Maggie Haberman joins "The Situation Room" With Wolf Blitzer

BRIAN TODD REPORTING FOR US, BRIAN, THANKS VERY MUCH. WANT TO DIG DEEPER RIGHT NOW WITH CNN, POLITICAL ANALYST MAGGIE HABERMAN. SHE'S A SENIOR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES AS WELL. MAGGIE, THANKS FOR JOINING US, THE NEW YORKER WROTE THIS IN A PROFILE OF RFK JUNIOR EARLIER THIS MONTH. AND LET ME LET ME READ IT TO OUR VIEWERS. IN A RECENT TEXT EXCHANGE, KENNEDY TOLD ONE PERSON THAT TRUMP WAS A QUOTE TERRIBLE HUMAN BEING, THE WORST PRESIDENT EVER. AND BARELY HUMAN. HE IS PROBABLY A SOCIOPATH CLOSE QUOTE. SO HOW DID THIS UNLIKELY ENDORSEMENT TODAY OF TRUMP COME ABOUT? >> SO WILL THESE ARE TWO VERY TRANSACTIONAL PEOPLE AND ROBERT KENNEDY JR. HAS BEEN LOOKING AROUND TRYING TO MAKE SOME KIND OF AN ENDORSEMENT DEAL WITH BOTH CANDIDATES. THE WASHINGTON POST REPORTED RECENTLY THAT HE HAD APPROACHED THE HARRIS CAMPAIGN ABOUT POSSIBLE SPLIT SUPPORTING HER AND THEN GETTING A MEETING AND THERE WAS NO MEETING, BUT TRUMP HAS BEEN MUCH MORE RECEPTIVE. REMEMBER THESE ARE TWO PEOPLE KENNEDY AND TRUMP WHO MET DURING TRUMP'S 2017 TRANSITION BOBBY KENNEDY CLAIMED THAT TRUMP WAS GOING TO APPOINT HIM TO SOME KIND OF A VACCINE COMMISSION. AND THEN TRUMP'S AIDES QUIETLY DISTANCE TRUMP FROM IT, BUT TRUMP IS OPEN TO HAVING DISCUSSIONS WITH THEM. HE LIKES HIM. TRUMP IS A CREDENTIAL LIST AND HE LIKES THE KENNEDY NAME. SO THIS ALL BEGAN SHORTLY BEFORE THE REPUBLICAN NATIONAL CONVENTION. AND IT'S BEEN MOVING TOWARD THIS. I THINK THAT RFK JUNIOR CLEARLY SEES HE DOES NOT HAVE A REAL PATH. IN THIS RACE. AND THIS IS A WAY TO BE RELEVANT EVENT TRUMP CALLED IN TO FOX AND NEWSMAX IMMEDIATELY AFTER KAMALA HARRIS'S SPEECH LAST NIGHT, LISTEN TO PART OF WHAT HE SAID. MAGGIE IT WAS A LOT OF COMPLAINING. SHE DIDN'T TALK ABOUT CHINA. SHE DIDN'T TALK ABOUT FRACKING. SHE DIDN'T TALK ABOUT CRIMES. YOU DIDN'T TALK ABOUT 70% OF OUR PEOPLE ARE LIVING IN POVERTY HE DIDN'T TALK ABOUT THE TRADE DEFICIT. YOU DIDN'T TALK ABOUT CHILD TRAFFICKING THAT SHE'S ALLOWED TO HAPPEN BECAUSE SHE WAS THE BORDER CZAR AND SHE PRESIDED OVER THE WEAKEST BORDER IN THE HISTORY OF OUR COUNTRY EITHER WAY, THE BEAT BIG YOU HEARD APPEARS TO BE TRUMPED INADVERTENTLY HITTING BUTTONS ON HIS PHONE. >> SO WHAT DO THESE INTERVIEWS MAGGIE SAY ABOUT ON HIS MINDSET NOW LOOK, HE'S VERY REACTIVE IN ALL THINGS WHEN HE IS NOT IN COMMAND AND WE HAVE SEEN THIS OVER THE COURSE OF THE LAST NINE YEARS THAT HE'S BEEN IN POLITICS OR IN THE POLITICAL ARENA HE IS, HE IS CLEARLY, YOU KNOW, JARRED BY HER EYE. >> HE HAS BEEN TRYING TO GET BACK INTO THE THE NATIONAL CONVERSATION FOR SEVERAL WEEKS NOW, EVER SINCE PRESIDENT BIDEN ANNOUNCED HE WASN'T RUNNING FOR REELECTION, HE'S DOING THAT WITH HIS RFK ENDORSEMENT TODAY. YOU DID IT LAST NIGHT. HE IS TRYING TO POINT OUT THE AREAS WHERE SHE SEPARATED HERSELF, AT LEAST BY OMISSION FROM PRESIDENT O'BIDEN, PRESIDENT, BUT PRESIDENT BIDEN, EXCUSE ME. IN TERMS OF NOT TYING HERSELF TO THEIR JOINT RECORD, THERE ARE A NUMBER OF TRUMP'S AIDES WHO WOULD LIKE HIM TOO. YOU BASICALLY JUST BE SAYING BIDEN-HARRIS BIDEN-HARRIS ALL THE TIME. AND SO THAT'S HIS HIS WAY OF DOING THAT. WE'LL SEE IF HE CAN SUSTAIN IT. >> I THOUGHT IT WAS INTERESTING THAT WHEN PRESIDENT OBAMA TOOK THE STAGE AT THE DEMOCRATIC CONVENTION, HE MADE A COMMENT ABOUT TRUMP'S OBSESSION WITH CROWD, WITH HIS CROWD SIZES. I WANT TO PLAY THAT CLIP. LISTEN TO THIS THERE'S THE CHILDISH NICKNAMES THE CRAZY CONSPIRACY THEORIES THIS WEIRD OBSESSION WITH CROWD SIZES HOW IS THAT MOMENT LANDED WITH THE FORMER PRESIDENT SO IT BOTH OF THE OBAMAS SPEECHES GOT UNDER HIS SKIN, HE IS VERY REACTIVE TO BOTH OF THEM. >> WE HAVE SEEN THAT SINCE 2011 WHEN TRUMP SPREAD THE LIE THAT PRESIDENT OBAMA WAS NOT WAS POSSIBLY BORN IN KENYA AND THEREFORE ILLEGITIMATE TO BE PRESIDENT. I THINK YOU'RE GOING TO SEE MORE OF THIS. WHAT I WAS STRUCK BY WOLF IN THIS CONVENTION IS THERE WAS A PRETTY FOCUSED MESSAGE ABOUT TRUMP AND WE HEARD IT OVER AND OVER AGAIN. FROM THE OBAMAS, FROM THE VICE PRESIDENT, FROM OTHERS THAT HE IS, HE IS A RICH GUY WHO CARES ABOUT HIS RICH FRIENDS. BUT WHAT YOU ALSO SAW WERE, WERE COMMENTS THAT I THINK WERE DESIGNED TO BAIT TRUMP THAT WAS ONE OF THEM THE MORE THAT TRUMP REACTS SELF-DESTRUCTIVE FLEE, THE BETTER DEMOCRATS FEEL IT IS FOR THEM BRITAIN POINT, MAGGIE HABERMAN, THANK YOU VERY MUCH FOR YOUR EXCELLENT