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Georgia Election Officials Fight Conspiracy Theories; Interview With Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-OK); Final Battleground Blitz. Aired 1- 1:30p ET

Aired November 04, 2024 - 13:00   ET

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

[13:00:38]

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: All right, this is it. Well, really tomorrow is it.

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: Tomorrow is it, yes.

KEILAR: Tomorrow is Election Day, but this really is the last day of campaigning.

With just hours to go before the first polls open, both candidates are racing to make their final pitches to voters in key battleground states, today, Vice President Kamala Harris crisscrossing Pennsylvania, where she will bring her campaign to a close with a message of optimism. She has five stops planned. She will end her night in Philadelphia with a star-studded event.

SANCHEZ: Meantime, former President Donald Trump will also be in the Keystone State today. He's already held a rally in North Carolina. His final stop tonight will be in Michigan.

Trump is striking a much darker tone on the campaign trail, invoking violent rhetoric against reporters and, as per usual, casting doubt over election integrity.

Meantime, new polling out of Iowa has delivered a gut punch to those inside Trump's orbit. And according to campaign insiders, this has the former president fuming. These numbers show Harris up three points in the reliably red state, but there's still no clear leader. That same poll correctly predicted Trump's victories in Iowa in the last two elections. We should note, it is one poll.

Our correspondents are live for us now on the trail this election eve.

Let's begin with CNN's Steve Contorno traveling with the Trump campaign in Reading, Pennsylvania.

Steve, walk us through the former president's closing message today.

KEILAR: All right, I think we're having a problem with Steve's earpiece there.

SANCHEZ: He's, yes, very focused on reporting and couldn't quite hear me.

But we can go to CNN's Eva McKend, who's now far in Allentown, Pennsylvania, with the Harris campaign.

Eva, what should we expect to hear from Vice President Harris in these final hours before Election Day?

EVA MCKEND, CNN NATIONAL POLITICS CORRESPONDENT: Boris and Brianna, I think it's worth noting how the vice president is closing out her campaign.

Last night in East Lansing, Michigan, she didn't mention the former president by name. And I asked the campaign about this, a campaign telling me that they are focused in these final hours on presenting a tone of hope and optimism as she tries to characterize herself as a new way forward.

Now, can she credibly make that argument given that she is the vice president? It's up to the voters now to decide. But this is what it sounds like on the campaign trail. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KAMALA HARRIS, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES (D) AND U.S. PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We have the momentum because our campaign is tapping into the ambitions, the aspirations, and the dreams of the American people.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MCKEND: And for the past several months, they have put a high priority in Pennsylvania.

They begin the day in Scranton, Joe Biden country, where she will rally with canvassers, those doing the hard work of knocking on doors. She then heads here to Allentown, Pennsylvania. This is the campus of Muhlenberg College,Allentown also the home to a lot of Latino voters, more than 30,000 Puerto Ricans.

She then goes to Reading, Pennsylvania. And I think it's notable who she's campaigning with there, perhaps the most prominent progressive in this country, Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, as well as with Governor Shapiro. She then ends the day with two big rallies in Pittsburgh and in Philadelphia.

And she's telling folks, come off of the sidelines. We don't want to wake up the day after the election feeling as though we couldn't do everything we could to bring home the victory -- Boris, Brianna.

KEILAR: All right, let's go back now to Steve Contorno, who can hear us, we understand, so that he can tell us about what's happening there with former President Trump in his closing message -- Steve.

STEVE CONTORNO, CNN REPORTER: Yes, well, the signage on the wall here in Reading says "Dream big again" and "Trump will fix it." So that is obviously the closing message that the campaign is trying to get across, but Donald Trump in these final moments continuing to attack his political opponents, including former first lady Michelle Obama.

Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES (R) AND CURRENT U.S. PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: And Michelle hit me there. I was so nice to her. Out of respect, I was saying that. She hit me the other day.

I was going to say to my people, am I allowed to hit her now?

(LAUGHTER)

TRUMP: They said, take it easy, sir. Sir, take it easy. My geniuses, I'm -- they said, just take it easy. Oh, what do you mean? She said bad about me. I can't hit back. Sir, you're winning. Just relax.

[13:05:12]

That's -- is that good or bad advice?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CONTORNO: Those remarks came in North Carolina, one of two stops that the former president has in the Tar Heel State, obviously putting a lot of emphasis on North Carolina.

When talking to our team that was on the ground there, they know that the crowd there was noticeably thin. And I will tell you, looking around this arena here, and we actually have some footage of what it looks like just an hour before Trump is scheduled to speak, and it is maybe 30 percent full here.

Now, granted, it is a Monday. This is a well-traveled area in this campaign, and crowd sizes don't mean anything -- everything. But Donald Trump, who has put such a premium on his crowd size and the brand he has built around the enthusiasm amongst his supporters, that it is quite notable how absent this audience is in such a key battleground state.

Now, you mentioned that Iowa poll earlier. And, yes, that certainly has Republicans rattle, particularly because of how it showed women voters are flocking to Donald Trump. Now, I have heard from that campaign, and they are saying that the polling in this gender gap doesn't match the data that they are seeing in who is voting so far. They also feel good about the rural turnout so far.

They see a lower urban turnout, and they are encouraged by their early voting turnout overall. However, those are the warning signs that we have been hearing for weeks from Republicans, that the gender gap is going to be a problem for Donald Trump, and the Iowa poll is just one more canary in the coal mine.

Of course, it all -- what really matters is what happens tomorrow, and we will wait and see if those polls turn out into the results -- Boris and Brianna. KEILAR: All right, Steve Contorno, thank you so much for that report

from Reading, Pennsylvania.

We are joined now by Oklahoma Republican Senator Markwayne Mullin on this final day of the campaign.

And, Senator, I think we have some suspicions about how Oklahoma overall is going to vote. I don't think we are going out on too much of a limb to have those.

I did, though, want to ask you about something that could impact Election Day for many in your state, and that is this tornado threat that has closed schools in some areas today and tomorrow. What are you prepared for in your state, and how might this impact voting?

SEN. MARKWAYNE MULLIN (R-OK): Well, it won't impact voting at all.

Listen, Oklahoma's used to tornadoes, unfortunately. It's kind of like Florida had to be getting used to hurricanes. We just understand it. We had record number early, voting and especially in rural areas. A lot of rural areas, because they only have one polling place, like where I live in, Westville, Adair County, there's only one place.

It's the county seat. And there was lines way out the door. Now, we didn't have three-hour wait lines that some county does -- or some counties were having, but we were -- we're prepared for it. I don't think it's going to affect the turnout at all.

Trump's going to win all 77 counties anyway. So it's really not a big issue. And I'm not trying to say this any type of way, but, Brianna, I will be surprised if Kamala Harris wins five precincts. I mean, it's that -- we're or Trump country. We bleed Trump.

KEILAR: Yes, certainly, which is what I meant about suspicions of how Oklahoma will go.

I do want to talk to you about some of what we have been seeing here on the trail. Former President Trump said "I shouldn't have left," meaning the White House, over the weekend. He also said anyone trying to get him -- quote -- "would have to shoot through the fake news. And I don't mind that so much."

And then, just a short time ago here today, he said that Nancy Pelosi could have gone to jail for ripping up that copy of his State of the Union address a few years back.

This is kind of out-there stuff for a closing message, isn't it?

MULLIN: Well, listen, people want to focus on the on a rhetoric, but really the election is about the economy and the border.

But if you want to focus on the rhetoric, we can talk about it. We can talk about what President Trump said by saying that people are -- or President Biden, I mean, said about Trump supporters by saying we're garbage. We can talk about the rhetoric that Hillary has -- Hillary Clinton has constantly put out there by saying we're deplorables. We can talk about what Kamala Harris calls us constantly is Nazis and

comparing the Madison Square Garden rally to a rally of Adolf Hitler.

KEILAR: She did not do that.

MULLIN: She can -- she calls him Nazi a lot.

And she did compare the rally. And you know she did. She compared the rally to a 1938 rally that Adolf Hitler had.

KEILAR: She did not. Tim Walz did.

(CROSSTALK)

MULLIN: She repeated it, man. We can go through and pull up clips. There's no problem with doing that. There's multiple clips out there calling him a Nazi and comparing him to Nazis.

And so -- but she's using the same rhetoric. But what -- that distracts us. What the news does is distract us with the real issues are. Voters aren't talking about the rhetoric.

[13:10:00]

I have been all over the country. I have been in every battleground state multiple times. Not one time have I been asked about the rhetoric, except on news. Everybody is concerned about the economy and the outrageous inflation that's running out of control and the border and securing the border.

So there's no way the left can run on those topics, because it's their fault that we're in this position with the economy and with our open border. So they had to revert to rhetoric. But they only pay attention to one side. They don't pay attention...

(CROSSTALK)

KEILAR: But, Senator, I guess that's my point, is that those issues, voters want to hear about that, right?

So he's in North Carolina, crucial for his electoral map strategy. Do you think voters there, I mean, some of whom -- if we're talking about the economy, some people there must be -- they're thinking about it even more than usual. They have just been through this terrible natural disaster.

Do they want that? Do they want that kind of talk, or do they want a steady hand?

MULLIN: What President Trump constantly does is, he does a really good job of keeping and capturing the audience's attention.

And he always talks about the border. He always talks about this strong economy, because he's the business guy in there. He understands the economy and understands what it happens to it. And he always talks about our bringing America back to making America great again. And he also talks about fixing it.

He makes points all the time that Harris and the Biden administration broke it and he will fix it. That's honest statement. But at the same time he throws out and he panders to the crowd a little bit by like talking about what Michelle Obama said about him.

And he didn't talk anything bad about her. He's just like, should I go back at her? Because he has a tendency to go back at people. He's just talking to the crowd and engaging them. And his crowd loves it. That's why you see record numbers everywhere.

I mean, the last stop I was with him was in was in Wisconsin and Milwaukee, and there was 25,000 people there late at night cheering him on because they love the guy. And that -- we saw that over and over again for -- I don't care if I was in Albuquerque, New Mexico, or Las Vegas or in Phoenix, Arizona, or in Detroit, Michigan, or Milwaukee or all the other places I have had the privilege of going with him.

And guess what? The same crowds have turned out for J.D. Vance too, because they understand what the people are wanting to talk about. And they hit those points. At the same time, they get the crowd riled up. And that's not a bad thing, that they get a lot of laughter and they have -- that people have fun at these rallies. That's why they come to them.

KEILAR: You mentioned Albuquerque. You were there at his New Mexico rally last week.

MULLIN: Yes.

KEILAR: You spoke at it. We saw you speak there. He said at that rally that he won New Mexico twice, which he didn't. He lost it by eight and 10 points, I think, in 2016 and 2020 respectively.

Do you think he can win New Mexico?

MULLIN: I think it's a shot. I think he has a real opportunity there. We're seeing positive numbers everywhere.

If you look at 20 polls, one may have it bad. The other 20 will have him up. Either it's a toss-up or he's leading by one, two, three, or four points. I mean, you look at Nevada, you look at Pennsylvania, you look at Michigan, you look at Wisconsin, North Carolina, Georgia, Arizona, Nevada, and then New Mexico.

New Mexico, he -- we're down. We understand that, but it's still a possible win for us, because we're within the margin of error. So what he -- what President Trump has done is, he hasn't taken anything for granted. He's taken it -- but he's taken the fight to the enemy's camp. He stood there in Detroit, Michigan.

He stood there in Albuquerque, New Mexico. He went downtown to Madison Square Garden in New York City, and he's presented his message, and a record number of people are turning out to support him. So what else does he have to do to win? He's truly working circles around Kamala Harris. And no one can debate that.

I mean, the amount of rallies he's doing, the amount of telephone calls he's making, the interviews that he's doing, it's -- it's amazing to see his energy level.

KEILAR: We obviously know that he wants to win. If he does so, he will be incredibly happy.

If he loses, though, and the election is certified, do you think he will concede that he lost?

MULLIN: You know, we're not talking about hypothetical questions here, because we're going to win the race.

KEILAR: This is not hypothetical. He's lost before. So, do you think he will concede if he loses?

(CROSSTALK)

MULLIN: People want to talk about -- how about asking that what happened in 2016?

Because, remember, in 2016, everybody talked about, including Hillary Clinton, including Nancy Pelosi, that said he was an illegitimate president.

(CROSSTALK)

KEILAR: Hillary Clinton conceded the race. Would Donald Trump concede the race if he loses?

MULLIN: I'm saying that we're not going to concede because we're going to win. We're going to win the race. So there's no point even talking about second place. We're going to come in first.

KEILAR: You know how elections go, Senator. You better consider the possibility that you can lose.

MULLIN: Well...

(CROSSTALK)

KEILAR: If he loses, will he concede? He's lost before.

MULLIN: We don't think about what-ifs. We're going to think about winning.

[13:15:00]

Any time I stepped into the ring or I stepped on the mat, I never thought about what might happen if I lose. I stepped out there believing I was going to win. And if I was -- if I ever did lose, which I didn't, but if I ever lost a fight, then I would...

(CROSSTALK)

KEILAR: OK, but we're not talking about cage fighting. We're talking about the presidential election.

MULLIN: But it's the same thing. It's you're in a fight right now. And President Trump is a fighter, and he's in a fight.

We're not thinking about what might or might not happen. We're thinking about winning. And at the end of that, we will win. But I will tell you right now, I guarantee you, both sides will claim foul no matter who wins.

(CROSSTALK)

KEILAR: Of course you're thinking about whether you win or lose. That's inherent in an election. That's how people...

MULLIN: I get that.

But I'm telling you, we're not focused on that. What we're focused about is bringing the message to the American people about the economy and about the border. If it doesn't turn out the way we want it to, we will deal with that at the time, but right now that's not even an option.

There's no plan B. It's only plan A. And the plan A is to win and bring back the country.

KEILAR: Senator Mullin, thank you so much for your time. We appreciate it.

We certainly hope that this severe weather bypasses Oklahoma.

MULLIN: I appreciate you thinking of us. And, hopefully, maybe I will get a visit with you guys tomorrow evening.

KEILAR: All right, sir, thank you so much.

Next to battleground Georgia, a state that is now a possible target of Russian misinformation.

SANCHEZ: The state's top election official, a Republican, will join us after the break to discuss election security, as well as claims of election fraud currently being spread by members of his own party.

Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:20:50]

KEILAR: Georgia is one of the seven swing states that is up for grabs in this election. Joe Biden won that state in 2020, a huge upset, by fewer than 12000 votes.

And so far, more than four million people have already voted in the 2024 election there.

SANCHEZ: But a viral video is fueling misinformation and exposing a rift inside the Republican Party. This video that's been circulating appears to show immigrants voting with multiple fake I.D.s.

The Republican secretary of state's office warned it was a fake. And U.S. intelligence agencies say they believe it is linked to Russia. But some Trump supporters in Georgia say they do not believe it.

We're joined now live by Gabe Sterling. He's the chief operating officer of the Georgia secretary of state's office.

Sir, thank you so much for being with us.

You and other folks in Georgia have been battling misinformation. Are your attempts to correct the record, though, breaking through, or are you finding that folks are still believing stuff that's false?

GABRIEL STERLING, CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER, GEORGIA SECRETARY OF STATE'S OFFICE: I think the vast majority of our information is getting through and being believed by the vast majority of people.

But there is a cadre of people who you could tell them the sky's blue and they would say, no, it's not. And you're not going to save some of those people. And they want to believe it so badly that they have to.

KEILAR: We're seeing a lawsuit that was filed yesterday by the RNC and the Georgia Republican Party in federal court. It challenges hand- returned absentee ballots that were received this weekend in Fulton, DeKalb, Cobb, Gwinnett, Athens, Clark, Clayton, and Chatham counties.

And the lawsuit is claiming that allowing voters to return absentee ballots in person -- so they take their absentee ballot in person to election offices over the weekend and Monday -- violate state law.

Does it? And if not, what are the plaintiffs trying to do here, in your opinion?

STERLING: A court already ruled on this, a state court on Saturday morning, saying that it obviously did not violate law. In fact, black letter law says, registrar's office, you can physically drop them off. It's in the 21 section of the code.

And there was an issue with Fulton County not telling people that ahead of time. They surprised people. They were legally within their rights, but they handled it wrong. I think now part of this is really they're trying to stir up people to think there's an issue going on, when, in real life, there just really isn't an issue going on.

And the entirety, there are four locations open in Fulton County, and they were over Saturday and Sunday. It's 305 ballots out of the 4,020,000 ballots cast so far. And they all -- no one is arguing -- these are legal votes. These were actual voters who requested it by the deadline and were trying to return it.

And all of us across the country, including the United States Postal Service, says, don't mail them now. It's too late. This is the only way to get them in so their votes can be cast.

SANCHEZ: Poll watchers are obviously a key component of election transparency. But we have learned that, in Georgia, the Republican Party is tapped a handful of folks that you can describe as election skeptics as statewide poll watchers.

Do you have any concerns about these folks?

STERLING: They're Georgians, and they are allowed to -- if the party designates them and they go through training and they have their credentials, they can go watch these processes.

And, frankly, I encourage people who are skeptics to go watch the process, because, if you watch the process, you realize that you have been led a -- fed a line of untruths for a very long period of time, and understand our system is secure and safe and only legal people are voting, and all those legal votes are going to get counted.

KEILAR: So you're not anticipating any issues from these poll watchers?

STERLING: Well, one of the things I always talk about when I talk to Republicans and Democrats alike when they train poll watchers for this said it ought to be in big block letters on the first page: Don't be a jerk.

If you walk in there and you're polite and you're listening and you follow the protocols, you're going to be fine. If you're going to be disruptive, then you're going to be asked to leave, because the main thing we're trying to take care of is making sure that voters have a very good voting experience, where they feel safe and secure and none of the processes are interrupted.

If they see something, the protocol is to call their lawyers back at the office. They're not supposed to interfere or do anything. There are times where there can be aggressive people on both sides who have done this.

[13:25:05]

We have had Democrat poll watchers stop people from going to their other polling place and demand they go in and do a provisional. They're intimidating voters just as much. So we have tried to treat everybody fairly and evenly in these citizens exercising their designated duties.

SANCHEZ: Don't be a jerk seems like a good general rule to have for life, generally speaking, of course.

(LAUGHTER)

SANCHEZ: So the FBI is now investigating some threats against at least one election worker in a Georgia county. That's according to multiple sources with direct knowledge of the incident.

Is there much you can share about that, about what happened?

STERLING: Well, we're trying to keep it as low-key as we came. We're not going to talk about the county. But there was an individual that came in and acted threatening and then it appears followed on with a letter that was just vile and violent. And they're investigating. FBI's working with local law enforcement. Our office was involved early on. It's disturbing, but it's also mental -- I think the people who do this kind of stuff, they have got a mental condition on top of that.

I mean, these are your neighbors, your fellow Americans, your fellow Georgians. And nothing that -- and these guys are just doing their jobs. And they're being threatened this way. And it's not fair. But I also know that that particular office and all of our 159 offices are resilient.

And they're basically like, nothing's going to stop us from doing our jobs.

SANCHEZ: Glad to hear that. Hopefully, this was an isolated incident and we don't see a repeat of it.

Gabe Sterling, we very much appreciate your time.

STERLING: Thank you all. Get out and vote.

SANCHEZ: Thanks so much.

Every vote counts, but those in Pennsylvania could tip the scales and decide the election. Next, we have a closer look at what's happening in the commonwealth, where both candidates are rallying supporters today.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)