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Obama Holds Drive-In Rally For Biden In Florida; Supreme Court Will Not Extend WI Mail-In Ballot Deadline. Aired 12:30-1p ET

Aired October 27, 2020 - 12:30   ET

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

[12:30:00]

BARACK OBAMA, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: What does that say about you? I mean, think about that. Why are you bragging about that? Come on. And that doesn't make any sense.

Joe Biden wouldn't coddle dictators. He'll promote human rights around the world, including in Cuba. Joe will restore our battered standing around the world because he knows our true strength comes from setting an example that the world wants to follow, a nation that stands with democracy, not dictators, a nation that can inspire and mobilize others to overcome threats like climate change and terrorism and poverty and disease.

And here's one other thing, Joe and Kamala, when they are in office, they're not going to have -- you're not going to have to think about them every single day. You're not going to have to worry about what crazy things they're going to say, what they're going to tweet. They're just going to be too busy doing the work. It just won't be so exhausting. You'll be able to go about your lives, knowing that the President's not going to retweet conspiracy theories about secret cabals running the world or suggest, I mean, listen, our President of the United States retweeted a post that claimed that the Navy SEALs didn't actually kill bin Laden. Think about that.

And we act like, well, OK. It's not OK. We're not going to have a President when Joe Biden's in office that goes out of his way to insult people just because they don't support him. He'll be a president for all people, including people who didn't vote for him because he knows that's the job of being president. I mean, we've gotten so numb to what is bizarre behavior.

We have a President right now who lies multiple times a day, and this is not my claim. Even "Fox News" sometimes says, well, what he says, isn't really true, he didn't mean it. It's not normal behavior. We wouldn't tolerate it from a coworker. We wouldn't tolerate it from a football coach. We wouldn't tolerate it from a high school principal. I mean, we might have to put up with it if it was a family member, but we talk about them afterwards.

Even Florida man wouldn't be doing some of this stuff. Why would we accept it from President of the United States? And you know what I mean sometimes it's almost too easy to make fun of it, but it's serious. There are consequences to his actions. If he was just on Jerry Springer or something, you know, you'd say well. But this is the most powerful office on earth. And when people see the President doing things like that, it emboldens other people to be mean and cruel and divisive and racist. And it frays the fabric of our lives. It affects the way our children see things.

When we tell our children to tell the truth and then we have the person in the highest office in the land who doesn't seem capable of doing so, that undermines our society. It affects the way our families get along. It affects the way the world looks at America. And it distracts from the truly destructive actions that his cronies are doing all across the government as we speak, actions that affect your lives.

You got the Environmental Protection Agency that's supposed to protect our air and our water. It's run by an energy lobbyist that gives polluters free rein to dump unlimited poison into our air and our water. It's not right. It ain't right. The Labor Department, that's supposed to protect workers, its run by a corporate lobbyist who's declared war on workers, trying to gut protections to keep essential folks safe during a pandemic, making it easier for big corporations to steal their wages.

[12:35:00]

The Interior Department, that supposed to protect our public lands, our wilderness, the Everglades, it's run by an oil lobbyist who's just fine with selling them to the highest bidder. You've got an Education Department run by a billionaire who has gutted rules designed to protect students from getting ripped off by for-profit colleges. And then is stiff arming students looking for loan relief in the middle of an economic collapse.

You've got the person who runs Medicaid, trying not to get more people on the Medicaid so they've got better healthcare, but to kick more people off of Medicaid. Come one. It ain't right. So what are you going to do about it? You got to vote. You've got to vote. When Joe and Kamala are in charge, they're not going to surround themselves with hacks and lobbyists.

They're going to surround themselves with qualified public service, who actually are serious about doing their job, who are looking out for you, for your job, your family, your health, your communities, your planet, and that more than anything is what separates them from their opponents.

They actually care about you. They actually care about every American. And they're going to be fighting on your behalf every single day. They're not going to get everything right every time. They're not going to solve every problem right away, but they're going to be working on it every single day to see how can I make sure this little brand new baby right here is inheriting a better world. That's what they care about.

I will say that I miss kissing babies during pandemic. I can't do it, but I look at that a little bundle right there, brand new. It's got the new baby smell. Congratulations. But Joe and Kamala, they care deeply about people and they care about our democracy. They believe that in a democracy, the right to vote is sacred. We shouldn't be making people wait in line for hours. We should be making it easier for everybody to vote, not harder.

They believe that no one, especially the President, is above the law. They understand that protest isn't un-American. This country was founded on protesting against injustice. And we don't threaten to throw our political opponents in jail just because we disagree with them. That's what happens in dictatorship. That doesn't happen in the United States of America.

Joe and Kamala understand that our ability to work together to solve big problems like the pandemic depends on more than just photo ops. It depends on applying facts and logic and science and not making things up, not flooding the internet with misinformation. These should not be Republican or Democratic values.

They're what we grew up learning from our parents and grandparents. They're not white or black or Hispanic or Asian or Native American values, they're supposed to be American values. And we have to reclaim them right now. And how are we going to do that? By voting. We've got to turn out like never before, Orlando. We have to leave no doubt. We can't be complacent. We were complacent last time.

Folks got a little lazy. Folks took things for granted. And look what happened. Not this time, not in this election. I understand there's some Americans who get frustrated by government. They feel like, oh, it doesn't make enough of a difference. My vote won't make a difference. Listen, the government is not perfect, it's not going to solve every problem, but a good government can make things better.

Things were better when I left office, than when I started. They weren't perfect, but they were better. A president shouldn't make things worse. A president by himself can't solve every challenge facing our economy. But if we elect a President who cares and we elect a House and a Senate and a State House and a State Senate that are focused on working people and getting you the help you need, it can make a difference.

[12:40:17]

A president by himself can't eliminate all racial bias in our criminal justice system. But if we elect district attorneys and state's attorneys and sheriffs and police chiefs focused on equality and justice, it can make things better. And that's what voting is about. Not making things perfect, but making them better. It's about putting us on track so that a generation from now we can look back and say, hey, things started getting better. It's about using the power we have and pulling it together, to make sure that we have a government that's more concerned, more responsive, more focused on you.

And you know what? When I hear people say, well, I don't know, I voted last time, things didn't change as much as I thought. Listen, we've never come close to seeing what it would be like if everybody voted. In 2008, that was the highest voting rate in modern presidential history. You know what? We only got to 61 percent. That means 39 percent of the folks didn't vote who were eligible to vote. What would happen if suddenly we started getting 70 percent voting rates? What would happen if we got 60, 70 percent of the people voting instead of 55 percent of people voting?

The country would be transformed. Imagine. Imagine January 20th and we swear in a president and a vice-president who have a plan to deal with this pandemic effectively, who believe in science, who have a plan to protect this planet for our children, who care about working Americans, who have a plan to help you start getting ahead, who believe in racial equality, who are willing to do the work to bring us closer to the ideal that no matter what you look like, where you come from, who you love, how much money you got, you can make it here in America. You'll be treated with respect, and dignity and justice here in America.

Imagine a president when Puerto Rico gets hit by a hurricane, doesn't respond just by throwing paper towels, but says, those are Americans and we've got to make sure that we get in the help they need as quickly as possible. That's what you should expect from a president. And if you're not getting that, then you have to go out there and vote to make it happen. All of that is possible. All of that is within our reach.

For all the times these past four years when we've seen our worst impulses revealed, the good news is we've also seen our best impulses revealed. We've seen folks of every age and background pack city centers and town squares so that families wouldn't be separated. I've got a friend, Jose Andres, great restaurateur, took it upon himself, went down to Puerto Rico after the hurricane, organized thousands of meals just on his own because he was seeing that the response wasn't quick enough. Just did it on his own. That is America.

We saw people out on the streets saying, we're not going to have our classrooms shut up anymore. We've seen people activated to make sure our kids don't grow up on an uninhabitable planet. We've seen healthcare workers, so many of them all across the country risk their lives every single day just to save somebody else's loved ones. We've seen people contribute and volunteer to neighbors that have been hit hard.

We've seen Americans of all races joining together to declare in the face of injustice and brutality at the hands of the state that black lives matter no more, but no less, for that no child in this country should feel the continuing sting of racism. That's true in Orlando, it's true in Florida, it's true all across this country.

America is a good and decent place, but we've just seen so much noise, and nonsense and distortion, and sometimes it's hard for us to remember. But Orlando, I'm asking you to remember what this country can be, what it should be, what it must be. I'm asking you to believe in Joe's ability to lead this country out of these dark times, to help us build it back better.

[12:45:26]

Don't abandon those who are hurting right now. We can't abandon the kids who aren't getting the education they need right now. We can't abandon all those young people who are out on the streets who inspires. We've got to channel their activism into action. We can't just dream for a better future, we got to fight for a better future.

We got to out hustle the other side. We've got to vote like never before and leave no doubt. So, make a plan, vote as early as you can, grab your friends and your family, get them to vote all the way up and down the ticket. And if we pour all our efforts into this final week, if we vote like never before, then we will elect Joe Biden President of the United States.

We'll elect Kamala Harris Vice President of the United States. We will establish once again what this country stands for, what our values are, who we are as a people. Let's get to work, Florida. Let's bring it home. I love you, Orlando. I love you, Florida. Honk if you're fired up. Honk if you're ready to go. Are you fired up? Are you ready to go? I'm fired up. Let's go do this thing. Let's bring it home. Thank you.

JOHN KING, CNN HOST: The former president of the United States, Barack Obama, campaigning in Orlando for his one-time Vice President Joe Biden now the Democratic nominee for president one week to Election Day. Millions of course already voting President Obama beginning 45 minutes speech by urging people if they haven't already voted early to make a plan.

And his view if you can't -- if you can vote before Election Day to do it, a scathing indictment from the former president of his successor that is what is so unusual to see a former president out on the campaign trail, especially with the man who replaced him in the Oval Office. Our chief political correspondent Dana Bash is with us to dissect this. And Dana listening to this, he called Donald Trump lazy.

He called him a liar. He called him incompetent. He said he doesn't take his job seriously. He doesn't read the brief. He doesn't do the work started with I thought it was very interesting to watch the Democrats no turnout is everything, especially in these tight states that slipped away in the final days of 2016.

He started with a long riff on voting, then he moved to the pandemic and then he moved to the economy essentially mocking the President of the United States saying Donald Trump likes to pretend he invented the economy, but he inherited a pretty good one. The Democrats do believe that Obama can help them first Philadelphia, then Miami, now Orlando, they're putting it in places we should think of Orlando the I-4 corridor independent voters in Florida, but it's also increasingly Latino, increasingly suburban the voters Joe Biden needs.

DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: That's exactly right. That was absolutely blistering, very similar in tone, in tenor, and in content to what the former president said at his other rallies that he's had in Philly, and in Miami, as you mentioned. But he's getting even more pointed if that is possible, because he's was pretty stark to begin with, about just how incompetent, laughably incompetent is the way that the former president is describing Donald Trump is. And the fact is that the current president is obviously watching. John, the President Donald Trump tweeted during that speech while he was apparently waiting to go out to his own rallies, that "Fox News" is playing, he's watching "Fox", playing to Obama's crowd, fake speech for Biden, on and on and on, and also hit back on what Obama said about Trump not releasing his taxes.

That's part of what President Obama is trying to do is to get under Donald Trump's skin. But obviously the big reason he's out there is to get voters and the I-4 corridor is incredibly important. All you have to do is look back to the very first campaign rally that Donald Trump had in the 2020 cycle. It was in Orlando. The I-4 corridor will make or break Florida, you know that better than anybody. And so that is why Obama chose to do what he did. And it is incredibly unprecedented, but not for these times. If you see and listen and watch Obama the way he absolutely goes after his successor.

[12:50:02]

KING: Just fascinating to watch in the final week. The Democrats putting obviously their chief surrogate, Barack Obama, out on the trail the chest by chest state by state map gets interesting as you noted, the President a little late now to hit the road. He's going to Michigan and Wisconsin and Nebraska today trying to recreate his map into the final week we go. Dana bash grateful for the reporting and insights.

Up next for us, the Supreme Court rules on a very big mail-in ballot case for the swing state I just mentioned, Wisconsin.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[12:55:25]

KING: A new Supreme Court ruling in a case out of Wisconsin could become a marker for post-election ballot counting challenges. The High Court ruling Monday that mail-in ballots in Wisconsin must be received by Election Day to be counted. That ruling rejected a Democratic effort to allow the count to stretch up to six days past election day as long as those ballots were postmarked by November 3rd. The vote was five to three, the three liberal justices dissenting.

In a concurring opinion Justice Brett Kavanaugh says keeping the Election Day deadline makes sense. These are his words, quote, those states want to avoid the chaos and suspicions of impropriety that can ensue if thousands of absentee ballots flow in after Election Day and potentially flipped the results of an election. And those states also want to be able to definitively announce the results of an election on election night, or as soon as possible thereafter, just one ruling or a clue for how post-election fights at the High Court might be resolved.

Let's discuss now with Veteran Republican Election Lawyer Ben Ginsburg. Ben, is this just about Wisconsin where it is front page news today? By the way, I want to hold this up, obviously a battleground state. In the pandemic, Democrats thought give us a few extra days to count the vote, maybe the mail will be late, maybe they'll come in, the High Court says no. Is this just about one important state or could this be a marker an internal precedent, if you will, if we have three, four, five states fighting this out, reaching the high court after the election?

BEN GINSBERG, REPUBLICAN ELECTION LAWYER: It's certainly an indication of Justice Kavanaugh's thinking and he's probably joined by two other justices on the court. Now, the reality is, is that a case post- election is unlikely to come up in this framework. The larger question he's raising is what role state Supreme Court can play? And the answer to that is really going to depend on the case that comes to the court after an election.

KING: Right. And so what the interest some of the interesting part, if you read the footnotes in the rulings here, is the High Court, the Supreme Court usually defers to states, states administer their elections. But they're trying to make a distinction here between what a state court can say, and what is on paper, meaning past regulations or laws passed by the state legislature explain to somebody this can be an arcane legal argument, but explain to somebody listening how that could be critical if the right case makes its way to the court.

GINSBERG: Well, the Wisconsin case came out of a federal appeals court. And what the U.S. Supreme Court has said is that it is up to a legislature before it is up to appointed federal judges. But the answer is remember in Florida, the Florida Supreme Court changed the deadline for completing the process. U.S. Supreme Court said that was improper, that was overstepping the bounds. And so what I think this is, is a hint back to the decision that the U.S. Supreme Court already made in Florida, in 2000.

KING: And so what happens you have a team of lawyers, obviously, both parties do, both campaigns do watching all these things play out right now, what happens to this environment where you get this ruling, A, it affects Wisconsin, but if you're working in Pennsylvania, or you're tasked with keeping an eye on North Carolina, pick your state out there, what happens with the campaign lawyers today after something like this happens?

GINSBERG: Well, campaign lawyers who are going to say we have to go by the process that's now in place in that particular state. Remember, all this does is affect a set of ballots that would come in after Election Day. So if you're the Biden forces, you're probably asking those ballots that come in after Election Day with an Election Day postmarked earlier, be set aside.

And you would then bring up through the contest procedures and maybe ultimately the Supreme Court the question of those ballots that were received after Election Day but had to put a proper post mark under the general rubric of you have to count all the votes.

KING: Is there a general way you can describe where we are now in the sense that it was a four-four split with Robert siding with the liberals on a somewhat similar case, I believe out of Pennsylvania. Now you get Robert siding with fellow conservatives in a five-three. And as of today, you have a six-three conservative majority because Amy Coney Barrett is on the bench. Any way to read into that yet or do we just have to wait and see what she does?

GINSBERG: Well, I'm going to take a stab at that. But Justice Roberts in the four-four Pennsylvania decision recognized that it was a state Supreme Court, which is in a sense part of the state processes different from Wisconsin where it was a federal court ruling. It's also true that in Pennsylvania that justices at the Supreme Court are elected officials, which is not true everywhere.

KING: I bet I need to end it there for today but we'll continue this conversation as the challenges break up. Appreciate and thanks to you for spending time with us today as well.

[13:00:08]

Stay with us, Brianna Keilar picks our coverage.