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The Lead with Jake Tapper
Harris, Trump Campaigns Release New TV Ads; Harris Campaign Eyeing VP Announcement In Coming Days; Israel Military: "Targeted Strike" In Beirut Was On Hezbollah Commander Allegedly Behind Attack That Killed 12 Children; Trump Claims Harris Doesn't Like Jewish People; Certification Fights Already Cropping In Battleground States; COVID Infections Rise, Raising Concerns Of A Summer Surge. Aired 4-5p ET
Aired July 30, 2024 - 16:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: -- the top Hezbollah commander the Israeli military was targeting actually survived the strike.
[16:00:07]
Israel blamed the militant group for a recent rocket attack in the occupied Golan Heights that killed 12 kids.
BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: This video shows the immediate aftermath of this strike. We are learning that this was a precise strike and that there was almost no damage to buildings near the targeted site.
Now, the sequence of attacks marks the most significant escalation since tensions between Israel and Hezbollah flared after October 7th.
Much more on that story, on THE LEAD WITH JAKE TAPPER, which starts right now.
(MUSIC)
JAKE TAPPER, CNN HOST: New signs today, that Vice President Harris is ready to pick her running mate.
THE LEAD starts right now.
Vice President Kamala Harris, about to hold a rally, rally in the key battleground state good battleground, state of Georgia, as CNN learns that Harris's VP pick will be joining her on the campaign trail as soon as next week.
Harris today the out with her first ad blitz while the Trump campaign hits back with new ads of its own, going after the VP on the border. Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer will join me to discuss the state of the race and her new book.
Plus, we may be several months from election day, but the election deniers are already sowing the seeds its of doubt and as conspiracy theorists and election liars prepare for 2024 and their new jobs as election officials in key battleground states. We'll take a look at that. And blast in Beirut, the Israeli military conducts what it says is a targeted strike against a key Hezbollah commander, retaliation they say for the Saturday attack by the terrorist group that killed 12 children in the Golan Heights. We're live in both Lebanon and Israel with the breaking developments.
(MUSIC)
TAPPER: Welcome to THE LEAD. I'm Jake Tapper.
And we start today with our 2024 lead because in just a few hours, Vice President Kamala Harris returns to the campaign trail in the crucial battleground state of Georgia. And ahead of her speech, CNN's MJ Lee is reporting that Harris and her future running mate will travel across multiple battleground states next week, a clear sign the search for a Democratic vice presidential candidate is nearing its end.
Today, the race to define a Vice President Harris to the public began a new chapter. The Harris for president campaign, launching its first TV added nearly $50 million push, focusing on the vice president's career in public service.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
AD NARRATOR: As a prosecutor, she put murderers and abusers behind bars as California's attorney general, she went after the big banks and won $20 billion for homeowners.
And as vice president, she took on the big drug companies to cap the cost of insulin for seniors, because Kamala Harris has always known who she represents.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TAPPER: Meanwhile, the Trump campaign is honing in on its line of attack against Vice President Harris, going directly after the Biden- Harris administration's unpopular record on immigration.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
AD NARRATOR: Ten million illegal immigrants, migrant crime out-of- control, fentanyl kills thousands.
KAMALA HARRIS, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We have a secure border.
AD NARRATOR: Kamala Harris -- failed. Weak. Dangerously liberal.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TAPPER: In the Philadelphia area today in battleground Pennsylvania, voters are being bombarded by these and other presidential campaign ads this morning on their local TV stations with at least five different as some for mostly Trump ads against, but all of them about Kamala Harris. Let's get right to CNN's MJ Lee at the White House.
MJ, what are you learning about how Harris's VP selection process is going?
MJ LEE, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, we know that the vice president is currently really in the thick of the process of using her running mate. Of course, everything, Jake, is happening on an extraordinarily condensed timeline since the president dropped out of the race, just nine days ago.
This is where things stand now with the vice president. We know that she has been studying notebooks, or these candidate files that contain information about each of the top contenders. She, of course, has had some preliminary conversations with some of those contenders.
And we also know that one of the questions based on our reporting that she has been asking close advisers a lot the last couple of days is the question of who would make a strong governing partner once she is at the White House.
Now, we are told that the vice prime president has not actually started the formal interview process. That is expected to begin this week. And then the announcement of her pick will come in the coming days. And right after the two of them would hit the road, really traveling to a number of the key battleground states, the first time that the two at the top of the ticket would be traveling the country together.
The vice president team, of course, is involved in an intensive research and polling and vetting process. All of that is typical too, but it is again, happening at lightning speed. We know that one of the moment its important questions that the team is asking is whether any of the contenders could really help with the vice presidents electoral chances.
For example, could Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro help lock in the state, which is so important heading into November?
[16:05:05]
Could an Arizona Senator Mark Kelly really help tip the scales in that state as well?
As you see there among the top contenders, we are told are Shapiro and Kelly, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, Pete Buttigieg, and Andy Bashir are also being discussed. But as she looks for a governing partner and is asking the question of who could really help her win, of course, we should point out the obvious that there is no governing if you don't first win -- Jake.
TAPPER: Right. MJ Lee, thanks so much. As former President Trump's attack lines on Vice President Harris come into sharper view, CNN's Kristen Holmes lays out the road for Trump's vice presidential pick, J.D. Vance.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Vice President Kamala Harris is hitting the campaign trail tonight, holding a rally in the critical battleground state of Georgia, seeking to keep the state Joe Biden flipped in 2020, blue in 2024.
The Harris campaign, also out with a new ad as they seek to educate voters on the vice president's record --
AD NARRATOR: The one thing Kamala Harris has always been, fearless. As a prosecutor --
HOLMES: -- focusing on her public service.
AD NARRATOR: As California's attorney general, she went after the big banks.
HARRIS: We believe in a future where every person has the opportunity. But Donald Trump wants to take our country the backward.
HOLMES: The ad is part of a $50 million blitz ahead of next month's Democratic convention.
Meanwhile, former President Donald Trump's campaign is up with their own ads today, zeroing in on Harris's record on immigration.
AD NARRATOR: Under Harris, over 10 million illegally here, a quarter of 1 million Americans dead from fentanyl.
LESTER HOLT, NBC NEWS ANCHOR: Do you have any plans to visit the border? You haven't been to the border?
HARRIS: And I haven't been to Europe. I don't understand the point that you're making.
HOLMES: With a multi-million-dollar ad buy in six key battleground states.
Trump's team believes the border is a political liability, and one that the former president can seize on.
AD NARRATOR: Kamala Harris -- failed. Weak. Dangerously liberal.
HOLMES: As Trump's vice presidential nominee, J.D. Vance remains under fire for his 2021 childless cat lady remarks, CNN's KFILE uncovering a pattern of disparaging comments from Vance towards those without kids, including this statement in 2020.
SEN. J.D. VANCE (R-OH), VICE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: The fact that so many people, especially in Americas leadership class just don't have that in their lives, you know, I worry that it makes people more sociopathic and ultimately our whole country a little bit less -- less mentally stable.
Trump defending Vance in an interview Monday. DONALD TRUMP, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT & 2024 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE:
He's not against anything. But he -- he loves family. It's very important to him. He grew up in a very interesting family situation and he feels family is good, and I don't think there's anything wrong in saying that.
Vance now facing new scrutiny after "The Washington Post" obtained audio of the vice presidential candidate from a donor event, projecting less confidence in the race against Harris than the Trump campaign has led on.
VANCE: All of us were hit with a little bit of a political sucker punch. The bad news is that Kamala Harris does not have the same baggage as Joe Biden because whatever we might say, Kamala Harris is a lot younger.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES (on camera): And again, the reason why we are focused on those comments is because it's very different from what the Trump campaign has said publicly. Now, in response to that leaked audio, a spokesperson for Vance attacked Kamala Harris, saying that that her far left ideas are even more radioactive than Joe Biden, particularly in key swing states that will decide this election, like Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Wisconsin -- Jake.
TAPPER: Kind of important states.
Kristen Holmes, thanks so much. Appreciate it.
This week, top supporters of Vice President Kamala Harris are out on the campaign trail.
Yesterday, Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer held a rally for Harris in the commonwealth of Pennsylvania alongside Pennsylvania's Governor Josh Shapiro.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GOV. GRETCHEN WHITMER (D-MI): How good is Josh Shapiro? Well, he's gotten a heck of a lot done in just over at -- well, over the last year-and-a-half, and is another example of Democratic governors who believe in our three parts strategy -- get shit done.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TAPPER: Get that done. That's the motto, Governor Whitmer says guides her political life and her new book, "True Gretch", which is out now.
And with me now is Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer.
Governor, thanks so much for being here.
WHITMER: Good to be with you.
TAPPER: It's good to see you. So there's so much to talk about in this new book, which is, and I say
this quite sincerely, a very fun read, a very fun read, and the reason I say that sincerely, because I read a lot of politicians' books, and that's not something I say very often.
WHITMER: Well, I'm honored.
TAPPER: So I want to ask you about some news and then I want to get to the book. Democrats cannot retake the White House without winning in that swath of states that Michigan is part of, for Minnesota to Pennsylvania including Wisconsin, and Michigan.
[16:10:05]
When Vice President Harris picks her running mate, do you think it is important that that swath of the country be represented in her pick? I'm not asking you to pick a specific person, but there are a number of people from -- all the way from Minnesota, all the way to Pennsylvania. Do you think that that should be a consideration?
WHITMER: Well, I think she's got to pick the person that's going to have her back, that can help step into the breach, if God forbid, they need to, is ready to do that.
I also think having a running mate who has their ear to the ground and there's a real person, talking to people every day will help her as she does the work of being the president.
And so, I do think someone from the Midwest would be great. That being said, it doesn't have to be someone from the Midwest, but there's got to be someone who can resonate with people and help get the work done and help win.
TAPPER: All right. It was worth a try. As we just said, when he Michigan is now -- is now top of mind for Democrats. I think it's fair to say Vice President Harris is not going to be the next president if she doesn't win Michigan.
A Fox News polling from last week shows that if the election were held today Michigan voters would break 45 percent for Donald Trump, 43 percent for Kamala Harris, which is within the 3 percent margin of error. Harris performing slightly better than Biden was an early July, according to YouGov poll, which showed Biden at 40 percent, Trump at 42 percent still within the margin of error.
Do you think that Michigan is more getable for Harris than it was for Biden? It was reported, although I know you disputed that you were concerned about his ability to win Michigan. Is it better now?
WHITMER: Well, listen, I didn't dispute. I'm concerned. I disputed how it was -- you know, the words that were attributed to me were not accurate.
TAPPER: Unwinnable was not accurate.
WHITMER: Correct. And Michigan's always going to be a battleground. Same with Pennsylvania, same with Wisconsin. You cannot take any of these states for granted. The road to the White House goes through these three states and that's why I think it's so important that we have a huge presence and what we're seeing in Michigan on the ground, I can tell you, I was in campaign offices last -- early last week, people are calling to volunteer. People are starting to make contributions.
I mean, we're really seeing the surge and energy. I was in New Hampshire at the end of the week on behalf of the vice president, 50 people we expect in the backyard in the middle of the day on a Friday, we at 250 show up.
Last night when I was in Pennsylvania with Josh Shapiro, we thought originally the planning was a couple of hundred people. It was 1,300 people who stood in line for hours to be there for Josh and me. I mean, it's flattering, but we're not the principles and yet were seeing this great excitement around the Harris campaign.
So I'm fired up, but I'm also sober. This is going to go down to the wire and in most of these states, and we can't take any person or any vote for granted.
TAPPER: So let's turn to the book, "True Gretch", in which we are treated to this little ditty.
(MUSIC)
(CROSSTALK)
WHITMER: Fancy tone, isn't it?
TAPPER: Do you like it?
WHITMER: I love it.
TAPPER: How often do you actually listen to it?
WHITMER: I don't listen to it that often, but my sister has it as the ringtone when I call her. So --
TAPPER: So, this song came out during COVID. You ultimately took it as a compliment, which is how it was intended, although your staff had to explain it to you, you write in the book. You saw it as people in Michigan seeing or Detroit specifically, I guess, seeing you as having their back during COVID, and I wanted to ask you though, because a lot of the book is about COVID.
Obviously, it was a once in a century kind of -- kind of crisis.
When you look back, would you have done anything different if you knew then what you know now, when it comes to schools, when it comes to the nursing home order that you put into place in April and rescinded in June? Would you have done anything different?
WHITMER: Oh, yeah. If I could go in a time machine with the knowledge that we've accumulated and make different decisions along the way -- sure. I think any leader worth their salt would say the same thing.
None of us knew what we were confronting. It was a novel virus. We are building the plane as were flying it and 50 different states, 50 different policies and we had a White House that was not only disseminating misinformation, but they were putting us against one another by telling us to go find her own masks and gloves.
I've talked about that in the book. This kind of Hunger Games-style race that each of us was then just to get masks and gloves for our doctors and nurses when our hospitals were overwhelmed.
So, sure. I mean, they -- knowing what we know now if I could go back, I would certainly do some things different, but I'm proud of what we did and I can tell you the people of Michigan, I think, you know, by and large, we got through this as well as we could and we're seeing our economy growing and there's a lot of good stuff going on, but it was a tough time.
TAPPER: What do you think would be the number one thing that you would do differently?
WHITMER: Well, what -- think about what we were confronted, right? The knowledge of the last pandemic was from the 1918 flu --
TAPPER: Right.
WHITMER: -- that disproportionately hurt little kids, killed little kids, took lives of some of the younger just Americans.
[16:15:01]
And I think one of our collective worries was that in our schools, if our kids were going and they were getting sick, that they would start dying. We did not know it was respiratory in nature. We didn't know that it would be people on the other end of the age spectrum who would be most vulnerable.
And so I think that the education stuff, we would've been able to do a lot more to help our kids.
TAPPER: So you first emerged on the national stage, the first time a lot of people watching right now probably heard of you when you shared the story on the state Senate floor of the horrible experience you had at Michigan state when you were raped. And it was your minority leader in 2013 at the time Republicans in the legislature were trying to push through a bill requiring women in Michigan to buy extra health insurance for abortion coverage even in cases of rape, and incest.
I want to play this moment from your speech on the floor that day.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
WHITMER: But over 20 years ago, I was a victim of rape and thank God, it didn't result in a pregnancy because I cant imagine going through what I went through and then having to consider what to do about an unwanted pregnancy from an attacker. (END VIDEO CLIP)
TAPPER: In terms of your public life because you write about a lot of difficult things, you've gone through in your life, your mother's death, the kidnapping and murder plot against you. Do you think that that was the toughest thing you've gone through?
WHITMER: I -- it was tough. You know, it's hard to even watch that. I -- you know --
TAPPER: Really (ph)?
WHITMER: I can hear how close I am to crying in the middle of it.
I tell the story. You know, what this book really is, is the question I get asked the most as I'm traveling across Michigan around the country is how do I stay positive whenever things are so heavy. Twenty-eight recall attempts, threat on my life, flooding and pandemics, et cetera, that we had to navigate a lot of tough stuff.
And so, this is really things I've learned through my life that gives maybe people a little laugh at my expense. Or there's a lesson that I used to --
(CROSSTALK)
TAPPER: Oh, you're laughing with them. You're laughing with them.
WHITMER: Yeah, for sure.
TAPPER: Yeah.
WHITMER: But -- but maybe there's a lesson here that we helpful to you navigating something in your own life professionally or personally. That chapter where I talk about being raped and the fight on the floor that day is really a chapter called "Never Give Up", and I fast forward ten years after that speech, ten years to the day as a sitting governor, I was the one who signed the bill that repeal that law.
TAPPER: Yeah.
WHITMER: And so, the fight took ten years, longer than it should have, but it was worth it and we stay committed to it. And I wanted to share that to give people hope, like it can feel hopeless and there's so much at risk in this upcoming election. These fights are worth having and we can win them. But we can't give up.
TAPPER: Your grandmother Nina taught you, you can always find something nice to say about somebody. What's a nice thing you can tell us about Donald Trump and J.D. Vance?
WHITMER: Well, I can say this. Donald Trump has an uncanny ability to figure out what's going on in the political wins and to feed into it.
I don't think it's ever for the purpose of solving a problem. It's about making opportunities for himself, but he has been able to do that really well. And I think that's something we should never underestimate.
TAPPER: J.D. Vance?
WHITMER: You know, he's from Ohio, and that's the Midwest state. And I i liked the Midwest.
(LAUGHTER)
TAPPER: That's all you got?
WHITMER: Well, I said yesterday in our rally in Pennsylvania, he's efficient. He insulted the Jewish population, women and people of color all in one sentence. So that's efficient.
TAPPER: What sentence was that?
WHITMER: I'll look it up for you, Jake.
TAPPER: Okay. I appreciate it.
Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer, thank you so much. The book, of course, is "True Gretch: What I've Learned About Life, Leadership and Everything in Between". It is a very fun read.
We have some breaking news for you now from the Middle East. An Israeli strike in Beirut targeted a top Hezbollah commander, blamed for the attack in the Golan Heights that killed 12 kids on a soccer field last Saturday.
We're going to go live to Lebanon next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[16:23:02]
TAPPER: Breaking news in our world lead. Israel's military confirming what it calls a targeted strike in Beirut, Lebanon, targeting a top Hezbollah commander. Hezbollah is the U.S. designated terrorist organization that Israel blames for a weekend rocket attack that killed a dozen children in the Golan Heights.
CNN's Jeremy Diamond is in an Israel for us, but let's begin with CNN's Ben Wedeman, who's in Beirut.
Ben, what do we know about the strike?
BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, this strike happened just less than four hours ago in the Haret Hreik neighborhood in southern Beirut. That's an area where many of Hezbollah's leaders are based.
Now, according to the Lebanese national news agency, there -- it was a drone that fired three missiles as -- at a residential building, destroyed about five of its floors in the process. Now, there are reports that the target was for Fu'ad Shukr, who is a senior military commander with Hezbollah. Now, I spoke to so a senior Lebanese government official who told me
that he had survived this strike. However, there are other reports coming out that perhaps he was killed.
Now, we are expecting a comment, a statement of from Hezbollah shortly. We do know that at least apart from perhaps this one individual than one woman was killed in this strike and more than 60 wounded according to the Lebanese ministry of health.
Now, in the past Hezbollah Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah has said that a strike on Beirut is a red line for that organization. However, back on the 2nd of January, Israel also struck that part of Beirut, killing the senior Hamas commander in that case. We have heard in the last few days, Hezbollah saying that as far as Israel's response to the Saturday strike on the Israeli occupied Syrian Golan Heights that left 12 children killed, that they would meet escalation with escalation, Jake.
[16:25:14]
TAPPER: Jeremy, we've obtained new video of the rocket attack on the Golan Heights from Saturday that hit a soccer field where children are playing. We're going to play it.
I want to warn people at home. It's disturbing.
(VIDEO CLIP PLAYS)
TAPPER: Again, 12 Druze children were killed in that strike by Hezbollah.
Jeremy, what are you hearing from your sources? Is it possible that this strike was an errant rocket? What's -- what's the latest thinking?
JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN JERUSALEM CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, there are some indications that that was the case.
U.S. officials have suggested that Majdal Shams was not necessarily the target of this strike, but they are also making clear that they believe that Hezbollah was in deed responsible and there is every indication to believe that based off of the type of the damage at the scene which I visited over the weekend, the crater that resulted, the death of these 12 children and the type of rocket that appears to have been used.
What, you know, we saw over the weekend was a community that was just absolutely devastated by the deaths of these 12 children, a very tight-knit community at that. And now, of course, we have questions about what exactly Hezbollah will do as Israel has now carried out this retaliation for the strike. But an Israeli -- a senior Israeli official telling me that they wanted to send a, quote, very strong message, but they also want to make clear tonight, even after carrying out this retaliatory strike in southern Beirut, that they, quote, don't want this to escalate into a wider war. They now say that it is up to Hezbollah to determine what comes next -- Jake. TAPPER: All right, Jeremy Diamond and Ben Wedeman, thank you so much.
Coming up, Donald Trump claimed Kamala Harris, who is married to a Jewish man, he claims that she does not like Jewish people and that wasn't the only wild and controversial thing he said about Jews today.
Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[16:31:56]
TAPPER: And we're back with our politics lead.
Former President Donald Trump went on a WABC Radio show in New York this morning. And he said this about Vice President Kamala Harris.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT & 2024 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: So she dislikes Jewish people in Israel more than Biden did. If you are Jewish regardless of Israel, if you're Jewish, if you vote for a Democrat, you're a fool, an absolute fool.
SID ROSENBERG, HOST: And they tell me that this -- this Harris' husband, Doug Emhoff, Mr. President, is Jewish. He's Jewish like Bernie Sanders is Jewish. Are you kidding me? He's a crappy Jew.
TRUMP: Yeah, yeah.
ROSENBERG: He's a horrible Jew. So on the way out --
(END AUDIO CLIP)
TAPPER: You heard there Trump saying, yeah, yeah, to that horrendous assertion by host Sid Rosenberg, that second gentleman Doug Emhoff is a crappy Jew.
Remember when the second family moved into the vice president's residence, they became the very first to fix a mezuzah on any executive residence. Emhoff also helped launch the first official White House national strategy to counter antisemitism. His great grandparents escape persecution from what is now Poland around 120 years ago.
But let's unpack all of the shocking things that President Trump said in that interview with Emily Tamkin, who is the author of a book called "Bad Jews: A History of American Jewish Politics and Identities".
Emily, you literally wrote the book on this. So what exactly is this saying of non-Jews or Jews calling people like Doug Emhoff, bad Jews?
EMILY TAMKIN, AUTHOR: I think that it's important to remember that this has been going on for all of American Jewish history, and specifically Trump has been saying versions of this for the last five years, you can go back to 2019 and find similar things that oh, if you are -- if you're Jewish and you vote for a Democrat, you're disloyal.
And basically I think the function of it look, every group tries to define who's in and who's out and what it means to be a minority and a larger country but this moves specifically is about using political differences to define the identity, to define the borders of the identity, and to say that those who do not agree with you aren't Jewish at all, which means that you don't have to try to convince them. You don't have to prove that you're right. You don't have to win the argument. You can just cancel them off and thus yours is the more legitimate Jewish position.
And that's what Trump has done over and over again for the last five years. And that's certainly what he did in this interview.
TAPPER: We should note that Jews according to exit polls, vote Democratic 60 to 70 percent of the time, depending on the election. So when Trump repeatedly says, the Jewish people who vote Democratic or vote for Biden should quote, have their heads examined, which has now he's saying about the Kamala Harris, he's saying that most Jews should have their heads examined.
What does this reveal to you about Donald Trump?
TAMKIN: I think this is the -- this is the question to ask because actually, it's not really about Doug Emhoff and its not about Kamala Harris or Bernie Sanders or Chuck Schumer or any or me or you. This is about Donald Trump, who has taken, you know, there's the old dual loyalty trope which is, you know, says that Jews can never really be first and foremost loyal to America because we're loyal to Judaism and our co-religionists and Zionists and Israel.
[16:35:12]
Trump has taken that and sort of tweaked it to say that Jews -- to be good American Jews, we need to be supportive of Israel and loyal to Israel. But specifically supportive of Israel in a way that Trump believes in, and specifically -- even more specifically, we need to do that by supporting Donald Trump, which is to say that Trump is saying that are worth as patriots as American citizens, as Jews is contingent on support for a partisan political figure.
And I think that -- I would hope that every American Jew is very uncomfortable that but certainly the 60, 70 percent of Jews who vote for Democrats should find that offensive.
TAPPER: Yeah, when you say partisan -- needs to be a partisan loyalty, you're referring to both loyalty to Donald Trump and loyalty to Benjamin Netanyahu, the prime minister of Israel, and his view of what's best for Israel, which we should note 70 percent of the Israelis public disagrees with.
So that kind of begs the question of, so those -- are those 70 percent of Israel disloyal to Israel because they don't support Netanyahu? I mean, you start going down this line. It's wild.
Obviously, President Trump has done a lot of things that Israelis are happy about, recognizing Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, which was promised by president after president, but Donald Trump actually did it. He officially moved the U.S. embassy there. He seems to have repaired his relationship with Netanyahu.
How do you square those? Israeli actions relating to Israel with these comments about Jews in America?
TAMKIN: I think that it's important to note that order -- it's important to stress that if Donald Trump wanted to go out and make the argument that actually all of that means that he's the better president for Israel and for American Jews, he's well within his rights to do that.
But he's going a step further in canceling out those Jews who disagree with them under, undermining, undercutting those Jews disagree with him because to actually have the argument, he would also have to address that he dined with a white supremacist and Holocaust denier, and that he's regularly pushed conspiracy theories about George Soros and just the other day, he promised Christian-Americans that they only have to vote as one last time and then everything it will be fixed. And so they won't have to vote again.
You know, he would have to go through his record on all of this is to say nothing, all the other ways in which he's arguably undermining the pluralism and liberalism that keeps American Jews safe here. So I think there's a reason that most Jews don't vote for -- aren't planning on voting for Donald Trump. And there's a reason that Trump himself doesn't want to have these conversations.
It's because as you say, being supportive of this, one particular vision and version of Israel is not necessarily the most important thing to most American Jews I also want to say it does not cancel out or excuse any of the other things that I just listed that I would argue are very clearly antisemitic.
TAPPER: Emily Tamkin, author of "Bad Jews", thank you so much. So glad that we could catch up with you today.
Coming up next, they went from being election deniers, two election board officials certifying the votes in key battleground states. And there already sowing the seeds of doubt about this upcoming election before one vote has even been cast.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[16:42:18]
TAPPER: And we are back with more on our 2024 lead. More than three months to go before Election Day, and already there are concerns about how the vote is going to be certified in some battleground states. That's because of election conspiracy theorists who are getting on local election boards.
TAPPER: CNN's Sara Murray reports now on what is being dubbed the new Wild West of election work.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SARA MURRAY, CNN POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This is Julie Adams --
JULIE ADAMS, FULTON COUNTY ELECTION BOARD: At the beginning of early voting, these people that looked less than clean cut kept the ballot for two to three days.
MURRAY: -- spreading a conspiracy theory about ballots in Fulton County, Georgia at a right-wing training for poll workers and poll watchers.
ADAMS: So, I'm picturing these guys that they're sitting in their apartments, they have their buddies over, they're drinking beer, might be smoking pot, and they got the ballots there from Fulton County.
Hi. My name is Julie Adams.
MURRAY: Here she is baselessly accusing election workers of forging tally sheets in the 2020 election.
The question that you now must answer is who falsified them and he or she is being sworn in, in February, the newest Republican member of the Fulton County board of elections. In one of her first acts, she's suing her fellow board members and the elections director, arguing she should not be forced to certify the local election results without access to all elements of the election materials.
Even after the board convened at the Fulton County elections hub in May, poring over piles of documents and multiple computers worth of election information for more than six hours.
ADAMS: I had the impression that we were going to do this, that it was going to be all pay for documents issue.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The issue is, is that some of these files are huge.
MURRAY: Adams still refuse to certify.
ADAMS: I'm abstaining.
MURRAY: Cheering Adams on, Cleta Mitchell, a conservative attorney who helped Donald Trump tried to overturn the 2020 election results.
CLETA MITCHELL, FORMER 2020 TRUMP ELECTION LAWYER: Julie Adams, who has been, she's been a leader. She's trained thousands of people across the state of Georgia.
MURRAY: Mike Berry is Adams' attorney. He works for a Trump aligned think tank. He says his clients lawsuit is about getting even more information. So she feels comfortable certifying election results.
MIKE BERRY, LAWYER FOR JULIE ADAMS: Ms. Adams is stuck in a quandary because her sworn oath and her statutory duty is I will not certify something that is not valid and accurate, right? I will ensure -- my job is to ensure that there's no fraud.
MURRAY: Voting rights activists see another motive, laying the groundwork to challenge the results in November.
STEPHANIE JACKSON ALI, NEW GEORGIA PROJECT: They're trying to continue the big lie. The question of are our elections fair efforts to refuse to certify election results failed in a handful of counties in 2020 and 2022.
[16:45:00]
Already this year, members of election boards in Georgia, Michigan, and Nevada have refused to certify results.
ALI: Certification is kind of a new Wild West of election work. If you can hold up certification, then it really brings into question, can the state certified as a whole, and that means can we send our delegates for president.
BERRY: Ms. Adams should have access to the data to be able to do her job. And for people to take that and try to extrapolate conspiracy theories about what might happen in November I think is misplaced and overblown.
MURRAY: As for whether Adams still believes conspiracy theories about the last election, her attorney isn't saying.
Do you know if she believes that 2020 was stolen?
BERRY: I never had any conversations with Ms. Adams about that. I've never asked her about it.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
TAPPER: And Sara Murray is with us now.
Sara, some states have changed their laws to guard against the certification challenges from these kinds of people.
MURRAY: Yeah, that's right. A place like Michigan has made it very clear you have to certify the election results. And if a local board fails to do it, a state board can intervene and certify those results: It's a little bit more opaque in Georgia, which is white, both political parties are really closely watching this lawsuit.
Even though Julie Adams is outnumbered on the Fulton County board and can actually block the certification there. They wonder what this lawsuit could mean for other counties in Georgia, perhaps ones where there are more Republicans on the board and the state election board in Georgia is also considered during changes to the certification process, like allowing board members to demand more information or conduct a reasonable inquiry before they certify.
And I just want to note that we did ask Adams attorney about the previous comments she made about election workers in the state and she's -- and he said it was irrelevant to her current lawsuit. TAPPER: Uh-huh. Okay. Sara Murray, keeping an eye on this for us. Thank you so much.
We have some new video coming in. It is the Democratic presumptive presidential nominee, Vice President Kamala Harris, meeting with voters at a restaurant, which is what's called an OTR, not on the official schedule, but the media is there we can try to listen in for a minute or so. Let's do that.
All right. They haven't really wired it so that we can hear anything of meaning. This is in Atlanta, Georgia. Obviously, there's Senator Raphael Warnock and Senator Jon Ossoff, the two Democratic senators from the state of Georgia. We know that Vice President Harris is in Atlanta today campaigning for that battlegrounds in state.
All right. We will monitor those comments as she greets voters and see if we can discern any actual words.
There is new CNN reporting that Vice President Harris is nearing her pick for vice president. One dark horse candidate is joining us live. That's next.
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[16:51:50]
TAPPER: Time for our health lead. COVID's comeback. From President Biden to the Summer Olympics to most likely someone you probably know, COVID's back.
CNN's Dr. Sanjay Gupta is on call and joins us live.
And you'll notice a QR code on your screen if you're watching. You can scan it to submit your own questions for Sanjay and he'll join us live tomorrow to answer some of those questions.
Now, Sanjay, tell us more about this COVID summer surge. Is it unusual? How seriously should we take it?
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Yeah. No, I don't think it's unusual. I mean, people typically think of these viruses being more in the fall and the winter, but over the last four years, at least, we've seen what has happened in the summer, along with the wind -- fall and the winter.
If you take a look at this graph and this is sort of wastewater surveillance, kind of gives you a global look at what's happening there. You can see that big surge in the winter, but then a pretty sudden peak again in the summer comes down again and then you see that sort of happening over the last four years.
Couple of things to pay attention to. One is, again, you get to surges throughout the year, not just one, but also the rate of acceleration of the summer peak. It goes up pretty suddenly and I think that there's a clue in there as well, which basically says that's probably when immunity starts to wane for people, whether they've had an infection or they've had the vaccine, that's why you suddenly get that peak again here.
This virus seems to be adapted better for summer months, for warmer and wetter months. What we see now in the country, Jake, as a result is about 36 states where you have higher levels infection. We're in that sort of summer surge if you will. And we'll see how long it continues.
In the past, it's continued a few weeks, but we'll see what happens this year.
TAPPER: Has anything changed when it comes to what we should do if we get COVID and tests positive for it?
GUPTA: Yeah, it's changed really the beginning of this year and its interesting, its the best way to frame it. It's more symptoms based than time-based. In the past, you would count the number of days since she tested positive, five days perhaps before you be able to say that you could leave isolation.
Now it's really symptoms based and specifically, if you are a symptom- free and that means no fever off a fever reducing medicines. Then and your symptoms are heading in the right direction. You can sort of your less contagious, less likely to come, come, you can come out of isolation at that point.
They still recommend wearing a mask though, because people can still be shedding virus for a period of time even after their symptoms improve. That's the current guidance Jake and I think it's the best for keeping people around you as safe as possible.
TAPPER: So we know President Biden or at least we're told that President Biden took Paxlovid when he had COVID a few days ago. Is that what everyone should do when they get COVID? Take Paxlovid?
I think if you look at the data, it's beneficial for sure, but probably most beneficial and those who have some sort of risk factor. So it's FDA approved for all adults as emergency use authorization for those 12 and over. But if you are somebody who has a risk factor besides age, you know, obesity, heart disease, diabetes, asthma, something like that, it's probably a better option for you.
[16:55:00]
If you look at the data overall, I tried to put this together for you. It probably lowers hospitalization by about 51 percent of people who takes -- take Paxlovid, so some benefit there.
TAPPER: It definitely helped me when I -- when I had it and I didn't have any Paxlovid rebound, although I know some people have that. That's still a thing, right? Paxlovid rebound where it comes back or something?
GUPTA: Let me show you -- you're going to ask this, let me just show you this graph real quick.
It -- most people don't -- don't have rebound. If you look at Paxlovid versus placebo, its actually a little bit higher in the placebo group that have no rebound, 1 percent, 0.5 percent maybe have rebound. And it's not clear that its due to the Paxlovid, Jake.
TAPPER: Okay. So that's just a myth.
Dr. Sanjay Gupta, thanks so much. We'll see you tomorrow with our viewers' questions. Appreciate it.
Coming up, the acting head of the U.S. Secret Service testified before Senate lawmakers today. How did he describe the security protocols in the moments leading up to the assassination attempt on former President Trump?
Stay with us.
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