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Anderson Cooper 360 Degrees
New WSJ Poll: Trump 49 Percent, Harris 47 Percent; Barack And Michelle Obama Endorse Harris For President; Republicans Hit Harris For Police Funding Comments In 2020; Where Voters In A Michigan Battleground County Stand On The 2024 Election; Barack And Michelle Obama Endorse Kamala Harris For President; FBI Confirms Trump Was Struck In Ear With A Bullet During Failed Assassination Attempt. Aired 8-9p ET
Aired July 26, 2024 - 20:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
WILL RIPLEY, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Chinese social media, user's nicknamed Harris, "Sister Haha." Some call her dramatic laughter crazy and cringe. Others say it's endearing and even a sign of good fortune.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
RIPLEY (on camera): This is actually China allowing this, their censors allowing this. This is an effort to kind of dismiss Kamala's candidacy as weak and state media has described her White House performance as mediocre.
Interesting also, "The Simpsons," are popular in China that people went back and found that episode, Erin, to point to the similarities.
ERIN BURNETT, CNN HOST: It's pretty amazing, isn't it?
All right, Will, thanks so much.
And thanks so much to all of you for joining us. AC360 starts now.
[20:00:46]
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN HOST: Tonight on 360, Vice President Harris' caps five days of growing support from her party with former President Barack Obama and Michelle Obama's endorsement.
There's also breaking news in the form of new polling, both nationally and state-by-state, that shows Harris erasing former President Trump's lead.
Also, our Gary Tuchman with voters in a Michigan county, the Democrats and Republicans have split 50-50 over the last 20 presidential elections. But the vice president's rise to the top of the ticket changes for them and how they plan to vote.
Plus, breaking news in the key question was Donald Trump hit by a bullet or not during the attempt on his life? The FBI has just weighed in.
Good evening.
Thanks for joining us. For Vice President Harris, it has been the kind of week that every new candidate wishes for, but few ever get.
Tonight, there's new polling that reflects it. One is from "The Wall Street Journal." The vice president is trailing Donald Trump by two points nationally within the margin of error, not in the lead, but six points better than President Biden did in the last "Journal" poll. Last night, a "The "New York Times" poll showed similar gains.
Also, tonight from Fox, the first new polling in key battleground states since the Harris-Biden changeup, it shows no clear leader in head-to-head matchups in Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, and Michigan, and the vice president is up by six in Minnesota.
In Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin where comparable polling is available, her numbers are roughly the same as President Biden's were. The vice president's day began with the final crucial piece of Democratic Party support falling into place. Former President Michelle Obama's endorsement delivered by phone captured in a video released by the campaign.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MICHELL OBAMA, FORMER FIRST LADY OF THE UNITED STATES: I can't have this phone call without saying to my girl, Kamala, I am proud of you. This is going to be historic.
BARACK OBAMA, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We called to say, Michelle and I couldn't be prouder to endorse you and to do everything we can to get you through this election and into the Oval Office.
KAMALA HARRIS (D), VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Oh, my goodness. Michelle, Barack, this means so much to me. I'm looking forward to doing this with the two of you, Doug and I, both.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: The Obamas took five days to give her the nod. But as she mentioned, and we will look at shortly, their active support down the road could make a difference. At the very least, their endorsement rounds out a week that appears to have done what President Biden had not been able to, namely energize the Democratic campaign for president.
As for Donald Trump, he's expected to speak shortly at a conservative event near Mar-a-Lago. Earlier today, he met with Israel's prime minister, after which he had this to say about Vice President Harris' remarks yesterday underscoring her support for Israel while recognizing civilian suffering in Gaza and calling for progress toward a ceasefire deal.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP (R) FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I think her remarks were disrespectful. They weren't very nice, pertaining to Israel. I actually don't know how a person who is Jewish can vote for her but that's up to them.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: His running mate, meantime, tried doing cleanup today from his past remarks about Democrats and childless cat ladies. You can decide for yourself whether he was successful.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. JD VANCE (R-OH), VICE PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: People were focusing so much on the sarcasm and not on the substance of what I actually said. And the substance of what I said, Meghan, I'm sorry, it's true.
It is true that we've become anti-family. It is true that the left has become anti-child, but the simple point that I made is that having children, becoming a father, becoming a mother, I really do think it changes your perspective in a pretty profound way.
This is about criticizing the Democratic Party for becoming anti- family and anti-child. A lot of liberals and a lot of people on the left will say, well, we can just replace American children with immigrants.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: A lot to get to tonight, CNN's Kristen Holmes is at the Turning Point Believers Summit, where the former president is going to speak tonight. So, what's your sense of how Trump and his campaign feel about JD Vance tonight?
KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, look, there's different orbits of Donald Trump, right? There is Donald Trump himself, there is this campaign, and then there is Trump's orbit overall.
If you talk about people who are outside of the campaign, sure, there has been some quiet questioning of JD Vance. Was he the right choice? Is he too green? But all the indications that I'm getting from Trump's actual campaign and his senior advisers is that they're very happy with JD Vance.
That they believe that this was going to happen. They knew there was going to be stuff that came out and that he was going to likely take a lot of incoming fire from previous comments he might have made or just as people were learning about him.
[20:05:03]
Now, the big problem for JD Vance right now is not necessarily just these comments, but it's just the idea that this is not what they wanted him to be doing, not what he wanted to be doing in this span. What he should he doing is introducing himself not only to the American people, but to the Republican Party.
There are still so many voters, Anderson, that I talk to on a regular basis who say they don't know anything think about JD Vance. And this is supposed to be the opportunity for him to get out there, to be doing these rallies, to be talking to people, to be telling his story and instead, he is spending all of this time playing cleanup for remarks he made in 2021.
COOPER: Is Donald Trump still spit-balling lines of attack on Kamala Harris? I mean, is he still trying to figure this out? Does it seem like he is settled on the main ones yet?
HOLMES: It seems as though he is settled on what the messaging is, not necessarily just his lines. He's been testing out one liners at various events. He said some stuff during the meeting today with Netanyahu. He said some stuff I heard at a rally in Michigan.
Most of it is just trying it out, but he has one consistent message, which is that Kamala Harris is a radical liberal, who is from California, who is more liberal than Joe Biden, and is going to upend everything that Donald Trump's administration stood for, even going even further than Joe Biden.
They also tried to paint her as the mastermind behind all of Biden's policies, particularly the policies that are less popular, like policies on immigration, like policies on inflation and crime. And you're going to see more of this.
Anderson, we really are in a race here to define who Kamala Harris is. Obviously, she is doing her part. The Republicans are trying to do their part as well to paint her in as negative a light as they can. So, we'll see what Donald Trump says tonight.
Remember this is kind of a faith event. It's about believing in the ballot. Donald Trump has been pushing for evangelical voters. So, how far he goes remains to be seen been, but obviously, we know Donald Trump doesn't really care about that kind of thing.
COOPER: Kristen Holmes, thanks very much.
Perspective now from Brian Lanza, 2016, Trump campaign deputy communications director; also, CNN political commentators Kate Bedingfield and Maria Cardona, and Natasha Alford, senior correspondent for "TheGrio."
COOPER: Natasha, it's early polling. What do you make of the numbers that we are seeing now tonight?
NATASHA ALFORD, "THEGRIO" SENIOR CORRESPONDENT: I think that people have been craving something to be excited about to vote for, rather than feeling like they were just voting against Donald Trump.
Kamala Harris is energetic. She's passionate. She has that edge. You know, this sense that she is a prosecutor, somebody who is skilled at calling out people who manipulate the truth. And Donald Trump has been able to get away with so much. He has been able to spin and sort of talk his way out of a lot of the criticisms about him in the courtroom and outside of the courtroom.
And so, this sense that she can be a fighter, I think people are really rallying behind that.
COOPER: Kate, the former president obviously, is trying to define Kamala Harris before she can do it for herself. Harris has had by all estimations, a very good rollout thus far, probably better than anybody could have expected, but obviously, past statements that she has said are now starting to emerge and are going to be used against her.
KATE BEDINGFIELD, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: No, and that's true for any candidate. I mean, this is a critical period where she has the opportunity to really define herself. She has a record of having served as vice president for four years. She obviously has her time in the Senate. She has a career as attorney general and a prosecutor.
So, there are going to be things that are going to be surfaced from particularly her 2019 primary campaign. I think she and her team will have to make a choice pretty quickly about how they want to handle that. I think, we've obviously seen some of the attacks coming with suggestion that she supported defund the police. I think she can be very, very clear that she has spent her life in taking -- being tough on crime, but also the she's now had four years in the Biden White House where she supported Biden budgets that increased funding for police.
So, there is absolutely runway for her to establish herself where she wants to be on these issues, but they do need to make decisions. I think, quickly about how they want to tackle that because there's no question that Trump, Vance, the Republicans are going to do everything in their power to try to distort things that she said and they need to be quick to get on top of that.
COOPER: Brian, former President Trump does not like turning on the television and seeing his vice president getting a lot of coverage for statements he has made over the years which have raised a lot of questions talking about childless cat ladies. Do you think he's having any buyer's remorse?
BRIAN LANZA, TRUMP CAMPAIGN DEPUTY COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR: Absolutely not. First of all, thank you for having me, Anderson. I think just yesterday, President Trump did an interview where he said he was proud to have JD on the ticket and he would do it again.
Let's look at the rollout in the past week since JD Vance has been rolled out. His book, "Hillbilly Elegy" has sold 600,000 new copies. It's become one of the top rated films on Netflix.
So, clearly there's an interest in JD. It's a positive interest and you'll see it expand. He's got his comments to address. I was a consultant on his Senate campaign. I helped launch the super PAC for JD, but we've got to clean up comments, obviously.
The media is going to do the best to distort those comments. We've seen that happen in the past week.
[20:10:12]
COOPER: But it's hard to distort the childless cat lady stuff. I mean, it's sort of, you know.
LANZA: No, but talking about the distortion is, does criticizing JD Vance, saying that people have families who have more kids should receive tax credits. That's actually a thoughtful answer if you really think about it. Most western countries are having huge population declines. They're having to figure out how to address it. You have Japan that's suffering tremendously from a population decline.
And Hungary, Hungary has actually found a solution for that by incentivizing families from having kids. So, that's a policy decision.
COOPER: So, you guys love Hungary, Viktor Orban. But I mean.
LANZA: Look -- policy decisions that work here.
COOPER: He's also talking about -- claiming the Democrats want to replace American children with immigrants. I mean what does that even mean?
LANZA: No, listen, I think if you expand the argument, he says the Democrats want to replace American workers with foreign, with illegal foreign workers.
COOPER: No, he said that American children with immigrants. I don't know what that means.
LANZA: Well, I'll tell you what it means. You're asking me to explain so what he what he intended to say or what you guys are interpreting differently. He's talking about the American people don't want to be displaced and they're being displaced by the illegal immigration that's coming in, whether it's children of illegal immigrants that are coming in.
That certainly displaced and you cannot say that 15 million illegal immigrants who have come in this country have not displaced workers in this country. That's just dire mentally false.
COOPER: So Maria, from early strategic point of view, what incentive does JD Vance have to double down on the childless cat lady thing?
MARIA CARDONA, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: I mean, that is the question, right? Anderson, because you would think that the very first rule of being a vice presidential candidate on a ticket is first do no harm. He is doing harm to the Trump-Vance ticket because of everything that were talking about now.
And I have to suspect that Trump is not happy with that because he's kind of outshining Trump himself as he's getting all of this press and it's not good press. And the whole childless cat lady thing, and I'm sorry, Brian, but this has nothing to do with substance and nothing to do with good ideas. It has everything to do with JD Vance looking down on families that in his eyes aren't traditional.
He is looking down on families that are blended. He is looking down on families that include stepchildren. He is looking down on Americans who choose to or cannot have children. He is alienating millions and millions of Americans and at the heart of this, Anderson, let's be very clear about why he's saying this.
He is saying this because he is absolutely against reproductive freedom. This has everything to do with his hatred of women having the ability and the right to make decisions about their own bodies. And guess what? Some of those decisions might be that they don't want to have children. Some of those decisions might be that it's not the right time to have children if they get pregnant. That's something he cannot stand and I think that's going to be a huge issue in this campaign.
COOPER: Natasha, how important do you think the Obama's endorsement actually is? I mean, it's obviously, a given that they're going to endorse her and I mean, there's a lot of young people who today who can vote, who don't really have much memory of the Obamas.
ALFORD: Well, there were people who were actually quite upset that the Obamas didn't come out and endorse Kamala Harris right away. So, there were people who were looking for that validation, that confirmation, that they were standing with her. I think that their cultural impact lives beyond. Even people who were children at that time remember the stories of people celebrating in the streets.
COOPER: Do you think they're really going to be aggressively out there? Because I mean, often, in the past it's been sort of just toward the end of a campaign, they'd do some big events.
ALFORD: I mean, they said we have your back, right? And it remains to be seen how much they will show up at events or how much they will speak at events, but I think that there is power in backing them.
And I think people want that connection, the same feeling they had during the Obama years that there was something to be hopeful about that. Obama was president for everyone, not just blue America, but he was somebody who was trying to reach out to people. That is a feeling that people want to capture again.
When I talked to Shannon Watts, who organized the "White Women: Answer the Call," 200,000 people showed up to that. She's saying that the energy she felt on that call surpassed what she felt in the Obama era. So, something special is happening.
COOPER: We're going to continue with the conversation a moment, including about new CNN KFile reporting on what we've been discussing, have been already, namely Kamala Harris' past position on police funding. What KFile found and what the campaign is saying about it now.
Also later, the FBI weighs in on whether Donald Trump was hit by a bullet or shrapnel or something else, in Butler, Pennsylvania, details ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[20:18:39]
COOPER: The Trump campaign is already attacking Vice President Harris over liberal position she embraced during the 2020 presidential primary and KFile's Andrew Kaczynski joins me now with one of the sets of comments after she dropped out, which could make her vulnerable to criticism. What did you find?
ANDREW KACZYNSKI, CNN KFILE SENIOR EDITOR: Well, we all remember those protests in the summer of 2020 after a police officer murdered George Floyd. Many progressives and liberals were talking about defunding police departments nationwide.
One local radio show asked to then-Senator Kamala Harris, where she stood on the defund the police movement? Take a listen to this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HARRIS: Defund the police. The issue behind it is that we need to re- imagine how we are creating safety and when you have many cities that have one-third of their entire city budget focused on policing, we know that is not the smart way and the best way or the right way to achieve safety.
This whole movement is about rightly saying, we need to take a look at these budgets and figure out whether it reflects the right priorities.
For too long, the status quo thinking has been, you get more safety by putting more cops on the street. Well, that's wrong.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KACZYNSKI: Now, in another interview that same week. Harris praised then Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti for removing $150 million from there police budget and investing that in social services. Listen to this.
[20:20:06]
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HARRIS: That's a legitimate conversation and it requires a really critical evaluation. I applaud Eric Garcetti for doing what he's done.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KACZYNSKI: Now, some important context here is even in 2020, polling showed that reducing police budgets was not popular. Pew found that just 25 percent of adults supported reducing police budgets that year and by 2021 that had decreased to 15 percent.
Now, it's also important to note that the Biden administration, which of course includes Vice President Harris passed the American Rescue Plan, which includes billions of dollars for cities to boost their budget for local police. Still, Harris is trying to run on her history as a prosecutor and Republicans are going to use some of these comments to portray her as soft on crime.
COOPER: How is the Harris campaign responding? KACZYNSKI: So, after Harris was selected by Biden to be VP, we really
didn't see her mention the defund the police movement again. In fact, the campaign explicitly put out a statement where they said it was a lie to suggest that she did. They said that she supported more funding for police, so we reached out to the Harris campaign.
We asked how do you square those comments in 2020 and now? And they gave us this statement where they said, whether as a district attorney, attorney general, senator, or as vice president, Kamala Harris has led the way to keep our communities safe, to take on violent crime, and helped lead the nation to historic drop in violent crime to a 50-year low.
COOPER: Andrew Kaczynski, thanks so much. Back with the panel.
Brian, obviously, this is something which the Trump team would see as a vulnerability. Back then, it was interesting because the criticism among liberals, some liberals against Harris when she was running that primary was that she was too conservative, that as a district attorney and a former prosecutor, for those who wanted and believed in defund the police, she was viewed as probably too far on the left. I'm not sure which is an accurate representation of what she actually believes. But clearly, this must be seen by Republicans as a vulnerability.
LANZA: Oh, it's 100 percent vulnerability. I mean, she praised Mayor Garcetti for reducing the budget of the police department at a critical time. So, that's dangerous, that is defund the police. That almost makes her radically liberal at this point.
Yes, it's going to be something we hit. I mean, she can't claim that she was tough on crime. Her vision of being tough on crime was prosecuting low offense drug offenders people of color. But when she had a chance to prosecute a cop killer and give him the death penalty, she chose against it. When she had a chance to prosecute a murderer, an illegal alien, MS-13 person, who murdered three people in the streets of San Francisco, she refused to do the death penalty against the wishes of the family.
So yes, not only is she weak on crime, but she's weak on defund the police and that's a dangerous position for everybody. We've learned the consequences of that. Certainly, the Democratic Party has learned the consequences of that, so I'm not surprised they are trying to backpedal and I expect we'd see more moon-walking on to that effect.
COOPER: Kate, there are a lot of Republicans by the way who right now are trying defunding the FBI. So they're -- Republicans' support for law enforcement is a question as well. But what do you make of this line of attack? How vulnerable do you think Vice President Harris is?
BEDINGFIELD: Yes, I think, a couple of things. I mean, first of all, I think at a 30,000-foot level, if this campaign, if the Republicans want to make this campaign about the question of who is more extreme. I think that is a fight that Harris and the Democrats are going to win because you have in Donald Trump and JD Vance, you know, people who are saying things like, women shouldn't be able to make decisions about their own bodies. They're not actually families if they're not defined exactly the way we define them.
I mean, what Vance and Trump are doing is reaching into people's day- to-day lives and offering a vision that's about controlling the way they live. So, I think if the Republicans think that moving this race to a contest, a question, a framework of who is more extreme, I think that is a fight that Republicans are going to lose.
On this specific issue of crime, we sort of talked about this a little bit a few minutes ago, but I think Vice President Harris has a record to run on, as you noted, Anderson in 2019 in the primary. She was actually attacked from the left for being a cop. So you know, she has a record of being tough on crime that she can run on. She has her record in the Biden administration of supporting more funding for police, of rejecting out of hand the notion that we need to defund the police.
So I think she and her campaign can take this on directly, refute it, move forward and then get back to the framework that they want this race to be about. And I think they have an opportunity here to do that.
COOPER: Natasha, besides Donald Trump calling her garbage, and nasty and all sorts of names, at this point, crazy, as he calls many women that he disagrees with. He called her more left or more liberal than Bernie Sanders. I just want to play Bernie Sanders' response to that a couple of nights ago.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (I-VT): No, I don't think that is the case. I think that that the vice president had a very strong record in the US Senate, strong record working with President Biden in the administration. But no, I don't quite think that her record is where mine is in terms of being progressive.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[20:25:22]
COOPER: This is clearly going to be a major line of attack.
ALFORD: It is. But we live in two Americas because on my page right now, people are arguing about Kamala Harris throwing Black men in jail, thousands of Black men. And they say that she's Copmala. And then on this other side --
COOPER: People are calling her Copmala.
ALFORD: Right, Copmala, like they've come up with a nickname for her. And on the other side, she's too radical. So, which one is it? I actually think Kamala Harris answered the question of defund the police in a very nuanced way.
She was talking about investing in communities to prevent crime, right? Occupy a young peoples' time, give them something to live for, to work for. And when you looked at her conversation on "The View" with Meghan
McCain, that was actually the stance that she took. It was "defund the police," the actual words that was so controversial. The idea itself, there are a lot of people who actually support the idea of investing in communities. So I think that she will be able to navigate this. I think that she'd always been really careful about the way that she answered it and she just needs to be clear about the fact that she supports both communities.
COOPER: Maria, how do you see this playing out?
CARDONA: I agree with, Natasha that the vice president has already proven that I think she can thread this needle and do it well. Because even in the clip that you played, Anderson, the way that she answered the question was a way in which a lot of leaders were thoughtfully trying to approach this issue of what are our budgets there for? How do you actually keep communities safer?
And in fact, during that whole debate, you had a lot of law enforcement officers themselves saying that they did not want to show up at calls and feel like they had to play the role of the social services. And so, what she ended up doing with at the side of Joe Biden during the Biden-Harris administration, is they did both. They increased budgets for law enforcement and they also increased budgets for social services to be able to make it all about how do you actually keep communities safe?
And I do think it is hugely hypocritical for Republicans to then go after her for being anti-law enforcement when you had Donald Trump himself siding with the insurrectionists, who actually caused the loss of life of law enforcement officers and Republicans don't seem to care about that.
COOPER: Kate, on the border, I mean, how much of a liability is the border issue, illegal immigration, obviously, Republicans are calling her the borders czar, Democrats replied by saying, well look, there was a bipartisan border deal that most conservative -- James Lankford from Oklahoma had helped get together and Trump put the Kibosh on it because he didn't want Biden to have a win -- anything that could be perceived as a win during an election year, even if it would be beneficial and help the problem of illegal immigration.
BEDINGFIELD: Yes, I think that's an important argument and a compelling argument that Democrats can make because you're really putting the ball back in the Republican's court and saying, you know, if you believe this is a serious issue and you believe this is a serious problem, put serious solutions on the table. But you don't, you haven't, Donald Trump has been at the forefront of ensuring that this is simply a political game for Republicans.
We know that voters don't like that. They don't like to feel like their elected officials are not working in good faith to try to solve problems. And I think, by pulling that bill down, Trump really put on display the fact that he views this as nothing more than political gamesmanship. And that is really a turnoff particularly to moderate voters, to Independent voters. people who are not hyper-partisan on either side and really dug in or invested.
But the people who are ultimately going to help decide the outcome of this election, they find that kind of political gamesmanship really off-putting. So, I think that is actually really powerful argument for the Democrats.
I think for her, on this question of being in charge of the border, first of all, I think it's important to note that wasn't the role she was given. She was given actually the same portfolio that Vice President Biden had when he was vice president, which was dealing with the root causes of immigration in the Northern Triangle as a foreign policy-oriented portfolio that she was given, important work, but not her responsibility to oversee the entire border. So, I think that is an important clarification here.
But writ large, I think the argument for Democrats is about putting this back on the Republicans, while also noting, by the way, that illegal border crossings have dropped over the course of this last year. So they have facts, Democrats have facts on their side here too, as they're making this argument.
COOPER: Thanks, everybody.
Up next, our Gary Tuchman heads to a battleground county in the battleground state of Michigan. Voters there picking Trump twice, Obama twice. How Vice President Harris entering the race may affect their votes, coming up.
[20:30:08]
Plus, the effect of former President Obama and Michelle Obama have already had in past presidential campaigns as they get ready to help out Vice President Harris.
We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COOPER: The 2024 election could likely be decided by just a few key battleground states. In fact, it likely will, including Michigan, which President Biden won by a close margin in 2020, and the former president won by an even slimmer margin in 2016. A new "Fox" poll shows no clear leader between Vice President Harris and the former president with both polling at 49 percent.
But in the "Fox" poll, when third party candidates are included, 45 percent say they would vote for Trump. Forty three percent say they'd vote for Harris, which still falls within the poll's margin of error. Our Gary Tuchman went to a battleground county in the state, and that's -- here's what voters there told him about the upcoming election.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
GARY TUCHMAN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Just north of Detroit, in Macomb County, Michigan -- (MUSIC)
[20:35:06]
TUCHMAN (voice-over): -- a concert, a Woodstock tribute band. It's where we find Laura Chidsey, who says she once considered herself a hippie and is now a retired Defense Department employee.
TUCHMAN: You are a Republican.
LAURA CHIDSEY, MICHIGAN VOTER: Yes.
TUCHMAN: And in 2020, did you vote for Donald Trump?
CHIDSEY: Yes.
TUCHMAN: 2016 also?
CHIDSEY: Yes.
TUCHMAN: And now this year, had you planned to vote for Donald Trump?
CHIDSEY: Well, I did. Now, table's my turn.
TUCHMAN: With Kamala Harris?
CHIDSEY: Yes.
TUCHMAN: So you're not sure?
CHIDSEY: Not sure. So I got to -- I got to research a little more.
TUCHMAN: But you like Kamala Harris?
CHIDSEY: Yes, I do.
TUCHMAN (voice-over): Macomb County, where nearly 900,000 people live, has gone for Donald Trump the last two presidential elections, and Barack Obama for the two before that. In the last 20 presidential elections, Republicans have won 10, Democrats have won 10.
So we took a tour of this key county to see what voters make of the dramatic developments in the presidential race. What we saw was a lot of reflection. John Hebert is a retired Marine, a Vietnam War veteran, a political independent.
TUCHMAN: Before Kamala Harris got in the race, were you undecided or did you know who you were going to vote for, for president?
JOHN HEBERT, MICHIGAN VOTER: I was definitely leaning towards Trump before she got in.
TUCHMAN: And now, how do you feel now that she's in?
HEBERT: I'm waffling a little bit.
TUCHMAN (voice-over): At a beach park at Lake Saint Clair.
TUCHMAN: That's over the fence.
TUCHMAN (voice-over): We find a family with three generations enjoying the day. Mark Kruk is the patriarch.
TUCHMAN: You're an independent. But after the debate, you were considering voting for Donald Trump.
MARK KRUK, MICHIGAN VOTER: Correct. Yep. It just -- just the debacle of it, it was a disaster for sure.
TUCHMAN: So now that Kamala Harris is in the race, are you still leaning towards voting for Donald Trump?
KRUK: No. I think I'm going to go Ha -- Kamala.
TUCHMAN (voice-over): And it isn't just those who are leaning toward Donald Trump who are having second thoughts.
TUCHMAN: You're a Democrat, were you con -- but you were considering voting for RFK Jr.?
DONNA CHARLTON, MICHIGAN VOTER: Yes.
TUCHMAN: And not Joe Biden?
CHARLTON: Right.
TUCHMAN (voice-over): We met Donna Charlton at a skate park, where she watched her grandson test his limits.
TUCHMAN: So now that Kamala Harris is in the race, how do you feel about it?
CHARLTON: Great. I'll vote for her.
TUCHMAN (voice-over): At Henrickson's driving range. We meet a golfer who says he's a left leaning independent who had been leaning towards not voting for president. But now Rob Abrams feels he will vote for Kamala Harris.
ROB ABRAMS, MICHIGAN VOTER: I like that she's young. I like that she can put two sentences together. I like that she can -- she can speak with conviction.
TUCHMAN (voice-over): At the Sterling Heights Stellantis Assembly Plant in Macomb County where they assembled the Ram 1500. It's shift change time for the union workers. While many are enthused about Kamala Harris --
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I say give her a chance. Let's see what she can do.
TUCHMAN (voice-over): -- we did run into plenty of fervent Trump supporters who say the new challenger has only made them more enthused about the former president.
TUCHMAN: Does Kamala Harris getting in the race change the equation at all for either of you?
AUSTIN WIESE, MICHIGAN VOTER: Change it? It ruins it. If she gets in, we're done, so.
TUCHMAN: Done with what?
WIESE: America's done for it.
TUCHMAN (voice-over): And back at the 60s concert.
KAREN HOLLAND, MICHIGAN VOTER: I'm a stronger supporter of Donald Trump because Kamala Harris is in the race.
TUCHMAN (voice-over): Meanwhile, the Vietnam vet, who has been leaning toward Donald Trump, says he will be paying close attention to the news in the days and weeks to come.
TUCHMAN: Her getting in the race, though, has basically opened up your mind?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, it has.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: And Gary Tuchman joins me now. It's interesting, you found evidence of, sort of the -- her entering into the race, energizing to people on both sides of the political aisle, in terms of thinking, energizing them to support Trump more, or, you know, to switch support.
TUCHMAN: Very energetic people we talked to in Michigan, and that's what's really interesting. It's not just people who like Kamala Harris, it's also people who don't like Kamala Harris. They all wanted to be heard. We travel around the country over the last several months talking about this race and interviewing voters.
There's a lot of voters who are shy or reticent and just don't want to appear on camera. We didn't see very much of that. People really wanted to talk about it. They're very interested in what's become of this presidential race.
COOPER: I want to know what the cover band, how -- who they're going to vote. Gary Tuchman, thanks for --
TUCHMAN: Magic bus.
COOPER: Barack Obama not only won Macomb County twice, he won the state as well in 2008 and 2012. Today, as we report at the top, the former president and his wife, Michelle Obama, endorsed Kamala Harris. There's another look at that.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) MICHELLE OBAMA, FORMER FIRST LADY OF THE UNITED STATES: I can't have this phone call without saying to my girl, Kamala, I am proud of you. This is going to be historic.
BARACK OBAMA, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We call to say Michelle and I couldn't be prouder to endorse you and to do everything we can to get you through this election and into the Oval Office.
KAMALA HARRIS, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Oh my goodness.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: Well, sources tell CNN the former President Obama has been serving as a sounding board for Harris over the last two decades. He'd also been supportive of President Biden's reelection bid. Now here's Randy Kaye with a look at how the Obamas have helped other presidential campaigns.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BARACK OBAMA, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I want those of you who've been with me from the beginning of this incredible journey to be the first to know that I'm with her. I am fired up and I cannot wait to get out there and campaign for Hillary.
[20:40:05]
RANDI KAYE, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): I'm with her with those words, then President Barack Obama throwing his full support behind Hillary Clinton's 2016 presidential campaign.
B. OBAMA: I don't think there's ever been someone so qualified to hold this office.
KAYE (voice-over): Soon after that vote of confidence, Obama hit the campaign trail, together with Clinton.
B. OBAMA: Are you fired up?
CROWD: Yes.
B. OBAMA: You ready to go?
CROWD: Yes.
B. OBAMA: This is a choice between whether we are going to cling to some imaginary past or whether we're going to reach for the future.
KAYE (voice-over): Then First Lady Michelle Obama threw her weight behind Clinton, too, at the DNC convention.
MICHELLE OBAMA, FORMER FIRST LADY OF THE UNITED STATES: We need to knock on every door. We need to get out every vote. We need to pour every last ounce of our passion and our strength and our love for this country into electing Hillary Clinton as president of the United States of America. KAYE (voice-over): The Obamas amped up their own star power at this Pennsylvania event, where Bon Jovi joined them and the Clintons on stage. Just days before the 2016 election, Michelle Obama appeared with Clinton in the battleground state of North Carolina.
M. OBAMA: You guys are pretty fired up, right? I like that.
KAYE (voice-over): This was the first time the two women shared the stage.
M. OBAMA: Hillary has done her job. Now we need to do our job and get her elected president of the United States.
KAYE (voice-over): Part of Michelle Obama's motivation to campaign against Donald Trump, his false claims that Barack Obama wasn't born in the United States. She wrote in her book that Trump's claim carried with it bigotry and xenophobia, adding Donald Trump with his loud and reckless innuendos was putting my family's safety at risk. And for this, I'd never forgive him. She spoke with Oprah about it in 2018.
M. OBAMA: I don't think he knew what he was doing, that for him, it was a game.
KAYE (voice-over): That motivation continued in 2020.
B. OBAMA: I'm so proud to endorse Joe Biden for President of the United States. I believe Joe has all the qualities we need in a president right now.
KAYE (voice-over): An endorsement, then stump speeches, even in the midst of the pandemic.
B. OBAMA: I -- I love Joe Biden. And he will be a great president.
KAYE (voice-over): This was Flint, Michigan.
B. OBAMA: My friend, a real leader, the next president of the United States of America, Joe Biden.
KAYE (voice-over): In October 2020, Michelle Obama lent her voice to the closing argument for Biden.
M. OBAMA: Search your hearts and your conscience. And then vote for Joe Biden like your lives depend on it.
KAYE (voice-over): And on the eve of the election, Barack Obama fired up voters in Miami.
B. OBAMA: We will elect Joe Biden and Kamala Harris. And we will leave no doubt about what this country we love stands for. Let's get to work, Florida. Let's bring this home. I love you, Miami. Honk if you're fired up.
KAYE (voice-over): Randi Kaye, CNN, Palm Beach County, Florida.
(END VIDEOTAPE) COOPER: Well, just ahead, breaking news on the FBI's investigation into the assassination attempt against the former president and what they've concluded about his wound that day.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[20:47:53]
COOPER: Tonight we have breaking news on the investigation into the assassination attempt against the former president. The FBI tonight released a statement saying that Trump was, in fact, struck by a bullet, either whole or fragmented in smaller pieces. Now, this comes after FBI Director Christopher Wray this week said there were still some questions about whether Trump was hit with a bullet or shrapnel. CNN chief law enforcement and intelligence analyst John Miller is with me. So, talk about what the latest is.
JOHN MILLER, CNN CHIEF LAW ENFORCEMENT AND INTELLIGENCE ANALYST: Well, the latest is that the director put to -- put to bed this tempest in a shell casing, which is, was it a bullet, was it shrapnel? The standard is, if you're grazed by a bullet, you are shot. If you were hit by a bullet fragment, you were shot.
So that is kind of a day long battle about semantics that seemed to get way out of hand, which is the reason for this statement that came out late this afternoon. They're still going to do the work though. The FBI shooting reconstruction team has been on the ground. They've used the -- the 360 degree total station platform that takes measurements from every point of the crime scene, which is quite large to where the shooter was, to where the stage was, to where Donald Trump was, to where the other victims were.
And they do that so that if there's a measurement they need later that they didn't take, they can go back into that system and task it to that measurement down to the -- to the smallest --
COOPER: So this is like an actual machine they bring and --
MILLER: It's -- it's a digital machine the Nikon Total Station or other brands that will do this 360 up and down picture. So you can literally go back to the crime scene and get anything that was recorded on the day you recorded that is -- is still there in the measurements and everything else. But they'll look for BIMs, bullet impact marks. They'll look for bullet holes. They will take swabs for lead residue, copper residue.
And they will match that to the bullets that were still in the magazine, to the bullets that were fired through the gun. And they're going to go through all this, you know, to document as much as they can.
COOPER: And I know Chris Wray had testified that the -- the shooter had, you know, looked up how far away was Oswald from -- from Kennedy. That investigation is still very much underway.
[20:50:05] MILLER: Yes. And that is about, you know, his preparation. He in his phone had numbers for the Trump headquarters, had numbers for the Biden headquarters, had multiple pictures of both men and lots of pictures of other political figures.
But we know that just a few days before, you know, in early January, when they announced that Trump rally, he began the planning for that place. He did a reconnaissance trip there days before the rally. He purchased a ladder in case he needed it, but discarded it. He flew his drone for 11 minutes, 200 yards back to get a complete picture of that roof.
So he was doing what the profilers call the pseudo commando. He had assumed this identity as this sniper with equipment and range finders and extra ammunition and magazines, homemade bombs run by remote control. He had become this other person. And apparently, where there's usually leakage of that, hence drop to other people, we haven't heard much about any of that.
COOPER: Do you know -- do we know his -- has his family cooperated? I know they haven't spoken publicly.
MILLER: His family has been totally cooperative since the very first night. They were interviewed that night and established their son's identity through photographs that were taken of him at the scene before he was shot by law enforcement who was already tracking him. They have been questioned once by those agents again, by other agents from the Pittsburgh field office, and we'll likely be talking to the behavioral analysis profilers who are going to have different questions, more about what was home life like, what was your son talking about? How much time did he spend doing different things? Did he ever hinted anything like this?
COOPER: All right. John Miller, thanks so much. Appreciate it.
MILLER: Thanks.
COOPER: Still to come, the summer Olympics kicking off in Paris with a grand opening ceremony, our Harry Enten will share some of the Olympic firsts expected during the games, next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[20:56:09]
COOPER: The 2024 Summer Olympic Games are officially underway in Paris. The rain didn't stop the opening ceremony near the start of festivities. The crowds saw giant plumes of blue, white, and red smoke. The colors, obviously, the French national flag rising above the bridge. That led to a parade of nations, which for the first time took place outside a stadium with boats carrying each team through the center of Paris on the -- the River Seine.
On the Team USA boat, that's -- there's NBA star and flag bearer LeBron James. Next to him, tennis star, Coco Gauff, who is also selected for the honor. It's going to be an exciting 16 days in Paris with 10,500 athletes from more than 200 countries competing in 32 sports. And our Harry Enten joins me now with more.
HARRY ENTEN, CNN SENIOR DATA REPORTER: What excites you about this -- this event? You know, one of the things that's really exciting to me is we're going to have a first time event breakdancing, which is very fun for me because breakdancing's from the Bronx. I don't know if -- if you knew that or not.
COOPER: Were you a big breakdancer back in the day?
ENTEN: I was a huge -- I -- I was a huge breakdancer.
COOPER: During the early 80s?
ENTEN: Back in the -- early -- yes, that was definitely one of -- maybe the late -- maybe the late 80s, maybe. But, you know, I think the real thing that a lot of people would love about the Olympics is that, in fact, how could you measure yourself as an average person against these Olympians, have any idea how good they are? But fortunately, we have a wonderful example of you doing exactly that.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: How about if I -- I'd get to dive and I get to do freestyle.
MICHAEL PHELPS, AMERICAN SWIMMER: OK.
COOPER: One lap, you go underwater the way you can't breathe, and you can't take a strip.
PHELPS: Let's go. Let's do it.
COOPER: And you'll still beat me.
PHELPS: Let's go.
COOPER: OK. I'm going to change.
PHELPS: Take your mark. Go.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: He didn't take a single strip. He just -- he just did the dolphin thing.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: What does it feel like to race Michael Phelps? I couldn't tell you. He moved by me so quickly. I never even saw him.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ENTEN: You know, but I -- I -- I want you to know --
COOPER: It is fascinating because you see them running and they're all, you know, kind of so close to each other, but when a normal human. ENTEN: A normal human being.
COOPER: Yes, yes.
ENTEN: You just can't keep up with them.
COOPER: Yes, yes.
ENTEN: You -- you -- you dedicated yourself to science, but I want you to not feel so bad. So I decided to try and do my best Greg Louganis.
COOPER: Oh my gosh.
ENTEN: We have -- here we --
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: One --
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: Wow. That's pretty.
ENTEN: Come on, right there. Is that not Greg Louganis? I thought that was --
COOPER: Yes, no. Yes, that's not.
ENTEN: It's not Greg Louganis? I thought I could go for the Olympics with diving.
COOPER: Yes, no. That doesn't look good.
ENTEN: It doesn't look good?
COOPER: No. So what are some of the other firsts this year besides breakdancing?
ENTEN: Yes, so, you know, one of the other firsts this year, which I think is so interesting, is that for the first time, the Summer Olympics will close with the women's marathon instead of the men's marathon.
We closed the fortnight with the women's marathon, basically closing out the festivities. And you know, I -- I think that people don't --
COOPER: That's -- that's really compelling to you?
ENTEN: That -- to me, that's very compelling --
COOPER: OK.
ENTEN: -- but it's truly compelling because I have a really good understanding of how strong these women are because you once again, dedicated yourself to science. Let's go.
COOPER: I see what this segment is about.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Ready? Set?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ENTEN: It's always about that.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ENTEN: I jumped out front at first, but within a few seconds, Shalane, with her even pace and easy flowing stride, blew right past me, laughing all the way. She completed the quarter mile in about 79 seconds.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Almost there.
COOPER: Oh, my God.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ENTEN: But, you know, that was truly --
COOPER: I don't know why I do these segments for 60 minutes.
ENTEN: I don't know why you do those segments for 60 minutes. I don't know why you do them with me, but I, myself, have actually tried -- I ran a mile for charity. I wanted to raise money for my girlfriend who was running, and so I wanted to give you an idea that you're not alone and perhaps your inability to run a guy.
COOPER: Wow. Are you actually running there? Is that a run?
ENTEN: It's kind of a run. And --
[21:00:00]
COOPER: I mean, are you carrying a Gatorade or something?
ENTEN: I am -- I'm carrying a Gatorade. I didn't want to collapse. I will note I was wearing these brown cobble shoes during that run, those same exact shoes that I wear here. You can see them right down there.
COOPER: And the same socks, I think.
ENTEN: And the same socks right there. You know, I'm not exactly a Nike shoe wearer. I'll put it that way.
COOPER: All right, Harry Enten, thank you very much.
ENTEN: Thank you for allowing me to have fun with you and with America as well. You put yourself on the line.
COOPER: I appreciate it. Harry, have a good weekend. The news continues. The Source with Kaitlan Collins starts now.
