Biden 'Smooth' at NATO, Dems Stand By Prez, Hurricane Beryl Still Kicking
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Voters 50 and over have the power to decide elections. So candidates who want to win need to talk about the issues they care about. Learn more from our latest polling in Pennsylvania at aarp.org slash pa polling. Overnight, Duncan's pumpkin spice coffee has sent folks into a cozy craze. I'm Lauren LaTulip reporting live from home in my hand-knit turtleneck that my nana made me. Mmm, cinnamony. The home with Duncan is where you want to be.

It's Wednesday, July 10th right now on CNN This Morning. Russia will not prevail. Ukraine will prevail. The White House pleased by President Biden's smooth performance, quote unquote, with the entire world watching. Plus. As I've said before, I'm with Joe. We're riding with Biden. Top Democrats standing by the president, but cracks in his support may be widening.

And then barrel still kicking battering Indiana with a tornado now targeting the Northeast and one plane taking off another trying to land both using the same runway and it's all on tape. All right, 6:00 AM here in Washington. A live look at the White House on this Wednesday morning. Good morning everyone. I'm Casey Hunt. It's wonderful to have you with us.

Don't count him out just yet. Joe Biden's refusal to heed calls to end his reelection bid has been a successful strategy for right now. As Democrats emerged from high-stakes meetings on Capitol Hill Tuesday, the president received public support from key members in both the House and the Senate.

Are you confident that President Biden has what it takes to win in November and serve the next four years? As I've said before, I'm with Joe. Trump would be an absolute disaster for democracy. So I'm enthusiastic in supporting Biden. He's not just the president, he's our president. He's got strong support in the Senate Democratic Caucus, in the House Democratic Caucus. Joe Biden is a great president. And he's the only guy that kicked Trump's ass in an election.

We're riding with Biden. We're riding with Biden. Riding with Biden from South Carolina Congressman Jim Clyburn, whose endorsement, of course, helped deliver Biden the nomination in 2012, all but gave it to him, frankly. Still, we are seeing those cracks persist in the president's support. On Tuesday, New Jersey Congresswoman Mikey Sherrill became the seventh Democrat to call for Biden to exit the race. She said, quote, When I think of my four children and all of the rights that another Trump presidency endangers, the stakes are too high.

And the threat is too real to stay silent. I am asking that Biden declare that he won't run for reelection and will help lead us through a process toward a new nominee. A source familiar with Tuesday's meeting of Senate Democrats told CNN that three members of that chamber, John Tester of Montana, Sherrod Brown of Ohio, and Michael Bennett of Colorado, told their colleagues they simply don't think Biden can win in November. Here was Bennett on CNN.

Donald Trump is on track, I think, to win this election and maybe win it by a landslide and take with him the Senate and the House. And the White House in the time since that disastrous debate, I think, has done nothing to really demonstrate that they have a plan to win this election. It's a moral question about the future of our country, and I think it's critically important for us to come to grips with what we face.

if together we put this country on the path of electing Donald Trump again.

All right, our panel's here. Jeff Mason, White House correspondent for Reuters, former federal prosecutor, CNN legal analyst, Elliott Williams, former State Department official, Hillary Clinton advisor, Philippe Reines, and Matt Gorman, former senior advisor to Tim Scott's presidential campaign. Welcome to all of you. Philippe, I just want to put this question to you as someone who's inside one of these presidential campaigns. As you know, you guys went into the 2016 election not expecting to lose to Donald Trump. Right now, there seems to be an expectation

among many Democrats here in Washington that Joe Biden is going to lose to Donald Trump. Do you think that's what's going to happen? If the election were tomorrow, yes. But thank God tomorrow is not election day. And there are, you know, 125-ish kind of days where Joe Biden can...

really put his best foot forward, hopefully put what happened behind us, not in a it was just a bad night, it was a blip kind of way, but in a, okay, let's keep it in context. Let's keep it in context of what it was and what it wasn't, in context of what Donald Trump suffers and what he doesn't, and his medical history, and in context of them both being the same age, and in context of

the unique situation we have here, which is usually we've got one person running for president and one person who's been president. And then there's a lot of guessing going on. What is so-and-so going to be? What is Governor Bush going to be like as president? What is Senator Obama here? Both these guys have been president. We don't have to guess what Donald Trump has been like.

And that's really an advantage for the American voter to see. And they booted him. Did the American voter have any advantages right now? But how does that explain the polling right now? Or at least how does it explain the polling over the last, however, year that has had the former president on top of it? People are really, really unhappy with the choice between these two guys, except our choices between these two guys. And I think what's clear is...

Obviously, you know, there are people who aren't happy, but it's like 10. You could have read every statement of every member of Congress and it would take you five minutes. And two of them took it back.

Well, we saw Jerry Nadler in that sound mash basically take back what was reported over the weekend, which was that he was out there saying, like, this is a disaster, we can't do this. And now, of course, there does seem to be this rally around the flag effect. Jeff Mason, let me bring you into this just because you are someone who has been a member of the White House press corps for many, many years. You have seen a lot of different types of crises. And we are going through one now where there is this grappling with what

was there essentially was this condition covered up and the press secretary has really struggled to answer questions about the the president's current health on and I think when I'm thinking about the argument the fleet is trying to make the reason it's so hard for democrats make this argument is that okay sure you've got this long laundry list of reasons why Donald Trump shouldn't be president again

But when you contrast that with someone, when the question is, can he do the job at all? It is a nearly impossible argument to make. Well, and not to mention coming up to the debate over the last several months and even longer, there are instances, there are times when we've seen President Biden be a little bit shaky on his feet, not come up with a word right away, things that are reflective of getting older. And anytime we would ask the White House,

questions about that it would be batted away. And now because everybody saw that debate with their own eyes and the questions have come to a fever pitch both in the briefing room and among Democrats and others, it's harder for them to do that and the messaging has been, I would say, probably not super effective. And that's creating more doubts and more concern among the voters and among the Democrats who are looking

looking at the stakes of the election and wondering, what are we doing here? - What about the idea that a lot of this is the White House press corps feeling burned by the former president, it's almost, oh, by the current president, pardon me, that it's really a function of reporters feeling like they weren't getting the straight story, right? Rather than,

it actually being bad on its face. It's that you all felt like you were getting okey-doked a little bit. - I mean, I don't subscribe to the idea that the White House press corps is a constituent here. - Sure, no. - So it's not-- - But it's a human idea, right? - It is. - That when you were asking for information that you didn't feel you were getting and don't feel like the entity that was being straight with you, that you sort of felt, I don't know if cheated is the right word.

I think it leads to frustration for sure. And I think that is human. And I think you're seeing some of that frustration play out in the press room right now. But I don't think it's about the White House press corps, as I've been repeating for the last couple of days. We're standing there, sitting there, whatever, asking questions not just on behalf of our news organizations or for the ability to write a story or to be on the air, but it's to inform the American public. And that's the responsibility that the press has.

and the administration slash the campaign have the responsibility to answer. - Well, I think, I also think, I mean, we had Molly Ball on earlier this week that there is this sense, and look, you deal with this when you deal with any White House, when they're mad at you about a story, right? They come at you, right? And you're writing something that they don't like, and so they're on the phone, they're yelling at you, they're telling you they're wrong, they're sometimes belittling depending on,

you know and and look this is not a person thing okay it's like I don't know this you know I'm gonna end up screaming oh yeah you yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah

here's the thing is that at the end of the day that can be a situation when all the sudden the thing that you were right about is exposed for everyone to see you at you will find a single article about NATO going really well but I'm not to separate that's tell its point the White House is is fun really miss read this because it treated this like this was the Obama debate in 2012 a street like this communication problem not a lie or deception that they've been

trying to run outrun for three years and it's finally caught up with them. Now let's be clear though, Biden has gotten, he's going to weather this initial storm. If he steps aside, it won't be because of the debate solely, it'll be because he has a bad press conference and the debate and something else, right? So this will compound, right? We're not out of the woods by any stretch of the imagination, but

first 10 days were the worst for two weeks the worst and gotten through I'm fully how are democrats gonna live like this for the next hour I was sitting in my mind thinking about exactly that you know the criteria for successful press conference tomorrow is him being on stage for four hours to push up solving Rubik's Cube its there's no definition in the media a bit going well to a point now though maybe you know what happened in

uh atlanta should be in some kind of context and again i'm not diminishing it i watched it and it was jarring and it was rattling but if there's gonna be this constant you know it's after the press conference tomorrow there's gonna be something else it'll be some memorial next thursday always going to be some kind of event and there's the media aspect of a bit of democrats keep living like that

There's a paralysis that sets in with donors with people who need to be out there fighting and by the way This is like email in 2016 you can den of Democrats can say what was she thinking? This was a mistake as much as you want in private, but go out there and say you know what the obsession about this is stupid she is a hundred times better than Donald Trump and one last point I would say about Jeff is

When you were in the White House, Donald Trump on a Saturday afternoon just disappeared and went to Walter Reed. Didn't explain why he was going, didn't brief after. His doctor never really explained why. It took a year for anyone. And I don't remember this kind of frenzy. But because he's louder and tanner, we assume he's saner and healthier.

And that is really a double standard. Well, look, I just want to be clear that we've been talking about the White House press corps. The voters have been on this for quite some time. On Biden. On Biden. On Biden they have. But that's because there's been no coverage of note of Donald Trump's health. Well, I mean, I also think, you know, voters can, voters are seeing, we're all seeing it. But we didn't see it when Biden was 78 and Donald Trump is 78. We might be seeing it in two years. Because people age differently.

He's tanner and louder. He's pretty tan, though. Okay, we're going to take a break. Coming up next, Donald Trump challenging Joe Biden to another debate with a twist. Ukraine can and will stop Putin.

President Biden on the world stage trying to prove to doubters that he is fit for another term. Plus, two explorers make an unexpected discovery at the bottom of a cave. We'll bring you that. The moment I picked her up, she just kind of like laid into me and leaned into me. And I think that was probably about the time she realized, OK, they're doing something to get me out of here.

I'm Dr. Sanjay Gupta, host of the Chasing Life podcast. What are some of the social service agencies that have supported you and your family growing up? That's Dr. Robert Waldinger. He's a psychiatrist, a professor, and a Zen master. What kind of relationships actually help us maintain happiness? And what should we do in those moments where we have setbacks and things that don't work out? Listen to Chasing Life, streaming now, wherever you get your podcasts.

In Europe, Putin's war of aggression against Ukraine continues. And Putin wants nothing less, nothing less than Ukraine's total subjugation to end Ukraine's democracy.

All right. Part of President Biden's opening remarks at the NATO summit here in Washington, but also a message for members of his own party and his detractors that he's ready for four more years. All eyes on the president after that debate. White House officials tell CNN that his speech went, quote, as planned and that the team is hoping with a smooth delivery under his belt Tuesday, they can go back to, quote, business as usual.

But look, everyone's watching. In his remarks, Ukrainian President Zelensky stressed the importance of November. Now what happens in November? Americans will go to the polls and winter will begin to make Russia's war against his nation even more brutal. Now everyone is waiting for November. Americans are waiting for November in Europe, Middle East, in the Pacific. The whole world is looking to autumn, looking to November.

And truly speaking, Putin awaits November 2. So this is really the thing, Matt Gorman, and this is something that, you know, Republicans are starting to talk about. The debate performance, obviously, Democrats are considering it in the context of the campaign. Should he remain at the top of the ticket to be reelected for four more years? But there is a country to govern in the meantime. This was Marco Rubio in Miami on Tuesday.

So perhaps an invasion is a bit of hyperbole, but the bottom line here is

The world is watching the president of the United States. Absolutely. And look, when we talk about the 10 to 4 work schedule, right? Like, hours in the United States are one thing, but also there's hours in Beijing, right? That's the middle of the night in Beijing. Russia, it's another set of times. So this has consequences. Should we play Philippe's 3:00 AM phone call ad? We should. I've seen that more in the last five days than I have in the last five years. But no, so these have consequences.

I don't get up early enough to watch the show when I'm not on, but yesterday you had a good conversation with Kate Bedingfield and Jonah Goldberg talking about whether or not Biden could do it for another four years. And I think, I believe that Biden has the ability to cut this out now, but if there was a conversation yet again that he needed to step aside, Republicans I think would rightly go and be like, wait a minute, why are you able to do the job for another seven months effectively

then there might be a conversation about him, whether or not he can do the job right now. Let me put it that way. First of all, I think China looks at the deliver of that message and probably rolls their eyes. But that aside, what they are looking at is how effectively President Biden has managed Ukraine and has managed what's going on in the Middle East and how, you know, we were a year or two ago talking about what the odds were of Taiwan being invaded by China. And China's math has changed.

because they see how effectively the United States has come to the rescue of its allies. How is this a little different with Taiwan? But that's an oversimplification for someone who is auditioning to be vice president to someone who the world would look at and say,

This is ridiculous. This guy doesn't know what he's doing. I mean, therein sort of lies the rub of the whole debate. Biden has this record on foreign policy and domestic policy, which is why he's running again. But he undermined that with that debate. And that's why Democrats have this crisis right now. All right, coming up next, the White House struggles to get the story straight about the president's health. We're going to ask Jeff about that. And... If I have, you know...

said misled in something that I've said or haven't had the full information. I actually own up to that. The press secretary trying to clear up some confusion, plus devastating tornado damage from Beryl. This is one of five things you have to see this morning.

All right, 26 minutes past the hour. Five things you have to see this morning. Hurricane Beryl spawning a dangerous tornado in southern Indiana, leaving major damage in Mount Vernon. The twister tearing through this warehouse, overturning trailers and leaving a trail of debris. A line of train cars on a track nearby left lying on their side.

Police dashcam video capturing two commercial planes flying way too close to each other in the skies over Syracuse, New York on Monday. One plane was trying to land, the other was just taking off from the same runway. The plane that was trying to land had to abort. For the best, the FAA is investigating. Threats of continued flash flooding forcing evacuation orders in New Mexico this morning. Flood watches are in effect and one region remains under a state of emergency.

A New Hampshire teen being hailed as a hero for stopping a runaway boat. The boat's driver was knocked overboard, spinning the vessel out of control. This is actually extremely dangerous. But a 17-year-old leaped from a nearby jet ski onto the boat to get it under control. Uh, I don't know. It just came to me. I didn't really think. I just did it. Wow. And two explorers saving a dog from the bottom of a Virginia cave. The pair rappelled 50 feet down, pulled the pup out three hours later.

Aw, yay. All right, coming up next here. But this time it will be man-to-man, no moderators, no holes barred.

Donald Trump challenging Joe Biden to another debate, trying to propose a new set of rules. Plus, the maiden flight of Europe's Ariane 6 rocket ending with an anomaly. All right, welcome back. The White House struggling yet again to give clear, accurate answers about the president's health and his medical care. It's causing tensions in the briefing room and uncertainty among Democrats. Listen to what the press secretary, Karine Jean-Pierre, told reporters Tuesday about a meeting at the White House between a neurologist and the president's physician earlier this year.

Can you say whether that one meeting was related to care for the president himself? I can say that it was not. So it turns out that it actually was. She said it was not. Late last night, the press secretary released this clarification because the date was not mentioned in the question. I want to be clear that the January 17th meeting between Dr. O'Connor and Dr. Kennard was for the president's physical.

Jeff Mason, again, I don't want to make this about the White House press corps. I want to make this about what the White House is saying about the president's health and whether or not they can get their story straight and why not. Because I think it's very hard for Americans to understand what is really going on here. There's this Parkinson's doctor that's going to the White House on numerous occasions and they can't seem to answer questions about what he's doing there, if he's treating the president or not. Now we know that he was.

involved in that, although they still say that he's only had these three neurological evaluations as part of his regular physicals and nothing beyond that. I mean, what is the line of questioning today? And what do you see in the fact that they can't seem to figure out how to get this straight?

So a couple of things. One, I'm a journalist, obviously. I'm not on the side of the people who prep a press secretary. But I know that every time that I'm in a briefing, this White House tries to go around and get a sense of what reporters are going to ask. I don't answer that. I have a principle against doing that. But they ask. The only question this week.

is about his health. And they haven't had a good answer. And what you're saying is they would have known in advance, or at least you presume that someone would have told them because they came to you and asked, hey, what are you going to ask in the briefing? Okay, we're going to ask about the president's health. And then they go up there and we get this. That is what I'm saying. And I also think that they could have figured that out without asking anyone.

That's just so clearly obvious. And you're right to say that they've struggled, and they just haven't had a clear answer every single day. We were talking a little bit in the break. I mean, it's hard probably when you're in the position of the press secretary to answer some questions when you're not told. I don't know if she wasn't told. I don't know to what extent she was not informed ahead of each of these days, but I do know that

they knew what the questioning was going to be. And to go back to repeating something I said before, it's the American people who want to know this. Everybody saw President Biden on that debate. There's a reason we're asking about health. It's because of how he looked that night. And the problem is that the straight answer opens up an additional can of worms. The straight answer is he's an elderly individual who sees the doctor a lot. We all do. Many people do. But he can still run the country. And he's running against somebody that we take significant issues with. That would...

I think invite even more questions about how fit he is to serve and so on. But it's a straight answer. Philippe, to that point, I mean, we were talking in the break and I should have thought of this at the top because I was covering when Hillary Clinton in 2016 had a health episode in public at a 9-11 memorial. You had to figure out how to explain that. What are the specific challenges around explaining something that is going on with a candidate or a president's health to reporters and therefore the American people?

Well, I think as confusing as this is, as maddening as this is, not just to White House press corps, but to people who want to know, as you say, is that this is oddly something that we all can relate to because it starts with the person that this happens to trying to figure out and be sure what it was that happened.

We all get sick. We all have spouses, kids, parents who get sick and it evolves. You think it's one thing, you go on medication for something, turns out it's not. Turns out the medication might've make it worse. So first you're trying to figure out ground truth. And look, I don't know Corinne, but give her the benefit of the doubt because I think I know a lot of people in the White House. I've worked with them for decades. Some of them are my closest friends.

They don't like the situation. They don't like the drip, drip, drip, and they don't like being criticized for being covered up. Also because it's not working. You first have to determine ground truth, and that's the human being do it and their spouse. The president and the first lady don't go through a medical process and come out and say, "Okay, everyone gather up. We're going to talk about my vitals, and I'm going to tell you what happened when they said cough," and all that kind of stuff.

So there is a degree of it being a moving target and it being something private and the line of where something is public is hard to... Now I would note the real stupidity here is that this information was helpful to the White House. It showed that they were in close contact with the neurologist because presumably that based on the person's appearance, Parkinson's was one of the things on the table that they wanted to stay on top of.

So it was a prudent and responsible thing to do, and it was prior to the president's annual physical in February, which explicitly said that they were looking for Parkinson's and didn't have it. So that's hiding in plain sight. The process on Monday was ugly, but you know who probably regrets it more than anyone? It's Corinne, because she looks ugly.

terrible doing that and then hours later being described. It is not malicious. The intent is not cover up. And I think this is where you get into the tension that Elie was moving from the very top about the White House press corps and the press corps in general is just angry.

And I understand that, but everyone's got to take a step back and say maybe the benefit of the doubt is this is a human being. And the last thing I'll say is, you know, last night, Senator Bennett sat right there and gave probably the most human and impassioned remarks about what happened to Joe Biden. And frankly, it's the first time anyone said it that wasn't in the context as if he was Richard Nixon and broke the law in Watergate.

All right. Let's turn now to the other candidate in the race, Donald Trump, and his return yesterday to the campaign trail after spending the last week lying low, playing golf, watching the Democratic infighting unfold. During a Miami rally, Trump attacked Vice President Kamala Harris, offering a new nickname. Laughin' Kamala, L-A-F-F-I-N apostrophe. Laughin'. Laughin' Kamala.

mispronouncing her name, we should note. He also teased a potential running mate for himself, Florida Senator Marco Rubio, and proposed a pair of challenges for President Biden. Let's do another debate this week so that sleepy Joe Biden can prove to everyone all over the world that he has what it takes to be president. But this time it will be man to man, no moderators, no holes barred.

Just name the place, anytime, anywhere. I'm also officially challenging Cricket Joe to an 18-hole golf match right here

So I mean, my question is whether they can use golf carts or not. I mean, Trump always does. I think golf carts would be fine. I have no problem. This isn't PGA. Can you imagine? That would be an incredible, incredible sight. Yeah, I mean, look, he certainly came back. He's going to have a rally this weekend. He's starting to emerge now, I think, getting ready for the convention.

If you asked me a week ago, and I think if you asked the Trump campaign a week ago, they figured maybe Kamala would be the nominee by now. I think we're all a little surprised that Biden's hung on. And so I think now we're kind of readjusting to what a race would look like with the focus candidly on Biden and his fitness for office.

- What's remarkable in all this fight, this talk about how Democrats are fighting amongst each other and not uniting behind their candidate, you saw Donald Trump sitting on stage with someone who, number one, he said could not get elected dog catcher, which is what Trump said about Marco Rubio. Marco Rubio called Donald Trump a con artist. I think JD Vance, another vice presidential

Peck had said that he was unfit for office. And this idea that infighting within a party is unique to Democrats is pretty, it's almost laughable at this point, looking at how these folks are sort of lining up behind the former president. I mean, we're sort of almost giving him and them a free pass there. I guess that was eight years ago, right? Like, I mean, like it was...

But much more recent. I wouldn't forget those things. It's amazing how much amnesia Republicans who ran against Donald Trump seem to have. The field team never gets old. Do you want to talk about that? Because the more recent example would be Kamala Harris going after Joe Biden on busing and race. So, like, if we want to have that, that's a lot more recent than the J.D. And then serving as vice president for several years. But you can't deny for a moment that Donald Trump inspires something and does something to the Republicans.

Republican Party, people who instinctively seem to not want to get behind him still all seem to bend the knee against their interests. - I think there's an inherent difference between eight years ago, wait, was it eight years, can't believe it was, '60 was eight years ago already? Holy hell. Anyway, and then him getting elected president, serving as president, and then we come back to this. - Okay, let me ask you a question.

In private, do you think these folks say the same things about Donald Trump that they're saying publicly right now across the Republican Party right now? Look, I will say this. I don't think that there's ever been a more popular or easier time to be a Donald Trump supporter if you're a politician. Politician than right now. Yeah.

I don't know what they say in private, but I'll tell you right now, it is extremely easy to be as consistent as possible right now. - Yeah, it's a remarkable, I mean, that's the piece of the reality of it that I think has really dramatically shifted and has the potential to dramatically shift this race in the long term as well. That it is a lot harder considering what we saw from President Biden for those who are on the fence, perhaps Republicans who don't like Donald Trump,

to look at the other side and say that the hurdle was always can you make a lifelong republican vote for a democrat not just a home of over a democrat uh... and that dot much much more difficult after the debate that that republican a week from now is that they'll pretty stupid because he touched the hot stove but at ten time and donald trump is not gonna pick him for a p i guess i'm not a fine phillip thank you so much for joining us

I really appreciate it. All right, coming up next, Joe Biden on the world stage with a lot to prove. And up next, we're going to ask former Senator Doug Jones where Democrats go from here now that the president is insisting he is staying in this race. It was just like, holy crap, this is a camera.

And this is a totally different story, a CNN investigation about how Airbnb is failing to protect guests from hidden cameras. Alright, 48 minutes past the hour, here's your morning roundup. In just a few hours, former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani will try to convince a bankruptcy court that he is indeed broke. Angry creditors say that the former Trump attorney has plenty of cash and assets to pay his debt.

Opening arguments begin today in the trial of Alec Baldwin, the actor accused of involuntary manslaughter for the 2021 shooting death of a cinematographer on a movie set in New Mexico. Baldwin has pleaded not guilty.

And a CNN investigation finding Airbnb consistently fails to protect guests despite knowing that hidden cameras are a persistent concern. One employee revealing that when a guest complains of a hidden camera, Airbnb doesn't notify law enforcement, not even when a child is involved. The company has received tens of thousands of complaints in the last decade, but victims say that there is no follow through.

Airbnb declined CNN's request for comment. This is very creepy and very strange. And the voice makes it even creepier. Not to minimize that, but it's creepy and strange all around. Is there a legal recourse if this happens to you?

- Probably, absolutely. And now it depends on, no, oh there is. I was gonna go all lawyer-like. - Senator Jones is here by the way. - Also a lawyer too, but no, but there's definitely legal recourse. People are spying on you in the privacy of what you thought was a space that you were renting, absolutely. - Oh, okay. Honestly, I'm glad to be returning to politics now, which is not something I always say. Let's watch this.

-It's been over a week and a half since the presidential debate, and Democrats are still divided over whether President Biden should stay in the race. Yeah, things are very tense in Washington. People waited all day for white smoke to emerge from the Capitol, signaling a new leader. That's right. Today, House Democrats held a meeting to discuss Biden's campaign. Some described the meeting as very positive, while others said the room was filled with sadness. So, basically, our government has the same plot as "Inside Out 2."

Where is anxiety in all of that? Right in the middle, if you've seen that movie. President Biden did seem to survive a critical day on Capitol Hill yesterday after Democratic lawmakers emerged from the Tuesday caucus meetings, divided, no white smoke, still uneasy about his political future, but resigning themselves to the following strategy, do nothing for now. Some members still expressing their deep concerns about the president's abilities and what that could mean for them in holding their own seats.

What I said this morning and expressed to my colleagues, particularly for members on the front line, is that I think they need to do whatever it is they need to do in order to come back and be reelected. And so if they need to distance themselves, then that's what they need to do. Whatever I've seen so far hasn't shown me that that's going to be enough to get there. I just don't think that dog is going to hide.

All right. Joining me now is former Democratic Senator Doug Jones of Alabama, who has been a longtime supporter and friend to President Biden. Senator, good to have you here. Thanks. Great to be here. So it seems as though the president is dug in in terms of him staying at the top of the ticket. But I want to play for you, Senator Bennett, sitting here on this set last night, talking about what may happen in the fall, his prediction for who's going to win the election. Let's watch.

Donald Trump is on track, I think, to win this election and maybe win it by a landslide and take with him the Senate and the House. I think that we could lose the whole thing. He says, I think we could lose the whole thing. Do you agree with him? You know, I really don't. I think that right now we have got a lot of time. And for the last two weeks, Democrats have been anxious, to say the least.

And rightly so. But the president has also been out there. But you saw yesterday, Casey, I think the beginning, not just from Democrats, but you're going to see now, beginning yesterday, the way that Joe Biden and Democrats turn this around. And that's by having Donald Trump back on the campaign trail. The more he opens his mouth, the more he gets and gives those unhinged rants,

at his campaign rallies, the more people can start focusing on Project 2025, which is frightening in this country or should be frightening to folks, I think that that's gonna help start solidify both Democrats and the electorate. It's gonna move. Notice in all these polling that you're seeing, and I see the polls, it scares people to death, I get that. But if you notice very closely, Donald Trump's not moving anywhere. Certainly,

President Biden has lost some, but Donald Trump's not moving. Hadn't moved in eight years on those. And yet he's been running consistently ahead in the polling. It's small, but it's there and it's different from 2020. Yeah. And here's the thing.

It's different than 2020. It's different than it was yesterday. It's going to be different than it was next week. This time in 1988, Mike Dukakis was 17 points ahead of George H.W. Bush. Ross Perot was winning over George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton.

polling at this point is a- - Well, polls have changed quite a bit. - Well, they have, and not necessarily for the better because the way we get our news and the way we see things is a lot different too. And the polling today is reflective as much as anything of what you're seeing on the news today. - So look, I take your point about Donald Trump and the challenges that he has, but the reality is they could potentially put another Democrat up against Donald Trump and it would still be Donald Trump and you might have a stronger argument with somebody else. - You might.

You know, right now, 14 million people voted for Joe Biden.

And Joe Biden says he's in. And I've said from the very beginning, look, I watched the debate on a personal level. I was incredibly, it was anxiety watching his performance. There's no question about that. But I've also believed, I've watched Joe Biden over the last 50 years, and I understand that he has always made the decisions based on what he believes is in the best interest of the American people. And I still believe that. And if he believes, and strongly as he seems to believe and is saying,

that he is the best nominee to take on Donald Trump and save this country and save democracy from another Donald Trump presidency. We're going to go with that. We're going to absolutely stick with that and go forward with it. And I think you will see Democrats at some point, especially after this Republican convention, unite around that and move forward.

So one of the other things that Michael Bennett said is that for him, quote, it's a moral question about the future of our country. He said it's not about polling, it's not about politics. And to the point that you, all those points that you made, I think where I keep tripping is that

if in fact it is as dire as you said just then and as many Democrats say. No, wait a minute. I didn't say it was dire. No, I mean dire about if the threat of Donald Trump is as dire as you say it is. Which is what Mike Bennett was saying was the moral decision, not whether or not Joe Biden gets out, but the vote to keep Donald Trump out of the White House. And what I'm saying is that if Democrats really believe, if you really believe that the threat of Donald Trump is so dire that you absolutely must win...

after what Americans saw and with all that polling, how can you sit and argue that it's the best option? Because I'm telling you, Casey, people are forgetting. If you look, go back, go back and look at the polling that got reported right after the debate. Look at the focus groups that were done during the debate. It was not what has been reported over the last two weeks. It was nothing near that bad. Those folks saw both Donald Trump and Joe Biden. Neither one did good.

Okay, it was not a good show for America that night. But the polling wasn't that bad. But at the same time you had Democrats who were texting folks in the media, Democrats doing this, the media went crazy. And so what you have seen as a result of that polling over the last two weeks is the polling is a result not of the debate, but the media reporting of the debate, which has been, as Barbara Boxer said yesterday on a program here that I was on,

Joe Biden has been pummeled behind the scenes as well as in the media. And hopefully, beginning yesterday, that focus will shift now and we will start hearing more about Donald Trump once again. And I will tell you that people are beginning to wake up to Project 2025.

Yeah, I mean look, candidly, I think a lot more Americans watched the debate than tend to, you know, even kind of be in this kind of an ecosystem, which I think seems to be the challenge. I mean, Senator, do you think the White House is being candid about the state of the president's health? Yes.

All right. Good example, Casey. I love you. But that's a nothing burger now. Okay. That's three days old. And they've answered the questions and we're going back to replay. Well, they had to make a correction last night. Okay. They made a correction. I understand that. But we're going back and replaying things that the doctors have said exactly what happened. And one would expect

a neurologist to examine the president once a year as part of his fiscal. There's no question about that. One would expect if you've ever been in the White House and you were the White House correspondent, you've been over there, you've seen the number of people, you've seen the medical staff over there. There's a lot of people over there and you bring folks in. I mean, when I was there in 2022 during COVID, it was crazy to watch the number of medical professionals that are coming through there.

So I think that that is an issue. I think that they have been. Look, President Biden's 81 years old. He is not a president that is going to run up and down steps. He's not the kind of president who's going to do the things. But he's not also trying out to be the starting quarterback for the Buffalo Bills. But frankly, and let's bring the panel into this, too. I mean, in some ways it's easier to be the quarterback.

back for the Buffalo Bills than it is to be president of the United States. No, not from a physical standpoint. It is not. The president of the United States has a team around him. And that is about judgment. And that is about taking in all of the things that Joe Biden has got years of experience doing, talking to world leaders. He's not talking to world leaders when he is out running track. He has talked or even on a

a treadmill. He is talking to world leaders to discuss the issues of the day, the Gaza issues, which were that close, I think, to a ceasefire based on everything that I'm hearing. He's talking to President Zelensky about Ukraine. He's trying to keep the United States of America on board with NATO and strengthening NATO the way it has worked. That's what the president of the United States does.

He is not out there doing jumping jacks every day to try to show how fit he might be to be the quarterback. And the question, of course, I think, is how he can manage all of that, cognitively speaking. But, Senator, you are a very strong advocate for President Biden. Thank you very much for being here. I'm sorry that our panel didn't get a last word, but we are after 7 a.m., so I want to say thanks to them and thanks to you for joining us. Don't go anywhere. CNN News Central starts right now.

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