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Biden Drops Out Of The Race, Endorses Kamala Harris To Be Nominee. Aired 4-5p ET

Aired July 21, 2024 - 16:00   ET

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

[16:00:00]

KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: As Biden consulted his family, his top advisers by phone from that Delaware home, it's a decision that he kept very private, only notifying senior White House advisers and campaign staff moments before he went public with this announcement.

In part, his statement said, quote, "While it may have been my intention to seek reelection, I believe it is in the best interest of my party and country for me to stand down and to focus solely on fulfilling my duties as president for the remainder of my term."

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: And Kaitlan, we have our team of correspondents and analysts covering this history breaking story.

I want to go to CNN's Priscilla Alvarez. She's joining us from Rehoboth Beach in Delaware, where the president is in isolation right now.

Give us the latest. What are you hearing over there, Priscilla?

PRISCILLA ALVAREZ, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, as the president was self-isolating at his residence here in Delaware from his positive COVID diagnosis, these were also days of self-reflection, days where he was clearly deliberating his next steps and whether or not he would run for reelection. We had that answer this afternoon when he put out that letter saying that he would step aside.

Now, importantly, right after putting that out, he also said that he was fully throwing his support behind Vice President Kamala Harris to be the Democratic nominee and urging the party to come together.

It was a remarkable moment after weeks of Democratic lawmakers, allies, donors, calling for the president to withdraw from the race over the last few weeks. The president has had multiple private conversations with lawmakers. He has tried to assuage their concerns on the campaign trail, but none of it was enough as lawmakers were still putting out letters just yesterday telling him he had to step aside.

Now, this morning, to show you how quickly all of this came together, his campaign was saying that President Biden was in it to win it, that he was staying in the race and not going anywhere. But then hours later is when he put out this letter. Now, only moments before putting this out, he had notified his senior

White House and campaign teams that according to a source who spoke with our MJ Lee, and I am also told by a source that he spoke with Vice President Kamala Harris.

Now, in the moment since donors, too, have been throwing their money behind the campaign, that too was a challenge for the campaign. So clearly a stunning development and one that has been shocking to campaign and White House officials.

BLITZER: Priscilla Alvarez with the president in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware. Priscilla, thank you very much. We'll get back to you.

MJ Lee is our senior White House correspondent. She's joining us from the White House right now.

What else are you learning, MJ?

MJ LEE, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, these have been some three-plus agonizing weeks for President Biden and those close to him. Even amid all of the growing calls that Priscilla was just talking about since that debate in late June, the president initially had very much dug in. He made very clear that even with the polls that he was being presented with the data that was showing that things were not looking good for him.

We know of private conversations where he insisted that he was in fact seeing polling and data that showed that he could defeat Donald Trump. One thing that I think is so important for us to just look back on for a second is President Biden when he was running for the presidency back in 2020 he had described himself as a bridge and a transition candidate, and after that disastrous debate performance, a lot of Democrats were asking the question of, well, whatever happened to that?

And I thought we got a really insightful answer from the president on that just last week when he was asked about this he said, I thought I was going to be able to move from this to pass it on to someone else, but I didn't anticipate things getting so, so, so divided, is what the president said. Earlier this year when I asked him at a press conference basically the same question, why does it have to be you on the ticket given that so many voters across the country have questions about your age, your health, and fitness, he said because he believes that he is the most qualified person to do the job and finish the job that he had started.

So the picture that has emerged, Wolf, over for the course of his presidency is that the president came into this job at the White House very much intending to be a transition candidate. But once he started doing the job it became clear to him that it was going to be more difficult than he could have ever imagined for him to pass the torch as he had once made clear he wanted to do back in 2020.

Now, we should make clear for our viewers the president in announcing that he was going to drop out of the race, he also endorsed his vice president, Kamala Harris. And now the party is in a place where even given that endorsement they need to actually figure out the process of how they move forward and decide who that nominee is going to be. We got an important statement from former president Barack Obama and this was a really key line after he, of course, praised his former vice president.

He said, "We will be navigating unchartered waters in the days ahead. But I have extraordinary confidence that the leaders of our party will be able to create a process from which an outstanding nominee emerges."

[16:05:07]

So, Wolf, just in the moments after this remarkable news from the president that he was going to be leaving the race, we have heard from a lot of different Democrats and a lot of different voices, too, who fall on different sides of the argument. Should this be sort of a coronation with the president endorsing the vice president? Or should there be a process that plays out where the party really gets together and figures out who that candidate is going to be?

But one thing is for clear, the clock is ticking and this has been a concern for so many Democrats as we have all been waiting for a decision from President Biden -- Wolf.

BLITZER: And we're just about two weeks or so away from that Democratic convention in Chicago that will officially nominate the Democratic presidential candidate. We're watching all of this unfold.

MJ, I understand that the Vice President Kamala Harris has issued her first public statement. I don't know if you have it right there but presumably it's on your phone. If you didn't have it, maybe you can read it to our viewers.

LEE: I've got -- yes, I've got it, Wolf. We do have the first public statement from Vice President Kamala Harris in the aftermath of President Biden dropping out of the 2024 race. She says that she was honored to have received President Biden's endorsement and intends to earn and win the nomination for the presidency. This of course is the first time that we are hearing from him. We did report earlier that President Biden and Vice President Harris did speak on the phone earlier today. That is not surprising.

Just a little bit more from the vice president's statement here, she says, "I am honored to have the president's endorsement and my intention is to earn and win this nomination." And she also says, talks about how it has been such a profound honor to have served as the president's vice president, expressing her gratitude to First Lady Jill Biden as well, and talks about sort of the relationship that they have built over the years including the relationship that she had with the president's late son, Beau Biden.

This of course is something that the president has talked about in the past as having been a factor when he was trying to decide who his vice presidential running mate would be back in 2020. The vice president also says in her statement, with this selfless and patriotic acts, President Biden is doing what he has done throughout his life of service, putting the American people and our country above everything else.

Wolf, all of the attention now is going to really be on Kamala Harris. This has already been the case for the last several weeks as we have been sort of in limbo, trying to see where the president was going to land in terms of his own decision. But of course given that things seemed headed in the wrong direction for the president for a while now there has been a lot of speculation about Vice President Harris and whether an endorsement formally would come from the president, which of course it has.

And so now we are going to be paying close attention to everything that she does just in the coming days. How does she carry herself in public now that this news is out, does she sort of step up her campaign operations, which according to our reporting, of course, is going to be the case. We already know that in the last several days, we have seen her sort of step up as the president has been in Rehoboth, including at the last minute jumping on a call with concerned donors just several days ago within the last 48 hours or so.

So this is something now that is totally a different situation for Vice President Kamala Harris than it was of course a day ago and all attention is going to be on her as the party now figures out how they are going to move forward with this nomination process -- Wolf.

BLITZER: She's going to be the leader of the Democratic Party and the Democratic presidential nominee. We'll watch all of this very closely.

MJ Lee, we'll get back to you. Thank you very, very much. Dramatic developments unfolding right now as well.

Kaitlan, I want to go back to you.

COLLINS: Yes, Wolf, obviously, we're monitoring this, everything is changing by the moment here. We just got that news from Senator Chris Coons a few moments ago. That is the co-chair of the Biden campaign getting behind Harris as the nominee as well, saying that they will talk about in the coming days who she could select to put on that ticket with her as her running mate. Obviously, a dramatic development to see Harris now in this situation. We're waiting to see what other Democrats continued to say about this.

I want to go back to Van Jones because, Van, you were just talking about what this day means and the significance of this in a personal level for President Biden, but also it's a real calculus now for Democrats of what do they do, given there are four months to go before the presidential election. What do you make of Harris' statement where she plans to earn and win this nomination?

VAN JONES, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: I think it's very politically astute of her to say that because, again, this is a party that runs by rules and we take the rule very seriously. Technically, Joe Biden can't just say you're now the nominee. If Joe Biden step down from president, the Constitution says she's automatically president. But this is not about the Constitution. This is about the Democratic Party. And under our rules it's the delegates who make the decision. [16:10:00]

It's not Joe Biden, it's not Kamala Harris, it's not Nancy Pelosi, it's not the Clintons. It's not the Obamas. Our delegates make the decision. And so she's being very politically astute by saying to the delegates, I am going to work to earn your support. I appreciate the support I'm getting from the Clintons and from everyone else, but I understand that it comes down to you and by saying she's going to work to earn that support, I think that's very, very smart.

So that gives the delegates the opportunity to feel that they can -- you know, they have a job to do. They have to make a decision here. Also, I think that she's letting other people know the water is warm. You want to jump in, you want to get some, you could try to earn these delegates' support as well. She's not saying, if you come against me, it's a problem. She's not closing the door.

She's not saying I accept Joe Biden therefore I'm -- no, no, no. So that puts other Democrats in a very interesting position. If you're a swing state governor, if you're a rising star in this party, if you're a celebrity, if you're somebody who wants to say, look, I don't believe in Kamala Harris, I don't trust that she can win, I think I can win. What are you going to do? You're going to have to make the decision that no, no, I'm going to raise my hand and I'm going to say, I think I could do a better job. I think I can win Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Michigan. I think I have a better shot, and I want those delegates to listen to me.

So you're going to have to watch over the next 24, 48 hours, does anybody else raise their hand and say that they want to also earn the nomination. What she's acknowledging is the nomination is not yet hers, and that's a very, very big deal. That's a true fact. But, you know, in other parties, you might just have somebody just demagogue it, steamroll it, say, you know, everybody, get behind me. I am now going to lead this party. She's not doing that. Very politically astute.

COLLINS: But, Van, you've been involved in Democratic politics your whole life to see the Clintons, the president, top senators, getting behind her as the nominee. Do you think anyone else if you are a governor and -- or, you know, a Democrat who has a lot of star potential going forward that you would, that they'd be brave enough to kind of get in this bring at this point with what seeing who's lining up behind Harris so far?

JONES: It would take an extraordinary amount of self-confidence, belief in self, to do it. But are there doors that are still open? Yes, the doors are still open. For instance, Pelosi hasn't yet said she's for Kamala. President Obama, as usual, is staying very, very neutral at least publicly to make sure that, you know, because he is the rockstar of rockstars in this party, that he doesn't tip it one way or the other.

And so you do have some doors that are still open. And so -- but the grade just got steeper because Joe Biden gave the endorsement. He gave it immediately. The Clintons came out and -- you know, it wasn't just, by the way, wasn't just Bill Clinton. Let's be fair. It was Bill Clinton and it was Hillary Clinton. A beloved, powerful nominee. The last time we nominated a woman, it was Hillary Clinton. Hillary Clinton came out immediately and said I'm with Kamala.

So the grade just got steeper for you, but the door is not closed politically. It's certainly not closed from a bureaucratic or technical point of view. Kamala Harris wants to earn that nomination. I guarantee you the whip operation is called a whipping operation. She had people who love her, who believe in her, who've worked with her for years, who are calling delegates, who are calling online personalities and other people trying to get people ready to stick with Kamala if the ball comes to her.

And so can you put together a whipping operation that is as strong as Kamala's in a short period of time? You have to look at a lot of different challenges here. But if somebody has the fire in the gut and say, listen, I don't believe Kamala can at the top of the ticket, I don't believe this, I don't believe that, I think I can do it, Kamala Harris just said, come on in, the water's warm.

COLLINS: Well, and you know what I thought about when I saw that both Clintons got behind her, I was thinking of Hillary Clinton because she is a woman who knows what it's like to run against Donald Trump and that could be the position we see Harris in. We don't know yet. Obviously, we are keeping our powder dry. We're waiting to see what Democrats decide here. But it does seem like that's a scenario the Trump campaign has been prepping for.

They have been singling out Harris. I noticed it multiple times when you and I were in Milwaukee last week for the Republican convention. And I just wonder what, on its early basis, what you think that race will look like, a Harris versus Donald Trump.

JONES: You know, the prosecutor versus the person who got prosecuted. I mean, it kind of writes itself in some ways from our side. Also you have a younger voice, you have a younger, more dynamic presence. You have somebody who, you know, is -- we have never seen this before, we've never seen a black female, an Asian female. You've never seen that before. And I think Trump has got to figure out how he wants to deal with it.

They love to demean women. That's something that the Trump team does that a lot. They do it too much. It actually goes against -- you know, they put women in positions of power sometimes inside the Trump team, but they still have this public thing of just demeaning women, demeaning women.

[16:15:07]

That's tougher to do when you've got someone like Kamala Harris. Is Kamala Harris going to make the abortion issue a lot tougher? You know, Kamala Harris, the first couple of years she wasn't impressing a lot of people. Her polling numbers weren't that good. Her competence inside the Democratic Party wasn't that high, but you've seen her over the past year get stronger and stronger on the stump. You've seen her get more and more self-confident in interviews. You've also seen the party warming up to her, especially black voters

who are so critical, and so you've got a real matchup here because you've got somebody who has, you know, at times been very, very strong in that prosecutorial role. Most people think about Kamala Harris, they don't think about her as vice president. They think about her being in the Senate, grilling nominees from the Trump administration, grilling CEOs, just going after people and putting them in their place. So that side of her personality gets a chance to come forward now in a very different way.

Kamala Harris won a lot of support from people when Biden stumbled. Biden stumbled, he didn't do well in the debate. Everybody was freaking out and I was sitting right next to Anderson Cooper when Anderson Cooper brought Kamala Harris on. She was cool. She was calm. She was collected. She was strong. There was no time about a hint or talking points. There was no time for anybody to write up the speech. There was no teleprompter.

She had to just literally walk out there after her running mate have fallen. Look in that camera and deliver. And she delivered such a strong performance that it gave people in this party much more confidence in her. So she's riding a little bit of a wave now of momentum and support. But the door is not closed. There is a process we have to go through. There are still big donors and big figures in our party that have not yet said where they stand.

So if somebody wants to jump in, it is not a done deal yet. Somebody could still get to challenge Kamala Harris.

COLLINS: Yes, and a great point on age because that had been the detraction for Biden, but for Trump, he became the oldest --

JONES: Slightly.

COLLINS: -- presidential nominee in American history.

JONES: Instantly.

COLLINS: Van Jones, obviously we're going to be watching all this very closely. Van Jones, thank you for that.

Wolf, back to you.

BLITZER: All right, Kaitlan, thank Van for me as well. Our viewers are always interested in his thoughts, very important thoughts indeed.

Phil Mattingly is here with us here in Washington.

Phil, you're working your sources, you're getting more information. What are you learning?

PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN CHIEF DOMESTIC CORRESPONDENT: Getting a better understanding of the timeline. Obviously, we saw the letter today. I think it landed at 1:46 p.m. this afternoon. Staff was told -- I think Jeff Zeleny reported earlier was told and MJ Lee was told at 1:45 p.m. Natural process for drafting that letter, I'm told, actually started on Saturday afternoon into the evening.

The president who obviously is isolating with COVID right now with the first lady in Rehoboth, is long known to have very, a very close-knit circle of advisers, including Steve Ricchetti, who's been with him since the vice president's office. Mike Donilon, who's kind of his personal mind-meld messaging guru as well. They were both called last night and informed that the president wanted to start this process of drafting the letter.

Steve Ricchetti was responsible for handling mechanics of how this would all roll out and how it would all be discussed and released publicly. And so that process started on Saturday night. We know that they've been weighing this process over the course of the last 48 hours since the data continued to come in. And what I'm told is that there was a recognition that there was simply not going to be a way to turn it around even though for weeks they thought it was possible.

The Democratic infighting, the almost internal intraparty fratricide to some degree, was just weighing down things too much and it was time to make this decision and move forward with the decision that we saw today from the president. His close adviser it's worth noting, Steve Ricchetti and Mike Donilon and the first lady as well, they were all in the room in 2016 when the president was considering whether or not to run in that campaign against -- to primary Hillary Clinton.

It was actually Mike Donilon at that time, at least according to President Biden in his book who told President Biden that in the wake of the death of his son, Beau, that in one of their final meetings that he just -- it was not the right time and he was not ready to do it. And so that's kind of the relationship they have. It's a very, very close circle. And that circle is once again called into action last night as they started moving this process forward.

BLITZER: Was it the poll numbers that were so disturbing to the president? Was it the fact that fundraising may be going down? Was it the public statements coming out from all these Democrats in the House and the Senate, for example? What were the main factors that caused him to rethink? Because until yesterday, until now we have he repeatedly told not just by the president, but all of his senior campaign advisers and White House officials, he's in it to win it, he's not going anywhere.

MATTINGLY: And my understanding is that it was very much the view of things. I think there's no singular factor here. It's a convergence of all of these issues into one. But more than anything else what I've been told over the course of the last several hours is it's the weight of the Democratic infighting, the fact that the president could not get past this moment to make the case, to draw the contrast, to have the actual kind of binary reelection battle that he was searching for, that they believed that they can win that was kind of the overarching reason why.

[16:20:09]

But I do think that the money, the Democratic support, I think there's a recognition, too. Lawmakers are going to be back in town this week. And it was only expected to build. And when leaders got microphones in their faces, what were they going to say? They've obviously -- they were out last week during the Republican convention. And so there was a recognition over the course of the last 48 hours that this was probably the path that needed to be taken, launched last night, and obviously announced today.

JEFF ZELENY, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: And to Phil's point, I mean, I was told that it was the weight of what all this has done on the Democratic ticket overall.

MATTINGLY: Yes.

ZELENY: And the difficulty and a much more uphill challenge it was to defeat Donald Trump. I mean, President Biden has read polls for literally since the invent of political polling. His career has tracked that trajectory, but when told that he was really weighing down the Democratic ticket, I'm told that that was something that he finally came to realize. I'm also told that he was making some calls sort of outside.

We talk a lot about the tight circle of advisers was calling some people even outside of that, trying to get their read on things. So he was really working this, trying every way possible to find a way to stay in. But the reality just became way too much and yesterday, the letter from the National Security advisers, former National Security advisers on the team, all these officials that also cut very deeply at him.

And if he would have decided to stay in the race, he has been trying to make Donald Trump the disqualified candidate. Suddenly all of these Democratic officials who have come out and spoke to us over the last three weeks, those would be used in ads against him. So taken together, all of this, it was just too much.

BLITZER: It was a dramatic historic moment indeed, and we have a lot more news coming up. We're going to take a quick break. Much more of our very special breaking news coverage of this historic day here in the United States right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[16:26:40]

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN Breaking News.

BLITZER: And if you're just joining us, we want to get you up to speed on our major breaking news right now. President Joe Biden just announcing a short while ago that he is stepping out of the race and will not seek reelection in November. He's now publicly endorsing his vice president, Kamala Harris, as the Democratic presidential nominee.

We've now also learned he made that decision just within the last 48 hours or so, and he consulted very closely with his family and top advisers.

COLLINS: Yes, Wolf, he also alerted senior White House advisers and his campaign staff just moments before this decision became public and upended the 2024 race as we know it. This is the statement that he released a little more than an hour ago, shocking the nation, frankly, Wolf, with President Biden saying, in part, quote, "While it may have been my intention to seek reelection, I believe it is in the best interest of my party and country for me to stand down and to focus solely on fulfilling my duties as president for the remainder of my term."

BLITZER: Dramatic statement indeed. I want to bring in CNN senior White House correspondent MJ Lee. She's joining us from the White House right now.

MJ, update our viewers on the latest information we're getting.

LEE: Yes, Wolf, I am just learning that Vice President Kamala Harris did not know about President Biden's decision to drop out of the 2024 race until earlier today. They of course spoke earlier today. We are told that they have spoken at least multiple times but the fact that the vice president didn't know until today, the day that the president decided to go public with the decision perhaps illustrates best of all that at the end of the day, this really was President Joe Biden's decision and his alone.

How closely was this decision held, according to our colleagues Arlette Saenz's and Phil Mattingly's reporting the process of announcing this today was really set in motion last night when the president asked his closest advisers, Mike Donilon and Steve Ricchetti, to begin the process of writing that letter that we of course saw this afternoon announcing his ultimate decision.

As for others on the president's team, the senior most staff, including somebody like Anita Dunn, who for so long has been considered really among the really inner circle of advisers close to the president, they were all folks that were not informed about this decision until really literally moments before that letter went public.

Now, the president, of course, has already had sort of a famously small and impenetrable group of advisers. But we know over the course of the last few weeks from all of our reporting that that group had become even more small and just even more sort of insulated. And that have raised a lot of questions among Democrats about what kind of information he was getting, what kind of advice he was getting.

And of course, that sort of fed into why the last few weeks have felt so painful for so many Democrats that were watching this process unfold, and were waiting for this decision that the president finally made public today -- Wolf.

BLITZER: Very dramatic development indeed, and it didn't leak out in advance even though some of the closest advisers, family members, were being told about it. It only became public once the president himself issued that public statement on social media. And then it became public and all of us were pretty stunned given the fact that so many of his advisers and the president himself for days and days and days had been insisting he was staying in this race to get -- try to get reelected.

Kaitlan, I want to go back to you.

[16:30:15]

COLLINS: Wolf, and I just want to note that we are getting breaking news in, hearing from Jim Clyburn. Obviously, he was -- is known as the Democratic kingmaker. He was critical to Biden's election in 2020 and making him the Democratic nominee when he endorsed him and came out. And, obviously, we saw what happened with President Biden in South Carolina.

And he has just issued a lengthy statement. And he was just on CNN a few hours ago with our colleague, Jake Tapper. And was saying that he was staying with President Biden, as long as he was in this race.

Now that President Biden has exited this race and that dramatic statement this afternoon, I just want to read you, in part, what Congressman Jim Clyburn is saying. He says, I've had the honor and privilege of calling President Biden a friend for many years. And he said, well, I endorsed him in then 2020. I noted how I can think of no one with the integrity and no one more committed to the fundamental principles that form the foundation of our great country than him.

Clyburn goes on to say in his statement talking about the accomplishments that he believes President Biden has head while in office. And then, he also says, and this is the key part, Wolf, I echo the good judgment that he demonstrated in selecting Vice President Harris to lead this nation alongside him. And I am proud to follow his lead in support of her candidacy to succeed him as the Democratic Party's 2024 nominee for president.

That is a huge deal here, Wolf, to see Jim Clyburn getting behind Vice President Harris as the Democratic nominee here. Obviously, we're still watching to see how this plays out with other Democratic leaders, waiting to hear from them.

I want to bring in CNN's commentate -- Senior Political Commentator, and former senior adviser to President Barack Obama, David Axelrod here. Obviously, Ax, we had been waiting to see if this was actually going to happen first. We haven't heard from you yet. What's your reaction to President Biden exiting the 2024 race?

DAVID AXELROD, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL COMMENTATOE: Yes, Kaitlan. You know, I got the news on a plane coming into New York. And, you know, it was a very -- I was very sad, honestly. I think it was necessary. It's important. It's an incredibly important decision that -- and difficult decision that he made for the country.

But not the final chapter that he imagined and not maybe the final chapter that he deserved. But there is a real focus on the question that he has put in front of people again and again and again. And that is who and how can the Democratic Party defeat Donald Trump?

And I think, in that regard, the party took a step forward today. And the president recognized it and did the hardest thing you can do and stepped aside.

COLLINS: I mean, it's -- you know, Van Jones was talking earlier about what a tough decision this must have been for President Biden. And when you look at it in the grand scheme of things, I mean, to go from three -- a little over three weeks ago, showing up in Atlanta to debate Donald Trump. And then, to this decision now is a pretty quick timespan in the grand scheme of things,

But I wonder what you made, given you were a senior adviser to president Obama, in his statement, obviously thanking Biden for his service, commenting on his exit from the race, but not going as far as to endorse Harris or anyone to take the top of the ticket. Is that posturing on his part or do you think that's just him taking a moment before getting involved in lining up behind someone else as the next nominee?

AXELROD: Look, I think that -- again, I think the focus of many leaders in the party is going to be singular. And it's going to be how and who can defeat Donald Trump. And that may well be Kamala Harris. You know, I think some of her supporters have done her a disservice, because they say, well, she's there. You know, she's historic. You can't bypass her and so on.

The real case they should be making is why she'd be the strongest candidate. And there are some really strong arguments to suggest she would be. But she might be stronger if she comes through a process that is open.

And I noticed, in her own statement, she said she wanted to compete in earn the nomination. And it would be good for her, if that was the conclusion that people drew. She's certainly capable of doing that.

She's the only one who's being discussed. Who's actually been swimming in the deep end of the pool. Running for national office, president or vice president, is unbelievably hard. And no one who hasn't done it has any idea, no matter what you've run for before.

You know, she may be battle-scarred, but she's also -- she's battle tested in a way others aren't. And they should be making that case.

But I think that people are going to take a hard look at this. Try and open up the process and see if others step forward. Others may not

But she would be in a stronger position if she can say, I went through a process.

[16:35:00]

AXELROD: And I emerged as the nominee of the Democratic Party by dent of that process. And not just as a gesture by the president to hand me this nomination.

COLLINS: David, I think for people watching, understandably what's happened just in the last week alone has been seismic in us politics. But I think if you can look over the last six months, I mean, Donald Trump, the candidate -- Republican nominee, he was then presumptive, was convicted of 34 felonies. There was an attempted assassination of him eight days ago. And then, today we see a sitting president take himself out of the running. I just -- from a historical perspective.

AXELROD: Yes.

COLLINS: It's a lot to process.

AXELROD: It really is. I mean, you know, look, I've lived through a lot of these election cycles, and I really haven't seen anything quite like this since the 60s. You know, when we were -- we had all those -- we had several assassinations. Robert Kennedy appeared as if he was -- had seized the nomination the night he won the California primary. And was killed that night or shot that night and died two days later and threw the party into turmoil.

We had a very tumultuous convention in Chicago. Hubert Humphrey emerged as the nominee. He was the vice president for Lyndon Johnson and carried some of the burden of Johnson and the Vietnam War with him. And almost one anyway. Lost by a point. Closed very fast.

But that whole year was -- it was one unthinkable thing after another. It feels a little bit like that now. And -- but the thing that we probably need to focus on is the fact that there is an election coming in November. And I think that election has changed in a dramatic way today.

Donald Trump, he certainly was the colossus in Milwaukee last week. But in the rest of the country, not so much. He's a vulnerable candidate and can be beaten. And Democrats are going to begin to focus on that. There's a lot of sadness about the president. A lot of love and affection for him. But I think people are also steel to the task at hand.

COLLINS: Yes. I spoke to Trump moments after Biden put out this statement. And he called him the worst president in U.S. history. And then, he said that he does believe Harris would be easier to beat. Obviously, we don't know if that's who he'll be facing in this election. But this is not just uncertainty for Democrats. Its uncertainty for the Trump campaign as well.

David Axelrod, standby because --

AXELROD: Yes.

COLLINS: -- I want to get back to you.

AXELROD: OK.

COLLINS: But we also have Abby Phillip here joining, CNN Anchor and CNN Senior Political Correspondent. And, Abby, I mean, this is just such a seismic moment in this campaign. I wonder what you're hearing from Democratic sources, from donors about what this new landscape looks like now.

ABBY PHILLIP, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Kaitlan, I've been talking to a number of people today and definitely over the last several days. And the big thing, right now, is how quickly can Vice President Harris consolidate this field?

And I spoke with a top fundraiser for the Biden-Harris campaign, who's in touch with dozens of donors, who said, you know, right now, this is hers to win or to lose. And, frankly, she has 24 to 48 hours to do so.

But this person did not believe that there was any sort of truly organized effort to push someone else other than the vice president which is something that is key in these moments. There is certainly a faction of donors who want an open process. They want to see if there is, perhaps, someone else who might be stronger against Trump.

But that is not, at this moment, organized in any sort of way. And so, that leaves the vice president from -- in a really strengthened position. And this person also said that the donors are prepared to back her and that's going to be critically important.

This is being viewed by many people in the Democratic Party as the path of least resistance. She has the clearest path to inheriting the campaign infrastructure. The clearest path to inheriting the money that has been raised by the Biden-Harris campaign up until this point.

And the other thing, you know, talking to another source who is very close to the vice president. There is a lot of concern about the really compressed timeline, right now to get all of these ducks in a row. There are so many decisions that need to be made. So many parts of this that are completely unknown.

And even the people who are the most supportive of her, who want this to eventually end up with the vice president as the top of the ticket. They are worried, is how this person put it to me. So, look, the next day or two are going to be extremely critical.

One of the other factors in all of this is going to be which candidate is best positioned to actually get the delegates? Because that's really where this ends up, at this point.

And many people close to the Vice President have stressed to me, there are a lot of structural and political reasons why she is, by far, in the best position. When we talk about the importance of black voters and black delegates are to this Democratic Party, that's not just a talking point.

[16:40:07]

PHILLIPS: It's a real practicality about where the powerhouses are within the Democratic National Committee. And those are the people, in the coming days, who are going to decide how this goes and who this goes to.

And I imagine, shortly after that, the discussion about who would be her running mate is going to accelerate as well. I'm already hearing, as I'm sure you are as well, a lot of whispers about that as well -- Kaitlan

COLLINS: Oh, yes. I mean, the amount of the ways that Democrats' phones are blowing up today, it cannot -- PHILLIPS: Yes.

COLLINS: -- be overstated. I mean, everyone is talking about this and asking that very question. One, who's the nominee going to be? And, two, if it is Harris, what does that ticket look like?

Abby Phillip will continue to report on this, continue to have those conversations. Let us know what you're hearing.

We also have Scott Jennings, a CNN Senior Political Commentator, here with us. Scott, I mean, this is just as much uncertainty for Republicans as it is for Democrats.

You heard what former President Trump said to me after -- moments after Biden announced this. We're already seeing a well-funded Super PAC of his attacking Harris. Something they had kind of been preparing, in case this very scenario happened. What does this moment mean for Republicans?

SCOTT JENNINGS, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Yes, it's shocking. I mean, if I had known the second coming of the lord almighty was going to happen on the east coast this weekend, I wouldn't have gone to San Diego. I'd have been there with you.

But here we are, three weeks after the cheap fakes, by the way, episode, which the most embarrassing gaslighting that ever happened. And Republicans are going to paint Kamala Harris as Joe Biden. She's been number two in the administration that has a mid-30s approval rating. That's overseeing this inflation crisis. She was the borders are for the immigration crisis that everybody is mad about.

And, on top of that, she's been one of the principal ring leaders of the cover up of Joe Biden's actual condition. So, I hear a lot of -- I've been listening for the last couple of hours. A lot of crowing and their pumping up of Kamala Harris.

But let's not forget, she's not a great politician. She ran for president once and it was a complete disaster. And, right now, it looks like she, Barack Obama, Nancy Pelosi, and a bunch of rich people, had just pushed Joe Biden out of this race. And, in the process, disenfranchised millions of Democrat voters.

COLLINS: Well, obviously, President Biden made this decision. One that, you know, some Democrats wanted him to make it sooner than now.

JENNINGS: Very interesting (ph), by the way -- but is it -- is it -- is it interesting to you that we haven't seen a picture of Joe Biden today? We don't have a picture of him signing the letter. I mean, this is a huge decision. Also, the letter doesn't say --

COLLINS: Well, he has COVID.

JENNINGS: -- why exactly he's stepping down. Why is he stepping down? He's the current -- we've been talking about this for weeks. He's the current president. He's now, apparently, unable to continue in his race. We don't know why, exactly, he is stepping down. I think Republicans who are raising concerns about his fitness to lead today have good questions today. And now, they're unanswered by this letter and the mystery surrounding him today.

COLLINS: Yes. Well, he does have COVID, so I think that's probably why we're not seeing him. You know, I just talked to Chris Coons, his co- chair, who spoke to him after this announcement came out and talked about this. He said he's not resigning the presidency, despite those calls from people, like House Speaker Mike Johnson.

But I do wonder, Scott, what does this mean if Harris is the nominee? I mean, let's game this out for a second. What does that mean for the Trump campaign? Because I do -- they have been preparing to run against President Biden. They thought it would be a pretty easy race for them, after that debate in Atlanta.

But this -- you know, even if you make the assumptions that you just made about Vice President Harris, it's still not fully known how they would fare against what others (ph). No polling that we can really look at to give us any indication of what this moment could mean.

JENNINGS: Well, she certainly has an approval rating. I mean, you can go online and see that her approval rating is no better than Joe Biden's. And it's because they connect her to Joe Biden. I mean, she is not a disconnected figure. She is his vice president. She was heavily involved in the immigration crisis fiasco that we have going on.

And so, I think the Trump campaign is actually going to have a pretty easy case to make that, you know, we switch from Biden to Harris, but you're sticking with the same policies. They were -- remember, they were already arguing, in some ways, that a vote for Biden was simply a vote for Harris, because nobody expected Biden to be able to go for another four years anyway.

So, I don't think they're going to have much trouble making the transition. Where the game changes is on age. Biden was a little older than Trump and, obviously, they made a big deal about that. And so, that's where one piece of the game changes.

But on policy and political arguments, I actually think it's a pretty easy transition.

COLLINS: Yes, Trump is now the oldest nominee that we've ever seen in U.S. presidential history. Scott Jennings, standby.

We've got to squeeze a quick break in, as we are following this breaking news that President Biden announcing that he is exiting the 2024 race. He got behind Vice President Harris as the Democratic nominee. We are seeing notable endorsements from their party. Some people not saying yet who they are going to get behind.

But this entire 2024 race has changed. We are following every development here. We'll be back after a quick break.

[16:45:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: If you're just joining us, we want to get you up to speed on all the historic breaking news we're following. President Joe Biden just announcing a short while ago that he is stepping out of the presidential race and will not seek reelection in November.

He's now publicly endorsing his vice president, Kamala Harris, as the Democratic nominee we've now learned he made that decision just within the past 48 hours, as he consulted with his family and top advisers. He alerted his senior White House advisers and campaign staff just moments before making his decision public.

[16:50:04]

BLITZER: In a statement released a little more than an hour or so ago, President Biden said, and I'm quoting him in part, "While it may have been my intention to seek reelection, I believe it is in the best interests of my party and country for me to stand down and to focus solely on fulfilling my duties as president for the remainder of my term." Close quote.

We have a panel covering this breaking story for all of us. But I want to start with CNN Special Correspondent Jamie Gangel. Jamie, you're learning more information about how all of this unfolded.

JAMIE GANGEL, CNN SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT: So, first of all, I think we've said this before, but it's worth saying again. This was a surprise to Kamala Harris and her team today. And the first thing I'm told that they're looking at is logistics. They have a campaign to put together. She has to get the nomination. She has to see, as Phil was talking about earlier, whether anyone is going to challenge her.

The other thing is simply, you know, how does she get her name on the ballot? Yes, she is part of this infrastructure with the campaign and the convention, but this is a whole new game.

And the last thing I'm told, multiple sources said, we should look for the following. Will she reach out to another candidate, and they gave me some names, to put together a ticket? This is two reasons. One to get some challengers maybe to go away who might be considering it. But also to get the party to coalesce around a new team to create excitement and to win.

The names that are being floated that she might be interested in reaching out to, I don't think they'll come as a surprise. Arizona's Senator Mark Kelly, who I am told she likes a lot, knows very well. And as we saw, just a little while ago, he has already come out to endorse her publicly. That happened very quickly and I know their camps speak to each other quite often.

The other names will also be familiar. Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear has been mentioned a lot. North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper. Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro. There are clearly others but those four names are the names I keep hearing about.

BLITZER: Yes, those names have been out there for a while. Kasie.

KASIE HUNT, CNN ANCHOR: You know, I was going to say, those are the names that are in all of the conversations that I'm having right now.

And we saw the Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro come out and say something very nice about Biden. From what I can tell has yet to endorse Kamala Harris. Maybe that email has crossed, so forgive me if I'm -- if I'm a little bit slow on this. But I do think that's an interesting contrast, in terms of when you compare it to how Mark Kelly is handling it.

And, obviously, they have to think a lot. And I had a lot of conversations at the RNC about this, actually, about how this race is going to change with her at the top of the ticket. What the strengths and weaknesses of a Harris ticket are. They're different from the strengths and weaknesses with Biden at the top of the ticket. And they really have to think through that and consider that as they're thinking about picking their number two.

BLITZER: One of the advantages, a major advantage, she had is becoming the heir apparent to the president after he drops out. Was that it's the Biden-Harris campaign that raised 10s of millions of dollars. There's a ton of money in that campaign. And since it's the Biden- Harris campaign, she can continue to use that money as the presidential nominee.

HUNT: That's right. And if they're worried about logistics, it is a heck of a lot, and, Karen, I'm sure you can weigh in on this, logistically easier to have Kamala Harris be at the top of the ticket here.

The other thing that you I think have to think through -- and I was having conversation with a very smart operative that's been in Kamala Harris' circle in the past, you know, has been inside the Biden administration. They were arguing, as someone who has advised a lot of candidates, right, if you are a Josh Shapiro, if you are Andy Beshear, if you are someone that has national ambitions, what is the right move for you right now? Putting yourself out there, angering an enormous segment of the party in black voters by challenging Kamala Harris.

And, also, just potentially going on to lose either that fight or the election. One, both. Instead, you could be her number two. Be seen as someone who is stepping up for the party. And if Democrats lose in November, you've only been on the ticket for 80 days. Is it really your fault?

So, I think that there is some of that going on behind the scenes, too.

BLITZER: Audie, I want to get your thoughts on the -- how are the African --

AUDIE CORNISH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: On (ph) this or this entire thing? I would say, I didn't even think about it. I think it was May 30th that we were all sitting here talking about how the race would change sentence caps because of Trump's conviction. And it's just been a roller coaster ever since then.

I think there are some people out there who may have winced a little, Wolf, when you said heir apparent. Because one of the concerns they have is, will it look like big donors just big-footed the voters in the Democratic primary process and got the result that they wanted. So, I think that's why you hear the vice president talking about earning the vote.

[16:55:02]

CORNISH: And one other thing I want to mention is a few weeks ago, the Pew -- I think it was the A.P. polling, was showing that while black support for Biden to stay in was more than other groups. Within the black community, it was 50-50. So, it was at a tipping point.

And so, while today is a shock in timing, it's been -- the writing has been on the wall for a couple of days now. And I think it's worth us all taking a breath and realizing that this just happened. Something that hasn't happened since, what, 1968 since Johnson. I mean, this is a momentum occasion for a major politician of our time.

BLITZER: It certainly is. And, Phil, the support for Vice President Kamala Harris from Democrats is pouring in right now. Is there anyone else that is stepping out there to potentially challenge her?

MATTINGLY: Not yet. I think everybody, right now, is watching, you know, as Kasie was saying, what the governors say, whether they endorse or whether they say, we're not going to challenge her, is probably the biggest question.

Look, I think there's a reality. There's a couple of key pieces here. One, the campaign mechanics, as Kasie was pointing out. In terms of money. In terms of staff. In terms of ad reserve -- like, all of it is significantly easier. It's still a little bit complicated but significantly easier if the vice president is the nominee.

I think, two, you have the coalition issues, yes, which, obviously, people need to be very, very cognizant of. But I think the third here is it's been three weeks of Democratic wars. Just intraparty wars that kept them from talking about what they want to talk about. Which is the former president, the binary choice, the message, the contrast. Everything that they think they can win on, they have not been doing over the course of the last three weeks.

So, why would you want to set up a process where you're just doing it for another for several weeks. And so, I think everybody is very cognizant of that. And I think even some Democrats I've talked to, who aren't the biggest fans of the Vice President, had said, look, this is where we need to go. Clearly, this has taken him long enough. It's time to move forward.

But I think -- I wonder -- I'm actually interested, from a reporting perspective, on what you know about what's been going on behind the scenes. Because we've seen a lot of groups come out. I've been told that there have been efforts to bring big endorsements into play over the course of this day to kind of lock everything up. Not in a way to disenfranchise people. but just to say, it's time to move forward.

KAREN FINNEY, FORMER DIRECTOR, DNC COMMUNICATIONS: Correct. I mean, look, as a full disclosure, I was literally one of the people who made the case directly to Joe Biden for Kamala Harris to be the vice president. So, no surprise.

I'm saddened about Joe Biden but thrilled about Kamala -- about this opportunity for Kamala. Yes, exactly what you just said. I mean, folks have been -- people have been thinking about this as a possibility for the last several weeks. Donors have been thinking about it, as well as different groups.

You're going to continue to see, throughout the afternoon, different progressive groups and members of Congress come out and acknowledge their support for her.

Yes?

BLITZER: I was just going to say, we've got to take a quick break.

FINNEY: You got it.

BLITZER: We're going to continue all of our analysis, all of our reporting, right after this. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)