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The Lead with Jake Tapper

Joe Biden Delivers Campaign Address in Michigan. Aired 4-4:30p ET

Aired October 16, 2020 - 16:00   ET

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

JAKE TAPPER, CNN HOST: We are waiting for Joe Biden to speak any moment in Michigan, as President Trump is on a rally spree in the final 18-stretch of the presidential race, with more than 20 million ballots already cast in this election.

[16:00:04]

President Trump today making a last-ditch appeal to seniors in Fort Myers, Florida. In minutes, the president will kick off another rally in central Florida, before heading to a second rally in Georgia.

On the day that the United States surpassed a million cases, confirmed, of coronavirus, the president is attempting to paint his handling of the pandemic as a success, saying he will crush coronavirus and end the pandemic, comments not rooted in the reality of the pandemic, the United States hitting all the wrong records.

Nine states just recording their highest number of new cases in a single day ever. But, right now, Vice President Biden is speaking in Southfield, Michigan.

Let's listen in.

(APPLAUSE)

JOE BIDEN (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: And, Gary, we badly need you back in the United States Senate, pal. We badly need you back in the United States Senate.

(APPLAUSE)

BIDEN: And my sister...

(LAUGHTER)

BIDEN: ... Debbie Stabenow. God love you, Debbie. We worked so closely together for so long, and as vice president as well.

Folks, look, we need to send Gary back for another term, standing up for Michigan. Michigan families, small businesses. He was our main congressional partner back in 2010, when we passed the critical legislation supporting small businesses.

I remember. I remember the president giving me the responsibility to go out and round up support. The person I -- my go-to guy to get it done -- I mean it sincerely -- was Gary. He was the go-to guy. And he always shows up and he always shows up for Michigan.

Like all of you, Jill and I are so grateful that the governor and her family are safe. And it's an unusual year. Governor, you have been through a lot, but, my lord, you are leader. You stand up straight and tall, and you don't bend.

And, Governor, it's not easy to lead in moments of crisis, but that is a determination of whether you have a real leader, when you stepped up to the crisis. And you have stepped up. You have done it and you keep doing it.

(APPLAUSE)

BIDEN: And, as I said a moment ago, you're pretty much doing it better than anybody else in the whole United States of America.

You have shown this whole nation just how tough and thoughtful you are, tough just like Michigan. I got to believe this state has to be so proud of you. I know, personally, I am, as I have gotten to know you, and proud to call you friend, Gov.

We are grateful to the FBI and law enforcement who discovered these diagram terrorists and stopped them. And make no mistake, that's who they are, domestic terrorists, flat terrorists.

(APPLAUSE)

BIDEN: Planning to blow up a bridge on American soil to threaten the lives of police officers, to kidnap an elected leader, and now we are finding out the same thing was happening in Virginia.

You know, it's the sort of behavior you might expect from ISIS, and it should shock the conscience of every American, every American.

And the failure to condemn these folks is stunning from the outset. We might remember, it matters. You have heard me say it before. Words matter. And the words of a president particularly matter.

When the president tweeted "Liberate Michigan," "Liberate Michigan," that's the call that was heard. That was the dog whistle, just like when he said there were -- quote -- "very fine people" on both sides in Charlottesville as they came out of the fields carrying torches, their veins bulging, shouting anti-Semitic vile, carrying Nazi flags, accompanied by the Ku Klux Klan, and when a young woman was killed protesting.

The president was asked, what do you think? He said something no president has ever, ever, ever heard. There were very fine people on both sides.

Those words were heard, just like when he stood on the debate stage with me and refused to denounce white supremacists, but told that right-wing extremist group to -- quote -- "Stand back and stand by."

Stand back and stand by, an American president.

It not only shocked us, but it stunned the world, those words we heard.

[16:05:03]

You know the reason and I decided to run for president. And I know that Debbie knows this. I had not planned on running ever again after my son died.

But when I saw those folks coming out of those woods, I thought, how in God's name, how in God's name can I remain silent? I said at the time, and was somewhat, not criticized, but people didn't think it was -- well, I don't know what it was.

When I said, I think we are in a battle for the soul of America. I think we are.

What I saw at Charlottesville and the president's response to it is why I went to the Gettysburg battlefield in Pennsylvania last week, because I thought there was a need to stand up to hate in America and urge us, as Lincoln did, to come together as a nation.

What I have learned, hate never goes away. It only hides. It never goes away. And if you give it oxygen, it comes out from under the rocks. It grows. We need to be clear from the president on down, in this country, there is no place for hate in America, period. None.

(APPLAUSE)

BIDEN: It will not be tolerated.

(APPLAUSE)

BIDEN: But President Trump revels in division and chaos. He will do anything to distract us from focusing on his failures to deal with this virus and to protect the nation.

He is still living in a dream world. He keeps telling us that this virus is going to disappear like a miracle. He said, I think, last night in his town hall -- I didn't have the pleasure of hearing it. I was doing one myself.

He said, we have turned the corner.

As my grandfather Finnegan might say were he here, he said, he has gone around the bend.

(LAUGHTER)

BIDEN: Turned the corner. My lord.

It's not disappearing. In fact, it's on the rise again. It's getting worse, as predicted. We all know the terrible price this nation has paid, lives lost, employment way -- unemployment way up. Across Michigan and the country, folks are worried about making their

next rent payment or mortgage payment, whether their health care will be ripped away in the middle of a pandemic that you worked so damn hard, Gary, to keep, worried about -- and we talked about this with (INAUDIBLE) kids in school.

Are they able to get back to school? More than 215,000 Americans -- I think it's 217,000 as of this morning -- Americans have died from COVID-19. And experts have said and have been saying for the last month-and-a-half that nearly another 200,000 lives are likely to be lost, likely to be lost in the coming months between now and the 1st of the year, if, if we continue to refuse to follow science, because he refused to embrace wearing a mask.

How many times on television have you seen him make fun of Biden wearing a mask? Because he refuses to practice social distancing, and he puts his supporters in such jeopardy.

It's estimated by his own folks, if we just wore masks nationally, almost 100,000 lives would be saved in the next few months. His own director of CDC said, when we are waiting for a vaccine, even if we had a vaccine, this will prevent more deaths between now and the end of January than a vaccine would.

You know what is really sad about all this? And I -- I have been talking about this, but every time I repeat it, I get more -- well, not very happy.

The president knew, and lied about knowing. He knew in January. The intelligence community in their -- what they call the PDB, the presidential daily briefings, which I have sat in on hundreds and hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of them as vice president, it got out that they laid out in detail to him how devastating this could be, how much life could be lost, and so on.

[16:10:20]

He said he was unaware of it, didn't read those reports. Well, that surprised no one that he doesn't read the reports. But he didn't read the reports. And everybody said, well, maybe he didn't.

But then, as was acknowledged, because of his ego, he wanted to impress a famous journalist. He thought he could change his mind about his view of him, did a long interview with Bob Woodward.

Bob Woodward, a renowned journalist, taped the interview with him, extensive interviews, hours. And he taped an interview that -- where Trump said he knew this disease was deadly, significantly worse than the flu.

But that is not what he told you. That's not what he told the public. And the reason he lied again to the American people, well, he said he didn't want to panic the American people.

Americans don't panic. Donald Trump panicked. That's who panicked.

(APPLAUSE)

BIDEN: And, as a consequence of his overwhelming lying, negligence and irresponsible action, how many empty chairs were around the kitchen table this morning or the dining room table last night?

How many? How many women or men leaned over when they got in bed last night and reached over to touch their husband and wife, and they weren't there?

You all know what loss is. It's profound, especially when it was avoidable, much of it.

But mishandling the pandemic isn't enough for Trump. On top of that, he is still trying to take away your health care. Trump still is determined, in the midst of this pandemic -- and, by the way, if projections -- pray God they are not right, Father.

But if they are right, though, in the next several months, there will be over 200,000 additional deaths. That will be in one year 400,000 people will have -- Americans will have died. That is more than lost in all of World War II. You hear me? World War II was four years.

More American souls would have been lost than in World War II.

But what is he doing? He is still determined to destroy the Affordable Care Act. This isn't hyperbole.

Just like your opponent calls it a disaster, talk about a disaster. There's a disaster. The guy is 2000 percent or 200 percent, whatever it is with Trump. I hope everybody remembers.

Look, as I said, this isn't hyperbole. It's real, as real as it gets.

On November 10, the United States Supreme Court will hear the Trump administration make the case that the Affordable Care Act should be struck down in its entirety.

Now, I think everybody thinks they know, but I just want to remind you, 10 million of you have already lost your health insurance because your employer's health insurance, they have gone out of business, 10 million Americans already without health insurance.

And if Trump gets his way, 20 million more Americans will lose their health care. It's a god-awful -- in the midst of this god-awful economic crisis, 100 million Americans will lose their protections for preexisting conditions, including more than four million people right here in Michigan.

Lifetime limits and benefits -- on benefits will be back. Insurance -- and, by the way, you know, a lot of you have been through what I have been through, and worse.

But I can distinctly remember sitting on a bed with my Beau, my son, who came back from -- the attorney general came back from a year of serving in Iraq, which this president talks about losers who served. Losers. [16:15:00]

With the same significant disease that your mom had, stage 4 glioblastoma. When he was diagnosed when he got home, we asked the docs, it was only a matter of months, not if, just months. We never gave up hope.

But I remember watching him on that bed, he made it almost 16 months. Toward the end -- this is not about me, it's about all of you -- I consciously thought to myself, what would it feel like if they were able to walk in and say, Mr. Biden, you've outrun your insurance coverage, suffered the last two or three months in pain on your own. Lots of luck, because that's what was happening before.

Insurers, if they win, and that is what this court packing going on now is about, insurers will no longer allow you to keep your kids on your policy until age 26 in the middle of this economic crisis. Women once again will be charged more for their health care just because they are a woman. Older folks will be able to be charged more.

And as the governor said, long-term complications from COVID will become preexisting conditions, joining asthma, diabetes, even pregnancies as a preexisting condition before and could allow insurers to jack up your premiums or deny coverage altogether. Getting rid of Obamacare is why they are racing to get this nominee through the Supreme Court.

Make no mistake about it: Trump has made it clear from the beginning as your opponent has, he wants to get rid of Obamacare in its entirety. With this nominee, he has made that incredibly clear as well.

Michigan deserves so much better, deserves leaders like Gary and Debbie Stabenow, public servants who lead with decency and honor, always look out for your needs.

Think about how to ease the burden on your family. That is the sort of leader you got in Gretchen and Governor Whitmer as well. When she was in the state senator, she led the charge to secure Obamacare and Medicaid expansion for more than 800,000 Michiganders. Think about this now.

Some of those states with Republican governors, did not expand, even though the federal government is paying from the front end. There's millions of people who have no coverage.

After we passed Obamacare, with the help of Debbie and Gary, Debbie Stabenow and Gary Peters, we were able to reduce the uninsured rate by 55 percent here in Michigan.

If I have the honor of becoming your president, we'll build on the Affordable Care Act, no matter what they do. You can choose to keep a private plan if you still have one, because some of the private plans negotiated with UAW are good plans.

TAPPER: All right. You've been listening to Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden speaking in Southfield, Michigan.

Let's go straight to CNN's Jessica Dean.

Jessica, tell me what you think the vice president's closing message is here in this crucial battleground state of Michigan?

JESSICA DEAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Jake, I think you're hearing it right now. In the end, it comes down to health care and keeping the Affordable Care Act. The Biden campaign, an aide telling CNN, look, that is the through line through so many issues.

It goes to the COVID response and the COVID pandemic. It goes the President Trump's behavior and response to the COVID pandemic. It also as a just heard Biden talking about there, they're able to tie that to Amy Coney Barrett's nomination to the Supreme Court.

[16:20:01]

So, it is an all encompassing issue that they really believe people understand, pay attention to, and listen to. And they're looking back to 2018 as a road map of sorts, because remember, that's when Democrats took back the House and they were able to do so by hammering home a message on health care, on protecting the Affordable Care Act.

And you saw it right there below Joe Biden on the lectern he was speaking on -- protect and expand. That is their message on the Affordable Care Act, to keep it and expand it. That's the closing message here to Michiganders -- Jake.

TAPPER: All right. Jessica Dean, thanks so much.

Let's discuss this with CNN's Abby Phillip and "The Washington Post's" Philip Bump.

Abby, you heard Joe Biden take the opportunity once again to go after Trump for the very fine people on both sides comment, a nod to what happened in Charlottesville. Stand back and stand by, referring to Trump's comments to the Proud Boys at the last debate.

This also seems to be a bit a focus, in addition to the health care aspect, the idea that the president is, whether it's, you know, implicit, tacit or irresponsible, however and whatever the reason is, that he's an ally of bigots.

ABBY PHILLIP, CNN POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Yeah. I mean, I think that has become part of the closing message, in part because President Trump has allowed it to be part of the conversation right now. He's been given several really softball opportunities to knock down, you know, white supremacists, to knock down QAnon, and he has no immediately taken them. He's had to sort of almost be dragged to the point where he eventually says what people are asking him to say.

And because of that, Joe Biden has been able to come back to this message that has animated his campaign really from the beginning and basically say to the public, this is not the type of leadership that you want. I really don't think that this is to president Trump's advantage. It would be so easy for him to simply just knock this to the side, not say any sort of conciliatory things about QAnon, and any of these other things, and it would not be part of the agenda in the final 20 days of this campaign.

But as it is, it seems to have become a gift to Joe Biden in these final days.

TAPPER: And, Philip, meanwhile, the president, as Abby just alluded to, continued to spread and endorse these deranged conspiracy theories. Last night, he said he did not know whether -- what QAnon says is true, that the country is secretly run by a satanic cult of pedophilic cannibals. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Let me just tell you, what I do hear about it is they are very strongly against pedophilia. And I agree with that, I mean, I do agree with that.

SAVANNAH GUTHRIE, NBC NEWS ANCHOR: OK.

TRUMP: And I agree with --

GUTHRIE: But there's in a satanic pedophile cult --

TRUMP: I have no idea. I know nothing about that.

GUTHRIE: You don't know that?

TRUMP: No, I don't know that.

GUTHRIE: OK, you just this week --

TRUMP: And neither do you know that.

GUTHRIE: OK.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: I don't know that and neither do you know that, Phillip. He's talking about whether or not the nation is run by a cabal of Satan- worshipping cannibalistic pedophiles? I don't know that and neither do you. I mean, what the actual F, Phil?

PHILLIP BUMP, NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT, THE WASHINGTON POST: That's the most direct question I've ever been asked in an intelligent interview. No. Yeah, I don't know.

I mean, the short answer is, as Abby said, he's reticent to speak out against a group which she thinks supports him. But this is a group which literally thinks he is essentially salvation doing battle against evil and protecting children. So, it's not as though if he were to say, QAnon is ridiculous, of course, I don't adhere to that, it's not as though they're going to suddenly turn and make Joe Biden their savior.

TAPPER: Right.

BUMP: He's integral to the theory here. That is also what makes his failure to renounce them more dangerous, because it's not -- yes, it is problematic he has to be dragged kicking and screaming to say anything against white supremacy, but here, he's actively reinforcing a narrative of which he is at the center. By refusing to say it's false, he's not only giving oxygen to this conspiracy theory, but he's amplifying the fact that it is a theory that has him at the center and he's refusing to do it, which I think makes it more significant.

TAPPER: And it's a potential domestic terror threat, as FBI has said in memos. There's at least one dead person. There have been plenty of acts of violence, including a woman who had a car full of knives who was going to assassinate Joe Biden. I mean, it's really playing with fire.

OK. So, that's that town hall. The other town hall on the other channel, ABC, Biden struck a different tone, quite different.

Take a listen, Abby. He was asked what it would say about the country if he doesn't win. Here's what he had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BIDEN: That could say I'm a lousy candidate and I didn't do a good job. But I think -- I hope -- that it doesn't say that we are as racially, ethnically, and religiously at odds with one another as it appears the president wants us to be.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[16:25:09]

TAPPER: Joe Biden is a flawed guy and he's a flawed candidate. There's a lot to criticize, but the contrast, Abby, between that moment of humility --

PHILLIP: Yeah.

TAPPER: -- and answering the question, entertaining it, and the Tasmanian devil that we saw in Miami, it was stark.

PHILLIP: Yeah, I mean, say what you will about Joe Biden or even that answer, it was a reasonable answer. You might even disagree with what he had to say, but you couldn't say he was being out of the box here.

I mean, by contrast, in response to a similar question like that, President Trump has and would say that, you know, he would only lose if there was some sort of shenanigans going on or fraud or what have you. So, look, the tradition of American politics requires that our political candidates have that kind of humility that if they lose, it is the will of the team.

And President Trump is reluctant to express that viewpoint, which is in contrast -- it's sort of antithetical to the several hundred year tradition of politics in this country. So, yeah, the contrast could not have been more stark last night for

viewers. And, you know, I think it's just a choose your own adventure, the American people are really deciding, you know, more so than at any time I think in history, in recent history, between two candidates who literally could not be more different in style and in substance.

TAPPER: And, Phil, Biden was also confronted with some of the controversial comments he's made in the past, specifically when he told the radio host Charlamagne Tha God that if somebody, an African- American was struggling to decide between him and Trump, quote, you ain't black. That was a big mistake that he said that.

Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Besides you ain't black, what do you have to say to young black voters who see voting for you as further participation in a system that continually fails to protect them?

BIDEN: The answer is there's two things I think I care and demonstrated I care about my whole career. One is, in addition to dealing with criminal justice system and make it fair and make it more decent, we have to be able to put black Americans in a position to gain wealth, generate wealth.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: That's obviously just a snippet of his answer, but Biden later said to stick around so they could continue their conversation, and he did, and Biden stuck and talked with the audience after the town hall wrapped.

What did you make of that moment?

BUMP: So, a couple things. First is in his answer, Joe Biden got at one of the fundamental issues here, which is systemic problems. Donald Trump repeatedly denied there are issues plaguing black Americans in particular. Joe Biden got at it pretty directly there.

The second is, one of the fascinating things, one of the fascinating dynamics here is that Joe Biden's flaws as a candidate is he tends to meander a bit. He tends to exaggerate. He has verbal slipups.

Those things are almost entirely muted by the fact that he's running against Donald Trump. No one is going to worry as much about Biden's exaggeration as they would if he were running against, say, Mitt Romney, simply because Donald Trump just totally blasts him out of the water on that metric. And I think the fundamental thing here, one of the things we heard just now in the speech that Biden gave, one of the things he's tacitly offering to the American public is what Abby got at, is this level of chill. Things are just going to settle down, he's just going to do his thing, his tone, his presence, all of that is meant to reinforce that message, too, although not explicitly.

TAPPER: Philip Bump, Abby Phillip, thanks to both of you. Have a great weekend.

Also in our 2020 lead, an inside look at the Trump presidency from those who worked with President Trump and for President Trump.

CNN has learned that former White House chief of staff, retired marine General John Kelly has told friends about President Trump, quote, the depths of his dishonesty is just astounding to me. The dishonesty, the transactional nature of every relationship, though it's more pathetic than anybody else. He is the most flawed person I have ever met in my life, unquote.

This brand new reporting is from our new CNN special report "The Insiders: A Warning from Former Trump Officials". "The Insiders" airing Sunday at 9:00 p.m. and midnight Eastern, only here on CNN.

With just 18 days until the election, President Trump is kicking off back-to-back rallies. But he's also spreading even more falsehoods about coronavirus. He's possibly also spreading coronavirus.

CNN's Dr. Sanjay Gupta is here with a reality check. That's next.

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