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Harris Campaign: "Expanded Universe" Of Swing Voters Opened Up; Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ) On Netanyahu's High-Stakes Speech To Congress Today; New Video Shows Officers Immediately After Rally Shooting. Aired 7:30-8a ET

Aired July 24, 2024 - 07:30   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:33:52]

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: A high-stakes speech at the Capitol today. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will address a joint meeting of Congress. Ahead of his speech, hundreds of protesters staged a sit- in inside the Capitol calling for a ceasefire in Gaza.

Dozens of Democratic lawmakers are planning to skip the speech as the party remains divided over his handling of the war.

CNN's Lauren Fox is with me now. What are we expecting today, Lauren?

LAUREN FOX, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, this address is coming at such a tumultuous time in not just U.S. politics but also Israeli politics and as Benjamin Netanyahu faces challenges back home. This is a high-stakes speech for him given the fact that there are lawmakers who are going to be in this audience who have serious questions, serious doubts about Netanyahu's leadership right now, and that includes some Republicans.

I was talking last to Sen. Joni Ernest. She serves on the Armed Services Committee. And she said she has to hear a very clear and concise message from Netanyahu today about the path forward in this war and how he is going to get hostages home. She said it is far beyond time for that to happen.

[07:35:02]

But you are also going to see many Democrats not attending this speech today. There are more than 80 House Democrats who we know are going to be boycotting, six U.S. senators who are going to be boycotting, including Patty Murray who is a top Democrat in leadership who is not going to be attending this speech today.

Overseeing it is going to be Sen. Ben Cardin. He's going to be presiding. And I think that just says a lot about this moment right now as Netanyahu comes in to give this address.

You know there are some Democrats who are going to be having alternative programming. This is Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal who said in a statement, "Instead of attending Benjamin Netanyahu's address, I will attend a panel discussion led by Center of American Progress and other organizations on the path to peace."

This event will feature a Palestinian leader, a Jewish Israeli leader, and a former IDF soldier, all of whom are dedicated to finding a path toward peace and security.

And I just want to remind people that this address is happening after the initial invitation went out from Speaker Mike Johnson. Obviously, it's going to be really interesting to see what House Republicans think of this speech.

Meanwhile, last night on the Senate floor, a series of Democrats addressed the issues that they see happening and concerns that they have about Benjamin Netanyahu coming.

This is Independent Sen. Bernie Sanders.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (I-VT): It will be the first time in American history that a war criminal has been given that honor. Frankly, this invitation to Netanyahu is a disgrace and something that we will look back on with regret.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FOX: And earlier this year, remember, Majority Leader Chuck Schumer actually called on the Israeli people to hold a new election and replace Benjamin Netanyahu.

BERMAN: Lauren Fox in Washington. We'll be watching this very closely, Lauren. Thank you very much -- Kate.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: So just minutes after President Biden endorsed Kamala Harris to replace him at the top of the Democratic ticket, lies, altered photographs, and other misleading claims flooded the internet -- what could be a preview of things to come in the now sprint to the finish of a presidential race that completely reset overnight.

CNN's Donie O'Sullivan tracking this one for us. He's joining us now. Donie, what are you seeing?

DONIE O'SULLIVAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Kate.

Yeah, as you said there, just every sort of conspiracy theory imaginable floating around online. It's really, like, a lot of prominent Trump supporters are trying to test out, seeing what will stick and such. And look, some of these folks are hiding their racism better than others. Other people are being very blatant about it.

I mean, just to give you a sense of the range of what is being said, there is even a birther conspiracy theory, a throwback to Trump and Obama. Of course, there's no basis at all whatsoever for that. The current vice president is eligible to be president.

Also, we're seeing a lot of altered videos and images. Some of them are quite crude. I want to just give you an example of one, which I think we can show a side-by-side here. There is an image of the -- of the vice president there, which as you can see on the right-hand side her husband, the second gentleman. And obviously, been manipulated there on the left to put in a photo of Jeffrey Epstein.

So look, stuff like that is pretty simple. It's pretty crude. But when there is so much stuff of it floating around online it can remerge and be used to kind of paint these various different narratives online. And even though you might look at that image side-by-side and say well, clearly, that's a fake, sometimes as people encounter this stuff on social media on their own it's not always as clear and it can kind of play into this idea.

And I think one thing that's important to mention here as well, Kate, is we were both at the RNC last week. And one thing that struck me from being there is that we saw so many different -- these new kinds of propaganda outlets. The type of outlets that Steve Bannon is on, that Mike Lindell is posting.

And these outlets are growing hugely. They're pushing propaganda and pushing this kind of misinformation at the same time as local newspapers and journalists are being laid off across the country. So really making the waters much murkier as we got into this election.

BOLDUAN: It's a great perspective and context. I was just thinking it was just last week you and I sitting together and talking about conspiracy theories that were swirling over the attempted assassination of Donald Trump, and now we've got a whole new batch. Man, oh man, the times we're in.

Donie, thank you -- John.

[07:40:00]

BERMAN: All right. This morning, a brand new memo from the Harris campaign. Campaign chair Jen O'Malley Dillon writes, "This expanded universe of winnable voters is highly accessible to Vice President Harris." I think we have a graphic of this. "We have a clear advantage on issues. They have been supportive of Democrats in the past and many are supportive of Democrats down-ballot. It is the job of the Harris campaign to win these voters."

With me now, former Democratic presidential candidate, Vermont Gov. Howard Dean who was also once chairman of the DNC. Quite a resume there, sir.

One of the things this memo lays out -- Jen O'Malley Dillon says that maybe under President Biden, she suggests, they were going to focus on the so-called blue wall -- Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Michigan. But this sort of re-expands the map to the Sunbelt states -- Arizona, Nevada, Georgia, North Carolina.

You were the architect of the 50-state strategy in the aughts -- 2000 aughts. Do you think that's realistic now? How does Harris expand the map?

HOWARD DEAN, FORMER PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE, FORMER DNC CHAIR (via Webex by Cisco): It's not only realistic, it's essential -- first, to do it in this presidential election. And we should never give up on a single state because if you do that, then you consign yourself for election after election after election to try and climb up this red wall. So I welcome this. I agree with the findings.

I saw some -- a very surprising poll -- I think it was Reuters but I'm not sure -- that showed Harris up by two over Trump nationally. Now, we all know that national numbers don't matter. It's the -- it's the 50 -- the 50 states that matter.

But yeah, her strategy -- Jen O'Malley Dillion and the vice president's strategy is exactly right, and they should be doing that. And they can win in North Carolina and Georgia, I think.

BERMAN: What's the difference between Harris and Biden, then, in those states?

DEAN: There's an enormous difference, and the biggest one of all is that -- and this is going to help her a lot. She's 59 years old. Trump is now the old guy in the race -- 78 years old -- and he's got to a few cognitive problems himself. So the shoe is completely flipped upside down here and now I think that Kamala has a great chance of winning this race.

Young people are starting to rally. All -- you know, your previous section talked about all the propaganda on the internet. Well, that goes both ways. We -- on our side we generally don't use -- you know, don't use crazy stuff like Epstein. But there's a ton of stuff on Instagram of young people getting excited about Kamala Harris. That was not going to happen under Joe Biden. So this is a big step forward.

BERMAN: You know, you had a little experience with a surge of youth support in your presidential campaign. You know, before 2004 and 2003, the young people were all with you, kind of, until they weren't. I'm not trying to rip off a Band-Aid here or expose a sore, but it's sort of true. The young people can be with a campaign and then dissolve, right?

DEAN: Well, the young people actually stuck with me. What happened was the scream speech, which was sort of an artifact of cable television. But that was -- really, I liken my situation to Biden's. I couldn't change the narrative after that.

BERMAN: Um-hum.

DEAN: I couldn't change the narrative. And Joe couldn't change the narrative about his age and his dementia, and all this other stuff. And you just -- you know, it's not fair but that's politics. And I think Kamala is the antidote to all of that.

BERMAN: How does she need to differentiate herself from President Biden on policy? On how she would be a different president? DEAN: The one that -- the issue I can think of the most is -- because this is going to really significantly help her in states among -- and among young people is I think she needs to call for a -- an immediate ceasefire and a permanent ceasefire in the Middle East. That is an issue that is harm -- that harmed Biden with young people and it harmed Biden in key states like Michigan, and Wisconsin, and Minnesota. And so, that's the only policy thing I can think of immediately.

There are some other things that I think she -- you know, she, of course, didn't speak out against any Biden policies but she has her own views on policy. And when you're the vice president your job is not to speak about those views, it's to support the president, which she has done.

But I think we will see some additional discussions from her on policy issues. There won't be a huge amount of daylight between her and Biden, but she will be probably more progressive than Biden.

Now, I think Biden did a great job and he was one of the great domestic presidents we've seen since Lyndon Johnson, really. But I think Kamala will be able to articulate that better and I think she'll be supportive of somewhat more progressive policies.

BERMAN: Howard Dean, great to see you this morning. Thank you very much.

DEAN: Thanks for having me.

BERMAN: So this morning, we have new body camera footage from officers showing the moments immediately after the attempted assassination of Donald Trump.

[07:45:03]

And then it is kind of a miracle that I am alive. That is the message from a man this morning. You just sort of saw it, right? There it is again. What happened when he was out on his boat? Oh, a humpback whale jumped and landed on it. It happens all the time. Not really. That is shocking video. We'll hear from the guy who was on board.

(COMMERCIAL)

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: Happening today, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will address a joint meeting of Congress. Several Democratic lawmakers say they are planning to skip the speech as the party remains divided over Netanyahu's handling of the war in Gaza.

[07:50:02]

Joining me now is Democratic Congressman Josh Gottheimer of New Jersey. He is also a member of the House Intelligence Committee. Thank you so much for coming on this morning out there in the heat --

REP. JOSH GOTTHEIMER (D-NJ): Of course. Good morning.

SIDNER: -- right outside of Capitol Hill.

You know, when you look at what is happening in Gaza there is an extreme amount of concern. We're talking more than 30,000 people that have been killed, many of them women and children. Hamas has hostages and keeps hiding in tunnels and leaving people with no refuge there. But Israel is still responsible for dropping the bombs and killing civilians.

Do you have any sense of where the ceasefire agreement stands at this hour?

GOTTHEIMER: And well, let's be very clear Hamas continues to attack Israel. Other proxies in the region -- other Iranian proxies in the region, including the Houthis, continue to attack Israel. They continue to attack our service members. So this is -- you know, Israel is not just being attacked but the United States and our interests are being attacked.

And right now, our number one objective has to be to get the hostages home, including, of course, the eight Americans. One of my constituents is from Tenafly, New Jersey. Edan Alexander is -- remains a hostage after all these months.

So the key, and I think what's got to be talked about today -- and I'm hoping the prime minister addresses -- is this is a bipartisan issue. We need to do everything we can to get a pause, to get the hostages home, and to continue to crush Hamas and other proxies who are our enemies as well as Israel's. So that has to be the focus of today's speech.

And, of course, talking about what the world will look like after we get this pause and after this war is over.

SIDNER: The Palestinians who are suffering there can't be with us -- obviously, can't leave Gaza. But we have been able to speak with a hostage who was able to get out, and her husband is still in the clutches of Hamas.

Let me let you listen to what she told us.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

AVIVA SIEGEL, FORMER HOSTAGE, HUSBAND STILL BEING HELD HOSTAGE IN GAZA: I think that he wants the war to continue because he wants to win the war, and it doesn't go together with coming -- with getting Keith and the hostages out. He needs to stop the war and get Keith out.

And I thank Biden -- I love him -- for all what he's doing. He's given me the feeling that he's doing everything he can. And I want to ask him that if Bibi doesn't get Keith out, I want to beg Biden, please, get him out of there.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SIDNER: When she says Bibi, she is talking about Benjamin Netanyahu. She is angry with him for not finding a solution to get the hostages out and she wants the war to stop.

What do you want to hear from Benjamin Netanyahu as he addresses Congress today?

GOTTHEIMER: Well, by the way, I met her yesterday and other hostage families. It's just so heartbreaking. And I think we're all focusing, of course -- of course, this administration and all of us in Congress and on the Intelligence Committee are doing everything we can to get the hostages home right now.

And I think that has to be the most important topic of conversation today in the speech of what we're doing to get this pause, to get the hostages home, and to make sure that we're secure in the region.

As I said before, I actually saw this quote from Hezbollah. One of the leaders of Hezbollah said, "Israel is merely a tool. The main war -- the real war is with America."

And I think part of what I'm hoping the prime minister talks about today is Iran and what we're doing to stop not just Hamas but how jointly we're doing what we can to stop all of their proxies who continue to attack our service members and continue to attack America. They see this as an -- as a war against America as well -- against democracy.

And I think that's a very important theme and that this is bipartisan. There's nothing partisan about this war and making sure we do everything we can to stop it and get the hostages home, and get humanitarian aid in. I think those are all critically important themes and I think we need to focus on every step that's being taken to do that.

Again -- and also, an appreciation for all the United States has done to make sure that we stand by our key ally, Israel. It's a bipartisan relationship. And that's why I'm hoping it's among the topics that the prime minister addresses today.

SIDNER: Look, having worked in the region, having been to Gaza, having spoken to leaders of Hamas and, of course, leaders in Israel, they're watching everything. Hamas watches everything. It's very calculated. It looks at how the world is responding.

Are you concerned about what is a fray in that bipartisaness (PH), which is you've got several Democratic lawmakers who are boycotting the speech. They do not think that Netanyahu should have been invited.

And the vice president -- Vice President Kamala Harris, who is now the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, will not be attending. She has a previously schedule situation. But she will be meeting with him.

Are you concerned about the message this sends?

[07:55:00]

GOTTHEIMER: Well, I do think when my colleagues -- some of them, you know, you just mentioned -- do anything to show favor to Hamas, I think that's totally unacceptable.

I think as far as the vice president goes, she's meeting with the prime minister this week and I think sitting down privately is critically important and having that relationship -- and that's happening this week.

I think it's also surprising that no one is talking about the fact that Sen. J.D. Vance is not actually attending today. And I'm a little curious why he's going to a campaign rally and not showing up here. And it's a little curious. I don't know if you find it curious that no one is talking about that.

SIDNER: You've got them both. Someone who wants to take her job and the person in the job not going to be at the speech. But as you mentioned, Vice President Kamala Harris will be sitting down with Bibi Netanyahu.

GOTTHEIMER: Will be -- will be sitting down with Bibi Netanyahu --

SIDNER: Yeah, and speaking to him --

GOTTHEIMER: -- which again --

SIDNER: -- privately.

GOTTHEIMER: Well, that's critical --

SIDNER: Yeah.

GOTTHEIMER: -- having that private conversation and talking about the importance of the U.S.-Israel relationship and how it's critical to America's national security and to our fight against terror as we're seeing, and how critical it is to keep the pressure on Iran and all its proxies -- Hamas, Hezbollah, Palestinian Islamic Jihad. The Houthis, who continue to attack America and our interests. I think those are key things for today and critical for making sure we have a strong future between our two countries.

SIDNER: Congressman Josh Gottheimer, thank you so much for joining us today. Appreciate your time.

GOTTHEIMER: Thanks for having me.

SIDNER: John.

BERMAN: All right. Just in, we learn that Coco Gauff will be the female flag-bearer for Team USA at the Olympics opening ceremonies on Friday alongside LeBron James.

The competition actually starts pretty much now. The U.S. men's soccer team will face host nation France this afternoon.

So, an incredible scene at Yellowstone. A surprise hydrothermal explosion of rock, water, and steam sent people running in the park's Biscuit Basin. Luckily, no one was hurt but the area was shut down for safety precautions. And this is why it's nice to stay on the beach. Teenagers fishing off

the New Hampshire coast caught the exact moment a whale crashed into a nearby boat and capsized the whole thing. There were two fishermen on board.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RYLAND KENNEY, ON BOARD CAPSIZED BOAT: I dropped the rod and I just looked up and I was just, like, I kind of just saw the boat tipping. And I said the only way to get -- avoid this is just to kind of jump horizontally away from it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: So the teens actually rescued him and the other fisherman in the water and everyone is doing OK, including, Kate, we think, the humpback.

BOLDUAN: He's fine. He was like what was that little -- that was like a mosquito. What happened? I'm glad they're OK.

So, there is new video out offering a new perspective on the moments after the attempted assassination of Donald Trump. A warning: you may find some of this video disturbing. Bodycam footage showing officers on the roof after Thomas Crooks was shot and killed. And in the three- minute video they are discussing when they first saw the shooter and how one sniper took a photo of him, but also lost sight of him later.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So this is the guy that our -- that the snipers saw?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes -- that they sent - yes. Beaver County snipers seen and sent the picture out. This is him.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK. The bike in the background over here. Was he on that bike?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We don't know.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We don't know. So we're just treating that as a suspicious device.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Correct.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: On second. I believe the sniper that seen these and sent the pictures is right inside this building.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: Joining us right now is former Secret Service agent and CNN law enforcement analyst, Jonathan Wackrow.

Jonathan, what do you see in this video? JONATHAN WACKROW, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST, FORMER SECRET SERVICE AGENT (via Webex by Cisco): Well, what I -- what I see and hear is actually what we've been talking about all along, which is a breakdown in communication. When you have local law enforcement doing micro communication point-to-point around a suspicious person or a threat that's not being broadcast to the entire law enforcement stakeholder group at the site, that right there is a problem.

What we heard from testimony yesterday was that officers that were assigned to cover -- basically, an overwatch position to cover this point of vulnerability -- this roof -- they actually left their post to go address the threat or go try to find the threat somewhere else.

So what we're seeing here coming out through this investigation are two main themes. It's roles and responsibility were not clearly articulated from the Secret Service to local law enforcement around the criticality of their post and their responsibilities. And two, a breakdown in communication, whether it was communication from law enforcement to the Secret Service or how messages were prioritized between the law enforcement groups centered around specific threats that were identified.

BOLDUAN: You're pointing to some of the, like, critical pieces but still preliminary kind of pieces of the puzzle that we're putting together.

The fact that the police commissioner says that two of the officers left their vantage point in order to look for what they saw was something suspicious, which was Crooks. Then you have other data points, which is there was a text thread going on among members of the Butler County Emergency Services looking for him. At some point, he utilized a rangefinder and their level of suspicion was heightened, and on and on.

The more we learn the more troubling things seem to appear.