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CNN International: Labour Takes Power After Landslide Victory; Biden Addresses Voters In Madison, Wisconsin. Aired 3-4p ET
Aired July 05, 2024 - 15:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[15:00:36]
PAULA NEWTON, CNN HOST: I'm Paula Newton in New York.
We are following major political stories on both sides of the Atlantic today. A new political era is beginning in the UK where after 14 years in opposition, Labour has won a landslide victory, handling the conservatives their worst defeat in party history. Now, Labour leader Keir Starmer will now serve as prime minister, Britain's fourth in two years.
While meantime, here in the United States, President Joe Biden's team is scrambling to shore up his campaign and rebuffed fears over his viability as a candidate. Where you can see it there now, live use due to speak it as first its rally in a week, we will, of course, take you to those remarks live when they begin. And so, we are looking ahead to this week's crucial runoff election in France, where a controversial far-right party is trying to capitalize on its strong first-round performance.
We have an exclusive interview with the face of that party, but we begin in the UK and the country's new direction with its new Prime Minister Keir Starmer at the helm, Starmer is already on the job after yesterday's victory, he met with King Charles earlier today at Buckingham Palace. You see it there, who he at that point had formerly asked him to form a new government, and he spoke with President Biden already who said he was looking forward to working with the new prime minister.
We want to head over now to CNN international diplomatic editor, Nic Robertson, who is outside 10 Downing Street to talk about this history making landslide victory. What does not history-making is the rain again and at Downing Street.
Nick, you've seen so much of this over so many years. A lot to really process in this victory.
Keir Starmer, in terms of becoming the prime minister today, what was his overall message?
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: His overall message was to -- for the public to begin to have faith and politicians again, that was something he said that he could deliver and that he was appealing to the public with this very clear message that we're going to deliver for you. It is country first, party second, politicians that are going to come in and work for the people to deliver a better economy, to deliver a better health service to improve on crime and justice.
That, you know, but he also was clear about where he was setting the horizons not immediately for people not to expect this immediate change, but the rebuilding of houses, of schools. This was something that they haven't ambitious plan for over the coming five years, but someday, he said that would begin to happen in a bit more time.
Of course, the tough position for him is, does he have the money? He has to improve the economy, and a very skeptical public and you, he will be acutely aware of that 59.9 percent turnout that second lowest in a century at a general election. That's significant, only 35 percent of the country actually voted Labour despite the fact they've got 412 seats, a massive majority to push through changes who want to push through, says a lot of warning signals in there for the prime minister and is really trying to address those and bring the public with him and his party on a journey of changes. He has talked about it.
NEWTON: Yeah. Nic, as you were saying, just only a little bit more than one in three UK voters, in fact, voted with Labour. And that's why we saw a lot of congeniality between the outgoing Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and the incoming Keir Starmer.
Richard Quest, if you can hear me there at Abington Green in London, I'm wondering think about your thoughts as that handover went on today.
RICHARD QUEST, CNN BUSINESS EDITOR AT LARGE: It was textbook, absolutely textbook.
What we had was the prime minister, the outgoing prime minister, going to the palace then the incoming prime minister weighted he went to the palace. Then he had this little gap when he and his wife were not sure what they were doing when they went into horse guard's parade, then to Downing Street. And we had the announcements and the preparation that clearly that the Labour Party had made for this day was, was extraordinary because within moments, we were getting announcements of new cabinet members Rachel Reeves, David Lammy.
This has been well thought through, and I think also, Paula, extraordinary, the lack of triumphalism from the new Prime Minister Keir, the lack of rah-rah, we won, yeah, yeah, very different from '97. This is -- there's work to be done. This is a time for serious people and we're going to get on with it.
NEWTON: All right. Richard, we all leave it for now, but we are much more from London in the coming hours. I want to thank you and now, we move to politics on this side of the Atlantic into 2024 election in the United States. President Biden facing a series of crucial test as he tries to save his candidacy.
Right now, he is campaigning in Wisconsin where he is due at any moment to speak at his first rally in a week while in the battleground state, he is also sitting down for his first on-camera interview since last week's debate.
Now both events will be closely watched as you can imagine, in highly scrutinized as the president seeks to demonstrate his fitness and capacity to serve another four years. Now, the campaign trying to combat any concerns, announced an aggressive travel schedule in July with the president set to visit, think about this, every battleground state after next week's NATO summit.
It is also launching a $50 million ad campaign, and that would be quite the media blitz in terms of money.
CNN's Isaac Dovere joins me now.
You know, today is a crucial test, of course, for the president. Can you give us some insight into the behind the scenes, especially this dichotomy, right, between what his inner circle is saying to him and that includes lets his family. But now what so many more Democrats are urging.
EDWARD-ISAAC DOVERE, CNN SENIOR REPORTER: Look, this is a situation where that the president and people close to him are asking for time to make up their minds, to make up his mind, and to prove to people that he is up to running. The problem they are facing, is that many Democrats feel like their minds are already made up, and it should be said there are huge number of Democratic operatives and officials who are quietly saying they're ready to stick with Biden, but a lot of others are saying it's done. We need to move on. They're so far past that that they are already envisioning what it will be for Kamala Harris to step in as the nominee.
My reporting as number of top Democratic leaders and officials saying that they are so far along that they are planning on who her potential running mates would be, and thinking about things in that way, how to restructure things, moving so far into the post-Biden phase of it that they're not even paying much attention to this rally in Wisconsin or the interview of this evening, or other things that are going to be part of the presence schedule in the next couple of days to again, try to prove to people that he is in it to win it, and that he is still up to the race that is a high bar that he's going to have to clear.
NEWTON: Yeah, it's interesting because they've already moved on to succession planning, even though we were just looking at live pictures, he is about to head to the stage there in Madison, Wisconsin. Again, it will be on prompter likely not too long, maybe about ten minutes.
So what Democrats saying to you about making the case to actually replace him now and replace him? With Kamala Harris right now, who's kind turning up to be the likely candidate.
DOVERE: Yeah, one Democratic senator who chose to remain anonymous beyond being a Democratic senator, spell this out to me with this long metaphor that I have in my story that's up on our site that is about at a football game where the star quarterback has been knocked out and they're trying to figure out is just need the smelling salts to come back or quarterback conscious and to think about Kamala Harris is the replacement quarterback, saying to people that the Democratic senators said that there's an awareness of the last time in this metaphor, the replacement quarterback was up through an interception, but that's no reason to turn on her now, especially because she knows the plays, she knows the team. She's played in the NFL. And that's different from the people in the stands who are shouting, bring someone else.
So, that is a big part of what's going on here. It should be said also that a number of people who I will tell you, have been very sour on Kamala Harris to the past and very down on her political prospects have in recent days said to me, they are sure that they would prefer her over Joe Biden, the leader of one Democratic group. I said, given where Joe Biden's polls are and where her polls have been, what you really they prefer one over the other and the person said to me, are you kidding, it's so obvious that person that that person would want Kamala Harris to step in now?
NEWTON: Yes. So many questions about whether this is salvageable at this time, Isaac, glad to have your perspective as we continue to await to the presidents remarks there in Madison, Wisconsin, appreciate it. So we do continue to wait.
And in the meantime, we want to bring in our panel of political pros, White House reporter for "The Associated Press", Seung Min Kim, and Jackie Kucinich, Washington bureau chief for "The Boston Globe".
[15:10:05]
Okay. We're going to wait on the president here just to see -- we know he's going to try and speak at any moment. I've already said, look, its likely going to be on prompter, about ten minutes.
But, Seung Min, I have to turn to you now and ask you how significant today is for proving that he's not fit for one speech, right? He's got to prove that he is fit for a second term.
SEUNG MIN KIM, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: I think we can't underscore how important this day is for him right now. I mean, not just the scenes for the rally that you're looking at on your screen. But critically, this ABC News interview with George Stephanopoulos tonight where we really do expected to face really attentive and probing questions about, you know, all manners of the presidency and particularly his fitness to serve for office.
And I have to say what the Democrats that I'm talking to it I'm sure all of us are talking to him doing well that interview tonight is kind of a bare minimum for him to continue on in this race. He really does have so much confidence among the Democratic Party that he has to restore for after his disastrous debate performance in Atlanta, odd at the CNN debate last week. And he really, we can't overstate this uphill battle that the president, the president's team, the president's reelection apparatus has right now to really get that motivation that competence back from Democrats.
NEWTON: Yeah. And you know, the adversity just keeps building.
Jackie, the Biden campaign acknowledges that, Seung was just saying, that the ABC interview that the stakes couldn't be higher. They are trying to manage expectations and yet on CNN, just a few moments ago, we had U.S. Congressman Gerry Connolly from Virginia, remember, Virginia that could turn into a battleground state, he was asked if Joe Biden was still the best candidate for the Democrats. His answer was, I don't know yet.
I mean, how damaging is this at this point in time?
JACKIE KUCINICH, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: You know, I think as Seung Min hinted there, this goes down to trust and confidence, and I think a lot of Democrats feel like they weren't, they weren't being told the honest truth about Joe Biden and his -- and some of his difficulties by his staff and it all came out during that debate. Everything after that and the differing explanations, he had a cold, he was tired from traveling, he needed more sleep -- all of these things has led up to a loss of confidence because you're absolutely right, this isn't about making it through the next week or even the next month. This is about being able to stand four more years as president taking Democrats competent again, that he can do it.
The age issue has been an issue for as long -- since Joe Biden re- declared his candidacy and probably before then. It's the competency that now is very much questioned by even some of his closest allies.
NEWTON: Yeah and that's because, it is such a mystery as to what exactly is the issue. Is it episodic as some people have said, or is it something more serious?
Seung, Biden is increasing his campaign schedule. We talked about, you know, he's going to try and visit every battleground state.
I do want to bring in though this issue of -- the medical issue now. Our own, Dr. Sanjay Gupta, you know, he wrote an essay today at CNN.com, which I encourage everyone to go and read it. Remember, he is a neurologist. Not only is he a neurologist, he says in the last few days he's spoken to so many that have reached out to them and that's qualified doctors and I'm going to quote him.
He says the consensus from the doctors reaching out to me is that the president should be encouraged to undergo -- undergo detailed cognitive and movement disorder testing and that those results should be available to the public.
What do you think the odds are of the White House actually agreeing to that?
KIM: Just clarifying one point. It's actually not the president who's going to hit every single battleground state this month, it's the four principals. That's Vice President Kamala Harris, First Lady Jill Biden, second gentleman Doug Emhoff, as well as the president, where we really doing this traveled blitz later this month.
But, you know, going back to your question, it's -- this White House has claimed they are transparent with his medical issues. They say that he does -- they release information about his physical when he takes it every -- every February, that Kevin O'Connor has personal doctor has provided through the White House press office all of the information that they believed that public needs. But they did not they have not they have not accepted are in the White House press corps, our request to have Dr. Conner speak to us.
They say Dr. Connors determined there has no need to be a cognitive exam, and the types of way that Dr. Gupta is recommending. And, you know, every time as reporters asked for more and more information about his medical records, pointing out the fact that he is the oldest president to hold the presidency, they kind of just -- they kind of say we've been transplanted in us.
So while Dr. Gupta's words were very forceful, he does make a very compelling argument there, it is not something that I don't -- I see the White House picking up just yet.
[15:15:04]
NEWTON: Yeah. It'll be interesting if there is any pressure from within the Democratic Party from to do that. So thanks for clarifying exactly what that July campaign would look like. Obviously, if Joe Biden is telling governors that he's planning to be embed or at least stop events every day by 8:00 p.m., yeah, that would have been a very ambitious schedule, indeed.
Jackie, of course, a lot a lot of attention on Kamala Harris right now, right? And we can all tick off perhaps her weaknesses, not the least of which is the issue of immigration, which she was she was supposed to be leading up. And now the Trump campaign would hammer her on that.
And, yet and yet, given the poll numbers that CNN has had over the last few days, saying that she is within since striking distance of Donald Trump, at least statistically, do you think the party can rally around her or do you think like Jim Clyburn, the congressman, suggested on CNN earlier that maybe they should have a mini primary that if Joe Biden steps down, that some kind of competitive process is necessary?
KUCINICH: I think the current state of the Democratic Party, it's really hard to guess, right? Because we'd be in unprecedented waters, because the DNC is so close and if President Biden drops -- if he decided to drop out before that, those delegates that are bound to him are not necessarily bound to his vice president.
However, and I think, but, I do think in terms of the base of the party and those voters that are most loyal, I'm talking about African American voters to pass over Vice President Harris, it would -- it would be I think it would be a very tough thing politically to do for Democrats.
They might try, who knows, if we get to that point. I think we're at this point of our choose your own adventure several pages in the future, but it would be -- it would be incredibly difficult for them to explain why the woman who has been vice president for three-plus years is not the person they want top of the ticket. NEWTON: Yeah. I mean, look, we've had a "Game of Thrones" referenced
earlier this week citing the chaos, I think this is going to continue on. I think were all looking to the White House to really put a stop to it one way or the other.
Seung Min Kim, Jackie Kucinich, thank you so much as we continue to await the words of President Biden. You see there, the governor of Wisconsin, Tony Evers, who is speaking, we do expect the president to speak soon.
In the meantime for us though, a victory not seen for the British Labour Party since the era of Tony Blair, a landslide win. That's ending 14 years of conservative rule. We'll have that next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[15:20:42]
QUEST: And to our top story, the new British Prime Minister Keir Starmer is getting down to business. He's assembling his cabinet. And as you can see, the rain is pouring, hopefully not on me.
After a landslide election victory, Labour Party, Anna Stewart looks as if she's closer to where the rain might be falling, and might be more danger -- no, I'll protect you.
ANNA STEWART, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It's a lie. It's a lie.
QUEST: I will protect, I will leap in front of it, like a --
STEWART: I don't believe it.
QUEST: Quick question, David Lammy, foreign secretary --
STEWART: We got Rachel Reeves, and we got Angela Rayner, his deputy prime minister. They're all coming in. The cool group of this cabinet has been formed. No big surprises.
QUEST: No, but they may not be some of them have not been in office before, but they're very experienced, a shadow, that it's an experienced team.
STEWART: It's an experience team. And I think that goes to the fact that Keir Starmer has since -- since he took over as leader had this team around him, he hasn't really changed that much, so they'd be an opposition for long enough that they should be ready for the task. It's a big one. There's a lot to consider.
QUEST: The -- I listened to his speech outside very well-written speech outside Downing Street but I'm still not sure what they're actually going to do, what their policies are.
STEWART: And if you read the manifesto, you would struggle to mind what they're going to do either because it was slightly light indeed, which is actually really normal, because you don't want to scare off voters right before you go to the polls. But what are they going to do with the economy? They want to obviously
try and meet the fiscal rules. The UK's borrowing far too much, they want to bring it down to 3 percent, but how? Because they said that they're not going to tax working people, no increases in taxes.
They want to do lots of spending on infrastructure, on energy. So there are lots of little things to be figured out at this stage.
QUEST: Right. But the city will tell you and I guess earlier we'll say spending -- borrowing to spend on infrastructure is good. It's borrowing to spend on the current account, on ongoing spending is bad.
STEWART: But are they going to bet that they're going to get the growth they need to bring those debt levels down, when they are at, I think it's 1.3 trillion or something. We're at debt levels of the GDP is 100 percent GDP, borrowings at 4.5 percent way above the rules. It's going to take some pain to bring that down, probably.
QUEST: Do think this is why we saw today a very measured, it's almost as if they'll hold. They are holding themselves back, there's been no champagne corks. It's not 97 on the south bank again.
STEWART: It's not like a post-war arrival. We're ready. We're going to rebuild after these years of conservative governments, you know? That's how it feels. It feels like they've got a job to do. They know that it's going to be a difficult one and it might be a bit painful.
What we're unlikely to get though, is an emergency budgets. That's what you get if they are going to be sudden changes in spending or taxation. We were told early on we wouldn't be getting that. So I wouldn't expect one.
QUEST: Okay, the lib dems, more than -- said they had a much -- they were better than the exit poll. They came on really well over -- to be careful, my dear, to be careful, I promise you, I will launch myself if necessary.
STEWART: You used to tray your jacket down really for me, don't you?
QUEST: Well, lib dems.
STEWART: Yes, liberal democrats, was tonight absolutely extraordinary. They have made a huge comeback. Scotland, big gains in Scotland, big gains in the south and southwest. So many seats that were conservative have gone liberal Democratic, including Teresa May, former prime minister.
QUEST: I'm going to stop there. I'm too nervous.
I could do a general election where with all the results and next term, but I can't wait for that thing to London with you ahead, it'll be a YouTube moment for both of us. Thank you. Anna Stewart, I'm very grateful.
Now, more on what this election means for the U.K. and the world. I'm joined by Karla Adam, the London correspondent for "The Washington Post".
Were you excited by the results last night?
KARLA ADAM, LONDON CORRESPONDENT, WASHINGTON POST: Was I excited? Well, it's -- I'm highly caffeinated. I would put it that way. I mean, it wasn't its such a massive reversal. I mean, we know that we kind of knew the writing has been on the wall for awhile, but still, I mean, what -- what -- as the British politicos like to say here, what a landslide victory we had from the Labour Party.
[16:25:08]
QUEST: And 14 years of Tory rule, austerity, Brexit, COVID, do we really understand what Starmer's going to do?
And I'll ill apologize in advance if I have to interrupt you. We are waiting for the president who's about to speak out in any second. So, my apologies in advance, if I rudely interrupt.
Do we know what Starmer is actually going to do?
ADAM: I'm that's a great question. Well, we do know that he has a massive entry and already it's full. I think as you're as the previous guest was just talking about, the economy, they've said they want to prioritize the economy, they want to focus a lot on growth, you know? But it's not just -- it's not super easy just to suddenly expand in economy.
So we know that there's going to be a lot of attention there, there'd be a lot of attention on public services. There's big problems with NHS and waiting times, there's issues around housing. I mean, I think there's all sorts of domestic concerns that he's going to want to address.
He's also been very careful and measured as you were just saying, he's not one to like, promise a bunch of freebies. So I think that what he's -- it's not -- he's not -- he's not a flamboyant politics. I don't think he's going to rule like a flamboyant politician. He's not Boris Johnson for better or worse. I think things will be measured.
But, you know, the country has had some big problems that need addressing.
QUEST: Finally, reform and the reform party, could they be a significant threat? Or is this a one -- it is a one election wonder?
ADAM: That's interesting. I thought that was one of the really -- one of the really interesting surprises of the night was that Nigel Farage, Trump's buddy, that big disruptor, finally wins the seat in parliament. His eighth time, lucky and I think what's going to be interesting there they have, at least four MPs, maybe five. I was just looking at the plaza, but I think around four MPs. So, not very many at all.
But, you know, Nigel Farage is one of the most influential politicians of his generation, the face of the Brexit campaign. But he's always been doing it, at least from the UK on the sidelines. I mean, he has been a politician in Brussels at this would be the first time where he'll be inside a tent and working from parliament.
And I think it'll be very interesting to see if his press conference today -- if his press conference today was anything to go by -- noisy, yeah.
QUEST: I really have (INAUDIBLE). We're less than a couple of miles apart. But because signals are going vary, that places up to the satellite, down to the satellites, you might as well be on the moon and I might as well be on Mars.
I'm grateful to you for joining us tonight. Karla Adam of "The Washington Post".
In a moment or two, we are expecting President Biden to speak. When the president does speak, he's in Madison -- he'll be in Madison, Wisconsin, and we will show you, of course, will bring that to you as soon as he takes to the stage, the scene is well and truly set there.
And in just a moment or three, an exclusive interview from CNN with the French far-right figure Marine Le Pen., National Rally party is expected to in the largest share of seats in the parliamentary election in a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[15:32:03]
QUEST: There's President Biden. He's facing two critical tests today, as he is proving he is fit for a second. Let's listen in and see how the president performs. He's in Wisconsin, in Madison.
JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Folks, did you have a good Fourth of July?
CROWD: Yes!
(CHEERS)
BIDEN: By the way, if you're wondering whether Trump has it all together, did you ever hear how he explained the Fourth of July when he was president?
CROWD: No.
BIDEN: No, I'm serious. It's true.
His explanation on how America won the Revolutionary War -- I'm not making this up. H said in his Fourth of July speech, five years ago, he said, George Washington's army won the revolution by taking you draw the airports from the British.
Talking about me misspeaking, airports and the British in 1776. It's true. He is a stable genius.
My friends, I'm in Wisconsin for one reason, because we're going to win Wisconsin!
(CHEERS)
Win it. And let me tell you how we're going to do it. You know the reason, we're going to do it because you all in this room to start with. We're going to stand up for women in America. We're going to restore Roe v. Wade, the law of the land. We're going to stand up for the right to vote again.
We're going to fight for Medicare and Social Security and childcare, elder care, paid leave, (INAUDIBLE) economies. We're going to keep lowering the cost of prescription drugs, expanded health care for everyone, (INAUDIBLE).
Look, we're going to protect our children from getting weapons of war off our streets. That's what were going to do.
The idea that more children die from gunshot wounds in America is so wrong, is sick, it really is sick. We're going to keep confronting climate change (INAUDIBLE).
The most important, we're going to save our democracy.
(CHEERS)
Now, you probably heard. We had a little debate last week. I can't say it's my best performance.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We love you, Joe!
BIDEN: But ever since then, there's been lot of speculation. What's Joe going to do? Is he going to stay in the race? Is he going to drop out? What's he going to do?
Well, here's my answer. I am running and I'm going to win again.
(CHEERS)
Because --
(CHANTING)
[15:35:08]
Folks, I'm the sitting president of the United States American, no small part because of you, not -- not a joke. In 2020, you came through for me.
I'm the nominee of the Democratic Party. I'm a nominee of this party because millions of Democrats like you just voted for me in primaries all across America.
You voted for me to be your nominee, no one else. You, the votes, the voters did that, and despite -- despite that, some folks don't seem to care who you voted for. Well, guess what? They're trying to push me out on the race. Well, let me say as clearly as I can, I'm staying in the race. I'll beat Donald Trump. I will beat him again in 2020.
By the way, were going to doing it again in 2024.
I learned long ago when you get knocked down, you get back up. And I'm let -- I'm not letting a 90-minute debate wipe out three-and-a-half years of work.
As the governor said, I've led this nation to the depths of pan -- the depths of pandemic, to this strongest economy in the world. And that's literally true. And I and you are not finished yet.
You probably also noticed, a lot of discussion about my age. I know I looked 40. I keep seeing all those stories about I'm being too old.
Let me say something, I was too old -- I wasn't too old -- I wasn't too old to create over 15 million new jobs. To make sure 21 million Americans are insured on the Affordable Care Act, to be beat pharma, the first (INAUDIBLE) to ever do that lower the cost to $35 (INAUDIBLE).
Was I too old to relieve student debt to nearly 5 million Americans and grown the economy --
(CHEERS)
Too old to put the first Black woman on the Supreme Court of the United States of America.
To sign the Respect for Marriage Act.
(CHEERS)
Was I too old to sign most significant gun safety law in 30 years?
(CHEERS)
To pass the biggest climate bill in the history of the world, not here, history of the world?
(CHEERS)
Then, my critic says, sure, but he did all that, but that was in the past. What about now? Well, how about the 200,000 jobs we announced yesterday?
(CHEERS)
So, let me ask you, what do you think? Do you think I'm too old to restore Roe v. Wade, the law of the land?
CROWD: No!
BIDEN: Do you think I'm too old to ban assault weapons again?
CROWD: No!
BIDEN: To protect Social Security and Medicare? To get childcare, elder care for working families, in need (ph) in nation.
To make billionaires finally start to pay something beyond 8.2 percent, ain't that great?
(CHEERS)
Let me ask you, do you think I'm too old to beat Donald Trump?
CROWD: No!
BIDEN: I can hardly wait. Anyway.
Folks, let's focus on what really matters, running against the biggest liar and the biggest threat -- no, really, the biggest liar, the biggest threat to our democracy in American history. That's not hyperbole.
Over 150 presidential historians voted him the worst president in American history. No, the worst.
As I've said before, he has the morals of an alley cat.
(CHEERS)
He lies about the economy. The truth, he's one of only two American presidents who left office with fewer jobs than when he came into office. You know who the other was? Herbert Hoover. Fact, that's right. I called him Donald Herbert Hoover Trump.
He lies about the Trump pandemic he totally botched. The truth is over a million people went on to die. He told us what? To inject bleach in our arm. It wasn't serious.
He lied about are great he was for veterans in his administration. The true he called veterans who gave her lives serving American -- I was just in Normandy and the beaches of Normandy and all through that area -- and he said I have trouble saying this because my son dies, as a consequence of that, they gave their lives. He call them, quote, suckers and losers.
(BOOS)
By the way, I'll be damned, I'm glad I wasn't with him because I'll (INAUDIBLE) talk about my son that way.
[15:40:01]
But how do we know he said -- how do we know he said this, that I'm not making this up? A four star marine general, his own former chief of staff was with him and he told us that's what he said.
There's not the only former Trump official warned us about how bad Trump is, including the former secretary of defense and even his own vice president. They refused to endorse him, says a lot about who Trump is. It says a lot about what he isn't.
By the way, I couldn't ponder -- I guess I shouldn't say it -- by the way, I couldn't be prouder to have your support, to support our great Vice President of the United States, Kamala Harris.
(CHEERS)
Trump is a convicted felon, found guilty, 34 felonies.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Lock him up!
BIDEN: Trying to hide hush money payments to a porn star. Another jury found Trump sexually assaulted a woman in a public place and has been fined $90 million for defaming her, $90 million. (INAUDIBLE) bank about 20 times, but I don't know.
This so-called great businessman owes over $400 million in fines after being convicted in New York state of business fraud, already convicted, fined $400 million.
Donald Trump is just a convicted criminal, he's a one man crime wave. But Trump's biggest lie of all because he had nothing to do with the insurrection of January 6. We all saw with her when eyes.
We saw he sent thousands to attack the Capitol. We saw police being attacked, Capitol being ransacked the mob hunting for Nancy Pelosi, gallows set up to hang Mike Pence.
Let me ask you something after what Trump did on January 6, why would anyone ever let him be near the Oval Office again?
Folks, the issue of this election is, what kind of America you want to be? What kind of American do we want to be? You want to be a country of anger, your friend, revenge and retribution, a country of hope and optimism of possibilities as we've always been.
I want a country where women have a right to make their own health care decisions.
Trump wants America where abortion is banned and women are punished. I want America where health care is a right, not a privilege. Trump wants to throw tens of millions of people who couldn't get insurance any other way than Obamacare off of Obamacare.
(BOOS)
I want America for the very wealthy begin to pay their fair share.
Trump wants to get the very wealthy and (INAUDIBLE) last time out when he was president, he gave me a $2 trillion tax cut, creating the largest deficit any president has in one term.
Now, he's announced he wants another $5 billion, trillion -- trillion, not billion, $5 trillion tax cut after already leaving the largest deficit.
If this -- I mean, it's hard to make this up.
I want to protect Social Security and Medicare. He wants to cut Social Security and Medicare, so he can cut taxes for the very wealthy.
I want to ban assault weapon, require universal background checks. You heard the promise in the NRA. He promised the National Rifle Association. I will do nothing about guns. That's what he said. I would do nothing about guns and he means it.
I want January 6 insurrectionist to serve their full prison terms Trump wants to pardon them.
Folks, you can't be pro insurrectionist and pro-American at the same time.
(CHEERS)
This is so damn serious. You can't love your country only when you win.
Look, you've been standing a long time. Let me close at this. Ulamy (ph), ultimately, the American presidency is about character. The character the president holds the job because with the immunities he's talking, extreme (INAUDIBLE) just talked about, it gets down to that. He gets down to that.
It's about honesty. It's about the president's decency, integrity. Do they respect people? Or do they incite violence and hate?
Can they honor their oath to the Constitution and uphold their oath of office?
Well, I don't think it's an exaggeration that yes, Trump has failed on every one of these character tests, everyone. And what's worse is Supreme Court has just ruled, that virtually no limits on the power of the presidency. I know it sounds bizarre, but that's what they rule, a frightening decision.
According to the extreme majority of the Supreme Court, the president is now above the law. We just celebrated the Fourth of July, saying we will not be ruled by a king, and this Supreme Court he appointed prove this to law.
It's a dangerous precedent, especially if Donald Trump was returned the presidency, just think about it, the second term, this next term, whomever is a president is going to appoint at least two new appointees. A second Trump term where there are no limits.
Supreme Court Justice Sotomayor warned us about that and her dissent in that case. There's this, she noted that based on a majority decision, Trump can take out his opponents, be physically take them out, take bribes, lead a coup, and be immune ever being held accountable for it if he did it while it was president, according to the Supreme Court.
(BOOS) I mean, where the hell are we? So, he really could become a dictator that he promised to be on day one.
For over two centuries, America has been a free democratic nation and I'll be damned if the year 2024, just two years before our 250th anniversary of this nation -- as a nation, I'll let Donald Trump take this away.
(CHEERS)
Folks, this is not hyperbole. This race is about our freedom. It's about our democracy. It's about the very soul of America, or her to fight for that. I know I am and I will.
But, folks, I've never been more optimistic about America's future because the American people are decent, good, honorable, just to remember who in god's name we are.
We're the United States of America. I mean it -- think about it. Think about it in literal term.
And there's nothing -- nothing beyond our capacity when we stand together. So let's stand together, win this election and exile Donald Trump politically.
(CHEERS)
God bless you all and may God protect our troops. Thank you. Thank you.
NEWTON: And you have been listening to President Joe Biden in the battleground state of Wisconsin there, giving a speech for about 15 minutes, likely the strongest speech we've seen from him in some time.
BIDEN: We're coming to the overflow room.
NEWTON: He's talking there about there being an overflow room.
I just wanted to give you some highlights of what he said, the chants of let's go, Joe. He kind of faced the critics head on, and said everybody is asking, what's Joe going to do and his response is -- I'm running and I'm going to win again. Perhaps, perhaps most notable after going through what he considers some of the great achievements of his administration, he took it to his opponent, calling Trump a stable genius, ingest, saying he was a one-man crime wave and saying that he's failed all character tests.
CNN's Isaac Dovere is back with me.
Look, you and I discussed earlier, about what he had to do in this kind of speech, likely for one speech in one moment in time, passed that test. And yet, there is doubt with Democrats because this is not a one speech, even one campaign, future ahead of him. He's got to keep this up for four and a half years.
DOVERE: The strategy is he's got to keep it up for the 123 days until the election at the very least to start with, and like this is one speech. It was a very different kind of stage than what we have seen for the president in awhile, and certainly since the debate.
People are wondering whether he's up to the campaign, whether -- not just whether he says he's staying in. And today, he tried in his speech to show that both of those things were a resounding yes. We'll see if it makes a difference to people, but it was an energetic speech, and it was a speech where he took a lot of shots, a lot of contrasting his record with Donald Trump, warning about what Trump would be if he came back into the White House.
I think important and he embraced his age, this is something that he and the White House (INAUDIBLE) running from a long time.
[15:50:02]
Honestly, it's very much on them now and reframe that Biden landing on was, am I too old to have done? Listed for his record, the jobs is clear that -- all of the things that he did to protect against climate change, am I too old to keep doing these things that he wants to do. You are too old to sign Roe v. Wade into law, those sorts of things. And the crowd, it's a couple of hundred people and this content not a scientific group, the core supporters, but they were cheering quite loudly for him.
And look, he's coming back to the states. This is very, very different from the Joe Biden, the people saw.
BIDEN: I won't forget this. God love you.
NEWTON: That is spontaneous Joe Biden that we are seeing now. He's now come back to the microphone twice as said, much, but just the fact that he is being incredibly spontaneous with as you say, this enthusiastic audience there.
Okay, he is supposed to sit down with ABC News George Stephanopoulos now for a one-on-one interview where there is no script, there is no teleprompter like there was in this speech. What does he have to do with in that interview in the next few minutes?
DOVERE: Well, he needs to show the American people and the Democrats that are doubting him that he is up to the job that is both in the absence of what he says and its also in this sort of theatrics of what he says. If he seems to get lost in the middle of a sentence again, as he did many times during the debate, that is not likely to go over well with people who've been wondering. If he makes errors about things, when it comes to policy, he, for example, today, he said that he was the one who beat pharma when it came to insulin prices that is aligned that he tried to deliver on the debate stage. But he said that they beat Medicare. Obviously, that's not there what he meant is, it's not what people wanted to hear out of.
Those sorts of things, the substance and the style clearly both them are going to be on what rule, probably the highest price they could has ever done in his 50-plus year career. NEWTON: Isaac, we will leave it there for now. As I said, we expect him to sit down for this interview right after this rally. And then in the next few hours, ABC will be releasing that interview and we'll see what it looks like in that one-to-one, sit down.
Isaac, again, thanks for staying with us. And as we have been saying, we have been really following incredible political events on both sides of the Atlantic. So, now, we go back across the pond to the new government in the United Kingdom. New British Prime Minister Keir Starmer is getting down to business and already assembling his cabinet after a landslide election victory for the Labour Party.
CNN's Clare Sebastian now takes a look at Starmer's journey to Downing Street.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
STARMER: Walking out the tunnel onto the pitch is always a magical moment.
CLARE SEBASTIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Football came long before politics for Keir Starmer.
STARMER: I've been playing football pretty well every week since I was 10-years-old.
SEBASTIAN: Now, it's part of his political persona. A human rights lawyer turned opposition leader, he used to playing defense. He even launched his campaign for Downing Street in a football field, part of a bid to show himself is an ordinary guy.
STARMER: Now, when I was growing up, my dad was a toolmaker who worked in a factory.
TOM BALDWIN, KEIR STARMER BIOGRAPHER: He had this kind of ramshackle charted, I'd call it, you know, a quiet run-down house, very sick mother who was in and out of high dependency unit in hospital, almost died several times.
SEBASTIAN: Criticized for being uncomfortable with the spotlight, even boring. His law career, however --
STARMER: I saw this firsthand when I was chief prosecutor.
SEBASTIAN: -- showing his more cutthroat side.
KEVIN MAGUIRE, DAILY MIRROR ASSOCIATE EDITOR: Keir Starmer is quite a normal ordinary family go, but you've got a real ruthless edge. He's quite tough. He's not some namby-pamby, easy going with liberal.
SEBASTIAN: Holding one of Britain's top legal jobs, he brought about multiple prosecutions against journalists over phone hacking, crackdown hard after riots sparked by a police shooting spread through the UK in 2011 and he talks a lot about tackling terrorism.
STARMER: My prosecuted, the director of public prosecutor, serious terrorist for five years.
SEBASTIAN: More evidence of that toughness when he finally entered politics in his early 50s, just five years later, rose to lead the Labour Party after its worst election defeat in over 18 years.
STARMER: Which is the honor and the privilege of my life.
SEBASTIAN: One elected, he not only abandoned his predecessor, Jeremy Corbyn's far left policies, he later kicked him out of the party following a damning report of antisemitism allegations, giving Labour as centrist makeover.
STARMER: A vote for change.
SEBASTIAN: Starmer campaigned on change, from seemed to end years of political chaos, and build a more equal economy.
[15:55:08]
STARMER: The way we create wealth in this country is broken.
SEBASTIAN: Is there going to be real change?
MAGUIRE: The sums don't add up for Labour any more than they do for the Conservatives. In order to sustain public services at their current level, taxes will have to go up.
SEBASTIAN: In foreign policy, no radical shifts promised, but perhaps a new approach.
BALDWIN: I think real see some changes in terms of a close relationship with Europe. They talk about European security pact, which I think it'd be very important. Yeah, particularly if Donald Trump wins the White House again.
STARMER: We're the only positive team left on the pitch!
SEBASTIAN: Starmer tends to play mid-field in his weekly football games, dreading the same center ground that is made him a serious player in politics.
Clare Sebastian, CNN, London.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
NEWTON: Now, before we go, we want to let you know about more special election coverage that we have for you this time. It's the French elections. We will be live as the results come in. Will the far right national rally party have its moment and take control of parliament? I want you to tune in Sunday, 8:00 p.m. in Paris, 2:00 p.m. on the East Coast of the United States.
And I want to thank you for joining us today. I'm Paula Newton in New York. Richard Quest is back with more special coverage of the historic UK election when we come back.
