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J.D. Vance Facing Unprecedented Political Landscape; Interview With Rep. Dean Phillips (D-MN); Barack Obama Set to Endorse Kamala Harris?. Aired 11-11:30a ET

Aired July 25, 2024 - 11:00   ET

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

[11:00:15]

JIM ACOSTA, CNN HOST: Good morning. You're live in the CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Jim Acosta in Washington.

We begin this hour with some breaking news from the campaign trail. CNN has confirmed that former President Barack Obama's team has been in touch with Kamala Harris' campaign and a formal endorsement from the former president for the vice president is expected soon.

CNN's Priscilla Alvarez is in Houston, where Harris is about to speak at any moment.

Priscilla, what can you tell us?

PRISCILLA ALVAREZ, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, this would be a significant endorsement, Jim, if former President Barack Obama were to endorse her.

And he was taking an approach similar to 2020, watching this unfold and then hoping to unify the party when a Democratic nominee was chosen. And that does appear to be Vice President Kamala Harris, or at least she is very well on that track.

So, of course, this has been a divisive several weeks for the Democratic Party, and the vice president has made a point over the course of this week to make calls, to make sure that Democrats are standing behind her, because, again, former President Barack Obama's statement on Sunday was very focused on President Joe Biden and his decision to withdraw from the race.

Now, one of the challenges for the vice president over the week is striking a balance between acknowledging a president who abruptly withdrew from the presidential race, while also defining her campaign. And that is more of what we anticipate getting in her remarks today.

She's expected to talk about labor, to talk about her longstanding relationships with unions. And we should note that the American Federation of Teachers, who she is speaking to here, was the first union to endorse the vice president when she was put placed as the lead of the party's ticket.

She also called the president of this union Sunday in that 10-hour blitz where she was calling multiple people to tell them that she wanted to earn their nomination and also their support.

Now, of course, over the course of the week, the vice president has also talked about multiple issues, like reproductive rights, gun violence, and also making the point that no one is above the law, that getting directly at former President Donald Trump.

So we anticipate to get more of that today. Also, notably, the campaign released the first campaign video of the vice president as the Democratic candidate this morning. So all of this is building in what has been a momentous week for this campaign, not only getting a massive fund-raising haul, but also -- so, again, the vice president is going to address the union here in moments.

(CROSSTALK)

ACOSTA: All right. And, Priscilla, yes, we might be having a little audio issue, but all eyes are on the vice president and her own vice presidential search process.

There's a short list. What can you tell us about that?

ALVAREZ: Well, this is a truncated timeline. They're working against the clock here. This may be one of the most accelerated searches for a vice president in history.

So they are hoping to identify who is going to be her vice president in less than two weeks, hoping for an announcement before August 7. She does have a team of people led by former Attorney General Eric Holder to look through multiple documents, to do the searches, to have and help with the conversations, to essentially pick who is going to be her running mate.

Of course, that is going to be a big and significant decision for her as she looks toward November, so a lot of people like Josh Shapiro, Mark Kelly, Roy Cooper under consideration, among others. But, certainly, those conversations are active and ongoing and something that she herself is spending a lot of time doing to find who she best connects with and who she should select to run with her this election.

ACOSTA: All right, Priscilla Alvarez, thank you very much.

Joining me now to discuss, Democratic Congressman Dean Phillips of Minnesota. He mounted an early primary challenge to President Biden before suspending his campaign.

You took a lot of heat when you did that earlier this year. And now we see the president exiting the race, the vice president stepping forward, and it appears that she's all but the presumptive nominee at this point.

What's your reaction to what we have been seeing in recent days? This has been moving pretty fast.

REP. DEAN PHILLIPS (D-MN): It has, Jim. Good to be with you. And, yes, it took some heat, but that's the whole point. Got to show

some courage and sometimes be a little bit contrarian. And I knew that, if we could just make that change, as long as we could do it before the convention, that we could inject energy and mobilize and get excited again.

And the optimism with which members of my caucus are now leaving Washington for the summer recess, the energy around the country, the energy behind the vice president is exactly what I had intended to do, as Paul Revere, if you will, about a year ago.

So I'm thrilled. The way she's consolidated support so quickly, I think, demonstrates her leadership abilities. And it's a new day. And that's what I was hoping for.

[11:05:07]

ACOSTA: And we're hearing that an endorsement from former President Barack Obama for Kamala Harris could be coming soon. How important do you think that is to the process?

Sources telling us that he's essentially been waiting for Kamala Harris to get that delegate support that she needs to essentially be the presumptive nominee, but your thoughts on that?

PHILLIPS: Well, I think former President Obama is the most esteemed living Democrat, will literally wrap this president in a bow, and I think it's an important endorsement. It'll now unify our party.

I endorsed her two days ago. And it's a beautiful feeling after so many months of discord and dismay and somewhat a funereal culture that existed. Now we have converted that to optimism. So I'm proud of my party. I'm thrilled with my colleagues and our country.

And, most of all, I'm really excited for the country to see a contrast now between a Republican felon of the past and a dynamic Democrat for the future. And I'm smiling today, no resentment, no anger, just pure joy.

ACOSTA: And, Congressman, I have to think, though, that you're seeing some of these attacks aimed at Kamala Harris, Republicans up on Capitol Hill describing her as a DEI vice president and so on, sexist attacks coming from elements of the far right and so on.

What's your response to all that? What do you make of that?

PHILLIPS: My response is, that's why I serve in Congress. I find it despicable. And if they're going to keep doing that, I think that will be exactly the contrast that we are going to demonstrate between these two choices, one, a woman of competency and decency and experience, compassion, empathy, and a man who just simply does not seem to be able to look at anything other than through his own lens.

And I think it's despicable. I have had conversations with a couple of my Republican colleagues about the danger of invoking this nonsense at this time. And I have to reflect too. I want to celebrate Joe Biden and his

remarks last night. Giving up power, Jim, as you know, almost never happens in Washington. George Washington led by example. Joe Biden did. I want to celebrate him and also recognize what a gift he gave to his country, putting it above his own self-interest.

So it's a special day here.

ACOSTA: Yes, and, Congressman, I do want to ask you about this vice presidential running mate search.

Your governor has been mentioned as one of the potential candidates. Should Kamala Harris pick the governor?

PHILLIPS: Oh, my goodness, I hope she does.

If we want to win, I trust that the vice president, soon to be our nominee for president, will choose somebody who can reinvite independents, reinvite never-Trump Republicans, listen to rural Americans who have been ignored by, I think, my party, for too long. We have used imposition, instead of invitation.

I think Governor Walz would be an exceptional vice president, a great messenger. He's got executive experience, legislative experience. He's a teacher, a National Guardsman, the whole package. He, Josh Shapiro, Andy Beshear, I think we have got some wonderful governors ready to lead.

And it's a new day rising, and I know she will make a great choice, and I'm just thrilled by an outcome that I wish had happened a little bit sooner. But, hey, we plan and God laughs.

ACOSTA: All right, Congressman Dean Phillips of Minnesota, thanks very much for your time this morning. Really appreciate it.

PHILLIPS: Any time, Jim. Thank you.

ACOSTA: All right.

And we are monitoring the situation down in Houston for Kamala Harris' speech. We will bring that to you as soon as it happens.

But, in the meantime, Jennifer Aniston is no friend of Donald Trump's running mate. We're standing by for a response from J.D. Vance. That's coming up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[11:13:17]

ACOSTA: All right, you're seeing some live pictures there on your screen of the American Federation of Teachers conference that is happening right now in Houston, Vice President Kamala Harris expected to speak there shortly.

And in the meantime, a source telling CNN that former President Barack Obama is expected to endorse Harris for president soon, adding that the two have been in regular touch.

Let's discuss with CNN political commentator Maria Cardona, former RNC communications director Doug Heye, and CNN political commentator Jamal Simmons.

Jamal, I will start with you first. Usually, I start in the studio. I'm going to start with you, because you worked for the vice president. How big of a deal is this Obama endorsement, do you think?

JAMAL SIMMONS, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Look, it's a big deal. It's a big deal for anybody.

Barack Obama is an eminence in our party, much like -- not much like anyone else. He's the most recent president. Obviously, he's also the first person of color to be elected president of the United States. And so he has a sense about what it takes in order to do that.

Now, the vice president's got some unique challenges, right? She's at this intersection of being a woman and being a person of color. So she's going to have her own path that she has to forge here.

But it's something she's very used to. And I think one of the things I learned working for her is that she was very often the first to do any job she had, whether it was DA, where she prosecuted criminals all the time, like Donald Trump, who's got 34 felonies, or it was A.G., where she went after big companies that were defrauding people like Donald Trump, who had -- who ran an education company that defrauded people.

So she's been able to do this over and over again. And I think she will be able to do it again as she runs for president and holds Donald Trump accountable for all the things that he's done in this country that we all want to get past.

ACOSTA: Yes, and, obviously, the rhetoric is going to start flying. It already has started flying.

And, Maria, I do want to tell you about this, because this has sort of lit up social media in the last 12 hours. The actress Jennifer Aniston, who does not have children...

[11:15:03]

MARIA CARDONA, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Right.

ACOSTA: ... is going after J.D. Vance in his characterization at one point of Kamala Harris as a -- quote -- "childless cat lady."

That comment, of course, has been making the rounds over the last several days. And she says this. She put this on Instagram: "I truly can't believe this is coming from a potential V.P. of the United States. All I can say is, Mr. Vance, I pray that your daughter is fortunate enough to bear children of her own one day. I hope she will not need to turn to IVF as a second option, because you were trying to take that away from her too."

I mean, he may have thought that was a funny line at one point, but countless people were obviously offended by that...

CARDONA: Yes.

ACOSTA: ... people who have trouble having children and so on.

CARDONA: Yes.

ACOSTA: Yes.

CARDONA: Sadly, I don't think he thought it was a funny line. I think he was serious about that.

ACOSTA: Yes, maybe.

CARDONA: I think he really looks down on Americans who don't have the traditional-looking family. And that is something I think that is going to feed into why they have buyer's remorse about choosing J.D. Vance as their V.P. candidate.

Look, I think they are in a world of hurt. If this is how they are going to engage in this campaign where they know they have to add to their voters, they are subtracting every single day. Those kinds of comments -- and good for Jennifer Aniston for calling him out and for doing it in a very classy way.

And it really goes to the grain, right? He is offending millions of families who have families. They might not look the way that he thinks families should look, including the vice president's. She is a stepmom. That is a family. She is a mother. She does have children.

And, in fact, her husband's ex-wife came out to defend her to say that she absolutely is a present mother, co-parenting with her husband. And so I think that this -- that the ticket, the Republican ticket, Trump and Vance, and the whole Republican Party right now are looking at huge challenges trying to get to the voters that they need to win.

ACOSTA: Yes, we have Doug Emhoff's ex-wife. She came out in support of the vice president, saying this: "These are baseless attacks. For over 10 years, since Cole and Ella were teenagers. Kamala has been a co-parent with Doug and I. She is loving, nurturing, fiercely protective, and always present. I love our blended family and grateful to have her."

And, I mean, this is America, Doug. I mean, lots of families, all shapes and sizes, different variations, and so on. People get remarried, have kids.

But, Doug, I want to ask you, how smart is this, this DEI vice president stuff, this childless cat lady stuff? I mean, there's been a lot of talk about folks are going to have to win this race in the middle. And, sure, that might rev up the base, making these kinds of comments like that, as repugnant as they may be, but it just seems politically stupid.

CARDONA: Yes. DOUG HEYE, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: It's dumb, it's non-helpful,

and it doesn't have a political -- a positive political impact for your campaign.

And even worse than what you have mentioned, I saw a comment yesterday the day before of somebody on FOX Business who made a very vile and crude sexual remark about the vice president.

ACOSTA: Yes, I saw that.

(CROSSTALK)

CARDONA: You talked about that this morning.

HEYE: And, by the way, what does that have to do with -- what does that have to do with business? Nothing.

But the reality is, within the Republican Party now, there's a shits and giggles caucus. And you say these kinds of things because you get clicks and likes and hates and all that, you get noticed, and you go to that. So that's the DEI comment.

That's the sexual comment that the guy made. That's ultimately the cat lady comment. There's no real rationale behind it, except that you appeal to that limited part of the Adams family, part of the Republican Party that likes that. That's it.

ACOSTA: Yes.

And I do want to ask you, Jamal, because Trump has been out on the camp -- we haven't talked about -- I mean, one of the things that might be getting under Trump's skin is all this talk about Kamala Harris over the last several days, and he has really come out with some pretty nasty rhetoric.

Let's listen to what he had to say at his rally yesterday.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES (R) AND CURRENT U.S. PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I was supposed to be nice. If you don't mind, I'm not going to be nice.

Kamala Harris wants to be the president for savage criminals, illegal aliens. She's committing crimes. I'm the prosecutor, and he's the convicted felon. She couldn't pass her bar exam. She's totally against the Jewish people. She is a radical left lunatic who will destroy our country.

Kamala, you have done a terrible job. You have been terrible at everything you have done. You're ultra-liberal, and we don't want you here. We don't want you anywhere. Kamala, you're fired.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: Jamal, I don't know where to start there, but, I mean, he certainly knows how to pronounce her name.

But, I mean, the one piece of that montage that we had there was he said that she's against the Jewish people. Doug Emhoff, her husband, the second gentleman, is Jewish. So, I don't -- some of this stuff doesn't hold up, I guess.

SIMMONS: He is. He is. And that -- he is. And, as Maria talked about, so are her stepkids.

So for her to be against Jewish people would be being against the people that she loves the most, the people that are in her nuclear family. So, I think that just doesn't hold water. Listen, this isn't about that. This is about othering Kamala Harris.

[11:20:02]

And one thing that is a woman who is, here's a woman who is living the American story. She's a child of immigrants. She grew up and went to one of the best schools in the country, even though it's my rival school. She went to Howard University. I went to Morehouse. But she went to one of the best schools in the country.

She's achieved. She's got a lot of degrees. She became every -- at every level of government she could have, she achieved. And so to talk about that is to try to other her and say her story is not the American story, but her -- but because of her story, she's also very attached to other people's aspirations.

So she -- you hear her talking about -- it's in the ad they put up today. It's not just about getting by. It's about getting ahead. And she knows it's important for people to have the economic opportunity in order to take care of their families.

And that's what she's been talking about. When I worked for her, she spent a lot of time talking about infrastructure. We spent a lot of time talking about the children's tax credit, the child tax credit that was lifting families out of poverty.

She was meeting with union members in every city that we went to. You just saw the laborers have introduced her just -- endorsed her just in the last day. So we know that people who are working every day seeing Kamala Harris an ally who's going to help them achieve the things they want for their families.

HEYE: And, if I can say, Jim...

ACOSTA: Yes.

HEYE: ... Speaker Johnson said the other day, stay away from this DEI stuff. It's not helpful.

ACOSTA: Yes.

HEYE: Focus on the record and the facts. The RNC puts together what we call the book. It's an opposition research document. It can be hundreds of pages. There's so much material in there about her record as vice president,

attorney general, Senator. You have got the material right there. Use that.

CARDONA: And very quickly, Jim, last night, I moderated along with Maria Teresa Kumar, a call of Latina leaders. Up to 5,000 at one point had joined the call.

The energy and the mobilization and just the love for this woman who, as Jamal said, represented them, their families, their aspirations, where they wanted to go in this country, versus the dark, the existential threat that somebody like Donald Trump and now J.D. Vance, who are actually focused on the he-man, women's hater caucus, is something that is going to be a huge contrast going into this election.

ACOSTA: All right, we will all be watching it. And if you can, stick around, because we may be hearing from the vice president shortly. We can talk about that on the other side, as we're monitoring that down in Houston.

Maria, Jamal and Doug, thanks, all, to you, Appreciate it very much.

Coming up: Before President Biden left the race, he was losing critical support among black voters, and Donald Trump was gaining. Where do things stand right now with Harris on top of the ticket? We have some new polling just ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[11:27:18]

ACOSTA: This just into CNN. Vice President Kamala Harris is strongly denouncing those pro-Hamas demonstrators that we saw here in Washington yesterday, the ones who burned an American flag outside Union Station.

In a just-released statement, she said -- quote -- "I support the right to peacefully protest, but let's be clear. Antisemitism, hate and violence of any kind have no place in our nation." The vice president also called the American flag a symbol of our highest ideals and condemned any individuals who associated themselves with Hamas.

In the meantime, Donald Trump's running mate is facing an unprecedented political landscape. J.D. Vance was suddenly left without a Democratic counterpart after President Biden left the race, the upheaval creating a climate of uncertainty for the Trump campaign.

CNN's Steve Contorno joins us now. Steve, I'm not sure that the Biden campaign executed all of this, Biden leaving the race and Kamala Harris -- I don't think they scripted this out months ago, but it has left the Trump campaign a bit flat-footed here, just as Kamala Harris has taken the baton from Joe Biden.

STEVE CONTORNO, CNN REPORTER: Absolutely. They have been preparing for more than a year to go up against an 81-year-old unpopular incumbent, and suddenly they have a much more energetic, more youthful potential opponent.

And we have seen this reflected in how J.D. Vance has been forced to react to that new political reality. I mean, just think about what he's stepping into. Two days after -- or two days before he was the nominee, the former president was the subject of an assassination attempt.

And then, after he jumps in the race, he loses his Democratic counterpart on the other side. But what we have seen him do so far is testing some of these attack lines against Vice President Harris with the idea that she is going to be the likely nominee, going after her record, going after her association to the Biden administration.

We have also seen him forced to defend his own record, specifically on abortion. He is someone who has supported a federal abortion ban in the past.

ACOSTA: All right, Steve, I'm sorry to do this. We have got to go to Kamala Harris. She is about to speak there in Houston. I'm so sorry, Steve.

We will get back to you. Here's Vice President Harris. She's taking the stage in Houston in front of the American Federation of Teachers, the second largest teachers union in the country. And she's speaking now. Let's go to that live.

(MUSIC)

KAMALA HARRIS, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES (D) AND U.S. PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Good morning, AFT. Good morning.

(CHEERING)

(APPLAUSE)

HARRIS: Oh, my goodness, it's so good to be here. Please have a seat. Please have a seat. If you have a seat, please have a seat.

(CHEERING)

(APPLAUSE)

HARRIS: It is good to be in the house of labor.

[11:30:00]