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New Details on gunman's Actions Before Shooting; Ex-Trump Officials Asked for Extra Protection; Biden Receptive to Talks about the Future; Vance Introduces Himself to Voters; Trump Speaks at RNC Tonight. Aired 8:30-9a ET

Aired July 18, 2024 - 08:30   ET

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

[08:30:00]

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Secretary for the Department of Homeland Security, Juliette Kayyem is with us now.

So, what do you think about that? There was some kind of cryptic - somewhat cryptic posting from the shooter.

JULIETTE KAYYEM, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: Yes, so he knew - what's interesting about all the information we're getting out is - now is that he knew that there was some performative violent action that he wanted to do, right? So, there is - because he's looking at the DNC dates, he's looking at the Trump dates, he's - he's - he's sort of searching all around.

He then focuses on a relatively close event for him geographically, which is Trump's. So, we know that for - for reasons that might be, you know, psychological, historical for him, cultural, he's isolated, he's looking for a moment to get his headline.

What's interesting is, he doesn't care what the headline is. I mean, in other words, his search history now is showing someone who's sort of scrambling for an ideology. And that's what's so, I think, new for this kind of political assassination attempt is, we generally have a motive relatively quickly. They either don't like the candidate, right, so - or they're trying to do something to impress someone, as say the Ronald Reagan assassination attempt.

And so I think we're going to learn a lot more. And what we may learn, John, is that we can't put a nice bow around this. That this is something that has so many different motivations that we can't put it into a neat box. He's pro-Trump, he's anti-Trump. That it's a combination of things.

BERMAN: We could learn more or maybe not at this point, but these are interesting developments.

Juliette, I think I first met you after the Boston Marathon bombing. So, it's been 11 years. And in all that time, one of the things that struck me is how much you care about the systems in place.

KAYYEM: Yes. BERMAN: The organizations that take care of homeland security and the like. So, I guess my question to you is, can the current system work going forward in your mind with the Secret Service director in place given everything that's happened?

KAYYEM: No. I mean she needs to resign. I'm - I'm there now. I normally give institutions the benefit of the doubt because I know that in the heat of the moment it's very easy to judge from afar.

Look, one of the reasons why she can't stay is because the conspiracy theories are now so ramping because of her and the Secret Service's sort of fumbling response, they're blaming all sorts of people.

What I - what people need to pick up on in the Trump video that you just had, he said four times, how did this happen? And I've been watching and listening to Trump long enough to know exactly what he's doing. He is now feeding this conspiracy theory that the Secret Service purposely left him vulnerable.

So, there's two things I would say. We need a leadership change. That should be done. She's going to testify next week. I don't think it's redeemable at this stage. I just - I'm sorry to say that. She is not redeemable. The leadership's not redeemable. Partially because she's now gone to war with everyone. And I'm not sure her story is going to stick. I mean she's - you know, the roof is slanted. Like, we - we don't have drones? Like, I mean, there's - there's 20 minutes between the Secret Service being told and - and - and Trump's getting shot. That's a - that's a long time.

The second is, the Secret Service needs to determine whether it really needs all of its mandate. Right now it does two distinct roles. One is, of course, protective services. The other is, is it does financial investigations. That's a legacy because it - a mandate because it came originally from the Treasury secretary. It got moved to the Department of Homeland Security in 2003. And we might consider keeping it as a - as a law enforcement protect services agency only because it has to do that much better than we've seen in the past.

BERMAN: Juliette Kayyem, great to see you this morning. Thank you so much for your help on this.

KAYYEM: Thank you.

BERMAN: Sara.

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: All right, on the heels of the reported plot by Iran to try and assassinate Donald Trump, CNN has learned of a separate threat dating back 18 months now. Three former Trump officials wrote to the Justice Department in January of last year asking for additional protection from Iranian threats. But, they say, they never heard back from the DOJ.

CNN's Evan Perez is in D.C.

What has been the response of the DOJ to this claim? EVAN PEREZ, CNN SENIOR JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Sara, one of the

things we heard from the Justice Department to lawmakers who inquired about this is that they never received the letter.

Now, this is a letter that came, as you pointed out, in January of 2023 Matthew Pottinger, Victoria Coates, and Robert Greenway, are all former officials in the Trump administration handling Middle East affairs. And they wrote because they said they were concerned about possible threats to their lives from Iran.

[08:35:03]

And here's what they wrote. I'll read you just a part of what their letter. They said, "it is clear that there are specific, credible threats against us and our families by Iran and those inspired to act on Iran's behalf. This necessitates urgent steps to improve our physical and our cybersecurity."

And so this is a letter that went to the Justice Department, also was copied to officials at the White House, and it appears it never reached anyone. And one of the things that we know is that in the intervening period, the - over the 18 months, finally members of Congress reached out and inquired, why hasn't this happened?

Now, the Justice Department says that the letter never reached them. They asked for the letter from Congress members, and here's what they said. They said, "the department is aware of and deeply concerned with this category of threats, and specifically those that you reference in your letter from three former government officials requesting federal protective services." That was a letter that was sent in June of 2024.

What we know now is that that request was forwarded to the Secret Service. The Secret Service, Sara, has been doing more protection for a number of former Trump officials, including Mike Pompeo, John Bolton. So, it is not clear now why these three officials didn't get a response from the Secret Service. Those are questions we have into them right now.

SIDNER: Evan Perez, thank you so much. Appreciate your reporting this morning.

PEREZ: Sure.

SIDNER: All right, is the tide turning on President Biden's chances to hold onto the Democratic nomination considering two very powerful politicians telling him to step down? There's also the question about his Covid diagnosis, and how that could impact his campaign.

And let's take a look at the soccer star making history as the youngest player in the pros. Did he have to ask for a later bedtime before taking the field? Just how young is this guy and how good is he? You will see, coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:42:03] BERMAN: So, this morning, a marked change in how the president is said to be responding to calls to step aside. Multiple Democratic officials tell CNN, the White House and the Biden campaign are in a new place. President Biden is said to be more receptive. A senior Democratic adviser tells CNN, quote, "it's still unclear where he's going to land but seems to be listening."

With us now, CNN's senior political commentator and former Trump campaign adviser, David Urban, and CNN political commentator Paul Begala.

And, Paul, I want to come to you first, not as a commentator, but as a bit of a player as the kids say in this whole thing, because I know you've been on the phone with officials for weeks now discussing President Biden's future. And I am curious what you have noticed in terms of the disposition that he is said to have by those talking to him.

PAUL BEGALA, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: You know, I'm obviously not talking to the president. And I - his team hasn't really, frankly, communicated with me. I've been talking to a lot of people, though. A lot of member of the Senate, members of the House, major donors, activists, party chairs. And, I got to tell you, I think I've come across one who's still ridin' for Biden. OK. I'm just telling you honestly. Just as a - I'm not advocating a point, I'm just analyzing it. So, the walls are closing in.

The most important player her after the president is Nancy Pelosi. You know, it's like that Carrie Underwood song, "Jesus Take the Wheel." I've been saying, Nancy take the wheel. And when Nancy steps in, things happen.

But President Biden's the most successful first term president ever. It's because of Nancy Pelosi. Also Chuck Schumer. When - and now Hakeem Jeffries. When they weigh in, he has to listen. It's - it comes down to money, maps and polls. OK, the money has dried up. I can tell you that. I raised money for a lot of super PACs. It has - donors are on strike to the tune of somebody reported 90 million. It's more like 300 million that people are sitting on, saying we're not going to give.

The maps are deteriorating so fast that the lieutenant governor of New York says it's now a swing state. People are talking about losing New Jersey, Minnesota. And the polling is terrible, especially in the swing states.

So, you can't fight money maps and polls in this business.

SIDNER: This past hour John compared policy to the hand of God, and now you've compared her to - to Jesus. I'm, you know, I -

BERMAN: Well, I misquoted, I call it Greek. It's Latin from the Greek.

BEGALA: To my Lord and Savior, yes. Politically.

BERMAN: (SPEAKING IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE). You know, yes, but that's the same idea.

SIDNER: It's just an interesting day. I just want to tell you that right now.

Now you, David. I'm curious what you are seeing. I want to talk about what happened on stage at the RNC. And particularly with JD Vance, who has this incredible story. It's an American story of sort of rags to riches through hard work. Did he resonate? He did - he did talk - you know, he did do some MAGA stuff and they've been talking about unity. What did you make of his - of his speech?

DAVID URBAN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Yes, first, Sara, let me just say, I think the Biden campaign is remiss for not talking to Paul and others who have been incredibly successful in places like Pennsylvania.

[08:45:09]

If Joe Biden did listen to Paul Begala and others, they'd be in a much better place. So, I'm - from a partisan perspective, I'm quite happy that they're not talking to Paul, they're not listening to Paul.

Number two, yesterday - last night JD Vance did what he needed to do. I thought he was best when he was talking about his own personal narrative and really getting into the, you know, the nitty-gritty about his family. His stories about his mother I think were incredibly compelling. I wish he talked about that a little bit more. About how he felt growing up in that household with a mother who was, you know, battling addiction. Lots of people in America, you know, share those same kind of feelings and lives. And I think it'd really connect a lot more.

I'd like to hear a little bit more about his service in the military and his stories about his mamaw, his grandmother, who raised him were just priceless, about her, you know, warning him about the drug dealer who - to stay away from him and that if he didn't stay away from him, his grandmother was going to run her (ph) over with the car. And, don't worry, she wasn't going to be caught. About her hiding, you know, 19 handguns in the house. I mean just this classic, really personal stories that - that were very funny and showed JD's humanity.

And I think that's important. I mean he's got to introduce himself to America. Not everyone's read "Hillbilly Elegy" or seen the movie. And he's got an incredible narrative, on top of being a really incredibly bright guy, his - he's kind of Horatio Alger, rags to riches story is just really compelling.

And so, the more we hear about that, the better it will be. And, listen, I can't wait to campaign with JD in Cambria County, Pennsylvania, and in Westmoreland. Paul knows these places. And JD's story will resonate because it's a story of those people in Pennsylvania, and East Palestine. You saw the mayor here last night. His story resonates there. Macomb County, Michigan. Lots of places he'll be able to go and take that message and further reduce the playing field, the number of places that Joe Biden can win. BERMAN: So, Paul, who is David and JD Vance going to be campaigning against when they go to Pennsylvania next week, in a few weeks, if you happen to know?

SIDNER: That was artfully done, by the way, John.

BEGALA: Well, I think that's - yes, that - look, that's going to have the Republicans flummoxed right now. It has the Democrats flummoxed.

But I will say that I think David summarize JD's story better than JD did. Senator Vance, last night, committed the cardinal sin of a political - a political convention. He was boring. I'm sorry, I heard all these great things. I've seen him on cable TV, where he's terrific. And he won in Ohio, which is fine. A pretty Republican state.

JD is just dull. I'm sorry. He just -

URBAN: Yes, you know -

BEGALA: I was ready for - to sort of hate watch and to - he was boring. Compare that with Sarah Palin, who was not an asset at the end of the day, but she set that place - I was there. She set that place on fire.

JD, I mean, his speech was sponsored by Ambient, man. I mean Secret Service going -

URBAN: OK, hey, listen, you know, my colleagues, Scott Jennings, said, so what - so what, you -

BEGALA: Get them some coffee, man.

URBAN: So what, JD's not going to have the Vegas act. That's what Scott said last night, which I thought was spot on. He's not going to have a Vegas act, but he's going to be very effective in campaigning.

SIDNER: David, Donald Trump -

BEGALA: I think that's probably right, actually. He's - he's a pretty effective campaigner.

SIDNER: Donald Trump's going to speak. This is the last day of the convention. There has been a lot of talk of unity, but you're starting to see that break down at the convention, frankly, and you're starting to hear some of these old talking points and attacks.

Do you expect him to stick with this idea of unity after he had this - this moment in his life where he could have died?

URBAN: Yes, listen, so I expect - you know, I expect - I don't - I don't - who knows what to expect with the former president. But what I hear, right, is that he is - he's a different person. He was incredibly, you know, affected by this near-death experience, right? He knows and there but for the grace of God kind of go - go he. And so, I think you're going to see a little bit different Donald Trump tonight. A little bit more reflective. A little bit more gratitude.

I think, you know, the red meat was delivered up by Donald Trump Junior and others. And, look, these conventions by nature are, you know, infomercials, right? They're infomercials for our party and the brand. And so, I think the former president has an opportunity tonight to really get up here and talk to that humanity, which we saw from his granddaughter Kai, or which we saw from Sarah Huckabee Sanders, the softer edge of Donald Trump, which I think will be exposed by that assassin's bullet.

SIDNER: David Urban, Paul Begala, thank you so much. Appreciate you guys today.

BEGALA: Can I make one quick prediction though?

SIDNER: Yes. Yes. Sure. Sure.

BEGALA: One quick viewers note. Run the clock before he ever speaks, by which I mean, in 1964, after President Kennedy was assassinated, Bobby Kennedy stood up to introduce a documentary. The applause went for 16 minutes. That's the record in American politics.

[08:50:01]

I think Donald Trump will break that record tonight. Even I - I can't stand him, but I was praying for his safety.

URBAN: Well, I'm going to - I'm going to make sure - I'm going to make sure we do, Paul. I'm going to go for 17.

BEGALA: Yes, there you go, Urban, set it up. I do. I think they'll - because it is his party. And thank God he survived that shooting attempt. And I think that outpouring of love there is going to be extraordinary. I think it may break Bobby Kennedy's record.

SIDNER: We have a beautiful coalition of political analysts this morning. There's just so much love between you. Maybe we can keep this going.

URBAN: It's a love fest. It's a love fest.

SIDNER: It's a love fest.

Thank you, gentlemen.

BEGALA: Thanks, Sara.

URBAN: Thanks.

SIDNER: Kate.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: Love fest. Only on CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

Coming up for us, as calls for President Biden to drop out - drop out of the race do grow louder, one of his top supporters and allies on Capitol Hill joins us. Does he agree, as "Politico" puts it today, that the walls are closing in around Biden? What is one of the president's top supporters on The Hill saying about all of this?

And up next, CNN's Daniel Dale called last night at the RNC a fact check doozy. The false and misleading claims made and setting them straight today.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:55:37]

BOLDUAN: All right. Let's take you right now. This is Donald Trump's running mate, JD Vance, speaking now for the first time on his first day as the official VP candidate with Donald Trump at the Faith and Freedom Forum - Faith and Freedom Coalition event in Milwaukee.

Let's listen in.

SEN. JD VANCE (R-OH), VICE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I'm glad that this thing worked out. And I'm glad that I was still able to come to this breakfast because it's so good to be here among people of faith and so many good friends and supporters and people who've just been very good to me over the years.

And I can't possibly shout everybody out. I saw, of course, Secretary Carson. I saw Ron Johnson. I saw the great Bernie Moreno, who will be the next United States senator from the state of Ohio.

But I thought what I'd do this morning is just talk a little bit about how I think about my faith and my own faith journey just so you understand me a little bit better, and how I think about hopefully, you know, that we can integrate that into a governing agenda that will work for the American people.

President Trump is an incredibly unique figure in American politics. Of course, he's the only person to ever come entirely outside the realm of government or military and run for president and do it successfully. And it's just such an honor to be on the ticket with him. It's such an honor to stand with him after what happened last Saturday.

I'm sure that you've heard a lot of people say this, but you will never be able to convince me that that last second turn of a head was anything other than a miracle. I absolutely believe that.

I was raised, as I mentioned last night, by my mamaw, who despite the fact that she loved the f-word, was a woman of very deep Christian faith. And, you know, she - she - she was in some ways what you might call unchurched. We went to church maybe once or twice a month. Sometimes less. Sometimes more. But she read the Bible every single day. She prayed every single day. She loved to watch Billy Graham whenever he was on the TV. And that was really my introduction to the Christian faith.

And one of the things that -

BOLDUAN: All right, we're listening into JD Vance speaking to a group here in Milwaukee of Republican faithfuls, introducing himself, kind of hitting on some of the themes that he hit on in his big introduction and debut in his speech in accepting the vice presidential nomination here in the Republican - at the Republican convention last night.

The focus of night three of the - of the convention here in Milwaukee, the general focus was foreign policy.

And after it all wrapped, CNN's Daniel Dale called the night a fact check doozy. And Daniel's back with us now.

This also includes, Daniel, a somewhat revisionist history once again on Donald Trump's stance on the Iraq War.

Let me play what JD Vance said last night.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOP VICE PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE SEN. J.D. VANCE: When I was a senior in high school, that same Joe Biden supported the disastrous invasion of Iraq.

And somehow, a real estate developer from New York City by the name of Donald J. Trump was right on all of these issues while Biden was wrong.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: And, Daniel, you saw that and what have you found?

DANIEL DALE,CNN SENIOR REPORTER: I found that, you know, this - this - Mr. Vance implied here, you know, Biden got the invasion wrong by supporting it, Trump got it right. So, the suggestion is, Trump opposed it.

Well, there is no evidence that Trump ever opposed the invasion of Iraq before it occurred. He expressed openness to a military strike on Iran is his 2000 book. And then more to the point, when he was asked by Howard Stern in late 2002, to about six months before the invasion, explicitly asked, are you for invading Iraq? He said, yes, I guess so. I wish the first time it was done correctly.

Now, it is true that after the invasion in 2004, so more than a year after the war started, Trump did emerge as an explicit opponent. But this idea that he opposed the invasion itself is just not borne out by any fact.

BOLDUAN: And then there is the talk of electric tanks for the military. Let me play this for everyone.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. MIKE WALTZ (R-FL): What do we have today with President Biden?

What's he focused on? He is focused on pronouns. He is focused on renaming bases. He is focused on DEI. And here is my favorite. He is focused on building electric tanks. [09:00:00]

Has anybody seen any charging stations in the Middle East for the Biden's electric tanks?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: That's a Republican congressman from Florida.