else that bothers me. Beyond the lack of public information from all concerned is the way that the media so quickly jumped to the conclusion of say, hey, he's a Republican. Hey, he gave -- he gave $15.00 to a progressive PAC when he was 17.

I mean, I'm sure in the end we're going to find out that he was mentally ill young man. But it made me go back and do a comparison to the way in which we covered the immediate aftermath of John Hinckley's attempted assassination of Ronald Reagan pre-internet era.

So, you can go online and you can look at "The Washington Post" or "The New York Times" the next day. There was no coverage of political identification or ideology or affiliation. But today, like we all want to see things through a Republican or a Democratic lens and it screws us up every time. I'll see you next week.

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