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Biden Sidelined By COVID As He Tries To Turn Campaign Around; Report: Obama Tells Allies Biden's Path To Winning Diminishing; A Top House Dem Urges Biden To Reconsider Candidacy; Tonight: Trump Speech Will Zero In On His Brush With Death; Source: Biden Still Thinks He Has A Path To Victory; Sen. Chris Coons (D-DE), Is Interviewed About Top Dems Confront Biden Over Concerns About Candidacy; Rep. Mike Quigley (D-IL), Is Interviewed About An Isolated Biden Weighs Future As Dems Leaders Raise Concerns; Biden Sidelined By COVID As VP Harris Rails On Trump-Vance Ticket. Aired 5-6p ET

Aired July 18, 2024 - 17:00   ET

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

JAKE TAPPER, CNN HOST: The "Situation Room" with Wolf Blitzer and with Erin Burnett starts right now.

[17:00:20]

WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST: It's the final night of the Republican National Convention, Donald Trump's set to take the stage just hours from now and accept the Republican presidential nomination for the third time, just days after an attempt on his life. And we're also told that that assassination attempt will be a major theme of his acceptance speech later tonight, much of which he supposedly has written himself. And we're also following important news surrounding President Biden who's facing a fresh wave of pressure to step down as he isolates in Delaware right now with COVID.

Welcome to our viewers here in the United States and around the world. This is a special edition of the Situation Room live from Milwaukee. I'm Wolf Blitzer.

ERIN BURNETT, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Erin Burnett.

And Wolf, the calls from inside the House of Representatives growing louder at this hour. Democratic leaders have been sounding the alarm about the President's prospects in November, making it about polling. And CNN has just obtained a deeply personal letter from Jamie Raskin, a top House Democrat that he wrote to President Biden back on July 6, encouraging Biden to reconsider staying in the race. And we are also learning that the former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi privately told Biden that polls show he cannot defeat Donald Trump, and that he could take congressional Democrats down with him to be loses. And then there's another report that reveals that former President Obama has told allies that Biden's path to victory has greatly diminished, Wolf.

BLITZER: All that comes, Erin, as we're learning more and more that President Biden is contemplating his president's viability at the top of the Democratic ticket. But his campaign is still holding firmly saying the President of the United States isn't going anywhere. CNN's Kristen Holmes is here in Milwaukee with us. MJ Lee is over at the White House. Let's begin our coverage this hour here in Wisconsin.

Kristen, tell our viewers what you're learning about what to expect, first of all, from Donald Trump's speech in just a few hours.

KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, remember this is Donald Trump's first fully MAGA convention. It is really a convention in which he has cemented his grip on the Republican Party back in 2016. He was still trying to convince people to come out and vote for him. Remember Senator Ted Cruz telling people in 2016 to vote their conscience. In 2020, it was COVID.

He did it at the White House. And it was a time he was still trying to hold on to his tenure in the White House trying to get another term when poll numbers were suggesting that might not happen. Here, this is a Republican Party that has completely coalesced around Donald Trump. Now when it comes to what he is going to say tonight, we are told that he completely scrapped whatever plans he had for his speech after that assassination attempt on Saturday in Pennsylvania. Now, he has told people around him he wants to focus on unity.

Now, as you mentioned, he has also said and this is according to his senior advisors that he wants to write and dictate portions of the speech himself. He has had meetings with outside allies in which he has said he wants to lean into what happened on Saturday. He wants to lean into the fact that he feels like not only is he lucky to be alive, but there was some sort of divine intervention. He wants to call for unity.

But of course, the big question is what exactly that means to former President Donald Trump. We know that Donald Trump is known for his divisive rhetoric, and his advisors insist he is a changed man, that that is not what's going to occur here tonight. We obviously will wait and see. Erin.

BURNETT: All right. Thank you very much, Kristen. So now let's go to MJ Lee. She's at the White House.

And MJ, obviously, President Biden is sidelined right now with COVID. And in this moment in that void, it's being filled by more calls for him to step aside. What is the latest on this story? I mean, literally, it seems to be evolving by the hour as we hear somebody else speak out.

MJ LEE, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Erin, that's absolutely right. And we are seeing the President's physical isolation in Rehoboth after his COVID diagnosis, really clashing with his political isolation, the public calls, as you said, for the President to drop out. They really seem to be just continuing by the day. We also note that there are many more members who feel like they want to call on the President to drop out, but they're really just weighing whether to really do it and when to do that. And then, of course, the private conversations that we're learning about that the President has had in recent days that have been really blunt out, whether it is Chuck Schumer or Hakeem Jeffries, who have been very frank in the assessments that they have offered. We also of course, know about former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who within the last week or so, in a private conversation, told the President that polling appears to show that he simply cannot win in November and that he could really bring down the House with him. We also know of course about many donors who are no longer willing to write checks, they feel like they see the writing on the wall. And this raises some serious questions about whether the campaign can really fund itself through November.

[17:05:14]

And I just have to underscore, you know, this COVID diagnosis that we learned about last night, it is really coming at a really terrible time for the President. We, of course, know that there has been so much pressure and so much scrutiny about the President's age on his health already. And over the last 24 hours, just a bright spotlight on any moments where the President has seemed to physically halting, where his speech has seemed halting, and then just the question of how does the President try to get through this if he has to isolate and can even be physically out there. I think there are plenty of Democrats who are actually hoping that the President will use the next stretch of days where he is self-isolating to really self-reflect and perhaps come to the conclusion that a lot of Democrats are thinking about, which is that the President should leave the race.

BURNETT: All right, MJ, thank you very much. Wolf.

BLITZER: Erin, thank you.

Our political experts are joining us right now. The drama is clearly continuing. Jeff Zeleny, you're reporting that voters are overwhelming the White House right now with calls and letters about the future of this campaign. Tell our viewers what you learned?

JEFF ZELENY, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, we certainly know that the President is getting an earful from Democratic lawmakers. But we're also learning that a lot of citizens are contacting the White House as they routinely do for a variety of things. But in particular, some Democrats and some supporters of the president are reaching out to the White House to express their concern as ordinary citizens. And we got one copy of a letter here obtained by CNN from an Iowa couple who supported the President, and they sent a letter to the White House. This is John and Terri Hale from Ankeny, Iowa, two retirees themselves.

Let's take a look at what they said specifically. They said "It's with the utmost respect that we offer this conclusion, you cannot win the race. Not because you're not the better man, but because the public, rightly or wrongly, now sees your age and perceived limitations as the main issue in the campaign."

They go on to praise his accomplishments, but urged him to sort of reconsider for the good of the country. So just a snapshot of what this President and his advisers are hearing. Now, we talked to the White House to see if these messages are being conveyed to the President. They said the president has a sense of all of his correspondence he receives but know that he also receives many supportive letters, as well.

But the point here is it's not just insiders who are calling for it. Of course, he has supporters. But in terms of what his decision is, we reported yesterday that he is being more receptive to these entries. What we don't know here tonight, is if it's changed his mind at all. He certainly has heard now, we are three weeks ago from that debate, almost hard to believe, he's heard all the information.

Again, this decision is his.

BLITZER: And he's looking at the polls, I'm sure as well.

David Chalian, a lot of leading Democrats, including Schumer, Pelosi, Jeffrey's, even former President Obama all reportedly expressing concerns with Biden. Does this moment feel different to you right now?

DAVID CHALIAN, CNN POLITICAL DIRECTOR: Well, it's different because these are the voices that matter to Joe Biden, political voices. The voices that will matter in the decision making process is his family and some close advisors that have been with him for decades throughout his career. So yes, we're in a different moment, because the leaders have allowed it to be known publicly, that this is what they feel, Wolf. But that doesn't mean that we're in a different place for Joe Biden's decision making because we don't know that. Walls can be closing in and he may just have to exist in this very tight cubicle of walls.

That is his choice too. It is not a fait accompli, we've no indication that he has decided that he's going to step down from this race, though he's keenly aware of all of the pressure and all of the swirl around him. There's no doubt about that. So that factors into his thinking. But I just -- we are in a very different moment.

I think it's going to be a day by day kind of thing. This is very intense pressure on him. But this is his decision to make. And I think he's going to want to understand completely what step two looks like. What is if he does step down, what does that process look like? Who is that nominee that really has a better chance than he does at defeating Donald Trump? He's going to want to have his mind wrapped around that before he comes to a conclusion, I'd imagine

BLITZER: Yes, important points.

Nia-Malika Henderson, on all of these reports that are coming in and so many of them are coming in --

NIA-MALIKA HENDERSON, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Yes.

BLITZER: -- Kevin McCarthy just said and I'm quoting him now, "Nancy Pelosi knows exactly what she's doing."

HENDERSON: Yes. Listen, I mean, Nancy Pelosi is one of the savviest smartest political strategists we've ever covered and seen in our lifetimes. She knows her caucus. She knows the donor community as well. She obviously is in touch with Obama, in touch with Schumer, in touch with sort of Hollywood elites as well. [17:10:00]

And she also knows that average Americans are having the kinds of conversations that you reference from this Iowa couple. I can attest to that in my own life. My mother is having these, you know, internal debates about Joe Biden, huge fan of Joe Biden, voted for him in the South Carolina primary, but now she is kind of shifting her position. My brother on the other hand, I texted him today, what are you thinking about Joe Biden? He says he's 1,000 percent, with Joe Biden.

So those are the kinds of conversations that Nancy Pelosi is obviously aware of that average Americans are having, and that all Democrats, you know, whether you're a donor, whether you're a public official, those are the kinds of conversations they're having. We don't know what the conversations that Joe Biden is now having and thinking about in Wayne as he makes a decision.

BLITZER: Let me get to Audie into this conversation. The impact of all of this pressure, what's it going to be? How quickly r how soon do you think the President needs to make a decision?

AUDIE CORNISH, CNN ANCHOR: I can't say that. This is still his decision. But the thing that actually I want to jump on is what you just said Nia because the AP/NRC poll, which we were talking about earlier this week, found that black American support was a little bit higher for Biden to stay in. But if you actually looked further into the numbers, it showed that within the black community, it was actually a 50-50 split.

HENDERSON: Yes.

CORNISH: Which means this is a tipping point. So when you go on the complex podcast and basically give the host COVID, which he went on TikTok, and said today, not a good look, right? Like not the takeaway you want from that episode. When you're supposed to go, you need us and speak before all of these Latin American voters and supporters and then you can't go at all, it doesn't help. So it's just sort of like these things that they were doing even to shore up the support of the average voter where they feel like they have the strongest support. They haven't been able to complete the past so to speak.

BLITZER: Yes, that's important point. Mark Preston is with us, as well.

Mark, the Washington Post, as you know, is building on some CNN reporting that former President Obama, former President Obama is now saying -- he told allies that President Biden's ability to beat Trump has greatly diminished. How significant is that?

MARK PRESTON, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: I mean, it's hugely significant because Barack Obama brought Joe Biden to the dance. I mean, he had Brock Obama not selected and him as his running mate, Joe Biden would still be in the United States Senate or quite frankly, as Jake was saying, last hour looking at the waves, you know, crashing into the Rehoboth Beach. The interesting thing I do think of where we are right now, and Jeff hit upon this, we're like three weeks into the debate being over. We are now six days past the assassination attempt on Donald Trump. The White House has had the time. Joe Biden has had the time to try to turn this around, especially this week of four days of focused on Donald Trump from every news organization. Now, it's kind of switching back.

Joe Biden had a long time to try to fix this. And he was not able to.

BLITZER: It's interesting. CNN has obtained, David, a letter from Democratic Congressman Jamie Raskin of Maryland sent to the President urging him to reconsider, urging him to reconsider his campaign, comparing him to a tiring baseball pitcher.

CHALIAN: Yes, we should note this letter was sent or dated on July 6. It's becoming public now. Why? Because Nancy Pelosi has indicated that things like that can become public now because she wouldn't say she's leaving her conversations be known. But her conversations with Biden are being known publicly and that is a signal.

And so, I think we're going to hear from a lot more members than we have already that have had these kinds of thoughts. And Congressman Raskin's letter is clearly praising Joe Biden for the president that he is and how -- what a good job Jamie Raskin believes he's done. But pleading with him in this moment, because he deems the stakes of this election so high, and that Joe Biden's chances of victory here are so slim.

Well, I do just want to say, if Joe Biden stays in this race, is a completely different candidacy than the one he has had the last six months, because now we're at a place where the leaders of his party, where members of Congress are already expressing doubts that he can win. You can't just flip on that and rally the party behind you. And on Yes, Joe Biden --

ZELENY: And never mind that. You're also a different battleground if someone --

CHALIAN: No doubt. That is expenditure.

ZELENY: -- than it was before. I mean, we used to talk about those three states, but now with how many.

CHALIAN: Now it's four. But yes, he is -- this will be an entirely different kind of Biden candidacy than we've seen. And it's going to be very, if he does stay in the race, I think, a pretty lonely experience for him.

HENDERSON: And how do you credibly put on a convention, right?

CHALIAN: Right.

HENDERSON: All of these people have come out --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Right. HENDERSON: -- and said they have doubts about whether or not he can win. They couldn't put on a convention like this that's unified that says, you know, that really credibly argues that the party is behind him, and they think he can continue and win the White House.

BLITZER: And it says a lot that so much of these private concerns that so many of these Democrats have had are now being leaked to the media and they're becoming public and that's a significant development in and of itself.

[17:15:01]

Everyone, standby, we have a lot more news coming up. We're watching all of this unfold. We're here in Milwaukee.

Coming up, one of President Biden's closest allies who serves as a co- chair of his 2024 presidential campaign is here. Delaware Senator Chris Coons is standing by to join us live. But first, much more on tonight's highly anticipated speech from Donald Trump as he prepares to accept the Republican Party's presidential nomination for a third time.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BURNETT: Breaking news, these are live pictures out of Milwaukee just hours away from former President Donald Trump's speech at the final night of the RNC. Now these are his first publicly televised remarks and surviving the assassination attempt Saturday evening at a campaign rally in Pennsylvania. Sources telling CNN that he is personally dictating and writing portions of the speech. One source telling us, quote, "He's writing the speech himself. It will be in his words, from his heart.

[17:20:07]

It'll be about unity and bringing the country together." Actually, that is a typical political speech. It would not be a typical political speech for this particular former president. Everyone is here with me now.

So Kristen, let me start with you because obviously, there was a, in that moment, a seismic effect on the country in the world when you saw an attempted assassination of former president and a presidential nominee for a party. So now we're a few days out. I know, you've talked about how polling would show a reaction, what does it show?

KRISTEN SOLTIS ANDERSON, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: So right now, there's not a lot of data that comes in with that horrible event having already happened. Think about the way a poll work somebody like me, we go into the field, we begin calling people asking people what they think and it takes a day or two for that process to play out than the data comes back. So the polls that we're just starting to see are the first ones that incorporate some of that.

There are good polls for Donald Trump. However, the polls were good for Donald Trump, even before -- BURNETT: Right.

ANDERSON: -- what had happened over the weekend. The thing that's the real blinking red light that's bad for the Biden team is that there are certain states like Virginia, people don't think of Virginia as a swing state these days, but there's polling that comes out of Virginia that says maybe it is. And so that's what's got to be making Democrats much more nervous.

BURNETT: So Shermichael, it also comes as, you know, Trump's, you know, loyalists in that convention hall --

SHERMICHAEL SINGLETON, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Yes.

BURNETT: -- right, they have taken -- you know, they're wearing the bandages over their ear, right, to show their solidarity with Trump. And that's -- you know, solidarity is the word we keep hearing. Here's about why. We just play with some of the other side.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SUSAN ELLSWORTH, RNC ATTENDEE: Your helping President Trump's set a new fashion statement, and we're standing in solidarity with him for his wound.

STACEY GOODMAN, RNC ATTENDEE: We do it in solidarity with our President Trump, because we love him and we support him 100 percent.

RAY MICHAELS, RNC ATENDEE: And if somebody has to wear a cast, we'll wear a cast. If somebody has to have a bandage, we'll wear a bandage. We're behind him 100 percent.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BURNETT: So you saw on the knee jerk reaction --

SINGLETON: Yes.

BURNETT: -- Elon Musk, he'd already made his decision now, right? But he's already made his decision to support Trump. But after that horrific incident, he came out and said it.

SINGLETON: I mean, $45 million a month over the next four months, that's a substantial amount of money. He's asking his other billionaire friends to also contribute so the Trump campaign is going to be flush with cash. I mean, this is like a badge of honor for many of Trump's supporters. Many of them before the former president felt disconnected from the body of politic writ large, including the Republican establishment. We have to remind people that a lot of these voters were detached from the Republicanism as we traditionally think about it.

They felt disconnected from the overall society. And here comes Donald Trump being that voice, providing that megaphone for their plight, for their issues, for their struggles. So having him gone through this experience, nearly being assassinated those folks resoundingly with him. And to show it, they're going to wear their badge of honor right on their ears.

BURNETT: And he's going to talk about it. It's very clear tonight. He said, it's going to be a central part of his speech, that they say he has written portions of himself, and it's focused on unity.

ALYSSA FARAH GRIFFIN, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: And Donald Trump can tend to be very hands on with important speeches similar to his Twitter feed used to actually dictate to staff what should go out. He likes things to be in his own words.

BURNETT: Yes.

GRIFFIN: This is a remarkable moment in his life, something that he hoped he'd never face, he never expected that he did. There's reporting from Bret Baier that allegedly he doesn't even mention Biden's name in the entire speech. That would be remarkable. If he got through an entire convention speech and made it more about his vision, his experience uniting the Republican Party, but he's also going to try to talk about uniting the country.

My word of caution is this. Donald Trump is incredibly capable of getting through an hour long speech on prompt or being appearing presidential, but it'll be by the next campaign rally that he kind of diverts back to the rhetoric and language that we've expect to -- come to expect out of would be my expectation.

KATE BEDINGFIELD, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Yes. That feels like the big question. I mean, we are seeing them signal that this is going to be a speech where he's going to have a different tone and given the events he went through, and he's going to focus on unity, and tools this point, perhaps he will tonight in this very, you know, there not many speeches on the campaign trail that get more sort of attention on the front end, detail focus, you know, wordsmithing, redrafting than the convention speech. So, you know, let's see where he goes after the convention does.

So I think the thing to look for tonight is, you know, does this speech actually lay down the kind of message track that Donald Trump is going to be on for the rest of this campaign? Or is this one night where the cameras are on him and he's very focused in and then, you know, we've kind of pervert to the real Donald.

GRIFFIN: But yes. Oh, go ahead.

BURNETT: No, I just was jumping in here because we just have a headline crossing here. Dana Bash reporting, here's the headline, already Biden's still thinks he can win and has not seen data yet to convince him otherwise. So this is a source close to President Biden telling Dana, he still has a path to victory, does not believe that the data shown to him by various Democratic lawmakers, we know who they are because it's been leaked by their party. So we know Nancy Pelosi said this. We know perhaps Chuck Schumer said this. This is a senior Biden source that he's open to changing his mind if the data show that he can't win, but he doesn't believe he's seen that, Jamal.

[17:25:01] JAMAL SIMMONS, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Yes, this smells like rhetorical countermeasures. Right? Like, I heard this off putting folks deputy campaign manager earlier saying something somewhat similar.

Here's the deal. You're in this campaign and so you're not in the campaign. And what you don't want to have the situation where everybody's circling and they smell blood, and then you signal that you've got a wound, right? So you will --

BURNETT: Well, the minute they smell blood, you're a carcass.

SIMMONS: Right. So you got to push everybody off until he can have the chance to make his decision. So I think that's a perfectly appropriate thing for them to do. Everybody back up a little bit and let's give them some space.

BURNETT: But Kate, you said yesterday, I think this is really important, because you said this prior to this, that it was going to be data driven, and that there wasn't going to be a poll that was going to show him there isn't a path. And he's explicitly saying he does see a path to 270.

BEDINGFIELD: I think that yes, as we were discussing yesterday, I think that's a big challenge with the argument that people are making to him. Because, you know, polls are not -- I mean, Kristen knows more about polls than I will ever know. But polls are not predictive in the sense that you can't look at a poll in July and say definitively, this is what the outcome is going to be in November. Now you can look at the aggregate of numbers, you can say this isn't moving in the right direction. I'm not suggesting that -- you know, I'm not suggesting that he should reject any of this data that's coming in to him.

BURNETT: Yes.

BEDINGFIELD: But if his benchmark for this, if his benchmark for this decision is, I have to see data that tells me I cannot win in November, that doesn't really exist. So that's a challenge with the way that -- I would just say that's a challenge with the way that they are presenting their argument to him. And I think they're going t have to find other ways to make the case if they want to be persuaded.

JONAH GOLDBERG, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: So one way to make the case and I will admit I watched mostly for reasons of shot in Freud, but I watched "Morning Joe" this morning to see where they were, you know, which we know President Biden watches and pays attention to.

BURNETT: Yes.

GOLDBERG: It feels like President Biden has lost Joe Scarborough.

BURNETT: Yes.

GOLDBERG: He was saying, look, show me a point where you're behind in 12 battleground states, or whatever it is, at this late date. And Mika Brzezinski, she's still an earlier stages of denial, you know, are coping, but that's the kind of thing that I do think will break through if Joe Biden turns on the T.V. and just can't find people saying he should stay in anymore.

SIMMONS: Here's a question that I would ask -- here's a question that I would ask if I was there. It's not just about some of the polls that I can win. What is the moment where you think the polls change trajectory? Right? Because I think we all thought that moment was going to be at the debate, and then it didn't happen at the debate. So now we see the trend line with the President's kind of hovering in this space.

BURNETT: Right.

SIMMONS: And what I want to see is where's the moment now next that we expect that that those numbers to shift and crossed the other direction and the President takes the lead?

BURNETT: And you know, he -- the President makes the point, OK, well, the donors, the elites, he doesn't want to do with it. He wants, you know, what the voters. But you've also said, you don't want to be -- everyone says one thing. You want to question it? Not that you're saying it's wrong to the people who say Biden should get out but you haven't fully -- that you're not comfortable yet.

ANDERSON: So I wrote a column two weeks ago, and the headline was no poll can tell Joe Biden what he needs to hear.

BURNETT: Right.

ANDERSON: Because of the polarization we are in --

BURNETT: Yes, right.

ANDERSON: -- there are a lot of Americans who would vote for Joe Biden, no matter how terribly he performed, because he's not Donald Trump. So there is a chance that Joe Biden is thinking I'm waiting to be down by 15 points.

BURNETT: Right.

ANDERSON: And we may just not live in a world where down by 15 points is a thing that can happen because of our polarization.

BURNETT: All right. All staying with us. And next more on President Biden as top leaders in the Democratic Party, some of them have gone public with concerns over his candidacy. We're going to speak with a co chair of the President's campaign, a staunch loyalist, the Delaware Senator Chris Coons.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[17:33:09]

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: We're back live from Milwaukee. And we're following the mounting pressure for President Biden to bow out of the 2024 race from leaders of his own party. Joining us now Democratic Senator Chris Coons of Delaware. He's the co-chair of the Biden-Harris campaign. Senator, thanks so much for joining us.

SEN. CHRIS COONS (D-DE): When I say leaders, I'm talking about people like Barack Obama, the former president.

Always good to be on with you Wolf.

BLITZER: This -- the Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, the House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries, former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, they are all very, very concerned that President Biden will lose to Donald Trump and in the process, take other Democrats down with him. Are they wrong?

COONS: Well, Wolf, what you're hearing from many Democrats is concerns that Donald Trump does not belong back in the White House. That unifies all Democrats. Not just Democrats, Wolf, Donald Trump's own vice president, secretary of defense, chief of staff, national security adviser, all the core folks who served right around Donald Trump think he should never be reelected.

So as you're there in Milwaukee watching the Republican Convention, my message to my Democratic colleagues is we need to pull together and do everything we can to ensure that Donald Trump is defeated this fall. I respect those who have concerns because the stakes are so high. But when we gather for our convention next month in Chicago, Wolf, I'm confident that we will nominate the best candidate to take on and defeat Donald Trump.

For me, that's Joe Biden. For some of my colleagues, they have different views. But there's a national poll that was just released by CBS that shows in the battleground states, the margin between Trump and Biden is the same as a nationwide head to head between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump.

For those who are talking about polls, they have stayed in the same place in the last three weeks. This is a very close election. It's within the margin of error.

[17:35:04]

BLITZER: But Senator, I just want to point out it's not just Democrats in Washington leading Democrats in Washington, 65 percent of Democrats and Democratic leaning independents now say President Biden should withdraw and allow his party to select a different nominee. They believe someone else would do better against Trump in November. Are nearly two-thirds of your fellow Democrats wrong?

COONS: Well, Wolf, what I've said to lots of Democrats, friends, neighbors, colleagues who've reached out to me is that our president deserves the respect, the recognition of his incredible record of success, his 50 years in public service, to give him the time to hear from trusted partners and leaders, to hear from Democrats around the country, and to make the path forward clear for the American people.

I think the contrast between Joe Biden and Donald Trump is sharp. I think Joe Biden's record as president is strong. And I think his ability to represent us on the world stage is unmatched. Wolf, I'm here at the Aspen Security Forum, where leaders from all over the world from our military, from other countries, partners and allies, and from here in the United States, are talking about the grave consequences for our standing in the world, for the defense of freedom in Ukraine, for the message he would send to authoritarians, like Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping, if we were to return Donald Trump to the White House and turn aside from Joe Biden's strong leadership in the defense of freedom in Ukraine.

I continue to support my --

BLITZER: You make very strong points --

COONS: -- in the Senate, my friend and colleague from Delaware.

BLITZER: You make strong points, Senator. But how does President Biden win this his reelection in an environment where so many of the top leaders in his own Democratic Party are so deeply concerned and leaking all of this to the news media and the public about his candidacy and the vast majority of his own supporters want him to step aside?

COONS: Well, Wolf, what President Biden has been greeted by, in state after state as he's campaigned in the last few weeks is large and enthusiastic crowds in Las Vegas, in Michigan, in North Carolina and Pennsylvania. After the debate, which was admittedly, a disaster, many of us, including me, called on President Biden to do press conferences, to do rallies, to go and hear from grassroots Democrats across the country. He's done that. And he's done that while serving as president, leading our nation, leading the NATO Summit and doing a great job at both.

This weekend, he will be resting and reflecting in Delaware, he has COVID now, which will limit the number of events and outreach that he can do. But my message to my friends, my colleagues in the Democratic Party, is that we have a great record to run on. We have a generation of capable and talented Democrats, and we have a talented and capable president, and we need to move forward together.

BLITZER: I know you're very, very close to the President, Senator. And I want you to be quick with your answer. Has he 100 percent ruled out the possibility of leaving the race during the course of all of your conversations with him?

COONS: In my conversations with the President, he's been asking for input. He's been asking from all of us, who talked to him regularly for advice, for counsel, for input on the polls, on the opinion of our colleagues. But he has communicated to every Democrat in writing that he intends to continue this campaign.

BLITZER: Is he even considering it leaving?

COONS: Look, I think he weighs very seriously the input of those. He trusts and admires those who've served with him. And beyond that I'm not going to get into the details, Wolf. I think he deserves the respect of being able to reflect on this moment. But I think after the tragic shooting in Butler, Pennsylvania, he showed us what kind of a leader he is. He called former President Trump. He expressed the prayers and the concerns for rapid recovery from him and his wife, Jill. And he has called for our country to come together.

Since he first got involved in the race for the presidency in 2020, he's been urging our country to tone down the rhetoric and to bring our nation together. That's what he said in his inaugural address. That's how he has led as an effective bipartisan president who has gotten more done than any president in my lifetime. And that's the kind of actions he's taken in recent days, to reach out and to show that he is determined to lead our country forward in a way that respects the best of us and the most optimistic aspects of us as a nation rather than further dividing our country.

BLITZER: One final question, is he even considering leaving the -- leaving the race?

COONS: Wolf, I haven't spoken to him in the last few days, I shouldn't speak to that without direct knowledge. But I will tell you like every Democrat, he's very concerned by what we're hearing from Milwaukee where an inexperienced anti-abortion zealot has just been placed one heartbeat away from a 78-year-old, who has no new answers for America's challenges on that convention stage in Milwaukee.

[17:40:18]

BLITZER: Senator Chris Coons of Delaware, thanks so much for joining us.

COONS: Thank you, Wolf.

BLITZER: And just -- thank you.

And just ahead, one of the senator's colleagues in Congress, who has called for President Biden to leave the 2024 race is standing by to join us live. We'll talk with Illinois Congressman Mike Quigley when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ERIN BURNETT, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome back to a special edition of the Situation Room. President Biden facing more calls to leave the race and other influential house Democrat, Jamie Raskin. We have learned, sent Biden a four-page letter comparing the president to a tire baseball player. We found out that was sent on July 6th but the news of it is leaking now. Joining me now the Illinois Congressman Mike Quigley, who was among those calling on the President to step aside.

[17:45:13]

And Congressman Quigley, I know you had a chance along with me to listen to Wolf's conversation with Senator Coons where he unabashedly stands behind Biden. He said that the President has a great record. He's talented and capable President. And he has communicated to every Democrat in writing that he is not considering getting out of the race. His message to his fellow Democrats like you, Biden staying in, let's move forward together. What do you say to Senator Coons? REP. MIKE QUIGLEY (D-IL): Yes. You're a good and loyal friend. And there's a lot to be said for that. And it's perverse to think that. But right now, that loyalty is working against the future of our democracy. I mean, it is horribly sad. I would rather do anything else than work against the second Biden administration. But it can't happen. It won't happen. And -- and I understand people look at polls differently.

But, you know, he was down in the swings -- the President was down in the swing states before the debate, and he's much farther down now. I mean, look, just we're looking at one state, there's no way you can do the math where if he doesn't win Pennsylvania, you know, he can win the election. He's down seven points, as many polls in Pennsylvania, and he just no path to go back. So, look, loyalty matters. But right now, not having a second Trump presidency is far more important.

BURNETT: You use the words working against it. And I just wanted to give you a chance to put those in context. If he does not get out of the race, what do you do? Are you going to continue to work against him or after everything that you've said and as open and transparent as you've been about how you feel, is there any way you could even climb back on board?

QUIGLEY: A lot -- what I've always said throughout this, despite my -- despite my concerns is, you know, President Biden, on his worst days, 10 times better than Donald Trump. I was in the room on January 6th, the last days of the Trump presidency. You know, I really, you know, what I see the opening days and a -- and a Supreme Court willing to greenlight lawlessness. So I get that. I'll -- I'll be honest. The way I'm looking at the campaign right now, I see them in a slightly different place.

They're -- they're down in the polls. They're losing public support, political leaders. You know, it's -- I -- I sense that there isn't this virulent? No, this is where it's going to be. I -- I'd like to think the President who deserves the respect and every right to contemplate that decision will take the next couple of days. And, again, save democracy for a second time.

BURNETT: OK. So just to -- just to, you know, be very blunt about this. If the president of the United States dies, the vice president takes over. So if the president of the United States were to die, Kamala Harris would be the president -- would be the president, right? That's what would happen now because of the laws of our land.

But I know that in terms of how this goes from here, you are not necessarily in the camp. But if the President is not at the top of the ticket that the Vice President should be, you refer to some sort of a process. What does that even look like given the date July 18th?

QUIGLEY: Sure. I mean, look, I do think there's some time. And I would extend to my Democrats, the notion that now is the time to be thoughtful, and to be calm, and understand that there is a process where the nominee can relinquish their delegates, and it goes to the convention and the convention those -- those delegates get to vote. If they don't do it on the first ballot, well, now you got super delegates. There is a process as chaotic as some people think it is. It's much favorable to Trump second term.

BURNETT: All right. Well, Congressman Quigley, I appreciate your time. Thank you.

QUIGLEY: Thank you.

[17:49:06]

BURNETT: And next here for Wolf and me, new insight into how Vice President Kamala Harris is trying to keep business as usual when business of course is anything but usual.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[17:53:26]

BURNETT: And welcome back to a special edition of the Situation Room. Vice President Kamala Harris on the campaign trail today, amid the growing questions about the viability of her running mate. CNN's Brian Todd has our report.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Tonight the Vice President out on the campaign trail, while the President self isolates with COVID in Delaware. Kamala Harris taking on her newly nominated direct opponent Republican, J.D. Vance.

KAMALA HARRIS, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Their plans are extreme. And they are divisive.

TODD (voice-over): Harris railing against Vance and former President Trump for their claims to be a unity ticket.

HARRIS: You cannot claim to be for unity if you try to overturn a free and fair election.

TODD (voice-over): Even amid deepening concerns about the man at the top of the Democratic ticket. The Vice President's appearances now more in the spotlight, as the calls for President Biden to exit the race grow louder. CNN's Jeff Zeleny reports that a senior Democratic adviser said President Biden has, quote, gone from saying Kamala can't win to, do you think Kamala can win?

ALEX THOMPSON, NATIONAL POLITICAL REPORTER, AXIOS: This is the biggest moment she's had since she was nominated as vice president. And you are seeing her hit the trail not just talking about abortion rights, but really being the main validator for Joe Biden's candidacy.

TODD (voice-over): But even with some recent polls, suggesting Harris might do better against Trump than Biden would, some analysts say the Vice President is now walking the finest of lines.

TIA MITCHELL, WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT, ATLANTA JOURNAL-CONSTITUTION: She does not want to be perceived as trying to push them out or even suggest him out. TODD (voice-over): Harris has been one of the President's fiercest defenders since his disastrous debate.

[17:55:02]

HARRIS: Look, Joe Biden is our nominee. We beat Trump once and we're going to beat him again.

He understands everyday struggles because he has actually lived them. So friends, I say the contrast between Joe Biden and Donald Trump is like night and day.

TODD (voice-over): Now, as she navigates maybe the most sensitive moment of her career, a Harris biographer says those who've run against Kamala Harris have underestimated her at their own peril.

DAN MORAIN, AUTHOR, "KAMALA'S WAY: AN AMERICAN LIFE": She won statewide three times in California, that's no small feat. You don't do that if you're -- if you're a lightweight.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

TODD (on camera): Alex Thompson of Axios says right now, there's a sort of twofold tightrope that Kamala Harris is walking. She's got to show voters that she has what it takes to wage an effective campaign against Donald Trump if it comes to that. But at the same time, she's got to show absolute loyalty to Joe Biden to be there for him if he stays in the race, or to get his endorsement for delegates if he doesn't. Erin?

BURNETT: All right. Thank you very much, Brian.

And to all of you, please stay with us. Wolf and I will be back as our coverage of the RNC continues next with a special edition of the Situation Room.

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