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The Lead with Jake Tapper

CNN Democratic National Convention; Source: Trump Attorney Targeted In Alleged Iran Hack Attack; Soon: DNC Night One Kicks Off In Chicago. Aired 4-5p ET

Aired August 19, 2024 - 16:00   ET

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

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[16:00:46]

JAKE TAPPER, CNN HOST: A live look inside the United Center here in Chicago, Illinois, where the Democratic National Convention begins imminently. And where we are about to watch history unfold in one of the most consequential weeks of the 2024 campaign.

Hello and welcome to THE LEAD. I'm Jake Tapper, live here at the Democratic National Convention.

Vice President Kamala Harris, assuming the Democratic mantle, officially, president Joe Biden, about to relinquish it. Today, Biden will ceremonial -- ceremonially hand the reins of the party over to his vice president after an election shakeup for the ages, which believe it or not occurred only for weeks and one day ago.

Mr. Biden just landed in Chicago for his big speech. We're some reporting that the president (AUDIO GAP) it all went down. We'll see tonight if any of that is discernible in his address. The White House says Biden will sketch out his view of the stakes of this election night and call out his predecessor, Donald Trump, by name. As he once again makes his case that Trump is a threat to democracy.

President Biden is expected to ask Americans to help defend democracy, one more time in November. The Harris campaign says Biden speech tonight will allow Democrats to celebrate him in his accomplishments. Harris, who became the Democratic nominee, only two weeks ago, will be here in the convention hall tonight to watch Biden as she continues to ride a wave of Democratic momentum to this event.

New poll numbers show that Harris is now putting key Sunbelt states back into play and has a narrow lead nationally outside the margin of error for the very first time.

Will we see her numbers grow even more? (AUDIO GAP) in the spotlight.

And my colleague Erin Burnett is also here in the convention hall -- Erin.

ERIN BURNETT, CNN HOST: And, Jake, amazing, right? Four weeks and one day ago, what a different world it was. And yet here we are tonight, President Biden, where Jake and I are passing the Democratic torch to Kamala Harris tonight. His biggest supporter you just saw there getting off of Air Force One as they arrived here in Chicago. First Lady Jill Biden, going to begin by offering a heartfelt tribute to her husband.

And a source is telling us that she plans on speaking about Joe Biden, strength and character, quote, in a way that only a spouse of nearly 50 years can do.

Now, CNN has also learned she will use her speech to call on Americans to get behind Kamala Harris.

So let's go straight to CNN's Kaitlan Collins, who is on the DNC floor, getting ready for this.

All, of course, formerly Kaitlan to begin.

KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN CHIEF CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, Erin. Of course, I'm here on the floor. This is where all the action this week will be happening in a very different convention than a month and a day ago that Democrats thought they were going to be having. Right now, they are warming up on stage for a list of speakers that we will see tonight that includes some very notable names. And it really spans, you know, the entire wavelength of the Democratic Party, if you will, and who you're going to see on that stage tonight.

That includes UAW President Shawn Fain, who, of course, endorsed President Biden when he went and joined them on picket line. You're also going to see Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear, a rare Democratic governor and a very red state. You'll also hear from notable senators, Raphael Warnock of Georgia. You'll also see Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and a prime time spot. I should note which is notable given she had about 90 seconds at the last convention in 2022 to introduce Senator Bernie Sanders.

And then from there, you will see some names coming up that, of course, really speak to what this convention looks like. Secretary Hillary Clinton is going to be here speaking on that stage before introducing the first lady. And then it will be Ashley Biden, President Biden's daughter who is going to be the final speaker introducing him before he takes the stage.

And that is going to be the speech that, of course, everyone is watching tonight. It's about three nights earlier than he thought he was going to be speaking just about a month ago before he exited the 2024 race. We are told by the White House that he's still been fine tuning that speech today.

He's been working on it, very closely with Mike Donilon, one of his top aides, who was on that plane with him and just landed here in Chicago. That has woman who, of course, was one of the final voices he consulted with before deciding to leave this race for the good of his party.

[16:05:01]

And, Erin, just to give you a sense of how much of this convention is still very much one that was President Biden's and is now Vice President Harris's. I'm sitting right next to the Delaware delegation where they will be seated on the floor. In front of them is Pennsylvania, obviously two nods to President Biden. Typically, all of the seats appear are reserved for the nominee themselves.

To my right is where California, of course, is going to be, Vice President Harris's home state and then Illinois is right over to the left. And so, that is going to be just a notable distinction as we're waiting to hear from President Biden and what we're told is not necessarily a farewell speech for him, but him laying out a vision for the United States and also making the case for his vice president.

I will know note, Erin, we've been here are watching James Taylor warm up and he is on stage right now. We have confirmed he will be performing here at the Democratic Convention, not a speaker necessarily, but certainly someone everyone will be watching -- Erin.

BURNETT: No, absolutely, and pretty amazing to get to hear James Taylor.

COLLINS: A private audience, about 100 people.

BURNETT: Right now. It's sort of feels that way, doesn't it?

All right. Jake, you know -- I'm just enjoying it actually, but, Jake, it is -- it is a bittersweet moment for Joe Biden, right? But he expected this to be so different. And no matter what your role in life, of course, on some level, he's just a human being who wanted something to go very differently than the way of course it ended up going.

TAPPER: I feel like you're trying to match the copy to the background.

BURNETT: I know. Somehow, I'm feeling -- I am feeling quite -- yes.

TAPPER: I feel like I'm called upon to say something like, we'll see if the vice president reaches out to her friend, the president.

BURNETT: Oh, no.

TAPPER: And says to him, I don't even want to talk really. I mean -- we're getting a live James Taylor concert, right now.

BURNETT: I know.

TAPPER: You know what? Let's just in --

BURNETT: You want to listen?

TAPPER: Let's just in for like a minute this sound check if we can, and then we'll bring back our experts. Can we do that, guys?

(JAMES TAYLOR SINGING)

TAPPER: All right. I mean, I'm half cold (ph), I have to go back to work.

My moms from Chapel Hill, so this is painful. I don't want to hear my voice instead of James Taylor's, but let's talk about the important week that we are having right now with my political experts.

David Chalian, President Biden dropped out of the race a month and a day ago. You wouldn't know that if you read the Democratic platform because it repeatedly refers to President Biden's second term. They're roughly 19 or 20 mentions of President Biden's second term.

They've had a month and a day to update. Why haven't they?

DAVID CHALIAN, CNN POLITICAL DIRECTOR: Yeah, there won't be one of those, Biden second term. We know that.

And, you know, listen, the platform was largely the draft opinion put in place and voted on earlier this summer. And I think in talking to some folks the idea of reopening the platform to try to fit in, not yet fully developed. Kamala Harris policies while they were quickly changing, they thought they would be opening a can of worms, right? And that there would be all of a sudden some fights about what goes in the platform and they wanted to avoid that at all costs.

So they're willing to take the hit on the fact that the platform is sort of a relic of the Biden era because it's a non-binding thing. They'll vote officially today as part of the party business to put it into effect. But as you know, it has no binding capacity.

TAPPER: Right. And we should note that this also allows Vice President Harris to stay vague, stay unspecific.

[16:10:05]

That's from the Biden platform. That's not ours.

And, you know, you can't really attack her on that given the fact that Donald Trump didn't even have a platform in 2020?

ALYSSA FARAH GRIFFIN, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Correct. And the current Republican Party platform was basically let a bunch of platitudes.

TAPPER: Like a leaflet.

GRIFFIN: It's kind of a leaflet, but listen, I mean, this is such a historic, remarkable moment in one month they pulled together a campaign that has now competitive, if not slightly ahead of Donald Trump. But this guy would get 538 right there, and --

TAPPER: Seventy-six-years-old.

GRIFFIN: The operation that they've put in place, pulling this DNC together, getting the entire are Democratic Party apparatus behind the nominee. It's a remarkable moment, but she's still neck and neck. Donald Trump's in York, Pennsylvania, today. He actually stayed on

script more than he has been at some of these events. And I think he's starting to wake up to the fact that she's going to get a boost from this -- this convention. And he's got to start fighting harder.

TAPPER: And we should note, tonight marks a major moment for Democrats passing the baton to vice president Harris and also starts the race to define Kamala Harris with just 78 days to go until Election Day.

There's a new CBS News/YouGov poll asking registered voters how Harris his policies compared to Biden's, 19 of registered voters say they're entirely the same. Sixty-four percent say they're mostly the same, 16 percent say mostly, or entirely different.

Bakari since Biden sit down, Harris has worked a unifying the party. She's had a masterful for weeks and one day, don't get me wrong. I wouldn't say that it's been the most policy-heavy for weeks and one day.

BAKARI SELLERS, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: I mean, by comparison to who she's running against because I think that many times when we want to we want to just maybe chastise Kamala Harris, whatever policy it may be. We forget that this doesn't operate in a vacuum. She is running against Donald Trump and she's actually put out more policy in the last four weeks in one day than Donald Trump has in that time period, or for a very long period of time.

But that doesn't take away from the fact that your point is still very well-taken, Jake, that this week is so important to continuously helped define her in what she means.

I mean, there are little things that people talk about like it's 60 -- 60 years since Freedom Summer. You're talking about Fannie Lou Hamer, you know, at the -- at the DNC giving a just a rousing speech. You're talking about Hillary Clinton today, leaning into that, I'm with her and the cracks in the glass ceiling.

And so, this kind of celebratory moment is still work in molding who Kamala Harris is for the American people, so it's not just a celebration is also like an art project, making sure that people understand who she is, what she stands for, and what she has to answer this question. And I've said this to her, and I've said this to everyone, many people are saying, I don't like J.D. Vance. I don't like or don't want the chaos of Donald Trump. But I'm not sure if Kamala Harris can lead the country. She has to begin to answer that question this week.

TAPPER: That's a question for every vice president really, because their, because of the role.

SELLERS: Correct.

TAPPER: In that same poll, David Urban, registered voters were asked, do you know what the two presidential candidates stood for -- stand for? Sixty-four percent say yes, they know what Kamala Harris stands for, 86 percent say the same for Donald Trump, 36 percent say no, they don't know what Kamala Harris stands for, 14 percent say that for Trump.

So there's still a third of the electorate more than a third of the electorate, say they have, they don't know what she stands for.

DAVID URBAN, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: And that's her challenges, as Bakari points out. You know, there's a couple of -- a couple of big points here. So Joe Biden, she's a part of the Biden-Harris administration. So it's a little bit of political jujitsu today to say, you know, I'm a part of this team, you know, great, great job, Mr. President, and then get the hell out here, go on vacation, we don't want to hear from you again because I need to establish my own identity.

Bakari is right. She has run for president before. She's spoken. She's got -- there's a lot of tape of Kamala Harris saying things when she ran in 2019. And a tape of Kamala Harris today saying things that are different, right?

So she said on day one, I will ban fracking, and then faceless nameless person put out a statement saying she's not going to ban fracking.

TAPPER: On a Friday afternoon.

URBAN: So those are things I think that people are going to have to hear from her for to believe, right?

TAPPER: Yeah.

URBAN: And to really shape who she is because -- in that poll, Jake, in that -- in that CBS poll, there are three things that people do care about, the Americans care about, the economy, immigration and inflation.

And each three of those, Trump is 56 percent, more -- 56 percent of people believe Trump's better on the immigration, 71 percent, and on inflation, 61 percent. So, in the three key issues that shape this presidential campaign, if Trump can just bring it back, come to those three, the American people still believe that he's best to lead.

TAPPER: So, everyone stick around. We have a lot more to discuss, including a CNN exclusive, Donald Trump's former chief of staff, retired General John Kelly responding exclusively here on CNN to Trump's comments when he said the civilian medal of freedom is, quote, much better than the military medal of honor. Trump is standing by those remarks.

And "New York Times'" Maggie Haberman, one of the best best-sourced Trump reporters in the business, joins me to discuss next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[16:18:57] TAPPER: We are back live in Chicago where moments ago, President Joe Biden landed at Soldier Field. He was greeted by Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker as Democrats gather here in the Windy City. Former President Donald Trump is campaigning in several swing states this week.

CNN's Phil Mattingly is with Trump's campaign in York, battleground Pennsylvania.

Phil, what more do we know about the campaign's counter-programming to the Democratic Convention?

PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN CHIEF DOMESTIC CORRESPONENT: That, Jake, this was a deliberate choice made to try and at least get some coverage, at least drive some message home in a week that oftentimes the opponents kind of go dark a little bit understand that the spotlight is going to be on the candidate that is having the convention not so for the Trump team.

And that is a recognition of, I think in large part what you've heard from Republicans, allies outside the campaign, but also some inside the campaign making clear they need to sharpen the message the former president needs to stop focusing on personal attacks and instead needs to be on the road, be campaigning, be in the swing states.

That's exactly what he's doing throughout the course of this week.

[16:20:01]

Five of the critical seven battleground states the former president alone will be stopping in. His running mate J.D. Vance will be in several as well, in total covering all seven of those key toss-up states.

And what's fascinating, Jake, look behind me. We are at a manufacturer here in York, Pennsylvania. This is a small venue. This was not a rally. This was a policy speech where the president, former president mostly stayed on script the entire time talking about the economy and his opponent. That's what Republicans have been asking for, setting up a structure around him to deliver on that, at least on day one of these five days, Jake.

TAPPER: All right. Phil Mattingly in New York, PA, thanks so much.

Meanwhile, Mr. Trump is also trying to defend his comments last week where he said that the presidential Medal of Freedom, which honors civilians was, quote, much better, unquote, than the Medal of Honor, given to service members.

Listen to what Trump said last week about giving Republican donor Miriam Adelson the Medal of Freedom.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT & 2024 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: It's actually much better because everyone gets the congressional medal of honor. That's soldiers. They're either in very bad shape because they've been hit so many times by bullets, or they're dead she gets it and she's a healthy, beautiful woman. And they're rated equal.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: Former Trump chief of staff and retired Marine general, John Kelly, is now reacting to Trump's comments.

Kelly told me exclusively, quote, think of Normandy, Iwo Jima, Vietnam, or Fallujah, the medal of honor is earned, not won by incredibly brave actions on the battlefield under fire typically by very young men who joined with others did not to defend their country. The two awards cannot be compared in any way, not even close, unquote.

This is not the first time Trump has made derogatory comments about military service. Last October, you might remember, former General Kelly confirmed a number of stories exclusively to CNN, stories about Trump attacking U.S. service members and veterans including one that specifically appeared in "The Atlantic" magazine where Trump referred to fallen service members as suckers and losers Trump, continues to dispute that he made those comments.

Let's bring in "The New York Times'" Maggie Haberman.

Maggie, can you explain what he was trying to say and does he understand how at all how offensive those comments are to so many veterans and service members and veterans of foreign wars, which is a nonpartisan as an organization calling his comments asinine.

MAGGIE HABERMAN, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Working backwards. I don't think he understands how offensive it is. I also don't think he especially cares how offensive it is. And what he was trying to say is exactly what he said. I mean, he has said some version of this before about the medals. I cant remember exactly when it was.

But for a guy who along with his aides has spent years now claiming that he never made the suckers and losers comment that comment about the medal of honor was pretty close to saying it, that here's a better -- here's a better medal because you don't have to die.

You know, one of the things that he was said to have said to John Kelly was -- you know, at John Kelly son's grave site, John Kelly's son died serving in the military, you know, what -- essentially what, what good does this do? You know, what's the point of this? People lose -- you know, you lose your life. What's the point?

The point is service, and this is just not something that Trump's mind ever goes to, and it's pretty remarkable because he is somebody who went to military school when he was a child. But this is just something that he has never processed, never been particularly interested in processing, and it continues to offend a lot of people and it's mostly notable, Jake right now, because his campaign is waging this assault on Tim Walz and his military service. And then Trump says something like this, and it just reminds everybody that Trump actually did not serve.

TAPPER: What's not to say he didn't serve. He got deferments.

HABERMAN: Yes, he had bone spurs.

TAPPER: He had bone spurs in his foot.

HABERMAN: By a doctor -- written -- a letter written by a doctor who knew his father.

TAPPER: Yeah, even though he was a college athlete, right? Played basketball and I think even baseball.

HABERMAN: He played baseball, too. I don't know about college, but he was in high school, certainly.

TAPPER: Yeah. Yeah. I but I don't know how one who is -- well --

HABERMAN: Whatever, you got -- you get the point.

TAPPER: Yeah. As Phil Mattingly was covering, Trump is on a swing- state tour trying to counter program and people might not remember this, but in general, it's quite used to be standard that when one party had its convention, the other party kind of like just kept quiet, took a week off.

I'm not saying that that's right or wrong, but that's obviously not what is going on. What is Trump going to do? What are you hearing about how he wants to keep attention on him even while Democrats have their extravaganza behind us?

HABERMAN: That's right. In 2004, I remember very well that the Bush campaign did -- did truth squatting. Remember this when John Kerry was having his convention. And so, that was the first time that I really remember an effort to try to make news during the other parties event.

But what Trump is being asked to do by his campaign is policy. Policy speech today, sort of a smaller event in York, Pennsylvania, at a factory, and not a huge crowd.

[16:25:07]

And Trump sounded incredibly bored delivering the speech. So, what his campaign wants him to do is appear calmer and sort of ending the personal attacks. What he is prone to do is try to, you know, find any way he can to break into the news cycle, sort of like the Kool-Aid man.

And that often involves doing things on Truth Social and making incendiary comments. And so, he has been saying all kinds of things on Truth Social, his social media website that are very different than what he's doing on the trail.

TAPPER: Some of those posts are pretty just definitionally racist.

HABERMAN: He has been trying to bait Kamala Harris into some kind of a fight over race for some time now. And he's getting -- getting more and more explicit as he does so. And she and her campaign are just not taking the bait.

TAPPER: Interesting, Maggie Haberman, one of the finest reporters in all the land, thank you so much.

Vice President Kamala Harris continues to face criticism that she's not laying out specific policies to address the major issues of this campaign. Can that continue after this week? Veteran Democratic strategist James Carville joins us next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[16:30:38]

TAPPER: We are back live from the Democratic National Convention here in Chicago, the city with shoulders Democrats would certainly like to ride the enthusiasm waves surrounding Vice President Kamala Harris amongst Democrats, all the way to November's election.

But is that momentum enough to keep voters on their side?

Let's bring in Democratic strategist James Carville. He was the former lead strategist for President Bill Clinton's 1992 campaign.

James, good to see you.

How long do you think Harris and the Democrats can keep up this momentum, this glossy image without diving in some of the more un-fun parts of a campaign such as interviews and press conferences and providing explicit details about policies?

JAMES CARVILLE, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: So, President Biden dropped out on 21st of July. I noticed for August 19, because that's Mary Matalin's birthday, and President Clinton's birthday. So it's kind of data that's kind of stamped there.

That's not even a month and I -- in that time, she's had to merge campaign, put a campaign together, plan a convention, pick a vice president, and she's come out with several policy proposals already.

So, I got news here, I just cool your jets here. There's plenty time. But the thought of it where I sit downs, you got to do a lot for a minute because she's got -- she's got that -- you know, in due course, in due course. The whole operation is not even been alive for a month.

And she should -- we've got a debate on September the 10th. We got a probable rate cut in mid-September, and he's going to get sentenced on September 18. And I don't think she wants to do anything to get in front of that story. I think it brought a letter to itself.

So if you don't like the way the campaign is going, ask her to debate.

TAPPER: Our best birthday wishes, of course, to your bride.

Republicans and some economists were quick to criticize Vice President Harris's economic proposal Friday, saying it was short on specifics, full of gimmicks, how do you believe Harris should go about messaging her policies? And do you like her price gouging proposal?

CARVILLE: Okay. Let's back up. First of all, is people support Donald Trump actually accusing someone of a lack of specifics and they're going to have its policy, when his tariffs and nothing else?

I mean, you know, these people need to get real. I think price gouging is real. Only academics that Ivy League schools don't think there's price (VIDEO GAP)

Of course, they're all talking to each other. By the way, do you think Harvard and Yale don't talk to each other about setting tuition? I mean, you'd have to be in a livid -- just be stupid to believe that.

The one part that she came out, what that is I guess it's politically popular, but it's never worked, ever price caps or something like that. You know, if she's got to be for that, and it's politically popular, maybe so, but that's not very good policy.

But the policy of aggressively pursuing these price Reagan and collusion is at the very heart of capitalism, because capitalism cannot work without healthy competition, and that means healthy price competition in only a fool would think else are we getting in this economy.

TAPPER: And the Federal Trade Commission did have a study in March suggesting that some of the big grocery chains were price gouging. If people want to Google it, they can, they can see more on that.

How is your mood and how is the mood of Democrats? Because you and I have been talking now since June 27 specifically since Biden and Trump faced off and there was a lot of there was a lot of glom -- there were a lot of glommed Democrats right after that, and in the weeks after.

CARVILLE: Right.

TAPPER: How are Democrats doing now? How are you -- how are your spirits?

CARVILLE: I mean, Democrats are feeling better. That's undeniable. And it's. mine is just -- so I've seen the polls, and I remind people of a couple of things. Jake.

[16:35:01]

First of all, most quants and they're better at this than I am, say that the vice president would have to win almost by three points in the popular vote to win the Electoral College.

And I also would point out that when President Trump runs, his -- he over-performs his polling average. He did it in 2016. A national poll was actually pretty spot on, but they didn't poll late in the states.

And they polled late in the states in 2020, and you would have thought he was going to win these states by eight points. He did -- Biden -- President Biden did no such thing. So there's this -- people need to have some reality infused in their optimism. I'm glad that people are feeling better. I'm glad that people are excited. But anybody that looks at this with any sense of history, any sense of objectivity sees that there's plenty possible pitfalls that we face with and we need to acknowledge that and stop being giddy all the time.

TAPPER: A neck and neck race, indeed, James Carville, always good to have you on. Thank you so much.

Erin?

BURNETT: All right. Well, Jake, you know, as unifying as the national party convention is supposed to be, and it certainly is going to be that way here. James Taylor epitomized that. There are some big name Democrats who are not going to be here.

And you can see right now, we're getting ready for the speeches and you see President Joe Biden right behind us, Jake, on the stage getting ready. He's going to be speaking tonight during his walk through. Jill Biden is there as well.

And, Kaitlan, I believe is right down there in front of them as they're doing this walk through. Can you see them from where you are, Kaitlan?

COLLINS: Yeah. Erin, I'm literally standing right in front of the first lady, Jill Biden. Obviously, you can see her here. She is going to be speaking the second-to-last speaker before president.

BURNETT: Yeah, you can't hear me, but --

COLLINS: I can hear you, Erin. Can hear me?

BURNETT: Yep. Can you see them, Kaitlan?

COLLINS: We're standing right here in front of the first lady, Jill Biden. Obviously, this is what every speaker who is going to be on the stage does not run through. They come out and see where the prompters are, where the audiences, but obviously this is notable given it as the first lady of the United States. Shell be speaking and then it will be Ashley Biden, their daughter, and then President Biden will come out and give his speech tonight.

And obviously, this is all pretty run of the mill stuff, having the president come out and do a walk-through. But none of this is really because it is just so different than what they thought it was going to look like about a month ago. And what this convention was going to look like and how quickly they've changed it.

I will note, you see the first lady as she's standing here right to her right is going to be the California delegation, but straight ahead will be Pennsylvania and then Delaware is right behind that. Typically, these groups have chairs are reserved for the nominee. It's where their home state is, but given the unusual nature of this convention, you are seeing President Biden's home states right there as well. And so, you're looking at the first lady. I can see President Biden

from my line of view. He is standing just off to the side watching her as she is getting a feel for the prompters and where shell be standing and just a few hours from now to introduce her husband in a highly pivotal speech in his political career, one of the biggest moments seeing him take the stage, President Biden just waved at me. He's about to walk up to the lectern as well.

And I will say, Erin, what we've been hearing from the White House is that he's been fine-tuning this speech all weekend. Obviously, he had a pretty good idea of what it was going to look like a month ago. Now that speech has changed and is going to be focused on his vice president and making the case for her being the nominee. And how quickly he got behind her played a huge role in how quickly she was able to get the party to coalesce behind her to come around her within hours of President Biden announcing a month and a day ago that he had exited the race.

Now here comes President Biden walking up to the lectern.

President Biden, how are you feeling?

REPORTER: Mr. President, how are you feeling?

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I feel great.

REPORTER: Mr. President, is it a bittersweet moment for you at all?

BIDEN: It's memorable moment. All right. Memorable moment.

COLLINS: Erin, I don't know if you could hear President Biden. He said that it's a memorable moment for him.

BURNETT: We couldn't hear the exact words, so Kaitlan saying you heard when the president mouth back, was it a bittersweet moment? He said it's a memorable moment.

I don't know. It's interesting hard to tell when you look at his face, when he was looking out, it did seem that there was maybe some reflection on what this could have been, what it actually is. The speech that he'll be given on a Monday, not Thursday when he's the nominee, but to hand the torch to his vice president.

It will be an important moment and a memorable one.

[16:40:01]

He's certainly right about that.

COLLINS: What's your speech going to be about, Mr. President?

REPORTER: Mr. President, are you ready to pass the torch, sir?

BIDEN: I am.

COLLINS: Mr. President, Mr. President, Donald Trump claims that you were pushed out in a coup and a takeover of your party with Harris now at the top. What's your response to that?

BIDEN: (INAUDIBLE) not hearing you.

COLLINS: Donald Trump claims that you were pushed out, but from the top of the ticket. And this was amounts to a coup from your party. What do you make of those claims?

BIDEN: (INAUDIBLE)

COLLINS: He's what?

REPORTER: What's your message to people who were waiting for you to pass the torch here or taking this as historic moment?

BIDEN: (INAUDIBLE)

REPORTER: How are you feeling?

REPORTER: How are the hostage talks going?

BURNETT: So, Erin, I don't know what you could -- could hear from that, but just to sum up what the president was saying to us as he's taking the lectern, looking at the where the prompters are going to be for his speech tonight. Obviously, it's going to be a very different speech. He said it's going to be a memorable moment. He said he was feeling good about his speech and what it was going to look like.

And as we're standing here, the question I asked him was about what his predecessor Donald Trump has been saying about what we are witnessing here, that it is no longer Joe Biden at the top of the ticket, that it is Vice President Harris. Trump has been claiming that it is essentially a coup as he has phrased it, that those are his words, and that they push Biden off the top of the ticket. He's even claimed Joe Biden was going to crash this convention. Obviously, he's appearing to speak here tonight and make the case for his vice president.

President Biden made a joke about stability when I asked him about Donald Trump's claims. We couldn't quite hear exactly what he said. But it does speak to what we're about to see here tonight and just how different this moment is going to be. That than what it was a month and a day ago and how different this speech is going to be and obviously as its coming, its not a farewell speech as his aides have underlined for us in multiple moments leading up to this, but it is going to be a moment.

He stood up five months left in his presidency. He's obviously still doing a lot of work when it comes to the hostage talks and the ceasefire negotiations that are happening overseas, Erin, but it is a moment where he is essentially passing proverbial torch to his vice president. And I will note that this is the only night you'll see President Biden at this convention.

He is leaving after this. He's going on vacation and spending time with his family and just having him here is notable after all, 1968, when Lyndon B. Johnson jumped out of the race, he did not attend his party's convention that year. Obviously, history will be looking very different tonight, Erin.

BURNETT: Yeah, certainly will. And now, he has done that walk through and that will be the key moment tonight, as the president will be speaking and passing the torch to his vice president.

We're going to take a brief break and we'll be right back after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[16:47:33]

TAPPER: Welcome back. We are live in Chicago, Illinois, with our special coverage of the Democratic National Convention.

Today, the Uncommitted National Movement continued to press Vice President Harris on her plan for Israel's war in Gaza..

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ABBAS ALAWIEH, CO-FOUNDER, UNCOMMITTED NATIONAL MOVEMENT: We need to hear specifically from Vice President Harris on how she intends to support the policy that will stop supplying weapons that are in contravention of U.S. law and international law are being used to kill civilians. We need to hear from Vice President Harris so that we can re-engage those uncommitted voters in Michigan where I'm from and across our country. We need to see a change in Gaza policy.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: You are looking at live pictures from outside the convention hall where pro-Palestinian demonstrators continue to gather.

Joining our political panel right now is Anne Caprara, the chief of staff for Illinois' Democratic Governor J.B. Pritzker.

Anne, let me start with you.

So, yesterday, as you know, because you helped arrange the interview, Governor Pritzker told me he expects the protests to be peaceful, but, quote, if there are troublemakers, they're going to get arrested. Yesterday, two protesters were arrested. To be fair, that's not a lot of protesters being arrested in the scheme of protests.

How concerned are you that the protests in this movement could overshadow the good vibes that you Democrats are experiencing for four weeks in one day?

ANNE CAPRARA, CHIEF OF STAFF, ILLINOIS GOVERNOR JB PRITZER: I think we've been preparing for this for about a year-and-a-half, the work between the Secret Service, the Chicago police, the Illinois state police has been extensive. We want to make sure everybody can exercise their First Amendment rights. But I think that people inside the hall and around the city are going to really enjoy Chicago. It's whether it's people. And this amazing convention that were really excited to be here for. So I'm not too concerned. I think its going to be well-handled and I

think everybody's going to have a chance to have their voices heard, which is what we want to have at any political convention.

TAPPER: So, Bakari, the uncommitted delegates say that they have floated several possible speakers to be invited to speak on the main stage there, but they have not heard yet back from the Democratic Party officials who would make that decision.

What would you think? Would it be a good idea to have somebody representing that point of view speak?

SELLERS: You know, I'm not sure but what I will tell you is that I think this is a moment where I want the national audience to understand how good a job Minyon Moore has done in running this case convention. She's the chair of this convention. Her and people like Donna Brazile and Leah Daughtry have been working behind the scenes with those uncommitted delegates.

[16:50:01]

And, you know, we started with hundreds of uncommitted delegates. And now that number as shrunk exponentially and there have been meetings and dialogue back and forth with them. Well, you know, there were a lot of -- and demands probably isn't the right word, but ask from uncommitted delegates to the convention staff and many of those things have been accommodated.

And will they get a speaker? I'm not sure. But what you will hear now that Kamala Harris is leader of the party is one, you'll see that there's no space between the Democratic Party and Israel. She'll ask for a continued cease-fire, but she'll also be willing to say that we don't need to have anymore more innocent men, women, and children in Palestine die.

And so, I think you'll have a well-rounded message and I don't believe it's going to trample on this event, which is a celebration but even kind of a re-ignition of where we need to go.

TAPPER: Today, Donald Trump posted, quote, the radical left protesters in Chicago are going after the Democrat Party because they know they're weak and ready to break into a full-blown party of socialism. Or if they really do their job and with a little bit of luck, the communist party of the United States of America, they are already very close and having a Marxist trained and believing president whose father is a Marxist professor, comrade Kamala Harris, stranger things have happened.

I'm not exactly --

GRIFFIN: There's even punctuation in there.

TAPPER: Alyssa, you were his communications director. I don't know if you can communicate what that exactly means.

GRIFFIN: That looks like a statement I would have had him try to walk back a few times.

Listen, the Republicans, the biggest thing that could probably go wrong with this convention would be if these protests end up being significant, if there's a substantial show of force course in the streets.

And Donald Trump frankly is rooting for that. He's made, he -- you know, made that very clear because he wants to be able to say, were the party of law and order. They are the party that, you know, cities were on fire in the summer of 2020.

I don't think that's what we're going to see. It's day one. We'll see.

But to Bakari's point, I think Kamala Harris has been able to navigate this issue of Gaza in a way that Joe Biden hasn't been able to quite as well. She said the names of the American hostages. She said the hostages need to be released, but also spoke to a ceasefire.

And I think that what the data we've seen is voters see her a little different on this issue. So you're not seeing folks flying in and droves to come out.

URBAN: Yeah. Look, if people are expecting to see the summer of '68 in the next week, they're not going to see it. It's just structurally not happening.

I mean, as people -- maybe viewers in America don't understand how these things are set up. These are national security events. There's fencing, there's -- you can protest, you protested miles away. That's the Republican convention, a Democratic convention, that's just things are done so that the people inside are safe, the protesters are safe and the public is safe.

So if you're going to -- if people are expected to see blood in the streets in Chicago, its not going to happen. You have to look someplace else and they're going to see robust debate perhaps, right? Or each side going are you going to see? Fighting in the streets? I don't think so, right?

I mean, that's up to the some of the people in the protesting side, but like my hats off to the law enforcement, men and women here in Chicago. They're out. I've seen him out. They've got their bikes, they're out doing their best job they can get stopped and talked to a bunch of them yesterday.

You know, the folks who are on the frontlines are doing their best job to keep this city safe, the delegate safe. So, you know, hats off to then. I hope we don't see any violence.

TAPPER: And, just for the record, my parents were here and '68 and I was gassed in utero, which might explain --

SELLERS: How he explains a lot.

TAPPER: Explain quite a bit.

SELLERS: Yes.

(LAUGHTER)

TAPPER: I will say, Anne Caprara, the issue of Netanyahu, Hamas is the one of the thorniest ones for Kamala Harris and she's joining a honeymoon period right now, but I doubt very much its going to last.

CAPRARA: Look, no honeymoon period lasts, but I think Alyssa is right. She's navigated this situation really well, and I think she understands a bit of what you're seeing from the younger part of the Democratic Party, this search for change and for a recognition of the difficult situation that we have over in Gaza.

But she also understands the foreign policy piece of it that has been President Biden's, you know, bulk for through four years of office and threw his entire 50 year careers. So I think were going to see a great convention and I agree, Minyon Moore has just done a tremendous job navigating this for all of us. So --

TAPPER: All right. Thanks, one and all. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

TAPPER: Welcome back to our live coverage of the Democratic Convention. We heard a sound check from the great James Taylor earlier in the broadcast.

Right now, we're getting one from a -- looks like a boys and girls choir of some sort.

Let's go to CNN's John Berman on the convention floor.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Jake. I'm in the middle of the California delegation. As you can imagine, California, they get the best seats in the house with Vice President Harris hailing from that state.

And it's a big delegation. They take up part of the center aisle, and, of course, all the way right up to the stage where you see that wonderful acquire performing right now. Couldn't possibly be better season, although I have to say you do wonder if these were the scenes California was going and again for weeks in one day ago or maybe they moved him up a little bit.

One thing I want to point out, Jake, this kind of fund, you'll appreciate this. Every delegation still has a phone as if there was convention floor management still to be done.

In the olden days, you would call the floor manager and you would order the delegates to vote this way or that way, and you get a sense of which way the delegates were learning. That doesn't happen quite so much anymore.

I have to say, I'm not sure what I like more, the fact that every delegation still has a phone, Jake, or, the fact that they're all still landlines -- Jake. TAPPER: Berman, how good -- or how good are Delaware seats?