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CNN NewsNight with Abby Phillip
Trump's Lies Grow Around Distribution Of FEMA Hurricane Relief; Trump And Gov. Brian Kemp (R-GA) Meet For First Time Since 2020 Feud; U.S. Economy Added 254,000 Jobs in September; Oklahoma Requires Classrooms To Have Bibles; Trump Campaign Focuses On Immigration. Aired 10-11p ET
Aired October 04, 2024 - 22:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[22:00:00]
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ABBY PHILLIP, CNN ANCHOR (voice over): Tonight, rumors and recovery.
DONALD TRUMP (R), FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT, 2024 PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: Because they have no money.
PHILLIP: Officials warn Donald Trump's lies --
TRUMP: Their money's been spent on people that should not be in our country.
PHILLIP: -- mean life or death for Helene-hampered communities as the former president has a not so meet cue with a former foe.
Plus, the president gives a glass half full take on the election, that it'll be on the level --
JOE BIDEN, U.S. PRESIDENT: I'm confident it'll be free and fair.
PHILLIP: -- but warns it might turn violent.
BIDEN: I don't know whether it'll be peaceful.
PHILLIP: Also, a boom, jobs and wages pop off as the calendar turns to the final month of the campaign.
And Donald Trump returns to the scene of a near national tragedy, Butler, Pennsylvania.
Live at the table, Maria Cardona, Abel Maldonado, Erin Perrine, Bomani Jones and Roy Wood Jr.
With 31 dates to go, Americans with different perspectives aren't talking to each other, but here they do.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PHILLIP (on camera): Good Friday evening to you. I'm Abby Phillip in New York. Let's get right to what America is talking about, storms, lies and videotape. The former president has an election to win in just about a month, and with 31 days until America votes, it's pretty clear that he is willing to break the rules and the truth to do it.
The latest episode, his plainly false insistence that the Biden administration is starving people stuck and struck by this storm. Hurricane Helene, they are in desperate need of resources, and here is what Trump is saying about it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: People are dying in North Carolina. They're dying all over those five, six states. They're dying and they're getting no help from our federal government, because they have no money, because their money has been spent on people that should not be in our country.
They stole the FEMA money just like they stole it from a bank.
It's been a terrible response from the White House. They're missing a billion dollars that was used for another purpose and nobody's seen anything like that.
You have the migrants, you're reading about it. Now, a lot of the money that was supposed to go to Georgia and supposed to go to North Carolina and all of the others is going and has gone already. It's been gone for people that came into the country illegally.
They're missing a billion dollars that they gave to migrants coming into our country.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIP: If you can believe it, none of that is true. That was a lot of lies in a few seconds. Why does Donald Trump continue to insist on politicizing the storm that is actively still occurring, people are still in need of help, and lying about it so consistently?
FMR. LT. GOV. ABEL MALDONADO (R-CA): Abby, I don't see him politicizing this storm. He is down there showing that he's the leader.
PHILLIP: But he's claiming that Biden is withholding aid because these people are, I guess, presumptively Republicans. That's just patently false.
MALDONADO: I think President Trump is down there making a very big point and raising the flag of this state needs a lot of help, and he's making a point.
The one thing that you can't accuse of him not being is a leader. And during these storms, Abby --
PHILLIP: But he's -- I mean, Lieutenant Governor, with all due respect, he is lying. He is lying. MADLONADO: I don't see him as not being consistent with the facts, Abby. He wants to make sure every penny that goes to the people of North Carolina --
PHILLIP: Here's the great irony -- hang on a second. Here's the great irony of the situation. Trump is saying that FEMA right now is taking money that was supposed to go to disaster relief and using it for migrants. That is not true. But here is what Trump did. Biden take -- this is the headline from The Washington Post. Biden didn't take FEMA relief money to use on migrants. Trump did. In 2019, the Trump administration, in the middle of a hurricane, told Congress that it was taking $271 million from the DHS programs, including $155 million from disaster relief to pay for immigration detention space. He did that.
MARIA CARDONA, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Abby, if I could jump in, Abel, I'm sorry, lo siento, but you are just so wrong on this.
[22:05:03]
And this boils my blood because I grew up in Puerto Rico and I remember when Donald Trump came down to Puerto Rico and threw paper towels at us.
PHILLIP: How can you forget?
CARDONA: Exactly. And so when he talks about, when he makes out of whole cloth, these ridiculous lies about the administration, which Republican governors have actually said, no, they are getting what they need from this administration, we have talked to President Biden, we have talked to Vice President Harris, they are responding absolutely adequately, more than adequately, we're getting what we need.
Meanwhile, When Trump was president, he gutted FEMA. He did not want to give California the aid that they needed from wildfires until they had to show him a map that the places that needed the help were Republican. It is absolutely insanity what this man is doing. He's not just politicizing the storm but he's putting people's lives in danger.
PHILLIP: It takes a lot of nerve to do this during a hurricane. I mean, Erin, I know you're laughing, but it really -- I mean, I wonder, though, like, is it just because he's like I've got to do whatever it takes, we've got 31 days left, you know, all bets are off?
ERIN PERRINE, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST, AXIOM STRATEGIES: I learned a long time ago to not try and really delve into the deep thinking that goes into Donald Trump's head because that was never our role. We were just always there to never explain but just to let his answer stand. So, trying to explain this is beyond even those words for him.
PHILLIP: Once or twice I heard the tweet speaks for itself.
PERRINE: Yes, I'm sure you will (INAUDIBLE). But we will give Donald Trump credit here. He has been trying to raise money privately as well for disaster relief. He is trying to stand up as an individual citizen to make sure that there is some relief available. But this is such a missed opportunity for this country to come together.
If it had been Kamala Harris or Donald Trump, who said, everybody swords down, what we can do right now is in a bipartisan fashion, stand together and say, let's do a big concert fundraiser. Let's find a way to bring more money into the Red Cross or to other disaster relief organizations and put the swords out. But nobody on either side of the political spectrum decided to say, you know what, this is a moment for true leadership. But, hey, let's have aspirational beliefs in all of our politicians.
PHILLIP: I don't know why you're bringing Kamala Harris into this. The only person who is politicizing this is Donald Trump. He's the one guy doing it.
PERRINE: I'm not arguing the premise of what you're saying there, but what I'm saying is an opportunity for both sides to be better than they were in this situation. Because, ultimately, if you want to show leadership, if Kamala Harris is standing there saying, I'm the difference, I'm the other option, I'm the adult in the room, there was an opportunity right there to do it, but she didn't. And I'm not going to --
PHILLIP: Let me --
BOMANI JONES, PODCAST HOST, THE RIGHT TIME WITH BOMANI JONES: Look, this isn't complex. When Trump thinks he has an issue that is a winner for him, he is going to pound everything into that issue. He thinks immigration is the issue that matters. So, everything's going to go back to immigration.
Now, I do find it fascinating and interesting. He's real bad with what if money, right? Like this is one of the things about the pandemic. That's a what if situation. The disaster stuff is a what if situation. He don't think that far, right? So any money that's supposed to be for the what if is money that he will have historically diverted into something else.
I'm sure his people know that at some point somebody was going to say, hey, you know, Trump was the one that kind of got rid of some of this what if money for something like this. So, what do you do? You just redirect it and talk about the thing that you think wins and that you think you can fool people into saying, no matter what, this money is gone toward immigration. That's going to be the line that he pounds for a month because it's the one thing I think he thinks he can win on.
MALDONADO: Where is President Trump today? He's down there. He's showing leadership, Bomani.
JONES: I don't feel like going down there and showing leadership.
MALDONADO: What do you mean?
CARDONA: He's taking advantage of the situation.
MALDONADO: When you have a disaster like this, and you are the leader, I got to tell you, people want to see you down there. The people are hurting. People have passed away. They want you down there.
CARDONA: He doesn't care about the people. I'm sorry.
MALDONADO: You know, this notion that if they go down there, it's a distraction, that is not the case. That is not the case.
JONES: No. Somebody running for president should go down there. I'm just telling you, ain't everybody happy.
PHILLIP: All right, Roy.
ROY WOOD JR., CNN HOST: Yes, I mean, the idea that Trump is going to go down there and be earnest because he actually cares about the people when he can use this as an opportunity to stir up his fan base on lies that every week this -- I mean, we're in October now, so the lie counter is reset. But the idea that, remember, last week the lie was McDonald's and you don't work at McDonald's in the week before that, now we're off of the Haitian pet sandwiches. We're not even talking about that anymore.
So, it's whatever I can say this week to get you all riled up because immigration, like Bomani said, that's the thing that I believe is going to get people out to the polls. So, he's using these people in despair, these people who are still in these homes stranded. You got strangers taking their own helicopters up the ridge to bring people down. And he's using that as a way to activate.
And like even if you try to do something bipartisan, some sort of concert, I don't even know what that concert would look like, as divided as we are now, because you're not going to get Kid Rock and Meg Thee Stallion in the same green room to Kumbaya in the name of disaster relief.
[22:10:01]
But I think Biden is the president. And if Biden has done what he's supposed to do, which so far he has, according to the governors in those states, then everything is done.
PERRINE: Well, to be fair, Governor Kemp did have to push back on him. Originally, only 11 of the counties in Georgia were declared disaster counties. He had to call back into the White House and to FEMA and say, hey guys, you're ignoring some of the rural counties here. Can you look again? Then the number went up to 41. So to be --
PHILLIP: They responded.
PERRINE: but I'm saying (INAUDIBLE), let's be clear --
PHILLIP: It sounds like a very normal interaction between a state and federal government.
PERRINE: But it wasn't from the jump. There were consistent conversations and Republican governors had to go back on behalf of their states and advocate for more.
CARDONA: but they got what they needed. And here --
PHILLIP: Let's just let Brian Kemp speak for himself.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GOV. BRIAN KEMP (R-GA): The president just called me yesterday afternoon. I missed him and called him right back. And he just said, hey, what do you need? And I told him, you know, we got what we need. He offered that if there's other things we need just to call him directly.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIP: It sounds like he did exactly that and the problem was resolved.
But speaking of Brian Kemp, the other person that Donald Trump was spending some time with is him. And they have not always had the best relationship. The --
WOOD: He couldn't find votes for him.
PHILLIP: Right, Donald Trump couldn't find the 11,000 votes that he asked for. But the interaction today, I just thought it was really fascinating to watch these two men who -- Trump has spent so much time criticizing Brian Kemp publicly and now they're shaking hands.
MALDONADO: What does that tell you? What does that say?
PHILLIP: I think we have the video, right?
CARDONA: That he's a hypocrite and he's -- that's exactly what he felt.
PHILLIP: Here's the handshake. It's one of those --
MALDONADO: that tells me that Governor Kemp is really pushing for Donald J. Trump to become the next president of the United States. And, obviously, he's afraid of having Kamala's economy come into play. So, he's going to do whatever he can to help Donald J. Trump. They're -- today, that image was images, we're working strong for Georgia.
JONES : Or is he just entertaining the possibility that Donald Trump might become the president at which point you might want to shake his hand the last time.
CARDONA: I actually think it's the flipside. I think that Donald Trump --
JONES: Well, he needs it more.
CARDONA: No, exactly. I think that Donald Trump is really concerned about what's happening in Georgia. He is seeing the numbers. He is seeing Kamala Harris' rallies. He is seeing the early vote and it is all -- Democrats are doing really well. And so he says to himself, oh my God, a month ago, I was absolutely down on Kemp, and I was insulting the guy a month ago. Now, I'm going to have to go and suck up to him, or else I am toast.
MALDONADO: It's not sucking up. It's working together for the people of Georgia and for the people of North Carolina.
CARDONA: Then how come -- then why was it different a month ago when he was insulting Kemp?
MALDONADO: It's politics.
CARDONA: No, it's Donald Trump's politics.
MALDONADO: Today is not politics. We have a natural disaster day.
PHILLIP: Just in case anybody at home is confused about what we are talking about here, here's the video of Brian Kemp and Donald Trump over the last couple weeks.
MALDONADO: He didn't grin?
WOOD: No, he didn't grin.
CARDONA: No, he did not, exactly.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: Your governor and your secretaries of state, they're petrified of Stacey Abrams.
What they have done to your state, I think most people have no idea what they've done to your state.
I'll be here in about a year-and-a-half campaigning against you, Governor, I guarantee you that.
No, we work together. We've always worked together very well, very, really well.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MALDONADO: All the time.
CARDONA: No, I'm sorry, it doesn't.
MALDONADO: All the time on both the Republican side and on the Democrat side.
CARDONA: It doesn't even happen with Republican politics. It happens with Donald Trump politics.
MALDONADO: He's not a politician though. You got to admit he's not a politician.
(CROSSTALKS)
MALDONADO: He's a leader and he's a businessman. He's not a politician. JONES: (INAUDIBLE) you got to be a politician.
MALDONADO: No.
JONES: I'm just going to throw that out there.
MALDONADO: Do you think four years are going to change him as a businessman? No, he's a businessman. He's not a politician.
WOOD: If there's no hurricane, is Trump trying to make --
MALDONADO: And that's what people love about him. He's not a politician.
WOOD: If there's no hurricane, is Trump trying to make peace with the governor of a battleground state?
MALDONADO: Of course, he was before, absolutely.
CARDONA: A month ago, he was calling him a loser. That's trying to make peace with him?
PHILLIP: Erin, go ahead. Hang on, Maria. Hang on. Go ahead, Erin.
PERRINE: To the premise of your question, would Donald Trump be working with a Republican governor of a battleground state in the last 60 days leading up to the election, whether or not he likes him or lumps him? Absolutely, whether or not there was the hurricane or not.
Regardless of that, of course, Brian Kemp has an incredibly strong ground game and institutional knowledge of that state. And while Donald Trump may not like Brian Kemp all the time, and I'm sure that might go both ways, but I'm not going to judge either man on their personal opinion of each other, they will, of course, work together to be able to turn on that ground game, because at the end of the day, Brian Kemp is supporting Donald Trump and not Kamala Harris.
PHILLIP: I think you're totally right that in a normal world, it would be obvious that Donald Trump would want to be very close with the governor of the state of Georgia.
[22:10:01]
But the problem is he wasn't until very recently.
CARDONA: He's using him.
PHILLIP: And the only reason --
PERRINE: You guys are suspending the political reality.
MALDONADO: And that is big on both of them are. That is big on both of them to come together and --
PHILLIP: All right. This is the thing I'm going to say about this, and we got to go. The reason for the rift is because Brian Kemp didn't back Donald Trump up on his election lies. The reason for the brokered relationship now is because Donald Trump needs Georgia in order to win the presidency.
Everyone, hang tight. Coming up next, Donald Trump's prediction of a Kamala crash, that Kamala Harris economy we were just talking about. Well, it didn't come true. Their new jobs numbers show a resilient American economy just a couple of days away from the election.
Plus did an Oklahoma school superintendent just turn its schools into Donald Trump's personal collection plate. We're going to explain the latest MAGA grift. You are watching NewsNight. State of the Race.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[22:20:00]
PHILLIP: If elections are really about the economy, stupid, then consider this really good news for Kamala Harris. Today's monthly jobs report, it was a blockbuster. Just listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We came in much hotter than expected on the non- farm jobs number, 254,000 jobs were created.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This comes with the election 32 days away and the economy remains the top issue.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Wow. That's pretty amazing. So, those are really good numbers, very good numbers. So, you know, they'll be talking about that.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Better than expected, yes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I just hope these are the actual numbers and they're not adjusted again. But if it is, then it's a good win for the country.
LOU BASENESE, PRESIDENT, MDB CAPITAL: I'm an optimistic guy, but I got to be honest. I thought there'd be more red flags than had a communist parade in this report and there's not a single one. There's not one data point in here that I can point to that's not good.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIP: Those are some pretty glowing reviews of this latest jobs report, but Donald Trump says don't believe any of it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: Inflation has devastated our economy. It's one of the big problems we have. And on jobs, we have -- the illegals have taken more jobs than anybody else. You have illegals coming in and they're taking the jobs. And when you look at the numbers from that standpoint, it's a shame. We have to get the jobs to the people that have lived here for a long time. And they are great, great citizens of our country. (END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIP: It's a good jobs report. And this is really -- I mean, we'll have one more before the November election. But I think the signs are pretty clear. When you talk to economists, the economy is doing well. The chances of recession have pretty much passed. Those are the facts,
PERRINE: But you might talk to economists and they say that, but that's still not getting to the American people every day. And while mortgage rates might be coming down and there might be strong economic numbers, including jobs numbers, which is a great sign for the economy, every day, the American people see two numbers that they likely remember. It's the price of gas because they drive past the gas station every day and it's the price of groceries when they walk in.
And when people are saying they can't afford chips anymore because they feel like a luxury item, even if the job numbers look good -- yes, like potato chips. Yes, I've heard a woman on the radio actually say that to NPR that she no longer buys chips because those feel like a luxury item to her because of how much costs have gone up and how restricted her budget is. Until the American people start to feel it while the headlines and the numbers are good, until the American people feel it, it's a very hard sell for Democrats.
PHILLIP: One of the interesting parts about this conversation, the reason I think it's important to have it now, is because the poll numbers also show Kamala Harris closed the gap with Donald Trump on the economy. Something is happening here where there is an appreciation for the economic reality among the electorate.
That is also happening.
CARDONA: I think what's happening is that while there are still a lot of people that are hurting and Kamala Harris has been very smart to be speaking to those people to say, here's what I'm going to do to continue to drive down costs. But the reality is, and I've heard this in focus groups and you can see it in the closing of the gap on the economy, people are feeling better about their own situation. They are feeling better about what they can do with their families. It's not all there, but the fact that she speaks to the issues that people are still worried about, and we're seeing these numbers, and it also includes wages that are up, manufacturing is up, the stock market is through the roof, right, all of the indications are going in the right direction at the right moment.
When everyone says, oh, it's the economy, stupid. Well, yes, okay. If that's what you believe, and it is true, these are the numbers that people are seeing and they are the numbers that people are starting to feel as well.
JONES: Look, we got two things, right? One, notice again, Trump tried to make that about immigration. That's the note that he's playing this week. But I contend that all the discussion about the economy, and we could talk about the larger reports that say everything else, people are not studying to figure out what the economy is. They don't care about the economy is about 100 million little economies everywhere and everybody cares about. Their own economy is my house. How am I doing now? The jobs numbers, like I think I saw this for, I think it was black people over 20 went from like 5.1 to -- 5.9 percent unemployment to 5.1, which is a crazy job to have in one month. Those are the things that people think about. If the economy got me a job that I didn't have before, you know, this economy thing ain't really as bad as I thought it was the other day.
CARDONA: You're going to like it.
MALDONADO: Every time there's been job numbers that come out, they just seem to be readjusted. You know, we all talk about it's a good numbers or great numbers. Then about four or five weeks go by, oh, I'm sorry, we've got to adjust them down here.
[22:25:01]
PHILLIP: Well, that happens -- well, hold on. Let me just -- hang on.
MALDONADO: We're sending a message to everybody, things are great. Things are not good in America.
PHILLIP: Let me just clarify here.
CARDONA: Oh, wow.
PHILLIP: Economic numbers, jobs numbers are almost always adjusted. They're adjusted up. They're adjusted down. The question is, what direction is the economy headed in? And it's been pretty clear after several months, including the adjustments, the direction is headed -- unemployment is going down, inflation is going down, jobs are going up, that is the direction.
CARDONA: The last two months were adjusted up, Maria, more, more jobs.
MALDONADO: You said things are good. You said things are good. With all due respect, you said things are great, or good. Let me tell you something, things are not good in America. Real people are hurting out there today. Half of our population is broke.
CARDONA: I don't think you heard me, Abel. What I'm saying is that the economic numbers --
MALDONADO: Everybody is waiting for Friday to pay the bills. They can barely pay the bills.
PHILLIP: Bomani just made a really important point.
MALDONADO: What's that, Bomani?
PHILLIP: It is true that people have been struggling in this country for a long time. Economic inequality has been going up and up for decades.
JONES: Like the greatest farce of American politics is all this talking to the middle class about how much you care about them and ignoring the fact that that becomes a smaller group. That's what everybody does. So, the idea that there are people struggling, there are. My point is the report is not going to answer the question. People are not waiting for the report to come out to be like, hey, guys, I think the economy is going okay. They're just looking around their own house. And if you got more -- and if the report indicates that more people look around their own worlds and see something better, that's the part that matters, not about the --
CARDONA: That is what is being indicated. And so --
PHILLIP: I want to get Roy in here because this is a little bit just one of those Trump things, right? Today, I guess, in the midst of all of this, he decides to send out this message on his Truth Social, announcing, I should say falsely, that Jamie Dimon, the CEO of JPMorgan Chase, has endorsed him for president, forcing JPMorgan to say that's just not true.
Trump -- the point being, and this is actually the other reason that this conversation is important, Trump was banking on an economic crash that is not happening.
WOOD: And that's why stories like this, I think, have less -- because you know, it's good for Democrats. Okay. Maybe, but the idea of you getting a job this month and the effects of it, and you coming out of getting the car out of repo, and you coming out of getting all the back bills paid, that's a December, January, February equation.
So, when you look at the idea that you still have people that are dealing with a lot of debt and a lot of issues, I still think that lies are the main leverage to influence people. Like you can say this is good for Democrats, but the economy and the mood attached to that, that's a slow turning ship.
PHILLIP: Yes, exactly. It very much is.
CARDONA: But that's why, that's why you have Kamala Harris smartly focused on those people who might not be feeling these numbers. And --
WOOD: Trust me, give me a few more months, and it's going to get better.
CARDONA: And here's what I will do --
MALDONADO: That's why 48 percent --
PERRINE: The big problem for Democrats right now, if you look historically speaking about right track, wrong track in the country, when you poll it more broadly, right now is the incumbent party for Democrats where their number sits on wrong track is so high that no incumbent party has won the presidency in decades with a number this high. So, this is just something Democrats need to keep in mind. While the vibes might feel better for the party and they've got things that they can message on, the American people are telling you they are not feeling it.
And I'm a Republican, so gosh darn, I don't get paged by Democrats to give them advice. But unless you're actually getting a way to sell that to the American people, they aren't really --
CARDONA: So you're right, that, normally, that number historically would say, okay, this party is going to lose because of the right track, wrong track number. Recently though, that wasn't the case in 2022. And, in fact, you asked so many Democrats --
PERRINE: But midterms and presidentials are different.
CARDONA: Understood. But still today, if you ask a lot of my Democratic friends, if things are going in the right direction in this country, they'll say, no. Are you going to vote for Kamala Harris? Absolutely, yes, because they feel --
PERRINE: You're just saying your Democrat --
CARDONA: Yes, that's what I'm telling you. They are some of the ones that are saying that the wrong track in this --
PERRINE: The vast majority of Americans, obviously.
CARDONA: Well, so what I'm telling you is it doesn't track with who they're going to vote for.
PHILLIP: We got to go here, but it's almost like when you ask people about what democracy means to them, it means different things to different people, depending on where they sit and what they're talking about.
Everyone stick around coming up next for us. Church meets state. Schools in Oklahoma are requiring Bibles in the classroom, but Republican lawmakers are rewriting the rules to make sure that they aren't just any Bibles.
And Trump returns to Butler, Pennsylvania tomorrow, the scene of the assassination attempt against him. We're going to talk about who else is going to be there with him.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[22:34:17]
PHILLIP: Put this one in the pantheon of grifts, Oklahoma is now requiring classrooms to have bibles. And now MAGA-friendly lawmakers are writing the rules to leave schools with just one option --one option to supply the good book. They are MAGA Bibles. Here's the story.
The agency that runs Oklahoma's schools set out really specific guidelines for the Bibles that will ultimately be handed out to students. They have to be a King James Bible. They have to have the Pledge of Allegiance. They have to have the Declaration of Independence and they have to have the Old and New Testaments -- one would hope, and they have to have the Constitution.
UNKNOWN: What?
PHILLIP: So, where might you find such bibles?
[22:35:00]
Well, God bless the USA Bibles are exactly that. They're printed by musician Lee Greenwood and they are blessed by Donald Trump.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES AND CURRENT PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE (R): It's my favorite book. It's a lot of people's favorite book.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIP: Well, his favorite book also costs $60. And there's another one that he has also endorsed that costs $90. And so, when you look at it, $3 million, about 50,000 books, that's a lot of money. And there's only one book that basically makes the cut. It's pretty incredible.
WOOD JR.: Fabulous. That one like -- that one like silver or like hard-bound or something like that? Why is the we, the -- why is that one 90? Like, what extra do I get?
PERRINE: It's got all the Constitution. It's got the Declaration of Independence. You get Donald Trump's blessing.
WOOD JR.: If I pay $90 for a bible, I'm going to heaven.
PERRINE: Or if it's Donald Trump's bible, you might go somewhere else.
PHILLIP: Okay. I mean, look, a regular bible will set you back five bucks. Ten bucks. Maybe 20.
PERRINE: Three actually, on Amazon. You can get it at $3 on Amazon.
PERRINE: Let's just start with the very beginning of this, which was this Oklahoma decision to have to mandate Bibles in schools. Oklahoma students are struggling so much with math and reading and writing right now, as are lots of students across the United States because of being left behind because of the pandemic and limited resources and education at this point.
The idea that we are now mandating the Bible be taught in school darned the separation of church and state. And I am a Republican and I own a bible. I can tell you this is not going on the right track. When I first heard this, I thought, okay, he's trying to make a move to get this to the Supreme Court, right? He's going to try and litigate this and make this a big case.
But now that I'm seeing this Bible play on it, not only did I not like it in the first place because if we're not teaching our students how to be competitive in the global economy, we are not soothing our students at all.
And that can also mean STEM. It can mean career technical training, can mean any number of things. But the Bible's on top of it. I don't like any of it. Teach kids what they need to know to succeed in America. This isn't hard.
PHILLIP: And also, don't try -- I mean, I think the part of it where, it's been amazing. I mean, it's the shoes, it's the bibles. He's got $100,000 watches. I mean, I've never seen a presidential candidate, let alone a former president doing this kind of thing. where essentially it's just --
MALDONADO: Well, I mean, hold on. Are we talking about him making this is his livelihood? No.
PHILLIP: I'm just saying --
MALDONADO: This is a president --
PHILLIP: In the midst of him running for president, he's doing all of this. This is just unusual.
MALDONADO: He gave up his $400,000 salary and he gave it to charity.
JONES: Yes, that's cool.
MALDONADO: So, he's not doing this for five bucks, six bucks. Come on.
JONES: Oh yes, because Trump don't do nothing for money. You're right.
UNKNOWN: No. He just wants to give it all away.
JONES: He doesn't care about money at all. He's Andrew Farley. You're right.
MALDONADO: For five bucks, Bomani?
UNKNOWN: It's not five bucks. It's 60 bucks.
JONES: But look, here's what I'm saying.
PHILLIP: Hang on.
JONES: We're not talking enough about the fact that -- and I don't know what Trump gets from these things. I don't know how much Lee Greenwood gets, right? I know this. This is money going from the state to him in some form of fashion. We can't just roll our eyes and shrug that off. That is crazy to stop thinking about.
MALDONADO: But Bomani, I think we're setting the stage here that he's doing this money for him. We don't know that.
UNKNOWN: He's getting some cut in it.
MALDONADO: But yet we're insinuating -- we're insinuating that it's money for him.
JONES: Well, let me ask you a question. Let me ask you a question.
MALDONADO: Do you really think that President Trump needs money from a Bible for him? Then let go of the Bible's end. I mean, that's not President Trump's choice. That's the state. That's the education department in the State of Oklahoma.
PHILLIP: Hang on. If Trump didn't need the money then -- why does he bother to hawk all of these things? I don't I mean, I think you're right. I think you're right. Trump is extremely wealthy. He has a lot of money.
MALDONADO: Yes.
PHILLIP: But he is selling shoes --
MALDONADO: Look what he did over there with the Hurricane Helene, with GoFund Me -- $6 million. He's raising it.
UNKNOWN: GoFundMe --other people --
PHILLIP: -- and watches and bibles --
UNKNOWN: If I may -- if I may play Double Zep, they could hear also -- the man sells steak and wine.
JONES: You guys say he's so rich and then say he raised money out of GoFundMe.
MALDONADO: We don't know how much he's given, Bomani, but I'm sure he's given money. We don't know that.
CARDONA: But let's remember two things. Let's remember two things.
PHILLIP: Hold on, Maria. Let me let Erin finish.
PERRINE: To be clear, like, this is not the only thing Donald Trump sells. He has been a businessman. It has been wine and champagne and steaks and hats and shirts and bath bombs and soaps. This is not new for Donald Trump.
So, while this might be different because he is a former president, if you put it in the more totality of who Donald Trump as a person, as a businessman, you can at least give it a little bit more sense.
PHILLIP: Don't you think he should at least pause it while he's running for president?
PERRINE: Listen, I've never seen a candidate sell and do this in this fashion before, but Donald Trump does plenty of things.
CARDONA: It's incredibly unseemly because this is money. This is taxpayer money. And to your point, Erin, the state superintendent is in trouble because he has not gotten inhalers to the children in Oklahoma that suffer from asthma and instead, he's now going to spend this money on $60 bibles for Donald Trump. That's insidious.
MALDONADO: Maria, Maria, we're talking about bibles in Oklahoma. We're talking about bibles in Oklahoma.
CARDONA: Do you think that's good government?
[22:40:00]
MALDONADO: But people can't even feed their families at home. Let's talk about jobs.
CARDONA: Do you think that's good government? Do you think that's good government?
PHILLIP: I actually think -- that's a great point.
MALDONADO: That's not my -- okay. That's Oklahoma.
PHILLIP: That's a great point.
MALDONADO: That's Oklahoma.
PHILLIP: That's a great point. People are struggling.
MALDONADO: They're struggling.
PHILLIP: Shouldn't the government be spending more?
MALDONADO: And we're talking about $5 --$40 bible.
PHILLIP: Yes, yes. Shouldn't the government be spending its money on -- with helping those people?
CARDONA: And on inhalers?
MALDONADO: That's the state of Oklahoma.
PHILLIP: Yes, that's what I'm asking.
MALDONADO: That's the state of Oklahoma.
CARDONA: You used to be a state legislator.
MALDONADO: Yes,
CARDONA: So, can you answer that question?
MALDONADO: I mean, as a state legislator in California, that would never happen. But in Oklahoma, that's a whole different state. That's just the way it is, Maria.
CARDONA: Because it's Trump, it's okay.
MALDONADO: No, it's not Trump.
CARDONA: Essentially, it's what you're saying. Are you kidding me? That's what you're saying.
MALDONADO: This guy --
CARDONA: Anything that Trump does, you can excuse.
MALDONADO: President Trump got $400,000 a year, he donated and you think he's worried about making a little bit of money on the bible?
JONES: All right, even if it's not him, all I'm going to say is, no Republicans ever going to balance the budget by a $60 bribe.
MALDONADO: Right.
JONES: That's what you all be talking about.
MALDONADO: Let's talk about jobs.
CARDONA: Insidious governance.
PERRINE: Balance the budget, it's like we're back in the Paul Ryan era of politics.
PHILLIP: Okay, well. All right, Roy.
WOOD JR.: I don't understand. If Trump has a right to sell the bibles, fine, sell the Bibles. But don't tell me that this is a good idea by the state to do. And if you're going to do it, then buy the $5 Bible. Buy the used Bible. Go to the Motel 6. Steal bibles out the drawers.
PHILLIP: Don't steal the bibles.
WOOD JR.: Steal the bibles. Nobody uses those bibles. Okay, ask the hotel if you can borrow the bible.
MALDONADO: No, no, no. But I think the point we need to make here is that we're leaving the impression that it's the Trump bible and he's making money off the bible and it's always -- it's not that.
PHILLIP: Then what is it?
WOOD J.: What is it?
CARDONA: And of course he's making money off of it.
JONES: Why do you think they specify the Trump Bible then?
MALDONADO: Of course, I mean, I mean --
PHILLIP: Hold on, hold on, hold on. We -- once again, sorry. We have to go. But I just --just to be clear, I mean, we don't -- they have not explicitly said it's the Trump Bible, but there's only one bible that qualifies, and it is the Trump Bible, A. And B, Trump has endorsed it and is getting a cut from it. So, the fact -- those are the facts and we don't know --
MALDONADO: We don't know that, Abby. We don't know what the cut is.
PHILLIP: We don't know what he's doing with it.
MALDONADO: Right, we don't know that.
PHILLIP: But it's going to be.
MALDONADO: But we're insinuating that it is.
PHILLIP: Hang on, guys.
MALDONADO: That's the problem here.
UNKNOWN: He's getting a cut.
PHILLIP: We got to move on. We've got a lot more to discuss. The Roy Wood, Bomani, Jones Bibles are coming to you next. But also coming up, the former president goes back to Butler, Pennsylvania tomorrow. He is also bringing along a famous friend with him.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[22:46:29]
PHILLIP: Back in Butler tomorrow. Donald Trump is going to return to the very place where he almost lost his life after a would-be assassin's bullet missed him by mere inches. And when he arrives, he'll have some famous company with him, namely Elon Musk.
Now, the ex-owner joined Trump in blaming rhetoric from Democrats for fueling the assassination attempt. But Musk, you can say, is throwing stones from a glass house. He also mused aloud about why someone wouldn't take a literal shot at President Biden or Vice President Harris. Now, Abel, I'm told that you will be there tomorrow.
MALDONADO: Yes.
PHILLIP: What is Trump -- first of all, what is the purpose of this trip? And what is Trump going to say, you think? What should he say?
MALDONADO: Well, I haven't talked to him about what he's going to say. But in my mind, I'd like to see him say, I'm here to finish my speech. And as I was saying, and he's going to finish his speech. That's what I see him doing.
Look, in California, we had a president named Ronald Reagan who was shot. And it was very somber moment in our life. And he said that God saved his life and put him in a position of leadership to bring America back to greatness.
And I think I see that with Donald J. Trump, to be very sincere with you. This is a man who was given a speech and whether you like him or not, he is a true American who loves his country. Somebody try to take his life.
And here tomorrow, he's going to go back to a very special moment, and I just can't wait to see it, Abby, because I think it is historic, very historic. He's a fighter. He's a fighter. That's why he's going back. He's going to continue to fight for the American people. And I can't wait to see him tomorrow.
PHILLIP: One of the other things is that Elon -- first of all, tomorrow will be 30 days until the election. So, there's that. It's a clean month. Elon also endorsed him immediately, pretty much after this assassination attempt. So, that might explain why he'll be there again.
But what strikes me about this is that, certainly take what you're saying. I mean, this was honestly a pretty traumatic moment for the whole country. But Trump seems to really be explicitly leaning into the way that this will help him politically. Is that appropriate, you think?
PERRINE: Yes, but I think that's not necessarily for me to say. I don't necessarily -- it wouldn't be my political instinct to go back there for a political speech. It would be my instinct to go back there and pay reverence to those -- the people who lost their lives there and to be able to say, to do something -- to do something for the community, right? In a way to be able to give back.
I've hosted plenty of events that were --had politicians involved but were fundraising in nature for outside communities and for the community that they were in. There's an opportunity again here to unite and be bigger than the moment and be bigger than politics. Will he meet that moment? I can't tell you that.
JONES: I bet you can't.
PERRINE: Guys, come on. Can we put the cynicism away for half a second and let me just finish the statement that, like, there is an opportunity here. And whether or not we actually think he meets the moment, it's fair enough to say it exists, and we should encourage everybody to say that it is.
PHILLIP: Hold on, Maria.
JONES: No, I'm not questioning whether the moment exists, but I don't think it's cynical to say that we have about eight years now a track record to say that he's probably not going to step up to it. Like, I don't think that that's a failing of the person who makes that assumption about it because I think you're right. It is possible. And for a lot of people, that would be the case here.
[22:50:01]
I am more inclined to think that this is a chance for him to have a tough guy moment, right? It's almost like being Tupac, right? Buster shot me five times. Real players don't die. That's what he is there to show, is that you can't take him down. And everything we've seen from him the last eight years indicates that is more likely to be his posture than anything reverent.
WOOD JR.: I think to some degree, he'll play that a little bit on Butler, but I don't even think Trump has really been riding that they tried to kill me, train as hard as he could have after what happened at the golf course. Because otherwise, he could have doubled up on the whole Tupac situation. And I feel like at the RNC, he tried to show some degree of appreciation for the people who lost their lives that day.
But I don't see this being anything other than I'm back, they can't stop me. And then you set up rhetoric that the Democrats are the ones setting him up to be shot, which we know is not true. And then it's back into immigration land. And then we're back into a regular old, it's a --
PHILLIP: That's exactly right. It goes from being like a moment for the country to just being a little bit --
WOOD, JR.: The speeches of Deluxe album, you're going to get two new tracks. And then the rest of the day is going to be what we've already heard.
CARDONA: It inevitably devolves when it has anything to do with Donald Trump. And we all know that his go-to move is to focus on immigration. I bet you he's going to talk about migrants and how they commit crimes and how they kill people. I guarantee you he's going to do that because now he has Elon Musk at his side.
And Elon Musk has now adopted the xenophobic tropes that Donald Trump, including the lies, including the conspiracy theories, and he talks about that every single day on X. And the real ironic thing here is Elon Musk, when he first started pitching all of his businesses for his tech companies, he was undocumented. He was an undocumented immigrant here. So, a little hypocrisy.
MALDONADO: Forty-eight percent of Latinos are supporting Donald Trump, Maria.
CARDONA: No, they're not. That's wrong.
MALDONADO: Forty-eight percent of them are Latino.
CARDONA: They're not. That's not true.
MALDONADO: So, he's going to continue to talk about immigration?
CARDONA: Maybe about 33 percent of Latinos are supporting Donald Trump.
PHILLIP: It really would be a shame if Trump or Elon Musk, because both of them have done this, were to feed into these baseless conspiracies that, quote, unquote, "they were behind this". I mean, we know who was responsible for this and it's not a conspiracy. So, I mean, do you expect that Trump will rise to at least that occasion tomorrow?
MALDONADO: I think President Trump's going to go there and talk about the firefighter family, the person who lost his life and obviously the people that were injured. He's going to talk about them. If you look at the invitation, that family is number one on the invitation.
Number two, everybody who was injured is on that invitation. This is not -- I know we're in politics, okay? But this is a special moment for America. He's going there to finish the speech he was given when somebody tried to take his life.
WOOD JR.: Are you excited? MALDONADO: Somebody wanted to say, you're not going to be president.
Somebody else is going to be, and he's not going to let a bullet decide who a president -- he took a bullet for us.
PHILLIP: Let me -- let me let Roy in.
WOOD JR.: Are you excited to see Elon Musk at this moment, the moment this grand?
MALDONADO: You know what?
WOOD JR.: Is that who should be sharing --
MALDONADO: Let me share something with you. I look at Elon Musk. He's from California. California government ran him out of California which is really bad. Kamala was in California when Elon decided to leave. I mean, Larry Ellison left so this notion, I mean -- I don't want to get this because tomorrow is special. I think tomorrow 's special. Elon is there. And Abby said it very clear. Abby, Abby --
PERRINE: Yes, I think that's a little bit fair to -- I think that maybe, it's a little bit fair to argue is that this is special. And so, if you look at the email that went out from the Trump team listing who's going, it's everybody. I mean, it's the families of those who are affected.
MALDONADO: Right. It's the families.
PERRINE: It's everybody. But for Elon -- Elon's been behind the scene in Republican politics for quite some time. There's recent reporting that he's been funding a lot of these outside super PACs. He's certainly funding one now for the president. So, as Trump goes and finishes this speech, of course he's going to have one of his biggest votes, the voice of voices.
PHILLIP: We got to go. He needs the support from Elon and he needs the money. Everyone stay with me. Coming up next, the panel will give us their nightcaps, including a literal night cap.
UNKNOWN: Why?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[22:58:37]
PHILLIP: We're back and it's time for the "NewsNight" cap. You each have 30 seconds to say your piece. Erin, you're up.
PERRINE: Yes, Kamala Harris got a very abrupt reminder today of who the 46th president of the United States is when she stepped to the podium at the same time that the president did, and networks had to say, who are we going to cover? And they might cover -- they decide they had to cover the president.
She might be the one that steps up after a meeting with Bibi to make quick remarks or after visiting the hurricane to make quick remarks, but she reminded today by the White House, who is sitting in the Oval Office.
PHILLIP: The President speaks, the President speaks.
JONES: Got to say, seen a lot of discussion about this. A lot of us were alive and around for when this trial was going on, but I do think they are correct. You probably should look into whether or not the Menendez Brothers trial would've been a little differently if we had known a few different things. After 30-something years in jail, I'm okay if you give it a second look. You don't necessarily have to change it, but you might want to give it a look.
PHILLIP: Interesting. Go ahead, Roy.
WOOD JR.: I just want to say thank you to Jordan Seidhom who was the pilot who volunteered his helicopter to try and rescue people in the hurricane relief efforts earlier this week and last week. And also thank you to Dolly Parton, who donated a million dollars to the hurricane relief efforts. Do not forget the people down there in the South, they need our help.
PHILLIP: Yes, we love citizen servants. Go ahead.
CARDONA: We always ask whether endorsements actually matter. We now have data that shows that when Taylor Swift posted her endorsement of Kamala Harris on her Instagram account, Democratic registrations went up 88 percent in the three days after that. So, yes, they matter.
[23:00:07]
MALDONADO: Just in closing, I have to disclose that my family does own a small winery.
PHILLIP: You're from California, so --
MALDONADO: But it's definitely in California. But it's wine. It's wine. And the wine industry is going through some very difficult times. Foreign wines coming in and being blended. Inflation, cost of cork bottles, everything's expensive. So, drink more wine. When times are good, drink wine. When times are bad, you can drink more wine.
PHILLIP: All right, that's a good Friday night message. Thank you all for being here. And don't forget to catch Roy Wood Jr. on an episode of "Have I Got News for You". That's tomorrow, 9 P.M. right here on CNN. Have a great weekend. "Laura Coates Live" starts right now.
