July 22, 2024 - PBS News Hour full episode

good evening I'm am na Nas Jeff Bennett is away on The newsour Tonight comma Harris seeks to unify Democrats behind her presidential bid with just months remaining before voters head to the polls we delve into Harris's record from her time as San Francisco's district attorney through her years as vice president and on Capital Hill what I can tell you is that there are times you didn't get briefed on how many times you turned down the Trump detail when they asked for additional Congressional lawmakers Grill the secret service director but get few answers about what led to the assassination attempt on former president Donald Trump major funding for the PBS NewsHour has been provided by the ongoing support of these individuals and institutions and Friends of the newsour including Leonard and Norma clorine and the Judy and Peter Bloom kovler Foundation two retiring Executives turn their focus to Greyhounds giving these former race dogs a real chance to win a Raymond James financial adviser gets to know you your purpose and the way you give back life well planned the William and Flora hul foundation for more than 50 years advancing ideas and supporting institutions to promote a better world at h.org and with the ongoing support of these individuals and institutions this program was made possible by The Corporation for Public Broadcasting and by contributions to your PBS station from viewers like you thank you welcome to the newsour vice president kamla Harris is entering Uncharted Territory after President Joe Biden and announced his withdrawal from the presidential race yesterday one day later Harris is already the favorite to win the Democratic party nomination for president Laura Bron Lopez has the latest greeted by a resounding Applause vice president Harris arrived at her campaign office in Wilmington Delaware this afternoon ahead of her first campaign event as a presidential candidate with with with the co excuse me with um it comes 25 days after President Biden's disastrous debate performance that raised questions about his ability to run there are very honest and serious and rigorous conversations taking place at every level of our party for weeks the president faced mounting pressure from allies in his own party to end his campaign I am running and going to win again but he insisted that he was all in and almost nothing could convince him to drop out if the Lord Almighty came out and said Joe get out of the race I get out of the race the Lord Almighty is not coming down then during a weekend of isolation at his home in Delaware with a covid diagnosis President Biden announced his decision he wrote in a letter posted on the social media site X Sunday it has been the greatest honor of my life to serve as your president but it is in the best interest of my party and the country for me to stand down shortly after he threw his full support behind Harris top Democrats like the Obamas the clintons and leaders in Congress praised Biden's decision to drop out even former vice president Mike Pence applauded the move writing on X today President Joe Biden made the right decision for our country and I thank him for putting the interests of our nation ahead of his own Harris herself praised the president at the White House this morning every day our President Joe Biden fights for the American people and we are deeply deeply grateful for his service to our nation many Democrats quickly United behind Harris in its first 24 hours Harris's campaign racked up $81 million in donations the highest 24-hour raise her team said of any candidate in history some who were seen as possible competitors to Harris lined up behind her I am excited to fully endorse vice president Harris Kentucky Governor Andy Basher gave his backing this morning but sidestepped questions about whether he'd serve as her running mate the only way I would consider something other than this current job is if I believed I could further help my people and to help this country North Carolina governor Roy Cooper delivered a similar message KLA Harris is the person she's excited to win this thing and I am too meanwhile Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer gave her endorsement but said she would not accept the vice presidency if offered it if they offer it you will not take it I am not leaving Michigan Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro California governor Gavin Nome and Illinois governor JB pritzker also said they support Harris though holding back an endorsement West Virginia senator Joe Mansion confirmed today that he will not challenge the vice president for the nomination so you were not interested in running for office true I'm not running I'm I'm I am not running for office on the right a different story house Speaker Mike Johnson rebuked Biden's decision to drop out he wrote in a statement that it invalidated the votes of more than 14 million Americans and joined other Republicans in calling for Biden to resign from the presidency former president Trump lambasted the move on Truth social falsely saying of the Democrats they stole the race from Biden after he won it in the primaries these people are the real threat to democracy and team Trump is already attacking their new opponent including Trump's running mate JD Vance at a rally in his home town today if you want to lead this country you should feel grateful for it you should feel a sense of gratitude and I never hear that gratitude come through when I listen to kamla Harris tomorrow vice president Harris is expected in Milwaukee Wisconsin for the second full day of her campaign for president despite Trump's fast attacks on Harris Democrats are energized and are trying to turn the tables on the Republican narrative pointing out that Trump is now the oldest Presidential nominee in history Laura you have been reporting for weeks on the growing calls for President Biden to step aside but tell us how he ultimately arrived at the decision to do so just this past weekend sources familiar with the decision- making omna told me that up until Saturday President Biden was still holding firm still wanting to stay in this race and President Biden was alone for much of his Co isolation which started last Wednesday until his two closest longtime advisers Steve rete and Mike donellan arrived and huddled with him on Saturday they gave him the lay of the land essentially for his campaign talking to him about the him losing support in Congress about donors shutting off money they ran through polling with him sources told me and it wasn't uh until Sunday when President Biden decided he he was ultimately going to bow out of this race and all of his other senior advisers including jeno maland Dylan the campaign chair as well as Jeff Zs who is the chief of staff to the president at the White House were not aware of this decision until about 1:45 p.m. on Sunday literally minute omna before the president uh posted on X his announcement about so they were finding out in real time I also spoke to Senator Chris Coons of Delaware a longtime Ally of Biden who said that the president really was Wayne staying in this fight he was deeply torn didn't want to get out of this race But ultimately felt it was the right decision for the country and uh Senator [#__#] said that he felt as though months of Relentless focus on the debate is ultimately what hurt President Biden's polling numbers more than the debate itself remarkable few weeks in political history so what happens next walk us through what a potential nominating process for the Democrats could look like so the Democratic uh National Committee rules committee is going to be meeting uh Wednesday of this week to establish a framework for how the process is going to work for uh nominating uh be it kamla Harris or another nominee I spoke to members of the DNC rules committee uh who said that one of the biggest questions that they're going to be addressing this week is whether or not they are going to still hold a virtual roll call vote ahead of the physical convention in Chicago uh that would be sometime between August 1st through 5th the actual convention is in mid August and so they're trying to figure out if they're still going to hold it early because they want to be on the strongest footing possible uh uh to basically fight off potential Republican litigation regarding ballot access and so it's highly likely that they will still move forward with that virtual roll call vote based on the people that I was talking to on the rules committee and a lot of them do expect that KLA Harris will be their nominee so you mentioned some of the key folks already that we've seen come out to back Harris as the Democratic nominee is that what we're seeing across the rest of the democratic party too we are uh she is Shoring up support very quickly uh within this first 24 hours and just today uh vice president Harris went to to Wilmington Delaware to what was Biden HQ which is now Harris HQ and President Biden phoned in while she was there saying that he hoped that his staff would give as much of their heart and soul to vice president Harris as they did to him but uh notably one of the big endorsers for vice president Harris is Nancy Pelosi the former speaker who had expressed to some members that she wanted a more competitive process but Harris has uh secured endorsements from not just Nancy Pelosi but all of her wouldbe Challengers including Governors Whitmer Shapiro Nome and pritsker all 50 state democratic party chairs endorsed Harris notably though uh House minority leader hakee Jeff and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer have not endorsed her yet they're expected to meet with her soon sometime this week uh hakee Jeffrey said that he thinks she's off to a great start but when asked by reporters today did not endorse her so if she were to secure the nomination what are you hearing about who she might pick as a potential running mate so this those considered to be on her short list include Governor Roy Cooper of North Carolina governor Andy Basher of Kentucky and then also Senator Mark Kelly of Arizona a notable swing state there as well as Governor Josh Shapiro of Pennsylvania another uh big Battleground State there and then finally Governor Jared pus of Colorado all of those men I'm told are being considered potentially for her to be her vice president and multiple sources have also told me that they expect uh vice president president Harris to pick her own vice presidential uh candidate as early as this week Onna so Democrats are moving on a really fast timeline here because of the fact that they may very well hold that roll call vote for their nominee uh ahead of their convention in May August Laura Baron Lopez with a whirlwind 24 hours in politics and Reporting Laura thank you thank you well although Democratic support for Harris as the nominee seems to be solidifying some in the party still want to see an open convention we'll get two views on this first up is representative Lloyd doet of Texas he was the first Democratic lawmaker to call on President Biden to abandon his reelection bid and has recently called for an open convention Congressman dogget welcome back to the NewsHour thanks for joining us so good to join you omna so you've now seen what's happened in the last 24 hours uh donors have come back into the fold the party seems to be lining up behind Harris you'd previously said that a mini primary of some kind would be good for the next nominee actually helped to strengthen that person do you still want to see that happen well I think that was the preferable approach when I called on President Biden to step aside three weeks ago it was in favor of a fair open and Democratic process but I must say that the 24 hours we've just gone through have been pretty amazing and uh there's a question if we had such a primary who else would be in it besides the vice president she has in less than 24 hours raised over $100 million she has secured as you were just noting in the broadcast the endorsement of every person that I've heard of who was a possible candidate uh and so while I think that process would have been better and it would have been better if we hadn't waited three weeks to get this to happen uh but uh under these circumstances I think it's improbable that we do anything other than address this at the convention I do think there was a reference uh you just made to the DNC rules that it would be better and I was involved last week in the effort to to try to ensure the DNC didn't pre preempt Us by doing this virtual roll call it would be better if the vote was actually at the convention uh my concern has been that we not have something that just appeared to be a handoff or a decision made here in Washington by elected officials but that we engage the whole country and I think the way that is happening is one delegation by state after another is beginning to endorse her I expect that to happen tonight in my home state of Texas when I participate in the delegation meeting but Congressman if there doesn't seem to be anyone who's going to step in to challenge her and it looks like all the delegates are lining up behind her she's not at that number yet at 1976 but she could be in at least in Associated press's unofficial survey so far why wait until the convention uh to get this sorted does it make sense for her as a potential nominee to have more time at the presumptive nominee well I think uh if she's out as the only person seeking the uh nomination it would be pretty clear to everyone she is our nominee uh the convention is the traditional place for doing this and with the 50 state roll call uh in the territories and and so I think that's probably the best place to do it in the open way and I believe uh what you're seeing is a tremendous amount of enthusiasm that was lacking only a few days ago uh we lagged for for a year behind uh president Trump now we have a fighting chance to overcome him and I think the enthusiasm the Outreach he will be doing will really make this convention an exciting event for people to watch so congressman is that as close to an endorsement as we're going to get from you right now you haven't outright endorsed her yet will you yeah I I think it's just a matter of uh of allowing more than 24 hours to ensure that there are no other candidates that want to get into the race uh I don't expect to be any uh I expect to do uh an endorsement along with others who've not yet joined because we think and I've always thought that she'd be an excellent nominee I just felt that it was important to have a process that allowed any and all comers who could meet the requirements of the rules to come and participate I anticipated that perhaps some would uh she began with such an advantage with the endorsement of President Biden that was so firm yesterday and then by great work she's done to to win over apparently every possible opponent as well as uh so many other elected officials governers party officials around the country it speaks very well of her and suggests the kind of effective campaign that she will be running so tell me more about that potential campaign here now knowing the Republican ticket that she would be running against with a potential running mate how do you think she can best run that campaign what's the message she needs to go out with if she's confirmed as the nominee and who do you think would be a good running mate for her to help Shore up that message first she can point to the accomplishments of the last three and a half years uh significant accomplishments that both she and President Biden had a big hand in uh second I think she'll point to the issues that really are touching families these days the economic issues and how she will respond to those as well as uh the very important M issue of our freedoms particularly the freedom of Health Care for Women but the freedom of all of us that could be suppressed if Donald Trump and his gang uh take over our government having admired foreign dictators uh of the of the type of Victor Arbon uh and uh seeming to have some affinity for Hitler and Hitler's generals that kind of authoritarian approach is quite a turn from the Democracy we've enjoyed and that's very much what's at stake it'll also be interesting that we have have the youthful candidate now in this race I believe President Trump will be the oldest nominee of any political party in American history uh and our candidate is more of a new generation and I expect that her vice presidential uh candidate will be a part of that nominee will be part of that as far as vice presidential selection uh she has so many to choose from you've listed several of them the most prominant I think the overriding consideration will be who can help us in those Battleground States because this is is still a very close race and frankly I think it's an uphill race where Donald Trump has the advantage right now but we have new tactics that are obviously creating great challenges for the Republicans as they desperately talk of lawsuits and other claims it's really just an indication that they don't know how to handle a candidate with the talent and ability to excite voters that vice president Harris represents that is Congressman Lloyd doet of Texas joining us tonight Congressman thank you for your time always good to speak with you sir thank you so much and now for another take on the convention process I'm joined by California Senator Alex Padia he assumed vice president Harris's seat in the Senate when she joined the White House and he has endorsed her for president Senator welcome thanks for joining us thanks for having me good evening so it seems as if the party has now essentially lined up behind vice president Harris there's some folks we've heard who are still sort of talking about a mini primary or open Convention of some kind but are there any murmurs you're hearing about anyone who might step in to challenge her at this point uh no not not at this point and even though there was some chatter about the possibility you know yesterday in the wake of President Biden's announcement uh I didn't really see that happening you've seen the number the outpouring of endorsers and supporters uh from coast to coast and everywhere in between I think it's both a reflection of the strength uh of Harris now are assumed to be official Democratic nominee for president of the United States but as in California it doesn't come by any surprise I've known her I've worked with her for a couple of decades now uh if there's one thing about kamla Harris is that she is truly a coalition Builder it's what you need to be successful in California it's what the the the party and the country needs at this moment so I'm thrilled to be on board and happy to do whatever I can for the next6 days to make sure that we win in November well as President Biden endorsed her to take his place at the top of the ticket she issued a statement and she said something that stuck out she said she intends to earn and win the nomination what does that earn mean to you what does she need to do yeah well I think there there's two parts first to earned this opportunity because of her Decades of Public Service her tremendous track record the values that she brings to the table uh and the near term uh yes this is a nothing to be taken for granted there is respect for delegates uh and Democrats beyond that so you know we're not talking about this being January before the primary season we've gone through the primary season more than 14 million voters voting for The Biden Harris ticket and so while uh you know appreciative of President Biden's service not just the last three and a half years but throughout his career he has chosen to step aside and he has thrown his weight behind vice president Harris uh the rules of the party are such that it will be formalized at the convention uh and so vice president Harris I think is being respectful in that as the reporting has covered she's working the phones she's reaching out not just to members of Congress on the hill but elected leaders Community leaders throughout the country asking for people's support people are enthusiastically offering their support it'll be formalized at the convention and we have a lot of work to do to reach out to voters make sure we organize mobilize and get out the vote because the stakes of this November's election remains perilously High the threat of Donald Trump and Michael Republicans is worse by the day Senator we've already seen the Trump Vance campaign targeting her in some political ads going out with the messaging to further tie her to the Biden campaign and seeing that you know policies that they see of his as a failure she was also tied to could a challenger of some point at some point right now actually inoculate her from those kinds of attacks to say that she did go through a process there wasn't an anointing of any kind here yeah no look but what I would say is again she's being respectful to the process outlined by the Democratic National Committee uh being respectful of delegates and other important voices within the Democratic party infrastructure but let's also be real let's not let Donald Trump and M Republicans try to change the focus here they're going to try to attack her because they're misogynistic they are racist and worse they're trying to attack her because they want to Pivot away from their agenda we just came off of the Republican National Convention a week long of project 2025 talking points with speaker after extremist speaker uh spewing lies spewing falsehoods spewing a radical agenda when I talk about the stakes being H this November that's what's at stake we know what we'll get with the Republicans and Donald Trump and nobody wants go back to the disaster of his administration let's continue the progress in the leadership of the last three and a half years under the Biden Harris Administration for for the next four years it'll be a president Harris and a vice president to be determined uh Administration so tell me more about that to be determined I mean if if beating Donald Trump is the number one goal for Democrats right now which potential running mate gives a potential president Harris the best chance to beat that ticket who should it be you know that is a great question and a great question for uh soon to be Democratic nominee vice president kamla Harris I would not dare uh to to suggest who it ought to be the great news is like the Democratic party the Democratic family has a lot of tremendous talent to offer and I'm sure uh vice president Harris will pick somebody who is a great governing partner somebody who will be prepared to take over on day one if need be uh and somebody who will be out there campaigning hard uh earning the vote of the American public so that we indeed are uh successful in November if she is the nominee should voters look at this as a continuation of a Biden Harris Administration or does she need to strike a different direction the I think it'll be building on the success of the Biden Harris Administration I mean my God you know we have seen a successful President Biden's three and a half years uh better than any president in recent history from the inflation reduction act reducing costs for Working Families uh bipar and infrastructure uh package that is not only uh modernizing infrastructure across the country but creating thousands you know millions of good paying jobs uh we have seen you we came out of a pandemic we're tackling climate change uh the chips and science act really putting Cal United States back in a leadership position globally when it comes to uh chips and semicond conductors uh and there's more to build on you know what I'm eager to hear is the voice of Vice President Harris a prosecutor let's not forget up against the voice of Donald Trump a convicted felon let's take them to task when it comes to Reproductive Rights let's take them to task when it comes to voting rights and so much more it's going to be an exciting campaign and I'm looking forward to four more fruitful years uh when President Harris uh is in the white house that is California's Senator Alex Padilla joining us tonight Senator thank you for your time good to speak with you thank you and let's take a step back no.. delve into vice president Harris's record and how she arrived at this pivotal moment William brangham has a look at her path from the daughter of immigrants to the favorite for the Democratic Presidential nominee in the blink of an eye vice president kamla Harris went from being President Biden's biggest Defender one thing we know about our President Joe Biden he is a fighter to the person most likely to replace him on the presidential ballot 4 months from now Harris securing the nomination would be historic the first time a black woman leads a major party ticket but it would be just the latest in a career of Firsts for Harris a politician Who Rose from district attorney to State Attorney General to US senator in 2021 she became the first woman and first black American and South Asian-American vice president while I may be the first woman in this office I will not be the last because every little girl watching tonight sees that this is a country of possibilities Harris is the daughter of immigrants from Oakland California her mother was a scientist who immigrated from India to study at UC Berkeley her father was from Jamaica and became a prominent Economist at Stanford in elementary school Harris was busted from her predominantly black neighborhood to a white one part of an effort to desegregate local public schools she lived in California until she was 12 when Harris moved with her mother and sister to Canada Harris later enrolled at Howard University a historically black college in Washington DC where she studied political science and economics she then returned to the Bay Area for law school and it was in San Francisco where Harris's political career began in 2003 she was elected the city's district attorney to be a prosecutor is to really be engaged in one of the most noblest professions that anyone could do and have her career in law enforcement helped Propel her to hire office but also has earned her a good deal of criticism California's police unions were livid when she didn't press for the death penalty for a man who killed a police officer she also championed providing a path for some nonviolent firsttime drug offenders to get education and job training to prevent them from reoffending when we're talking about serious and violent crime lock them up but when we're talking about nonviolent crime that is actually the crime that is occupying the bulk of our public resources and beds in our state prison system and we need to have a meaningful system to reduce the likelihood that that revolving door will continue she's C's in 2010 Harris was elected Attorney General of California overseeing the largest state justice department in the US Harris's office took on predatory for-profit colleges and also secured a nearly billion settlement with banks following the 2008 foreclosure crisis it was imperative that we not give a blank che check of to the banks for their wrongdoing Harris's tenure as attorney general also coincided with the rise of the black lives matter movement and the emergence of Criminal Justice Reform as a major issue in 2015 Harris didn't take a position on a state law that would have required independent investigations when police killed civilians Harris's office also tried to prevent nonviolent prisoners from being released after the US Supreme Court ruled that California's overcrowded prisons violated inmates constitutional rights at the same time her office launched implicit bias training for law enforcement officers in 2015 we have developed and implemented a policy on implicit bias and racial profiling in 2016 Harris was elected to the US Senate in a landslide becoming only the second black woman to serve as a US senator Senator I intend to fight for truth and transparency and Trust as Senator Harris shined in hearings with her pointed prosecutorial questioning of witnesses including Brett Kavanagh after he'd been nominated to the US Supreme Court can you think of any laws that give government the power to make decisions about uh the male body uh I'm happy to answer a more specific question but male versus Fe email there are um medical procedures that the government has the power to make a decision about a man's body in 2019 with a growing National profile Harris joined the wide field of Democrats who lined up to challenge president Donald Trump I stand before you today to announce my candidacy the president of the United States but her bid for the White House struggled to gain traction especially as she faced questions about her record as a prosecutor she put over 1500 people in jail for marijuana violations and then laughed about it when she was asked if she ever smoked marijuana she blocked evidence she blocked evidence that would have freed an innocent man from Death Row until the courts forced her to do so and she fought to keep cash bail system in place that impacts poor people in the worst kind of way as the elected Attorney General California I did the work of significantly reforming the criminal justice system of a state of 40 million people which became a national model for the work that needs to be done and I am proud of that work Harris dropped out of the race before a single ballot was cast and I will keep fighting every day for what this campaign has been about Justice for the people Harris eventually endorsed Joe Biden and was then chosen by him to be his running mate in this election we have a chance to change the course of history we're all in this fight you me and Joe together in 2020 Biden and.. won a contentious election we did it we did it Joe you're going to be the next president of the United States and as vice president Harris's tenure got off to a rocky start after being tasked with stemming the root causes of migration to the US Harris's first trip abroad as VP was to Mexico and Guatemala I want to be clear to folks in this region who are thinking about making that dangerous track to the United States Mexico border do not come do not come with increasing numbers of migrants coming to the US Mexico border Harris was criticized for not visiting the region you haven't been to the Border I and I haven't been to Europe and I don't I don't understand the point that you're making although Harris later visited the Border it fed into the perception that the Biden Administration was not doing enough to curb illegal border crossings in 2022 Texas's governor Republican Greg Abbot bust migrants literally to her front door in Washington DC come Harris was saying there's no problem on the border but she said the B the Border was Secure and so I felt the need to be involved in the education process in the summer of 2022 the Supreme Court's dos decision overturning the right to abortion marked a turning point for Harris she emerged as a fierce advocate for the administration on abortion rights and women's rights more broadly do you not trust women to know what is in their own best interest use some some legislator and some state capital the majority of whom are not women are in a better position to tell her what she should do and with the Senate evenly split between Democrats and Republicans the Senate being equally divided the vice president votes in the affirmative and the bill as amended is passed Harris's tiebreaking vote was key in many of the Biden administration's legislative victory R including the sweeping inflation reduction act which was America's most ambitious effort yet to tackle climate change Harris also took a leading role in efforts to reduce gun violence overseeing the first ever office of gun violence prevention she spoke with Jeff Bennett last September absent congressional action how will that effort make a significant change well congressional action is very important there's no question about that but sadly um a lot of folks there just don't have the courage to do it the work that we are doing is to make sure that we are implementing all of the executive orders that have already been implemented in pass with President Biden now out of the race the 59-year-old kamla Harris will again see her career and record closely examined as she tries to both unify the Democratic party behind her bid and then turn her sights on defeating the former president for the PBS NewsHour I'm William brangham to discuss the future of the presidential race now I'm joined by our politics Monday team that is Amy Walter of the cook political Report with Amy Walter and Tamara Keith of NPR who joins us from rith beach with the pool of reporters covering President Biden great to see you both so Amy you saw there Lura reported earlier on just the Deluge of support from democratic lawmakers lining up behind vice president Harris and a lot of the names who'd been previously floated as potential Challengers Governor Gavin Newsome of California governor Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan Transportation secretary Pete budajudge have all endorsed her now yes why do you think the party coalesced around her so quickly I think they realized that it was getting late um very quickly is that Yogi Bara it's getting late early um and that the that there's only three weeks until the convention we only have four months until election day and that they had spent three weeks basically ringing their hands after the June 27th debate about what to do about Joe Biden watching their poll numbers really sink very deeply and down ballot candidates really starting to get incredibly nervous about the impact of the top of the ticket on their own races so I think what they saw was that they needed to line up immediately behind a different candidate and put all their effort into making that work and Tam as we've seen she's hit the ground running uh vice president Harris visit The Campaign Headquarters earlier today addressed the staff that is now her team and she delivered this message about how she plans to take a a powerful message directly to former president Trump take a listen Predators who Abused women frauders who ripped off consumers cheaters who broke the rules for their own gain so hear me when I say I know Donald Trump Trump's type Tam there is the taking on Donald Trump part of this and there's also the potentially Shoring up parts of the voting blocks where President Biden had been weak what's the Hara strategy there can she do that already young voters are more excited than they were before she is a very memeable candidate uh and uh her videos are all over Tik Tok uh and uh and and young people are excited you're seeing and I I will be honest I can't fully explain it but you are seeing uh coconut Emojis all over the place because of something she said a year ago that has become a meme uh so um she is bringing New Life to this campaign at for Democrats as we have talked about many times before and even before that very bad debate that President Biden had uh Democrats had an unease with him there were worries that he was too old Democrats told pollsters they said it in focus groups they said that they hoped that the party would have another candidate um I I don't think many people imagined that it would happen exactly this way uh but this is what has happened uh President Biden had said he is a a big believer in fate fate intervened with that debate and then the three weeks of just growing concern and anxiety among Democrats and and you saw it with the fundraising 81 million dollar in the first 24 hours that is record-breaking fundraising coming from small dollar donors these are are people uh 60% of them were new according to the campaign these were people who had been holding back who weren't excited and there was some sort of a a pinup demand among Democrats to show that excitement uh she's also uh certainly reaching out to um African-American voters uh the divine nine uh uh black sororities and fraternities uh there is uh there is a well of energy that exists um for Harris and who she is and the history she could make of course Republicans also want to tap into that uh and and you know paint her as extreme so Amy from what we know about why voters had been backing away from the Biden Harris campaign in in the last several months the donor support is one thing party officials and lawmakers lining up behind her is another does all of that translate to the polls do we know well that is that is a question and so just to get a little bit wonky for one second but I I think we have to be careful not to look at polls taken before Sunday as indicative of where kamla Harris is in terms of her matchup with Donald Trump or even how people feel about her now they they may have answered polls in which they said when asked what do you think about KLA Harris being the president or running up they're hypothetical in the same way that I could ask you about something theoretical about like a meal you're going to have have but until you actually have it you can't really tell me what the experience was so I think it's going to be an interesting few weeks as as people start to digest this and you're right I think at minimum what it does though it does energize both the donor base and voter base that has been sort of depressed uh for lack of a better term so what this does is it helps to raise her floor in other words like she if she gets the base back that's really good news if you are the Harris campaign the challenge is going to be getting those swing voters um onto her side and that we don't know yet how they are going to react either to her the way she came into this position and the fact remember she brings she does bring some energy to the Democratic base but she carries all the same baggage because as we will hear from Republicans she was you know principally um sourced to to work on the border um she is in the White House when a whole bunch of other stuff passed including uh the inflation reduction act and others that there are no doubt going to remind voters that she can't separate herself from the actions of the administration as a whole well Tam to that point we've already seen Republicans working very hard to link her to President Biden to what they call his failed policies and if you look at the Republican play naming JD van to the ticket was really a doubling down on the base right and it's a straight play for that blue wall those four states he kept mentioning over and over again of Michigan Wisconsin Pennsylvania and Ohio at the Republican National Convention in the world of potential running mates for a possible Vice possible president Harris nomination here a nominee here where do Dems have the most potential Advantage who could help her out most if needed against these rep this Republican ticket well there are some swing state democratic govern who could certainly help the governor of Pennsylvania for instance or the governor of North Carolina Roy Cooper who is someone who is actually quite popular in a swing state if you're being generous generally it's been a Republican state but he's a Democrat who has won twice with Trump on the ballot um that is a state that has been a reach for Democrats and is something they could be looking for but I also want to just like be realistic about how important the vice presidential pick is we all love to talk about it vep Stakes are extremely fun and and it's great to play those games and and think about scenarios but in the end the president the nominee is running for president the the Vice Presidential nominee can only do so much they can do harm but they can only hold they can only help so much Amy you agree with that um absolutely I mean it helps arounds the the margins but in an era where everything is decided by the margins um I think that's important it there's also the question about about um sending a message not just about the candidate who they are where they're from but what their age is what their background is it would be a generational shift to pick somebody like Josh Aero who's in his late 40s and having kamla Harris it would also um you know sort of make a a Gen X argument for the Democrats uh versus a baby boom presidential candidate on the Republican side I realize there's still Amy some questions ahead obviously Democrats have to work out the rules for the infrastructure moving forward with the nominating process but you noted as we began this conversation it was three weeks ago that debate unfolded that led to this Whirlwind of activity we've seen in the last few weeks and we have basically that exact same time to go before the Democratic Convention begins is the chaos portion of this election cycle over or is there greater uncertainty ahead yeah I'm never going to say anything's over now I'm I think we should feel pretty good about that but I do think we have to as as Tam pointed out you know and and Laura the campaign infrastructure itself seems to be settling into place basically they're conveying the Biden campaign to the Harris campaign but that's going to be an integration that's going to take a little bit of time I'm sure there're going to be some bumps along the way there and then Harris has to go out and perform as a candidate she hasn't had to do that as a candidate since she was on the well not even on the trail in 20 when they were sort of campaigning remotely and then before that in her failed bid for the nomination so this is a very different um experience that she is going to have to uh get up to up to speed on different experience for all of us to cover as well Tam very quickly a couple seconds left go ahead yeah I think it's going to be a race to Define Harris between Republicans in the Trump campaign and Harris in her campaign all right that is Tamara Keith and Amy Walter politics Monday team always great to see you both thank you you're welcome you're more than a week after the assassination attempt on former president Trump secret service director Kimberly cheel testified before the house oversight committee today lawmakers from both parties were visibly angry with her testimony it comes as calls for her resignation grow and the investigations into the agency multiply Nick shiffon has our report committee on oversight and accountability will come to order during a 4 and a half hour bruising bipartisan blowup cut Corners when it came to protecting one of the most important individuals most well-known individuals on the planet that is not my question and now I think you're evading the answer secret service director Kimberly cheel was chasen but tight LIF despite demands from both parties for her resignation I believe director shid that you should resign because Donald Trump is alive and thank God he is you look incompetent if Donald Trump had been killed you would have looked culpable and you know that's a little bit it's been nine days since what cheel called The Secret service's most significant failure in more than 40 years former president Donald Trump his ear pierced by bullets fired from a military style rifle from just 450 ft away right right on the roof she confirmed local law enforcement photographed the shooter 18 minutes before Trump began but the Secret Service initially identified him only as suspicious rather than a threat Illinois Democrat rajer Krishna Mory that doesn't look like suspicious behavior that looks like threatening behavior to me and the rally wasn't paused at that point either correct I can tell you as I stated earlier sir that the moment that the shift uh surrounding the president were aware of an actual threat that's a threat right there the guy's on the roof and everybody's yelling at him jetel confirm that the shooter 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks used a drone to surveil part of the site and brought explosives and a Detonator she also said she apologized to former president Trump and that the buck stops with her on July 13th we failed as a director of the United States Secret Service I take full responsibility for any security lapse of our agency but she declined to answer many questions because of multiple ongoing investigations including how exactly krooks got on the roof with a direct line of sight of trump and killed Corey comparator while he shielded his family Arizona Republican Andy BS what did they determine was going to be the event perimeters again I don't want to speak to specifics of the event this this this is a specific I understand this is a specific that you ought to know as someone who said the buck stops with me I'm going to stay in my job I'm going to give the answers to the American people and I know what happened except for you're not going to tell us and you're not going to tell the American people she also refus.. answer questions about a topic multiple Democrats raised krook's legal access to an AR-15 rifle and to the site New Mexico Democrat Melanie stanbury how did a 20-year-old young man with access to a military style weapon actually bring it on to an unsecured perimet who for days had been planning a mass shooting event and I think that Madam director with all due respect the answers that we've received here in this hearing today are completely unsatisfactory cheel insisted the Secret Service approved Trump campaign requests for security at the rally but she refused to say whether the Secret Service rejected previous requests for additional security as confirmed by her spokesman this weekend and highlighted by Ohio Republic and Judiciary chairman Jim Jordan were you guessing or lying when you said you didn't turn down requests from president Trump's detail neither sir and I appreciate the question well what what were you doing because those statements don't don't Jive today the Secret Service agents who defended Trump by risking their own lives were called Heroes their boss left the hearing as the villain this committee is not known for uh its bipartisan his model of bipartisanship but I think today we came together unanimously in our disappointment for your lack of answers for the PBS NewsHour I'm Nick schiffren in the days other headlines Israeli air strikes tore through buildings in and around the southern Gaza City of Khan yunas killing at least 70 people medical staff at Naser hospital called the situation out of control the overall death toll in Gaza has now surpassed 39,000 people since the War Began that's according to the Hamas run Gaza Health Ministry those strikes come as Israel ordered a new evacuation for an area near khun that it had designated a humanitarian Zone Israel now says that Hamas Fighters have embedded there many Palestinians expressed anguish over being uprooted once again we do not know where we are walking in God's vast land every day we are displaced this is the seventh or eighth time we have been displaced while we were sleeping in our homes they started shooting at us bombing from everywhere also today Israel announced the death of two Israeli hostages they've been identified as 76-year-old Alex danig and yagev bab who was 35 officials say they were kidnapped from their homes in southern Israel during the October 7th attack that comes as prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu met with several families of those held in Gaza before departing for Washington he's due to meet with President Biden this week and has reportedly requested a meeting with Donald Trump Netanyahu will address a joint session of Congress on Wednesday a gunman in Croatia killed six people and wounded half a dozen others at a nursing home today the shooting took place in the town of davor in the center of the country officials say the victims were residents of the home mostly in their 80s and 90s and included the suspect's mother as well as an employee the suspect is in police custody and authorities are trying to determine a motive the country's prime minister said that he was quote horrified and dismayed by the attack body camera footage released today shows the chaotic moments in which a black woman in Springfield Illinois was shot and killed by a white sheriff's deputy authorities say that Sonia Massie had called 911 earlier this month to report a suspected Prowler one video from the encounter that followed shows former Sangamon County Sheriff's deputy Shawn Grayson yelling at her about moving a pot from the stove a bit later in the video he pulls his gun she ducks and he then fires his pistol at her three times Grayson was fired last week he faces 45 years to life for murder among other charges Grayson has pleaded not guilty wildfires an extreme temper are wreaking havoc across large parts of the western United States almost 11 million Americans are under an excessive heat warning today temperatures remain high in the Pacific Northwest where a number of wildfires are ongoing in places like Oregon and Washington fires are also blazing in both Northern California and near Los Angeles in Utah meanwhile evacuation orders have been lifted for a wildfire near Salt Lake City but officials warn that residents should remain ready to to evacuate with the fire only partially under control Hunter Biden has dropped a lawsuit against Fox News over the use of explicit images of him in a streaming series the complaint had accused Fox of violating New York's so-called revenge porn law the case stemmed from a fictional Fox Nation miniseries from 2022 that featured graphic images of the president's son as part of a mock trial Fox had described the lawsuit as quote entirely politically motivated the dismissal notice was filed the same day that Hunter's father President Joe Biden dropped out of the 2024 race a court in central Russia has convicted a russian-american journalist of spreading false information about the military in a rushed and secret trial alsu kurmasheva is a journalist with the US funded Radio free Europe Radio Liberty based in Prague she was sentenced to 6 and A2 years in prison which her employer called a mockery of Justice today a State Department spokesperson called for kash's release she's a dedicated journalist uh who is being targeted by Russian authorities for her uncompromising commitment to speaking the truth and her principled reporting journalism is not a crime Kiva is one of nine US citizens known to be detained in Russia the arrest of Americans has become increasingly common as tensions between the two Nations escalate over the war in Ukraine on Wall Street today stocks ended higher as Tech shares re bounded from last week's losses the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained more than 100 points to start the week the NASDAQ jumped 280 points to close above 18,000 the S&P 500 also ended sharply higher and LeBron James has been selected as the men's flag bearer at Friday night's opening ceremony at the Paris Olympics the NBA's all-time leading scorer heard the news in London surrounded by his teammates fellow Superstar Steph Curry nominated him James will be the first US men's basketball player to carry the flag he first appeared at the Olympics in 2004 team USA's female flag bearer is due to be revealed tomorrow and that is the newsour for tonight I'm omna Nas on behalf of the entire NewsHour team thank you for joining us major funding for the PBS NewsHour has been provided by supported by the John D and Katherine T MacArthur Foundation committed to building a more just verdant and peaceful world more information at macfound.org and with the ongoing support of these institutions this program was made possible by The Corporation for Public Broadcasting and by contributions to your PBS station from viewers like you thank you you're watching PBS