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Interview With Rep. Debbie Wasserman-Schultz (D-FL); Protesters Gather in D.C. Ahead of Netanyahu Speech; Harris Campaign Maps Out Race. Aired 11:30a-12p ET

Aired July 24, 2024 - 11:30   ET

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

[11:32:20]

JIM ACOSTA, CNN HOST: Former President Donald Trump hits the road today holding a campaign rally in Charlotte, North Carolina. It's his first public campaign event since President Biden announced that he's dropping his reelection bid.

Trump now faces a new opponent, a new race, and a new political landscape. All eyes and ears will be on how he goes after his presumptive opponent, Kamala Harris. This morning, we have new details on how the Harris campaign envisions a path to victory through the Electoral College.

A memo says the presumptive nominee creates new opportunities for winning over swing voters in the all-important swing states that are up for grabs.

Let's go to CNN's Eva McKend in Indianapolis for us.

Eva, tell us. I mean, Indiana, not exactly a battleground state right now, but she's going to be addressing the black sorority Zeta Phi Beta there. Tell us about this new strategy and what the campaign is saying.

EVA MCKEND, CNN NATIONAL POLITICS CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Jim, they say that she can win because of this expanded universe of swing voters.

And this is something that we have heard all along on the campaign trail. When you speak to people, they didn't want to vote for Biden. They didn't necessarily want to vote for Trump either. Well, they say that she can compete with these voters now in a real way where they couldn't before.

But they also maintain that she's strong with key Democratic coalitions, black voters, Asian voters, female voters, Latino voters, and they said that grassroots support has been on display the last few days. So, since Sunday, 100,000 people have signed up to volunteer for the campaign.

She's raised $126 million in just the last few days. I will read you a bit of this memo that we received this morning. It says: "While the vice president is poised to build on the 2020 Biden/Harris coalition, Trump, on the other hand, has not expanded his support. This has become even more clear in the last month, where he largely failed to win over new voters following the debate and the RNC Convention."

And so Harris here in Indiana today as part of her Summer of Engagement tour. She is going to address the black sorority the Zetas. And we, of course, Jim, know that black women have been so instrumental behind the scenes in Democratic organizing. So, strategically, this stop makes a lot of sense.

She also recently addressed her sorority, the AKAs -- Jim.

ACOSTA: All right, Eva McKend in Indianapolis for us, thank you very much.

A lot of excitement building around the vice president right now. We will check back in with you. Really appreciate it.

In the meantime, we want to show you this as we're monitoring the situation here in Washington ahead of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's high-stakes address to Congress. They have added some fencing up around the White House. That took place earlier this morning.

[11:35:05]

And as we have been talking with Brian Todd and Miguel Marquez over the last hour, the crowd is building on Pennsylvania Avenue ahead of the prime minister's visit. We're going to get the latest on all of that and reaction from Capitol Hill in just a few moments.

Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ACOSTA: In just hours from now, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will address a joint meeting of Congress for the first time in nearly a decade.

He will look to shore up support for the war in Gaza, which has bitterly divided American lawmakers and loomed large over a now- upended presidential election. Dozens of members of Congress, including the former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, plan to skip the address either in protest or due to -- quote, unquote -- "scheduling conflicts."

[11:40:09]

And we're seeing protesters up on Capitol Hill for the second day in row as they call for a cease-fire in the war that has left an estimated 39,000 Palestinians dead and plunged Gaza into a humanitarian nightmare.

Let's discuss now with Democratic Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz of Florida. She will be part of the escort committee that walks Netanyahu into the chamber for a speech.

Congresswoman, thank you so much for being with us.

REP. DEBBIE WASSERMAN SCHULTZ (D-FL): My pleasure. Thank you.

ACOSTA: What do you make of some of your Democratic colleagues not attending? We had Congresswoman Dean on earlier. She said she's not attending. I assume you will be there. Obviously, we just said you will be escorting the prime minister in there.

But what about this divide in the party right now over this?

WASSERMAN SCHULTZ: Well, look, every member for any joint address has to make a decision on whether or not they're going to attend.

I will certainly be there to represent my constituents in Florida's 25th Congressional District.

And I'm proud to be serving on the escort committee, an opportunity that I'm going to use to make sure that I relay to the prime minister the absolute necessity to make sure that we can finalize and he will agree to the deal that President Biden and Vice President Harris have proposed and have put together.

So that we can bring our hostages home, especially the eight Americans, make sure that we can end the terrorist threat that no country, including Israel, should ever have to live with on their doorstep, and ensure that we can begin the rebuilding of a civilian governance in Gaza and ensure that the threat to Israel from the Houthis to Hezbollah is brought to an end.

I'm going to relay that message on behalf of the hostage families that I have met with in recent days and over the last many months.

ACOSTA: And, Congresswoman, do you still think it's a good idea for the prime minister to make this trip to Washington and to give this speech right now, given the charged political environment that the country is in the middle of right now?

We just had an attempted assassination on the former president. We have President Biden exiting the race for the White House. He's making this speech this evening about this. We're seeing all these demonstrators in the streets of Washington, D.C., right now. Is it a good idea just to have this address? Should it have been postponed?

WASSERMAN SCHULTZ: You know, the prime minister was invited by all four of our congressional leaders a number of weeks ago, and this is an opportunity, especially because we have had President Biden and Vice President Harris help quarterback an agreement that I have heard for weeks now that we're on the 10-yard line, and we can bring it across the goal line.

It's an important moment to make sure that the prime minister and the leadership of Israel hear from American leadership that this is the absolutely critical time for us to be able to make sure that the hostilities can be paused, that our hostages can be released and brought home, that the terrorist threat can end on Israel's doorstep, and that we can begin a civilian governance, the process towards a civilian governance. And I expect and hope that we will hear from the prime minister a very

important message, that he rebuild the bipartisan support that has traditionally been there for the U.S.-Israel relationship, and also to make sure that he thanks the president and vice president and the American people for solidly standing by Israel in her really horrific hour of need.

ACOSTA: And are you concerned at all that the prime minister might go overboard and deliver a speech that is a bit too political?

I remember when I covered the Obama administration back in 2015 when he addressed Congress. The Obama White House, they were white-hot with anger at the prime minister because they thought he gave sort of an overtly political speech. Is that potential there? Are you concerned that he will go overboard today?

WASSERMAN SCHULTZ: I attended that speech as well and was also disappointed, to say the least, in the tenor of his remarks then.

I have communicated numerous times to the Israeli administration, to our Israeli ambassador to the United States about what my expectations are in terms of what -- the kind of message that we're hoping the prime minister delivers.

And I'm told that his tone and tenor will be dramatically different, that he's coming to thank the United States, that he's coming to stress the imperative of the bipartisan nature of our support for Israel, which has been solid since October 7. And that's my expectation, and hopeful that my expectation will be correct.

ACOSTA: All right, Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz, thanks very much for your time. We appreciate it.

WASSERMAN SCHULTZ: Thank you, Jim. Take care.

ACOSTA: All right, thank you. You too.

We will be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[11:48:03]

ACOSTA: All right, we're continuing to follow the protests in our nation's capital ahead of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's addressed to Congress.

Our Brian Todd is down in the crowd once again for us.

Brian, what are you seeing?

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Jim, the crowd continues to grow here at the foot of the Capitol. We're between Fourth and Third Street Northwest.

People have been using this area behind us as kind of a staging area. And then they kind of move toward the stage here, where people have taken the stage to deliver messages all morning long, again, the crowd growing steadily. Several hundred are on hand here with signs, flags.

And it's not only a day to kind of express their outrage verbally, but also to kind of be creative and very powerful in showing visual messages here about how this war is playing out. I'm going to show you one of those right now.

We're going to step over here to where one of the protesters, Alan Chorun, is with us. Let these people pass here.

And we're going to show you Alan's display first. Alan has put together these photographs on billboards of children who have been killed in the Gaza war. One of these is Israeli. The others are Palestinian, very, very powerful signs here with their pictures on it.

[11:50:09]

Alan, basically, tell us, what was your motivation for doing this, putting these children's images on the signs, and coming here with them today?

ALAN CHORUN, PROTESTER: Well, we're all here for the same reason, right? We're all here for lives that are suffering and being lost.

So, specifically, my motivation is that these kids who are no longer with us would have at least a few last words in the fact of their appearance and that they would not be totally forgot. And, obviously, I mean, we're looking at, like, eight kids or whatever. And more than this many will be taken today and every day for who knows how long in the future.

So, if you want to know the real truth, my real motivation is that we could prevent other kids from having the same fate as them just through caring and being reminded of what's happening.

TODD: Alan, we appreciate you sharing those images with us and for talking with us today. Thank you very much.

One thing to note, guys, Alan told me a short time ago that he had more of these signs with him, but several protesters had an interest in picking up those signs and walking around with them. So, Alan just kind of gave them away.

We're going to be seeing several of those signs kind of being carried around, again, with the very, very powerful images of children who've been killed in this war -- Jim.

ACOSTA: Yes, just a reminder of the tremendous human cost there in the war in Gaza.

Brian Todd, thank you very much.

We will be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) [11:55:48]

ACOSTA: Delta Air Lines CEO Ed Bastian has arrived in Paris for the opening of the Olympics, as his carrier struggles to recover from a meltdown stemming from last week's global tech outage.

But stranded and frustrated Delta passengers finally have some good news. Cancellations are slowing down after six days of disruptions. An estimated half-million people have been impacted, piles of luggage still waiting to be reunited with their owners.

But, this morning, Bastian said the company expects tomorrow to be a -- quote -- "normal day," with the airline fully recovered.

We will follow all of that and everything that's happening here in Washington.

But, in the meantime, thank you very much for joining me here in the CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Jim Acosta.

Stay with CNN. "INSIDE POLITICS WITH DANA BASH" starts after a short break.

Have a good day.