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The Lead with Jake Tapper

Nikki Haley's First Interview Since Ending Presidential Bid; Soon: VP Kamala Harris To Meet With Israeli PM Netanyahu; Harris In New Campaign Video: "We Choose Freedom"; Older Pennsylvania Voters Re- Energized As Biden Passes Torch To Harris; Jennifer Aniston Slams J.D. Vance On "Childless Cat Ladies"; California Governor Gavin Newsom Orders Removal Of Homeless Encampments. Aired 4-5p ET

Aired July 25, 2024 - 16:00   ET

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

[16:00:03]

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: And this is something, you know, she's struggling with. It presents somewhat similarly to Parkinson's and some of the symptoms. And President Biden signed into law the National Plan to End Parkinson's Act, which was named in part for her. She's really making history.

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: Really special moment and one that is unifying in these rare circumstances where you have a very divided Congress. It's heartwarming to see that.

KEILAR: Yeah, certainly is.

THE LEAD WITH JAKE TAPPER starts right now.

(MUSIC)

JAKE TAPPER, CNN HOST: In an exclusive interview, Nikki Haley talks to us about Joe Biden and Kamala Harris and her past criticisms of Donald Trump.

THE LEAD starts right now.

Former Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley and her very first interview since dropping out of the 2024 race. How she explains endorsing Donald Trump, what she says about Trump mocking her husband for being deployed overseas, her take on Biden's 2024 exit, and her take on Vice President Kamala Harris becoming the presumptive nominee, all coming up.

Also ahead, the vice president minutes away from her meeting with Benjamin Netanyahu. What is her view of the Israeli prime minister and his country's war with Hamas?

Plus, Jennifer Anniston, normally not one to wade into the world of politics, but she has been outraged over that "childless cat ladies" comment by Trump's VP pick, Senator J.D. Vance.

(MUSIC)

TAPPER: Welcome to THE LEAD. I'm Jake Tapper.

We start today with our 2024 lead. Today, I sat down for an exclusive interview with former Republican presidential candidate and South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley. Our conversation ranged from her predictions months ago that Joe Biden would not be able to serve another four years as president, to how she went from calling Donald Trump toxic and unhinged, to endorsing him for president.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: I have to start with the news from Sunday of President Biden dropping out of the presidential race. You have always been skeptical that he could last for another four years in office. Were you surprised?

NIKKI HALEY, FORMER GOP PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I wasn't surprised and I didn't take happiness in it. You know what I mean? I think through the whole campaign, you know, I fought for mental competency tests. I wasn't doing it to be disrespectful. I wasn't doing it to be mean. I was doing it because I think it's not just Joe Biden.

There is an issue that we have in D.C. where people will go into office, and they won't let go. And then their staffers and their family keep propping them up. And it's a problem for the American people.

And so I never thought he would make it to the election. I always said a vote for Joe Biden is a vote for Kamala Harris. And I think that's what's playing out.

TAPPER: So, you also said, in addition to a vote for Joe Biden -- well, you said a vote for Joe Biden is a vote for Kamala Harris. You also said if we nominate Donald Trump, I guarantee you we're going to have President Kamala Harris.

And you've said whichever party that retires its 80-year-old candidate first is going to be the one that wins the election.

Do you still feel that way?

HALEY: I think that, you know, look, the Democrats are very smart to put in a younger candidate. I think that that's what America has craved. But I think what you look at is they put in the weakest candidate they could put in.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: You can hear the rest of her answer during the next hour of THE LEAD. Plus, so much more.

We talked about her thoughts on Senator J.D. Vance, Republicans attacking Kamala Harris as a DEI candidate. We talked about Ukraine. We've talked about Russia, we talked about Israel, and much, much more. That's all coming up.

But first, first, a momentous meeting is just minutes away where Vice President Kamala Harris will meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in both her current job and her new role as the presumptive Democratic nominee for president.

CNN's Kayla Tausche is at the White House.

And, Kayla, what did we expect Vice President Harris and the prime minister to talk about?

KAYLA TAUSCHE, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Jake, we expect the vice president and the prime minister to talk about broadly the relationship between the U.S. and Israel, but also the state of ceasefire talks. The vice president was among the first members of the administration to call quite aggressively for a ceasefire deal as early as the first week of March.

At that time, she was seen as being somewhat at odds or at least going slightly further than other members of the administration in doing so. But since there -- then, there has been a broad push within the White House to get a ceasefire deal reach. It's been two months since President Biden laid out the framework of the deal that was being discussed to try to push both Israel and Hamas on the negotiating table. And it's been two weeks since President Biden said on the sidelines of the NATO side, that a framework had been agreed by both Israel and Hamas.

And now we have heard from senior administration officials that a deal is closer than ever, but that the details are still being worked doubt and then it will require some political will on Netanyahu's part.

Now, asked for Vice President Harris's own policy stance on Israel, that's also in focus as she meets with Netanyahu.

[16:05:06]

John Kirby, spokesman for the National Security Council, has said that she is just as steadfast supporter of Israel as President Biden, even though her campaign told donors just yesterday that as for whether she's going to break with Biden on Israel, give us a few days, we're going to be ironing that out -- Jake.

TAPPER: So, President Biden's meeting with Netanyahu and families of American hostages still being held in Gaza wrapped just moments ago. Tell us what we know about that.

TAUSCHE: Well, we are expecting some of those families to head here to the stakeout if they have not already to give some comments to the press about what they felt was any progress that was made during that meeting. The Biden administration has had at steady drumbeat of these conversations at mostly at the request of these families who want an audience with both President Biden and to a certain extent, other members of the negotiating team, like Jake Sullivan, the national security adviser, who met with some of these families earlier this week.

Of course, they are not going to stop those efforts until they get their family members home. And so, we're waiting to hear from them, which we expect to be just a few moments from now, Jake, on what, if anything, they feel is achieved.

TAPPER: All right. Kayla Tausche, thanks so much.

And joining us now is Democratic Senator Mark Warner of Virginia. He is the chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee.

Mr. Chairman, thanks for joining us.

SEN. MARK WARNER (D-VA): Thank you, Jake.

TAPPER: So let's talk about your colleague, Vice President Harris. In 2019, GovTrack, which covers legislation and voting records, referred to then-Senator Kamala Harris as that year's most liberal senator. Although another year, she had other assessments.

You have worked with the vice president when she was in the Senate, when she was on the Senate Intelligence Committee. Tell us about that experience.

WARNER: Well, I both worked with Senator Harris and I got to know to her, or I spent time with her. She and her husband, Doug, and Lisa and I had some social time together.

But what I can speak to most is her role on the Intelligence Committee. She's got the foreign policy chops to understand the she's going to go into a job, hopefully, when she's elected, we're in a dangerous world. We've got to stand up against Russia. We've got to monitor China's outward aggression, and particularly technology competition. Iran is a constant irritant, and what I saw in Kamala Harris was her willingness to dig in both in the closed sessions where she asked very thoughtful for questions.

She played an incredibly important role in the 2016 bipartisan Russia interference in our elections, and I think in many ways, she kind of got launched on her national exposure when she did some remarkable questioning of then Attorney General Jeff Sessions. And remember, she was the most junior member of the committee. So to be last in line and still frankly had the most important questioning of the whole hearing shows what kind of prosecutorial skills she has as well.

TAPPER: So she and President Biden are meeting separately with the prime minister of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu. Today, this is a day after the prime ministers speech to Congress. Netanyahu is also going to meet with foreign President Trump tomorrow. How do you see the future of the U.S.-Israeli relationship if Netanyahu remains prime minister?

WARNER: Well, Jake, you know, I agree with certain things that the prime minister said. I agree Israel has got a right to defense itself. I agree that Hamas are horrendous, horrendous terrorists and need to be destroyed.

But what I didn't hear from the prime minister was a recognition that there are awful lot of folks all over the world and including in America that rightfully are concerned about the fact that 40,000 Palestinians have died in this conflict. What I didn't hear from the prime minister was the fact that we do have a chance due to the Abraham Accords that were started under President Trump but also the potential of an alliance with Saudi Arabia that would involve recognition of Israel to bring a whole new peaceful outlook to that region.

But that's going to require an end to the conflict in Gaza and a two- state solution. We didn't hear any of that from the prime minister yesterday.

TAPPER: Three weeks ago, there was talk of you circulating a letter among Senate Democrats to try to convince President Biden to drop his reelection bid, which obviously he did on Sunday. After that article in "The Washington Post", you kind of went silent and disappeared from public view on the matter.

Can you -- can you tell us what happened?

WARNER: Well, Jake, even before that article frankly I was not even quoted in, I think that my conversations with my fellow senators, I'm kind of old-fashioned, they were confidential and I think they ought to stay confidential.

[16:10:04]

I think the president made the right decision. I think we saw a true American patriot last night, I think his record will stand the test of time, not just the legislative record from the Chips Bill to the infrastructure to the dramatic changes we've made in energy, not only to the expansion of NATO and standing up against foreign aggression.

But look at those GDP growth numbers today, 2.9 percent. I mean, the American economy is the envy of the world.

Now I know Donald Trump doesn't believe that. I know Donald Trump thinks America is stupid. And that anybody, Democrat or Republican, again, yes, that's American leader, is stupid. But that's not the kind of America that Joe Biden has helped lead. And that's not the kind of America than I think most Americans feel about our country.

TAPPER: Is it accurate though that you were encouraging President Biden to step down, which he has now agreed to do, that you were concerned about his ability to win, perhaps even his ability to govern for four more years?

WARNER: I think Joe Biden has spent a great president. I know he's going to finish out strong and my conversations with my fellow Democratic senators and the idea that we needed to talk about best steps forward, those were confidential and it's a little old fashioned, but I'm going to keep those confidential going forward because whether I'm talking to a Democrat or Republican, you know, some of these things we ought to respect confidences.

TAPPER: It's no secret that before President Biden made this decision, polls for Democrats were cratering, including indicating that the next line of possible battleground states were opening up, states such as Minnesota and New Mexico, and Colorado and New Hampshire, and, of course, your home Commonwealth of Virginia, where there is a Senate race in addition to a presidential race.

Do you think that that bleeding has stopped? You think the Vice President Harris is going to keep Virginia blue?

WARNER: Absolutely. I listen. I was worried when I saw polls that showed Donald Trump ahead. Those have changed and probably even a better example, I just at a state press conference and they were talking about Petersburg, which is a heavily African-American community south of Richmond. They're seeing the last four days, you know, record the numbers of people coming and registering to vote.

You can feel the energy. You can feel the enthusiasm. I think that is good for Kamala Harris and it get's even better for the future of our country.

TAPPER: Senator Mark Warner of Virginia, the chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, thanks so much for your time today.

WARNER: Thank you, Jake.

TAPPER: Donald Trump's campaign says that a debate between Trump and vice President Harris will happen. But this just in, the vice president is now accusing Trump of backpedaling on potential plans. He had agreed to do a debate in September against Biden.

And will America elect a woman as president? We're asking voters in Pennsylvania, bound to be one of the most closely contested battlegrounds in

November.

And more of THE LEAD exclusive interview with Nikki Haley and her first interview since dropping out of the race.

Stay with us.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HALEY: The kids, the first thing they do is what any of our kids --

(END VIDEO CLIP)

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[16:17:12]

TAPPER: In our 2024 lead, Vice President Kamala Harris is out with her very first official presidential campaign video with a direct dig at her opponent.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HARRIS: We choose freedom -- the freedom to be safe from gun violence, the freedom to make decisions about your own body. We choose a future where no child lives in poverty, where we can all afford health care, where no one is above the law.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: No one is above the law.

My panel's here with me.

A clear shot at Mr. Trump with his famous or infamous mug shot, depending on your point of view.

What's your take on this?

KAREN FINNEY, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: I think it's a great starting spot. Obviously, it's a contrast ad and I've seen some internal data that says when she's talking about the future versus the past, and making the contrast that is doing very well so far.

So, and who doesn't like Beyonce.

TAPPER: Wow.

Matt, we've seen that -- well, there are people who don't like her.

FINNEY: I know, I'm just saying say its fun. It's got energy and it's fun and laying out, here's what my campaign is going to be about.

TAPPER: And Beyonce was quick to allow the use of that song.

So, Matt, let me ask you, we've seen a Trump PAC released one ad against Kamala Harris, Vice President Harris earlier this week, CNN is also reporting Trump's team is planning a series of negative TV ads attacking her will focus on the border, focus on tying her to inflation.

She is part of the Biden and Harris administration after -- after all. What do you think is going to be the main line of attack beyond inflation and the border, which was already the line of attack against Biden?

MATT MOWERS, FORMER TRUMP ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: Well, they're going to unearth the clips of her running for president in 2020. I mean, it's funny, seeing some of the clips down, obviously, we all watched that campaign. We saw her campaign, but were reminded of how the far left she was trying to move to win that primary, to be able to gain a lane against Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders and the rest of them.

I mean, going after her on everything, saying no private health insurance, taken away, good health care for middle-class families that way, saying that it's not a crime to actually cross the southern border when immigration is when the number one issues right now, going as far as saying maybe we should consider restrictions on red meat, how many middle-class Americans are looking forward to throwing a burger on the grill this weekend.

There's a whole host of those statements that she's made and David McCormick was the first one out, U.S. Senate candidate in Pennsylvania, to string those together. It's a reminder of, you know, this is a U.S. set, former U.S. senator from California, from San Francisco who's now running for president. She has a record that's out of step with Michigan, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, and they're going to remind voters of that.

TAPPER: So, Jeff, just -- in the last few minutes vice president Harris tweeted, quote, Trump agreed on September 10th debate. It now appears he's backpedaling. Voters deserve to see the split screen that exists on the debate stage. I'm ready, so let's go.

This comes after Trump did in fact suggests that he's not going to abide by that debate, which was supposed to be with Biden on ABC News, but he was saying ABC News is not a fair forum, which I think is silly.

[16:20:07]

And he's pushing for a debate on Fox instead. We should note, last time Mr. Trump ran for president, Fox was so pro-Trump in their coverage, they ended up having to pay a $787.5 million defamation suit because they were amplifying Trump's lies about the election. And one of their anchors, of course, leaned on the decision desk to flip Arizona from Biden to Trump and to slow-walk Nevada. That's the fair network that Trump is pushing for.

What do you think?

JEFF ZELENY, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Look, I mean, I think there will be a debate. The Trump campaign said today, Jason Miller said there will be a debate. He's his communications director.

Look, I think it -- I mean, it's true that they agreed to a debate on ABC with Joe Biden.

TAPPER: Yeah.

ZELENY: The former president is correct about that. It does change the rules. My guess is if it ends up on Fox, the vice president will go on Fox and do a debate.

We've seen fair Fox debates before in previous elections. They've drawn a distinction between some of the debate coverage and the opinion hosts, but we'll see. I mean, I think it's in certainly in the vice president's interest to debate the former president. We'll see if it's in his, but it would -- it'd be hard to imagine after he was sort of goading in of President Biden into debating if he suddenly wouldn't agree to it.

Maybe she'll do what he did and take an empty podium around the country and say, come on, Donald, anytime any place.

FINNEY: Which she should. I mean, how is anything but him looking like he's running like a scaredy cat, as we were talking about women and cats, I'll use a cat frame this week, that like, okay, I'm too afraid of ABC News and we have to go to Fox and we have to do it my -- I mean, it just seems a little silly to me. It makes him seem like what are you afraid of?

TAPPER: It doesn't make any sense, really. I mean, you know, he was going to debate Biden on ABC News.

MOWERS: Yeah. And look, I think at the end of the day, he's going to debate. I mean, everyone here knows Donald Trump personally or from a distance. He is not afraid of his own skill. He doesn't want it --

TAPPER: Why back off?

MOWERS: Honestly, I think at the end of the day, he's going to try put -- we may end up with more debates as a result.

TAPPER: That'd be great.

MOWERS: We had two debates scheduled between President Biden, President Trump. I wouldn't be shocked if this is actually an opportunity now to have more debates, maybe with ABC and Fox.

TAPPER: So, this is brand new "New York Times"/Siena poll out this afternoon showing there's no clear leader in this head-to-head matchup between Trump and Harris, 48 percent of registered voters saying they support Trump, 46 percent Harris. He has slightly there, but it is within the margin of error, much better than, look at that, that's a Trump 49, Biden 41.

So I mean, this is more of a competition.

MOWERS: Sure. It -- and look, this is going to be a close election. It was going to be a close election, certainly before the debate, and in fact, a lot of the numbers, at least the top line, are looking very similar to the Biden-Trump head-to-head numbers pre-debate. And that's what we're seeing right now.

Maybe the coalitions a little different. You know, Trump's down a little bit better now, with older voters, Harris is doing a little bit better with younger voters than President Biden was. But ultimately, this is a close election. Both sides are likely to be pretty enthusiastic.

But ultimately, despite what we've seen this week and, you know, Vice President Harris has had a pretty strong rollout, raise money, got a lot of favorable coverage, at the end of the day, she still has a saddled with a record and so, the Biden-Harris record, which voters right now, were just soured on. They were soured on when it was Joe Biden and they're soured on now with Kamala Harris and that's what you're seeing. Donald Trump still with a slight lead right now.

TAPPER: I would like to make just one quick plea to anybody who says out there supervising these polls, it'd be great if you could just do the battleground states and it'd be great if you could do likely voters, not registered voters, because I find it difficult other than when you dig into the cross tabs, that's when you find the interesting stuff. But that head-to-head is relatively meaningless at this stage.

Here's a cross tab that's interesting. Harris winning 56 percent of young voters to Trump's 38 percent in the previous poll. It was Trump winning 48 percent to Biden's 40 percent.

So there is something you can discern in there, even if it's not a complete predictor.

FINNEY: Well, as I was saying before, mean, again, I think young people see her. She is the future. She looks like the future, right? We have our future as much more multicultural and more female. She -- she is, that is who she is.

And I just want to say one thing about the record she inherited. I mean, today, we had more phenomenal economic news. The economy is continuing to do well, inflation down, 16 million jobs.

And when it comes to immigration, let's not forget, she was also a border state governor and she prosecuted transnational crime. She knows a thing or two about how to talk about those issues. And now that it's her at the top of the ticket, she will talk about her record and their record.

And I would say as much as they're going to try to take news 2020 against her, she now has a three-and-a-half-year record that she also deserves credit for where credit is due.

MOWERS: I just said on the point you made about national polling. At the beginning of this race, we were all saying Donald Trump doesn't need to lead in national polls to win this election. He's lost the popular vote twice, while still winning the Electoral College one time.

[16:25:01]

And so, if you actually look at Michigan, Pennsylvania, that's where these positions are going to be even more challenging for Vice President Harris on immigration, on a ban on fracking, energy policy, then is nationally. I mean, we always see national polls a bit of a skew because of big metropolitan areas.

TAPPER: California and New York.

MOWERS: Yeah. That's skewed differently from the battleground states. And so that's what we should be looking at.

TAPPER: So, Jeff, this morning, we saw Vice President Harris deliver the keynote address at the American Federation of Teachers National Convention, the AFT. For folks who don't know, it's a second largest teachers union in the country, one of the most powerful in the country.

Let's take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HARRIS: Project 2025 is a plan to return America to a dark past. Donald Trump and his extreme allies want to take our nation back to failed trickle-down economic policies.

(BOOING)

HARRIS: But we are not going back. We are not going back. (CHEERING)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: This is part of what Karen was just talking about. Her positioning herself as the future Donald Trump is the past. It's a lot easier to do that if you're not the incumbent president and you're not 81 years old.

ZELENY: For sure. I mean, before, there was effectively an incumbent president running against an incumbent president, now, she can break out of that to an extent. She still owns obviously the Biden administration record, but those few words there say a lot. We're not going back.

It sure talks about age. It reminds people of the Trump administration, I think we're going to hear a ton of that.

Back to polling for one second when you look into these numbers, they're not intended to be predictors as you know, but some of these are interesting subgroups. We are going to see what the Harris coalition looks like. And as Matt was saying, younger voters in this, the one that jumped out to me is that she does considerably better among younger voters. We will see, but this is a new start for the campaign.

So we just have to wait and see what battlegrounds sort of come into play. But we know demographically, by groups, younger voters seem to be more energized.

TAPPER: Yeah, although as Matt points out, older voters that you don't want -- you don't want to give them --

ZELENY: They're showing up every election --

TAPPER: They tend to vote more reliably than younger ones.

Thanks to one and all. Appreciate it.

Joe Biden flipped battleground Pennsylvania blue in the 2020 election. What do voters there think about Kamala Harris now that she's at the top of the ticket in 2024.

CNN's John King went to the great Keystone State to get a pulse check. His report is next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[16:31:47]

TAPPER: We're back with our 2024 lead.

The great Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, my old stomping grounds, is once again front and center in the presidential race. Not only did former President Trump survive an assassination attempt there just under two weeks ago, Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro will headline a campaign event for Vice President Kamala Harris in Pennsylvania next week.

CNN's John King spoke with older voters and a bellwether Pennsylvania counting is latest very timely installment of his all over the map series.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOHN KING, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): At this same table, five months ago, three of the four thought President Biden was up to the job and they called criticism of his age unfair, but they began to see things that worried them.

Biden's debate debacle left no doubt.

DARRELL ANN MURPHY, PENNSYLVANIA VOTER: From an experience I know how quickly things can go downhill when you are an older person.

KING: Now, a new challenge.

MURPHY: You know, she's of perfect age. She's committed. She's vigorous and I overwhelmingly the women I talked to are -- let's go, let's go.

Civil rights activist Marvin Boyer organized the Black history display at this museum downtown Easton. The debate changed his mind, too, and in Harris, Boyer sees what was missing in Biden.

MARVIN BOYER, PENNSYLVANIA VOTER: You have to be aggressive because he's coming after you, and I think she's up to the challenge in that regard.

KING: The winner here in North Hampton County tends to be the winner statewide. Every vote matters.

BOYER: It also reenergizes a strong constituency of the Democratic Party, meaning Black females. So I think it's a good thing in that regard.

KING: Do you think America is ready to elect a woman of color its president?

BOYER: There's still racism, misogyny in this country in 2024, no question. Well, can we overcome it with this election, enough that she can be elected? I hope so.

KING: Geology professor Lawrence Malinconico changed his mind after the debate, too. His wife donated to Harris as soon as the news broke, and Malinconico believes students will be much more energized now.

LARRY MALINCONICO, PENNSYLVANIA VOTER: There is an acceptable choice now when before I think there was real skepticism about the viability of President Biden for another four years.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

TAPPER: So John, it's map time. Remind us how Northampton County voted in 2016 and 2020.

KING: So its one of the bellwethers in your home state, the commonwealth of Pennsylvania. It's fascinating. You have Bethlehem and you have Easton, two Democratic cities. But then you stretch out into much more rural areas, white working class voters, right?

Donald Trump wins this county by 5,464 votes in 2016, he wins the commonwealth. He wins the presidency.

Joe Biden in 2020 wins it by 1,233 votes. So a much smaller margin, but then boom, he wins North Hampton, he wins Pennsylvania, he wins the presidency.

So it's just one of those places. We have them in swing states all over the country. That's not always but tends to be, tends to pick the winner. So we'll keep an eye on that right through November.

TAPPER: Fascinating stuff. John King, all over the map, thanks so much. Appreciate it.

A rare move from Jennifer Aniston, speaking out to give her political opinion. Coming up, her pushback on the childless cat ladies remarks made by Donald Trump's VP candidate, Senator J.D. Vance.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[16:39:24]

TAPPER: And we're back with our 2024 lead, kind of pop culture, too, because the question is, what did Jennifer Aniston, Pete Buttigieg, and Whoopi Goldberg have in common? They are all less than pleased with Republican vice presidential candidate J.D. Vance after a clip from 2021 recently resurfaced. Take a listen to what Vance told Tucker Carlson on Fox back in 2021.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. J.D. VANCE (R-OH), VICE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We're effectively run in this country via the Democrats, via our corporate oligarchs by a bunch of childless cat ladies who are miserable at their own lives and the choices that they've made. And so, they want to make the rest of the country miserable, too. And it's just a basic fact.

You look at Kamala Harris, Pete Buttigieg, AOC, the entire future of the Democrats is controlled by people without children.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[16:40:08]

TAPPER: Now, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg does have children.

He told CNN that Vance made those comments after a, quote, heartbreaking setback in his and his husbands adoption journey adding, quote, he couldn't have known that, but that's why you don't go after people regarding their kids.

On Wednesday, the ex-wife of the second gentleman, Doug Emhoff, came to Kamala Harris as defense calling out Vance's, quote, baseless attacks, because Kamala Harris is a stepmother.

And just moments ago, the Harris campaign tweeted: Happy IVF day to everyone except for J.D. Vance.

But let's get right to CNN's Elizabeth Wagmeister in L.A. with perhaps the most interesting critic on this list, Jennifer Aniston, who typically keeps a pretty low profile when it comes to politics, not to mention her personal life.

Elizabeth, what made Ms. Anderson speak out?

ELIZABETH WAGMEISTER, CNN ENTERTAINMENT CORRESPONDENT: You're absolutely right, Jake. Jennifer Aniston rarely speaks about her personal life, even though she's one of the most famous women on the planet, and rarely enters the political fray.

But this has a personal matter for her. Last night, Jake, she took to her Instagram stories. I want to read you some of what she said about this resurfaced clip from J.D. Vance.

She said, quote, I truly can't believe this is coming from a potential VP of the United States. She goes on to say, Mr. Vance, I pray that your daughter is fortunate enough to bear children of her own one day, I hope she will not need to turn to IVF as a second option because you are trying to take that away from her, too.

So there we see Aniston speaking about his far right stands on reproductive rights. And the reason I said this is a personal matter for Aniston is because in 2022 and a cover story with "Allure" magazine, she revealed for the first time that she had a very difficult journey with her fertility struggle. She said that she tried IVF. It didn't work. So again, a personal matter for her that's really resonating with a lot of women today, both on the right and the left.

But it's not just Jennifer Aniston. One of the most famous and proud, I will say, childless cat ladies, we all know is Taylor Swift. In fact, she appeared on the cover of time magazine when she was honored as person of the year with her cat, there we see it. That's how much she loves her cats.

Now, Taylor Swift, she has not made any presidential endorsement yet. People are wondering if she may, if she will, but the Swifties, per usual, they are coming out in full force, and they have taken to social media to react to J.D. Vance's comments about childless cat ladies.

I want to read you. One of my favorites, Jake, here it is, someone says, hell hath no fury like a certain childless cat lady who has yet to endorse a presidential candidate. Another Swifty says that J.D. Vance really, quote, F this one up, the Armageddon is coming for him.

So, again, we're still waiting to see if we'll get an endorsement from Taylor Swift. But the Swifties are out.

TAPPER: You know, I've always been taught the politics as a matter of addition, not subtraction. So that was an interesting choice by Senator Vance.

On the subject of Vice President Harris, it's been less than a week since President Biden dropped out of the race. In that short time, we have seen some pop stars who had not supported a Biden necessarily, now offering their support.

Who sticks out to you?

WAGMEISTER: So, Jake, yesterday, you and I spoke about the influence that Gen Z first-time voters could have on this race. We've all seen the memes of Kamala Harris by that point and if you didn't know who Charli XCX was before this week, now you certainly do. I think everyone knows what brat is or is trying to figure it out? And they're wearing their lime green.

Charli XCX is one of these new wave of Gen Z pop stars, along with Olivia Rodrigo, and also Chappell Roans.

Now Olivia Rodrigo this week, she did give her endorsement to Kamala Harris. There we see her in 2021 when she was visiting the White House to talk about vaccinations during the pandemic. She has almost 40 million followers on Instagram. So that's a big deal.

And Chappell Roan, who is being described as the Gen Z's Madonna, she is really on the up and up, Jake, one of her songs was set to a TikTok on Kamala HQ from the official campaign, and that TikTok is about to reach 45 million views.

She has not given her endorsement though yet, we may add.

TAPPER: Elizabeth, powerful tech executives have traditionally been more favorable to Trump this election, including billionaire Elon Musk and others.

Today, we should note that Harris scored her own big Silicon Valley endorsement.

WAGMEISTER: She did. So the founder of LinkedIn, Reid Hoffman, is backing Kamala Harris. Now, they have known each other for a while, but he now speaking with our Matt Egan saying that she fully has his backing, that he believes that she should be the next president of the United States.

[16:45:05]

Obviously, this is one of the biggest names in tech and I think it'll be interesting to see if other tech founders, big names in Silicon Valley come around because remember Kamala Harris, she is a California woman. She is from here. She has deep ties both to the tech world and also, of course, Hollywood, Jake.

TAPPER: All right. Elizabeth Wagmeister, thank you so much. Appreciate it.

A major executive order today in the state of California, the governor, Governor Newsom, has directed all homeless encampments to be removed. Why that move is sparking outrage by some people in the state. It's the latest in our series, "Homeless in America". That's next.

Plus, the breaking news, cameras set as Vice President Kamala Harris gets ready to sit down with Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu. This is at the vice presidents ceremonial office at the executive building right next door to the White House. We'll monitor that meeting.

We're back in a moment. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[16:50:19]

TAPPER: We're back with the latest on the crisis that we believe here on THE LEAD impact some of the most vulnerable people across the United States, that is the homeless crisis.

Today, California Governor Gavin Newsom ordered state officials to start removing homeless encampments. And while some see today's order as one that might protect communities in California, homeless advocates are outraged.

Here is CNN's Natasha Chen with the latest in our series, "Homeless in America".

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NATASHA CHEN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Homeless encampments across California may soon be taken down with more urgency, sparks by a recent U.S. Supreme Court decision allowing an Oregon city to issue citations and arrests for sleeping outside, Governor Gavin Newsom issued a state order directing California officials to, quote, move urgently to address dangerous encampments while supporting and assisting the individuals living in them.

Some homeless advocates were caught off guard and outraged.

JENNIFER FRIEDENBACH, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, COALITION OF HOMELESSNESS IN SAN FRANCISCO: This is really a punch in the gut.

TESCIA URIBE, CHIEF PROGRAM OFFICER, PATH: Super sad and disappointing.

CHEN: Jennifer Friedenbach says she already sees thousands of people on a waitlist for housing in San Francisco. And then all the city's shelter beds are already full.

FRIEDENBACH: They already want to basically crack down on folks who have no other choice.

CHEN: California has the largest homeless population in the nation, more than 180,000 people, according to a 2023 homelessness assessment report to Congress. The state's policies following the Supreme Court decision are being closely watched by other cities and states across the nation. An estimated 650,000 people are experiencing homelessness nationwide, more than a 12 percent increase since 2020.

About a dozen big city mayors across California's support the governor's directive while emphasizing a need for housing solutions.

Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass put out her own statement, pushing back on, quote, strategies that just move people along from one neighborhood to the next.

She said homelessness in Los Angeles is already decreasing from programs to get people into permanent housing, and called on Newsom to continue collaborating on strategies that work. Homeless advocates question the timing of Newsom's order.

FRIEDENBACH: The Newsom executive border, in a lot of ways is performative. These kinds of measures that just kind of have the fake appearance of doing something actually waste resources and make a really horrible situation for everyone, most of all, unhoused people, worse.

CHEN: The governor spoke with CNN's Jake Tapper in February about making housing more affordable.

TAPPER: A lot of people are now facing these choices, where they have to live in their car because they can't afford rent.

What is California doing about that?

GOV. GAVIN NEWSOM (D), CALIFORNIA: Roll their eyes, but I mean it, the most significant reform at the Medicaid system, Medi-Cal in the state of California. But part of those strategies include housing and supports for rent and connecting that to the Medicaid system.

CHEN: Housing the unhoused according to advocates, often comes down to the issue of supply and demand -- the need to build more housing that's affordable to those who want and desperately need it.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHEN (on camera): And that supply and demand issue is severe. That San Francisco homeless advocate, we talked to there said that she sees thousands more unhoused people than there are available shelter beds. She also tells us anecdotally that homeless people have been reporting to her that San Francisco police are telling them now that come August 1st, they're going to start cracking down, and the only thing available to them will be a jail cell.

Now, I've reached out to San Francisco police for some clarity on what their message and plans are starting in August for what the mayor there calls a more aggressive approach, Jake.

TAPPER: All right. Natasha Chen in Los Angeles, the latest in our series, "Homeless in America". Thank you so much for that. Coming up next, my exclusive interview with former Republican

presidential candidate and South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley. What she says about the president dropping out of the presidential race, what she says about the new Kamala Harris campaign and Donald Trump, even her former GOP rival Chris Christie.

THE LEAD exclusive is next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[16:59:17]

TAPPER: Welcome to THE LEAD. I'm Jake Tapper.

This hour, a LEAD exclusive, I sat down with former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley for her very first interview since she dropped out of the 2024 presidential race in March. We discussed why she ultimately chose to endorse Donald Trump, despite the fact that she was recently his top rival in the Republican primary, questioning all sorts of things about him, including his loyalty to the U.S. Constitution.

Haley also reacting to the dramatic changes on the Democratic side of the ticket. That is in fact, where we began.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TAPPER: So, so much has happened since we last sat down and talked. You dropped out of the race, you endorsed Donald Trump, you spoke at the Republican National Convention. Your father sadly passed away. Your husband, Michael, who's a major in the South Carolina National Guard, returned from a year abroad.

And I want to get to all of that, but first I have to start with the news from Sunday of President Biden dropping out of the presidential race. You have always been skeptical that he could last for another four years in office. Were you surprised?

HALEY: I wasn't surprised and I didn't take happiness in it. You know what I mean? I think through the whole campaign, you know, I fought for mental competency tests. I wasn't doing it to be disrespectful. I wasn't doing it to be mean. I was doing it because I think it's not just Joe Biden.