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--:-- Georgia Howe: I know yesterday's news is surprising and it's hard for you to hear, but it was the right thing to do. I'm Georgia Howe. John Bickley is on vacation this week. It's Tuesday, July 23rd, and this is Morning Wire.
--:-- Georgia Howe: As support coalesces around Vice President Harris, could one of her VP contenders emerge as a challenger? And Republicans and Democrats unite in their criticism of U.S. Secret Service boss Kimberly Cheadle, who says she won't resign. Do you know what Stuart Knight did? He was in charge at the time of the Secret Service. You know what he did afterwards? He remained on duty. He resigned. He resigned.
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--:-- Georgia Howe: Thanks for waking up with Morning Wire. Stay tuned. We have the news you need to know. Cards issued by Sutton Bank and Celtic Bank, member FDIC. Terms and conditions apply. Just a day and a half after President Joe Biden's stunning decision to step down from the 2024 ticket, Democrat lawmakers are rallying around Vice President Kamala Harris.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Well, in the last 36 hours, Kamala Harris has employed a sort of shock and awe strategy, sending a clear message to other Democrats. Stay out of this race. The nomination is mine. She wasted no time hitting the trail, appearing for her first campaign event at Biden, now Harris headquarters in Wilmington, Delaware, where she met with her new staff.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Today, just right after Joe made his announcement, it was important for me to continue with his role of leadership in this office of like him, who has said for many, many, many months. And I say it today. Thank you all so very much for what you are doing and what you will continue to do.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Now, as part of that effort to lock up the nomination, there are the endorsements first. The majority of Democratic governors and members of Congress have now publicly offered her their support. That list includes the party's most important power broker, Nancy Pelosi, as well as would-be rivals, including Gretchen Whitmer, J.D. Pritzker, Andy Beshear, and Gavin Newsom.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Second, and perhaps just as important, Democratic donors also are falling in line behind Harris. The Democrats had their largest fundraising haul in history. The Harris campaign says they brought in a staggering $81 million in their first 24 hours alone. That is a new record.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: For their part, the campaign's largest pack, Future Forward, says it also brought in $150 million in new commitments since Sunday afternoon. Remember, a number of big money donors said they would hold off on giving as long as Biden was on the ticket so they now appear ready to open their pocketbooks.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Now speaking of President Biden have we heard from him since the announcement? Well, we haven seen anything. Everyone is understandably focused on Kamala Harris right now, but Joe Biden is still the president and he will be for the next hundred or so days, but he's been totally absent from public view.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: The only appearance he's made in the last six days came last night during a Harris campaign event. And even then, it was just a few quick remarks over the phone. Here he is addressing his former campaign staff, who now work for the vice president.
--:-- Joe Biden: I want to say hello to Kamala. She can hear me. I know she's going to be speaking shortly. And I want to say to the team, embrace her. She's the best.
--:-- Joe Biden: I want to call today to thank everybody, everybody in this effort. I know it's hard because you poured your heart and soul into me to help us win this thing. Help me get this nomination and then go on to win the presidency.
--:-- Joe Biden: But, you know, you're an amazing team, But we've got a great, great, I think we made the right decision. He went on to say that he would use his remaining time in office to campaign for VP Harris.
--:-- Joe Biden: The name has changed the top of the ticket, but the mission hasn't changed at all. And by the way, I'm not going anywhere. I'm going to be out there in the campaign with Kamala. I'm going to be working like hell, both as a sitting president, getting legislation passed, as well as in campaigning.
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--:-- Georgia Howe: As Cabot just reported many Democrats have followed Joe Biden lead and endorsed Kamala Harris for president But the big question is whether the VP will face any challengers for the nomination. Many of the contenders, such as governors Jared Paulus of Colorado, Gavin Newsom of California, and Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan have already endorsed the VP.
--:-- David Marcus: Yes, even Kamala Harris herself has promised Democrats and donors that she will, quote, earn the nomination. But it isn't clear yet whether that means defeating other Democrats who might throw their hats in the ring.
--:-- David Marcus: In addition to Newsom and Paulus, Josh Shapiro, governor of Key State, Pennsylvania, has endorsed Harris. And after initial reports that he might re-register as a Democrat, West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin says he will not be running, but that he wants to see Harris face someone.
--:-- David Marcus: I think that a lot of people would like to see a mini primary. That's the process. Find out if you have the strongest candidate, whether it be Kamala or whoever else, could rise to that level that everyone could get behind.
--:-- David Marcus: But now that seems to be predetermined by President Biden. And he isn't the only voice calling for this amorphous idea of a process. Barack Obama, whose fingerprints have been all over this, has also suggested that. And unlike Bill and Hillary Clinton, has not endorsed Harris.
--:-- David Marcus: The bottom line is, if you have a 5 to 100 percent chance of becoming the leader of the free world, you take it. Unless maybe you're worried it could destroy your future political career.
--:-- David Marcus: It is worth noting that on Monday, former New York Mayor Mike Bloomberg, who ran against Harris in 2020 and did better, issued a statement basically saying, hey, what's the rush? So that could be something to keep an eye on.
--:-- David Marcus: Now, could this process, and that's really the only word they'll use right now, occur without a challenger stepping up and just simply leaving the choice to the delegates? Possibly. Harris is trying to rack up enough endorsements to make her candidacy seem inevitable.
--:-- David Marcus: But this is up to the delegates, a group of whom could certainly band together to oppose Harris. This could even involve a campaign by some delegates to recruit candidates. And if such an effort failed to gain steam, Democrats could kind of sort of say there was, I will say it again, a process and that Harris emerged victorious from it.
--:-- David Marcus: Now, if support coalesces around Harris, she's going to have to pick a running mate. Do we have a shortlist yet? We definitely have a few big names. And this is very tied into the endorsements we just discussed.
--:-- David Marcus: Arizona Senator Mark Kelly, who endorsed Harris on Sunday, is getting a lot of attention, as are both Paulus and Shapiro. Here's Paulus all but auditioning for the nod on Monday.
--:-- David Marcus: Look, if they do the polling and it turns out that they need a 49-year-old balding gay Jew from Boulder, Colorado, they got my number.
--:-- David Marcus: Most, though not all, of the names are male. We do hear some talk about Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer. And they're all fairly young. Often with a young candidate, parties choose an older running mate for balance.
--:-- David Marcus: Think JFK and LBJ or George W. Bush and Dick Cheney, even Obama and Biden. This seems to be going more in the direction of the Clinton-Gore 1992 model, which really leaned into their youth and athletic ability and vigor.
--:-- David Marcus: And this makes perfect sense as Democrats are maybe a bit shamelessly turning to the argument that Trump is too old to be president, even though until Sunday, they assured us that Biden was not.
--:-- David Marcus: But that narrative is, of course, a bit undermined by Trump reaction to being shot which certainly did not make him look old or incapable much the opposite in fact Right
--:-- Georgia Howe: Well, any challenger is going to have to overcome Kamala momentum at this point David, thanks for reporting.
--:-- David Marcus: Thanks for having me.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheadle was defiant during public testimony to Congress on the security failure that nearly cost former President Donald Trump his life.
--:-- Tim Pierce: Well, she took fire from both Republicans and Democrats. Cheadle used her first minutes to take full responsibility for the security failure at Trump's July 13th rally.
--:-- Tim Pierce: The assassination attempt of former President Donald Trump on July 13th is the most significant operational failure of the Secret Service in decades. As a director of the United States Secret Service, I take full responsibility for any security lapse of our agency.
--:-- Tim Pierce: She insisted she will stay in her role as head of the agency, however. Lawmakers from both sides of the aisle pressured her to step down.
--:-- Tim Pierce: Progressive Congressman Ro Khanna of California compared Cheadle's position to that of one of her predecessors, Stuart Knight, who resigned after former President Reagan was shot in 1981.
--:-- Tim Pierce: Here's some of that exchange. What's the difference between your position and what Stuart Knight did? What I will tell you, sir, is that I am dedicated to finding the answers to what happened. I will remain on and be responsible to the agency, to this committee, to the former president, and to the American public.
--:-- Tim Pierce: But is there a reason you wouldn't just do what Stuart Knight did after the Reagan assassination attempt? I believe that I provided an answer.
--:-- Tim Pierce: Now, did we learn anything new about what actually happened at the Trump rally? Not really. In fact, the director seemed very hesitant to answer many questions at all.
--:-- Tim Pierce: Cheadle's consistent refusal to give direct answers irked a lot of the committee's members. Here's a taste from Oversight Chairman James Comer's round of questions.
--:-- Tim Pierce: At any point Saturday, did the Secret Service have an agent on top of that roof? Sir, I'm sure as you can imagine that we are just nine days out from this incident, and there's still an ongoing investigation.
--:-- Tim Pierce: And so I want to make sure that any information that we are providing to you is factual. Okay. Can you answer why the Secret Service didn't place a single agent on the roof? We are still looking into the advanced process and the decisions that were made.
--:-- Tim Pierce: Okay, okay. And here's Cheadle unable to tell Congressman Andy Biggs of Arizona whether the attempted assassin acted alone or with help.
--:-- Tim Pierce: Was Mr. Crooks acting alone? Again, I would have to refer you to the FBI's investigation.
--:-- Tim Pierce: Those kinds of evasive answers from Cheadle were common throughout the rest of the hearing.
--:-- Tim Pierce: Now, one major accusation that's been circulating is that Homeland Security denied the Trump team's requests for more protection.
--:-- Tim Pierce: Initially, Secretary Mayorkas forcefully denied that that was the case. But the department later walked that back and indicated that maybe there was some truth to it. Was that addressed?
--:-- Tim Pierce: Right. Congressman Jim Jordan of Ohio asked her about that. Here's how that went.
--:-- Tim Pierce: 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.
--:-- Tim Pierce: Mr. Gugliami, your spokesperson, he said he acknowledged the Secret Service had turned down some requests. I'm asking how many? A denial of a request does not equal a vulnerability.
--:-- Tim Pierce: So again, very few hard answers from the Secret Service on how a gunman was able to take a shot at Trump in this massive security failure.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Well, the American people definitely are not going to let this one go. Tim, thanks for reporting.
--:-- Tim Pierce: Good to be on. Thanks for waking up with us.
--:-- Georgia Howe: We'll be back later this afternoon with more news you need to know.
