You're listening to KFI AM six forty wake Up Call with me Amy King on
demand on the iHeartRadio app KFI and KOST HD two Los Angeles, Orange County.
It's time for your morning wake up call. Here's Amy King. It's
five o'clock. Stra right up, good morning. This is your wake up
call for Monday, July twenty second. I'm Amy King. You ready for
this? It was such a great, chill weekend. My best friend was
in town. We got to go to dinner at Curtis Stone's restaurant. Gwen,
I'm gonna tell you a little bit about that. A little bit later
on. We went to the Dodgers game on Saturdayday night. I think I
might have shattered an ear drum. I'll tell you about that. But fabulous
games, such a great weekend, and then yesterday ten forty five, the
big news that you know, I think we were all expecting it, but
were we? Because it was on again, off again, and of course
President Biden created a political earthquake. So let's get to it. We're going
to have you covered for this. We've got lots and lots of information about
what happened, what's coming next. Oh my goodness. The roller coaster ride
continues, but we got you covered here on wake up Call, and we're
glad you're starting your day with us. Here's what's ahead. President Biden has
sent shock waves across the political world announcing on social media he's dropping out of
the twenty twenty four presidential race. The announcement came three weeks after a very
bad debate performance against former President Trump and a diagnosis of COVID nineteen last week.
The President said as he will focus on serving out the remainder of his
term and endorsed Vice President Harris to become the nominee. He encouraged his party
to unite behind her. Governor Newsom has gone ahead and endorsed Vice President Harris
to be the next presidential nominee. A lot of people were speculating that Newsom
himself would get into the race, although publicly he always said he wouldn't.
Pennsylvania Governor Joe Shapiro, another possible nominee, has also endorsed Harris to become
the Democratic Party candidate. We're going to bring you the latest on the fallout
and the future for the Democrats. We're going to be checking in with ABC's
Karen Travers at the White House in just a couple of minutes. At the
bottom of the hour, Steve Roberts is going to tell us what's ahead as
we are less than a month away from the Democratic National Convention and just one
hundred and six days away from the election. And at five point fifty Stephen
Portnoy with what the Republicans are saying about Biden's news and what they plan to
do next. Let's get started with some of the stories coming out of the
KFI twenty four hour newsroom. President Biden is expected to give more details soon
about his decision to drop out of the presidential race. ABC Selena Wang says
it should happen sometime this week, not in the coming days. I'm told
later in the week. And we did hear from the President's doctor today.
He said he is still isolating, but his symptoms are improving significantly. Biden
has been recovering from COVID at his beach house in Delaware. The Biden for
President campaign is now officially the Harris for President campaign. ABC's Mary Bruce says
campaign aides have told her they've officially filed the paperwork in the last few hours.
We are told for small dollar donors, they have raked in over twenty
seven and a half million dollars. Harris has picked up some big name endorsements
following the announcement of Biden's decision to end his run for reelection. ABC's Rick
Clines. Biden also announced his support for Harris yesterday and called on others to
join him. They have locked down almost all of the major potential rivals,
some of her biggest frenemies, even Gavin Newsom, Pete boudagees real big players
in Democratic politics, all moving alway. Almost all of the members of the
so called squad, including Alexandria Ocasio Cortes. Tennessee is the first state delegation
to fully endorse Harris. During the conference call yesterday afternoon, the seventy seven
Democratic National Committee delegates from Tennessee voted unanimously to support her. Recent polls show
a race between former President Trump and a vice President Harris would be close.
A CNN poll of poll's average shows Trump with forty eight percent support to Harris's
forty seven percent. Third party or independent candidates were not included in the polling
average. Right now, let's check in with Karen Travers ABC's White House correspondent.
So, Karen, we're less than twenty four hours since the announcement that
President Biden will not continue his campaign for reelection. Two days ago he said
he was getting ready to hit the campaign trail again. So what's the latest.
Yeah, the latest is a massive fundraising hall for the Harris for President
campie because now the Biden for President campaign committee was changed yesterday. According to
an official filing, the campaign brought in nearly fifty million dollars in donations in
the hours after the President announced that he was not seeking reelection and was endorsing
Vice President Harris. So the campaign feels, you know, this is a
sign of enthusiasm on their side for this change, of course, But it
was a move yesterday that sent Democrats scrambling. It surprised even the president's own
campaign staff and the White House staff, and it certainly upended the race for
the White House with just weeks before the Democratic National Convention and just over three
months until election day. The President in that letter said that he believes it's
in the best interests of his party in the country to stand down and to
focus solely on fulfilling his duties as president. For the remainder of his term.
In a second post, he then gave his full support and endorsement for
his vice president to be the nominee of the Democratic Party. He wrote,
quote, Democrats, it's time to come together. Beat Trump. Let's do
this, okay, And you mentioned that it was a surprise to just about
every one. We heard that Kamala Harris didn't even know about it until just
right before the announcement was made. No, they talked multiple times yesterday.
Sources told us they took several times throughout the day he let her know about
this decision. So no, but he did speak at about one with his
core group of senior staff telling him about this decision. And then it was
just one minute later when he released that letter on social media. So when
was the decision made? Do we know? You know? We are told
that the president on Saturday night began to come to this decision, and on
Sunday he started making phone calls, including those multiple conversations with the vice president.
The President, in his letter yesterday said that he would speak to the
nation later this week to explain his decision. I think until we hear it
directly from him, we have to wait and see exactly how this process played
out. But remember the President still his COVID right now, he's not even
here at the White House. He's in Delaware, and we don't have a
sense yet of when he would be coming back. He only said later this
week he would be delivering those remarks. But you can imagine he's eager to
be able to explain this talk to the American people, be surrounded by family,
supporters, staff, and go out with his own remarks on this very
important political and personal topic for him. So the COVID diagnosis is maybe the
reason that we haven't seen him. It's just so weird to hear that somebody
is not going to continue to run for the presidency of the United States for
reelection. In a note on social media, it's definitely the reason we haven't
seen him. I mean, he's isolating at his house in Delaware. We're
told that, you know, he was meeting there presumably not in an unsafe
environment with a very small group of senior staff as well as the first lady
was out there. But you know, he has, according to his doctor,
has been isolating because he still has COVID. Okay, and just from
your experience, why would why release this on a Sunday, Like, what's
the strategic region? Reason for that? I think the pressure was growing.
I think, you know, the pressure was increasing. Ultimately, we saw
forty Democratic lawmakers come out and say that the president should step aside, and
you know that number was not slowing down. Though yesterday we saw the president's
allies out there on the political talk shows still saying he was in it to
win it. The political reality was setting in for the president, as you
know. Poles were certainly showing Americans very concerned about his age, and polls
showing he was not beating Donald Trump in the key battle ground states. Okay,
ABC's Karen Travers never a dull moment, right, absolutely, all right,
Thanks by Thanks so much for the update and the information this morning.
Thanks all right, We've got lots more to share with you on the fallout
from the decision, what's coming next, what the GOP response is. We're
going to be talking to ABC Steve Roberts and the ABC Stephen Portnoy during wake
up call this morning, So stick around. We've got lots more coming.
But let's get back now to some of the stories coming out of the KFI
twenty four hour newsroom. Along with the political earthquake, there was a real
earthquake in the South End yesterday afternoon. A three point five magnitude earthquake jolted
Palace Verdi's Estates, about five miles from Redondo Beach. Hundreds of homes in
Riverside are being threatened by a fire that's burned about five hundred acres. Riverside
Fire Deputy Chief Steve mckinster says the fire started around two yesterday afternoon in the
area of Hayward and Drive and Mary Street in the Alessandro Heights neighborhood. We
have estimated three destroyed structures with four damaged. Fifteen hundred homes are surrounding the
area. Those homes are under evacuation orders and evacuation center has been set up
at the Orange Terrace Community Center. A fire burning between Lake Matthews and Corona
in Riverside County has grown to more than sixteen hundred acres. It's twenty five
percent surrounded. The fire was reported about two yesterday after so another fire starting
around the same time near Cahalco and Eagle Canyon Roads. It quickly grew to
about seventy five acres and just kept spreading. Multiple air and ground resources were
assigned. Evacuation orders have been downgraded to warnings. Riverside County fire crews have
stopped a fast moving brush fire in El Cerrito. That fire also started yesterday.
It burned through about one hundred and twenty five acres in the area of
Los Sierra Avenue and ten Mine Road west of Lake Matthews. There were no
injuries. The largest wildfire in California has been seventy three percent surrounded. Fire
crews continue to make progress against the fire that started back on July fifth in
San Bernardino sorry Santa Barbara County. The fire has burned through forty thousand acres.
Some evacuation orders have been lifted, but areas around Los Padres National Forest
are still at risk from the wildfire. Part of Wilshire Boulevard could be closed
to cars to expand green space at MacArthur Park. The plan already has a
two million dollar grant from the federal government and half a million from the Southern
California Association of Governments. LA City Councilman Unsices Hernandez says the project would reconnect
the park nearly one hundred years after Wilsher was paved through its middle. This
project is not just about closing the street to traffic. It's about opening up
this neighborhood to the possibilities that come when we center people's needs over the needs
of cars. The issues only being studied now, with neighborhood feedback to be
collected starting next month in downtown La. Michael Monks KFI news Twisters has blown
away the competition at the box office. The sequel to the nineteen ninety six
movie Twister Gosh thirty years ago almost has taken in more than eighty million dollars
in its opening weekend. That's about thirty million dollars more than it was expected
to make in weekend Number one, Despicable Me four finished second, adding almost
twenty four million dollars to its three week total of two hundred and sixty million
dollars, and Inside Out was third. La Mayor Karen Bass, who was
reported to be on board Biden's shortlist of possible VP candidates back in twenty twenty
when she was a congresswoman, has endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris to be the
new Democratic nominee for president. Of course, that news comes after President Biden
announced yesterday that he is no longer running for reelection. Basses Harris leads with
strength, courage, and compassion. Republican Senator Rick Scott of Florida says he'll
introduce a resolution this week urging the Cabinet to invoke the twenty fifth Amendment,
which would lead to President Biden being removed from office. Senator Scott said Biden
shouldn't be running the country if he can't run for reelection. Vice President Harris
is going to be delivering remarks at an event celebrating National Collegiate Athletic Association championship
teams. It's happening on the White House South Lawn this morning at eight thirty
our time. We'll see if she sticks to the script or talks about how
she plans to, in her words, earn and win the Democratic Party nomine
At six o five, it's handled on the news. The cash is coming
in following Biden's announcement that he's not running any longer. What does that mean
right now? Let's say good morning to ABC's Geordana Miller. Of course,
the President announced yesterday he's not going to run for reelection. The Democrats are
scrambling to find out who their Canada be. Republicans are scrambling to figure out
how to compete. But still there's the business of the country that needs to
continue, and part of that is a visit by Israeli President Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu. That's right, And he departed earlier today this morning local time,
and said that he realizes he's coming to Washington, Washington under a time what
he calls great political uncertainty. And having said that, you know, the
uncertainty of what's happening in the Democratic Party is something which actually you know is
in a sense from the Tomielle himself, bad news. This means that instead
of the Taielle thinking as any wiggle room with President Biden to perhaps you know,
delay or ignore or somehow in his mind say well, you know,
he's not going to be President Trump, so Trump's probably going to be then
a president. I'll just wait, I'll wait, I'll wait. Well,
he can't really say that now, because you know, with Kamala Harris looking
like the Democratic Party is supporting her and she will be the nominee, it's
a very different race. And Thetaell now is going to have to really take
into consideration all the discussions about the guys of war with Biden, and he
is meeting with Kamala Harris as well during this trip, and there's lots of
questions about not only the direction of the war, what's happening, you know,
after this war ends the ceasfire talk, you have an escalation now with
the running backed rebels out of Yemen, as well as an escalation along Israel's
northern border. I mean, when Natania says he's coming to Washington and there's
a lot of uncertainty, well that equally applies to Nataniel and all of the
different facets of the war. So it's going to be a complicated visit for
him. He's addressing both sessions of Congress on Wednesday, where he says he'll
defend Israel's just war against Hamas, but it remains a very controversial war.
There will be some Democrats who will not attend that address, and we do
expect there to be lots of protests in Washington, and not only pro Palestinian
protesters, some Israelis who are also protesting why the Israeli Prime minister is in
Washington when again, war is raging here in Israel and there's still one hundred
and sixteen hostages in the clutches of Hamas. And by the way, just
a couple hours ago, we learned that two of the hostages that is role
hoped we're still alive, have now been declared definitively dead. They now make
up more than forty hostages who are dead leaving you know, a little more
than seventy five who may be allotted, but really nothing is certain until they're
back. Yeah, and I think you know, you're saying that there's going
to be protesting saying why is he here when the war rages on? Which
I totally get that, But on the flip side, doesn't he kind of
need to be here to try to shore up that support because we're giving them,
We're giving Israel a lot of money to fight this war. Well,
it's interesting because initially I think Natagnielle saw this as an opportunity to hobnob with
the Republicans and he may still on the download try to reach out to the
Trump team, And so a lot of people here saw this as, you
know, a step that Nautonnelle is doing with his eye on the next administration.
I mean, he's had fights with Biden over this war, but they've
been resolved. He's sent people to Washington. They've had difficult phone conversations that
tell me out doesn't really need to go to Washington right now. But he,
I think is also hoping it will help him politically, you know here
domestic politics, because his right wing base likes to see him, you know,
go to Washington and state Israel's case and and you know, prove that
he is a world leader that you know, can have not with the Americans
and sometimes even stand up you know, for Israel's right, Israel's positions when
they are in conflict with those in the American administration. So you know,
that's that that is part of the reason why there's so much there's criticism about
this, this trip to Washington, and there were protests here for for weeks
before this visit to Washington. Was Vice President Harris scheduled to meet with Netanyahu?
Or is that new because of the events of the last less than twenty
four hours, So she was scheduled to meet with N'atagnielle before Biden's announcement.
Obviously, now it takes on a different kind of urgency, but yes,
it was. It was on the books before but of course it's the meaning
that looks very different. Now, Yeah, and was is he meeting with
Trump or any plans for that? Well, we have heard, we were
trying to confirm reports that he has reached out to the Trump team to try
to at least have a phone call with Donald Trump, but we haven't been
able to confirm that. I am, I'm working on it, but I
do. I do think that Natagnielle will make it a priority to reach out
to the Trump folks. He'll do it through Jared Kushner, who is a
longtime friend before Trump won the presidency back in twenty sixteen, with a family
friend and still obviously in contact with Nathaniel Right, He's married to President Trump's
daughter. Right. Okay, Jordana Miller, thank you so much for the
update. We appreciate it and we'll be watching. Thank you all right,
talk soon. President Biden and former President Trump were supposed to have their second
debate in September. Now Trump's campaign has to wait and see why or who
the Democratic candidate is going to be. Republican National Committee chair Michael Watlace's former
President Trump will take on any opposition, whether it's Kamala Harris or it's anybody
else. They have doubled down on every single one of the policies that we've
seen the Biden and Harris administration adopt over the last four years. We're going
to be talking with ABC Stephen Portnoy more about what the Republicans' next steps are
coming up before the end of the hour. Watley says Trump lands on sticking
to the script, talking directly to the American people about the issues they care
about. He says the contrast could not be bigger news brought to you by
one eight hundred got junk. The director of the Secret Service set to testify
before a House committee this morning about the attempted assassination of former President Trump.
Secret Service director Kim Cheedle not expecting a friendly reception at her public house hearing
many of the committee's Republican majority members demanding she resigned after the attempt on Donald
Trump's life. ABC's Andy Field says Cheatle has said her agency would be transparent
and communicate with the people. She also said she plans on staying on as
director of the Secret Service. Two people have been hurt in a shooting that
happened during a street takeover in Compton. Video posted on social media by La
County Sheriffs Unleashed shows cars spinning around in intersection last night when the rear of
a dark car swung into the rear of a white car. The driver of
the white car gets out and appears to fire a gun at the people in
the dark car. Two people later showed up at the hospital to be treated
for gunshot wounds. The answer is the newest post office stamp what is?
How is Alex Trebek being honored? This week? The US Postal Service will
honor longtime Jeopardy host Alex Trebek on what would have been his eighty fourth birthday,
the daytime Emmy Award winner died in twenty twenty from pancreatic cancer. The
new first class Forever stamps design is in the form of a Jeopardy style question.
So I told you that we went out and about to Gwen the Steakhouse
in Hollywood to talk to Curtis Stone. You can see that on my Instagram
at Amy K. King. He cooked me the most delicious steak and so
I thought, you know what, I need to go and have a dinner.
So my best friend was in town. It was just her birthday.
So we went to Gwen in Hollywood, and I got to tell you it
was so great delicious. We had steak, of course, but then we
also had this amazing or cotton yoki and I don't even remember how to explain
the corn dish, but it was to die for and we had an amazing
dessert and it was just this great time. And you know, part of
when we go out and about which I usually talk about on Thursdays, is
to go and kind of discover things that you can find around LA because there's
so many amazing things. And so I took my own advice and went out
and about to Gwenn. So if you're looking for something special, you know
what, it's not an inexpensive evening, but it was so cool, and
there's so many great restaurants around LA. So maybe save up a little bit
go have a special dinner with a friend or a boyfriend or a girlfriend,
or a husband or a wife, maybe even kids if they would behave themselves.
But anyway, I wanted to say thanks again to the folks at Gwen.
That was an amazing, amazing experience. That is the Biden for President
campaign has now become the Harris for President campaign, Harris is already reached out
to supporters with a fundraising email. She said in the message that it's been
the honor of a lifetime to serve along President Biden and that she's eager to
run on the record of what she and Biden have accomplished together. Lawmakers from
around southern California have been weighing in on the president's decision to get out of
the race for re election. Democratic Assemblyman Isaac Bryan of Culver City's comments were
short and precise, the right decision, selfless, powerful, historic. The
Democratic National Committee chair says her party will soon announced the next steps for the
nomination process. Delegates will have to pick the party's nominee on the convention floor
in Chicago in four weeks, or maybe during a virtual role call scheduled for
the start of August at six oh five. It's handle of the news.
On the news, you're not gonna want to mishandle this morning. I'm guessing
he'll be in rare form with the weekend events and his very interesting perspective and
take on all of that. Right now, let's say good morning to ABC's
Steve Robert. So, Steve, what everybody seems to be calling a political
earthquakes kind of rocked the election. Of course, the president announcing he's stepping
aside. So the big question now is what happens next. Well, as
you were indicating, Amy, I think it's almost certainly a done deal with
Kamila Harris will be the party standard bearer three reasons. First of all,
logistically, it's much easier, particularly in terms of transferring campaign funds to her,
she was already on the ticket. Secondly, it's hard for me to
see how the party passes over a black woman. Black women are the single
most loyal voting group in the Democratic Party. They vote ninety one percent for
the ticket last time. If you passed her over, there would be splinters
and fragments already, which is what you don't want. And third, there's
no real obvious option. Sure, Gavin Newsom thinks he should be president,
and there are half a dozen young governors and senators around the country who might
be ready at some point, but there's no one obvious option to her.
So I think this is pretty much a done deal. And she is not
anybody's ideal of a perfect candidate. When she ran herself for the presidency.
She was a dismal candidate. She has not been, particularly in the beginning,
a particularly successful vice president. But she has a couple of enormous advantages,
starting with the fact that she ain't eighty one years old, and she
didn't and she didn't daughter at the steps of Air Force one, and she
didn't disgrace herself at the debate. And he just doesn't have the same baggage
that Joe Biden had. And really, this morning, amy with Democrats are
feeling is a sense primarily of relief. They've been hitting themselves over the head
of the hammer for a month and if you're doing that, when you stop
hitting yourself, suddenly it feels really good. And that's where they are this
morning. And I think that you have to under that Kamala Harris is not
going to attract a single vote from some Trump supporter. That's not what politics
is about, particularly this year, given the fact that the elections last two
have been so close determined on the margins in a few select states, California
not being one of them. But she has the potential of energizing the party.
She has the potential of getting people excited again. The single biggest problem
Biden had was an intensity gap. Republicans were much more energized, much more
excited about their candidates than the Democrats were. And this morning the world looks
a lot different to Democrats than it did this time yesterday. And they all
you can say is that this is a potential game changer. But it's real,
and she has the ability or at least the potential of getting people excited
again after a month of deeply disappointing bad news. Yeah, and there's been
a very strong showing of support. People are saying she's our gal. She's
the one they've raised like fifty million dollars in less than twenty four hours.
But there's a couple of notable exceptions, Steve, and one of that is
Hakeem Jefferies has not weighed in. Nancy Pelosi has not thrown her support behind
Harris, and former President Obama hasn't spoken and supported her. He said thanks
for her service, but he has an endorsed her. Yeah, but I
think this is only a matter of time, you know. I think they
they I think that those party leaders wanted to. You know, there's there's
an accusation that somehows everybody swarms to Harris that it's not democratic that there should
be a more open process, but that's that's just cable TV talk. I
think there's just no conceivable way, in my view, that the party will
turn to anybody else. And again, while she's far from idea of people
in California, know that she does have some asset. She was elected statewide
both as an attorney general and as a Senator in California. And I think
what you're going to see in terms of She's basically going to be running on
Biden's record, but with one significant difference. She's much better able to push
the issue of abortion than Joe Biden ever was. Biden is a believing Catholic,
He's never been very comfortable with that issue. And think about this,
amy at the Republican convention, what was the word that was never spoken?
Abortion? Why? Because the Republicans know that is the single best issue the
Democrats have. The Republicans want people to be thinking about inflation, they want
them to think about gas and grocery prices, they want them to think about
immigration. These are issues that work for the Republicans, but abortion works for
the Democrats. And she is going to be in a much stronger position,
not just as a woman, but as someone who's comfortable with that issue in
a way Biden never was. And when you think about it, Amy the
Democrats cannot win the presidency without running up the score among female voters. They
have to have a big majority, and this is an issue that Harris can
go to the voters and say, look, elections matter, they have consequences.
And here is the most obvious, clear example. It was Donald Trump
who appointed those three judges to the court, who overturned Roe v. Wade.
Donald Trump in a second term, who can continue to appoint judges which
who are going to erode your rights as women, not just about abortion,
but on other issues as well, contraception and other key issues relating to women's
independence and autonomy. That's potentially, I keep using that word, potentially a
game changer and can be a very powerful issue for UH and she is in
a much better position to press that argument than Joe Biden would have been.
Okay, Steve Roberts, thank you so much for your insight. Appreciated it,
and I'm sure we'll be talking to you lots more in the coming weeks,
I hope. So all right, take care when we come back.
The Republicans haven't wasted any time in reacting to the news that Biden is no
longer running for reelection. ABC's Stephen Portnoy's going to be with us with what
they're saying and what they're doing. Hey, one of the things I did
over the weekend was go to a Dodgers game. It was fantastic. We
stayed till the end. Every once in a while we duck out early.
We got to see the team go into extra innings and then win after a
nice little hit into the outfield by Will Smith. It was a fabulous game.
I think I have a shattered ear drum because there was this guy who
was very nice behind me, but oh my gosh, he was loud.
I mean, like screaming the whole time. I think somebody yelled up from
the field that they could hear him. I mean it was crazy. So
my ears are still recovering, but you know what worth every second, and
tonight the Dodgers take on the Giants, with the first pitch going out at
seven o'clock. You can listen to every play of every Dodgers game on AM
five to seven d the LA Sports Live from the Galpin Motors Broadcast Booth and
you can stream all the games in HD on the iHeartRadio app Keyword AM five
seventy LA Sports Vice President Kamala Harris's campaign says it raised nearly fifty million dollars
in donations in the first fifteen hours. After President Joe Biden dropped out of
the race for president and endorsed her, The Republican Party of Orange County was
quick to criticize President Biden's endorsement. Party statements said Democrats will be in chaos
for the next four weeks until their convention starts in Chicago. With no nominee,
it says Harris has failed up her entire career and has no place failing
up to the highest office in the land. World leaders have offered their thanks
and support to President Biden. British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said Biden's decision was
based on what he thinks is best for the American people. Australian Prime Minister
Anthony Albany's weighed in, and Ukraine's President Zelenski gave thanks for Biden's unwavering support
in that country war against Russia. Of course, we're just minutes away from
Handle on the news this morning. It's going to have lots to say about
what happened less than twenty four hours ago. But right now, let's say
good morning to ABC's Stephen portnoy So. Steven minutes after the announcement was made
that President Biden wouldn't be trying to get reelected, the Republicans started weighing in
and firing back. What are they saying, Well, a whole bunch of
different things. I mean, look, some of the initial statements had suggested
that Joe Biden ought to resigned from office. Now those calls have not intensified
in the last eighteen hours or so, But I think it was the initial
instinctive response to be like, well, if you can't run for reelection,
then why is he serving another six more months. I don't know that Republicans,
who are already nervous about running against Kamala Harris as vice president want to
run against her as an incumbent president, But that would be the obvious outcome
if Joe Biden were to step out of the White House. So no sign
of that. By the way. President said in his letter yesterday announcing he
was not going to run again, that he would be focused solely on his
commitment as president, his job as commander in chief. So look, it's
a brand new race this morning. Things are being recalibrated. The Democratic parties
very quickly coalescing behind Kamala Harris. Last night on a Zoom call, they
were reported to be forty five thousand African American women lining up behind Harris getting
excited about her candidacy. And there is new enthusiasm on the left today with
Joe Biden's departure from the race. Joe Biden is no longer the old man
in the running. Donald Trump is. And with Joe Biden stepping aside,
it deprives the Republicans of the argument that Joe Biden is too old to serve.
Now the argument can be made against Donald Trump. Yeah, it's amazing
how quick that switch flips. I was watching some of the shows last night.
Not everybody, but a couple we're saying, now, oh, just
thought Donald Trump is too old to run, And I was like, okay,
two days ago it was okay, the Biden was running well, right
exactly, So you were going to hear some of that. Look, when
it comes to the issues and again, whether Harris is in fact going to
be the nominee. It sir, it certainly looks that way. This morning,
Republicans are preparing new lines of attack against her. Already, the leading
pro Trump super pac MAGA Inc. Has a statement this morning describing Harris as
a weak on crime prosecutor when she served to San Francisco's district attorney. The
group also says that Harris owns Joe Biden's quote open border. And you know,
there are going to be some things that are going to be said about
Harris's early career, other things about her record. And the Republicans are right
now working on dossier's about possible running mates. And that's a lot of energy
and effort that they're going to have to devote to preparing something in a relatively
short period of time. Let's see how it all plays out. I will
say, so far, there's not really any kind of substantial opposition that's emerged
in the last eighteen or nineteen hour to Kamala Harris becoming the new standard bearer
of the party except Joe Manchin. The West Virginia Independent Senators were doing a
round of interviews in which he's not entirely been consistent, but he has indicated
that he's not interested in running for the nomination, but he believes there ought
to be some sort of competitive process. He does believe that Harris is too
far left. So will someone else take up that mantle or will we see
a nomination by acclamation within the next day or two? The Rules Committee on
the Democratic side as we meeting later this week to establish a process going forward.
But it's pretty straightforward and simple that the nominee only needs to win a
majority of the delegates of the convention, And the likelihood that someone's going to
step forward to challenge Harris to such an extent that she would not be able
to receive a majority on a first ballot, I think is very unlikely at
this point. Well, yeah, and we were talking to Steve Roberts earlier
and it was like, who would step in because Kamala Harris has that name
recognition that you some of the other people that I've heard. I'm like,
yeah, I know who Gretchen Whitmer is. But Josh Dearborn, who has
supported Harris already, is like, who has not Josh Shapiro. I think,
sorry, Josh Shapiro, you're right, But it's like again saying because
they don't have that name recognition. I don't even know who they are.
Well, it's exactly right. And not only does Kamala Harris have name recognition
as the sitting Vice president for the past three and a half years, she
also has access to the cash. Yeah, and already the Biden campaign is
now legally known as Harris for President because they filed the paperwork with the Federal
Election Commission last night. She's a right, she's able to continue spending the
more than two hundred million dollars that has been collected in a joint fundraising committee
with the DNC. There's no complication to any of that. If someone else
were to emerge, there would be complications with moving some of that money around,
and it would be limited as to how much could be spent on another
candidate. So that certainly weighs in Harris's favor. And when Donald Trump last
Saturday, just the night before last, standing at a rally in Grand Rapids,
Michigan, put the question to his own supporters who they would rather see
him run against. The obvious favorite was Joe Biden. Yeah, there was
like a he said, should I run against Kamala And there was sort of
a spattering of applause, But then he said Biden and the crowd went wild.
There has to be a recognition amongst Trump supporters that Biden is easier to
beat. There must be a bit more nervousness, skittishness, apprehension on the
part of Republicans because all of a sudden, the abortion issue rises to the
forefront. Young women get instantly energized and activated in a way they wouldn't have
been for Joe Biden. And so now it's a totally different race with brand
new vulnerabilities for the Republican ticket. Yeah, and then, like you mentioned,
it sort of changes everything because right at this moment, it looks like
it will probably be Kamala Harris. But right now Trump doesn't know who he's
going to debate, and Vance isn't debating Kamala any longer, no matter what
happens. Well, that's right, and so you know, it's sort of
a big Q question mark is to how debates will be happening. I mean,
we really don't know. Last night, the former president put out on
social media that the ABC News debate, which was scheduled for September twelfth,
is now a question mark because well, he has his own motivations for it.
I don't want to repeat it, but the bottom line is, you
know, there are big question marks hanging over this, and it's funny because
I know we only have a few seconds. The Democrats had suggested that August
twelfth would be a great day for the vice president's debate. The Republicans said,
no, it wouldn't be fair because we don't know who the nominee will
be. And that was a bit of snark and a bit of trolling that
has borne out to be true. Yeah, all right, well, never
a dull moment, and we were happy to have you along to help us
sort everything out. Thank you, Stephen Port, and I have a great
day you too. All right. This is KFI and kosd HD two Los
Angeles, Orange County. We lead local live from the KFI twenty four hour
newsroom. I'm Amy King. This has been your Monday wake up call,
and have you missed any of wake up call? Have missed a lot,
so much great information from our ABC partners about what's next for the Republicans and
the Democrats now that President Biden is out. You can listen to it anytime
on the iHeartRadio app. You've been listening to Wake Up Call with me Amy
King. You can always hear Wake Up Call five to six am Monday through
Friday on KFI AM six forty, and anytime on demand on the iHeartRadio app