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Live Coverage of Speech as Joe Biden Begins Train Tour; Recapping Last Night's Presidential Debate; Kentucky Attorney General Requests One-Week Delay. Aired 10:30-11a ET

Aired September 30, 2020 - 10:30   ET

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

[10:30:00]

JOE BIDEN (D), PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: They'll pay a lower tax rate than you do as a teacher, a factory worker, a firefighter, a nurse. He gave a tax giveaway for corporations when they moved jobs overseas to sell good back to the United States.

And here comes the train that he's trying to make sure didn't continue to (INAUDIBLE) up front. Now, that's the commuter -- all right. No, that's what -- now folks, look, see that big corporation jumping to the front of the line to get the recovery aid that Congress had passed while small businesses are struggling to stay open?

In the end, his measure of economic health is the stock market. And in four years as president, he's broken his promise. He's forgotten the forgotten Americans he said he was always going to fight for. But I never will forget.

I know the middle-class, working people built this country. And I measure our economic success by what families are talking about around their kitchen tables this morning, some of them with an empty chair because they lost a family member. The ones I saw every night on my train ride from Washington to Wilmington, Delaware.

As I said, after my wife and daughter were killed when I was first elected, I started going home every single night so I'd be there in the morning to get my kids, Beau, Hunter and Ashley, ready for school. Actually Jill -- God love her -- she game into our life five years later and made things good.

For 36 years, I said, took that 25-mile round trip journey each day. I'd get to know the train engineers, the conductors, the fellow passengers. And at night, I'd see the pinpoints of lights in the homes in the cities and towns along the way from Washington to Wilmington, wonder what those families were talking about after they put their kids to bed.

My guess is the same thing that all Americans across the country are talking about today, asking questions as profound, as ordinary as, "Will we be OK? Will we be able to keep our insurance? What are we going to do?"

Folks, this election is a choice between Scranton and Park Avenue values, between Cleveland and Park Avenue values (ph), between Alliance (ph) and Park Avenue values. But it's also about something deeper. Can these parents look their kids in the eye and say, "Honey, everything's going to be OK"?

And these are the conversations I'm going to be having today on this whistle-stop tour through Ohio and Pennsylvania, talking to folks about how I'll get the virus under control, lay out the plan, bringing Congress together to provide relief and resources to schools and businesses so we can reopen our economy safely and strongly, with a real plan and real leadership.

Talking to folks about how I'd create good-paying jobs, union jobs that support working families and build our economy back not just back, but build it back better.

I'll protect your Medicare and Social Security, and I'll fight to protect pensions including fixing multiple-employer (ph) pensions so that many union women and men in Ohio, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Iowa, Minnesota, Delaware, all across this country, are able to keep what they earned and deserve.

I'll fight for American jobs with the dignity of work and make the wealthy and corporations begin to pay their fair share. I'll protect your right to health care, and build on and improve the Affordable Care Act. And I'll always tell you the truth, I'll always care about you whether you vote for me or not.

If elected, I'm not going to be a Democratic president, I'm going to be an American president. Whether you voted for me or not, I'm going to be your president. And I'll never forget the people, the working people of this country because that's what I come from.

And that, if given just half a chance, the American people can do anything. Just like you, Tiffany (ph), and your husband, you've stood up, you can do anything.

I want to make something absolutely clear. There's overwhelming reason for optimism. Reverend, as you said, there's overwhelming reason. We just have to unite, and the country is ready to do that. We're better positioned than any nation in the world to own the 21st century, we just have to do it and do it together.

So I leave you, Rev (ph), and thank you for your invocation by saying, God bless you all and may God protect our troops. Thank you, thank you, thank you. Keep the faith, we're coming back. Thank you.

(APPLAUSE)

POPPY HARLOW, CNN ANCHOR, NEWSROOM: All right, those are the first remarks we've heard from former Vice President Joe Biden since the debate last night. Our Jessica Dean is back with us.

Jess, not only were you -- and are you covering the debate, you've been covering the Biden camp for quite some time, and now he takes off on that critical train tour through Ohio and Pennsylvania. What do you make of what we just heard? [10:35:10]

JESSICA DEAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Right, so we did hear him talk a little bit about the debate last night, Poppy, and he dovetailed that right into the message we're going to hear from him today. So he said of last night's debate, looking into the camera, saying to people -- listening and watching it -- it was supposed to be about you, that debate was supposed to be about you.

And then launched into what we've kind of heard him talking about in the last several weeks, which is this Scranton versus Park Avenue framing of this race. And what he means by that is that Joe Biden positions himself as being from Scranton, understanding everyday Americans, understanding what it's like to be worried about a job, worried about sending your kids to school during COVID, worried about health care. And that Donald Trump is only concerned about himself and those on Wall Street.

So expect to hear a lot more of that, Poppy, as they go into eastern Ohio and western Pennsylvania today. These are very rural communities they'll be stopping in, going after those white working-class voters.

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN ANCHOR, NEWSROOM: Jessica, notable, I thought, that he made a point of saying there is hope, right? He said there's a lot of things to be hopeful about in this country, to unite. A deliberate message from the vice president to turn to a more positive message post-debate?

DEAN: Yes. I mean, I think he certainly -- again, as Poppy said, I've been covering Joe Biden since he launched his campaign back in April of 2019, we heard that from him over and over again. He wants to return back to -- he talks a lot about hope, he talks a lot about Americans coming together, he talks a lot about the good that Americans can do together, that's a message we hear from him time and time again, so no surprise to hear it from him today.

But certainly, Jim, I think it's something he likes to talk about and bring up again and again, you hear him close speeches by saying this is America, there's nothing we can't do. So it's a familiar theme for Joe Biden, one we'll hear more of as we're now just some -- what, 30- something days away from Election Day.

SCIUTTO: Jessica Dean, there's Amtrak Joe -- as he's known -- hopping on the Amtrak. Thanks so much, we'll bring you any more live comments as we see them and Poppy and I will be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:42:17]

SCIUTTO: Well this morning, as you just saw, Vice President Joe Biden is heading out on a train tour, courting voters in the key swing states of Ohio and Pennsylvania. This, after -- you might have heard about it -- a heated debate with President Trump last night.

HARLOW: Former Ohio governor, Republican John Kasich, once shared the debate stage with the president. So you kind of know what it was like. I don't know if you even expected last night to devolve the way it did, but we're glad you're here. Good morning to you. What exactly was the president's message last night?

JOHN KASICH, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: I really don't know. I think what was going on is, I think he wanted to rattle Joe Biden and make him look like he was not able to do the job. And I think Joe Biden held up pretty well. He didn't -- you know, there were no missteps or miscues or anything else. But you know, everything was lost in the back and forth.

And you know, it was interesting to listen to Joe Biden today and his talk, and I think Jim hit on something really important, where he mentioned hope. And I think now you're going to see them begin to talk, he's going to start talking about the hope for the future of our country.

And the other thing he spent a lot of time on is the issue of jobs, and that's one of the things that I think the president has not been able to do. He's been distracted for -- in many different ways, and has not been focused on the jobs issue, which is one of his strengths. So we've got to see what happens here.

But you can see Biden setting up Scranton -- small little town -- versus New York. And that's something that's going to be very appealing to a lot of those swing voters.

SCIUTTO: John Kasich, you're not a pollster but you are an experienced politician, decades in the business. And you're a Republican who has come out in support of Joe Biden over Donald Trump. I'm just curious, based on your conversations, your sense of the electorate, how did Republican voters view last night's debate? The president's performance, but also Joe Biden's. Did you see it as a debate that might move them in either direction?

KASICH: You know, Jim, I think it's pretty well locked in. I mean, if you are a definite Trump supporter, you look the other way on a lot of things because -- and frankly, if you're a Democrat and Joe Biden screwed up last night, I thought he would (ph) hit a very weak answer in terms of packing the court or whatever.

You know, this is a battle for power, that's what it's all about, and that's why people are clinging to their party. And if we could figure out a way to take a crowbar and be able to move them away from being stuck to a party and to be able to do good analysis of where we want our country to go -- not just for ourselves but for our children, somebody that could do that would do our country a big favor.

[10:45:03]

So are there people that have changed -- they said, well, I didn't like Trump's behavior? No, I think they probably are saying -- many Trump supporters are saying, well, Biden was just as bad. I don't know anybody's going to go around saying what a sterling debate.

But Biden accomplished what he needed to do, which was to be steady and to project the fact that he could be president. I mean, they were almost like peers (ph) up there if you know what I mean, they were -- it was not like one high and the other low, they were pretty much peers.

HARLOW: Governor, Ben Ginsberg, the foremost Republican election expert, writes this morning, quote, "The potential damage to the country is obvious. But the evidence-free Trump onslaught on elections also threatens the party that he heads, both now and in the long term."

And I'm interested in your take on the last part, the party, your party, the Republican Party that he now heads, and the long-term consequences of what he did -- for example last night -- by not saying that he would accept the results of the election, and again trying to discredit the whole process.

KASICH: Well, I've been concerned about this for a long time, Poppy, that you know, you could have 20, 25 percent of the American people believing that the election was not legitimate --

HARLOW: Right.

KASICH: -- which undermines the notion that we're all in this together. No, I think it's a terrible thing, and the failure to condemn -- clearly -- white supremacists was really a mistake.

Look, a couple things. First of all, the party has always been my vehicle, never my master. I've never been tied to it that way. I've been able to work with Democrats throughout my entire career, not just something I stumbled upon lately.

The other thing is, the party needs to be for something. And I don't hear what we're really for, so it's going to have to be straightened out after this election. If it doesn't get straightened out and if the Democrats move hard left, by the way, I think there's a real opportunity you're going to see the possibility of a third-party movement. I think it's real possible.

SCIUTTO: John, there are real threats to this election, the president calling into question its legitimacy, calling out supporters to watch the polls, a whole host of things. I just wonder, for folks watching at home, should they be concerned? Is that an outlier result, where this becomes a disputed election, one where large portions of the country don't accept the results?

KASICH: You know I like to be on with you guys, it's such a good question. But Jim, I think you know -- and I think Poppy knows, in our hearts, that there will be an official calling of this election, and that will be the end of it. And we will move on.

So there's a lot of bluster and a lot of, you know, threats and everything else. But at the end, there will be -- the states will come through, they will call the election, there will be an announcement by -- you know, by the sources that do this, and they will say this is who's president. And then we will move on, and there will be no being (ph) able to say, oh no no, it didn't happen, we're not going to go along with it.

I really don't worry about that. What I do worry about is that 20 or 25 percent of the people -- either way -- who may not accept the result either way.

(CROSSTALK)

SCIUTTO: John Kasich, it's always good to have -- listen, and I appreciate --

(CROSSTALK)

KASICH: Yes, I just want to say to you --

SCIUTTO: -- note (ph) of hope, I do, I really do.

KASICH: We're going to be OK, and look, at some point, we're going to realize that sticking in our silos and clinging to our parties is not what is best for ourselves or for our children. And you guys do a great job in saying it, we can be hopeful. And I am.

SCIUTTO: Governor Kasich, from your --

KASICH: Thank you.

SCIUTTO: -- lips to God's ears, thanks very much.

KASICH: OK, thank you.

HARLOW: Thank you, Governor, so nice to have you.

[10:48:39]

We do have some breaking news from Louisville just now, and request for a delay to release those tapes of the grand jury process in the case over the killing of Breonna Taylor. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SCIUTTO: We have this breaking news just in to CNN in the case of Breonna Taylor. Just hours from now, grand jury deliberations -- recordings of them -- were set to be released. We're now learning that Kentucky's attorney general, though, is asking for a one-week delay.

HARLOW: Our Shimon Prokupecz joins us again this morning, he is on the ground in Louisville. So what is it that the A.G. needs a week delay for before these come out, do you know?

SHIMON PROKUPECZ, CNN CRIME AND JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: So here's the thing, Poppy, this was set to be released in an hour, they had a noon deadline today that was set by the court to release this. We are just now getting word that the attorney general is asking for a delay.

The delay, the motion to delay this, came yesterday. Why we're just learning about this today is somewhat puzzling. And you know, you have to question whether or not this is some kind of stalling tactic. They knew since Monday that they were going to have to release this information.

They claim in their filing to the court that they need to protect personal information of private citizens, that they have over 20 hours of recordings from the grand jury, a grand jury presentation that took over two days.

So today, they say -- while they filed this motion last night and they confirmed for us today, the attorney general does, that they need more time. They want a week so that they can redact information, take out personal information that are contained in these filings of private citizens who were witnesses in this investigation.

We don't know if these are witnesses who testify in the grand jury, or if these are witnesses that were mentioned by investigators who were testifying in the grand jury. But the bottom line is, is that we were about an hour away from this being filed, and we are just learning of this today, when it is something that they filed yesterday. So it raises some questions here certainly, Jim and Poppy.

[10:55:19]

HARLOW: And the whole point about it and the significance is how, you know, unprecedented it is that people will get some more transparency into a grand jury process over the killing of this young EMT, and why only those charges were brought and not others. Shimon, we appreciate your reporting. Thank you.

Thanks to everyone for joining us today. We will see you tomorrow, I'm Poppy Harlow.

SCIUTTO: And I'm Jim Sciutto. When we debate, it'll always be friendly and kind, polite.

HARLOW: Promise, I promise.

SCIUTTO: Trying to set an example.

NEWSROOM with our colleague John King will start after a quick break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[11:00:00]