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Rep. Tom Emmer (R-MN) is Interviewed about Trump; Trump Picks JD Vance as Running Mate; Rep. Mike Lawler (R-NY) is Interviewed about Enhancing Secret Service Protection. Aired 8:30-9a ET

Aired July 16, 2024 - 08:30   ET

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

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[08:32:31]

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: Day two of the Republican National Convention is about to begin. And it was high emotion last night as Donald Trump made his first appearance since the attempt on his life at his Pennsylvania rally. When he entered the room, the hall, you can see, he had a bandage on his right ear, standing ovation from the crowd, and the crowd chanting, "fight, fight, fight" at one point to the former president, who is now officially the Republican nominee and who also officially announced yesterday his running mate, JD Vance, in the midst of it all.

Today, Trump's chief rival from the Republican primaries, Nikki Haley, is expected to be speaking at the convention. A lot of anticipation around what her message will be.

Joining me right now is Republican Congressman, and House majority whip, Tom Emmer.

It's good to see you, Congressman. Thank you so much for coming in.

Did you have a chance to speak to the president when he - when he was here last night and how he's doing and what - like what your view of it is?

REP. TOM EMMER (R-MN): No, I did not get a chance to talk to him last night, but I was so impressed when he showed up. You know, normally he waits until the very end and he builds all the excitement.

BOLDUAN: I think he showed up like every night in the last convention.

EMMER: Yes, but he didn't make the appearance, right?

BOLDUAN: Yes, yes, I see what you're saying.

EMMER: And he - he wanted to show everybody, I'm here and I'm - I'm doing well. And it was - it was really powerful.

But the whole day was good, Kate. It was - it was a good day.

BOLDUAN: Yes, it was a good day. EMMER: It was a good day.

BOLDUAN: You should say that. If you said it was a bad day, we'd have a breaking news lansip (ph) going across the -

EMMER: Well, apparently some of your colleagues on - at a different outlet said that there was tension and anger at the Republican Convention. I didn't see it. I saw a lot of excitement. I saw a lot of unity. And I think the capper was last night when President Trump walked down to the floor and acknowledged everybody.

BOLDUAN: I will say one thing, one thing is evident here is the unity of this convention versus let's say the 2016 convention -

EMMER: Yes.

BOLDUAN: The unity around Donald Trump, you can definitely see it in this room.

On the assassination attempt, the House speaker has promised that the House is going to get answers about what happened and what went so wrong. What do you think the end result - what do you think the end result is going to be of this, of - when it comes to accountability and the job - and - and the role of Congress in this?

EMMER: There are some - well, I know the role of Congress, it is to look under every rock and to understand exactly what these agencies were doing and what maybe they didn't do.

I - I think it's too early, Kate, to be talking about who's at fault, who's responsible.

BOLDUAN: OK.

EMMER: But I do have serious questions. I mean, how does a shooter get to the top of that building, at that time, with an unobstructed view, so close to the podium where President Trump is going to speak?

[08:35:02]

I mean, let's back it up. How did he know to go to that roof? How did he know to get on top of that roof?

BOLDUAN: Yes.

EMMER: We're going to have to figure out what broke down, what was wrong and why. And I think this one will be different because I think both Republicans and Democrats, in particular in the House, this is a bridge too far. When this happens, everybody - it's kind of a wake-up call. This is not a political game anymore. We need to figure out what's going on and we need to address it. Which is why you hear a lot of Republicans and Democrats talking about dialing back the rhetoric. We've got to stop it with the personality and we got to get back to understanding, while we might be Democrats, Republicans, or other, at the end of the day, we're all Americans. BOLDUAN: It sounds - it sounds good. It sounds - I would argue it is necessary that it happens. I also, though, I have to say, Congressman, am skeptical that that feeling continues beyond an undetermined amount of time going forward when they have to hit the campaign trail.

EMMER: Yes, I would have to acknowledge to you that the world is not perfect.

BOLDUAN: Yes.

EMMER: Human beings are not perfect. Right now you've got a lot of people from all different political perspectives that see the problem and will want to address it. Who knows how long that memory lasts and -

BOLDUAN: Right. I'm really interested to hear what President Trump - former President Trump sounds like when he makes that big speech on Thursday. That could be part of it.

One policy question I want to ask you about. You have been a supporter of helping Ukraine in its war against Russian invasion and the Russian aggression. Foreign policy became something of a focus last night, even though it was more of an economic message, but became some of the focus last night on stage, especially when we heard this speech from David Sacks. He's a Silicon Valley investor who was given a prime speaking slot. And he really went after Joe Biden and his policy and aid for Ukraine.

Let me play this really quickly.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DAVID SACKS (CEO, YAMMER): Then he provoked, yes, provoked, the Russians to invade Ukraine with talk of NATO expansion.

President Biden sold us this new forever war by promising it would weaken Russia and strengthen America. Well, how does that look today? Russia's military is bigger than before, while our own stockpiles are dangerously depleted.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: Now, real quick, any observer of, you know, Russian aggression and Ukraine over the past ten years know that it wasn't - this wasn't provoked by Joe Biden. But in the broader point, we also know, add to that, JD Vance is one of the parties, especially in Congress, most vocal critics of U.S. support for Ukraine.

Looking forward, if president - if former President Trump wins again, is future support for Ukraine in serious question?

EMMER: Actually, I'd back it up just a little bit. First off, I might not have chosen the word "provoked," but the Biden administration and Joe Biden's feckless, aimless, I don't want to provoke anything policy, that sign of weakness, just opened the door for Putin to say, we're going. There's something really important that Sacks -

BOLDUAN: But Putin invaded - Putin invaded Ukraine in 2014. I mean, you know.

EMMER: Well, I understand that, but I'm talking about most recently. This is what caused him is you had Republicans saying -

BOLDUAN: Yes, saying like the aggression's been around.

EMMER: Republicans were saying as early as Thanksgiving before that broke out at - at the beginning of the new year, they were saying, we need to send offensive weapons. And the response from the Biden administration was, we can't do that. That would be provocation. That could be - well, that's ultimately, when you're not going to do that.

BOLDUAN: But talk to me about the - the - sending defensive weapons.

EMMER: Yes.

BOLDUAN: Talk to me about the support going forward.

EMMER: Well, so another thing that Sacks said that was very important is the depletion of our weapons stockpile here in the United States. The vast majority of the money we've been talking about has been restocking and rebuilding American military capabilities, which is really important at this point in time. That's going to get done. President Trump has already said that on day one this is the - the issue that he's going to address and resolve. And I believe him.

BOLDUAN: Well, no, what is the issue? Is -

EMMER: Ukraine and the conflict with Russia. He's said on day one, I will go after this and I'll solve it.

BOLDUAN: And you - even if it's make - supporting some Russian proposed ceasefire deal?

EMMER: I don't think you should assume anything like, Kate. I think President Trump understands exactly what he needs to do. And I - before we all start trying to prejudge something that we don't know the details of where he's going to go with it, you got to be open. He has been correct about this stuff. And I think most Americans recognize that now when they take the personality out of it. I think he'll do what - exactly what he's telling us he's going to do.

BOLDUAN: All right. Good to see you.

EMMER: Good to see you, Kate.

BOLDUAN: Thanks for coming.

EMMER: Yes. Yes.

BOLDUAN: Coming up for us, are changes coming to the security details around the president and presidential nominees. The candidates look at the new efforts that are underway, a new push to improve the protection provided by the Secret Service.

[08:40:06]

We have more on that.

And what impact could Donald Trump's choice of JD Vance as his running mate have on undecided voters come November?

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[08:45:22]

BOLDUAN: The Trump presidential ticket is now complete. Trump picking JD Vance to be his running mate marks a full transformation for the Ohio senator. I mean Vance has become one of Trump's biggest promoters and allies. But this does come after years of being a self-proclaimed never Trumper.

Here is Senator Vance from 2016.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. JD VANCE (R-OH), VICE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Half of the things that he says don't make any sense, or a quarter of the things that he says are offensive. I might have to hold my nose and - and vote for Hillary Clinton. I can't stomach Trump. I think that he's noxious and is leading the white working class to a very dark place.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: Joining me right now, Matt Bennett, Democratic strategist, co-founder of Third Way, and CNN's senior political commentator, Republican strategist, David Urban is here.

It's good to see you again, boys.

What do you think of the pick? What do you think the pick of JD Vance, David, represents?

DAVID URBAN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Listen, I think it's a nod to the Trump base, to the working class voters. In this hall last night we saw the president of the Teamsters, right?

BOLDUAN: Yes.

URBAN: We heard - we heard a lot of talk about how we're going to work to help working class families afford to live. And I think JD Vance's background, a very unique background, really, really will help solidify that base.

I think his pick is a shift. It continues to shift that party, our party, the Republican Party, that used to be a party of kind of the white wine swilling country club going Republicans, right, to being one of the truck driving, working class, blue collar Republicans. And that's been going on for quite some time now. And I think JD Vance is another step and a nod in that direction. The Republican Party is the party of working class people. And I think JD can speak to that.

I think, listen, I'll love to have him in Pennsylvania, come to my neighborhoods in western Pennsylvania, some of those counties that President Trump did extremely well in 2016. I think JD Vance will do extremely well in Westmoreland and Luzerne, Lackawanna, where - where people work. He can speak to their - their struggles and their efforts, with an authenticity you don't have unless you've lived the life that he has.

BOLDUAN: Yes, and that's (INAUDIBLE).

URBAN: And also, just really quickly, you know, he went to Marine Corps boot camp, OK. The basic school at Paris Island. You don't have soft hands and make it through Marine Corps boot camp. And he enlisted. So, he's got a great -

BOLDUAN: Well, you, with your background, you still have soft hands.

URBAN: Well, listen, OK, you know, I went to West Point. It's a little different (ph).

But, you know, he's got a really - a great record of service to the country, selfless service. And that Marine Corp part's pretty bad ass. Don't underscore - I don't undersell that.

BOLDUAN: So, Matt, and in summary, David Urban is a fan of JD Vance and what he could bring to the party (ph). What do you think that the - that the pick of JD Vance represents? I've heard from Democrats he represents something quite different from what David Urban is laying out.

MATT BENNETT, EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS AND CO- FOUNDER, THIRD WAY: Look, I'm a fan of JD Vance circa 2016, at least when it comes to Donald Trump.

Vance is a radical. He has said that abortion should be banned in all cases. And he said that, you know, cases of rape and incest are inconvenient. He's told women to stay in violent marriages. He's trashed the Affordable Care Act. He's said that Social Security and Medicare should be on the table. I mean this guy is yanking the party as hard as he possibly can strongly to the right.

So, I agree with David, that it is a departure. But I think there's some other things to keep in mind. He massively underperformed the top of the ticket when he ran in 2022. He was something like 20 points behind where the governor ran. So, this idea that he's going to help Trump lock up the Midwest is nonsense. He didn't do very well in a very good year in Ohio last time.

So, I think Vance poses real problems for the ticket, and he kind of doubled down - Trump doubled down on the base when, in fact, he needed to be looking to expand his coalition, which he did not do with Vance.

BOLDUAN: Let's talk about what - David actually brought up with the Teamsters, the president of the Teamsters speaking last night, really closing it out. Matt, I want to ask you first about it because if he - Sean O'Brien

delivered a pretty fiery speech from the stage, railing against - it was like big business and others, kind of waging a war on the American worker. If you had closed your eyes during that speech, you could have easily thought that was a speech that you could expect to hear at a Democratic convention. I mean, should Democrats be nervous about what this could mean?

BENNETT: Absolutely. And we need to do more to shore up our base. And that should include organized labor.

Joe Biden has done more for organized labor than any president in modern history.

[08:50:01]

He's showed up on picket lines. He has been there for working men and women.

And let's look at what's going on with the Republicans. Just yesterday Elon Musk announced he's giving $45 million per month to a Trump super PAC. Other billionaires were piling in to. They had a billionaire speaking in prime time and making all kinds of crazy comments, as you pointed out last night. So, this is not the party of the Teamsters. This is the party of the billionaires.

BOLDUAN: How do you counter that, David?

URBAN: Yes, well, I mean, I would say that rank-and-file Teamsters don't agree, right? I mean the Teamsters are going to vote overwhelmingly. The UAW is going to - the rank and file, when - I watched the UAW president on this network say, look, I - the leadership's - we - I understand the leadership for Joe Biden, but lots of my - an overwhelming majority of my members are probably going to vote for Trump.

BOLDUAN: I don't think he - I don't know if he said overwhelming.

URBAN: Well, OK, maybe not overwhelming. He said, a great majority of my members are going to vote for Trump.

BOLDUAN: There will be - yes.

URBAN: And so the same thing holds true here last night, right? He - Sean got up there and he said, listen, I would like to go to the Democratic Convention and give this message too.

On that stage last night you saw black and brown people, right? The Republican Party is going after a lot of the core constituencies of the Democratic Party. And we're fighting for every vote in America. We're not looking past anybody. We're fighting for every vote.

And are we going to get 80 percent of the black vote? No. But can we get 20 percent of African Americans? Hopefully. Can we expand our base amongst, you know, Hispanics in America? Hopefully we can do that. And hopefully the party will continue to grow and we'll pick up labor members. And we'll have really a big tent.

And I think that - that's what you saw last night on the stage. And the speakers, I think, were emblematic of that - of that effort.

Listen, if you - if -- you said, if you closed your eyes and you saw the speakers that were there, right, you would say, am I at a Democratic convention. This is not the party of George Bush and 20, 30, 40 years ago the Republican Party was very monolithic and kind of looked all the same.

BOLDUAN: (INAUDIBLE).

URBAN: This is a very diverse party and it's exciting. You've got the excitement in the room. And I think people across America feel that.

BOLDUAN: It's definitely not the party of the George W. Bush era. We know - we definitely know that is a party of Donald Trump now.

It's good to see you again, David. Thank you very much.

URBAN: Thanks. Thanks for having me.

BOLDUAN: Matt, thank you as well. It's great to see you.

So, there are also new bipartisan calls right now to increase the protection for presidential candidates. What that could look like, what that could mean, what this bipartisan effort could bring, that's next.

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[08:56:36]

BOLDUAN: There is now a bipartisan push to step up the protection of political leaders following the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump. New York Congressman, Republican, Mike Lawler, and Democrat, Ritchie Torres, they're set to introduce legislation that would enhance Secret Service security protection for Trump, President Biden, and presidential candidate RFK Jr. as well.

And Congressman Lawler is joining me here.

A bipartisan push, bipartisan anything, Congressman, is not something that we hear often about. So, this is always something that we want to - that I always want to highlight.

What - your push - the way I would - what I was reading about what this would do is, you push is enhanced protection for candidates. But does that suggest that you think part of the failure from Saturday was a lack of resources? What does it - what do they need -

REP. MIKE LAWLER (R-NY): Right.

BOLDUAN: To prevent what just happened?

LAWLER: So, obviously, I'll - I'll preface this by saying, the investigation is underway. And, obviously, don't want to prejudge that.

But I think from everything that I've heard, in the discussions I've had, and from what has been reported thus far, it's clear that there was a lack of resources. I mean you didn't have drones available for use, which is insane. In addition to the fact that the shooter was able to get on the roof of a building with a direct line of sight of the former president, and able to get a shot off.

And as we learn more, and it seems as though, you know, this individual was in the sights of law enforcement officials for, you know, roughly 25 minutes, that obviously raises significant concern and questions about protocol. It raises concern about communication. And we want to get to the bottom of it.

But the bottom line to me is this, our elections should always be decided by votes at a ballot box, not by violent at a rally. And the fact is, but for the grace of God we came a millimeter away from Donald Trump being dead versus Donald Trump being here this week to accept the Republican nomination. And I think that should shock the conscience of our nation to its core, and we should be moving expeditiously to ensure that every resource is available to not only Donald Trump and Joe Biden but to RFK Junior, whose family has twice been victim to political assassination.

BOLDUAN: Yes.

The - we are hearing for the - from the director of the Secret Service for the first time since Saturday. She did an interview with ABC News. She did say that the buck stops with her in terms of the security failure, but she also said that she is not resigning.

Are you to a place that you think that she should not be - that she should resign?

LAWLER: Look, again, I'm not going to prejudge the investigation, but I think it's clear that there were complete failures in protocol, in communication, in - a lack of resources that were brought to bear here.

At the end of the day, not only is he a former president, but he's the leading candidate for president in this election according to every poll. And to not have those resources fully available, with four months to go in this election, is unconscionable.

[08:59:57]

And so I think, obviously, let's let this investigation play out, but I don't think there's any question that there needs to be accountability, including some people, including potentially the director, losing their jobs.