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DeSantis, Haley Calls for Unity; Joe Biden Slams Trump's Black Jobs Remarks; U.S. Secret Service Gets Intelligence Information on an Alleged Iranian Plot to Kill Trump; Six People Poisoned with Cyanide, Died in a Hotel in Thailand. Aired 3-4a ET

Aired July 17, 2024 - 03:00   ET

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

[03:00:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN ANCHOR: Hello and welcome to our viewers joining us from all around the world and to everyone streaming us on CNN Max. I'm Rosemary Church. Just ahead.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NIKKI HALEY (R), FORMER SOUTH CAROLINA GOVERNOR AND FORMER PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Donald Trump has my strong endorsement, period.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: Donald Trump's former rivals changed their tune, calling for unity behind the presidential nominee on day two of the Republican National Convention.

And more questions arise about the Secret Service and its apparent mishandling of Donald Trump's security after intelligence revealed a separate Iranian plot to kill the former president.

Plus, President Joe Biden attempts to rally support in Las Vegas as some Democrats called to ditch plans to nominate him at their upcoming national convention.

UNKNOWN (voice-over): Live from Atlanta, this is "CNN Newsroom" with Rosemary Church.

CHURCH: Good to have you with us. Well, the third day of the Republican National Convention begins in the hours ahead with the theme "Make America Strong Once Again." It follows a show of party unity on day two when a number of Donald Trump's former rivals took to the stage to make the case for electing the former president.

Among them Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, who praised Trump's economic and border policies, and former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley, the last challenger standing between Trump and the nomination until early March. The same Nikki Haley who called Trump unhinged and unfit for office in the Republican primary now says he has her strong endorsement. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HALEY: You don't have to agree with Trump 100 percent of the time to vote for him. Take it from me, I haven't always agreed with President Trump. But we agree more often than we disagree. We agree on keeping America strong. We agree on keeping America safe. And we agree that Democrats have moved so far to the left that they're putting our freedoms in danger. I'm here tonight because we have a country to save. And a unified Republican Party is essential for saving her.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: Trump and his VP pick, Senator J.D. Vance of Ohio, were side by side for the second straight night at the convention, where they listened to speeches not just on unifying the party, but also crime and illegal immigration. Vance will deliver his own speech Wednesday night, with a source saying it will focus heavily on his life story.

CNN's Kristen Holmes has more on day two of the RNC from Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN U.S. NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: The second night of the Republican convention could have been called Donald Trump's rival night. We saw a number of Donald Trump's previous rivals in various elections, including Senator Marco Rubio, who now, of course, this cycle was a V.P. contender as well.

Senator Ted Cruz, who Donald Trump faced down in 2016, but perhaps the most critical rivals that spoke tonight in support of Donald Trump were those he faced in the primary this cycle.

Former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, who backed the former president emphatically.

HALEY: I'll start by making one thing perfectly clear. Donald Trump has my strong endorsement, period.

GOV. RON DESANTIS (R-FL): Let's send Donald Trump back to the White House.

HOLMES: I asked a number of Trump advisers what they thought about that speech. One of them talking about Nikki Haley specifically said, I stopped listening after I heard the word endorse. Now, Haley's endorsement was critical for a number of reasons.

Despite the fact that Haley only won two primaries during the cycle, she continued to win tens of thousands of voters in critical battleground states like Pennsylvania and Arizona, even after she had dropped out of the presidential race. Those are voters who purposely did not vote for the former president.

Tonight, Haley reached out to them, specifically called on them to back the former president in this election in November, to not sit on the sidelines and to not vote for President Joe Biden. [03:05:07]

Something the Trump campaign was not only hoping she would do, but was thrilled that she did on that Tuesday night.

Kristen Holmes, CNN, Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHURCH: Meantime, a growing faction of House Democrats are resisting efforts to make Joe Biden their presidential nominee before the party convention in Chicago next month.

CNN has learned a draft letter circulating among House Democrats is calling on the party to slow down the process, a clear sign some are still concerned about the president remaining at the top of the ticket, while some Biden allies have pushed to start the process as quickly as possible.

President Biden, for his part, says he is reluctant to walk away because there's more to do for the country. On Tuesday, he criticized Donald Trump for comments during last month's debate where his rival claimed immigrants were taking, quote, "black jobs."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, U.S. PRESIDENT: Here's what he thinks of black jobs. I love his face. Black jobs tells a lot about the man and about his character. Folks, I know what a black job is. It's the vice president of the United States.

I know what a black job is. The first black president in American history, Barack Obama. I was vice president to Barack, and she is my vice president. I nominated the first black secretary of defense in American history to do one hell of a job.

I nominated the first black woman to the United States Supreme Court. It matters. It matters. And I promised myself, I promised America that my administration would look like America. I'm proud that we have the most diverse administration in all of history. It's after the full talents of nation.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: Larry Sabato is the director of the University of Virginia Center for Politics. He joins me now from Charlottesville in Virginia. A pleasure to have you with us.

LARRY SABATO, CENTER FOR POLITICS DIRECTOR, UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA: Thank you so much, Rosemary.

CHURCH: So night two of the RNC focused on immigration and crime. We heard from previous fierce critics of Donald Trump, including rival Nikki Haley, who offered her strong endorsement for Trump. She called for unity and an expansion of the Republican Party. Did she make the case for her supporters to get behind the former president, despite previously calling him unhinged?

SABATO: I couldn't imagine that that speech made much difference at all. Look, she already said she was voting for Donald Trump. That happened months ago.

And as a result, I think the Republican-leaning members of her coalition went to Trump. But she drew a fair number of Democrats and independents, particularly in states that didn't have contests on the Democratic side.

They're not going to go to Trump because she asked them to. They were just voting for her to signal their displeasure with Trump.

So, you know, we exaggerate the importance of these things. Now, at least she did it. Governor Ron DeSantis of Florida, another Trump opponent, did it. I'll tell you, somebody who didn't do it was Chris Christie, the former governor of New Jersey. He appeared on one network to denounce Donald Trump and he threw in a denouncement of Nikki Haley, too. So that one was interesting.

CHURCH: And of course, another former critic and rival of Trump, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, also got up and spoke. He rallied support for Trump on immigration and, of course, criticized President Joe Biden. Some analysts suggest Trump seemed happier with DeSantis' speech rather than Haley's. Was that your reading of this?

SABATO: Well, if you can read Trump's face and usually you can, I'd agree with that interpretation. I don't think he was particularly thrilled with any of his former opponents endorsing him. After all, DeSantis has influence mainly in Florida.

And if there's one state that Trump is guaranteed to carry already, it's Florida.

So, you know, this is something that parties have to do at conventions so they can come out of it saying we are so united, we love one another. It isn't true, but it will do until November.

[03:09:58]

CHURCH: And what was your overall assessment of this second night of the RNC and, of course, Trump's continuing effort to unite a fractured party and what are you looking for in day, night three, I should say?

SABATO: As far as today goes, it was what I expected, which is a lot of different people from different backgrounds, including those who have suffered terrible losses in their family because of deaths from drugs or murders from illegal immigrants and so on.

That probably has some emotional effect on some Republicans who are watching. The past patterns of audiences are revealing. Conventions normally draw wide audiences, including people from the other party and independents, for the announcement of a vice president and for the closing speech by the presidential nominee.

The rest of it is for the party base. And today was for the party base and tomorrow mainly will be, too. They'll cover a wide variety of subjects and the -- and the base will be very excited and very impressed. And they were going to vote for Trump anyway.

CHURCH: Meantime, of course, the Democrats are struggling with a path to victory, with President Joe Biden digging his heels in while efforts continue behind closed doors to ease him out. And on top of that, the party is now dealing with the corruption conviction of Senator Bob Menendez. What are the Democrats need to be doing right now to correct course?

SABATO: They what -- what assumes they should be organizing the expulsion of Senator Menendez. That would be the logical thing to do. And some of them have come out in favor of that.

Now, it needs a two thirds vote in the Senate, so the Republicans and the Democrats have to cooperate on this one thing. We'll see whether they can do it. It's not easy to expel a senator. Even one as guilty as Menendez.

But it's so much broader than that. Democrats, having been the incumbents in the Senate and the incumbents in the White House, they're not in the House -- House of Representatives.

They have a lot of the establishment in the current conditions to defend. And that -- that's never as easy as attacking from the outside, because the opponents can always present the world as controlled by them after the election as nirvana. Nirvana is never achieved, but they paint a good picture before the election results are in.

CHURCH: Larry Sabato, always great to have you with us. I Appreciate it.

SABATO: Thank you so much, Rosemary.

CHURCH: And coming up, investigators are still trying to find out what motivated the shooter who tried to kill Donald Trump. We'll have the latest on the investigation. That's next.

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[03:14:52]

CHURCH: Welcome back, everyone. The second day of the Republican National Convention saw a number of high profile appearances from former Donald Trump rivals turned allies, including fiery words from Florida senator Marco Rubio and former presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy. Now, they made impassioned speeches arguing America would be stronger under the former president.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. MARCO RUBIO (R-FL): Putting Americans first. Must be what this election is about. When President Trump was in the White House, Americans had more money and lower prices. Our borders were secure and our laws were enforced. Iran was broke. The Taliban stopped killing Americans and Putin didn't invade anyone.

VIVEK RAMASWAMY (R), FORMER PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: If you want to seal the border, vote Trump. If you want to restore law and order in this country, vote Trump. If you want to reignite the economy in this country, vote Trump. If you want to revive national pride in this country, vote Trump. If you want to make America great again, vote Trump.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: The director of the U.S. Secret Service told CNN they were solely responsible for implementing and executing security at Donald Trump's rally last week. This comes amid questions on how the shooter was able to gain access to a rooftop from where he attempted to assassinate Trump. CNN's Danny Freeman has more details on the investigation.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DANNY FREEMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: On Tuesday, we started to get some answers to some of the biggest questions that we've been wondering about this investigation and this attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump. But there are still many things that we don't know. But let me run through what we do know at this point.

Let's start first with Thomas Matthew Crooks. That's the 20 year old shooter from Bethel Park, Pennsylvania. We do know that on Friday before the shooting, we believe that he went to his sportsman's club and actually practiced shooting on that rifle range at the sportsman club, not too far from his home.

We then know on Saturday morning, the shooter went to Home Depot and purchased a ladder. Not long after that, we know that the shooter then went to a gun shop and purchased 50 rounds of ammunition.

Then law enforcement sources have been telling CNN the shooter drove to Butler, Pennsylvania, to the Trump rally that occurred behind me back on Saturday.

And the shooter actually was spotted by law enforcement at one point looking suspicious near the metal detectors, but then went relatively undetected as far as we understand. Until later on, when he ultimately fired those shots towards former President Donald Trump.

But here's what we still don't know. We still are no closer to understanding what may have motivated this particular shooting.

The FBI is saying that it has done over 100 interviews of witnesses at the scene, law enforcement officers, family and friends of Mr. Crooks.

They also searched the home and the car of the shooter.

They also looked at the past internet search history of the shooter, and they actually were able to crack into the shooter's phone. Still, though, no evidence pointing to any ideological reasons that would have led him up to that rooftop to fire those shots at the former president.

And now I want to turn to the investigation and this back-and-forth between U.S. Secret Service and local law enforcement agencies that were on the ground here as well.

We have learned from law enforcement sources that there was a sniper team actually inside of the complex where the shooter Crooks was on top of the roof. But these snipers, they were actually looking through second story windows towards the crowd, not actually on what was happening above them on the roof.

This comes as Secret Service told us that they were not responsible for sweeping and clearing the area that contained this particular building because it was outside of the perimeter that they were focused on where the Trump campaign event was happening.

The Secret Service said that was law enforcement's responsibility. However, we have heard from a number of local law enforcement agencies here in this particular area, including the Pennsylvania State Police, who not only said that they gave Secret Service all of the resources that they asked for, but specifically said in these types of situations, during these types of events, Secret Service is the lead agency.

Then 48 hours after the shooting on Saturday evening, we finally heard the first comments on the record in a media interview from the director of the Secret Service, who said explicitly the buck stops with me. So it's unclear if we're going to see more back-and-forth between local law enforcement and between Secret Service. But we still don't have an answer to the question of why that particular roof was left unattended.

Danny Freeman, CNN, Butler, Pennsylvania.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHURCH: The FBI and U.S. Department of Homeland Security are warning there could be follow up attacks after the assassination attempt on Donald Trump last Saturday. In a joint bulletin, the agency's noted chatter in some online communities, either threatening or encouraging violent follow up attacks. Officials fear other campaign events could also be targeted throughout the election season.

[03:20:04]

Authorities are also concerned about hoax bomb threats, reports of fake crimes to trigger a law enforcement response or doxing of election officials in an attempt to disrupt political rallies and events.

CNN senior national security analyst Juliette Kayyem joins me now from Cambridge, Massachusetts. Good to have you back with us.

JULIETTE KAYYEM, CNN SR. NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: Thanks for having me. CHURCH: So we have learned that the U.S. Secret Service ramped up

security around Donald Trump in recent weeks in response to intelligence indicating an Iranian plot to kill him. Now, sources say there are no known links to the assassination attempt on Trump Saturday. But that raises even more serious questions about how the shooter was still able to get a clear shot of the former president with all this additional security. What's your response to this?

KAYYEM: That's exactly right. In some ways, this story just makes it worse because knowing that there were additional threats against the former president, though foreign, foreign, they did respond to that. So one has to believe that there was a greater security focus on Donald Trump, even at his rally. And yet the breach and the assassination attempt still occurred.

Now, it is true, as you said, that the suspect, that the -- that the assassin has no known ties to any foreign intelligence agency. There'll be lots of speculation from all accounts coming out of the FBI and state authorities.

This was a sort of loner, isolated 20 year old with lots of -- with access to lots of guns. We don't quite know his motive. But even though these are two different stories, they sort of converge on the Secret Service in terms of knowing what they knew. How did such a seemingly obvious gap in their security planning remain unchecked?

CHURCH: Yeah. And of course, you and I have talked previously about the bewildering decision not to post a sniper on the roof of the building where that shooter was located. The Secret Service now saying that no one was put on that building because it was dangerously sloped. What do you say to that, given the shooter apparently had no issue with the angle of the roof?

KAYYEM: Yeah, I don't even know what dangerously sloped means. I mean, does that mean that that that they're, you know, that they can't get up there? Obviously, someone got up there who wasn't trained.

But it's also like I sort of -- I was saying to myself, what century are we in? I mean, it's the 21st century. They couldn't have drones surveying each of these stuff. You don't have to necessarily put a physical body on it. You just want to make sure that someone else doesn't have access to it. And the sort of openness of the building that he could get access either on the inside or outside and then remain on the rooftop. And it was only members of Donald Trump's, sort of the, people who went to his rally.

That was the first sort of visuals that -- that then started to alert people that there was a danger on the rooftop. It was nothing that the Secret Service did.

CHURCH: Yeah, they certainly still need to answer many of those serious questions. Of course, meantime, there are still no leads on why this shooter, Thomas Matthew Crooks, a registered Republican, would have carried out this attempted assassination on Donald Trump.

What more should the authorities be doing to try to establish a motive, particularly with this new intelligence relating to Iran? Although no link has yet been made. But as you point out, I mean, there's going to be a lot of conspiracy theories about this, given the timing of this.

KAYYEM: That's exactly right. There's going to be lots of people speculating on who he was and what his motivation were, what were the clues that we know, at least so far, are that he was isolated. He seemed to have no community. He had a job. He apparently told that job he was going to be returning on Monday. He'd asked for the day off.

He didn't seem to have a network of ideological sort of kin. So it's hard to tell. You know, was he -- he wasn't very involved with any political movement.

Look, we've had cases like this before. In particular, we had a mass shooting in Las Vegas in which there's nothing that would tell you beforehand that this person was about to do something so violent or so dramatic. And a lot of the safe, for example, school shooting cases here in the United States.

There's sort of a long trail of hints that someone's going to do something. But every once in a while you get a case like this that sort of stumps everyone. At least that's where we are right now.

Look, there's two types of, sort of two types of groups or people that we worry about. So one is what I would call sort of the proud boys' types, right? The people who are joining groups, terrorist organizations, lots of ideological foundation behind what they're doing.

[03:25:04]

And then there's -- there's a group that we sort of call the lonely boys, right? This is the groups that have sort of isolated 20- something generally white men access to guns. And they're not really tied to any movement. And I think we're going to find that that may be the case here.

CHURCH: And Juliette, we are also learning that Crooks was seen at the metal detectors that were set up to enter the rally Saturday, acting strangely, apparently. And police notified the Secret Service before Crooks got on that building rooftop. So how is it possible that this was not followed up by the Secret Service or if it was this -- this Crooks even still ended up on the roof?

KAYYEM: That's right. So he's apparently seen as suspicious and then sort of left alone. The fact that no one approached him, no one determined, you know, was he a threat? Was he carrying any weapons? So then he leaves and then finds another position. The oddity of this is that it shows you that good security actually can work to deter a threat. He could not get through the metal detector. He knew he was armed. He could not get through it or closer. So then he recedes.

The problem here is that no one is taking into account. Well, he's not going away. He's just trying to find another place to shoot from. On the -- in terms of communication, the gap that we need to answer is that both people at the rally and law enforcement noticed him, noticed him as suspicious, as well as then on the roof. That should have immediately triggered some sort of conduct by the Secret Service to protect the protectee better. Donald Trump was left exposed for some period of time, a couple of minutes, in fact, after the first notification. And in that time, you really could have protected him much better.

CHURCH: Yeah. Still a lot of serious questions to be answered. Juliette, I am always a pleasure to chat with you. Many thanks.

KAYYEM: Thank you.

CHURCH: Donald Trump is now free to discuss the classified documents case with potential witnesses and his two co-defendants. Several people familiar with the matters say conditions placed on Trump, Walt Nauta and Carlos de Oliveira no longer exist because the case is closed.

The former president was accused of taking classified documents to his Mar-a-Lago estate when he left the White House. U.S. District Court Judge Eileen Cannon dismissed the case on Monday. She ruled that special counsel Jack Smith's appointment by Attorney General Merrick Garland was unconstitutional. The Justice Department is planning to appeal.

Former rivals come together in Milwaukee, all in support of Donald Trump and his bid to retake the White House. The latest from the Republican National Convention, coming up next.

Plus, protesters gather outside the arena, some claiming the attempted assassination of Donald Trump was staged. We will hear from them.

[03:30:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHURCH: Welcome back everyone. Well, if you looked at the state of the U.S. Republican Party six months ago, you'd have seen a very different picture than on day two of the Republican National Convention.

One-time rivals and direct competitors for the party's nomination took to the stage, including former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis. In addition to throwing their support behind Donald Trump and J.D. Vance, some took swings at the current administration and the state of America.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. RON DESANTIS (R-FL): They have unleashed progressive prosecutors across our nation who care more about coddling criminals than about protecting their own communities. They use the unelected bureaucracy to impose their will on us without our consent, and they weaponize political power to target their political opponents like they've done to our own nominee. They want to ban gas automobiles, eliminate Second Amendment rights, and impose gender ideology on everyone from our infantrymen to kindergartners.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: More now on day two of the Republican National Convention from CNN's Jeff Zeleny.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEFF ZELENY, CNN CHIEF U.S. NATIONAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: They are rivals no more. That much was clear when former President Donald Trump was watching as one former challenger after another took the stage to pledge their loyalty and argue their case for his candidacy.

It was most striking to see Nikki Haley, of course the former South Carolina Governor, who was the longest-standing, the last standing rival in the Republican race, to give her full endorsements, but also argue why people who may not fully embrace Donald Trump should vote for him in November.

HALEY: You don't have to agree with Trump 100 percent of the time to vote for him. Take it from me, I haven't always agreed with President Trump. If we have four more years of Biden or a single day of Harris, our country will be badly worse off. For the sake of our nation, we have to go with Donald Trump.

ZELENY: Now she was invited to this convention only two days ago, clearly a last-minute attempt to show party unity in the wake of the assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump. Now watching him carefully during her remarks certainly did not indicate that he was necessarily fully on board with her. In fact, last week he said she stayed in the race too long, but he did invite her here because the campaign believes she has a utility.

All of those tens of thousands of Haley voters who supported her after she left the race, the Trump campaign would certainly like to win them over. So that was her direct message. And then Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, clearly a top rival of Trump's at the time, his campaign fizzled of course after the Iowa caucuses in the New Hampshire primary, but he also gave his full-blooded support for Donald Trump and took after his rivals.

DESANTIS: Donald Trump has been demonized, he's been sued, he's been prosecuted, and he nearly lost his life. We cannot let him down and we cannot let America down.

ZELENY: With those speeches by DeSantis and Haley, clearly that marked the end of the chapter of their presidential bids and certainly raised questions about their own futures.

With Senator J.D. Vance, who of course is now the Republican running mate, also watching their speeches, he is likely to be the future of the Republican Party. He was the one who was chosen. Of course, all eyes will be on this convention on Wednesday when Senator Vance delivers his marquee speech as the Republican running mate. Of course, this culminates on Thursday with President Trump's speech as well.

But for tonight at least, the rivals, no more, are all behind him.

Jeff Zeleny, CNN, Milwaukee.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

[03:34:59]

CHURCH: Former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie is urging Donald Trump to help rein in the violent rhetoric in U.S. politics. The one- time Trump ally, now a vocal critic of the former president, wrote an op-ed in the "New York Times" in the wake of Saturday's assassination attempt.

He was critical of Trump's vice presidential pick, Senator J.D. Vance, after the shooting. Christie says Vance, quote, "turned directly to the current flawed playbook, demonized the other side and lay the blame at the feet of the Democrats as if they had pulled the trigger themselves."

Well more worrying signs for President Joe Biden. CNN has obtained polling from the firm Blue Labs, which is funded by some Democratic donors. The data was taken after the debate and shows the president losing ground to Donald Trump in 14 key states.

They include the five that Joe Biden flipped against Trump in 2020 - Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. He's also vulnerable in Colorado, Minnesota, Maine, New Mexico, Virginia and New Hampshire. The polling also found four Democrats outpaced Biden in a match-up with Trump in battleground states.

Those Democrats are Arizona Senator Mark Kelly, Maryland Governor Wes Moore, Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro and Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer.

While Republicans are hopeful about closing the gaps in tightly contested races, Senate candidates took to the stage in Milwaukee on Tuesday night to stump in front of a primetime national audience. Arizona's Kari Lake falsely attacked her Democratic opponent.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KARI LAKE (R-AZ), SENATORIAL CANDIDATE: These guys, they are full of bad ideas. Just last week, Ruben Gallego voted to let the millions of people who poured into our country illegally cast a ballot in this upcoming election.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: West Virginia Senate candidate Jim Justice also struck an optimistic tone with his well-known dog by his side.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. JIM JUSTICE (R-WV), SENATORIAL CANDIDATE: Baby dog's got a prediction for everybody here. And here's the prediction. Baby dog says we'll retain the House, the majority in the House. We're going to flip the United States Senate.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: Earlier, CNN's John King broke down how Republicans are thinking about the fight for control of the Senate.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN KING, CNN CHIEF U.S. NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Republicans believe this is a great map for them anyway. They believe this for months, and they think with Trump's strength in the election right now, the Senate map is improving for them even more.

So 51-49 for the Democrats now. Come forward to this map here. You see Manchin State, West Virginia. We've already turned it red. He's not running for reelection. That's a big state for Donald Trump. That seat is almost guaranteed to go Republican and to go red. So then you see, why are Ohio and Montana, why are they yellow? Well, these are big Trump states. Ohio, Sherrod Brown, a Democratic incumbent, great personal brand back home.

But Donald Trump's going to win that state, or at least he has in the past, by six or eight points. He just picked Republican Senator J.D. Vance as his running mate.

So Democrats think they're in more trouble. You see Sherrod Brown raising money all the time. So what if that happened? What if this went over to red? We'll try to click it over. There you go. That would give right there. John Tester, again, a Democrat with a great personal brand back home.

Donald Trump won by 16 points last time in Montana. If Joe Biden's numbers are down even more, can John Tester hang on?

So this is what Democrats have been thinking about for months, that these would be the two suffragettes. But as you see these speakers come to the stage tonight, here's what they're worried about now. Let's just come back and make those toss-ups. They're also worried about Pennsylvania. They're worried about Michigan. They're worried about here in Wisconsin. You just heard Kari Lake. She's losing in the polls right now, but they're worried about Arizona.

They are worried about Nevada as well. You can make a scenario here, a reasonable scenario, the Republicans not only get 50 in the majority, but they get 51, 52, 53.

Now Democrats watching are saying, you know, you're being overly pessimistic.

Most of the Democratic candidates, I want to make this clear, most of the Democratic candidates right now are leading in these races. Narrowly in most of them, but they're leading in these races. The Democratic Senate candidates are outperforming Joe Biden in these states.

But ticket splitting in presidential elections, one party for president, the other party for Senate, has become almost nonexistent.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: John King reporting there.

Well, outside the Republican National Convention, there are protests for and against Donald Trump. Some of those who oppose the former president have latched on to a conspiracy theory that Saturday's assassination attempt was staged. CNN's Donie O'Sullivan has our report.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DONIE O'SULLIVAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: How did you feel when you saw the assassination attempt?

MARY MANN, TRUMP PROTESTER: Do you really want to know?

O'SULLIVAN: Yes.

MANN: I, the first thing that ran through my head is because we cannot believe this man ever, that it was somehow fake.

[03:40:00]

O'SULLIVAN: So you initially thought it was staged?

MANN: Yep.

UNKNOWN: Yes. As we all did.

O'SULLIVAN: Do you still believe that?

UNKNOWN: Yes.

MANN: We don't know.

UNKNOWN: I'm not sure. It's not impossible.

O'SULLIVAN: So we are here at the anti-Trump protests at the RNC in Milwaukee.

Now one thing we've been hearing since the attempted assassination on Saturday are conspiracy theories that the attempted assassination was staged by the Trump campaign to get a photo op. It's totally baseless. There is no evidence at all whatsoever for that. It is false. But yet it is something that some Democrats, some Biden supporters, people on the left, are believing and they're sharing.

MANN: Now that a man died, it's horrid. And I think it is a terrible comment on the country state right now that anyone would think anywhere that it's appropriate to shoot at any political candidate. But I couldn't help but wonder because we've been lied to over and over by this man, the way he came up and raised his fist and acted like it was nothing. He wants to make it into something big. O'SULLIVAN: I assume just as you've watched what Trump supporters say

about the election or how January 6th was Black Lives Matter or an inside job, now you kind of sound like them. You're saying, well, maybe it was a staged assassination attempt.

MANN: Right. And that I hate that that's what I'm doing. I hate that that's where I have gone. And I wonder why I've gone there. And what really frightens me and scares me and makes me angry suddenly now I'm in on a conspiracy theory. I'd like to be someone who follows the facts and pays attention to the facts. And so I'm listening to as much as I can. And I don't want to go down a rabbit hole of conspiracy theories.

I don't know what to believe at this point. I do not support that kind of violence ever.

O'SULLIVAN: There is no indication at all whatsoever that this was staged.

MANN: Right. Right.

O'SULLIVAN: There's none.

MANN: None.

O'SULLIVAN: You're susceptible to this misinformation.

MANN: I don't like it at all. I don't like that this is where we've gotten in this country because there has been this pervasive and it has come mainly from Trump and his supporters, this pervasive misinformation that has become a part of our country.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHURCH: Donie O'Sullivan with that report.

Iran was outraged when Donald Trump ordered the killing of top general Qasem Soleimani back in 2020 and then bragged about it. Now we are learning Tehran may be plotting its own deadly revenge. Iran response, just ahead here on CNN.

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CHURCH: Welcome back, everyone. Well, new information that the Secret Service gained about an alleged Iranian plot to kill Donald Trump is raising even more questions about security lapses at the rally and whether enough was done to protect the former president. Kylie Atwood has more now from the State Department.

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(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KYLIE ATWOOD, CNN U.S. SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: In recent weeks, U.S. authorities obtained intelligence from a human source of Iranian assassination plot attempt against former President Trump. Now, we are told that there is no connection between this threat and what occurred over the weekend with that assassination attempt against the former president in Pennsylvania. But of course, this raises questions as to the security footprint that was around the former president on that day.

Now, a national security official said that when this threat came into the U.S. government, they shared it with Secret Service, who shared it with Trump's detail and, of course, shared it with the Trump campaign. And that official also said that in response, Secret Service, quote, surge resources and assets for the protection of former President Trump. Now, the Trump campaign, for their part, is not commenting on this, saying they don't comment on Trump's protective detail.

The Iranian mission to the United Nations is denying it, calling accusations unsubstantiated and malicious. And the NSC spokesperson is making very clear what I said previously, that there is no connection at this moment between what occurred over the weekend and this threat from Iran, saying at the time there has not been identified ties between the shooter and any accomplice or co-conspirator, foreign or domestic. That's according to NSC spokesperson Adrian Watson. Of course, the investigation into that assassination attempt against the former president continues on.

Kylie Atwood, CNN, the State Department.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHURCH: CNN's Fareed Zakaria sat down with Iran's acting foreign minister and pressed him about the claims being made against his country. Here's some of that interview.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

FAREED ZAKARIA, CNN HOST, "FAREED ZAKARIA GPS": My first question to you is relating to the news that CNN has broken about information that the U.S. government received. The National Security Council then passed on to the Secret Service of a plot, an Iranian plot, to assassinate the former President Donald Trump in retaliation for the assassination of Qasem Soleimani, the senior Iranian general that happened during the Trump administration. What can you tell us about this?

ALI BAGHERI KANI, ACTING IRANIAN FOREIGN MINISTER (through translator): As you know, the Islamic Republic of Iran immediately following the assassination of General Soleimani tried to judicially and legally follow this assassination.

At Iranian courts and at the same time, we have tried to make use of the international judicial and legal procedures in order to prosecute the perpetrators and advisers who helped this assassination. Accordingly, the Islamic Republic of Iran will make use of all legal potentials inside the country or at the international level in order to bring the perpetrators to justice.

ZAKARIA: Let me just be sure I understand what you are saying. Are you categorically denying that Iran had any plans or any element of Iran, the Revolutionary Guard, an Iranian-backed militia, had any plans to try to assassinate Donald Trump?

KANI (through translator): As I put it very blatantly and openly, I told explicitly that we will resort to legal and judicial procedures and frameworks at the domestic level and international level in order to bring the perpetrators and military advisers of General Soleimani's assassination to justice.

ZAKARIA: But that means not violent measures. When you say legal and judicial measures, you are talking about international courts and things like that.

KANI (through translator): As I told you, we will only resort to Iranian and international legal and judicial procedures. Till now we have done it, and this is our right, and of course we will continue it.

And the Americans openly said that they assassinated the senior Iranian military commander. So it is our natural right in order to follow this issue. And those who are accused in this case, they should be brought to justice in a just court.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[03:50:10]

CHURCH: And you can watch Fareed's full interview with Iran's acting Foreign Minister Ali Bagheri Kani coming up this Sunday on "Fareed Zakaria GPS." That's at 10 a.m. in New York, 3 p.m. in London.

Six guests at a luxury hotel in Thailand are dead, and now police believe they know what caused their deaths. We have the latest on the investigation.

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CHURCH: Welcome back, everyone. Authorities in Thailand say six people found dead in a hotel room in Bangkok were likely poisoned with cyanide.

CNN's Marc Stewart is following developments and joins us now from Beijing. So, Marc, what more are you learning about this investigation?

MARC STEWART, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Rosemary, this is a very unusual story. Authorities in Bangkok provided us an update just a few hours ago, and we are getting a little bit more clarity as to what they believe happened.

Let me first tell you what we are hearing directly from police. They say a suspect they believe killed five people was a Vietnamese- American woman who took her own life and was one of six bodies found in this hotel room in central Bangkok on Tuesday.

They say that she ordered tea to this hotel room, tea and food to this hotel room, and when staff tried to serve her, they say she was alone at the time and that the other guests arrived later. But when they tried to serve the tea to this woman, she resisted,

saying that she didn't even break a smile and that she appeared to be, you know, very concerned about what was happening at the time.

Now, according to police, this may have all stemmed from some kind of business deal, some kind of financial deal that turned sour. One relative told police that they believe this centered around some kind of debt dispute. That is what led to this gathering and possibly is what motivated this tragedy to take place.

This all happened at the Grand Hyatt Hotel in Bangkok in a fifth-floor room, and we are told that hotel staff found the folks, the people there, about 24 hours after this happened, after they all failed to check out.

Rosemary, this is what we have so far from Bangkok police. Of course, if we get more, we'll pass that along to you. Back to you for now.

CHURCH: We know you'll stay on top of this. Marc Stewart, joining us live from Beijing with that report. I Appreciate it.

Well U.S. President Joe Biden is considering publicly endorsing major reforms at the Supreme Court, which would make him the first sitting president in generations to do so. Sources tell CNN that at the top of the list is a push for term limits for the nine justices who currently serve lifetime appointments. Also under consideration is a new ethics code that would contain an enforcement mechanism.

The top court has been under intense scrutiny following a series of controversies surrounding some of the justices, including conservatives Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito. That, along with several highly charged rulings, have led to dismal public approval ratings.

[03:55:06]

President Biden has this warning about the future of the Supreme Court if Donald Trump is re-elected.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, U.S. PRESIDENT: There's probably going to be two more appointments to the court, they found two people are going to resign -- retire. Just imagine of course, if he has two more appointments on that, what that means forever.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: CNN senior political commentator and former Obama White House advisor Van Jones says pushing court reforms is a risky gamble during an election year. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VAN JONES, CNN SR. POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: I think that what voters are going to be focused on is the economy. And I think Joe Biden has a very strong shot at continuing to make the case for what he's doing for the economy. The economy is healing.

People don't feel it. It's a tough ground to fight on. But I think he's going to probably energize more people who think mucking around with the Supreme Court is anti-democratic and anti-constitutional than he's going to energize on our side.

If he wants to make the case that he is standing and defending democracy, I think this is probably the wrong time to introduce ideas like that.

Look, he's in a tough spot. He wants to change the subject. I understand that. But I don't think it's a big, big constituency out there that wants to mucking around the Supreme Court. People are pissed off the Supreme Court. But I don't think it's going to do very much for him.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: Elon Musk is going all in on Donald Trump. On Monday, the "Wall Street Journal" reported the head of X, SpaceX and Tesla plans to commit $45 million a month for Trump's re-election campaign.

Musk tweeted his endorsement of Trump shortly after Saturday's assassination attempt. For years, he was mainly a Democratic donor, including a much smaller $5,000 donation to Barack Obama's campaign in 2011.

Meanwhile, Musk says he's ready to do something he's considered for years, moving his companies from California to Texas. He says SpaceX will be relocated to a company town being built in southern Texas and X will move from San Francisco to Austin. Musk says a law recently signed by California Governor Gavin Newsom was the last straw. It prohibits school districts from requiring schools to inform parents if a child wants to change their gender identification.

Newsom responded to Musk's announcement with a post on X that read, you bent the knee, along with a screenshot of a post from former President Trump criticizing the billionaire.

I want to thank you so much for your company this hour. I'm Rosemary Church. I'll be back with another hour of "CNN Newsroom" after a short break. Do stay with us.

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