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CNN Live Event/Special
President Biden Speaks at the First Night of the Democratic National Convention. Biden Reflects on His Legacy in Emotional DNC Speech; Fact-Checking Biden's Speech. Aired 12-1a ET
Aired August 20, 2024 - 00:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[00:00:00]
JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I'm proud that I've kept my commitment to having an administration that looks like America, and that taps in to the full talent of our nation. The most diverse cabinet in history, including the first black woman and South Asian descent to serve as vice president.
(CHEERING)
(APPLAUSE)
BIDEN: And will soon serve as the 47th president of the United States.
(CHEERING)
(APPLAUSE)
BIDEN: She is good. Look.
(CROWD CHANTING "THANK YOU, JOE!")
BIDEN: Thank you, Kamala.
(CROWD CHANTING "THANK YOU, JOE!")
BIDEN: Folks, I have long said we have many obligations as a nation. But I got in trouble years ago for saying I'd make no apologies. We have only one truly sacred obligation. To prepare and equip those we send to war and care for them and their families when they come home and when they don't.
(CHEERING)
(APPLAUSE)
BIDEN: That's why I was so proud to have written and signed the PACT Act.
(CHEERING)
(APPLAUSE)
BIDEN: One of the most significant laws ever, helping veterans and their families exposed to toxic materials like burn pits and Agent Orange.
I was around during the Vietnam War. It's hard. Nobody was able to prove that there's illness as a consequence of Agent Orange. And no one was able to prove initially that because they lived in burn pits like my son lived next to in Iraq for a year, that is the cause of their illness. But because of the PACT Act, a surviving spouse with two children is now eligible for a stipend of about $3,000 a month.
(CHEERING)
(APPLAUSE)
BIDEN: And those children who lost a parent are eligible for tuition benefits to go to college and to get job training.
(CHEERING)
(APPLAUSE)
BIDEN: It's already helping over one million veterans and their families just so far.
(CHEERING)
(APPLAUSE)
BIDEN: Well, I love them, and I was so proud of my son's service. We get it.
But guess who doesn't get it and doesn't respect our veterans? We know from his own chief of staff, a four-star general, John Kelly, that Trump, when in Europe, would not go to the gravesites in one of -- in France.
CROWD MEMBER: Coward!
BIDEN: The brave service members who gave their lives to this country, he called them suckers and losers. Who in the hell does he think he is?
(BOOING)
BIDEN: Who does he think he is?
(BOOING)
BIDEN: There's no words for a person -- they are not the words of a person not worthy of being commander in chief, period.
(BOOING)
BIDEN: Not then, not now, and not ever.
(CHEERING)
(APPLAUSE) BIDEN: I mean that. I mean that from the bottom of my heart.
(CHEERING)
(APPLAUSE)
BIDEN: Just as no commander-in-chief should ever bow down to a dictator the way Trump bows down to Putin. I never have, and I promise you, Kamala Harris will never do it.
(CHEERING)
(APPLAUSE)
BIDEN: Will never bow down.
(CHEERING)
(APPLAUSE)
BIDEN: When Trump left office, Europe and NATO was in tatters. Not a joke. America first doctrine changed our whole image in the world.
Well, I have spent -- they gave the hours, about 190 hours sum total, visiting with my counterparts or heads of state in Europe to strengthen NATO. We did. We united Europe, like it hasn't been united for years, adding Finland and Sweden to NATO.
(CHEERING)
(APPLAUSE)
BIDEN: Ten days before he died, Henry Kissinger called and said, not since Napoleon has Europe not looked over the shoulder at Russia with dread, until now. Until now.
(CHEERING)
(APPLAUSE)
BIDEN: Well, guess what? Putin thought he'd take Kyiv in three days. Three years later, Ukraine is still free.
(CHEERING)
(APPLAUSE)
BIDEN: When I came to office, the conventional wisdom was that China would inevitably surpass the United States.
[00:05:07]
If you haven't noticed, no one's saying that now.
(CHEERING)
(APPLAUSE)
BIDEN: And we will keep working to bring hostages home and end the war in Gaza.
(CHEERING)
(APPLAUSE)
BIDEN: And bring peace and security to the Middle East.
(APPLAUSE)
BIDEN: As you know, I wrote a peace treaty for Gaza. A few days ago, I put forward a proposal that brought us closer to doing that than we've done since October 7th. We're working around the clock, my secretary of state, to prevent a wider war and reunite hostages with their families and surge humanitarian, health and food assistance into Gaza now.
(APPLAUSE)
BIDEN: To end the civilian suffering of the Palestinian people and finally, finally, finally, deliver a ceasefire and end this war.
(APPLAUSE)
BIDEN: Those protesters out in the street, they have a point. A lot of innocent people are being killed in both sides.
Just as we worked around the clock to bring home wrongfully detained Americans and others from Russia in one of the most complicated swaps in history, but they're home.
(CHEERING)
(APPLAUSE)
BIDEN: Kamala and I are going to keep working and bring all Americans wrongly detained around the world home. I mean it.
Folks, I've got five months left in my presidency. I've got a lot to do. I intend to get it done.
(CHEERING)
(APPLAUSE)
BIDEN: It's been the honor of my lifetime to serve as your president. I love the job, but I love my country more.
(CHEERING)
(APPLAUSE)
BIDEN: I love my country more.
(CHEERING)
(APPLAUSE)
BIDEN: And all this talk about how I'm angry, with all those people said I should step down, that's not true.
(CROWD CHANTING "WE LOVE JOE!")
BIDEN: I love my country more and we need to preserve our democracy. In 2024, we need you to vote.
(CHEERING)
(APPLAUSE)
BIDEN: We need you to keep the Senate.
(CHEERING)
(APPLAUSE)
BIDEN: We need you to win back the House of Representatives.
(CHEERING)
(APPLAUSE)
BIDEN: And above all, we need you to beat Donald Trump.
(CHEERING)
(APPLAUSE)
BIDEN: And elect Kamala and Tim, president and vice president of the United States of America.
(CHEERING)
(APPLAUSE)
BIDEN: Look, they'll continue to lead America forward, creating more jobs, standing up for workers, growing the economy, lower the cost to American families so that just have a little more breathing room. We made incredible progress. We have more work to do and Kamala and Tim will continue to take on corporate greed and bring down cost of food.
(CHEERING)
(APPLAUSE)
BIDEN: They'll keep taking on big pharma, making insulin $35 a month, not just for seniors, but for everyone in America.
(CHEERING)
(APPLAUSE) BIDEN: And capping prescription drug cost a total of $2,000, not just for seniors but for everyone.
(CHEERING)
(APPLAUSE)
BIDEN: And folks, that's going to save America again tens of billions of dollars.
Folks, they'll make housing more affordable, building three million new homes, providing $25,000 down payment assistance for the first time home buyer.
(CHEERING)
(APPLAUSE)
BIDEN: More than the 10 we approved. Donald Trump wants new tax on imported goods, food, gas, clothing, and more. You know what that will cost the average family according to the experts? $3,900 a year in a tax.
(BOOING)
[00:10:03]
BIDEN: No, it's a fact. Kamala and Tim will make the child care tax credit permanent.
(APPLAUSE)
BIDEN: Lifting millions of children out of poverty and helping millions of families get ahead. But you know what Trump has? He put the -- he created the largest debt any president had in four years with his $2 trillion tax cut for the wealthy.
Well, Trump has a new plan. He wants to provide a $5 billion tax cut for corporations that are very wealthy. Well, read it.
(BOOING)
BIDEN: Put us further in debt. And folks, you know, we have a thousand billionaires in America. You know what their average tax rate they pay? 8.2 percent.
(BOOING)
BIDEN: If we just increase their taxes, we propose the 25 percent, which isn't the highest tax rate even. It would raise $500 billion new dollars over 10 years.
(APPLAUSE)
BIDEN: They'd still be very wealthy. Look, Kamala and Tim are going to make them pay their fair share. They'll protect Social Security and Medicare. Trump wants to cut Social Security and Medicare.
Kamala and Tim will protect your freedom. They'll protect your right to vote. They'll protect your civil rights. And you know Trump will do everything to ban abortion nationwide.
(BOOING)
BIDEN: Oh, he will. You know Kamala and Tim will do everything they possibly can. That's why you have to elect the Senate and House to restore Roe v. Wade.
(APPLAUSE)
BIDEN: The ancient Greeks taught us that character is destiny. Character is destiny. For me and Jill, we know Kamala and Doug are people of character. It's been our honor to serve alongside them. And we know that Tim and Gwen Walz are also people of great character.
(CHEERING)
BIDEN: Selecting Kamala was the very first decision I made when I became our nominee. And it was the best decision I made my whole career.
(CHEERING)
(APPLAUSE)
BIDEN: We've not only gotten to know each other we've become close friends. She's tough. She's experienced. And she has enormous integrity, enormous integrity.
(APPLAUSE)
BIDEN: Her story represents the best American story. And like many of our best presidents, she was also a vice president.
(APPLAUSE)
BIDEN: That's a joke. But she'll be a president our children can look up to. She'll be a president respected by world leaders because she already is. She'll be a president we can all be proud of. And she will be a historic president who puts her stamp on America's future.
(APPLAUSE)
BIDEN: This will be the first presidential election since January 6th. On that day, we almost lost everything about who we are as a country. And that threat, this is not hyperbole, that threat is still very much alive. Donald Trump says he will refuse to accept the election result if he loses again.
(BOOING)
BIDEN: Think about that. He means it. Think about that. He's promising a bloodbath if he loses in his words. And that he'll be a dictator on day one in his own words.
(BOOING)
BIDEN: By the way, this sucker means it. No, I'm not joking. Think about it. Anybody else said that in the past, you'd think he was crazy, but you'd think it was an exaggeration, but he means it. We can't let that happen.
Folks, all of us carry a special obligation.
[00:15:01]
Independents, Republicans, Democrats, we saved democracy in 2020, and now we must save it again in 2024.
(APPLAUSE)
BIDEN: The vote of each of us cast this year will determine whether democracy and freedom will prevail. It's that simple. It's that serious. And the power is literally in your hands. History is in your hands. Not hyperbole. It's in your hands. America's future is in your hands.
Let me close with this. Nowhere else in the world could a kid with a stutter and modest beginnings in Scranton, Pennsylvania, and Claymont, Delaware, grow up to sit behind the Resolute Desk in the Oval Office.
(CHEERING)
(APPLAUSE)
BIDEN: That is because America is and always has been a nation of possibilities. Possibilities. We must never lose that, never. Kamala and Tim understand that this nation must continue to be a place of possibilities. Not just for the few of us, but for all of us.
Join me in promising your whole heart to this effort and where my heart will be, I promise I'll be the best volunteer Harris and Walz have ever seen.
(CHEERING)
(APPLAUSE)
BIDEN: Each of us has a part in the American story. For me and my family, there is a song that means a lot to us that captures the best of who we are as a nation. The song is called "American Anthem." There is one verse that stands out. And I can't sing worth a damn, so I'm not going to try.
(LAUGHTER)
BIDEN: I'll just quote it. "The work and prayers of centuries have brought us to this day. What shall our legacy be? What will our children say? Let me know in my heart when my days are through, America, America, I gave my best to you." (CHEERING)
(APPLAUSE)
(CROWD CHANTING "THANK YOU, JOE!")
BIDEN: I've made a lot of mistakes in my career, but I gave my best to you. For 50 years, like many of you, I've given my heart and soul to our nation. And I've been blessed a million times returned with the support of the American people. I had been too young to be in the Senate because I wasn't 30 yet, and too old to stay as president.
(LAUGHTER)
BIDEN: But I hope you know how grateful I am to all of you. I can honestly say, and I mean this from the bottom -- give you my word as a Biden, I can honestly say I'm more optimistic about the future than I was when I was elected as a 29-year-old United States senator. I mean it.
(CHEERING)
(APPLAUSE)
BIDEN: Folks, we just have to remember who we are. We are the United States of America.
(CHEERING)
(APPLAUSE)
BIDEN: And there is nothing we cannot do when we do it together.
(CHEERING)
(APPLAUSE)
BIDEN: God bless you all, and may God protect our troops. Thank you.
(CHEERING)
(APPLAUSE)
(MUSIC)
JAKE TAPPER, CNN ANCHOR: The 46th president of the United States, giving a 47, 48-minute long speech, an endorsement of his vice president, Kamala Harris, the presumptive Democratic nominee, who is hugging there. He is with the second gentleman, Doug Emhoff, as Vice President Harris hugs First Lady Jill Biden.
It was a speech that was about his accomplishments with Vice President Harris to be sure. But certainly about his legacy. And we see other members of the Biden family. His son Hunter, daughter Ashley, and others. And, Dana, I mean, we were told, reporters were briefed that this
would be very much focused on making the case for Kamala Harris and he certainly did that, but it was also a speech about his legacy and his accomplishments. Perhaps even more so.
DANA BASH, CNN ANCHOR: Much more so. Now, you know, Biden world would argue and do argue that his legacy is her legacy because she is not only running on what is coming in the future, but what they have done over the past four years. But yes, we were told specifically this is not going to be a legacy speech and it was going to be about making the case for Kamala Harris.
He got there at the end but there were also a couple of -- a couple of really sort of standout messages given the reality of what we know happened behind the scenes, where he basically said I wasn't pushed. I'm not angry, pushing back on that notion. And also about the fact that -- when he ended the speech he said he was elected as a 29-year- old kid and it looks like he might have adlibbed this, doesn't look like he was in the prepared remarks, and now I'm too old to be president.
ABBY PHILLIP, CNN ANCHOR: He was too young to be president.
BASH: Too young.
PHILLIP: Too young at one point. And now he's too old.
BASH: And now he's too old.
PHILLIP: Yes. Which really is just the embodiment. This is a coda, yes, for Joe Biden and his long political career and his family that has been through so much and seen so much. It's been emotional in this room for the last hour or so. All of these delegates gathered here. They thought they were coming to a different kind of convention and now they are trying to give Joe Biden his flowers.
And I think he took, Dana, the time that he wanted to take tonight.
BASH: I just wanted to say if you can see he's with his youngest grandson whose name is Beau.
PHILLIP: Beau, yes.
BASH: Named of course for -- Hunter had a baby, I don't know how old he is now, about 3. And he was named for his late brother.
TAPPER: Those -- there are a lot of people if they have made it this far, into what is to be honest on the East Coast the second day of the Democratic National Convention. I'm not the first one to observe.
PHILLIP: Right. It is late, which is --
TAPPER: It is rather late.
PHILLIP: This is very notable I think for a lot of reason.
TAPPER: Yes. I mean, it is fair to say that the Republicans had a tighter ship up until the moment that their nominee spoke, of course.
PHILLIP: But they also had fewer people that they had to showcase. I mean, I think this is the thing with Democrats. They had a roster of, you know, over a dozen people who were pretty big name speakers tonight, including some -- maybe less big names that maybe they could have done without on this particular night. But I think they felt like they had to showcase all of that and it pushed the program well into the night, leaving Biden speaking into the dead of the night.
But, you know, I think that that's probably going to be a microcosm of what we will see for the rest of this week. This is a convention that everyone wants to have a piece of and they have several generations of political talent. You know, three former or two former presidents, one sitting president. There are a lot of people that they have to put on this stage.
TAPPER: Well, think about all the -- and all the members of the Democratic bench that we didn't hear from.
BASH: Yes.
TAPPER: Gavin Newsom, Gretchen Whitmer, Josh Shapiro.
BASH: No, but there are three more days. Actually now two and a half more days.
TAPPER: Yes. I mean, it's just -- there are going to be a lot of people who think Joe Biden kind of got the fuzzy end of the lollipop tonight just because the event went so late that his speech did not even start until 11:30 p.m. East Coast Time.
[00:25:08]
BASH: After East Coast prime time.
TAPPER: And that is also a microcosm of everything.
PHILLIP: I think if they were trying to prevent that impression, they failed tonight. I mean, they should have, to be honest, given him time earlier in the night. They should have kept the schedule a little bit tighter, but they didn't.
BASH: Theres one -- I'm sorry.
PHILLIP: The only thing I was going to say was, I do feel like Biden obviously understanding the context of all of this, he gave a really forceful speech. I mean, maybe too forceful at certain points, speaking to this room at the top of his voice for almost 50 minutes. Maybe to prove something that he still has --
BASH: Very, very late at night.
PHILLIP: Yes.
TAPPER: Yes. Anderson?
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: Jake, thanks very much.
Here with the team. David Axelrod, I mean, a much later night, obviously than certainly a lot of folks anticipated.
DAVID AXELROD, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: And probably than the organizers anticipated. Look, first of all, I want to talk about Joe Biden and I want to give him some grace because this was an emotional night from when he said -- I think one of the most poignant moments came on page 52 when he recited that poem and he said, America, I gave my best to you. He did that. He did that.
He served this country honorably for a lifetime. And tonight he knows it's coming to an end. It wasn't the end that he wanted. And I think it was powerful. I regret that he gave half -- it felt like he gave his acceptance speech and then moved on to the business at hand, which was to promote the ticket of Harris and Walz. But as for the rest of the night I think what you saw in some ways was the difficulty of switching in the middle of the, you know, three weeks before a convention.
You have a different nominee and what you saw were I think partly was a convention that was planned for Biden, which would have been an alloyed carpet bombing on Trump, and the storytelling around Kamala Harris that was planned after, there were some powerful moments. Steve Kerr I thought was proudly strong. The segment on abortion rights. And those families was incredibly powerful and perhaps the most powerful moment was when Kamala Harris herself stepped on that stage.
And you know, her tone was much different than the tone of some of those later attacks and it just shows how (INAUDIBLE) it was because of I suspect the late planning. And then I think you had some indulgent -- some speakers who indulged themselves by going longer.
One footnote, I know everybody wants to get a swing at the bat here. This was a small moment. But I think one that I regret, which was Hillary Clinton was talking about Trump and the crowd started chanting, lock him up. You know, Kamala Harris has silenced the crowd and it would have been a good thing to do there.
COOPER: Yes.
AXELROD: But hats off to the president for his service to this country.
COOPER: Van?
VAN JONES, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Yes. The old lion's last roar.
AUDIE CORNISH, CNN HOST, THE ASSIGNMENT WITH AUDIE CORNISH PODCAST: That's a long roar.
JONES: Yes. But it was a beautiful -- but listen, I wish it had been short. I wish it had been earlier. But this party needed this tonight. There were tears. This was not -- some stuff at these conventions is artificial and this was a legitimate moment of catharsis and love. This guy, to me, the most (INAUDIBLE) thing he said was, I was too young to go to the Senate and now I'm too old to be president. I gave my best to you. That's Joe Biden. That's Joe Biden.
It is a tough game. This is a brutal game. You're up and then you're down. You're the most important person in the world and then they cast you away. That happens to everybody in politics. It just happened to him in a way that the whole world saw it and he handled it tonight with as much grace as any human being can handle it. And, you know, I'm proud.
This is a good night to be a Harris. It's a good night to be a Biden. It's a good night to be a Democrat. It's a good night to be an American. This is what it looks like when somebody knows when it's time to go and --
AXELROD: It's a long night to be an American.
COOPER: Audie?
CORNISH: It did very much sound like if you wanted to know what he would've said on Thursday now you do. And there were some nice nods there at the end. I agree the idea of America I gave my best to you. I mean, this is a person who has had a multi-decade sort of, also service to the country, but also wanting to be president, right? And going for that.
I think that I did appreciate the moment with Hillary Clinton. I did appreciate this speech and she did the work that we talked about earlier about talking about identity, being a woman, the significance of that and tying it to the other history.
[00:30:11]
And I also appreciated them trying to introduce some of the other up- and-coming stars, whether it be a Jasmine Crockett, or whoever people who have captured the attention of a younger generation and giving them a really prominent spot, to the point where Biden was later in the night.
But the whole week is going to be like this: balancing the old and the new.
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: Scott.
SCOTT JENNINGS, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, I'm not a Democrat, and obviously, I see these things through --
VAN JONES, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Wait, what?
COOPER: How did you get here?
JENNINGS: -- a different -- different -- Yes, good question. Through a -- I see it through a little different lens.
But I do observe Democrats, and the vibe I felt in the hall tonight was one of -- I'll use a sports metaphor, Anderson. You may to -- I'll translate for you later.
COOPER: I'll look it up later.
JENNINGS: But it's like you're -- you're cheering for a sports team, or you love your favorite team; and you're at the end of the game, and you're way down, you're way down. And then all of a sudden, they start coming back.
And then we're at the end of the game, and there's a comeback on. That's kind of the vibe that I sensed from Democrats in the hall.
CORNISH: Rally caps?
JENNINGS: They were losing badly for months. And they were going to lose, and they knew it. And all of a sudden, now the vibe in the hall is they feel like they've got a legitimate chance to win a game that they thought was lost.
That inherently produces excitement and energy.
I thought the Harris entrance was well-choreographed, well done.
DAVID AXELROD, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: And you could feel what you said right there.
JENNINGS: Yes.
AXELROD: In that moment. That was a genuine -- genuine electric moment.
JENNINGS: Yes. I did think the video they played was interesting. They said, you know, we don't want to be divided, angry and oppressed -- depressed.
But we are divided under Biden. The American people, 70 percent think we're up on the wrong track. We are angry, and a lot of people do feel economically depressed.
So that was their effort to try to divorce her from the feelings in the country.
And then we had all these speakers -- some of them were, you know, anonymous ranting mediocrities that pushed Joe Biden way deep into the night.
I kind of feel sorry for Biden. I mean, they took this away from him at the pinnacle of his career. I understand why he appeared angry at times.
And I thought some of the speech met the moment. Some of it, though, was hyper-partisan, frankly false ranting about his opponent.
And -- and I, you know, I -- I understand what they had to do tonight, but it's clear to me that the Democrats wanted this to be as late as possible. And I hope -- if you love Joe Biden, I hope you watched closely, because you may never see him again.
COOPER: I want to bring in also John King. John, you've heard a lot of convention speeches and wonder what you made of this first night.
JOHN KING, CNN ANCHOR: A couple of things. When it comes to the president, Trump gets his Irish up. You could see that in the speech. He was very fiery. He was very feisty. He was giving the speech that he was hoping to give every day in this campaign. That he was hoping to give -- it was just noted -- as his acceptance speech here.
He thinks to this day he can still do this again.
But then there were the parts of the speech, about a third of it, was the speech he realized a month ago that he had to give, which was the handoff speech to Kamala Harris; while still embracing his legacy and taking the fight against Trump, saying now it's time for somebody else to take the lead role in that; calling himself a volunteer.
For me, it was interesting. We're not done yet. We still have Barack Obama and Bill Clinton.
But I met Joe Biden in 1987. That was my first campaign for president: '87, '88. I was largely covering Governor Dukakis but spent a little time with Joe Biden in Iowa.
My next campaign was 1992, and I got to know Hillary Clinton, then the first lady of Arkansas. She, of course, then went on to be a senator, secretary of state, presidential nominee.
We still have Barack Obama and Bill Clinton to go, but this was the first chapter in the transitional handoff. You heard Joe Biden at one point talk about the assault weapons ban he passed with Dianne Feinstein. She is gone now. Her replacement in the Senate spoke tonight.
Nancy Pelosi just released a book. She's here. She's very high- profile, but she's the former speaker now.
So, this giant generational change in the Democratic Party that has been fomenting for a long time is starting to come into focus.
Vice President Harris came on stage tonight. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez was part of it. A lot of younger Democrats on the stage tonight, too.
So, it's a little bit of both. But today was the first page, if you will, in that chapter. And by the end of the week, it's the Harris party.
COOPER: Yes. The arena here is emptying out. We're going to be staying until at least 1 a.m. And certainly, CNN's coverage going to continue long into the night.
Stay with us as we break down more of the key convention moments tonight and look at what Democrats hope to accomplish in the days ahead. We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[00:38:30] COOPER: First night of the Democratic national convention is in the books, with President Biden's headline speech extending late into the night, capped by a show of unity with his vice president, the party's new nominee, Kamala Harris.
Our Kaitlan Collins is down on the convention floor with Delaware Senator Chris Coons; Delaware Congresswoman Lisa Blunt Rochester -- Kaitlan.
KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Anderson, we just have Senator Chris Coons here with us. No Lisa blunt Rochester. But obviously, one of the closest allies of the president, who introduced him on stage earlier.
Senator Coons, one of the lines that stuck out from President Biden's speech, at the end, he said, "America, I gave my best to you."
You were watching right there off-stage. What did you make of his speech tonight?
SEN. CHRIS COONS (D-DE): I was choked up listening to Joe Biden talk about his love for our country, thinking about the selflessness and the sacrifice of what he's chosen to do in elevating his vice president, Kamala Harris, and frankly, reminding us of what a deep hole we were in four years ago and how much progress we've made with Joe and Kamala's leadership.
It was a wonderful speech. It was an inspiring evening, and it was great to be able to spend it with the Delaware delegation.
COLLINS: You're one of his closest allies. I mean, you have been there through, you know, the crisis after the debate; in his years in office. What was it like to -- I mean, we've never watched something like that before. The last time, when Lyndon B. Johnson dropped out, he did not attend the convention. We've never seen anything like what we just witnessed on stage.
COONS: No, this was genuinely historic, both in President Biden's decision and in Kamala Harris and Tim Walz now being the candidates for the Democratic Party.
They are going to be great candidates: strong and compelling candidates. And I think tonight we kicked off an historic convention.
[00:40:00]
COLLINS: Do you consider the torch now passed?
COONS: Absolutely.
COLLINS: And I should note the Delaware delegation, Anderson, is behind us. They did do something special. Senator Coons was onstage, so he does not have aviators, but the rest of them did have aviators that they put on, obviously, a Joe Biden style, as he got up to give his speech.
I mean, just what is this moment like for Delaware to be here with a prime spot, I should note, on the convention floor?
COONS: It's been great for Delaware delegates to be here, to be able to be a part of Joe and Joe Biden's speech tonight, be a part of history and to celebrate just how much we, as a state, love and are proud of Joe and Jill Biden.
COLLINS: Senator Chris Coons, thank you for that. To the Delaware delegation that stuck around, thank you, guys. Anderson, back to you.
COOPER: Yes, Kaitlan. Thanks very much. The hall really is emptying out very, very quickly.
John King, let's talk about the path ahead for -- for this party ticket.
KING: Just after listening to President Biden tonight, again, you heard the feistiness. You heard him assessing, making the case, I could still be the candidate. We know he's still smarting over that.
But then he passed the torch, because we've talked a little bit about this. After Milwaukee, if you remember, when Joe Biden was still in the race, where his only path was the Blue Wall states plus Nebraska's second congressional district. And even that was very unlikely, both from the polling and anecdotal reporting on the ground in those states.
Now, Harris has several different paths. You could start with the Blue Wall. She has a Sun Belt strategy. The race has fundamentally changed.
Let me just show you this way, using this polling here. And I'm going to stretch this out. Forgive me for turning my back just you can see a little bit better.
This even is not as recent. We know Harris has had some continued momentum. But if you look at the race here, this is all the way back to March, right? And this is Joe Biden, the dark blue with Donald Trump. And they're running pretty even, but then Trump pulls up.
And then you see since Harris is in the race, Trump's moved up, too. Support for the third-party candidates has gone down. In both parties, people are coming home.
Trump's come up a little bit, but Harris has gone up more. This is national polling now. But by going up more, that has made her competitive.
And when you have African-American women more excited; younger voters more excited; other voters of color, typically Latinos out in the Southwest, more excited, it puts her into play. She now has -- you can do five or six reasonable paths to 270.
Now, I want to say at the same time, Donald Trump has those same paths, the same five or six, because it is such a close competitive race.
But that's not where we were leaving Milwaukee. We were in a race that Donald Trump looked like he was on a path to a landslide.
After night one of the Democratic convention, Harris now has the torch passed from Biden. She's in a much stronger position. The challenge, Anderson, is to use the next three days to make what is she -- right now, she has the baton. She has the momentum in the race. Can she use the next three days to build on it?
COOPER: John, thanks. Here with the panel.
Let me ask how -- how much of a bump does a convention traditionally give a candidate? And should Democrats be concerned that, with all this talk of momentum still in the battleground states, I mean, it is -- seems statistically pretty much a dead heat?
AXELROD: I -- look, I think what Democrats should feel is we're in the game, and we weren't in the game a month ago. And we've got a shot. And we've got to be -- we've got to be assiduous and committed to the battle here. And you've got to debate coming up.
But these next three days are important. I believe there will be a pivot. And there's going to be a big focus on Harris and on the issues she wants to elevate in these next three days. And that should give them a bump.
You don't get the kind of bumps that you could get, you know, I remember the days of the ten-point bumps. And I don't see that in this kind of an environment. She will get a bump, and she should be a little bit more ahead in the national vote coming out of this. Maybe she'll close in some of these -- further in some of these battleground states.
But this -- they're battle -- they're called battleground states for a reason. Right? They're very close, and they're going to be close. And this is going to be a battle from start to finish.
JENNINGS: Do you think she already got some of it? I've been wondering about the last several weeks, the way she got into the race. When she picked Walz. I mean, it was almost covered and carried like it was a convention, the way it all kind of happened. I've been wondering.
I mean, maybe she will get a little bump out of this week, but she may have already gotten some of it. I think the base consolidation is almost complete.
The question is, could this week possibly deliver any, you know, persuadable independents or swing voters? And -- and I'm not sure yet. I'm not sold on that yet, but to me that would be the strategic question.
AXELROD: I think the storytelling here, the storytelling will help. People need a deeper understanding of her.
JONES: We need to see her (ph). Look, I mean, people are happy, but the consolidation isn't as complete as it feels. You do have people in the party who need to know her better. You still -- if you look, they're happy. They're glad we're running somebody who's got a pulse. But some of the stuff they did tonight, I've known Kamala Harris for
25 years. I didn't know some of these stories. They're things about her. They're pieces of the puzzle that have to be put together.
Because all the bunnies are not yet in the barn. You've got some young men of color who are not confident in her. She's a prosecutor. What does that mean?
You've got some Silicon Valley donors that are still jumping the fence and putting billions of dollars, millions of dollars against her. Is she a pro-innovation Democrat, which being from the Bay Area and Silicon Valley in California, she could be and should be. They need to hear something from her.
[00:45:15[
There's some bunnies not yet in the barn. And so, this is the week, I think, to really consolidate the people standing near it, but they're not in the pool yet.
COOPER: I don't -- I don't know that a lot of barns are full of bunnies, but --
AXELROD: But it's good alliteration.
COOPER: I guess I understand what you mean.
JENNINGS: Noted farmer, Anderson Cooper.
COOPER: I know, but I just -- is that where the bunnies hang out? In the barn? Anyway.
CORNISH: I want to follow up on something that John was saying, which is that, you know, Trump basically, he hasn't moved all that much in his numbers. It's -- it's her that is trending in a different direction.
KING: Yes.
CORNISH: And she's also what makes the map expand is -- Biden was deeply underperforming with some of these communities. If you think about a Georgia, if you think about North Carolina, North Carolina was in play under Barack Obama because he completely invigorated the black voting population there, the student voting population there.
I think that these are, these are the places where she can make serious gains, and that's why the map looks different. Because that's where he was openly struggling.
COOPER: By the way, I see a report that convention officials are saying think the reason it went long is because of all the raucous applause. That's sort of the thing you build into something like this, isn't it?
JONES: We expect him to --
COOPER: We have had conventions before. Like, you know what --
CORNISH: That's amazing spin.
COOPER: Straight ahead, we'll find out if Democrats stuck to the facts in their speeches tonight. We'll also tee up the convention appearances by the Obamas tomorrow.
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[00:50:40]
JAKE TAPPER, CNN ANCHOR: President Biden earlier this evening being greeted with chants of "We love Joe." And if he didn't hear it, it was spelled out in those vertical signs, "We heart Joe," as he used his Democratic convention speech to try to celebrate his legacy, as well as to try to get, perhaps, one of the biggest parts of his legacy, Vice President Kamala Harris, elected as his successor.
Let's bring in CNN senior reporter Daniel Dale for a fact check of tonight's speeches. Daniel, I guess let's start with the president. What did you make of it?
DANIEL DALE, CNN SENIOR CORRESPONDENT: There were certainly some false or misleading claims there, especially on the subject of the economy.
I want you to listen to something he said on the subject of U.S. imports and exports.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We used to import products and export jobs. Now we export American products and create American jobs, right here in America, where jobs belong.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
DALE: This claim is misleading, Jake. U.S. exports of goods have increased under President Biden so far. So good with that claim.
But contrary to the other part of that claim, we are still importing a whole lot of stuff, too. What he didn't mention is that U.S. Imports have increased during his presidency. Increased, not decreased. In fact, increased by more than exports have increased.
So therefore, the trade deficit in goods has increased under President Biden, not declined as this claim suggested. It was over $1 trillion in each of his first three years in office. It had never hit that level before.
I also want to play something else he said on the subject of the economy and the budget. This is something he said about billionaires and tax rates.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BIDEN: We have 1,000 billionaires in America. You know what their average tax rate they pay? Eight point 2 percent.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
DALE: I've called this misleading before. It's still misleading. An expert at the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center has told me this number is, quote, "way too low."
Now he said the average federal tax rate for billionaires is 8.2 percent. What he doesn't explain is that that number is not an actual tax rate. What it is, is an alternative calculation from economists in his own administration that factors in unrealized capital gains that are not actually treated as taxable income under current law.
And there's nothing wrong with using an alternative figure when you explain it, as the White House does. But Biden himself uses it like it's a tax rate under current law. It's not.
So what, Jake, do tax rate -- what tax rate do billionaires actually pay? A precise figure is not publicly known at the moment, but a study from two well-known economists estimated that the top 400 households paid an average effective tax rate of 23 percent in 2018, much higher than the president's number.
TAPPER: All right. Daniel Dale, thank you so much.
We should -- let's talk again more with the panel. Let's take one moment to acknowledge.
It is not generally the case that an unsuccessful presidential candidate from years past speaks at a convention the way that Secretary of State Hillary Clinton did. But she, among Democratic voters, especially, is iconic. So, I don't think there was any -- any chance that she was not going to be invited.
Republicans, of course -- hello, Senator Coons, good to see you. We're live on air. I think we already -- we just got an interview with you. So, we're good. We're good. We're good.
Thank -- the American people got a lot of Coons tonight.
COONS: A lot.
TAPPER: A lot of Coons.
All right.
DANA BASH, CNN ANCHOR: A toxic dose.
TAPPER: Anyway. So, the Republican convention didn't have previous presidents or content -- or nominees for their own reasons.
BASH: Yes.
TAPPER: They don't support Donald Trump. But this was interesting.
BASH: Right. I mean, lots of reasons. But the most important reason was that she, Hillary Clinton, before Kamala Harris, was the only woman to be the nominee of a major party. And now there's another.
TAPPER: Yes.
BASH: And it's -- and it's Kamala Harris. And --
TAPPER: Are we going to -- I don't even know. Are we going to hear from John Kerry and Al Gore during this convention?
BASH: I don't think so.
TAPPER: I didn't know that math was going to be on this test.
BASH: I didn't think so. I don't think so.
ABBY PHILLIP, CNN ANCHOR: I doubt it.
BASH: I doubt it. But I -- but I think that there's so much -- there's so much that's different, but there's a lot of symmetry.
[00:55:03]
Obviously, she ran against Donald Trump, and she lost.
TAPPER: Yes.
BASH: Hillary Clinton. Kamala Harris is now running against Donald Trump, and Hillary Clinton very much wants Kamala Harris to win.
And there were a lot of callbacks to Clinton's race against Donald Trump. But I thought one of the most -- one of the things that surprised me the most was how forward-looking Hillary Clinton was.
TAPPER: It was very much about Kamala Harris.
PHILLIP: Yes. I mean, I thought it was actually one of the best speeches we've heard from Hillary Clinton. I mean --
TAPPER: It was more focused on Harris than Biden's.
PHILLIP: Yes. I mean, I remember the part at the end. She talked about wanting her grandchildren and her grandchildren's grandchildren to see this moment for Kamala Harris. I think that was really poignant.
She said she looks through the cracked glass ceiling and sees Harris. And what she's about -- what she wants her to be able to do.
So, for Clinton, this was a powerful moment.
But to your point about Al Gore, John -- John Kerry. All of the people from past generations of Democrats, going all the way back even to Jesse Jackson. This is a Democratic Party that is still embracing their past, which is a marked difference from what's happening on the Republican side.
TAPPER: Democrats now looking ahead to the rest of the convention. We are technically already in day two, including highly anticipated remarks tomorrow by former first lady Michelle Obama and former President Barack Obama.
Wednesday's line-up features former President Bill Clinton and the vice-presidential nominee, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz.
It's all leading bringing up the Kamala Harris formally accepting her historic presidential nomination on Thursday.
CNN's convention coverage continues right after this very brief break.
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