Return to Transcripts main page
The Lead with Jake Tapper
Election Enters A New Phase With 74 Days To Go; RFK Jr. Suspends Campaign For President, Endorses Trump; CNN Analysis: Trump's Businesses Bring In Tens Of Millions Of Dollars From Republican Campaigns, Including His Own; Election Enters A New Phase With 74 Days To Go; Source: Secret Service Members Placed On Administration Duties. Aired 4-5p ET
Aired August 23, 2024 - 16:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[16:00:00]
BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: I'm not sure what they want meant by the researchers say that these are all virtually mail. The sea lions are expected to hang out at this bro fest for about a month. They are protected. We should note by federal law, so no one is allowed to interfere with their behavior.
Noted, they can get frisky with people. So you want to avoid that. That's why the yellow tape is up there.
BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: Yeah. And we learned that about animals this hour. Just give them their space.
SANCHEZ: Yeah.
KEILAR: Stay safe, people.
SANCHEZ: Yeah, it's a good idea. Thanks so much for being with us today.
THE LEAD WITH JAKE TAPPER starts in just a few seconds. Be beware of those sea lions.
PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN HOST: The DNC didn't have Beyonce and neither do we.
THE LEAD starts right now.
The party is over now, the real work begins. For the next 74 days, Democrats hope to build on the momentum and energy of their historic week. But will that actually turn into enough votes in crucial battleground states?
On the Republican side, former President Donald Trump on the trail, in two swing states today and scoring an endorsement from independent candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. who suspended his campaign just moments ago.
And raking it in. A new CNN analysis of campaign finance data reveals Donald Trump's businesses are earning millions of dollars, thanks to Republican political campaigns, including his own.
(MUSIC)
MATTINGLLY: Welcome to THE LEAD. I am the highly dissipated special guest, Phil Mattingly, in for Jake Tapper, a big Leon Panetta energy here.
We start today with the 2024 lead. The balloons mostly popped, the rafters have emptied, the nomination it's been accepted, and now, the race for president enters a new chapter. The first ballots get mailed out in just two weeks. That's right, 14 days from today, Americans can start casting their votes, just days later, we'll see the first debate between Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump.
And widespread early voting that starts in less than a month. Now, fresh off their convention, Democrats hope to build on their momentum with the Harris campaign announcing the Obamas, the Clintons will be hitting the campaign trail to make the case for the Harris-Walz ticket. Her team says Harris will continue holding rallies, but not necessarily the same pace as the last couple of weeks she turns her focus to debate prep. This weekend, Harris and Walz are off the trail.
Over the course of the last week, Donald Trump has been holding rallies in key battleground states, including Nevada and Arizona this afternoon. Arizona also where another move that could impact the election just took place. Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. officially suspended his campaign this afternoon. And has announced he's going to, quote, throw my support to Donald -- President Trump.
A source tells CNN RFK Jr. will campaign with Trump in the coming weeks. That source was talking to CNN's Kristen Holmes, who was just at the RFK, Jr. event, and somehow managed to teleport herself to the forthcoming Donald Trump event.
Kristen, what's the Trump campaign see as the benefit in this endorsement?
KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Phil, they actually see quite a bit of benefit in this. They believe that this race with Kamala Harris is going to come down to a razor thin margins and that every vote counts and they look at the polling, particularly in states like here in Arizona, in these battleground states, and they see what RFK was bringing to the table.
So, just to give you an example, here in Arizona, RFK was pulling in recent polling at 6 percent. Now, Donald Trump at 42 percent, and Kamala Harris at 45 percent.
Now, Donald Trump's team is not under the illusion that all 6 percent will go for Donald Trump. Now that RFK has endorsed him, but they believe that every single vote counts and they do believe that particularly, once Kamala Harris is at the top of the ticket, those votes that were being siphoned away from either candidate were actually largely coming from Donald Trump's. So, they believe this could be incredibly he helpful. And as you mentioned, it's not just that RFK is going to be out there
campaigning. He's going to be trying to reach his staunchest supporters, people who maybe work turned off by former President Donald Trump. The sources telling me that they are encouraging him to do different kinds of platforms, like Tucker Carlson, like Joe Rogan, because they believe that it will help RFK reach out to those people who are still on the fence about Donald Trump and try and convince them to support the former president.
So, just to say that this is a big deal for them, they really believed that they've been working on this for several weeks. Donald -- Don Jr., Donald Trump's son, as well as Tucker Carlson, working -- spearheading the conversations with RFK's team to try and make this happen, which just goes to show you the value they see here.
Now, not everyone is happy with this endorsement, including being RFK's own siblings who put out a statement that read in part this and I'm just going to read you one line there, clearly condemning the endorsement of Donald Trump, but they also say here: Our brother Bobby's decision to endorse Trump today is a betrayal of the values that our father and family hold most dear. It's a sad ending to a sad story.
Clearly, again, condemning his decision to back Donald Trump. But RFK, as you said, I was at that event, he was all in for the former president.
[16:05:02]
MATTINGLY: Kristen Holmes for us in Glendale, Arizona, has been doing great reporting on this story. And also, I cannot appreciate enough the hustle getting between two campaign events. Not easy, my friends. Our thanks to Kristen.
Here now is our panel of political experts to discuss.
And, guys, I want to talk a lot about the convention, but I want to start with you, Kristen Soltis-Anderson, because we have dueling memos, the DNC saying this changes absolutely nothing and Tony Fabrizio, the Trump campaign's pollster coming out saying this has a tangible effect on the race. Which is it?
KRISTEN SOLTIS ANDERSON, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: I think in a race that's very close, anything that can move even a very small number of voters in a very small number of counties in the right states can matter. What I've been seeing in polling about RFK is that over the last few months, it has shifted to be more of a draw from Trump than from Biden.
Initially, it was a threat to Biden because you had disaffected Democrats who loved the Kennedy name. They saw the iconography of RFK's Super Bowl ad, they really felt like, oh, I like this guy, maybe instead of Biden, I go with him.
That's now fallen away. And instead, the voters that had been gravitating toward RFK in recent months have been those that felt like he was the real outsider. He was the one that would speak truth to power, say the offensive things other people wouldn't say, frankly, in focus groups, people talk about RFK Jr., like they would talk about Trump, say, eight years ago.
So, with him dropping out and endorsing Trump, it's just consolidating voters who are interested in the Trump vibe, but may have had some questions about him. I think this could give them a point or two.
MATTINGLY: Which is not nothing --
ANDERSON: Which is not nothing.
MATTINGLY: -- given what we know about this race.
All right, I do want to talk about the convention.
Christy, let me play a part of what Vice President Kamala Harris said last night. It's part of her case against the former president.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KAMALA HARRIS, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES & 2024 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We know what a second Trump term would look like. It's all laid out in Project 2025, written by his closest advisors, and its sum total is to pull our country back to the past. But, America, we are not going back.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MATTINGLY: Democrats feel great. I will grant that Democrats feel great.
I think the question I had last night is that speech which I think has been applauded by Democrats and Republicans alike have said it was good speech. It was well done, it was short, which for which was nice, got a lot in. Did it do enough to kind of convey what the Harris campaign would do to actually move the country forward?
CHRISTY SETZER, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: Yeah, absolutely. The first I think its important to take a step back and talk about just how difficult of a speech this was to give. This was her first high profile speech of this nature on the national stage. She had to do a lot of things. She had this sort of suddenly turn the page from the Biden administration, show how she's going to be a change candidate.
She had to actually position herself in a way as the challenger to Donald Trump being the incumbent that were not going to go back to. She had to appeal to this incredibly wide and diverse coalition of people and she had to tell people not just what her policies are going to be, but sort of what her vision of America is.
And I think that in a sort of Simone Biles triple, double, amazing kind of way, she actually really did that and stuck the landing.
MATTINGLY: I think -- we can get point. What was striking to me, you know, you kind of wake up every morning, you read through the morning newsletters and like every single headline this morning from my friends and colleagues who grind it out overnight, tried to put those together, is Kamala moves to the middle. Kamala's centrism. Kamala -- that was not how most people thought about the vice president, most base almost primarily on her 2019, 2020 campaign run.
Do you think that's the case? Do you think that speech really delivered that message?
MACHALAGH CARR, FORMER CHIEF OF STAFF, SPEAKER MCCARTHY: It definitely delivered the message. It was a reinvention of Vice President Harris. I thought what was interesting is what we didn't hear -- you know, we didn't hear her talk about banning fracking, about mandatory gun buyback, about banning offshore drilling, about taken away private health insurance for Americans.
We didn't hear any of that because those positions are wildly unpopular and she's going to try very, very hard to distance herself from the fact that she is the sitting vice president of the United States of America and all of those policies are policies that she has embraced.
The Biden-Harris administration took the unprecedented position of saying we are Biden-Harris, they co-branded this administration. And then she had the position of casting 33 votes, tie-breaking votes in the Senate more than any other vice president in the entire history of the country.
So she doesn't really get to say these aren't my positions. This isn't my administration. I'm new -- I'm the outsider. I think it's really tricky to try and pull off the outsider vibe when you are currently the vice sitting vice president of the United States, and your party has been in power for 12 of the last 16 years.
MATTINGLY: And I know it drives the Trump campaign nuts that they're trying to do this. I think at some level they've been effective, at least at this point. You've written and talked and posted on social media and Substack constantly about the race to define at this point in time, this is the moment -- she has had a clear runway for about 3.5 weeks to try and do that.
ANDERSON: Yes.
MATTINGLY: Have they done it?
ANDERSON: They've started to lay a really good foundation for her to be more appealing to the center than she would have been a month ago.
[16:10:06]
And I think it's really remarkable. She's had to thread this needle of, I'm the person to handle the next four years, please don't hold me responsible for the last four years and she's kind of pulling it off.
When you look at polling that came out last weekend, voters were asked, how much influence do you think she's had over Biden's economic policy? And voter said not very much. How much influence do you think she's had over Biden's immigration policy? And voter said, not very much, which is notable considering how much effort Republicans have put into saying, hey, she was appointed border czar, we can, you know, negotiate over the term. But she really is not being held accountable by voters for an administration that was not getting very good marks from those same voters.
She's been able to definitely maneuver around this. Whether the Trump campaign putting hundreds and thousands of points on the board in terms of paid media to drive that message --
MATTINGLY: Yeah.
ANDERSON: -- -that could still change, but they're running out of time.
MATTINGLY: Yeah, we're going to dig into kind of what this all means for them in a little bit, but I want to ask you, Adam Kinzinger -- because you were in the House for long, we're both Hill rats, and that's not a pejorative term where we come from.
Adam Kinzinger giving a speech, a hawkish national security Republican in my years of covering them on Capitol Hill, the vice president had kind of a hawkish defense of American exceptionalism, patriotism, national security, as a Republican, who worked with Adam Kinzinger, what did you think when you saw him up that sign?
CARR: You know, one of the things that I think that is really important to focus on is the policy. It's not the personalities and that's something that they're trying really hard not to do.
What Adam Kinzinger did not talk about is promoting a candidate who is for price controls. That is not a conservative Republican position to take. And so I think what were looking at is a larger focus on the policies of these two administrations, I think will be more interesting, rather than who finds their way to the biggest stage.
MATTINGLY: I saw what you did there.
Real quick before you go, can they keep this? Is this durable? It's been a question -- I've been asking for three-and-a-half, four weeks. Is this durable over the course of the next 70 plus days?
SETZER: And it's incredibly fair question, but at this point, they have been able to pull it off. Every obstacle that that has been put in her path she has been able to hurdle over it. I mean, if you look at some of the numbers that the interest and attention and excitement that she has generated has been truly unprecedented.
I saw statistics today that 2.3 million individual donors in the last month to the Harris campaign? I don't even think that included who did this past week. That means that something close to 1 percent of the country donated to her campaign in the past month, right? So, that buys you options, that buys you the ability to not just go up on swing state television as much as you want and as much on digital, it just buys you a lot of options in terms of how you spend your time and what you get to say. MATTINGLY: I think it was something like 70 percent of those donors
had not donated to the Biden campaign. It's bonkers.
SETZER: Yeah.
MATTINGLY: All right. We got a lot more to get to everybody. Stick around, please.
Coming up a fundraising gala to honor January 6 rioters set to be held at Trump's club in New Jersey. Just a few weeks, Trump has been invited. Well, they make an appearance and that's not the only event to be hosted at Trump property. Business is booming when it comes to politicians, including Trump himself spending campaign cash that actually benefits the former president.
What a new CNN analysis found, that's next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[16:17:19]
MATTINGLY: We're back in the 2024 lead and a very busy calendar ahead, fewer than 11 weeks until the November election, 18 days until the first presidential debate between former President Trump and Vice President Harris.
A lot can happen between now and then as these candidates make significant place in key battleground states, in fact the exception of a debate or two, maybe three, we'll see, really what happens and what matters right now where the candidates go, what kind of money they spend, and we've seen it throughout the course of this week.
Look at this map. This is the CNN forecast, 270 to Win, where you see yellow states, those are the states that CNN rates as toss-up states as battleground states, the states where the candidates are focusing. How do you know they're focusing? Well, just watch where they've been.
Vice President Kamala Harris and Tim Walz leading up to the convention, pretty much hit every single one of those yellow states. In primetime last night, before the vice president gave her speech, you saw the governor of North Carolina speaking, you saw congresswoman from Georgia, you saw the governor of Michigan, you saw several key voices from Arizona.
They know what they're doing. It's intentional and they're not the only ones, the Trump campaign as well. Throughout the course of this week, think about where the former president has been -- well, he started the week off on Monday in Pennsylvania, then he went up to Michigan, then he went to North Carolina.
Today as we've seen and talk to Alayna -- Kristen Holmes and Alayna Treene on the ground for us in Nevada and Arizona, where they're going tells the story. Wait, there's two others that I didn't talk about. Oh, yeah. J.D. Vance was in Valdosta, Georgia, and also in Kenosha, Wisconsin, earlier in the week. They're traveling because they know turning out those voters in those states matters enormously. Georgia, well, Joe Biden flipped that in 2020, only won that state by
a little over 11,000 votes. What about Arizona? Just over 10,000 votes, razor thin margins, every visit matters, every dollar spent matters.
Where are we talking about when we say dollars spent? Well, let me pull this up and show you the spending right now in terms of where things stand right now, presidential spending in battleground states, Pennsylvania, obviously everybody talks about how all roads go through the commonwealth of Pennsylvania, huge sums there, over 70 million for each campaign.
But you tick through the seven battleground states, tens of millions of dollars. They know those seven states and possibly just tens of thousands of voters could decide this election. And that's where everybody is he's going all in.
What do these types of ads looked like? Well, let's take Nevada where the former president just gave his remarks at a tax on tips event. This is what we actually saw from both campaigns.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
AD NARRATOR: Under Donald Trump, a violent crime wave. And Trump ordered MAGA extremists to kill the bipartisan border security bill. Trump, just talks tough. Kamala Harris is tough.
[16:20:00]
AD NARRATOR: Attention, President Trump is going to end all taxes on Social Security benefits and end all taxes on tips collected by service workers.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MATTINGLY: Let's get right back to our panel.
Christy, I was struck when Tim Walz said this. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GOV. TIM WALZ (D-MN), VICE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We got 76 days. That's nothing. There'll be time to sleep when you're dead. We're going to leave it on the field.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MATTINGLY: Just all in, in the whole coach thing, there.
They're down this weekend.
SETZER: Yeah.
MATTINGLY: I'm not one to draw conclusions by any one or two things. We've talked about the momentum. We talked about the spend that they already have out in terms of ad buys, hundreds of millions of dollars in reservations.
Why aren't they out? You see the former president has been blitzing all week this week.
SETZER: I think they get a well-deserved break for a day or two. I'm pretty sure that --
MATTINGLY: Sleep when you're dead.
SETZER: All right. But the other thing that there was a big theme of during the convention this past week was this is now the time not to rest on our laurels, but to get out and to have the people who are energized by this convention then bring it to the streets.
There was a point at which Kerry Washington had everybody get out, their phones and take a video, and then basically send it to people and to show that were ready to do stuff that was the theme obviously for Michelle Obama as well.
So again, I think it's okay for them to take a 24 to 48-hour break while the rest of their millions of his supporters get out there and contacts and voters in their behalf.
MATTINGY: And my sense is like Jen O'Malley Dillon and the campaign team don't actually have down there, also candidates probably aren't actually taking this.
Post-campaign bumps always something we've talked about usually tends to happen. Does it will we see it here? And do you think it matters overall?
ANDERSON: We very well might. The Trump campaign didn't really get one, but its also was something we couldn't really measure because no sooner had everybody flown home for Milwaukee when the race got completely turned on its head. So whether or not convention bumps are a thing that happens this year. We don't know. We'll find out in the next couple of days.
But I suspect she might get a small bump if only because she is somewhat more undefined, if this had been a convention nominating Joe Biden, I don't know how much it would change. Voters know Donald Trump and they know how they felt about Joe Biden.
But there are enough voters that aren't sure how they felt about Kamala Harris. They probably weren't the folks that were staying up until 11:00 midnight watching it, but they may have seen clips and said, let me give her a second look.
Wouldn't surprise me if you don't see some of those undecideds, at least briefly saying, I'm open to the idea of Kamala Harris.
MATTINGLY: Which raises the question because the Trump campaign is competing for them as well right now. We were talking before the show. I was out with the former president on a couple well, those battleground state trips. Do they -- have they gotten there footing back on some level, right?
He was in all those states. He's doing all these events. Where are they right now?
Personally is a key point at the end of the convention, we are all looking around going, wow, I've not, I've never seen the Republican Party this unified. They felt like they were on a glide path to 270 plus a lot, everything has changed.
What hasn't he still has a 50/50 at worst shot at winning, what about the campaign? The campaign is, I think finding its footing once again, obviously, Biden had President Biden had promised that he was going to stay and there was no way getting out. And so, to have that kind of flipped on its script really did put everything aside. But I think when Vice President Harris named Walz, I think that kind of put everything back into perspective.
You saw very strong pushback on his record on the questions that his comments continue to raise. They were a little more prepared, I think for that announcement and to come back and show the American people more the truth of Governor Walz and where that lies. I think that they're going to be just fine and pushing back, especially now that we saw so much fluff and not much substance as we would have wanted to see from the convention.
MATTINGLY: And they clearly want him on a very specific message. You could see it throughout the trip. I mean, that event that we saw earlier in Nevada, tax on tips, small event, talk about the policy which makes this interesting and I'm asking you as because we are both on the Hill together.
Just kind of an under radar -- under the radar story of -- let me pull it the invitation. It's an invitation for a gala at Trump's Bedminster resort to, quote, honor and celebrate the January 6 defendants responsible for that January 6 prison choir song.
Trump has been invited to speak. We don't know if he's going to speak.
What are you -- talk about policies, and message in contrast and then you get this?
CARR: Yeah, look, I think when you're looking at what happened on January 6, there were hundreds and hundreds of arrests made for violent activity and for absolute criminal activity that should have been made. What you subsequently saw was really aggressive prosecutions that went beyond the pale.
And now, the Supreme Court has ruled 6-3 and not -- not in ideological lines, by the way, Justice Jackson joined the majority, Amy Coney Barrett joined the dissent, but saying that it was overzealous, that they were charged for things that they should not have been charged for. They had plucked this obscure financial crime and tried to charge all of these defendants with this to enhance the criticism, to enhance the pleas, and to enhance ultimately the sentences, throwing hundreds of cases into question.
[16:25:11]
And so I think having a fundraiser to pay for some of those legal fees is an interesting take. It is receiving more attention. I think then maybe the attention that was received when Vice President Harris told everybody to donate to the Minnesota freedom fund. So --
MATTINGLY: Latter point is a political discussion. It's a fair political discussion to have. I think the thing I'm struck by, you're trying to pull me in with Sarbanes-Oxley debate, which I would absolutely love, not going to let it happen, but I understand the lawyer version of this, as you are, known to be a very good one, but from a political perspective on this issue, doing anything related to it seems a little bit bizarre to me.
CARR: Yeah. I mean, I think what you'll notice, he was invited. I don't know if the former president has decided to attend or not. I think there is a large contingency of America who believes that what they saw was massive hypocrisy and difference in treatment between violent offenders at different locations. And so, that is sympathetic to a portion of the country.
MATTINGLY: This was something Democrats elevated a lot and want to elevate a lot during their convention.
SETZER: Yeah, I think that is a very weensy analysis of what's going on here. I do not believe that most people will see it at that level. I think the very top line contrast something that the Harris campaign should be salivating over, which is they made the theme of felon versus prosecutor a main one of the convention.
This allows them to talk about it again and again and again. Look at this, not only is he a criminal himself, but he's actually standing up on behalf of these other criminals. That is who he is. That's not America.
I mean, I would love to have that setup if I were them.
MATTINGLY: Yeah. Well, we'll see what -- has not confirmed his attendance yet. We'll see. We do know it's going to be at his club.
Guys, thank you very much. It's been a crazy week. Appreciate you coming in.
And it's not just that January 6 gala at Trump property. Political campaigns and committees have spent millions dollars at Trump hotels and resorts. New CNN analysis, next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[16:31:29]
MATTINGLY: Back now with our 2024 lead, former President Trump has made a slew of endorsements in key battleground races as we head into November and the candidates he chooses to do those endorsements for may not be the only ones profiting off that support. Now according to a new CNN analysis of campaign finance data, some of
those campaigns and Trump's own campaign have together spent tens of millions of dollars at Trump's businesses.
Here's Kyung Lah.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DONALD TRUMP, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT & 2024 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: My new book, "Save America", published by Winning Team Publishing, is now available for order.
KYUNG LAH, CNN SENIOR INVESTIGATIVE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In the ways you already know former President Trump publicly makes money, selling books and bibles.
TRUMP: God Bless the USA Bible.
LAH: Gold sneakers.
TRUMP: That's the real deal.
LAH: And trading cards.
TRUMP: It's called the America first collection.
LAH: It's at Trump properties like Mar-a-Lago, Trump's opulent Florida home, where Republican campaign dollars are pouring into Trump's own pocket. More than 150 congressional candidates and political groups have spent millions at Trump properties and associated businesses, according to a CNN analysis of federal campaign finance data, with 2024 on track to be the biggest year of spending since 2016.
The vast majority of the candidates are Republican and most endorsed by Trump.
BERNIE MORENO (R), OHIO U.S. SENATE CANDIDATE: A vote for Trump and Moreno is a vote to put America first.
LAH: A clear example is Ohio businessman Bernie Moreno, a political novice who made his fortune selling luxury cars. The same month Moreno announced his run for the U.S. Senate last year, he spent $13,000 on event catering at Trump's Mar-a-Lago.
The same day, one of the payments was made, Trump posted on Truth Social, Moreno is a highly respected businessman who was thinking of running for the Senate. Trump endorsed Moreno months later, calling him a MAGA fighter. Two days after the endorsement, Moreno spent $17,000 at Mar-a-Lago and a month later, $80,000 more on a fundraiser at the private club attended by some in Trump's inner circle.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We asked him to come here to Florida so we could bring him here to the president's home. So we could share him with you.
LAH: Moreno is now locked in a competitive battle for Ohio Senate seat with Trump by his side.
TRUMP: He's a hero. He's a winner.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That coincidence of this significant spending nearly coinciding with a Trump endorsement doesn't prove beyond a reasonable doubt that there has been a bribe. That pattern does and should raise questions in the minds of voters about what's really going on here.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The credible Kari Lake.
KARI LAKE (R), ARIZONA U.S. SENATE CANDIDATE: I will do everything in my power to make sure this man gets back in the White House. We need him now more than ever.
LAH: Another Republican endorsed by Trump is also one of Mar-a-Lago's top political spenders. This year alone, Arizona Senate candidate Kari Lake's campaign spent more than $100,000 on lodging, catering, and facility rentals.
Other top spenders at Trump properties include retired football star and former Georgia Republican Senate candidate Herschel Walker, his campaigns spent the most of any congressional candidate in the last decade, nearly $215,000 at Mar-a-Lago, Trump's golf club in West Palm Beach and his Las Vegas hotel.
TRUMP: You know, Herschel is not only a Georgia hero.
[16:35:01]
He is an American legend.
LAH: Trump endorsed Walker, who would go on to lose his race.
Political groups also dropped big money at Trump's businesses. The RNC spending more than $2 million since 2016. But at the top spot by far is Donald Trump himself, whose campaigns and associated political committees have funneled more than $28 million in political contributions to his businesses, from renting his ballroom to his campaign to using election donations to pay for his private jet, Trump Force One. Trump the candidate has been paying Trump the businessman.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's not illegal. The law is that candidates can spend money at their own businesses provided that the businesses provide real goods or services at a fair market rate. But it certainly raises at least an appearance of self-dealing that is very concerning from a corruption standpoint.
LAH: In a statement, the Trump campaign told CNN, these allegations are false, adding committees are paying the fair market rate for all venues and services.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LAH (on camera): Now spokespeople for Bernie Moreno as well as Herschel Walker tells CNN that their Mar-a-Lago fundraisers were wildly successful and Walker's spokesperson added that he has known -- Walker that is -- has known Trump for 40 years and the endorsement had nothing to do with Walker's events. We also did reach out to Kari Lake's campaign.
We did not hear back and something important to underscore, Phil, is that despite the criticism you did here in our story, none of this is illegal -- Phil.
MATTINGLY: Yeah, important point. Kyung Lah, great work by you and your team as always, thanks so much.
LAH: You bet.
MATTINGLY: Well, this week, we heard Vice President Harris lay out her vision for the country. So how will Republicans campaign against during the next phase of this race? I'll ask one GOP congressman, next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[16:41:16]
MATTINGLY: Since Joe Biden dropped out of the 2024 race, leading to a massive campaign shakeup, it's been fair to say the Trump campaign has struggled a bit to find their footing with a new candidate and a lot of Democratic energy.
Now, the Democratic convention is over, however, what's the plan?
Joining, us now is Republican congressman Brian Mast of Florida.
Congressman, I always appreciate your time.
I want to sort of -- I was at a Trump campaign event in North Carolina, was about national security -- something you know very, very well -- on Wednesday. And it was interesting, the former president addressed what I think it'd been a lot of the private concerns we've heard from Republicans about don't do personal attacks, stay away from -- from the vice president on personal issues.
And he polled the crowd. Basically, he was very clear, he was frustrated with these advisers who had been telling them, stick to policy. Don't talk about personal attacks.
How do you feel like the campaign and the former president has handled this moment over the course of the last month?
REP. BRIAN MAST (R-FL): But I think sometimes, what's going on with the country is personal for all of us. The president takes it that way. Whether you're talking about border, whether you're talking about military personnel, different policies, they touch us all personally. And that comes out in the way that he speaks.
He is an authentic individual that sees the teleprompter once in awhile to say this is a subject that means he might speak on. But after that, he is an off-the-cuff individual just talking to a crowd of people like you might speak to people in a diner somewhere. And he's always going to speak what's on his mind.
And I love that authenticity every single day.
MATTINGLY: Yeah. I mean, look, there's no question when you're at those events, when you're listening to former president, that's exactly what his supporters live for it. They are there by the thousands. I think the question I have though, with this event specifically, you have the vice president, presidential candidate J.D. Vance, was there, gave a very kind of well thought out coherent speech about the former president's first term foreign policy. Keith Kellogg, former general commander and 82nd Airborne Division, who is an advisor to the former president, did so as well.
When people listened to the former president, what people took away was stuff like that. Asides, not him talking about the actual policy itself. Is that a problem?
MAST: Look, the president is going to speak about what's on his mind on that day. But luckily for us, he's out there speaking every single day to crowds of people answering questions, being off the cuff. He's not hiding in a basement, he's not not getting in front of the cameras.
If you don't find something on policy that you want to hear from him today, you'll probably hear it tomorrow or the next day on the next day because he runs that scheduled day-to-day. And again, I just go to the point that he's going to speak what's on his mind, and that's the authenticity that we love and we want to see that continue.
You don't want a rehearsed president when it comes to somebody that you want to see strong foreign policy, because that means if they're rehearsed, all of those foreign intelligence agencies, they're going to look at somebody that can't think on their feet. That's not going to be able to make an impromptu decision. They're going to read them like they read President Biden right now.
Instead, when you see President Trump, they know a red line is a red line for that man. They know if he says, you know, you're roll the dice and you're going to pay for it. If they roll the dice, they are going to pay for it, that's what Russia's intelligence assesses about him. That's what Chinas intelligence assesses about him, Iran, North Korea and everybody else that makes him the strongest national security president.
MATTINGLY: I wanted to ask you, you served our country. You were wounded while serving our country. And my appreciation for your service doesn't have a limit on some level.
The former president was talking about the Medal of Freedom, which honors civilians. And he said it was, quote, much better than the medal of honor he's given to service members. This is what he said.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: It's actually much better because everyone gets the congressional medal of honor. That's soldiers -- they're either in very bad shape because they've been hit so many times by bullets, or they're dead.
[16:45:01]
She gets it and she's a healthy, beautiful woman and they're rated equal.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MATTINGLY: I think given your personal experience, I just -- what did you think when you heard that?
MAST: I don't have a goal of interviewing the interviewer here, but to ask you something serious, do you know anybody that wants a purple heart or which I have or wants a medal of honor? Do you know anybody that wants one?
MATTINGLY: No. It's a fair question. No.
MAST: You don't. You don't go into service saying, man, I'm going to go out there and I'm going to earn that medal of honor. You don't because most people receive it posthumously or they come back extremely injured or having lost friends, same as the purple heart, not anywhere near to the level of valor as the medal of honor.
But you have people across the country pining to get a presidential medal of freedom, asking president take can you put me in for the presidential medal of freedom because people want it and that's what he's saying. The conditions that surround this, you don't have to see your friends die.
MATTINGLY: No, I understand that. And again, I'm not -- I think my question listening to it was nobody aspires to win a medal of honor given exactly what you're laying out. But the what the award means and what it represents in my mind, at least is very different from the medal of freedom.
MAST: I would 100 percent agree with you on that, and I bet if you ask the president that question, is there a different meanings surrounding each one of these? I think he would give you a different answer on that.
He's put that medal around the neck of individuals that serve their country at the highest possible level. He had the conversations with them about what they went through and what he's saying is actually very reflective about the cost that it has on the service member, that it's not something that you want to see your friends come, come home underneath flag-draped coffins. It's something important to reflect on.
And I think that's actually reflected in him not wanting to take us into wars without calculating the cost of who won't come home or the treasure that it will cost America or what it will do to foreign policy. He is an expert on calculating those things, and assessing what the foreign adversaries want to see done.
MATTINGLY: Yeah, the national security debate in contrast, certainly will be a focus in the next 70-plus days.
Republican Congressman Brian Mast, I believe you just won your primary yet again, congrats on that. Thank you so much for your time. Appreciate it.
MAST: Thank you.
MATTINGLY: Several Secret Service employees have now been reassigned weeks after the assassination attempt on former President Trump. What we're learning about the communication failures just minutes before the shooting. That's next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[16:51:28]
MATTINGLY: This just in, new comments from Donald Trump just moments ago about the attempt on his life last month at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, and the number of Secret Service agents protecting it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: They never gave us the number of people in terms of Secret Service people that would necessary and yet, Biden who would have I have ten people are rally was loaded up with -- with Secret Service.
So I've complained about that for a long time.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MATTINGLY: Those comments in response to breaking news today, a source telling CNN, several Secret Service employees are now on administrative duties, after that incident where one man was killed.
CNN's Zachary Cohen is here with us now.
Zach, let's start on that first note from Trump. The Secret Service has addressed the number of agents at his events before.
ZACHARY COHEN, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY REPORTER: Yeah, Phil. Presidents -- sitting presidents always receive more security in their detail than a presidential candidate. And in fact, Donald Trump is actually received additional security in his details since the incident in Butler -- at his rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. He's also received things that only presidents typically get like bulletproof glass at his outdoor rallies, but that obviously doesn't stop Trump from trying to make this a thing politically and talking about it politically as he continues to run for president.
MATTINGLY: On the disciplinary action for Secret Service agents at that rally, what did you learn in your reporting?
COHEN: Yeah, Phil. This is sort of a step towards accountability. These Secret Service personnel have not been fired. They still have jobs, but they have been put on administrative duties, basically, desk duty and told to work from home, which is an interesting sort of response to what the Secret Service has found out so far in its investigation of the security failures.
Look, these are members of the Pittsburgh field office where the Secret Service, as well as one member of Trump's personal security detail that was involved in the advanced planning of the Butler rally. But beyond that, we don't know a whole lot about why these individuals were specifically sort of pre-disciplined in this way. And what more is coming down the pike?
We do know that there's a series of investigations that are ongoing and there's more calls -- calls for accountability from Republicans and Democrats across the spectrum, including on the House task force that is investigating this attack.
MATTINGLY: Yeah, you've been doing great reporting on this throughout the entire investigative process.
Zach Cohen, appreciate your time. Thank you.
And we're back with last leads, next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[16:58:43]
MATTINGLY: Topping last leads today, a quote we didn't mostly coming from Merrick Garland, the buttoned-up U.S. attorney general. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MERRICK GARLAND, ATTORNEY GENERAL: You're right. Everybody knows the rent is too damn high, and we alleged this is one of the reasons why. When companies and in this case, landlords.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MATTINGLY: No question about that. You'll remember the originator of that famous phrase, Jimmy McMillan, shout-out to Jimmy McMillan, who ran a campaign for New York governor on that theme in 2010.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JIMMY MCMILLAN (I), NEW YORK GOV. CANDIDATE: That is it, nothing else to be said, end of subject. That's nothing else to talk about it. Rent is too damn high.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MATTINGLY: Credit where it is due today.
CNN's Evan Perez setup Garland with the, quote, and question the moment came as Garland detail a new antitrust lawsuit against the real estate company, Real Page. According to the Justice Department, Real Page uses landlord data to artificially inflate rent prices across the country. In our out of this world lead, 79 days into it was supposed to be an
eight-day mission. NASA has called a news conference for tomorrow afternoon to discuss how it plans to bring home two astronauts who flew Boeing's troubled Starliner spacecraft to the International Space Station. Even NASA administrator Bill Nelson is expected to be there. Not only is the safety of the crew at stake, but so is the reputation of Boeing's entire space program, which set those astronauts to space in the Starliner back in June.
Well, coming up Sunday on "STATE OF THE UNION", Republican Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, Democratic Senator Cory Booker of New Jersey, that's Sunday morning at 9:00 Eastern and again at noon here on CNN.
You can, of course, follow the show on X @TheLeadCNN. If you ever miss an episode of the lead, you can listen to the show wherever you get your podcast. The news continues on CNN with Wolf Blitzer in "THE SITUATION ROOM". Have a great weekend.
