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Soon: Biden & Harris To Hold First Event Since He Ended 2024 Bid; First Joint Appearance By Harris, Biden Since President Exited Race. Aired 1:30-2p ET

Aired August 15, 2024 - 13:30   ET

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

[13:30:00]

MISTY MARRIS, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: It indicated that this was a more widespread drug ring, rather than something that was localized.

So we may find there's more to come as this case unfolds. But shocking allegations here in this indictment.

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: Yes, shocking. And as the chief of LAPD said, it is a hopeful day for the citizens of southern California and that these folks are now being prosecuted. But nevertheless, it began but the tragedy.

Misty Marris, John Miller, thank you both.

As we noted at the top of the hour, we're awaiting a joint event with President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris. These are live images from Maryland with Governor Wes Moore.

This is going to be their first event together, Harris and Biden, since the president ended his campaign. They are set to appear together in just moments. Well bring it to you, live.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:35:19]

JESSICA DEAN, CNN HOST: Live pictures now from Prince Georges County Community College in Maryland. We are standing by as Vice (sic) President Biden, Vice President Harris prepare for their first joint event since Biden exited the 2024 race.

There is Maryland Governor Wes Moore. And we should see them very soon.

SANCHEZ: Yes, we are expecting to see the Vice President Kamala Harris soon after Moore. They're expected to talk about what they've done to lower costs for Americans. Of course, we'll bring you these remarks as they happen.

Right now, let's chat with our panel of experts. Kate Bedingfield is with us. She's a CNN political commentator and former for Biden White House communications director.

Kate, great to see you as always.

We actually just heard from President Biden as he was departing the White House on his way to this event. I want you to listen to this sound byte.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: How much further light and Vice President Harris might, for political reasons, start to distance herself from your economic -

(CROSSTALK)

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: She's not.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: Kate, I'm not sure how well you heard the question there, but it was essentially about, will Kamala Harris distance herself from President Biden when it comes to his economic policies? Presidents answer there was, no.

I'm wondering whether you think that's realistic given that polling has shown that the economy had been something of a weak point for the Biden administration up to this point.

KATE BEDINGFIELD, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, I expect what she'll do is talk about the economy, deliver her economic message in her own voice, which is what she should do.

So in some ways, I think it will sound fresh to voters because it will be delivered by her. It will be informed by her own experiences growing up, by her work in public office, even before she was vice president.

So I think I would imagine that it's less about distancing herself from the substance of what she and President Biden have achieved in the White House.

Because they have quite a bit to be proud of and quite a bit that, frankly, polls quite well with -- with bipartisan groups of voters, including things like capping insulin costs, including things like tackling junk fees. And those are tangible cost issues that have made a difference in people's lives.

So I would imagine that as her campaign is thinking about how to define her and as we move into the speech that she's going to deliver tomorrow, where she's going to lay out her economic agenda and reinforce a lot of her economic message.

What we're going to hear from her is going to be more about defending more in her voice and delivering her message than it is about distancing herself substantively from the things that she's accomplished in the White House.

DEAN: And we have joining us now also here at the table, Jasmine Wright, a political reporter for NOTUS, and Erin Perrine, who's a Republican strategist for Axiom Strategies and former press communications director for the Trump 2020 campaign.

Hi to both of you.

Jasmine, I know you've covered Vice President Harris for a long time. She had to walk a very fine line in the leadup to Biden getting out of this race and had to be seen and had to act very loyal to him.

Now, she's in also another delicate position, which is, as we just saw, she wants to start being her own person while also continuing to serve as his vice president. How is she navigating this?

JASMINE WRIGHT, POLITICAL REPORTER, NOTUS: I think you laid that out completely. Because this is a vice president who, for the last three years in office, has wanted to be a loyal number two to Biden, really trying to fortify the -- the Biden administration's positions, even when they we're unpopular.

But I think that the gift for her now is that she is not necessarily tied to all the negativity that Biden faced when he was still at the top of typic top of the ticket, particularly on the economy.

And so I think Kate is right, you're going to hear her talking about her own economy and her own experiences. Something that we know that people have responded to the vice president is.

That, even if her and Biden were to say the same thing, they hear it differently when it comes from the vice president because of who she is and what she stands for. So you're going to hear a talk about it on her own.

You're also going to hear her lean into the care economy? Yes, we're going to hear about price gouging. Yes, we're going to hear about lowering costs on health care and all these other types of where you're going to hear her talk about things that are in that care economy around.

Because those are things that are very personal to her. Those are the things that she cares about and she has talked about, not just since becoming vice president, but also in her first run in 2019.

SANCHEZ: Erin, this is one of a couple of events this week for the vice president who, I think, is going to take the stage pretty soon again. We'll bring you her remarks as they come.

Tomorrow, she's going to North Carolina to give a speech on the economy where President Trump was yesterday. Notably, both in North Carolina. Both of them talking about the economy.

The former president yesterday, part of his speech was about the economy. Part of it was about a host of other things.

How important is it for his campaign to try to define Vice President Harris on the economy before she has the opportunity to?

[13:40:01]

ERIN PERRINE, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: It's pretty critical. The economy still remains one of the top issues for voters of every demographic. This really matters to them because it matters to them personally.

To your point about care economy, it's about the prices going up. It's about groceries being more expensive.

I was listening this morning to one woman, who was saying chips are now a luxury item for her when it comes to grocery shopping just because of how costs have gone up. So it's really important.

Yes, Kamala is going -- Vice President Harris is going to try and separate herself from Joe Biden. But the goal here for Republicans is they need to focus on tying her to Biden.

The fact, the reality that chips now do feel like a luxury item to some families, it's because of the policy positions of the Biden Harris agenda.

On the White House Web site, they have archives. The Biden-Harris economic plan. It's there in plain writing.

This is critical to Republicans because, in order to win the American people, it's really about feelings. Campaigns are about emotions. It's why negative ads work.

People hate to see him, but they are a big motivator to get voters out. It's about emotion. What are we doing to drive the emotion to say, she's the one that made this hard for you.

DEAN: All right. Again, we are standing by. And we believe we're going to hear from the vice president very soon. We're going to have our panel stick with us.

We're going to squeeze in a break. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

comedy us coming.

[13:45:36]

SANCHEZ: Back to breaking news. We are monitoring the stage in upper Marlboro, Maryland, where President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris are set to take the stage in just moments. Their first joint event since President Biden ended his bid for the White House, his 2024 bid for the White House.

We just got word that the vice president is set to speak within the next couple of minutes.

But quickly, I want to get back to our panel and go to Kate Bedingfield.

Because, Kate, there is some reporting out there that President Biden is smarting over the way that Democrats, like former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, got involved in, let's say, orchestrating a smooth exit for him from the presidential campaign, or nudging him to get out of the presidential campaign.

I'm wondering how you read that reporting, how you interpret the way that that's being received?

BEDINGFIELD: Yes. Well, I worked for Joe Biden for a long time and one of the things that he would always say is that you wouldn't necessarily know he was Irish because he doesn't hold a grudge.

And it's true. He really doesn't. He has an incredible capacity to kind of work with people, have disagreements, have even really intense disagreements, and then continue to move forward. And so I imagine that's what he's doing here.

Look, was this a difficult and challenging thing for him? Of course, it was. He's human. But the idea that he is sort of sitting around thinking about how he was wronged by people he's worked with for a very long time, that's not the Joe Biden I know.

And I imagine even if he is feeling frustrated, are feeling emotion around everything that transpired over the last month, again, I think that's a human response.

I don't know him to be somebody who -- you know, who would be sitting around stewing on it.

Because also, remember, he is still the president of the United States. He has an enormous amount on his plate, an enormous amount of work that he's doing.

And the Joe Biden, I know is somebody who is focused on that.

DEAN: And, Erin, I'm so interested to see the two of them take it out here. Here they come. Let's watch them walk out together.

(CHEERING)

KAMALA HARRIS, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Good afternoon, everyone.

(CHEERING)

HARRIS: Can we please applaud Judy?

(CHEERING)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (INAUDIBLE)

(CHEERING)

HARRIS: Oh, it's good to see so many friends. It is good to see so many friends. And I want to thank -- thank you. Thank you.

And let's please thank -- (CHEERING)

HARRIS: I love you. Thanks.

Thanks. Thank you.

(CHEERING)

HARRIS: Thank you.

And I know we all thank Judy for sharing her story. I think we all know it takes a very special person, who has dedicated over 40 years of their lives to do the work that Judy has done as a nurse, that work being what to care about other people in a way that is about lifting them up and caring about their well-being.

So, Judy, we thank you so very much for being here.

(CHEERING)

(APPLAUSE)

HARRIS: I want to recognize the incredible Governor Wes Moore.

(CHEERING)

(APPLAUSE)

HARRIS: (INAUDIBLE)

And, Wes, I'm so thankful to you for all that you do in service to our nation in so many different ways -

(SHOUTING)

HARRIS: -- and your friendship. But in particular, to share such a personal story as you have.

[13:50:06]

And I know it takes a lot out of you to share that storing. But to do it in a way that is about lifting up other people and helping, hopefully others, who are not in this room, understanding how real people are impacted every day about this issue and by this --

(CHEERING)

(APPLAUSE)

HARRIS: I want to recognize the people of our administration, including Secretary Becerra, who is here.

(CHEERING)

HARRIS: The (INAUDIBLE administrator, Brooks Lessoro (ph).

(CHEERING)

HARRIS: My dear friend and former colleague, Senator Ben Cardin.

(CHEERING)

HARRIS: Representative Barragan, the chair of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus.

(CHEERING)

HARRIS: And Representative (INAUDIBLE) for all the great years --

(CHEERING)

HARRIS: And I want to recognize your next United States Senator --

(CHEERING)

(APPLAUSE)

HARRIS: I've worked with her over the years. I'm telling you, Maryland, you're going to do a great thing when you send her to the United States Senate.

(CHEERING)

(APPLAUSE)

HARRIS: And of course, I could speak all afternoon about the person that I am standing on this stage with.

(CHEERING)

(APPLAUSE)

HARRIS: Our extraordinary president, Joe Biden.

(CHEERING)

(APPLAUSE)

HARRIS: And he's going to speak in a minute.

But there is a lot love in this room for our president.

(CHEERING)

HARRIS: And I think it's for many, many reasons, including few leaders in our nation have done more on so many issues, including to expand access to affordable health care like President Joe Biden.

(CHEERING)

(APPLAUSE)

HARRIS: And today, we take the next step -- thank you, Joe -- forwarding our fight.

(CHEERING)

(CHANTING)

(CHEERING)

HARRIS: We here, we believe deeply every senior in our nation should be able to live with security, stability and dignity. And so in the United States of America, no seniors should have to choose between either filling their prescription or paying their rent.

That's the subject of today. Because we know, for far too long, far too many of our seniors have struggled to afford their medication. And as a result, seniors have been forced to spend their time trying to figure out how they are going to be able to fill a prescription, like insulin, based on the doctor's prescription, which is about saving their life, or whether they'd have to ration their pills to be able to make it stretch through a month.

And why, we all know, but let's ask, why are why are prescription drugs so expensive?

(SHOUTING)

HARRIS: I will tell you. Well, one big reason is, for years, big pharma has often inflated the price of life-saving medications.

(BOOING)

HARRIS: Often charging many times what it would cost to make just to increase their profits. And millions of Americans have suffered as a result.

My entire career, I have worked to hold bad actors accountable and lower the cost of prescription drugs. As the attorney general of California, I took on pharmaceutical companies for deceptive marketing and illegally inflating the cost of drugs.

And we want --

(CHEERING)

HARRIS: -- billions of dollars.

(APPLAUSE)

[13:55:01]

HARRIS: As a United States Senator, I fought to pass laws that would make health care more affordable and accessible for all Americans.

And as vice president, together with Joe Biden, our president --

(CHEERING)

(APPLAUSE)

HARRIS: -- we've finally addressed the long-standing issue that, for years, was one of the biggest challenges on this subject, which was that Medicare was prohibited by law from negotiating lower drug prices.

And those costs then got passed on to our seniors. But not anymore.

(CHEERING)

(APPLAUSE)

HARRIS: Two years ago, we gave Medicare the power to negotiate lower prescription drug prices for the first time in history.

(CHEERING)

HARRIS: And here is why that matters. It is nearly impossible for a patient to negotiate lower prices by themselves. Just think about that.

Somebody who needs the medication, who may be suffering from a serious illness, that they would buy themselves be able to negotiate against a big drug company to lower that price. It's virtually impossible. It's one person against a huge corporation.

But Medicare represents more than 65 million people. And so Medicare has collective bargaining power. And now, Medicare can use that power to go toe to toe with big pharma and negotiate lower drug prices.

(CHEERING)

(APPLAUSE)

HARRIS: Thank, you, joe.

(CHANTING)

HARRIS: This is the benefit of not only tens of millions of people on Medicare, but also millions of Americans on Medicare, who have long- term disability.

And understand, as a result of our negotiations, the government will also pay less, then, for prescription drugs. And think about what that means in terms of paying -- helping taxpayers save money, whether or not they take these medications.

So all of this is to say, two years ago as vice president, I was proud to cast the tie-breaking vote that --

(CHEERING)

HARRIS: -- sent the bill --

(CHEERING) HARRIS: -- that gave Medicare the power to negotiate and let it get to the president's desk. And I was proud when our president, Joe Biden, signed that bill into law.

(CHEERING)

HARRIS: In the two years since, we've been using this new power to lower the price of life-saving medications.

And now to announce the results of those negotiations, it is my eternal and great, great, great honor, I have to tell you, to serve with this most extraordinary human being, and American and leader --

(CHEERING)

HARRIS: -- our president, Joe Biden.

(CHEERING)

(APPLAUSE)

(MUSIC)

(APPLAUSE)

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Thank you, Kamala.

(SHOUTING)

BIDEN: I love you guys, too.

(CHEERING)

BIDEN: I have been waiting for this moment for a long, long time. First time I sponsored a bill for Medicare to negotiate the prices of drugs, it was in 1973 as a freshman Senator --

(SHOUTING)

BIDEN: -- with a guy named Frank Church from the state of Idaho.

Folks, I have an incredible partner. The progress we've made. She's going to make one hell of a president.

(CHEERING)

(APPLAUSE)

BIDEN: Judy, thank you for sharing your story --

(CHEERING)

BIDEN: -- for far too many Americans. People like my dad used to live in bed at night when they get losses of insurance at the company he worked for. Stared at the ceiling. Literally. You all experienced, you've known people who have experienced it,

wondering what in god's name happens if my wife gets breast cancer or I gets sick or my children get seriously ill. What happens? What in god's name? How can we pay for the drugs, prescription drugs?

I'm serious. These were the discussions. You know it. Do we have enough insurance?