Debby Does Florida, Harris Announces VP, Trump Slams Harris
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It's Monday, August 5th, right now on CNN This Morning. Strong winds churning seas. Florida prepares for a direct hit from Hurricane Debbie. Vice President Kamala Harris just hours away from picking her potential vice president. The three names on her list still. Plus this. So we have to work hard to define her. I don't want to even define her. I just want to say who she is. She's a horror show.

Defining his opponent, Donald Trump, and his team still working out how best to criticize Harris. And this: When the Supreme Leader says he's going to avenge, we have to take that seriously. Israel bracing for retaliation from Iran as Hezbollah sends a barrage of rockets across the northern border.

All right, 6:00 AM here in Washington DC. We're giving you a live look this morning of Perry, FL as Hurricane Debbie inches closer to making landfall on the Florida coast. The storm strengthening to a category one overnight has been packing winds of 80 miles an hour, but it is the rain that is the issue. We're seeing some flooding along Florida's Big Bend Coast. Debbie could drop a month's worth of rain over the next several days expected to make landfall later this morning. We're going to have more on the storm's path and impacts for Americans across the region throughout

The hour. Good morning, everyone. I'm Casey Hunt. It's wonderful to have you with us. We want to start today with politics. Kamala Harris has the biggest decision to make of her campaign so far. She's given herself just a few more hours to make it. She spent much of the weekend meeting with the top contenders for her vice presidential pick. Governor Josh Shapiro of Pennsylvania, Governor Tim Walz of Minnesota and Senator Mark Kelly of Arizona. Sources familiar with the process telling CNN it's not clear whether Harris has made up her mind yet.

The full Democratic ticket will make its debut on Tuesday at a rally in the must-win state of Pennsylvania. Sources also telling CNN Harris expected to try to keep her choice a secret for as long as possible. This is a story as old as veep stakes has been a story. Her choice, of course, going to be shaped by the need to keep her campaign's momentum going.

And they're going to have to balance that against trying to win voters in swing states. Maybe the same may not be. Four in 10 Democrats say Harris should choose someone from a battleground state. That someone could be Josh Shapiro of Pennsylvania. In recent days, Democrats have raised red flags about the popular Pennsylvania governor. This is how these things tend to go down. Pennsylvania Senator John Fetterman is reportedly concerned that Shapiro

is too focused on his own personal ambitions. The National Women's Defense League has asked the Harris campaign to look into Shapiro's handling of a sexual harassment allegation against one of his former top aides. And pro-Palestinian groups have come out against Shapiro, citing in part an op-ed that he wrote 30 years ago. Shapiro is trying to take this head on. Here's what he said on Friday. This was before his weekend meeting with Harris.

Something I wrote when I was 20? Is that what you're talking about? I was 20. Look, I have said for years, years, long before October 7th, that I favor a two-state solution. Israelis and Palestinians living peacefully side by side. The vice president has a deeply personal decision to make. She will make the right decision for her and for the country.

All right, our panel's here. Let's bring in CNN senior reporter Edward Isaac DeVere, Matt Gorman, former communications director for the National Republican Congressional Committee and Tim Scott's presidential campaign, and Megan Hayes, former special assistant

to President Biden. Welcome all. Lovely to see you. This has been sort of, I was off last week on vacation, full disclosure, so I am probably not as sick of Veepstakes coverage as all of you sitting here. But look, it really does seem like, Isaac, the knives have really come out in the course of the last 72 hours as it seemed as though Shapiro was really the strongest

contender for getting this nod. People who, you know, he and Fetterman have had this kind of home state rivalry for quite some time. What is the latest thinking, your latest reporting about what's going on in the Harris camp as she makes this? It's the biggest decision she's had to make so far. Yeah, look, and the Shapiro attacks actually started at the end of last week. Donald Trump and J.D. Vance also attacking him. It is very clear that

a lot of people feel like he is the leading candidate and there are a lot of reasons why Shapiro should be seen as a strong candidate for vice president, for running mate here. He has won a lot of big victories in Pennsylvania. He is very popular with Republicans and Democrats alike. And Pennsylvania is a state that if Donald Trump doesn't win it, it gets really hard to see his electoral math to winning. And so locking that state up, if that's what Shapiro can help do for Harris, there's a lot of reason for it. But look, Shapiro

Much of the attacks that he has taken are about feelings of where he stands on Israel. Importantly here, he is the only Jewish finalist, it seems. J.B. Pritzker, the governor of Illinois, is Jewish too, but does not seem to be in this final stretch.

He has never taken a vote on any foreign policy issue in his life. That may be an issue for him being a running mate, but it is to tag him with responsibility for the

the current administrations or any other previous American position on Israel is something that has struck a lot of people as being at least tinned with anti-Semitism. Yep. Focusing on him in that way, calling him genocide Josh when other people, who by the way, including Tim Walz and Mark Kelly, have very similar positions on Israel that he has, but you don't hear genocide Mark or genocide Tim.

There is a focus in that way, and it connects to other things about how progressives now have used that as an entryway to raise other issues about him. The Fetterman stuff is connected to longstanding issues between the two of them from when Shapiro was attorney general and Fetterman was lieutenant governor. And there's also, for a lot of Jewish voters, and I reported on this last week, a lot of

is America ready for a Jewish vice president and what it would mean to have Kamala Harris with all the things she is historically, demographically, than with Shapiro there too. Well, and of course, just the general rise in anti-Semitism, of course, being a huge part of that. I mean, Matt Gorman, if you're a Republican, do you want her, who do you want her to pick of these guys? I will say this, like when it comes to that whole thing that

as you talked about, that is really coming back. I mean, just a few short months ago, we were talking about those riots and massive protests on college campuses.

When college students come back, I would not be surprised if that becomes a story again, especially as you teased in the opening with new developments in Israel and kind of a regional possible kind of conflict. Don't expect that issue to go away, certainly. I will also say this. Stepping back, we are seeing the Democratic Party remade possibly for the next 15 years right before our eyes. Remember, Joe Biden was always supposed to be a jumper.

Among the coming fight between the liberals and the kind of the more establishment moderate faction and whether he served two terms or one. And now with Kamala coming in, you know, without kind of a primary and now picking a vice president, that fight is being shaped in a way that, you know, without a primary and without kind of that battle being raged. If Kamala wins and serves two terms, you know, whomever the VP is, this is a generational battle that's happening. And we don't know it yet, or at least we're not aware to it yet.

Yeah, Megan, I mean, way in there because. Yeah, no, I definitely agree with you. But I also think that we need to look at this as who's going to be the best governing partner for her and who would be the next president. Because that's to your point of what's moving the Democratic Party forward. If they were to win, this person is going to run for president someday. And I think that we need to look at their policies and we need to understand. Because right now, I think that the vice president is also reintroducing herself to the rest of America because they don't know where she stands on a lot of things. And so bringing someone else in, they're going to need to be closely aligned or it's going to be

We're going to see a lot of negative stories here. Megan, you have a really sophisticated understanding of how this... I mean, this is a campaign in its infancy that is having to grow up overnight, right? There are less than 100 days before November. What is going on behind the scenes in the Harris campaign as they try to work out how to... I mean, we've never seen a campaign move from one candidate to the other ever, really, in modern times. And now they have to make this decision. Who is really...

actually the person she is listening to here? And what is your sense of kind of what that means for this big choice?

Look, I mean, we saw on Friday that she brought in a bunch of Obama people that were historically Obama people that now brought into the campaign. You have the Biden team that was already in place. You have her brother-in-law that's there with another group of folks. I think, you know, it's interesting because Joe Biden was sort of the North Star on policies and sort of the North Star of leading where the policies were going. And she was the number two. So she got to just execute on those ideas. So we're having to see her come up with a lot of her own new policies. And there's been, you know, a little back and forth on where she stands on things. So I mean,

I don't know who she's listening to yet. I think she's still trying to figure out where she fits in all of this and trying to figure out her next 90 days. But they are going to need to do that very quickly. And adding another person into this and their own ideas and their own record is going to be complicated. And they need to capitalize on the momentum to keep that going. Yeah. And look, when it comes to the running mate choice is obviously a big decision if she's elected president. It's also a big decision just in the campaign.

I wrote in a piece over the weekend that leaps of faith are not Kamala Harris's style. She likes to take a lot of time with decisions, go through a lot of data, see things over and over again, cross-examine it. She just doesn't have that option. She's got two, 15 days ago, Joe Biden was still running for president. In two weeks, she's had to get this campaign up and do all the vetting and all of it. And she had, she doesn't know any of the three people who she interviewed previously.

yesterday uh... very well she's actually known shapiro for about twenty years but not in a deep way and she's got to figure out like how is this going to work how does the chemistry work how who can she trust what if they are elected how is that going to work that's really hard to do it be hard for any of us to do and this is a super high stakes situation imagine building a billion dollar company from scratch that's how it is the best of campaign over two year cycle you're doing it a hundred days yeah and it

Again, the thing that I keep thinking about, too, and thinking about her decision-making campaigns, I think oftentimes more than companies, are the embodiment of the person at the top of the ticket. And their ability to make decisions, their personalities, as everyone that is underneath them is trying to give them exactly what they want. You're the living, breathing Coca-Cola. Yeah.

You are. You're the product. And it really, it's what makes or breaks campaigns in my experience. All right, coming up next here, Donald Trump's struggle to attack his new rival. Plus, a bizarre story. RFK dumped a dead baby bear cub in Central Park. He is admitting to it. We will explain it. And Hurricane Debbie strengthening as it inches closer to landfall.

there's going to be a lot of trees that are going to fall down you're going to have debris you are going to have power interruption so just prepare for that

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And now, Sleep Number smart beds starting at $999. Prices higher in Alaska and Hawaii. For J.D. Power 2023 award information, visit jdpower.com slash awards. Only at a Sleep Number store or sleepnumber.com. We're going to defeat crazy Kamala. Kamala. You know, there's about 19 different ways of saying it. She only likes three. She was here a week ago. Lots of empty seats.

But the crowd she got was because she had entertainers. She refuses to even say the words illegal, alien or radical Islamic terrorist. She is considered more left wing than crazy Bernie Sanders. Look at her. She's worse than Bernie. And she happens to be really a low IQ individual. A low IQ individual. That was a selection of the various ways in which Donald Trump is going on offense against his new rival.

Since Joe Biden's exit from the race a little over two weeks ago, Donald Trump has been trying to figure out how to define Harris. And even some of his biggest supporters are raising questions about how he's doing it.

Every day we're talking about her heritage and not her terrible, dangerous liberal record throughout her entire political life is a good day for her and a bad day for us. So I would encourage President Trump to prosecute the case against Kamala Harris's bad judgment.

All right. Panel's back. Matt Gorman, the low IQ individual thing that he had to say. I mean, this is just like, can you just like lay out what this is actually about? Yeah. I mean, look, I think it was there was a common thread when she about 15 days ago, she was picked that, you know, we have to define her in the first week. And it was so crucial. I think that was always a fallacy because at that point, the media and the left who was just so exuberant that Joe Biden was off the ticket. It wasn't you weren't going to be able to find her in a week.

So therefore, that got us through the first week, kind of that political honeymoon. And then so you get the last week, and I think I saw a lot of Republicans openly kind of frustrated, especially after this weekend, exasperated because you saw the NABJ conference leading into kind of the Georgia conference. And it's like, OK, we have a lot of good –

like oppo hits, so to speak, on, you know, whether it's fracking and a ton of the flip flops. You're saying there are plenty of ways where Republicans could use her policy positions in ways that could influence voters. But instead, we're doing this. We're going after other stuff. And I think there's a lot of exasperation among Republicans that we are wasting time and weeks, much to Lindsey Graham, I think he put it well. A lot of Republicans have been very outspoken about this over the last, I would say, 96 hours.

that we can go back on track and, candidly, follow the paid messaging of the Trump campaign. They're on air in a lot of these states with ads about this messaging. Back it up with what you're saying on the stump and through earned media. Yeah, I mean, Megan Hayes, this low IQ stuff, I mean, it's definitely race-related, right? And this is a thing that, I mean, when...

when it was clear that Joe Biden was leaving the race, one of the notes I got from a Republican in Trump's orbit was that this is going to mean that he is not going to be able to resist going to these places. What do you think, I mean, if you're the Democrats, are these the kinds of attacks

in some ways you would say, well, that's going to actually backfire. It's going to help us. How do you look at it? No, I definitely think it helps the Democrats. I think going back to this is in five or six states with 10,000 people in each state that are going to determine this election. And most of these people are independent women. And they're like the, the,

non-Trump people, the Nikki Haley voters that we were calling them earlier in the cycle, these are not people who are going to take kindly to calling a woman having low IQ, calling out her race, making personal attacks against her. That's not going to win you voters. That energizes your base, and it might be great for fundraising, but it is not what's going to win you the election in November. They need to go back to policy. People need to start talking. Both sides need to start talking about the economy. That's what really matters here, and that is what is going to win the election.

Again, it's a question of wasting time. It's also a question of whether Trump is repelling voters who were coming to him earlier in the cycle.

Saw a lot of polling and reporting that showed that, for example, among black voters, there was interest in Trump, much higher interest than ever before, and that that was in part a reaction to how people were feeling about Joe Biden. We can bring up some polling on that if the team wants to dig through that. We'll bring that up. Continue. But what we have seen in some of the polling that's been done that shows black voter enthusiasm up over the last two weeks, in some of the reporting that we at CNN and other people have done just talking to voters out there, that when they hear things like she's a DEI hire,

They are taking it personally about experiences that they have had about being dismissed. And that is bad news for Donald Trump. Look, black voters, obviously an important part of the electorate anyway. And let me pause you for one second because I just want to talk through what we're seeing on this slide. This is from the CBS poll, which we're going to dig into in a little bit. But now 81 percent among black voters choose Harris. 18 percent choose Trump. Why? Look at that. That's a six point swing.

from where Donald Trump was. - It's below 22, I'm sorry, go ahead, go ahead. It's below 20. - But also, I believe it was a CBS poll over the weekend that had-- - Yeah, that's this. - Sorry, there was another question in there that said likelihood to vote had gone up by about 20 points. And that, look, Pennsylvania, Michigan,

Wisconsin to an extent, Georgia, North Carolina, huge concentrations of black voters, battleground states. If Donald Trump is not getting as much of the black voter share as he was, that is not good news for him. And if what he is doing to try to define Harris continues down this road, it may continue digging the hole for him.

And to your point, it's now under 20%. Yes, that's the number to watch. Yeah, very interesting. All right, let's check in on this. Hurricane Debbie is picking up steam. It's strengthened to a Category 1 hurricane in the Gulf Coast, and it's set to make landfall any moment now. Historic flooding possible as it makes its way into the southeast. CNN's Elisa Rafa is on the coast of Florida that's already feeling the impact. Elisa, good morning. What are you seeing where you are?

Good morning. The winds have been howling here. Casey, as we just came through the eye wall of this category one hurricane, they actually calmed down briefly because we are getting into the center of the eyes. The calm is part of the storm and then we'll pick up again as we get on the other end of that eye wall. We're standing here on the Steinhatchee River in the Big Bend of Florida with that landfall, that exact center of the storm here.

happening pretty much right now. It's pretty imminent as we just came through that front end of the eye wall parts of Cedar Key already seeing storm surge over 5 feet. This area just got hit by a Dahlia last year. A lot of the locals were telling me that they literally just put up a lot

these docks just finished these projects from last year as things were destroyed from intense storm surge and flooding in Edalia last year and they were worried about if their progress was already going to be ruined by Debbie this morning so we'll have to continue to watch that storm surge and

as it continues to come in. This storm also rapidly intensified in the last 24 hours again. We have another landfalling hurricane that was a tropical storm just 24 hours ago and rapidly intensified because our ocean temperatures are near record warm. We're talking about upper 80s and low 90s. That is fuels for hurricanes and it allows them to intensify just before landfall.

An intensifying hurricane means higher storm surge and higher rain totals as well. The problem as we go into the week is going to be a slow moving storm. When you have a tropical system that crawls, we're talking about you could even walk faster than this pace of the storm. We're going to have prolific amounts of rain along the Georgia South Carolina coast, possibly breaking all time records. Catastrophic flooding is a serious concern. Casey.

All right, Elisa Rafa for us. Stay safe out there, Elisa. Thank you very much for that report. All right, coming up here on CNN This Morning. Rioters in the U.K. setting fire to hotels being used to shelter immigrants. That's going to be next in our five things. Plus, markets in Asia plummeting could be a rough morning ahead for U.S. stocks.

All right, 28 minutes past the hour. Five things you have to see this morning. Violent riots across the UK after a deadly stabbing spree last week. Rioters deemed far-right thugs by Prime Minister Keir Starmer set several hotels on fire, those hotels being used to house asylum seekers. The riots fueled by rumors that the knife attacker is an immigrant, but British authorities say the suspect was born in Britain.

A boat off the coast of Florida lost its sails as Hurricane Debbie was approaching the area, leaving two boaters adrift at sea. A U.S. Coast Guard MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter crew, that's a lot of information about that helicopter, ultimately rescued the two boaters. No injuries were reported.

A small plane made a crash landing on a golf course in Sacramento on Sunday. It skidded to a stop next to the pro shop. The pilot on board walked away with minor injuries. No other injuries were reported. Matt Gorman, that's for you.

Noah Lyles is the fastest man on earth capturing Olympic gold in the 100 meter dash, but not by much. The US sprinter won by five thousandths of a second. The blink of an eye takes 20 times longer than that. Just look at this photo finish. It took nearly 30 seconds for the judges to figure it out and declare Lyle the winner with a time of 9.784 seconds. Wow.

All right, Hurricane Debbie expected to make landfall in northwest Florida soon. The outer bands of the storm already causing flooding in Fort Myers Beach. Historic flooding expected in parts of Georgia and South Carolina with up to 30 inches of rain possible. Let's get straight to our weatherman, Derek Van Dam. Derek, good morning. What are we seeing?

Yeah, Casey, landfall is imminent and thank goodness it's happening because it's run out of time to strengthen and just before it could really get its act together completely. Still a Category 1 Atlantic hurricane, 80 mile per hour winds. Cedar Key right now reporting six feet of storm surge. So the surge that was forecast from the National Hurricane Center being realized just a couple of feet shy from Hurricane Adalia back in August of 2023. And we all remember August.

how impactful that was for the Big Bend region. The eye wall making landfall right now. You can see just as that center of the storm actually crosses land, that's when the official landfall will be made near the Steinhatchee region or just to the points to the northwest. There is a lot of rain associated with this system. Flash flooding already occurring and will continue today and will extend right through the early parts of this work week. We've got a heads up here from Savannah to Charleston, particularly on Tuesday when this system thaws

feeds into some Atlantic moisture, we could see record setting rainfall totals that causes catastrophic flooding. So a big, big story for us. All right. Our weatherman, Derek Van Dam. Derek, thank you. I really appreciate it. Coming up next here, Democratic Congressman Jake Auchincloss joins us to discuss rising tensions in the Middle East. Plus, new polling showing just how much has changed in the presidential race over the past two weeks.

From politics to pop culture and everything in between, CNN's 5 Things brings you the five essential stories to get you up to speed and on with your day five times a day. Hey there, from CNN, I'm Krista Bowe with the 5 Things You Need to Know for Wednesday. CNN 5 Things. Listen now, ad-free, with Amazon Music.

Today, President Biden is set to meet with his national security team in the Situation Room to discuss developments in the Middle East. Several countries, including the U.S., now advising citizens to leave Lebanon as fears of a broader regional conflict are growing. Axios reporting, Secretary of State Antony Blinken told his counterparts from the G7 countries on Sunday that an attack by Iran and Hezbollah against Israel could start as early as Monday. National Security Council spokesman John Kirby reiterating the U.S.'s support for Israel.

Now, I don't know what they're going to do or when they're going to do it, but we got to make darn sure that we're ready and that we have the capabilities in the region to be able to help Israel defend itself and, quite frankly, defend our own people, our own facilities, our own national security interests.

Plus, the IDF says Israel's Iron Dome successfully intercepting several projectiles fired from southern Gaza just a short while ago. Joining us now to discuss is Democratic Congressman Jake Auchincloss of Massachusetts. He's a member of the House Select Committee on competition between the U.S. and China. Congressman, always good to have you on the program. Thank you so much for being here. How concerned are you about this broadening into a wider conflict at this tricky moment?

Good morning, thanks for having me on. Concerns. Since October, the president has been walking a tightrope in the Middle East. On one side, doesn't want to let terrorists win. We have to defend Israel and make sure that freedom and democracy

can flourish in that region. On the other side, don't want an all-out war with Hezbollah, with Iran, with proxy terror forces in Iraq or Syria trying to contain this onto one front. And that fundamental dynamic has not changed, although it's gotten to be an even skinnier and more swaying tightrope in the last couple of weeks here. I think the United States is going to have to continue to be ironclad in its defense of Israel's security. The idea that Israel has somehow culpable right now, I think, is absurd. Israel

assassinated two terrorist masterminds who had spent decades killing israelis and americans and the world is safer because of it and now we need to work with the israel to ensure their security we also need to put pressure on israel to architect a day of governance strategy in gaza

that is Palestinian-led and that is consistent with Palestinian security and economic development so that we can get to a negotiated ceasefire and hostage release. That's ultimately going to help cauterize this conflagration.

- Congressman, I wanna also ask you about politics as it relates to the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas in Gaza. And one of the places where this is showing up is in the vice presidential search that Kamala Harris is undertaking right now. The Pennsylvania governor, Josh Shapiro, who is Jewish, had been considered to be at the top of the list and is now, has been the subject of a number

of criticisms in the media from left-wing groups in different instances. There's been a focus, for example, on an old opinion piece that he wrote when he was younger about this issue. I'm wondering who you think Kamala Harris should select as her VP and what you make of the way people are approaching and criticizing Josh Shapiro in this moment.

Those in the overly online left who are attacking Josh Shapiro's pro-Israel positions in a different way than they are attacking non-Jewish beep contenders' positions, they're just telling on themselves. There is a strong undercurrent of anti-Semitism to that. It's unacceptable. Every contender's positions...

on all policy issues, their track records in elective office, all of that is fair game. That is totally open to be subjected to interrogation and to questioning by the Harris team, by observers. But holding him to a different standard because of his religion just simply isn't who we are as a Democratic Party. Who we are as a Democratic Party is an institution with a ton of talent, though. It's been the most exciting thing for me these last few weeks is just how deep this bench is. And this is just a

a very small preview of it. People like Gina Raimondo haven't even really been able to demonstrate their talent. My own governor, Maura Healey. This party has so much to offer for the future, for a future of more freedom, for a future of more breathing room for Americans as they make their way through an economy where costs have become a critical issue. And on the other side of the aisle, you've just got Donald Trump and J.D. Vance offering

Offering the past, offering to take us backwards as a country, offering to insult millions of Americans, particularly women, who are going to be the decisive votes in this election. Yeah. Congressman, when we look at the swing state polling and we can put some of this up for for people, there has been a clear situation.

in Harris's, in Democrats' favor when Joe Biden, so this is Harris, look at those numbers on the right for Trump in swing states. This is the model from CBS News. You're seeing a mix of 48s and 50s for Trump in these swing states.

We can put up the previous look at this when Biden was at the top of the ticket and every single state has Trump above 50%, which is of course critical. So this race has changed. In terms of the the veep stakes, Pennsylvania in particular is one that Josh Shapiro could potentially help with. Do you think that's what the Harris team should be focused on, winning Pennsylvania? Or do you think another factor should be foremost in her VP search?

I mean, the Harris campaign staff knows the electoral math extremely well. I'm not going to lecture them on how best to achieve 270. I know they know all the numbers. What they need to do is present somebody, number one, most importantly, who's ready to be president on day one. That's the fundamental promise of the American.

people. And then number two is to help draw this fundamental contrast between the future and the past. It was Nikki Haley, actually, who said that the first party to change the top of its ticket was going to win. Democrats did it. Republicans didn't. And because Democrats did it, we now get to make this election about going forward or taking ourselves back and drawing contrasts on cost of living and our plans to provide more breathing room, drawing contrasts on freedom and the rule of law.

and the fact that they have a lawless administration and waiting drawing contrast on respect for faith family in the flag and j_d_ vance is just litany of insults against the american people in the institutions we hold dear all right congressman jack i can cross for this morning congressman thank you very much sorry i'm not next year on c_n_n_ this morning but i said let's go with the parents of the park and i'll make it look like a good

Why RFK Jr. says he dumped a dead bear, a dead baby bear, in Central Park. And an Olympic triathlete sick from the River Seine. Ugh, yuck. We'll talk about the water.

All right, 47 minutes past the hour. Here's your morning roundup. Asian markets plunging overnight. Japan's stock market suffering its biggest ever one-day loss, falling more than 12%. A global sell-off intensifying following weak U.S. jobs data. The downward trend continuing here in the U.S. The Dow, Nasdaq, and S&P 500 all sharply lower this morning in pre-market trading.

North Korea once again putting their region on edge. State media now reporting the movement of 250 new missile launchers towards South Korea's border. Experts say the equipment can fire short-range ballistic missiles capable of carrying nuclear warheads.

The Los Angeles police have released photos of the suspects involved in the fatal shooting of General Hospital actor Johnny Wachter. The images also show a black four-door Infiniti Q50 sedan, which police say was stolen. Wachter, 37, was shot after leaving work at a downtown rooftop bar in May.

Belgium withdrawing from the mixed relay triathlon at the Olympics after one of its athletes, Claire Michel, fell ill after swimming in the Seine. An athlete from Switzerland also sickened. Concerns over the water quality in the river causing a delay in a prior competition. Olympic officials are claiming it has improved.

Isaac, would you go swimming in the sand? I would not. Anyone? Anyone? Our Melissa Bell did. I almost asked him to pull that video. Absolutely not. Absolutely not. It's the most predictable thing ever. Yeah, I really don't want E. coli. No. It's lovely to stroll past, but I'm not going to. I know, it's beautiful to look at. Yeah, OK. Just so we're all on the same page. All right, let's turn back now to the 2024 race and that incredibly consequential choice Kamala Harris is expected to make sometime in the next 48 hours, her running mate.

Four years ago this week, Biden named Harris his VP pick. Donald Trump, J.D. Vance both insisting that her choice has no impact on them. I don't care. Let them do whatever. They still want to have open borders. If she picks Shapiro, she's going to lose the Palestinian vote.

And that's fine. Everybody has their liabilities. I don't really care who she chooses as a running mate. It's not going to be good for the country. And we're ready, meaning President Trump and I are ready, to take the case to the American people.

All right. Joining me now, Mark McKinnon. He served as former advisor to George W. Bush, John McCain, also the creator of Paramount's The Circus. Mark, wonderful to have you on this Monday to talk about all of this. Let's start with the VP pick, especially what's been going on with Josh Shapiro. You heard the Republicans there. Obviously, there's been a lot in the press about Shapiro coming from Democrats and the potential consequences of that choice. What do you make of all of it and what do you think she should do?

Hi, Casey. What a big week ahead, man. This race is so much more interesting now, isn't it? It so is. It's so consequential, this first pick, Casey, for lots of reasons. If you don't think about VP pick matters, look at JT Vance. He's violated the first cardinal rule, which is do no harm. He's doing a lot of harm.

Yeah, Shapiro. I like Shapiro a lot. He's a baller. He's a natural man. We've had him on our show. And he's just, he's got instincts. He's just, he knows how to roll. And I think that he's additive. You know, you ask me who I like. I'm a political guy, right? And you have sort of the eggheads saying, well, look who's going to govern. Well, you've got to get there first.

Shapiro can get you there. Is there controversy? Sure. But, you know, you don't throw deep without the possibility of interceptions. And that's and that's that's why I like it. I'm a gambler. I think it's a great pick. So, listen, I think Kelly and Waltz are good choices, but they're obviously safe choices. I just don't think you play it safe in an election like this. You've got to go for it. Do you think there's any risk in terms of a.

deflating some of the enthusiasm that has been on display for Harris or ramifications in places like Michigan?

I think just the opposite. I think Shapiro, again, I think he just has such incredible instincts and he's so good. And when you see him on the ticket, you see him on the show. He's a guy that can go out and campaign by himself. I don't think Waltz or Kelly are. I mean, they're good, solid number twos, but they're not. People can go out there and light it up on their own. Shapiro can. And that's what you need in a VP, particularly in this election. And I listen. I think this is also interesting because the compressed schedule is.

It's going to say a lot about how Harris makes decisions. This is a tough, tough decision. She's got to make it in such a short period of time. So it's going to say not a lot about not just who she picks, but how she makes her selection. So it's really important. And like I said, it's, you know, if she picks Shapiro, then I think it's going to say a lot about, you know, her confidence level and her ability to go out there and, like I said, kind of, you know, do some plea flicker plays. Do the big, bold thing.

Yeah, that's what I would do. But listen, I'm you know, I'm not in the hot seat. So so speak. I want to talk for a second about a time when you were doing doing this kind of work and how it contrasts with what we're seeing today. I want to ask you about what happened with Donald Trump at NABJ and the way he was talking about Kamala Harris. I want to first play that and then we're going to look at another moment from a campaign past. Let's let's start with NABJ.

She was always of Indian heritage and she was only promoting Indian heritage. I didn't know she was black until a number of years ago when she happened to turn black and now she wants to be known as black. So I don't know, is she Indian or is she black?

So that's the current Republican nominee for president and how he is talking about the first black woman to top a presidential ticket. This was the former Senator John McCain in a moment when he was campaigning against the man who would become our country's first black president talking about his heritage. Let's watch this. I can't trust Obama. I have read about him and he's not, he's not, he's a, he's an Arab. He is not

No? No, ma'am. No, ma'am. He's a decent family man, citizen that I just happen to have disagreements with on fundamental issues, and that's what this campaign is all about. He literally reaches over and takes that microphone to say, no, that's not what's going on. Can you just give us your view of what Trump said last week, how it impacts this race, and what it says about where we are as a country as compared to where we once were?

Great contrast, Casey, and great, great clip. I've never been prouder to be associated with John McCain in that moment. And it really is a contrast between how how radically the Republican Party has changed with Trump and how he's transformed it.

and taking it backwards. I mean, the thing about McCain and George W. Bush and compassionate conservatism is it was a forward-leaning party that was looking to expand the Republican tent. Trump is all about contracting it, and he's run into a demographic cul-de-sac. But his message from the very beginning in making America conservative

great again is about going back to the past and it's the first time in history where a Republican president has picked that lock and where the American public has said, you know what? I am kind of afraid of the future. Let's go back to the old ways.

And that's how Trump is doubling down. He did it in 2016. The question is right now. And that's why it's so interesting against Harris, because and how she's framing this election. And I love the freedom message and the future versus past message, because she's saying, you know what, we're not going to go back again. We're going to go forward. And Trump is making it really clear he wants to go back and he's not afraid of it. And he's in fact, he's proud of it. All right. Mark McKinnon, thank you very much for coming on this morning. I hope you come back next week.

Take it, Casey. I'll be there. All right. Sounds great. Okay. Now there's this story and I sort of can't believe that this is the story that we were telling, but here it is. It's a 10 year old New York cold case. It has been solved. The bearer of the news may surprise you.

New York Central Park, a bear cub. I know, dead underneath some bushes. A dog walker stumbled upon the animal Monday morning. Officials at the Central Park Zoo are sure the bear did not belong to them. They didn't have any bears at the time. Police say the three-foot cub showed signs of trauma and lacerations. They're not sure whether it wandered in the park or someone put it there. There have been no bears in the park for a long, long time. It seems as if someone brought the thing there, which is really sad.

We now know the person that brought the dead bear cub to Central Park in 2014 was independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Apparently, he could not bear to hold his confession in any longer. He is now admitting why he put the animal there. He walked through it in great detail. I was driving up maybe, you know, really early, like 7. And that woman in a van in front of me hit a bear and killed it.

a young bear. So I pulled over and I picked up the bear and put him in the back of my van because I was going to skin the bear and it was very good condition and I was going to put the meat in my refrigerator and you can do that in New York City. You can get a bear tag for a roadkill bear.

What in the actual F is this? What is this? What is this? It's the 2024 presidential election. Robert F. Kennedy, freak show candidacy. Because also the hidden thing, he was going falconing. He was on the way back from falconing.

And on his way to a dinner at the Peter Luger Steakhouse. Exactly. Before he went to the airport. He had a bike in the car. I mean, the whole thing is so bizarre and just screams privilege in a way that you just can't even explain. But also, look, as far as campaign tactics, the reason why we know about this is because Robert F. Kennedy's campaign thought it was a great idea to hook him up with Roseanne Barr and

video their exchange and then from whatever else happened in that conversation, that's the part of the video that they clipped. Which includes him saying all the things we talked about. Also that he was doing this as a prank to show that bike lanes didn't work in Central Park. The bear was found in the bushes. It wasn't even found in a bike lane. It also includes him saying that he has a little bit of a redneck in him, which I think would probably be a surprise to the other people that he's hung out with in a

Hyannisport. Is that your name? I'm a lot. What? Yeah. And then they posted it on his Twitter account. This is all because Kennedy's campaign thought... Well, apparently the New Yorker...

gotten a tip about it? Is that what happened? It's Streisand effect, right? The Streisand effect is Barbara Streisand had a bad story coming out, so she got it on her own and essentially drew more attention to the small anecdote. And so now it's become this cult thing. If you draw more attention to something that would have been a minor thing, they call it the Streisand effect. Robert F. Kennedy is learning that in spades today. And then on top of it, Tatiana Schlossberg, who is Caroline Kennedy's daughter, was the person who wrote the New York Times article. Yeah, I know. It's all too much. Okay.

I want to leave you with this because this is actually awesome and way better than this RFK Jr. bear story. Snoop Dogg is continuing his absolutely epic Olympic tour. This time it was with the equestrian team. He had on the full regalia and he was joined by his friend. Yes, that was Martha Stewart. Snoop fed some of the horses. He complimented their hair. Watch.

I like his braids. I can't get over it. I'm going to use that hairstyle right there. Believe me. I mean, I like his braids. It's not just the horse of Snoop has gone swimming with Michael Phelps. He is trying out a new gig as a soccer announcer. Watch this. Well, you know how to hold that thing. He know how to hold that thing too long.

I don't know if you guys have been watching the Olympics, but this has become like my absolute favorite part of what is going on. No one has had a better summer than Snoop Dogg. I know. And there's a whole other week left. Can't wait to see it. Seven more days. He is an absolute legend. All right. Thank you to our panel. Thanks to all of you for joining us. I'm Casey Hunt. Don't go anywhere. CNN News Central starts right now.

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