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CNN Live Event/Special

Trump Makes First Appearance After Assassination Attempt; Biden Defends Decision To Stay In Presidential Race; Biden: Not Surprised by Judge Dismissing Classified Docs Case; Interview with Former Miami- Dade Judge Jeff Swartz; Police Snipers Inside Building where Gunman Shot at Trump; Interview with Louisville, Kentucky Mayor Craig Greenberg; Biggest Moments from Night One of the RNC. Aired 1-2a ET

Aired July 16, 2024 - 01:00   ET

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

[01:00:00]

LAURA COATES, CNN ANCHOR: A must see moment from night one indelible to the crowd watching Donald Trump, the Republican nominee for president walking out for the first time in public since that gunman tried to take his life appearing to be emotional. A white bandage covering his right ear, a reminder of just how close the would be assassins bullet came. I mean, just listen to the crowd when he emerged.

On that stage next to him was his newly chosen running mate, Ohio Senator J.D. Vance, the one-time self-proclaimed never Trumper turn now forever Trumper. Somewhere the bumper stickers are being printed right now.

Trump-Vance 2024, or for those who still have a Pence one, just do what Don Jr. posted Sharpie out the P for a V and the E for an A and voila. Vance, tonight shrugging off his well-documented critiques of his new boss. In fact, he thinks that those critiques are going to help the campaign.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. J.D. VANCE (R) VICE PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: I said some bad things about Donald Trump 10 years ago, but I think it's actually important to be able, again, to admit that you're wrong. You can make a good case to the American people, people who may have been skeptical of the president back in 2016. You can be skeptical now that we've seen the results.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COATES: Well, there is no doubt that everyone in that hall is united behind Donald Trump. But the race make no mistake about it is still tight, and there are plenty of voters and plenty of days left for the election, and those who reject Donald Trump and what he stands for irrespective of whether or not he's chosen his running mate.

The question now is whether the new Trump-Vance ticket can appeal to those who are undecided voters like here in the battleground state of Wisconsin or as they say, Wisconsin and beyond. Well, joining me here in Milwaukee, former Trump administration official Matt Mowers, CNN political commentator and former national coalition's director for the Biden-Harris 2020 campaign, Ashley Allison, national reporter for The Bulwark Marc Caputo and CNN senior political analyst Mark Preston.

Gosh, we're going to challenge all the diction tonight with all the different can we have less, it's him and him and her and him. OK, as we're doing right now.

So listen, first of all, we now know that he's picked his running mate. It is Senator J.D. Vance from Ohio, somebody who on Saturday came out to say that the rhetoric of President Biden directly contributed to the assassination on Trump. Meanwhile, Trump is saying he wants take a step back a message of unity. What do you make of this thick?

MATT MOWERS, FORMER TRUMP ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: Well, look, I mean, I think it does a few things. First and foremost, certainly injects youth into this campaign, we have had a lot of conversation about the age of the top of the ticket on both sides, certainly injects youth when the youngest vice presidents we could ever have in American history, if he's elected.

Certainly also brings a humble upbringing. I mean, everyone's now read Hillbilly Elegy. I'm sure every DNC staffer was required summer reading to learn all about him and everything he's ever written. And so I think he's going to bring that to the fold as well.

And so, you know, I think his rollout clearly was done in a Trumpian fashion held to the last minute done in front of an adoring crowd here at the Republican National Convention. I remember being in Cleveland eight years ago, and Donald Trump waited 48 hours before the convention to dominate Mike Pence. Today, he actually did at the convention, and I think it really sends if this was the Trump convention, right.

I mean, every speaker we saw tonight show that was about the working class. You had that President, the teamsters union night. That's all amplified by J.D. Vance. And that's the message the campaign's clearly trying to get out there. Right.

COATES: What's the message to undecided voters? Wait a second.

MOWERS: I think that side eye is official side eye.

COATES: I was getting to ask the question.

MOWERS: I saw a lot of nodding in agreement. Nod and agreement.

(CROSSTALK)

COATES: I'm going to ask a question with my eyes, and you're going to answer you're ready.

ASHLEY ALLISON, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, look, I mean, it's hard to believe that I was just sitting here 24 hours ago, having a totally different conversation about unity, about turning the rhetoric down, about how we build a bridge for it.

I have to say J.D. Vance is from my home state of Ohio. He put out one of the most aggressive tweets yesterday, attacking Democrats. So, I was taught as a little girl actions speak louder than words. And Trump's actions seem that he is picking someone who is not trying to turn the temperature down.

I also find it ironic that during the convention today when Mitch McConnell got to the microphone to call it during the roll, people booed Mitch McConnell, because, like at the national convention, the person who actually enabled Donald Trump to get three Supreme Court nominations he got booed on the floor, and some of J.D. Vance's behavior were somewhat similar to Mike Pence.

[01:05:02]

The difference is J.D. Vance said he learned the error of his ways. But I think some people are saying actually the error of your ways is supporting someone who still doesn't acknowledge the election results. Who still won't say January 6 was an insurrection. So I don't know where this unity is going at this point.

COATES: Mark Preston, I'm going to ask you to listen to what J.D. Vance in his first interview since his VP nomination on Fox. Listen what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VANCE: What are Democrats running on lies and complete distortions of people's records, Kamala Harris has allowed America to be saddled with a president who clearly doesn't have the middle capacity to do the job. And the only way to punish the Democrats from lying about Joe Biden's health and saddling us with an incapacitated president is to vote them out of office at every level come November.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COATES: So this is his job. He attacked of it?

MARK PRESTON, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Right. Yes, but that's the job of every vice president. I mean, it's a pick in many ways, right? They're the ones who have to go out, try to do the dirty work, try to bolster up, you know, their running mate. You know, Matt was talking about the party and how things have kind of changed a little bit. I got to tell you, just sitting in the bowl tonight and watching people walk around and around and around.

Again, I have spent a lot of many years covering campaigns. I got to tell you, I had a very hard time knowing very many people in there. The party has changed so much from 2016 to where we are now in the folks who are actually active in the party and participating party. That doesn't mean that there still isn't, you know, this Mitch McConnell wing of the party, but clearly we saw what happened to that Mitch McConnell wing of the party, they're getting booed out on. It has become -- it is no longer the GOP. It really is the MAGA party. COATES: Well, more on this and much longer. I want to hold on because I'm going to who does know who we're talking about Senator JD Vance. Let's bring him J.D. Vance's former college roommate or law school roommate at Yale Law School, Josh McLaurin. He's also a democratic state senator in Georgia.

Senator McLaurin, thank you for joining us this evening. First of all, are you surprised that he is now the running mate of Donald Trump?

JOSH MCLAURIN (D) GEORGIA STATE SENATOR: Hi, Laura, thanks so much. No, I totally expected this. Because I know J.D. to be an angry person. I think he controlled his anger more in law school when I had the chance to know Him. But it's really been unleashed now. You heard it yourself just a minute ago. He didn't say let's elect Donald Trump and make things better for people. He said, let's elect Donald Trump to punish Joe Biden and Kamala Harris.

Now that framing is vindictive. It's about revenge. And he's unapologetic about that. Now. I think the comments I heard on the panel basically track my experience, which is he is in this to vindicate anger. And that's the thing I want Americans to understand the most about JD. It's one thing to be a hypocrite. Look, politicians flip flop, right. It's another thing to play that role of a tech dog with such a viciousness, that something really different is going on.

COATES: Senator McLaurin, I want to read for you something that he texted you, J.D. Vance texted you back in 2016, of what he thought of Trump, and he said, quote, I go back and forth between thinking Trump is a cynical asshole like Nixon, who wouldn't be that bad or that he's America's Hitler. These are the words that he wrote to you.

I mean, you mentioned the idea of one might be a hypocrite or otherwise. But how does a man go from calling someone a phrase like America's Hitler, to a full throated supporter standing beside him as a running a political ambition is one thing. That's a hell of a term?

MCLAURIN: I couldn't agree with you completely. I think what you saw with a lot of Republican elected officials was just sort of like a generic flip flop, right? Well, He's our guy. So now we got to go with him. But how many people really texted their former roommates to say, this guy could be Hitler? I mean, clearly, J.D. has some kind of insight. I mean, he's a student of history. He's a very smart guy. I remember having thoughtful conversations with them. It's not like he didn't get this. He got it, not just back in 2016. But back in 2010- 2011, when he was forming relationships with a lot of law students and graduates who are now you know, very liberal, some of those relationships he maintained for many years after that.

So it's not like he's not capable of getting the right answer. It's just that he has decided to forego all of that insight, all of that emotional intelligence, and direct his intelligence and his skill at this agenda. This goal. I have to think, and again, I've been talking about a long time, but you see how publicly angry he is and filled with contempt. I think he just realized in 2016 that when the Republican Party went the direction of the content of Donald Trump, that he had to go along with it. I mean, he's got interviews where he says, I just had to suck it up and support Trump.

And I think what would it mean for him personally, is that all that anger he's carrying around, he gets to bring that to bear in being vindictive being that attack dog and making Trumpism an even more potent of form going into the second term.

COATES: State senator Josh McLaurin, thank you for your perspective. I want to bring back I can the panel here.

[01:10:00]

And Matt me go to you first because obviously the vantage point of somebody who knew him personally hasn't spoken to him in a long time. There are going to be voters who voted for J.D. Vance, who will say what you're calling anger. I'm calling passion representative of what it is I want. But there is a very different moment here for what Vance is saying versus what we're being told Trump is evolving towards?

MOWERS: Well, in some ways, it actually gives Donald Trump the ability to go out there and be a unifying figure. And here's why touch on one point Mark made. The traditional role of the vice presidential nominee is to be the attack dog, you then have a presidential nominee you can kind of rise above it, they can be the unifier.

And so in a lot of ways, Donald Trump has taken the opposite, right. He has never found a ball going by him that he has not been afraid to swing it himself. If this now gives them a chance, especially after what happened on Saturday. Lots of eyeballs will be looking at watching that speech on Thursday, they'll be looking for tone as much as substance. They're going to try to see is a softer, gentler Donald Trump to some degree, and then he's still a J.D. Vance out there, who's going to go out there and be able to articulate the case against Joe Biden, who's then also going to be able to fire up the base, that time that maybe frees up Donald Trump to reach out to some new voters he hasn't had in the last few cycles.

COATES: And yes, America, we do have our own laugh track going on behind us.

(CROSSTALK)

COATES: Now to reflect everyone's hidden CNN girl, I love it. Let me ask you about this, this idea of the cover the political cover of being able to have your attacks. I do wonder how this plays between vice president Kamala Harris and J.D. Vance, should there be a maybe a debate or otherwise, if they're both -- with the role of both them is going to be attack dog and the presidential candidates are going to be the ones talking about civility? How do they match up?

MARC CAPUTO, NATIONAL POLITICAL REPORTER, THE BULWARK: I have absolutely no idea.

COATES: OK, next question.

CAPUTO: Out of all the things. Out of all the things I want to see.

PRESTON: We did somebody new.

COATES: Excuse me.

CAPUTO: All the things I want to see, I want to see that. That is a debate that I'm not sure J.D. Vance will be used to having. One of the things that Marco Rubio who was a shortlist for Trump to be his vice presidential candidate is someone who actually had debated a black woman.

J.D. Vance has no experience with that. He comes from a very white area. He's had no experience dealing with those sorts of racial politics. He's very used to talking about the dispossessed white working class and issues that are very important to white people.

Yes, in 2016. If you look at his messages, and you look at the things he said criticizing Trump at the time, he talked about the importance of being more of a unifying figure and the difficulties of trusting Trump, because of the way Trump handled minorities.

However, now he's fully on the Trump train, and which J.D. Vance is going to show up. I think Kamala Harris will be well prepared for that. But at the same time, J.D. Vance is very smart. And I can't wait to watch.

COATES: Are we still in a world where the idea of having to present oneself according to the audience and your opponent is going to be valued the same way? I mean, women in politics, black women in politics, in particular, treated differently. Will this be different?

ALLISON: No. I mean, it hasn't been different for Kamala Harris, the last three and a half years. She's been vice president. Here's the thing. I've --

CAPUTO: She had -- I'm sorry. She handled Pence well.

ALLISON: Oh yes, she took them to task like she took Brett Kavanaugh attack. I mean, she is a prosecutor and chief. And so I think she's going to be able to do great on this debate stage. The thing that I think is a little bit different from what the Republicans are going to do this cycle with maybe Trump and 2016. And in 2020, was the attacks off. If he's going to present this united front, maybe Vance takes that role.

Joe Biden needs to still be on the attack. There's this question about, does he have the strength, does he have, so he can't be -- he has to still feel like he can confront Trump, debate him on the issues. Be strong. I am the commander in chief. I have control of this country. And let Kamala Harris say, I am prepared in the event. What a number two will do. And I think there's difference again.

PRESTON: Here's the difference. Here's the difference right now between Democrats and Republicans when the shooting occurred, Democrats started saying we're going to take down our ads and, you know, the messaging from the Biden campaign to staffers was lower the temperature, let's make sure we're not fundraising. What do we see President Trump does? He goes out just starts fundraising right away. COATES: Yes.

PRESTON: Doesn't care just follows right through it is like literally going to a fist fight. Republicans are going to fist fight right now with a knife. Democrats right now we're trying to figure out if they, you know, they're going to try to fight with their right fist or their left fist. And if they're going to win the fight, they better show up with a knife or a baseball bat or something.

COATES: I just I just don't see a world where former President Donald Trump delegates all attacks on responsibility anyway. And it would be something that would not appeal to those who have supported him. I mean, there's ways to attack productively. We'll see if everyone can do it.

Stand by everyone, please. President Biden trying to undercut Donald Trump's message at the RNC by having an interview with NBC, how he's getting some of his language and going after the former president. Next.

[01:15:04]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, U.S. PRESIDENT: I'm not the guy that said, I want to be a dictator on day one. I'm not the guy that refused to accept the outcome of the election. I'm not the guy who said that one accept the outcome of this election.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LESTER HOLT, NBC NEWS ANCHOR: What do you listen to on deeply personal issues like the decisions whether to stay in the race or not?

BIDEN: Me.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COATES: Tonight, President Biden counterprogramming part of the RNC answering doubts about his candidacy and political violence and an interview with NBC News. After the attempted assassination of Trump Biden defended some of his own rhetoric but says it was a mistake to use one particular word.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HOLT: A week ago you said it's time to put Trump in the bullseye. There's some dispute about the context, but I think you appreciate that word --

BIDEN: I didn't say crosshairs. That's I'm focus on. Look, the truth of the matter is what I guess I was talking about at the time was there was very little focus on Trump's agenda.

HOLT: You have the term bullseye.

BIDEN: It was a mistake for --

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COATES: And Biden is emphatic that he is staying in the race after his shaky debate performance and he is seen nothing, nothing to change his mind.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BIDEN: If you're looking all the polling, the polling data shows a lot of different things. But there's no wide gap between us. It's essentially a toss-up race.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[01:20:05]

COATES: In public, the calls for Biden to step aside have quieted since Trump was grazed by that bullet. But new tonight, CNN's John King reports that some Democrats are continuing their efforts to try to nudge the president to bail out of the race, but they're doing it in private.

My panel is back with me along with congressional reporter for The Hill, Mychael Schnell and CNN senior data reporter, Harry Enten. Well, first of all, let's talk about what just happened in the -- interview with Lester Holt. He is saying if the boy it's his decision, he will consult himself. It's him who will make this call. You ever reported on Capitol Hill? This is something that I think members of the Legislative Branch want to change.

MYCHAEL SCHNELL, CONGRESSIONAL REPORTE, THE HILL: Yes, I mean, this is sort of been the dynamic we've been dealing with, since the debate, President Biden being consistent saying he has made his decision he's remaining in the race. But those statements didn't stop. Former Speaker Nancy Pelosi recently saying that the ball is in President Biden's court, he has to make a decision.

Look, I think that it's possible that we still will see these democrats try to nudge him out of the nomination. But I don't think it's going to happen as the RNC is happening in Milwaukee right now. I had spoken to a House Democrat last week before the Trump rally shooting on Saturday, who said to me, who suggested that they were in favor of Biden leaving the ticket he said, I don't want to deal with this during the RNC. I want the attention to be squarely focused on Republicans and their con fab and their platform. I want that to happen. And then we can have this discussion. Republicans -- Democrats wanted to keep the focus on the RNC right now. It seems like that is working in their favor.

COATES: Yes, Ashley, CNN's John King has some reporting. And that democratic pollster Stanley Greenberg is actually one of those behind this private effort to try to nudge by not to take any sharing polling, and one democratic source called devastating. Are you hearing something similar?

ALLISON: Look, I think it depends on who you ask and how you want to read a poll. So, there are clearly Democrats that are saying publicly, or they were at least publicly, and some privately that they think Joe Biden to say, to drop out the race.

But simultaneously, there is still a significant amount of Democrats who have not come out publicly and who privately are saying no, we feel like we need a path for it. I have only seen snippets of the interview with Lester Holt. And I think he did a pretty good job from what I saw.

The one thing I probably would have changed in his answer is when he said, who decides who stays in the race? Yes, it's a personal decision. But he should have also said the voters and not and not like his -- this narrative of this inner circle that's around him that's protecting him, like this deep state. That's like telling Joe Biden and saying. It's the voters because he's working for the people.

And I think the way if people can actually change, Democrats can change the narrative and make it about the people we can win in November. But how all about self --

COATES: Let me ask you, Ashley, how do -- how will he hear from voters before November? I mean, that's part of the conundrum, right? He's saying himself, and I'm not putting words into his mouth. But he's saying he's making the decision and trying to get rid of that notion of insular and insiders. The voters spoke when they said that he should be the nominee. And this week again in November, what's his barometer truly?

ALLISON: Well, you go out, you meet people where they are. He's not just a candidate but he is the leader of the free world. So he should be engaging in roundtables and communities. You should be walking into barbershops and beauty salons, he should be going and getting his favorite thing ice cream, and talking to the people in middle America, in the south, in the cities to have a real conversation.

And when you do, people are candid. I have worked for President -- I've worked for presidents before, actually. And when you actually sit down and you take the facade of like the Roosevelt Room or the Oval Office, and you meet people in their community, they are not -- they're unafraid to say how they are really feeling and I think you get a good barometer.

HARRY ENTEN, CNN SENIOR DATA REPORTER: A few things. Number one, your talk of ice cream at this particular hours.

COATES: It's rude.

ENTEN: It's rude and it's making me hungry.

ALLISON: I'm lactose intolerance so it doesn't matter.

SCHNELL: Doing that thoughts.

MOWERS: We're in Wisconsin right now.

COATES: I think last day makes --

ENTEN: Pastured would be my preference in Wisconsin. But look, here's the deal. Number one, you said, you know, it's about the people. Well, it was about the people during the primary. He got the votes, he has the delegates. And now if anyone's going to step aside, make that decision. It's going to be Joe Biden.

But to the thing that just is so bizarre to me about all of this is the polling actually doesn't look vastly different than it did before the debate. The problem was, was that Democrats some had some notion in their mind that Biden is going to come out in this debate stage and kind of assuage fears about him being too old.

But the fact is, the vast majority of voters thought before the debate he was too old to be an effective president for New York Times Siena College. Well, that number has shifted a little bit up. You know, we spoke about those numbers last week or but they haven't changed tremendously at all.

So, at the end of the day, the question I really have is, what were Democrats thinking beforehand? Why weren't they more critical of Joe Biden during the primary season when they could have actually chosen another nominee instead of somehow relying on some Aaron Sorkin type of maneuver to somehow remove them as the Democratic nominee.

[01:25:10]

Now as we stand, what is it only?

ALLISON: 37 days.

ENTEN: A little bit -- 37 days? I mean, come on.

COATES: Well, let me play a play for a second here because Biden tonight was talking about the attempt on Donald Trump's life and how it could affect the campaign. The election is 111 days away at this point in time. Listen to what he had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HOLT: Has this shooting changed the trajectory of this race?

BIDEN: I don't know. And you don't know either.

HOLT: I don't know, but --

BIDEN: No. No, I -- I --

HOLT: Have you -- it's something you've given thought to?

BIDEN: No. I've thought less about the trajectory of the case than two things. One, what his health is, that was secure, number one. And number two, what happens from here on in terms of the kind of coverage that the president and vice president and former president and new vice president get in terms of -- look, I've never seen a circumstance where you ride through certain rural areas of the country and people have signs there stand big Trump signs with -- middle signs saying "F Biden" and the little kid standing there putting up his middle finger.

I mean, that's the kind of stuff that is just inflammatory and a kind of viciousness. It's a very different thing than saying, Look, I really disagree with Trump's the way he takes care of taxes, the way he has -- wants a $5 trillion tax cut for people who are making a lot of money next time around. Doesn't focus on working-class people.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COATES: Matt, is he making the case well enough to the American people?

MOWERS: I don't think so. I think the only thing the President stated very clearly, obviously, is which we don't really know the impact of what happened Saturday on this race yet. In my opinion, I think the opinion of the Trump campaign, if you're seeing the messages that are coming out with the messaging that President Trump is coming out with himself. He's getting a second look likely from a number of voters who maybe thought they made up their mind about Donald Trump a long time ago.

A lot of voters who said, you know, we keep talking about the doubleheader voter, right. The voters are saying, you know, I don't like Joe Biden, I don't like Donald Trump. A lot of them are going to tune in Thursday night to say, you know, maybe we should judge Donald Trump differently. You know, the moment he got up after he was grazed with that bullet, after he was shot and raised his fist. That was an iconic moment that really stood for something more than just a message for supporters of a MAGA movement or people were at the rally. It's an American moment.

I mean, we had a presidential nominee shot on Saturday from an attempted assassination yet they got up and stood up and said, I'm not going to be taken down by this and we shouldn't be either. That could be an American moment. If Donald Trump chooses to turn it into one, I think we'll see that on Thursday night.

COATES: Well, listen, you know, it was almost 72 hours ago, this happened. We're almost 72 hours from this speech. That will be very important. If you think that debate and focus on Joe Biden is going to be important in the American public trying to assess what they think about a candidate. Thursday will be yet another litmus test.

Standby everyone and up next, a huge legal win for Donald Trump. Judge Aileen Cannon dismissing Jack Smith's classified documents case against the former president. So what happens now? We'll discuss.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[01:31:25] LAURA COATES, CNN HOST: Well tonight, President Biden is weighing in on the ruling that ripped apart the classified documents case against Donald Trump. Just hours before the RNC began, Judge Aileen Cannon decided to throw out special counsel Jack Smith's entire case.

She argues Smith's appointment as special counsel goes against the constitution. Now President Biden says, "The writing was on the wall."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I'm not surprised. It comes from the immunity decision in the Supreme Court ruled on and Clarence Thomas in a dissent said that independent prosecutors appointed by the attorney general aren't legit. That's the basis on which this judge moved to dismiss.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COATES: It's important to note that Justice Thomas' opinion was actually a concurring opinion, not a dissent. And Jack Smith is vowing to appeal Cannons ruling. His office says the decision flies in the face of long-standing precedent.

Joining me now from Miami-Dade County, Court Judge Jeff Swartz. Jeff, thank you so much for being here, Your Honor.

A very consequential decision. Indeed, this decision by Judge Cannon, it goes against court decisions that stretched back really decades. And when you read this, I think it was 93 pages, what stood out most to you?

JUDGE JEFF SWARTZ, FORMER JUDGE, MIAMI-DADE COUNTY: The fact that she based her whole decision on just what you talked about, just one statement in a concurring opinion by Justice Thomas, which was not concurred with by anybody else on the court.

And the fact that she would take that and spin that the way she did, tie it together with Relentless versus Secretary of Commerce case and say, ok, this is an overreach. We interpret what the statute means, not the attorney general.

And as a result of which just decided I'm going to set aside his order of appointment and end this all together.

COATES: The idea behind having a special counsel is really to fatally undermine anyone's accusation that this is going to be a political endeavor. That's the premise of having somebody not under the pleasure of the president of the United States otherwise.

SWARTZ: Yes.

COATES: What she is now ordering would destroy that principle.

SWARTZ: It destroys that principle no differently than the immunity case did. By taking on the idea and also the Relentless case, the idea that now a department an agency, which the Department of Justice is, has no right to interpret statutes that control what they do.

They have no right and there should be no deference to them. The court took a -- had a really big grab of power, a power grab in that case, and decided to overturn Chevron. And when they did that, they basically just decided that they're the ones that are going to decide what the statutes mean and interfere with the business of the executive branch. And that's exactly what they did here. And she did here.

COATES: What you describe is sort of the culmination of collateral damage and the domino effect at play here with just a series of cases.

But there is also Jack Smith's office saying that they will appeal and there are still other cases he's working on. Of course, the one out of Washington, D.C. the election interference matter.

SWARTZ: Right.

[01:34:48]

COATES: Do you think that he will be successful in appeal out of this classified documents case.

SWARTZ: I'm not sure that he can be the person for DOJ to do that. There was no stay placed on her order.

And as of right now, the order of appointment has no basis for him to do anything in the case that involves the documents on the East Coast.

So it really may fall upon DOJ to defend Garland's order. And that would be the solicitor general's office.

This case has absolutely in her ruling has nothing to do with what Judge Chutkan will do. She's already ruled on this issue as have many other judges, including the Hunter Biden case. The Ninth Circuit is not going to go with the direction that this judge has gone. She's pretty much standing alone against almost everybody who's ruled on this issue now and in the past.

COATES: And that 11th Circuit has in the past scolded her in terms of an opinion on an issue related to this matter, a special master or whether there will be a subsequent wrist slap, so to speak, will be telling but one thing's for sure, Judge Jeff Swartz, the time and the timing of all this has just been kicked perhaps indefinitely down the road.

Judge Jeff Swartz, thank you so much.

SWARTZ: Yes. Nice seeing you Laura. Have a nice night.

COATES: Thank you. You, too.

Ahead, there are new details now that we are learning this evening into the investigation into the assassination attempt against Donald Trump. We're learning that a local sniper team was actually inside the building where the gunman climbed on the roof. Plus someone who went through a different assassination attempt joins me to explain what it's like to survive one.

Louisville Mayor Craig Greenberg is my guest next.

[01:36:38]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COATES: Well, just in to CNN, law enforcement snipers were stationed inside the building where a gunman climbed to the roof to attempt to assassinate former President Trump. That's coming from a source familiar with the investigation, who is saying the team was from the Butler County Emergency Services unit. They were stationed on the second floor providing overwatch of the rally crowd.

This new information coming as Secret Service director Kimberly Cheatle insists, quote, "the buck stops with me" and that she plans to stay on as director.

But questions are swirling around how a shooter could have gotten about 130 yards away from the former president of the United States with a rifle trained in his head.

President Biden asked tonight if he feels safe under their protection, his answer yes.

Now as for the investigations with the assassination attempt, there are still more questions than answers. The FBI has successfully gained entry into the phone of the alleged shooter and have collected hundreds of (INAUDIBLE) with his family and also his friends.

So law enforcement sources say they still have not found a motive.

My next guest is a survivor of an alleged assassination attempt that happened in 2022 in Louisville, Kentucky when a man walked into Craig Greenberg's campaign headquarters.

Greenberg and his team were having their morning meeting when they asked the man if they could help him. At that point, the man pulled out a gun aimed it right at Greenberg and started firing. Now, Greenberg and his staff emerged from the shooting, mostly unscathed. That is until Greenberg later realized a bullet had gone through his sweater and t-shirt.

He is now the mayor of Louisville, Kentucky. Mayor Craig Greenberg, thank you so much for being with me this evening. Louisville, one of my favorite cities. I'm so sorry to have you on to think about that moment in time, but thank you for joining us.

MAYOR CRAIG GREENBERG, LOUISVILLE, KENTUCKY: Thanks for having me, Laura.

COATES: You know, that unbelievable moment, that attempt on your life, it must have been particularly triggering to see the events of this past Saturday and knowing about the political rhetoric and the climate that we all find ourselves in.

I do wonder in retrospect how did that experience change you, if at all?

GREENBERG: Well, it definitely changed me, Laura. Just as I'm sure experiencing gun violence changes everyone who is at the wrong end of a gun. It's certainly changed me a lot.

One thing it did was it gave me a stronger resolve than I ever had before to try to work to end this gun violence that continues to plague our country.

Whether it's in politics or whether it's in any part of life, gun violence has no place in America. And so I'm really hoping that maybe finally this assassination attempt on President Trump is the wake-up call that people like me continuously hope for every time there's a heinous act of gun violence.

COATES: You know, Mayor Greenberg, it instantly struck me as a mother knowing that my children were getting ready to see the events unfold as children across his country, parents across the globe were watching and already so accustomed to talking about sadly, gun violence in this country, there is something particularly unnerving about having it happen to a former president of the United States, presumably notably one of the most safest people in the entire world.

And it's not just an instance of what happens Saturday, but we have seen other instances of political violence in recent years. You've mentioned just a few. But the attack on Nancy Pelosi's husband, Congressman Steve Scalise shot at the congressional baseball game.

And sadly, we could spend the better part of an hour talking about various instances and I haven't heard enough people talking about this under the guise of, and discussion point of gun violence. Why do you think this keeps happening in this country?

GREENBERG: Well it's unfortunate, Laura, because I think every time there is an act our country right now is so divided. It's so divided about an issue like gun violence. It's so divided about issues like abortion and other things that that's one of the reasons why the temperature needs to be lowered, why we need to do every one of us, whether we're in elected office, whether we're running for an office, or whether we're just someone who occasionally talks about political issues.

I think we all should do more listening and learning from one another. And that will help lower the temperature. If we listen and learn from one another we can reach common ground.

[01:44:49]

GREENBERG: Because I firmly believe whether you're Democrat or Republican or Independent, we all want the same things. We all want to end gun violence. We all want to improve public education. We all want to end homelessness. We all want good-paying jobs close to our homes. So if we all agree on those things, lets listen and learn from one another. Let's treat each other with respect. And let's find some common ground so we can finally make progress on some of these key issues that are dividing our country right now.

(CROSSTALKING)

COATES: I am curious given the fact that we are going to be hearing from a former president Donald Trump. He is slated to give an extraordinarily important and impactful speech. Hopefully in a few days at the RNC.

He's made an appearance, of course, here tonight. It's the first public appearance and speech since the assassination attempt on him. Given what you've just told me tonight, if you could speak to former President Trump with your own experience in having been the victim of gun violence and knowing what it's like to be a leader in a community, what would you tell him is the most important thing to say?

GREENBERG: Well first, I do want to express my wishes for a speedy and full recovery to President Trump. My thoughts are with him and his entire family.

What he and his family are going through right now, I recall all too well, those memories and the physical feelings of surviving an assassination attempt.

And I would encourage Mr. Trump to use that now new personal experience of his to reach across the aisle, to be a willing participant as the leader of the Republican Party, to work with Democrats, Independents in Congress and state halls and city governments like mine, to end this gun violence epidemic that's plaguing our country.

COATES: Mayor Craig Greenberg, thank you so much. I'll be curious to see if he follows that advice. Thank you so much.

GREENBERG: Thank you, Laura.

COATES: Up next, the other big moments of the night. One of the RNC from Mitch McConnell getting booed to a big speech from Amber Rose.

We're back in a moment.

[01:46:59]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COATES: A presidential nominee confirmed, a vice-presidential pick finally announced, and primetime appeals to voters all across the country, Republican or not. A lot happened on day one of the Republican National Convention. And here are three more days of nonstop action to come.

My panel is back with me.

I do wonder, we've got the lightning round, what were the moments for all of you that stood out today and makes you think this was a day?

MARK PRESTON, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Look, it didn't happen on the floor. It happened in the hallways right before JD Vance met up with Donald Trump and made the grand entrance. The people in the hallways were losing their minds because a, they're in this view of this vice-presidential candidate, but even more so, I think that they saw Donald Trump in there.

And there was just this excitement that they just don't feel, like you just don't you haven't felt this kind of political excitement on just a political level in such a long time.

There's been so much anger and hatred that have kind of gone through our politics. It's kind nice to see that.

COATES: This ticket is set?

HARRY ENTEN, CNN SENIOR DATA REPORTER: Look, I think for me the big thing that's interesting was the religious overtones and undertones of this particular evening, which is very interesting to me because yes, that matches a Republican Party, I think a lot of us are used to, but maybe not the Republican Party of today nearly as much.

You know, I was -- I mentioned earlier on looking at the GOP platform, right? Mentions of abortion, way down from eight years ago; mentions of marriage, way down from eight years ago.

So to see that and to hear that this evening reminds us that this is still a Republican Party whose base is white Evangelical voters.

And so I think we saw that tonight. That's going to be very interesting after the failed assassination attempt and all dimensions of God sort of guiding that bullet away from Donald Trump by a lot of folks within the Republican ranks.

Whether or not perhaps Trump takes on a little bit of different rhetoric going forward, whether the night's a one-off, or whether it's something that we see going forward.

COATES: I mean, Evangelicals has always been important in a presidential race. And certainly when it came to the issues of reproductive rights, it was particularly important in 2016 and 2020 prior to the overturning of Roe v Wade.

ASHLEY ALLISON, FORMER NATIONAL COALITIONS DIRECTOR, BIDEN-HARRIS 2020: And yet you had Amber Rose on the stage today. I mean, I think it was kind of comical. The Republican Party is doing this, making his effort to court black voters. And I think that Amber Rose was an attempt and it was a failed attempt. Amber Rose is not where the culture is. It's not the person that black voters are going to take their political cues for. And it just was weird, quite honestly.

And so when you when you talk in the group chats, when you're on Twitter, when you're just having conversations, people are like, what did she say? Like these are my people and were like, ok, go ahead. COATES: But what do you see -- and I want to play for a second what

she had to say to orient that more. Listen to what she had to say on that stage.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

AMBER ROSE, INFLUENCER: The left told me to hate Trump. And even worse to hate the other side, the people who support him. And when you cut through the lies, you realize the truth. American families were better when Donald Trump was president.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COATES: You know, there were some who were very complimentary of what she did today, including our own Van Jones at CNN and talked about her appealing to the notion in particular of sort of the epiphany generation.

What did you make of that?

ASHLEY: I don't agree with Van on it. I mean I don't and my group chats don't either. So, you know, Van is open to have his opinion. I'm cool with Van. But not -- we don't agree on this.

COATES: Well, you know, what do you think of the idea of having the spread of people that were on tonight. I mean, these were a series of speeches --

(CROSSTALKING)

COATES: -- a series of people, they're trying to appeal to a larger base. To Ashley's point be very careful who your audience is and who's going to be coming out to vote?

MATT MOWERS, FORMER TRUMP ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: Well look, I've been to every Republican convention since 2004, with the exception of one that happened because of COVID, right, in 2020.

This was the most racially diverse group of speakers I've ever seen in a Republican National Convention, significantly more blue collar. This certainly was not the Mitt Romney convention, right?

[01:54:49]

MOWERS: I mean, if you go back to 2012, our economic night was a bunch of business owners. Tonight, you heard from a lot of workers. You had the president of Teamsters who were there speaking in a Republican National Convention talking about Donald Trump opening the doors of the Republican Party but it was really the amalgam (ph) I think of the speakers.

And also on the point that if you look at who they put in prime time, it was none of the politicians, none of the governors, none of the senators. It was literally the focus of everyday people.

And you know, traditionally those were kind of interspersed during the daytime programming of the conventions. They put them front and center spotlight speaks to who Donald Trump and his campaign are trying to go after, right?

COATES: Well, you know, at this point in time, 100 and what, 11 days away from the presidential election, trying to have a bigger tent that, that number made your like head spin back.

PRESTON: I don't know.

(CROSSTALKING)

PRESTON: -- kind of gets thrown out this morning that I still don't remember.

COATES: Yes.

ENTEN: What?

COATES: There's a lot going on this and what --

ALLISON: So much.

COATES: -- this is just day one. Thank you, everyone so much. And thank you all for watching.

CNN's coverage of the RNC continues next.

But first, we leave you is some of the highlights from day one.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We are going to try to unite this country.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The greatest president that's ever lived, hereby declaring him the Republican nominee for president of the United States of America.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: My honor to nominate Ohio Senator JD Vance for the office of vice president of the United States of America.

SEN. TIM SCOTT (R-SC): If you didn't believe in miracles before Saturday, you better be believing right now.

ROSE: Donald Trump and his supporters don't care if you're black, white, gay, or straight. It's all love. That's when it hit me. These are my people. This is where I belong.

SCOTT: An American lion got back up on his feet and he roared.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[01:56:48]

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