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Tonight: Harris To Formally Accept Presidential Nomination; Congresswoman Praises VP Harris' Fight For Abortion Rights; Former Football Players Walz Coached Take DNC Stage; Walz Son After Emotional Shoutout: "That's My Dad!"; "Coach Walz" Weaves Pep Talk Into Nomination Acceptance Speech; Tonight: Harris To Formally Accept Presidential Nomination. Aired 1-1:30p ET

Aired August 22, 2024 - 13:00   ET

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

[13:00:00]

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BRIANNA KEILAR, CO-ANCHOR, "CNN NEWS CENTRAL": Hello and welcome to CNN's special live coverage of the fourth and final day of the Democratic National Convention. I'm Brianna Keilar in Chicago, and my good friend and colleague, Boris Sanchez, is in Washington. And all week we have heard from Democrats and some independents and Republicans too, why they think Vice President Kamala Harris should be the 47th President of the United States.

Tonight, she will take the stage to make her own case. We're just getting some new details about Harris' main objectives when she does give her acceptance speech tonight. Last night, it was her running mate, Minnesota Governor, Tim Walz, giving his own heartfelt address to this crowd, introducing himself and his family to the nation with this, a viral moment from his son, Gus, while he framed Democrats as the party of freedom.

Eva McKend, our National Politics Correspondent, is here with us, with CNN's special correspondent Jamie Gangel. Eva, what are you hearing about Harris' plans tonight?

EVA MCKEND, CNN NATIONAL POLITICS CORRESPONDENT: Well, Brianna, CNN learning that to the extent that she can be, she's been hunkered down. She hasn't been at the convention every night because she has been preparing for this big moment. We know that she is going to lean heavily into her personal biography. We hear this out on the campaign trail, talking about being the product of a single mother who worked hard.

She is also going to make a forceful case against former President, Donald Trump, and talk about Project 2025, the conservative policy proposal, talking about how it is a threat to Democracy and other basic freedoms. And then, she'll lean heavily into patriotism. That is something that we often hear, the lament right, the left lament, rather, that the right sort of has sort of taken a monopoly on patriotism, but we're going to hear her talk about how she loves her country too.

KEILAR: Yeah, we've been hearing Democrats trying to reclaim that in some of the speeches that they've been giving. Jamie?

JAMIE GANGEL, CNN SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes.

KEILAR: All very important, of course, the speech tonight. I mean, it really is, this is the main thing. However --

GANGEL: Yeah.

KEILAR: -- let's talk about what people are buzzing about as they pregame each night before the program begins, and that is Beyonce. First, though, I do want to play a clip of the new acapella version of freedom that played Monday night before Harris surprised the crowd.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): (SONG PLAYING) What kind of America do we want? One, we were divided, angry, depressed. Come on, we were Americans.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KEILAR: That acapella version has people going, will she or won't she? And the answer is, yes.

GANGEL: Yes, whatever, to one of them. So, first of all, our colleague, Elizabeth Wagmeister had -- was the first person to report that Beyonce had given permission for the campaign to use that song, and everyone rampant speculation does not begin to describe the will she, won't she? But, I have some more rampant speculation. However, this comes from a source very familiar with the convention schedule. Are you ready?

KEILAR: Yes.

GANGEL: Ash is on. She's coming. She's not coming. She's coming. I don't think she's coming. Wait, it may happen. Two minutes later, it may not happen. So, we don't know. We really, really don't know. But even people, there is a block in the schedule I'm told, and no one knows what it is. So, if it's happening, it's a very small circle of --

KEILAR: Very interesting.

GANGEL: -- Beyonce.

KEILAR: I mean, that would set the place on fire.

GANGEL: Correct.

KEILAR: And this is about passing the torch.

GANGEL: No question. So, I think the other thing just to think about the week altogether, but, but tonight we're going to see sort of the next, more of the next generation. Governor Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan is speaking, Congresswoman Catherine Clark, who is part of the leadership, is speaking, Senator Mark Kelly of Arizona, who is part of the Veepstakes, but we actually put together, there it is. So, I think it's almost 20.

[13:05:00]

And I am sure we left somebody out, but we tried to sort of go and look at people who spoke at this convention, and look at that deep bench. This didn't happen by party wanted to show off this, and this is the way forward.

KEILAR: Yeah, it is a big bench, which has not always been the case when it comes to Democrats. So, it's been very interesting to watch. Jamie, Eva, thank you so much to both of you on this very big night. And now with us, we have Democratic Congresswoman of California, Barbara Lee. Thanks for taking some time for us this afternoon.

REP. BARBARA LEE (D-CA): Happy to be with you. This is so exciting.

KEILAR: Yeah. And you've known Kamala Harris for a lot longer than most Americans have. So, what are you hoping to hear from her this evening?

LEE: Yes, well, I'm very excited first of all. Secondly, I've known her over three decades. And I think what Americans will see, and what I want them to see is, Kamala Harris, who she is, what she stands for. First of all, we all know she's prepared. She's experienced. She's ready. She's been our Vice President, but she's a unifier. She cares about you. She sees people, she hears people, who haven't necessarily been seen or heard.

She's a person who really cares about the future, understanding that she got here through the blood, sweat and tears of the Black women and women, and women of color, who paved the way, and she honors that. But she's taken the ball forward, and she's going to talk about the future, and I hope she talks about her opportunity economic agenda. Housing is a big issue for people all around the country. And she laid that out as part of her economic agenda. So, it's going to be great.

KEILAR: You want her to talk about policies, and so do a lot of Americans, because one-third of Americans say, they don't know what she stands for. The Trump campaign has actually launched a new website called kamala2024policies.com, which is trying to highlight the fact that she doesn't have a policy section on her own campaign website at this point, she does have a young campaign, to be clear. But, how important is that? So that she isn't seeding herself being defined by the Republican ticket instead?

LEE: Well, first, yeah, she can't play by their rules. That's the first thing. That's what Shirley Chisholm taught me. You know, these rules weren't made for us, so those are their rules. She's going to set out her agenda. I'm clear about the policy aspects of it, but people want to see her also as a human being.

So, I suspect part of the speech will be about the policies, but also another part which is so important will be connecting with people, connecting with people who she sees each and every day, who she fights for, and has fought for throughout her life, and making sure that people are saying, this is not going to be easy, and she's going to, I hope, and I'm certain, help -- ask people to help her, to help her win this race, because we have got to leave this convention with everyone mobilized to do the work. We've got to do the work. And I think she's going to give us that charge.

KEILAR: The uncommitted movement, which is lobbying for this ticket to change course on its Israel policy. They wanted a speaking slot at the convention. They did not get one. Do you think that they should have had that opportunity?

LEE: Well, let me just say, first of all, everyone has a right to have their voices heard. Democracy demands that. And in fact, I believe that she has laid out her position as it relates to the war. She has called for a cease fire, and she has called for the release of hostages, and she has set forth her agenda, and I'm sure she'll talk a little bit about that, I guess, tonight, maybe and maybe not.

But, I think that it's important that everyone recognizes that she hears people, she sees people, and she believes in our Democracy, and believes that every voice should be heard, and that's what strengthens our Democracy, and that's what Democrats are about.

KEILAR: How worried are you that that issue could cost Democrats very important votes in Michigan?

LEE: We have to do our work. No one said, it was going to be easy. And she's connecting with people, and you can see the polls all around the country. And in fact, she's very smart, and she's very clear, she's very sincere. I've been on the world stage with her. I was at the Munich Security Conference. Foreign leaders listen to her. And she's a global leader. And so, she understands foreign Policy and international relations, and she understands what peace means. She understands what security means.

Peace and security go hand in hand, and I believe that she is communicating that very clearly, and will continue to communicate that, and people know that she will make a President that's going to take us forward and not backwards.

KEILAR: The issue of abortion rights and access to abortion has factored so large at this convention.

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And I know that it's an issue that is quite personal to you. You have spoken publicly, really somewhat recently, it was in 2021, I want to play this clip. This is you speaking for the first here just a few years ago, as you described it, a back alley abortion that you received in Mexico, shortly after you turned 16 years old, back in the mid-1960s, here it is.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LEE: My mother noticed I became introverted and very quiet, so she asked me what was going on with me. At that point, I told her everything. I told her that, I maybe, maybe not, could be pregnant. She responded with love. One of my mother's best friends in El Paso helped me access the abortion I could not get in California.

Now, I was one of the lucky ones, Madam Chair. A lot of girls and women in my generation didn't make it. They died from unsafe abortions. In the 1960s, unsafe septic abortions were the primary killer, primary killer of African-American women.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: It took you a long time to talk about something obviously so personal, and this was before Roe was overturned, not long before, though, how significant is this issue going to be for your party in this cycle?

LEE: It's a very important significant issue, and for many reasons, of course, people have a right to make decisions about their own body. This is about bodily autonomy, but when you look at it in the broader context, it's about our freedoms. Donald Trump and this Supreme Court have begun to take away our freedoms, reproductive freedom, voting rights, the right to live in a country that's free of pollution, climate change, our labor union rights are being turned back, you name it.

And so, this is important. It's not only important for women, it's important for families. It's important for everyone. Young people don't know the world without Roe, it's always been the law of the land where they could -- their constitutional right at least, where they could have an abortion, if that was the decision they made. I did not talk about it, because first, it was very personal.

It was my business like it should be now, people should have that right. But after the Texas decision, I was compelled to do that, because I wanted women, I wanted people to know that there were members of Congress who saw them, who heard them, who -- this was way before Roe, and I knew, going in there, having that abortion in a back alley in (inaudible), that I could die.

And I knew also it was illegal there, it was illegal in California, it was illegal in Texas. I was living in California, by then, had gone back to Texas, and then, my mother's friend took me across the border, and I knew I could be put in jail, just like now. So many women could be criminalized, could be put in jail. So many health providers.

These are very dangerous times. And so, we have to have President, a President Harris, and we have to have a Democratic House and Senate so that we can codify into federal law, a person's right to access the abortion care, and it's their decision, and that needs to be restored as the law of the land. And in fact, let me just say, it's because of Donald Trump.

And people have to understand, sometimes young people, especially, don't see the connection between voting and their daily lives. Donald Trump appointed three Supreme Court justices who are taking away their rights, who are turning the clock back. That's the importance of an election. Elections matter.

We've got to have Kamala Harris as our President, Tim Walz as our Vice President, so that we can move forward, and not go back to the days that I know so well. And that wasn't in the not so distant past.

KEILAR: Thank you so much, and thank you for talking to us about something so personal to you. As you said, it's your business, and it took you a long time to talk about it. It was obviously a compelling reason for you to do it. Congresswoman, thank you.

LEE: My pleasure. Really great being with you.

KEILAR: So, it has all led up to this. We are just hours away from the Grand Finale, and arguably, the biggest moment of Vice President Kamala Harris' political life. Have Democrats done enough this week to energize their base and sway independent voters? Don't go anywhere. We are live from the Democratic National Convention in Chicago right after this.

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KEILAR: It is the final day of the Democratic National Convention, and a live look now at the United Center where Vice President, Kamala Harris, will be taking the stage to introduce herself to the country later tonight. Yesterday, the spotlight was on her running mate, Governor Tim Walz, who leaned into his background as a teacher and a football coach giving a speech that, at times, felt a bit like a pep rally.

You can hear the crowd chanting coach there, those are some of Walz's former players. They're to lend their support on stage, but during his acceptance speech, it was really this emotional moment with his 17- year-old son, Gus, that stole the show.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. TIM WALZ (D-MN), 2024 VICE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We had access to fertility treatments, and when our daughter was born, we named her Hope. Hope, Gus and Gwen, you are my entire world, and I love you.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: All right. Let's talk now with our panel. OK, David Urban, that's like, political gold.

DAVID URBAN, SENIOR POLITICAL COMMENTATOR, CNN: Listen, it was an incredibly touching moment, right, with his son. Anybody who's got any shred of humanity, has just look at that and be like, wow, that's pretty touching. Now, that being said, Tim Walz, to me, comes across as kind of a mean spirited Jim Gaffigan, right?

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Like this, kind of, like avuncular guy for the Midwest, but it is hard. He's getting up there screaming. He's mean spirited. And look, the one thing that really bothers me about Tim Walz and your husband you, I'm sure, you may have talked about this. I'm not getting the weeds about whether he deployed or not deployed, carried a weapon of war, those things don't -- I'm not, that, that's too grainer. I want to hear Tim Walz stand up and explain to me, while he said for 20-plus years, that he was a Retired Command Sergeant Major, when he wasn't, he was not a retired command.

He owes an apology to -- I think, the people in the military just said, look, I made a mistake, I shouldn't have said that. I'm owning up to it. He did it before he's owned up to, you know, he's made a mistake, I think, rightfully he came out and said nice things about, you know, he had a DUI, lots of people had DUIs, he said, I made a mistake. I learned from it, and I moved forward. I'd like to hear him say the same thing about the Master Sergeant piece.

KEILAR: Listen as a journalist and someone who understands how ranks work in the military, the fact that he attained that rank but did not retain it as he retired, I would (inaudible) to do that. I wonder -- URBAN: And maybe not here. Yeah.

KEILAR: I wonder what you guys think?

KENDRA BARKOFF, FORMER PRESS SECRETARY FOR THEN-VP JOE BIDEN: I don't think that's the venue. I mean, look, four in 10 voters across the country didn't know who he was until last night, right? His goal last night was to educate the American public, not just the folks in this room, who he is as a person, who he is as a father, who he was as a teacher and as a mentor.

And I think that's exactly what he did here last night. I mean, the crowd loved it. And across the country, they have had -- they had to have loved it.

KEILAR: What do you want -- sorry. Go on.

VAN JONES, SENIOR POLITICAL COMMENTATOR, CNN: Look, I think he got, he has to clean that up. He does. And I think it's actually on brand for him to say, you know what? I got a little bit full of myself and said some stuff that wasn't true. And if my student did that, I want my student to correct, and I'm going to correct it. And I think it actually enhanced him.

I think we're in a business where people think, if you -- if you're just honest, we all sometimes polish up a story here and there, but now you're on the main stage, you get caught on it, just cough up the furball, so we can move on from this issue.

KEILAR: And by the way, I do think --

URBAN: Just -- I just want -- I'm not trying to steer thunder here, but he put it on his coin right to your point, Brianna, if he said, I attained the rank of Command Sergeant Major, that's completely honest. Just say that. Don't continue to say --

ALYSSA FARAH GRIFFIN, FORMER TRUMP WHITE HOUSE COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR: I do think it's important that after two cycles of having no veterans on the ticket, there's a veteran on both sides of the ticket. And I do think if he owns it, it helps, because most Americans are going to hear 24 years in the National Guard, they're going to care a little bit less about the rank that he claimed, or if he held a weapon, but it's better to own it. And I think he does have that capability of doing it, leaning into that. I coached people. I taught people you admit when you did something wrong.

JONES: And the reason that everybody is jumping on this is because this super star that you never heard of, literally three weeks ago, this guy (inaudible) those are extraordinary. His ability to connect is extraordinary. Listen, I was sitting up here thinking to myself, I'm watching Shapiro get up there and kill it. I'm watching Wes Moore get up there and kill it.

I'm watching Pete Buttigieg get up there and kill it. I'm like, why do we have this dude to get his RVP? He gets up there and he is a cut above the best people in our party, and he just got here. That's why they're trying to muddy this guy up, because this dude can go anywhere in the country and talk to anybody. So, they're trying to muddy him up. Just cough up the fur ball and move on.

KEILAR: OK. Listen, I do want to move on, on this, but I'm going to take the final word on this pre to Alyssa, because the veteran on veteran violence on this topic, it's kind of getting gross. These perspectives are really important. There are questions that need to be answered, no doubt.

But these are incredibly important perspectives to have when you're getting this close to the White House, and you're going to have them, that's what we know. All right, big night tonight. Kamala Harris is going to be taking the stage. What do you want to hear?

BARKOFF: I mean, we're going to hear about her record, right? We're going to hear about where she grew up, where she came from, her family, the things she worked about, when she -- when she worked on, when she was a prosecutor, who she went after, the goals that she achieved, and what she worked towards. And then, she's going to talk, I think, about the future, and what she has in mind in terms of helping the American families.

She's going to talk about, you know, the bills that they're going to help people save, and the rent. And I think she's not going to get into full policy stuff, but I think she's going to lean into what she wants to achieve.

GRIFFIN: She's not going to get into full policies? Barbara Lee was just -- Barbara Lee was just on here saying that she wants to hear her. She wants to hear her. Are you saying like (CROSSTALK).

BARKOFF: I think she is not going to get in to like, yeah, they're not going to get into granular details, but I think they're going to talk about what their goals are, and how they're going to achieve them. JONES: Right. Let me you what, you ain't going to hear much because of the thunder of the crown when she walks out on that stage. First of all, let's just be like, clear about something. This is 2024, 60 years ago, it's 1964, it was Freedom Summer. You had two Jewish kids and a Black kid that got murdered in Mississippi, just trying to register voters, including a Black voter named Fannie Lou Hamer, who came to this conference, who came to this convention, she wasn't even allowed to speak. They wouldn't even seat Fannie Lou Hamer, 60 years ago, this week.

[13:25:00]

60 years later, a Black woman is going to be advanced out of here as the nominee of this party. When she walks on that stage, buddy, you're -- you're -- you thought you saw tears last night. You got tears, cheers. It's going to sound like a nuclear bomb going off in here. Nobody's going to be able to hear what she says after that.

KEILAR: OK, if there's thunder, then who is after the lightning. And I will say, I think last night, that was Tim Walz, and that was also Oprah. I want to play a moment from Oprah.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OPRAH WINFREY, AMERICAN HOST AND TELEVISION PRODUCER: When a house is on fire, we don't ask about the homeowner's race or religion. We don't wonder who their partner is or how they voted. No. We just try to do the best we can to save them. And if the pace place happens to belong to a childless cat lady, well, we try to get that cat out too.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: Hilariously, the woman they cut to, turns out, is a childless cat lady who hopes that the condition is not permanent, she said, which is funny. How did that speech play? What do you think it actually mobilizes?

GRIFFIN It's incredible. She's one of the biggest pop culture icons in America. She's someone who, you know, worked in decades in daytime television, talking to independents, to liberals, and doesn't often lean into her politics. And she did a message that was elevating and talking about who we are, how we support our communities, what it means to be an American.

I think Kamala Harris could take some notes from this, because, well, I agree, she needs to do some interviews. She needs to lay out more specific policies. That's not really what tonight's for. Tonight is to talk about the character of the nation, what your leadership will look like, and who you are as a person. If she emulates some of that Oprah energy, I think it'll go very well.

URBAN: So, I'll just say, here's one thing you're not going to hear tonight. You're not going to hear anything about the Biden-Harris record, right? I know you're not going to hear about the revised jobs report that came out yesterday, and said, over the past year, million jobs less were created.

KEILAR: Well, we hear about Hannibal Lecter. URBAN: Yeah, but you are (CROSSTALK) about that. And what you're not going to -- and you know, we're talking about lots of things. I view everything through the lens of Pennsylvania. Maybe that's my -- maybe that's my --

KEILAR: It's not a bad one.

URBAN: So that's what I view everything. So -- and you know, James Carville once famously said, Pennsylvania is Pittsburgh and Philly with Alabama in between. I'm not hearing a lot for the people from Alabama here, right? Like so, Walz, I think was supposed to talk about that, but he was -- he's not rocking the bat -- there's no Bass Pro contingent here, right?

That's what's missing from this party, this -- this delegate, this -- this convention, and if you're going to win Pennsylvania, there better be some Bass Pro people up on that stage, and we're ending today. I don't know if any Bas Pro folks are showing up.

JONES: Well, look, I mean, I thought yesterday your point was eroded a little bit. You had law enforcement up here. You had people who were former Republicans up here. You had people, I think, really speaking to some of the traditional things that you would expect from the Republican Party, concerned about law and order, being against riots and insurrections.

So, there is a little bit of swapping going on between the parties. I think you guys are picking up some working class people of color that you haven't had. We're picking up some folks that, that we haven't had. But, I think, that tomorrow, I think that tonight, Kamala Harris can do some things that I think people don't expect.

I don't know what she's going to do. I haven't seen this speech, but I know Kamala Harris. I've known her for 25 years. I voted for Kamala Harris for District Attorney in San Francisco. I voted for her for Attorney General, I voted for her for Senator. I voted for her for Vice President and for President. And she's not who the right wing thinks she is.

I mean, the left in our state did not get along with Kamala Harris. She is tough. She is tough as nails. She doesn't brook foolishness. She had a big, big problem with the left in, in California, because she was a real prosecutor. She gets a lot of credit now for some of the kind of stuff that she did, but she didn't book any foolishness. And I think that if she can put that tough side forward, it might help.

KEILAR: We'll be seeing -- we'll have to see who she is selling herself as tonight.

URBAN: Well, yet she was rated the second most liberal senator, most progressive senator, other than Bernie Sanders. Yet her policy positions in 2019-2020 were so progressive, saw to the mainstream, that they're walking away from them here as quickly as that, so who is going to show up.

KEILAR: So, when was that, though, David? When you talk about the rating.

URBAN: I'm not quite sure, this was last Congress. It was this last Congress or last Congress --

KEILAR: Before she was Vice President?

URBAN: Before she was Vice President.

JONES: It (inaudible) that though. She when -- when she was saying all that stuff and doing all that stuff, did you notice, she didn't seem comfortable in herself during that primary, because that's not Kamala Harris, and we know that. What you're seeing now, confident, I'm the prosecutor, I'm going to deal with these problems. That's absolutely --

GRIFFIN: Can I just say, I also --

JONES: That's what's troubling to me than anything.

GRIFFIN: But, I also think serving in the White House at the highest level of government should be a moderating force for anyone. I left the White House as a staffer far more moderate than I went in. I think for her to say, yeah, for her to come and say, having been Vice President for all Americans, I've moderated on some of these issues, and here's why I am now.

I also think she -- when you're the vice president of the United States, you have a boss, right, you have somebody that you have to report to.