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Trump and Biden Hit Final Key Battleground States for Votes Before Election Day; Trump Casts Doubt on Integrity of Prolonged Vote Count; Texas Supreme Court Rejects GOP's Effort to Toss Out 127,000 Votes. Aired 5-5:30a ET

Aired November 02, 2020 - 05:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[05:00:00]

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CO-ANCHOR, NEW DAY: It is Monday, November 2nd, 5 O'clock here in New York -- I feel like John --

JOHN BERMAN, CO-ANCHOR, NEW DAY: It's a special edition of NEW DAY.

CAMEROTA: It is a special edition of NEW DAY, it's an exciting edition of NEW DAY. The most consequential election in our lifetimes is now one day away. Joe Biden and President Trump are blanketing key battleground states today. Biden will campaign in Ohio and hold three drive-in rallies in Pennsylvania, while President Trump travels to North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin, all states he won in 2016. More than 93.5 million Americans have already voted, and tensions are rising across the country, businesses boarding up, fearing unrest after the election. Plans are underway to put up another fence around the perimeter of the White House.

BERMAN: You know, at the risk of going on another rant, I'm going to go on a rant here.

CAMEROTA: Oh --

BERMAN: We keep saying election day is one day away, but let me make it clear that the votes cast yesterday, the week before, one or two weeks ago, they're every bit as valid as the votes cast tomorrow. There's nothing sacred or magical about a vote cast in person tomorrow. And the votes counted tomorrow are only as valid as the ones counted Wednesday or even after, and there will not be a winner until the votes are counted, whenever they are counted, which is what makes this new plan from the Trump campaign so absurd and frankly undemocratic that the president might declare victory before the count is in, but he thinks it should all be done Tuesday night.

That's not true. It never has been. Period. Now, other major news this morning, a pandemic surging beyond control. More than 81,000 new coronavirus cases reported yesterday. That is the most ever on a Sunday and the fifth highest since the pandemic began. So, what's the president doing about that? Overnight, he suggested he might fire Dr. Anthony Fauci after the election. We want to begin our coverage with CNN's Jeff Zeleny live in Cleveland, Ohio. An interesting place today, Jeff, because all of a sudden the Biden campaign has an event scheduled there.

JEFF ZELENY, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, John, it always comes back to Ohio. But back to that comment about Dr. Fauci, it was last night at the final Trump rally of the day, where supporters of the president erupted in a chant of fire Fauci, that is just the latest sign of this epic divide here in this country on the eve of the final day of voting, and yes, 93 million Americans have already cast their ballots, but President Trump and Joe Biden are going after the tens of millions of Americans who haven't on this final day of campaigning.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ZELENY (voice-over): One last push before election day.

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The vote for Biden is a vote for lockdowns, layoffs and misery.

JOE BIDEN, DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE FOR 2020: Every day is a new reminder of how high the stakes are, of how far the other side will go to try to suppress the turnout.

ZELENY: Fighting to win a second term, President Trump is set to hold five rallies in four key battlegrounds today, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin are on his election eve itinerary. He carried all four states in 2016. Former Vice President Joe Biden is zeroing in on Pennsylvania today, with a last-minute stop in Ohio. Both of which could block the president's path to 270 electoral votes.

BIDEN: Every generation has to fight to keep the democracy. I never believed we would have to fight this hard though.

ZELENY: His campaigns fight make it even harder if numbers get tight and the president questions the results.

TRUMP: We should know the result of the election on November 3rd. The evening of November 3rd. That's the way it's been, and that's the way it should be.

ZELENY: But that's not true. States are not required nor can they be expected to finish the count on election night, especially given the crush of early voting and absentee ballots. It follows a remarkable weekend campaign blitz with Trump hitting five states on Sunday. Going from the frigid Midwest to Michigan and Iowa.

TRUMP: It's freezing out here.

ZELENY: To the southern swing states of North Carolina, Georgia and Florida, where a rally stretched past midnight.

TRUMP: Is there any place you would rather be than at a Trump rally.

(CHEERS)

ZELENY: But the president is playing defense, working feverishly to hold some states he carried four years ago, the candidates presenting dramatic different views of handling the coronavirus crisis. Trump giving this response to his supporters chants, calling to fire Dr. Anthony Fauci.

TRUMP: Don't tell anybody, but let me wait until a little bit after the election, please. I appreciate the advice.

ZELENY: But Biden said this.

BIDEN: The truth is, to beat the virus, we first got to beat Donald Trump! He's the virus.

ZELENY: The pandemic has sparked an extraordinary amount of early voting, more than 93 million Americans already casting their ballots.

[05:05:00]

Yet, a central question looming over the campaign's final hours is whether all of those votes will be counted. The Texas Supreme Court on Sunday denying a petition by a group of Republicans trying to invalidate about 127,000 drive-through votes in Harris County. Similar cases are awaiting decisions. All this as former President Barack Obama is back on the road today, heading to Georgia and Florida after his first joint appearance of the campaign this weekend in Michigan with Biden where he delivered yet another blistering critique of his successor.

BARACK OBAMA, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Trump cares about feeding his ego, Joe cares about keeping you and your family safe.

ZELENY: And Trump noticed Obama's appearance on the campaign trail, firing back at both of his rivals.

TRUMP: Now he's starting to lose in the polls, and it's driving him crazy, so what does he do? He brings in Barack Hussein Obama.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ZELENY: Now, where both of these candidates are going today tells you everything you need to know about the strategy and where they both think they are. Now, the upper Midwest is key for both candidates, of course, the president trying to hold on to Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Michigan. Joe Biden, of course, focusing on Pennsylvania, but with a quick detour here in Ohio. He thinks there is an opportunity to win this pivotal battleground state. But one thing on counting these votes we should point out, the president talked so much about that yesterday. It is the Republican legislatures in many of these states that did not change the law in the era of this pandemic.

That is why they cannot open those ballots and process them early. So, it has nothing to do with Democratic officials in these states. So, heading into the next 24 hours, that's important to remember. As John said, every vote counts if it was cast a month ago or it's cast tomorrow. Alisyn? CAMEROTA: Thank you very much, Jeff. All right, joining us now, CNN political commentator Errol Louis; he's a political anchor at "Spectrum News" and CNN political analyst Seung Min Kim; she's a White House reporter for "The Washington Post". Great to see both of you. OK, Errol, do you think that it all comes down to Pennsylvania? Is that what you're keeping your eye on, and give us a state of the race?

ERROL LOUIS, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: I am certainly keeping an eye on Pennsylvania as everyone should be. Because it is a huge part of Trump's plan to get re-elected. If he can't flip Pennsylvania, it's very hard to see how he gets re-elected, frankly. Also, it's important to keep in mind that what happened four years ago was that as Pennsylvania went, so went Michigan, so went Wisconsin, meaning the industrial Midwest and these are adjacent states, in some ways they resemble each other demographically, if they all flip in the same direction, whichever direction that may be, it really could be the key to who emerges as a winner following tomorrow's vote.

BERMAN: And Seung Min, let's talk about Pennsylvania. I think there are a couple of misconceptions here. Number one, Pennsylvania is always close. The one race in the last 25 years where Pennsylvania wasn't within four or five points was when Barack Obama beat John McCain by 10, Mitt Romney was like 4 points. John Kerry and George Bush was 2 points, 2000, it was 2 points, last time, it was less than a point. Pennsylvania is always close. So, when the polls show a 5 or 6-point spread between Donald Trump and Joe Biden, that's actually -- that would be a big Pennsylvania win.

Not a tight Pennsylvania win. The other thing that's interesting about Pennsylvania is that Pennsylvania has no history of early voting. Pennsylvania is always an election-day voting state. This time, there have been about 2 million early votes which is highly unusual, but that's still less than other states around the county, which is why I imagine there's so much focus from the campaigns right now.

SEUNG MIN KIM, WHITE HOUSE REPORTER, THE WASHINGTON POST: There's so much focus from the campaigns, there's so much uncertainty surrounding Pennsylvania, certainly right now. And that's why both campaigns are paying so much attention to the state on the eve of election day. Now, Jeff pointed out earlier that both Joe Biden and Kamala Harris and their spouses are barn-storming the state, basically all corners, just underscoring how important the state is to former Vice President Joe Biden's victory. He has emphasized his Scranton ties over and over in the campaign, and also critical to President Trump's potential re- election.

And you see how at least on the policy front, they've been really able to go after Vice President Biden's comments on fracking, on the oil industry, hopefully, try to make a dent there. But certainly, out of the three, out of the three, sort of so-called blue wall states that the president was able to flip back in 2016. So, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin. Pennsylvania does look the most competitive right now and because of the way that the votes are counted, the votes won't start -- it won't start to be counted until tonight, it is the -- it is a state where we may not see election -- results the fastest tonight. So, it will be really interesting to watch. CAMEROTA: Yes, first of all, that is true, and I think that we need

to alert people to that. Pennsylvania is interesting, Errol, because there are seven counties in Pennsylvania that say they won't even start counting the mail-in ballots on election day, on Tuesday, at any time, they will start on Wednesday, some at 9:00 a.m. on Wednesday. So, people are going to have to get patient.

[05:10:00]

But you know, then there's all the reporting that President Trump's plan is to -- if he has some sort of lead, come out and declare victory.

LOUIS: That's right. And let's not over blow this concern about whether or not the president himself recognizes the results of the election. There are any number of candidates, you know, down in Alabama, Roy Moore ran for the U.S. Senate, never won, never conceded, never recognized the results, but he did -- you know, so never got seated in the U.S. Senate. So, you know, we want to make sure that we don't get a little too crazy over whether or not the president recognizes reality. Reality is going to, I think, be very clear, and I think a lot of folks have said what you just said a minute ago, which is that we're going to have to wait. We're going to have to wait to count.

In many states, by operation of law, you can't start opening the ballots. Something similar is going to happen in Wisconsin. There will be a lot of early votes counted in advance, but then Milwaukee by far the biggest city in the state, they don't even start to count votes until after election day. So, this is going to be one of those late nights like we had in 2016, like we had in 2004, very much like we had in 2000. We're going to have to wait until all of the votes are counted. I think most people understand and recognize that. That's why we've had such a gigantic early vote in so many states. People want those votes counted, and whether the president recognized it or not, that's what we're going to see happen.

BERMAN: And each of those votes, each of the 93 million counts just as much as the votes that will be cast in person tomorrow. Seung Min, talking about closing arguments, it's interesting. Dr. Anthony Fauci to "The Washington Post", a paper you're familiar with had some comments the other day which didn't make the White House happy at all. This is what Dr. Fauci said, he said "we're in for a whole lot of hurt. It's not a good situation. All the stars are aligned in the wrong place as you go into the Fall and Winter season with people congregating at home and indoors, you could not possibly be positioned more poorly". He then went on to say the Biden campaign has actually been handling the pandemic well, and the Trump campaign has been handling it differently, says Dr. Fauci.

Well, clearly, the president doesn't like that because he humored the people shouting "fire Fauci" at a rally last night. Let's play that one more time.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CROWD: Fire Fauci! Fire Fauci! Fire Fauci! Fire Fauci! Fire Fauci!

TRUMP: Don't tell anybody, but let me wait until a little bit after the election, please. I appreciate the advice.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: So Seung Min, as a closing argument, with 81,000 new cases, the president, you know, humoring the crowd, suggesting he might fire Dr. Anthony Fauci. How does that fit in?

KIM: Well, it's been part of his entire strategy all along to downplay the facts, the science, the reality behind the coronavirus pandemic. And look, Dr. Fauci has been on the outs with the president for some time now, the president has relied on someone who is not an infectious disease official, Dr. Scott Atlas as sort of his point health official. But Dr. Fauci, because of his kind of blunt truth telling, his reality check on the pandemic and his candor has just -- has really earned the ire of the president. The White House was very -- fired back at -- for us in the story about Dr. Fauci's comments, accusing him of kind of essentially basically politicizing the pandemic here.

But this has also been a focus for Vice President Biden as well, and that's why this overall race hasn't really become kind of a competing, dueling vision or dueling campaign of two visions for America. It really has been a referendum on the president's handling of the pandemic, on his stewardship of the economy, the fallout after. And that's what-- I think that kind of thinking will help us really understand the election results whenever they are final.

CAMEROTA: Seung Min, Errol, thank you both very much, we're going to need you guys on standby for the next many days. OK, what's the path right now to 270 electoral votes, we will show you the map next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[05:15:00]

BERMAN: All right, President Trump and Joe Biden making one last pitch to voters in key battleground states. The former vice president will be in Pennsylvania for three drive-in rallies, also one stop in Ohio. President Trump has five rallies in four states, Pennsylvania and Michigan, Wisconsin and North Carolina. CNN's Phil Mattingly talks about the states in play and the road to 270 electoral votes.

PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Welcome to final blitz. This is it, it's the last full day of campaigning, and you can tell a lot by what the candidates are thinking. What the candidates are seeing in their data by where the candidates are. If you are the Biden campaign, you are all in on the state of Pennsylvania. You're sending the vice president, you're sending Senator Kamala Harris, you're sending their spouses and they're splitting all over the state. If you are Donald Trump, well, as he is often doing, he's going all over the place. He's going to Pennsylvania.

He's going to Michigan. He's going to Wisconsin, and he'll swing down to North Carolina as well. His final campaign swing. So, what does this all tell us? Look, it's not a surprise what the campaigns are looking at here. If you want to go through the map, and you start on the map of 2016, it underscores the reality here. If you're Joe Biden and you flip the three blue wall states that President Trump burst through back in 2016, it's Pennsylvania, it's Michigan, it's Wisconsin. Guess what? You're over 270 electoral votes. However, it's also worth noting that there are other states in play right now. Let's take a look at the CNN poll of polls.

There are some crucial battleground states as it currently stands. You've got the state of Florida, Biden with a very narrow 2-point lead when you take all of the polls and throw them into a basket. We've got Arizona, 50-45, Biden, that is a new state that the Trump campaign is having to play some serious defense in. Wisconsin, a sizable lead now, 10-point lead for Joe Biden where his campaign is feeling more comfortable.

[05:20:00]

And Pennsylvania, Pennsylvania with a 6-point Biden lead, however, the Trump campaign feels like they have momentum there, and it often will always come down to Pennsylvania when it comes through the Midwest. So, let's give Pennsylvania to President Trump, and let's see what the options are. Even if Joe Biden picks up Michigan, picks up Wisconsin, where the polling is a little bit more favorable right now, if President Trump holds everything he held back in 2016 and the state of Pennsylvania, President Trump is re-elected, and that is where these other toss-up states come into play. What about the state of Florida? What about the state of North Carolina? What about the state of Arizona? And what about the state of Georgia?

Democrats firmly believe it is now in play. The Trump campaign dismisses it, says they should be fine there, but look what happens? Even if Donald Trump wins the state of Pennsylvania, if all of a sudden, North Carolina goes to Joe Biden, if all of a sudden Georgia goes to Joe Biden, if all of a sudden Arizona goes to Joe Biden. Joe Biden is not just above 270, he's at the 300 mark and potentially even higher with other states that are in play. One key thing to keep in mind here is reset and take a look at the 2016 map, the focus on Pennsylvania, why the Biden campaign is there, why Donald Trump will be there once again -- look, they know what's outstanding.

They have seen the early vote, they have watched the early vote, and obviously, the early vote has surged throughout the country. From the state of Pennsylvania, the early vote is only counted for about 32 percent, 33 percent of where the incoming vote is. They know what they need to do. That is why you saw President Obama in there, that is why you've seen Joe Biden in Pennsylvania where they need to blow out vote, and that is why you will see them spread across the state over the course of Monday as well. Keep an eye on that, and also, of course, keep an eye on the state of Florida. This is a jump ball.

It's going to be close. Nobody is going to separate and everybody knows that, that is why Barack Obama, the president will be down there, trying to pull out vote, trying to get voters to the polls. Again, they know what's outstanding. They know who hasn't voted. They are going out to try and drag those individuals, maybe not literally, but figuratively to those polls for election day, to try and close the deal. Again, it's a home stretch now, no margin of error.

BERMAN: All right, our thanks to Phil Mattingly for that. Joining us now, CNN political commentator's Terry McAuliffe and Scott Jennings. Terry is a former governor of Virginia, former chair of the Democratic National Committee. Scott is a former special assistant to George W. Bush and a columnist for "USA Today". Governor McAuliffe, you look at the map, you see Phil Mattingly's presentation and you say what?

TERRY MCAULIFFE, FORMER GOVERNOR OF VIRGINIA: First of all, I'd say it's interesting that Donald Trump was in Georgia yesterday, the idea that the Republican nominee for president had to campaign in a state that we have not won since 1992. They know they're in trouble. What I'm looking forward tomorrow night is let's start in Florida, then go up to Georgia and North Carolina, if we can knock those three states out, statistically impossible for Donald Trump to win again. I feel very good about where we are, however, the election is not over. We're going to count all the votes, I mean, all 150 million votes, and Joe Biden is going to win.

But you know, you look at that map, we're leading substantially in Michigan, we're leading substantially in Wisconsin. You add those in, we're at 270. All we have to do is win in Arizona or any of those other six or seven states in play. We've never had a basket of states so much in play for a Democratic nominee for president, but you know what? Go vote.

CAMEROTA: OK, Scott, when you look at the map, how do Republicans feel today?

SCOTT JENNINGS, FORMER SPECIAL ASSISTANT TO GEORGE W. BUSH: Well, I mean, obviously, there's a number of states that are on a knife's edge, and if they all tip one way, it could be a blow-out for Biden, if they all tip and hold in to the president's column, he could get a similar number of votes, electoral votes that he got last time. I mean, obviously, the two states to me that are most important are Florida and Pennsylvania. If Donald Trump holds those two states, it becomes much more difficult for Joe Biden, and might pretend that he was able to find a way to hang on despite the national polling. If on election night though and because Florida is a state that counts its votes pretty quickly, if say, Biden were to win Florida, that probably means the election is over.

So those are really the two states I'm looking at. I did note that the president is campaigning in Georgia, I also noted the former vice president was campaigning in Minnesota late last week. So, if we're going to look at the travel schedules as indication of nervousness, obviously Democrats weren't all that sure about Minnesota because they sent Joe Biden there. So, I think both sides actually have a couple of states that they're nervous about, heading into election day. And I'm not much of a prognosticator, but I am ready to count the votes and to see people vote. And I agree with the governor --

BERMAN: Right --

JENNINGS: Every legal vote should be counted.

BERMAN: Well, to that end, Scott, how much confidence does it portray, Scott, from a campaign when they are arguing days before the polls close that some votes should not be counted?

JENNINGS: Well, not very confident. I mean, I think everybody who tried to cast a vote or did cast a vote, a legal vote in the prescribed time period according to the laws of their state and location should have their vote counted. So anybody trying to stop people from voting, that should not be the case. You do have to stop counting at some point, and I'm sure there will be ballots that will be disputed after the election by both sides for one reason or another. But my general view is, if a voter tried to cast a legal ballot during the correct time period, that vote should be counted.

[05:25:00]

CAMEROTA: And then, Terry, what about these pockets of voter intimidation? I mean, I'm not sure what else -- how else you categorize these caravans like we saw in Texas, that surrounded this Biden bus, these are, you know, Trump flag-waving trucks that come up, then people are hooting and hollering and surrounding the bus. Investigators are now looking into this. We've also seen in New Jersey, in New York, they blocked off bridges, they, you know -- there's just all of this -- I mean, what's this? How do you explain what this is and how should voters see this?

MCAULIFFE: This is the continued naughtiness of the Trump presidency. I mean, here's a so called campaign, a president who wants law and order, going back to the Nixon days, and yet, he's encouraging people to go out and harass voters. That's not what we need in our country today. You know, they also say don't pay attention to state regulations, and you did have the Trump official spokesperson yesterday come out and saying, we're declaring victory on election night, and forget those tens of millions of votes that come in after. You know, that is not following election law.

In fact, I commend Scott for his comments, the lieutenant governor of Utah, Republican, called those comments yesterday garbage. But you know, let's make it simple, Democrat, Republican, independent, let's let people go vote. Exercise your constitutional right to vote, and you shouldn't be out harassing. We've seen it all over the country -- I was out doing campaign events all yesterday for Joe Biden, all around the beltway here in Virginia, hundreds of cars with flags, going in and out of traffic -- I mean, come on, grow up. You know, this is the greatest democracy in the world. This is not Venezuela. Let's count all the votes and let people vote.

And because of COVID, so many people -- I mean, we're at 93 million. I think we could get to 150 million which would be the largest voter turnout in a 100 years, more than a 100 years, going back to 1876. Let's make it a good experience for everybody. That's who we are as Americans.

BERMAN: Yes, it's a way to express support for a candidate without putting other people in any kind of danger, say on a highway or something --

MCAULIFFE: Sure --

BERMAN: Governor McAuliffe, Scott Jennings, terrific having you on, thanks so much for waking up early, appreciate it.

MCAULIFFE: Great, thank you.

JENNINGS: Thanks.

MCAULIFFE: Go low.

BERMAN: So, United States just recorded the highest number of new coronavirus cases ever on a Sunday. Dr. Anthony Fauci warns the country is in for a whole lot of hurt. We have new information coming in on the worsening pandemic next.

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