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New Day
High Stakes Runoff Races To Decide Control of US Senate; Trump Pressures VP Pence Ahead Of Electoral College Vote Count; Trump Peddles More Conspiracies And Personal Attacks In Georgia. Aired 6- 6:30a ET
Aired January 05, 2021 - 06:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[06:00:00]
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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: So much hinges on the results of this election.
JOE BIDEN, US PRESIDENT-ELECT: One state could sharp the course for next generation.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Republican senators got a presidential boost before the polls open.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He is being aided and abated by two United States senators.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Nationwide records numbers in the hospital, 100,000 plus for 34 day straight.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All of our hospitals are feeling theses impacts.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is New Day with Alisyn Camerota and John Berman.
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ALISYN CAMEROTA, ANCHOR: We want to welcome our viewers in the United States and all around the world. This is "New Day." It is Tuesday, January 5th, 6:00 here in New York. And you know what that means, John.
JOHN BERMAN, ANCHOR: It's Election Day.
CAMEROTA: It's decision day, finally.
BERMAN: Finally.
CAMEROTA: We've been talking about it forever. This is in Georgia, these two high stakes run off races, which will decide which party controls the US Senate. Polls open one hour from now.
Democrats must win both seats to effectively win a Senate Majority. President Trump and President-elect Joe Biden both campaigning there last night. Biden stressing that the future of his agenda hinges on what happens today.
Mr. Trump had promised he would present evidence of his conspiracy theories, but strangely, he did not do any show and tell. Instead, he spent most of his 90 minutes on stage viewing more delusional theories and attacking Georgia's Republican officials for not helping him overturn the election. Will this help or hurt the Republican candidates?
BERMAN: So, the President's over effort to overthrow the election took this new twist a veiled threat to the vice president who will preside as the electoral votes are counted in Congress tomorrow. The President said he hopes Pence will "come through." So what does that mean?
Well, Maggie Haberman from the New York Times reports, Mr. Trump had directly pressed Mr. Pence to find an alternative to certifying Biden's wins, such as preventing him from having 270 electoral votes and letting the election be thrown to the House to decide. So the main problem with that, it's the Constitution, which gives Pence no power to do that. His job is to count out loud. So, you have one more piece of evidence of what is this attempt by the President really to seize power.
Former Defense Secretary, a Republican, William Cohen tells CNN we're standing on the abyss of the destruction of our democracy. CNN's Ryan Young live in Cobb County, Georgia. This is one of the key counties in this state where the polls open shortly, Ryan.
RYAN YOUNG, NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely. Look, this is felt like a marathon. We're finally in that final sprint. On the way here, we saw tons of signs showing election sort of a momentum. But when you look back this direction, you can see poll workers are already starting to show up. Three million people have early voted, a lot of eyes on the state of Georgia.
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YOUNG (voice-over): The stakes are high in Georgia this morning with the control of the Senate on the line.
JON OSSOFF (D), US SENATE CANDIDATE: The whole country is watching us right now because we have the power.
YOUNG (voice-over): Two runoff races determining whether Democrats or Republicans will hold the Senate Majority when President-elect Joe Biden takes office. The President-elect on the trail in Georgia at a driving rally for candidates Jon Ossoff, and the Reverend Raphael Warnock.
JOE BIDEN, US PRESIDENT-ELECT: One state, one state can chart the course not just for the next four years but for next generation.
YOUNG (voice-over): Biden hoping the state will vote blue yet again.
BIDEN: We won three times here. In three count, you know what I mean? And now, we need you to vote again in record numbers.
YOUNG (voice-over): His victory in Georgia, one of many grievances listed by President Trump while campaigning for GOP senators Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue. Trump using the event to fire off his baseless claims and lies about voter fraud and zeroing in on Vice President Mike Pence's role in certifying election results. Earlier in the day, Pence was seen speaking at length with the President in the Oval Office.
DONALD PRESIDENT, PRESIDENT OF UNITED STATES: I hope Mike Pence comes through for us. Because if he doesn't come through, I won't like him quite as much.
YOUNG (voice-over): Trump also attacking Georgia's Republican Secretary of State.
TRUMP: There's no way we lost Georgia, there's no way. A rigged, that was a rigged election but we're still fighting to get.
YOUNG (voice-over): This after recording revealed the President's spent an hour long phone call with Brad Raffensperger demanding he find nearly 12,000 votes to overturn his loss in the state. Purdue defending Trump's move, slamming the release of the call audio.
SEN. DAVID PURDUE (R-GA), US SENATE CANDIDATE: To have a statewide elected official regardless of party, tape unknown -- to tape without disclosing a conversation, private conversation with the president of United States and then leaking it to the press now is disgusting.
YOUNG (voice-over): Despite the pressure, Raffensperger once again reaffirming Trump did not win in Georgia.
BRAD RAFFENSPERGER (R), GEORGIA SECRETARY OF STATE: But as Secretary of State, I can say with confidence that President Trump did not win the state of Georgia. I'm following the law and I'm following the facts.
YOUNG (voice-over): And for one Republican election official, the President's false election fraud claims are a dangerous distraction.
GABRIEL STERLING, GEORGIA VOTING SYSTEM IMPLEMENTATION MANAGER: One of the big reasons is, the President's actions and statements, and those of his team, are essentially suppressing the vote in Georgia. If you really deeply believe that somebody cheated, is there your obligation to go vote to make it harder for them to cheat even though we have really no evidence of that at all.
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[06:05:08]
YOUNG: Now, you can see the poll workers on the inside showing up for their assignment today. I can tell you, there have been long lines all across the state, especially for early voting. What are the things that we should talk about? Talking to law enforcement officials over the last 24 hours, there have been threats made to several polling areas so there'll be police officers in the standby, in there ready just in case all across the state of Georgia.
One last thing here, Alisyn, we did hear from one state official who does believe they want to see if some of the state attorneys in the state will look into that phone call between Donald Trump and, of course, the Secretary of State.
CAMEROTA: Yes.
YOUNG: Busy, busy few days of action here in the state of Georgia.
CAMEROTA: Thank you, Ryan. We'll be asking the Lieutenant Governor of Georgia about that very thing. Thank you very much for all of your reporting.
Joining us now, CNN Political Commentator Errol Louis. He's the Political Anchor at Spectrum News. And Lisa Rayam, she's the Host of NPR's "Morning Edition" on WABE in Atlanta. And she was the Moderator of the Loeffler-Warnock debate last month. Great to have both of you.
Before we get into the nitty-gritty of exactly what's happening in Georgia today and what we think will happen. Errol, just give us the big picture. If the Democrats win today in Georgia, and that means that Joe Biden -- well, that the Democrats control the White House and the Senate, and the House, is that a sea change in terms of policy in the United States, or the margins still too narrow for that kind of thing?
ERROL LOUIS, POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: The margin is much too narrow to call it a sea change. It gives Democrats -- it would give Democrats an advantage in the possibility of really enacting a lot of different policy changes, but the reality is when things are this close. And by the way, this will be true regardless of who ends up with control of the Senate. Any one senator, if he or she really chooses to push their caucus, can become a little bit of a kingmaker on different nominations, on different policies, on different votes.
If every vote has to be counted every single time, it really gives a lot of individual members quite a lot of say. And so, I think that the era of gridlock that we have seen over the last few years is going to continue. And if anything, maybe be a little bit heightened. If it's just a matter of one or two votes on every single time a major policy has to be enacted, you're going to find that all of a sudden you've got a hundred key votes in the Senate, each of which has to be taken into account, Alisyn.
BERMAN: So, Lisa, I want to know what's happening on the ground. What you are seeing and what you are hearing from your listening perch where you're broadcasting -- from location this morning. Three million people have voted in Georgia early already, which is more than I've ever voted in a run off total before. So obviously there's high interest here.
LISA RAYAM, HOST, NPR'S "MORNING EDITION" ON WABE: Oh, for sure. That's in line with the general election. And what I'm hearing here in Atlanta is a lot of chaos. Can you imagine the chaos brought on by President Trump and his -- and the latest developments there with a phone call? Last week, President Trump calling on Governor Kemp to flat out resign because he's smarting over the presidential election results.
The people here in Atlanta, the majority of people are kind of scratching their heads. Yes, they're rushing to the polls but they've lost sight. They say the candidates have lost sight. They've been distracted by all of this as well. And have lost sight of what their issues and what their concerns are.
You have all these major voting blocks like the youth voting block that the candidates were courting for some time, 18 to 29 year olds. They're concerned about the environment, climate and jobs. They're not hearing that messaging. They did not hear that messaging up to Election Day, which is today. You have women voters concerned about healthcare and the pandemic and losing jobs. All of that sort of messaging has gotten lost in all of this so called political fodder.
CAMEROTA: Errol, it has been very interesting to watch this like internecine fighting with the Republicans. I mean, writ large, obviously. But then in Georgia, I mean, Brian Kemp and Lieutenant Governor Duncan on one side, Loeffler on the other side. President Trump, I don't know how he -- I don't -- it's hard to see how he would be helping the Republican Party with some of what he said last night. Here's what he talked about he will do next year.
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TRUMP: Your governor, your governor and your Secretary of State, they're petrified of Stacey Abrams. What's that all about? They say they're Republicans. I really don't think they are, they can't be. I'm going to be here in a year and a half and I'm going to be campaigning against your governor and your crazy Secretary of State, that I could tell you.
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CAMEROTA: Do we think that that's going to be helpful, Errol?
LOUIS: Not particularly helpful when it comes to today's turnout, which Republicans really need. We should keep in mind, in fact, that Republicans are really relying on the in-person vote. Democrats tend to favor the early voting.
[06:10:10]
And so, today is going to be especially crucial for the Republican Party.
But look, Alisyn, the Republicans kind of made their own bed on this. Think back to the convention and that remarkable scene where, instead of actually passing a party platform, even a nominal statement of the party's principles, they essentially said, we're going to do whatever Donald Trump wants us to do. What the party stands for is whatever Donald Trump tells us the party stands for.
Once you give somebody that kind of personal authority to dictate who's in the party and who's in favor and who's not, you've created what you just saw, which is somebody who's going to let his personal politics, personal preferences, a personal petty feuds dictate what the party stands for. And then you can't be surprised if voters turned out to be a little bit confused about who's in charge.
BERMAN: So, Lisa, I'm as interested in where the President said what he said as what he actually said last night. He was in the northern part of the state, in one of these counties where Donald Trump won by like 80% in November. These are Republican counties where he runs up the margin.
So one of the key questions is, will he be able to turn out that Republican vote in these rural counties? Is that going to be the effect of last night's rally or maybe will Democrats be the ones who were energized? What do you think?
RAYAM: Well, what's happening here is that those rural areas didn't turn out for early voting. So that's one key reason why he was targeting that area, in hopes of getting them to turn out. But with all of this mixed messaging, no one can really gauge what the turnout might be, because there are a lot of disgruntled voters out there.
I was able to interview the former US House Speaker, Newt Gingrich, you remember him. He is a staunch Republican, staunch supporter of President Trump. But he says, this is a mess right now. He thinks it's turned off the Republican Party 90%. And he just said, it's just created such a disturbance. You can't really gauge what the turnout will actually be at this point.
Yes, Republicans traditionally turnout to the polls on Election Day, but that we'll have to wait and see if that's the case today.
CAMEROTA: Errol, obviously, the phone call that President Trump made to the Secretary of State down there has gotten so much attention since the weekend. Do we think anything comes of this? Will there be -- there was talk of maybe investigations being launched or some consequence, what do we think?
LOUIS: No, I don't think so. I don't think you get, you know, the local district attorney doesn't start, you know, an investigation based on this. It's at a level, another level of importance that so far exceeds what our system can normally handle. That, you know, if there were time to sort of mountain impeachment inquiry, there's been some talk on Capitol Hill about maybe that's what the right answer would be.
But the reality is, everything's going to change in just a couple of weeks. If the strike of new -- when the clock strikes noon, on January 20th, everything will change. And it won't even matter all that much that this President tried to overturn the election.
There are -- there's too much machinery going in the other direction. And that includes major corporations, by the way. You know, the National Association of Manufacturers, the Chamber of Commerce, this remarkable letter with all of these corporate leaders saying enough already, let's get on with it. There's money to be made. There's an economy to repair. We've got to get on with this. And once the antics have fully played out on January 20th, I don't know if the damage or even the relevance of this arguably criminal act by the President is going to matter.
BERMAN: Errol Louis, Lisa Rayam, we'll let you get back to your listeners. Thanks so much for taking a break to join us this morning. We really appreciate it.
RAYAM: Thanks for having me.
CAMEROTA: CNN's special coverage of "Election Night in America" begins at 4:00 pm. Eastern today.
So President Trump and Vice President Pence met in the Oval Office last night and it looked animated. We have new details about just what they were discussing.
BERMAN: Jumping jacks? We got to break before --
CAMEROTA: This was not calisthenics, no.
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TRUMP: I hope Mike Pence comes through for us, I have to tell you. I hope that our great vice president, our great vice president comes through for us. He's a great guy. Because, if he doesn't come through, I won't like him quite as much.
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BERMAN: So that's President Trump with this veiled threat on the Vice President Mike Pence to "come through" when he presides over the electoral college count before a joint session in Congress tomorrow.
So the vice president's role is ceremonial. Again, his job is to count out loud. He has zero constitutional role to change the election results. The President doesn't seem to understand that. White House cameras captured the President speaking to Pence in the Oval Office shortly before he left for Georgia.
We know from Maggie Haberman is reporting that the President has pressured Mike Pence to try to somehow throw the election to the House of Representatives, which is a constitutional and frankly bonkers.
Errol Louis is back with us. Also joining us Anna Palmer, she is the Founder of Punchbowl News. And when you found a new media company this week, you get to go first. So, Anna, talk to us about the Vice President, what he may do tomorrow and what the expectations are.
ANNA PALMER, FOUNDER, PUNCHBOWL NEWS: I mean, basically, President Trump is saying the quiet part out loud. I don't think anybody's surprised after the call that we all have been listening to down in Georgia, with the President that he is putting pressure on the vice president, who has basically stood up. You know, he was trying to be sued by some House Republicans that effort failed. They've tried in a lot of different ways. And basically, we're going to see, does Mike Pence stand up to the President in a very public way, in a way that he really hasn't publicly for the past four years or not. And what will be the reaction be of the President.
He joked down in Georgia, but it was a pretty veiled threat, frankly, that, you know, he might not like him as much. And certainly when you're Mike Pence, you're looking at your political future. 2024, he clearly wants to be president and potentially run, and not having the sign of approval from Donald Trump could be a real problem for him.
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CAMEROTA: Yes. Errol, I feel like Mike Pence is about to be Jeff Sessioned. I think he's in a pickle. What do you, I mean, do you think that when -- that if he does what he is supposed to do, what he's tasked to do by the Constitution, that President Trump is going to freeze him out and start sending nasty tweets about him.
LOUIS: Oh, yes. Well, absolutely. I mean, look, looking at that footage that you showed of the two men inside the Oval Office yesterday, I thought of the Bob Dylan lyric, you know, maybe the devil or maybe the Lord, but you going to serve somebody. And the question for Mike Pence is, do you serve Donald Trump or do you serve the Constitution? Do you serve the people? Do you recognize the gravity of the office that you currently hold and honor it come hell or high water even if it causes some momentary unpleasantness with the guy who made you vice president.
And that's the question really, for everybody. You know, I really do think that, as Donald Trump has always done. He forces these loyalty tests from anybody who wants to support him. And he has asked his followers, his close followers, as well as voters to swallow a pack of lies, to swallow obscene and immoral conduct over and over and over again. And this is the ultimate test.
So for Mike Pence, the question will be, do you honor that oath or do you go along with this comedy, this sideshow that so many have said that they want to play out on the floor of Congress in a couple of days. And it will be unfortunate if he makes that choice, but I think most of us who have been watching him for a few years would not be surprised if he does make that choice.
BERMAN: Well, again, I mean, what evidence do we have of the vice president ever, ever, ever standing up to Donald Trump. He'll roll like a rolling stone to quote Bob. He'll twist or blow in the wind to quote Bob Dylan, Errol Louis.
CAMEROTA: He's all tangled up in blue.
BERMAN: He's all tangled up in blue. I have no -- I've seen no evidence that he'd stand up to the President. And I'm very curious also what this is doing internally of the Republican Party. I, frankly, have been surprised by how many Republican senators and congressmen have actually come out in vocally criticize those Republicans trying to undermine the Constitution.
PALMER: Yes. I mean, we are really seeing divisions in the Senate Republican conference, like we haven't seen put on display. You have, obviously, those conservatives led by Josh Hawley, Ted Cruz, dozen or so of them who have said they're going to challenge these results. But there have been some staunch Republicans coming out. Senator John Thune, the President already attacked, and others who have said no, this is not correct.
Even Liz Cheney, a very conservative Republican in the House leadership, putting out to her colleagues a very detailed missive saying, these are the reasons why this is incorrect, or Chip Roy out of Texas. And so, one of the things that I really think we're seeing playing out right now, and we will see play out on the, you know, House and Senate floor. This week is what is the future of the Republican Party, is it Donald Trump's version of Trumpism, and where are the Republicans.
We're going to stick there, you know, kind of cast their ballots with him or does the establishment Republican, the more traditional Republican Party win out. Obviously, at the end of the day, Joe Biden is going to be president. This only really makes for a very long day for myself, congressional reporters, their aides and members of Congress. It's a real sideshow, but it is going to be a real kind of peek into what the next two to four years of Republican politics look like.
CAMEROTA: John, I feel like I was over sold on that video. That doesn't look that animated from inside the Oval Office. That's like a bust of Mike Pence.
BERMAN: Well, actually, Mike Pence, that's like 11. I mean, seriously, have you ever -- I mean --
CAMEROTA: No, but I've been able to see like fists flying or something like that.
BERMAN: No, no, he moved -- a hair move out of place there, so you can tell. There's something really chaotic going on.
CAMEROTA: What should we brace ourselves for, Errol, tomorrow? I mean, Anna just said that it's going to be a really long night. So how long can they tangle this up in blue? How long can they muck this up tomorrow?
LOUIS: Well, we're in uncharted territory. What the procedures call for is that if there is a valid objection by somebody in the house and somebody in the Senate, then they'll be sort of a two hour period during which the respective chambers go and "debate" this non-issue. And so, time will pass. You'll probably have a ticker up on your screen. All of us will be sitting around watching and waiting, and getting little hints or rumors about what's being said. And everybody will take a turn.
I imagine getting up to sort of recite either their loyalty to the President, into the various mistruths that he's been promoting, or to reality and the need to get on with the business of the country, while this pandemic rages. And after that bitter conversation has happened, I wouldn't even call it a debate, we'll get back to doing what they should have done all along, which is to announce the results of the electoral college and declare Joe Biden the winner of the race.
[06:25:03]
BERMAN: The outcome is inevitable. That part we all know at this point. Errol Louis, thanks so much for being with us. Anna Palmer, congratulations to you. Incredibly exciting week for you, so well done.
PALMER: Thank you so much.
BERMAN: So hospitals in Los Angeles this morning at a breaking point.
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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And it's just call after call after call, from one to the other. We just -- it's hard to keep up with the demand of the ambulances.
BERMAN (voice-over): Ambulance crews now being told not to transport patients who have little chance of survival. What on earth is going on? That's next.
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CAMEROTA: Developing overnight, the FDA announcing that anyone who receives the Pfizer or Moderna vaccines must get both doses. And that effectively squashes an idea, health officials had floated about giving half doses to vaccinate more people.
