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Trump to Deliver First Speech Since Assassination Attempt; Biden Diagnosed With COVID Amid New Pressure to Exit Race; Senior Democratic Adviser Says, Biden is Being Receptive in Talks About Future. Aired 7-7:30a ET

Aired July 18, 2024 - 07:00   ET

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

[07:00:00]

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, everyone. I'm Kate Bolduan in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, live at the Republican National Convention, where, tonight, Donald Trump is set to officially accept the Republican nomination for president.

Last night, his V.P. pick, J.D. Vance, made his big debut, leaning heavily on his life experience and making clear his focus is on Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania, as he name checked those three battlegrounds multiple times in his address.

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: Kate's there in Milwaukee for us. I'm Sara Sidner with John Berman, who is here in New York, where we begin actually with breaking news for you this morning. President Biden finds himself in a state of isolation, both at home and within his own party, losing support among his own political heavyweights.

Now, sources tell CNN former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi spoke with Biden and delivered a blunt message. You cannot win in November, according to the polls, leaving Democrats with little chance of regaining the House, she told him, if he remains on the top of the ticket.

This all comes as President Biden is forced off the campaign trail after being diagnosed with COVID. Right now, he's isolating at his home in Delaware.

Let's get straight to CNN's Priscilla Alvarez, who is live in Rehoboth Beach for more on this. Is there any indication at this point of how the president is reacting to not only Nancy Pelosi's blunt assessment of his candidacy, but he's also hearing from Chuck Schumer as well with the same blunt message?

PRISCILLA ALVAREZ, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Sara, what sources are telling CNN is that the president is defensive. Remember that last week during the president's NATO solo news conference, he said he had not seen polling to suggest that he should step aside because he can't win the race. Well, we're now learning that former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi recently showed the president polling saying that not only could he not win, but that he could also have a detrimental effect to House races all for Democrats. Now, the president pushed back on that and sources tell CNN that at one point, the former House speaker asked to get his senior adviser, Mike Donilon, on the phone to talk through the data.

Now, the White House's response to this is, quote, that President Biden is the nominee of the party and the former House speaker's office says that she is in California, has been since Friday, that they have not spoken since.

But this is the second conversation, known conversation between the former House speaker and the president since his halting debate performance last month. And it comes, of course, as there have been increasing calls within the Democratic Party for the president to step aside, still multiple concerns and anxieties held within the party.

I will also note, however, that one senior Democratic adviser tells CNN's Jeff Zeleny that he is, he being the president, receptive to some of what he is hearing and sort of pivoting his questions to say, can Kamala Harris win? So, what this tells us is that, yes, there is still some denial and defensiveness about the polling, but there is conversation behind the scenes about what the best option is moving forward.

And so now the president is here in Rehoboth where he is self- isolating and he is grappling with all of those questions.

SIDNER: Priscilla, you know, he has COVID. So, many Americans have dealt with this. What's he saying about his diagnosis this morning?

ALVAREZ: Well, in the president himself has dealt with this as well. He was diagnosed with this in 2022 and took Paxlovid. He also received Paxlovid just yesterday after we learned about his diagnosis.

Look, this comes at a critical juncture in the election. The president was on the campaign trail. He was in Nevada appealing to black voters, to Latino voters. And right before he was set to speak at the UnidosUS event, they came out and said that he was not going to be able to be there because he had just been diagnosed with COVID.

[07:05:04]

And so this was certainly an opportunity where he was going to announce new actions. He was unable to do that, coming back to Rehoboth earlier than expected so he could again self-isolate. I will note, though, the White House says that his symptoms are mild, and he will be performing the duties of the president here in Rehoboth.

SIDNER: Good news that his symptoms are just mild. Priscilla Alvarez, thank you so much, live there from Rehoboth Beach in Delaware. Kate?

BOLDUAN: So it is the final day of the Republican convention here in Milwaukee. The whole week all leads up to this. The whole week has been the Trump show, but tonight, Trump is the show, a much anticipated nomination speech that got all the more important after Saturday. Donald Trump said that he tore up the speech that he had previously planned to deliver and completely rewrote it after the assassination attempt at his Pennsylvania rally to focus now more on unity.

So, what does unity look like for Donald Trump now? CNN's Alayna Treene, she has much more reporting on this and she's here with me now. What are you learning about what he's going to say tonight?

ALAYNA TREENE, CNN REPORTER: Right. Well, it's interesting because you said he tore up his speech. He actually called the first speech he wrote prior to -- which he wrote, his team wrote, but he actually weighed in heavily on it, and he's weighed in heavily on the speech he's going to share tonight on stage, I'm told. He called that first version a humdinger of a speech. And that now --

BOLDUAN: If only he would.

TREENE: Right. And now he is trying to pare it back. Of course, this is Donald Trump we're talking about. He does not like to be vulnerable. He does not like to appear vulnerable. The whole campaign's message throughout the course of this election cycle has been strength versus weakness, and that's not going to change.

So, you will still see some of that fire on stage, I am told, but it isn't going to be about unity. It's going to be about, you know, America first, the policies, bringing the country together, very different from the Donald Trump we're used to hearing at the several rallies, you know, all the rallies that I've been to. So, it's going to be a little bit tampered down.

But what I do find interesting as well, just over the last several weeks and looking at all of these defining moments that he has had. I'm going to walk through some of them. But, again, you mentioned this is going to be a Trump coronation.

And I think if you look at these defining moments, I mean, he survived this assassination attempt. His political foes came up on stage over the past several days and embraced him. He had the classified documents case tossed recently. Supreme Court ruled on the immunity decision, something that they celebrated. His sentencing has been delayed in the New York hush money case until September.

He has really had a remarkable stretch over the past several weeks that has led him to this moment. He's going to be feeling more confident than ever. He really does feel like the Republican Party is the party of Trump right now, and you're going to see that confidence on stage, even as he tries to tamp down some of that more vitriolic rhetoric that we are so used to him.

BOLDUAN: And that's the thing, I think maybe the definition of unifying and unity is what -- is -- does it mean civility, or does it mean we're unified around Trump, does it mean less violent rhetoric? What does it mean? We will learn tonight because he's going to have to -- after everything that's happened, the speech tonight will lay the marker of what unity looks like and is defined as for Donald Trump.

After tonight, they hit the campaign trail for the first joint campaign event between Trump and J.D. Vance, and they're, they're heading to Michigan, Michigan, one of the three battlegrounds that was name checked. I mean, how many times in J.D. Vance's speech? Is that Freudian? I don't think that's Freudian. It's something, but it was intentional. That's for sure, because I guess that's not Freudian. But is that -- what is this all about?

TREENE: I mean, it's very clear that that is the appeal that they think J.D. has and that those are the voters that he is targeting. I mean, he basically said that last night. And he tried to paint himself really as, I am one of you. I grew up in the same type of environment. I came from a poor family, a family that struggled with addiction, and he really geared that message toward those voters.

I will also note that when Donald Trump called J.D. Vance on Monday to inform him that he was going to select him as his running mate, he brought up Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. He said, I think you can help me win those states. And it's very clear that that is where they want to be sending J.D. Vance to help them with those voters that they really do see as essential to winning this election come the fall.

BOLDUAN: He got the job assignment pretty clear, and that's because it was obvious.

There was, last night, the production and throughout the course of the program last night, it was very, very emotional on many different levels. You, you could see it in people in the hall. It was conveyed through the, through the T.V.s. One of the things that you saw is, of more attempts to soften kind of the sharper edges of the former president. And a lot of people are still talking about the remarks given by his eldest granddaughter.

TREENE: Right. I mean, I think you've seen many of the speakers this week try to humanize Donald Trump in a way that we really haven't seen.

[07:10:03]

And, again, he doesn't normally like being vulnerable, but we've seen a lot of vulnerability this week.

I do -- I want you to listen to Kai Trump's speech, because I think it was a perfect example of that. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KAI TRUMP, DONALD TRUMP'S OLDEST GRANDDAUGHTER: To me, he's just a normal grandpa. He gives us candy and soda when our parents aren't looking. When we play golf together, if I'm not on his team, he'll try to get inside of my head. I know. And he's always surprised that I don't let him get to me. But I have to remind him, I'm a Trump too.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TREENE: Now, you could actually see, I was on the floor last night while she was speaking, and Donald Trump was -- you could see the emotion on his face. It was the same when you saw Lara Trump and Sarah Huckabee Sanders, all of them bringing up that he is a grandfather, sharing personal anecdotes of those stories. So, I found that fascinating.

And one thing I do want to mention is, tonight, we are going to see the entire family join Donald Trump here on the floor. Melania Trump, the former first lady, who never comes out on the campaign trail. She's had only two public appearances, I believe, since he announced his third bid for the president. And it's going to be fascinating. Ivanka Trump, Jared Kushner as well, people we have not seen this cycle are all going to be there tonight. So, watch out for that.

BOLDUAN: All right. It's great to see you, Alayna, covering it all for us. John?

BERMAN: All right. This morning a man is in custody after threatening to kill President Biden.

And in a heated exchange between Republican Senators and the Secret Service director, hear what they said as they chased her down the hall.

And his grandfather had a medical emergency while driving 70 miles per hour on the interstate towing a boat. Now, an 11-year-old is being honored for how he jumped to the rescue.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All the stuff is going through my mind, like what's going to happen? Are we going to get our act (ph) or what? But it worked out perfectly.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:15:00]

BERMAN: So, overnight, something of a bombshell report from our Jeff Zeleny that there has been a shift in President Biden's attitude about leaving the race. Jeff reports to the source said, quote, he's being receptive, not as defiant as he is publicly. More quotes now, he's gone from saying Kamala can't win to do you think Kamala can win? And that same adviser says, quote, it's unclear where he's going to land, but he seems to be listening.

With us now, CNN Political Commentator, host of Battleground, S.E. Cupp, and former White House Communications Director and CNN Political Commentator Kate Bedingfield, who could not be happier to be here talking about this, this morning.

Look, on top of the Pelosi reporting and the Schumer reporting and the Adam Schiff statement, when Jeff came out last night on our convention coverage, which I was watching, minute by minute.

SIDNER: Both of us way too late.

BERMAN: I said, wow. I mean, wow. There's someone now telling that there's been a shift in Biden's thinking. The New York Times had a similar report. Jonathan Karl has got something like that. Something is going on here. That's what it felt like to me, Kate. What do you see?

KATE BEDINGFIELD, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Yes. Well, I mean, look, I think we have seen coordinated efforts from Democratic leadership over the last 24, 48 hours. I think I know Joe Biden to be somebody who follows the news, reads the newspaper, absorbs information. I'm sure he is not blind to the fact that this push is happening. I think what the Biden team would argue is that they continue to have the support of black voters.

Now, obviously, there's polling that cuts both ways on that, but that this is their argument, right, that they continue to have the support of the base of the party, and that a push from leadership is not something that's going to resonate with voters who feel like, you know, they went to the ballot box during the primaries and voted for Joe Biden.

So, you know, I think this is -- look, to put it lightly, this is not a good moment for Democrats. I think the more kind of pile-on there is of the person who has said many, many times that he intends to be the nominee, the less focus there is on Donald Trump and the things we saw at the convention last night.

So I think this is one way or the other, this is a moment where Democrats need to make a decision here and move forward and start focusing on the November election.

SIDNER: S.E.?

S.E. CUPP, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, the fact that we know about this is very damning.

BERMAN: That's the (INAUDIBLE) right there. That's what I think.

CUPP: Yes, because I think Democrats are so desperate to get through to Joe Biden and they're not, that now they're leaking these private conversations as sort of an outside effort to triangulate and really force Joe Biden to acknowledge the realities of the state of his campaign. And, unfortunately, I think his resistance does not look like it's coming from a position of strength but a position of delusion.

And the fact that everyone's now talking openly about these private efforts is speaking to that delusion and feeling like we can't get through to him. He's not believing the polls. He says that, you know, publicly he doesn't believe the polls. He's not listening to voters, a large percentage of whom are telling him we don't believe you can get there. He's not acknowledging this Trump trifecta of momentum after the debate, momentum after the shooting attempt, now the momentum he'll get after the RNC. All of this is bad and I don't think Democrats believe he can get there without them doing this.

SIDNER: When he was diagnosed with COVID, and it's a mild case, et cetera, do you think that that may be something that he can use to make it feel better for him to say, look, you know, this is really hitting me hard and I'm going to bow out, especially after Schumer and Pelosi both are telling, you got to leave the ticket?

[07:20:12]

CUPP: He doesn't need an excuse. He's got plenty of reasons to step aside, every House and Senate race being one of them. But sure, I mean, this is an opportunity. I would take this opportunity. This was a bad week for Joe Biden and one of a few now would take this opportunity to say, listen, I'm going to do what's right for the country. I'm going to do what's right for the party and step aside and let's get behind, whether it's Kamala or someone else, let's do it. Let's do it.

BERMAN: One of the things that's been interesting here, Kate, is that there's just no precedent. No one knows how to behave in a situation -- like no one alive knows how to behave in a situation like this. And I get the sense that a lot of Democrats have been looking around for guidance, like someone swoop in and fix this, make it okay. And there's no, to use the Greek poorly, you know, deus ex machina, there's no, there's no hand of God that's going to come in and fix it.

But if there were to be a hand of God for the Democratic Party, would it be Nancy Pelosi? Would it be Nancy Pelosi?

BEDINGFIELD: She carries an enormous amount of weight. She is somebody who's navigated Democrats through a lot of really tough fights. She has an incredibly successful legislative record. She's known to be a smart tactician and a fighter. So, yes, she's somebody that Democrats absolutely look to. And I think the fact that you continue to see her sort of advance this argument that he hasn't made a final decision, you know, yes, I think a lot of Democrats are looking to that. But I think, as I say, ultimately, time is not on the Democrats' side here, and so a decision needs to come.

To your point about, you know, deus ex machina, nobody --

BERMAN: Thank you for pronouncing it correctly. I screwed it up.

BEDINGFIEDL: Or maybe I didn't. I don't know.

SIDNER: That's the Harvard education.

BERMAN: You get what you pay for.

BEDINGFIELD: There is, but you raise a really important point here, which is that there is no certainty on either side. And that's where sometimes I think this debate, which is all born, by the way, of a desire to beat Donald Trump, right? I mean, all of this anxiety and fear is not coming from a, we hate Joe Biden place. It's coming from, for Democrats, it's coming from a place of, we want to beat Donald Trump. And we think that the threat that he, you know, a second term poses to people in this country is really significant.

But there is no certainty on either side. There's no candidate that you could put on the ticket, Joe Biden, Kamala Harris, anybody else, where you could say with certainty, this person will absolutely defeat Donald Trump. I mean, the campaign becomes what you make of it. And right now, Democrats are not making an aggressive case, and that's what they need to do.

SIDNER: If they're going to make a move, you're on the hot seat, as you know. Sorry about that, but if Democrats are going to make a move, do they need to make it now, or can they wait until August 19th to the convention?

BEDINGFIELD: No, they need to make it now.

SIDNER: Five minutes ago?

BEDINGFIELD: If they're -- yes, if they need to make it yesterday, last week, I mean, no, time is running short. And the longer the conversation is about what is going to happen at the top of the ticket for Democrats, the longer it's not about Donald Trump, J.D. Vance, Project 2025, cuts to Social Security and Medicare, you know, women not being able to make reproductive decisions on their own, that's where the conversation for Democrats, that's where the conversation needs to be.

BERMAN: And it's in this environment, S.E., that Donald Trump speaks tonight before the nation. What are you expecting to see? I know we've been told that, you know, ripped up the speech, etc. etc. How much do you believe that? What do you think he can or should say?

CUPP: Well, in 2015, I was given a copy of the speech he was going to give when he announced. It was great. It was about his business record. He used none of it, not even the first word, right, when he came down that escalator. So, we should all brace ourselves for the real Donald Trump.

But I hope he does give a unifying speech. And it will end a very good week for Republicans if he does that and a week that made the contrast between Republicans and Democrats very stark. I mean, the other part of this is that the RNC and Republicans and Trump look disciplined and Biden's campaign looks like a vanity project at this point. It looks unserious.

Trump looks serious. We have to acknowledge the wildness of that, but they have stayed on message. They have been unified. The other side has been in chaos and turmoil.

SIDNER: Unified is a big issue with the Democrats. When you look at where we are now, is there a candidate that you see them doing what happened with Donald Trump, coalescing behind and saying, okay, this is our person, and is that person Kamala Harris?

BEDINGFIELD: Look, I think if they're going to make a switch to me, Kamala Harris is the person that would need to be -- that should be. You know, she's been a governing partner to Joe Biden. She has wide support across the Democratic Party. That's my personal belief.

But I also think Democrats can unify behind Joe Biden. I think, you know, he has three and a half years of a record that is something they can defend. He can draw -- effectively draw the -- I believe he can effectively draw the contrast against Donald Trump.

[07:25:01]

He has to do it. He has to be out there doing it.

But the question is, you know, can Democrats get together? I believe they can get together behind Joe Biden. But the question is, can Democrats get together? I believe they can get together behind Joe Biden, but they got to do it now.

SIDNER: Okay, the decision has to be made long before August.

BEDINGFIELD: Yes.

SIDNER: We heard it here, live, first. Kate Bedingfield and S.E. Cupp, thank you both for coming on.

All right, new details about what investigators found on the phone of the man who tried to assassinate Donald Trump. That's ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is exactly what you were doing today on the call, stonewalling.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This was an assassination attempt. You owe the people answers. You owe President Trump answers.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SIDNER: We are in extraordinary times. A confrontation you saw there between GOP senators and the head of the Secret Service on the floor of the Republican Convention. The senators absolutely furious after they were briefed that the shooter had been identified as suspicious a full 19 minutes before he tried to assassinate Donald Trump.

[07:30:04]