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Vote Counting Continues in Close Battleground States; McConnell, Top Republicans Back Trump's Refusal to Concede; Justice Department Official Steps Down over Barr Voter Fraud Memo. Aired 11- 11:30a ET
Aired November 10, 2020 - 11:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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JOHN KING, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, everybody. Top of the hour. I'm John King in Washington. Thank you so much for sharing this very busy day with us.
Three words from President Trump this morning remind us he lives in a world of alternative facts and that he shows no hesitation about leading the country into crisis.
"We will win!" He tweets to the nation and to the world one week after an election he plainly and convincingly lost.
We're used to lies about crowd size or his support for policies he actively opposes, but this is different, and it is dangerous. The president and his team have every right to challenge any result they can prove as fraudulent but one week after Election Day they have offered no proof, not in Pennsylvania, not in Georgia, not any place on the map that shows Joe Biden is America's president-elect.
76 million Americans voted for Biden. Many of them because they are tired of a president who lies and lies constantly. But leading Republicans so far are supporting the president's refusal to accept the results. Part of that is their own thirst to hold power sadly.
Two Senate runoffs in January both in Georgia will determine if Republicans keep control of the Senate. Vice President Pence will join the weekly Senate GOP lunch today to talk strategy. The president- elect is left to plan a transition without the normal cooperation that, until now, makes America an example to the world.
Biden is speeding ahead with the coronavirus response team. And today we will hear from him on another major challenge, health care and what he would do if the Supreme Court throws out Obamacare.
The justices are hearing arguments on that case right now. And the court's new 6-3 conservative majority could impact tens of millions of Americans if it deems the Affordable Care Act unconstitutional and frees insurance companies to again do things like deny coverage to people with preexisting conditions.
But the tension over the transition crisis is overshadowing even such a consequential day at the high court. The president is demanding Republicans fight with him and lashing out at those he sees as not loyal or not loyal enough.
The Defense Secretary Mark Esper was fired in a tweet Monday. And our White House reporting team says more post-election recriminations are being discussed.
One most loyal cabinet and the Attorney General William Barr rushed out a statement urging his prosecutors be on the lookout for election fraud. The Justice Department's top attorney on election crimes immediately resigned in protest.
Now a few Republican senators are congratulating Biden and saying the nation's verdict is clear. But their leader, Mitch McConnell, is all in with the president's decision to deny the math.
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SEN. MITCH MCCONNELL (R-KY): Let's have no lectures - no lectures about how the president should immediately cheerfully accept preliminary election results. We have the system in place to consider concerns. And President Trump is 100 percent within his rights to look into allegations of irregularities and weigh his legal options.
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KING: All this playing out, look right there, as the United States registers the seventh straight day with more than 100,000 new coronavirus infections. And a warning from a member of the president- elect's new coronavirus advisory board, that 200,000 cases a day could be right around the corner.
This is the map that tells you Joe Biden is the president-elect. This is the map that President Trump refuses to acknowledge. Now since we called the election on Saturday, there have been more votes in Pennsylvania.
Joe Biden's lead is growing, up to 45,103 now. Just a little foot note for you. That is more. That is greater than President Trump's win in Pennsylvania four years ag. Hillary clinton did not cry fraud.
This is come back to 2020. Again, that's the state that put Joe Biden over the top. The lead, it's not a big one but it is growing.
Let's move now down to the state of Georgia. More results trickling in today from several different counties. The president actually made up a little tiny amount, 20, 30 votes here but the lead 12,292. It is a lead that is sticking even though Republicans are not complaining about the secretary of state. A Republican who is doing his job counting and votes. Joe Biden's lead since we called the election in Georgia increasing overall. Move out to the west, in Arizona. This is a place where Biden's lead is shrinking. It is. As votes get counted but he is -- oops that's the wrong state, sorry about that. He's still almost 15,000 votes ahead, 14,746 in Arizona. Yes, the president has made up some ground, but as we continue to count votes here, Biden is in the lead.
[11:05:04]
And in Nevada, the lead here again growing for Joe Biden as they continue to count late ballots. Again, ballots that were cast legally, states decided, count the Election Day vote first, many states did, and then count the mail-in ballots. That's what's happening in Nevada and Joe Biden's lead is increasing.
Despite this, many Republicans standing with the president of the United States. Listen and listen closely here. Senator Lindsey Graham just reelected. If the Republicans keep control of the Senate, he's chairman. At least at the moment he's chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee that enforces the laws in this country. Listen to him closely talk about elections.
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SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM (R-SC): I've had a microphone in my face all day. When is Trump going to concede? I said when are you going to ask a question about the 2020 election? When are you going to take seriously the idea that every vote count? You want an outcome. You know they can go to hell as far as I'm concerned. Mitch McConnell and I need to come up with an oversight of mail-in balloting. If we don't do something about voting by mail, we're going to lose the ability to elect the Republican in this country.
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KING: Joining me now, Toluse Olorunnipa, White House reporter for "The Washington Post," Manu Raju, our CNN senior congressional correspondent and our senior justice correspondent Evan Perez.
Manu, I want to start with you, because of what we just listened to there from Lindsey Graham. We need a plan to deal with mail-in voting because if more people vote, Republicans might lose at least they're transparent about it. If more people vote as they did in this election, Republicans might lose. What a shock in a democracy to let people vote.
The vice president is coming up there today, Manu, to go behind closed doors and join the Senate Republicans for their weekly lunch. Publicly, the leadership supports the president. We know Republicans privately are a bit nervous about this moment. Is there any indication that in private, the vice president will get any advice to push the president to backdown or they're all in?
MANU RAJU, CNN SENIOR CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well at the moment the Republicans believe that the president will -- should mount the legal chances if he believes that he has the case to be made in court. They're getting him space to make that case. But the Republicans are acknowledging both publicly and privately that there's little chance that this will change the outcome.
Even Lindsey Graham who I spoke to yesterday evening before he made those comments last night on Fox News acknowledged that -- he said there's been some instances in his view of possible fraud but even said that amount is unlikely to change the outcome. So, even Lindsey Graham seems to resign to the idea that it's unlikely to change what will happen here. Which is why he's also calling for an investigation into how mail-in voting has been conducted in the 2020 elections. He wants that to happen in the next Congress.
But other Republican leaders, too, they're not going as far as the president in saying this is rigged, this is stolen. They're just saying the president has a chance to make this case. The big question, John, is if he loses in these court cases which many people expect, will he concede at that point?
Republicans all up here are telling me, even Lindsey Graham, saying I will accept the court's decision. Will the president accept the court's decision? That is still the question. Even Lindsey Graham couldn't answer that question when asked him about that yesterday, John.
KING: And Toluse, one of the dynamics here is that many Republicans, they say one thing publicly, stay in the president's favor, and they say other things privately about how the math is the math. The question is, when will they stand up if they think the president is going to back down.
His tweets this morning certainly indicate he will not. We are making big progress. Results start to come in next week. Make America great again. And then, we will win. Those three words, we will win, is just simply a denial of the math.
In "The Post" this morning, there's this from a senior Republican official. "What is the downside for humoring him for this little bit of time? No one seriously thinks the results will change."
"He went golfing this weekend. It's not like he's plotting how to prevent Joe Biden from taking power on January 20. He's tweeting about filing some lawsuits, those lawsuits will fail, then he'll tweet some more about how the election was stolen, and then he'll leave."
So, a senior Republican official there saying essentially, well, let the president play. Let the president have his tantrum. No, this is serious business. The president-elect, whether he be a Democrat or Republican, in this case, a Democrat, deserves the cooperation of his predecessor, especially in the middle of a pandemic. Why are they taking it so lightly?
TOLUSE OLORUNNIPA, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, I think they all realize the precarious political position that they're in if they tried to go out and oppose a sitting president from their own party. It should not be a major issue.
It should not be a challenge. It should not be a threat to their political careers but anyone who has their eye on 2024 or you know having the party come together and move forward and try to create some kind of future for the party, if they go out and they cross this president, they know how vindictive he is.
He just got rid of his own Defense secretary, his own appointed Defense secretary, fired him by tweet. They know that if they go out against this president, if they don't humor him, to quote this official, then they're going to find themselves in the crosshairs.
And there's not a lot of political courage that we're seeing from the Republican Party at this point because they realize that if they want to have a future, we've even heard threats directly from the president's sons about the 2024 class of Republicans.
If they want to run for president in the future, if they want to have the president's endorsement, you have two critical runoffs in Georgia where Republicans are on the ballot. They realized that they have to be able to humor the president, so that he doesn't sort of take down their party in a fit of pique.
[11:10:14]
So, I do think that there's not very much courage from these politicians who are essentially realizing what's happening. They see the reality. They know that the votes cannot be changed but they have a president who is, in an alternative reality, where in his mind the votes can be changed, and he can be president for another four years. And they're not willing to bring the real reality in front of the president who's happy to live in his alternative reality at least between now and January 20th.
KING: Well, we'll see. Gentlemen, standby for just one second because we have more evidence now of post-election recriminations.
Breaking news. The Pentagon's top policy official, James Anderson has resigned. That according to two administration officials today. This coming a day after of course the president fired the Defense Secretary Mark Esper.
Let's get straight to our Pentagon correspondent Barbara Starr. Barbara, what's the deal here?
BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well, John, a growing concern now I think it is very fair to say that is this all going to turn into a national security crisis? No one knows the answer to that. James Anderson, the policy chief here at the Pentagon resigning this morning. It had been expected. There is indication that perhaps the White House wants to put someone in who is more of a loyalist to the president's agenda between now and Inauguration Day.
This is not even 24 hours into acting Defense Secretary Chris Miller taking over here at the Pentagon after Mark Esper was fired yesterday. On the table is the critical question. Esper is out. Will the president now move to fire Gina Haspel, the director at the Central Intelligence Agency. And, of course, Chris Wray, director at the FBI.
Esper, Haspel, Wray, if those three officials do go, the concern is you are decapitating the actual career professionals in national security. Does this embolden America's adversaries? Does it show potential risk for U.S. national security?
That's what I'm hearing around the Pentagon, that there is worry about this. They are trying to say that every -- there is not chaos, top military officials say they're sending a message around the world that everything is steady as she goes, but as these officials continue to leave the administration, whether that narrative, steady as she goes, can really continue, and that is really heard by America's adversaries perhaps remains to be seen.
As for the new acting defense secretary, less than 24 hours into the job, this morning Chris Miller is holding a secure, highly classified phone conference with top U.S. military officials around the world. His top commanders. Introducing himself. That's what's clear. And trying to tell them what his plans may be for the way ahead. We are watching very carefully here at the Pentagon to see who may be next. John?
KING: Barbara Starr appreciate the quick hustle on that reporting. And this is not just another presidential tantrum. This one has complications.
And to that point, Evan Perez, just in the last hour, the president tweeting twice, ballot counting abuse. Twitter flagged that one. Watch for massive ballot county abuse. And just like the only vaccine, remember I told you so. Twitter had to flag that too about the election fraud being disputed.
But the attorney general of the United States stepped forward yesterday and issued a statement. I guess you could read the statement two ways. Number one, the attorney general issuing a statement saying hey, all my prosecutors be on the lookout for fraud or you can read the caveats and the caution in it, you know about if true, could potentially impact the outcome. He's just doing this to keep the president happy and even Bill Barr knows there's no there-there. Which is it?
EVEN PEREZ, CNN SENIOR JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Look, I think it's a combination of both, John. I think the memo that Bill Barr issued yesterday sort of ended a very awkward silence from the Justice Department.
For days and days, the president's lawyers, campaign, have been holding press conferences doing filing frivolous lawsuits really claiming that this was this massive fraud while providing no evidence of such massive fraud that would make a difference in this election. And the Justice Department has been sitting here not saying anything.
So, finally, you saw a memo from the attorney general telling prosecutors that they should look for these instances and that they could do things like interview witnesses and so on, even before states certified their election results. Now, that's the reason why Richard Pilger, who is the top elections crimes prosecutor in the building resigned yesterday -- last night. He said that this was abrogating a 40-year tradition policy inside the Justice Department to not take these types of actions before states certify the elections.
And so, now we wait to see whether or not any prosecutors out there, John, will do this. Will bring a case that will give the president something that he can work with, something that he can go to the American people and say, see, there are these instances of fraud and therefore I lost the election.
[11:15:08]
Of course, John you know the election map there better than anybody. And you know that there are not enough votes that would make this difference if they were able to find say a dozen or even say a thousand examples of fraud.
KING: Yes, I've been doing this for 35 years. Never. Not -- the margins are too big. The margins are too big. And it's a simple point, the election was a week ago, if you have election fraud, you see it on Election Day or in the 24 to 48 hours after. If there were documents to prove it, we would see them by now.
Evan, Manu, Toluse, thank you very much gentlemen for the reporting and the insights.
Up next for us, one state in focus now is Georgia. Republicans there attacking one of their own. For what? For doing his job and for counting votes.
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KING: Georgia Republicans now blaming one of their own for this. Joe Biden's win. And they're trying to get rid of him before the Senate runoff elections that will determine which party controls the Senate. This fight is a glaring example of how desperate Republicans are to keep their power. Just today, updated vote tallies show us President- elect Biden's lead is growing in Georgia.
Growing his lead because local officials continue to count ballots that they say were legally cast. But the Trump campaign is furious and says the Republican secretary of state needs to be more aggressive in challenging vote counts. Georgia's two Republican senators, David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler are going as far as to demand the secretary of state Brad Raffensperger resign. Like the Trump campaign, the senators claim voting irregularities, but they offer no specifics about any major problems.
Raffensperger says he isn't going anywhere. This is just part of his statement. "The voters of Georgia hired me, and the voters will be the one to fire me. As secretary of state, I'll continue to fight every day to ensure fair elections in Georgia, that every legal vote count and that illegal votes don't count."
Senators Perdue and Loeffler have more than a passing interest here. Vote phase one of elections in January. Joining me now, the former Georgia senator Saxby Chambliss, the Republican who himself won one of his reelection campaigns in a runoff. That back in 2008. He's now a partner at DLA Piper. Senator, it's great to see you. I bet you're glad you're not - I'm betting you're glad you're not at Washington anymore at this time.
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SAXBY CHAMBLISS (R), FORMER GEORGIA SENATOR: I'm enjoying Atlanta, John.
KING: So, you're on the ground in the great state of Georgia. And Republicans are stunned because a Democrat carry the state for the first time since Bill Clinton back in 1992. Doug Collins, the conservative congressman is leading the Trump campaign's effort down there to fight the results.
He says in a statement, "...the secretary of state should announce a full hand count of every ballot cast in each and every county due to widespread allegations of voter irregularities, issues with voting machines, and poll watcher access."
Have you seen, sir, I know you're plugged in on the grounds still - are there any widespread allegations of voter irregularities in Georgia?
CHAMBLISS: John, there are always questions that come out of any election particularly on election as closed as this is. If there have been -- if there's any game of widespread voter fraud, I have not heard about it, but I have heard of individual instances. I have a family member whose absentee ballot has yet to be counted. So, I'm assuming it will be.
But there are a number of votes out there that for whatever reason, a week after the election, have not been counted. Just like Stacey Abrams said in many 2018 when she lost the governor's race and didn't concede for days and days, every vote needs to be counted. She was right then. And the press applauded her for that, and they should have because we do need to make sure that every vote is counted. But as for any widespread fraud, I have not heard about that.
KING: Let me amen your point. Every vote should be counted. And if those votes are counted and if they change this result then Donald Trump will have carried Georgia but to say while votes are being counted that there's fraud and irregularities and to call for the resignation as the two senators of the Republican secretary of state of state, don't you find that just beyond the pale? Do you have any evidence the secretary of state is doing anything but counting votes?
CHAMBLISS: Well, I know Secretary Raffensperger. I know he's very honorable, very professional man. He has got - you have to remember 159 counties in Georgia. We're a big state county wise and land wise. So, he's going to make sure, in my opinion, that every single vote is counted.
That every county escapes any kind of overall accusations of fraud in the election. And I know he's working hard to do that. I have no idea whether or not there's any hard and concrete evidence on the part of our two fine senators in the letter that they have sent to the secretary. But I do know that he's a hardworking, very professional person.
KING: So, I want you to listen here, one of your former colleagues here in Washington. He's a Democrat. Chris Coons of Delaware close friend of President-elect Joe Biden. He thinks fellow Republicans - Republican colleagues in the Senate should speak up. Take a listen.
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SEN. CHRIS COONS (D-DE): This is an uncertain time these next 71 days. I think it is time -- pass time for Republican leaders to stand up and say we should accept the results of this election.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KING: The vice president is coming up. You remember the weekly Senate luncheons on Tuesdays. Vice President Pence is coming up today to be in the room with the Republican colleagues. If you were still here in Washington, what would you tell the vice president? Or if you could pick up the phone what would you tell the president?
I'm with you, if there are votes still to be counted, they should be counted. And if they change the results, then so be it. But all these allegations of fraud -- ballot fraud, counting fraud, irregularities, is that within the bounds or should they all calm down?
[11:25:12]
CHAMBLISS: If they have any hard and concrete evidence that there is widespread fraud in any particular state, then I think the judicial system is well-prepared to handle that and they need to pursue that. That's part of any election, John.
But you're going to reach a point where Vice President Biden, let me get that straight, where Vice President Biden probably has enough electoral votes without certain states being recounted. That said, here in Georgia, the majority of the Senate hangs in balance.
And we've got to make sure that every vote is counted in the presidential election that took place a week ago to ensure that we're prepared to make sure that every vote is counted on January 5th in the two Senate runoff elections that we have.
KING: I'm all for every vote being counted, sir, but you had to go into a runoff years ago. I'm just circling the map a little bit here. You know your state you know it's changing. You mentioned the Abrams campaign, doesn't mean Republicans aren't competitive, you got a Republican governor, you got Republican secretary of state. Right now, you have two Republican senators.
But you do have a problem because of the suburbs around Atlanta. You're sitting in Atlanta today. You lived this. You lived this when you were still running for elections, the suburbs are increasingly turning Democratic.
This is math. This is math. I am with you. Every vote should be counted. And if you have any questions, put the paper on the table. Prove the fraud. But this is just math. At what point does the president of the United States and Georgia Republicans need to realize, we lost this one. Let's regroup and figure out how to be better next time?
CHAMBLISS: Well, if we did lose it, we're big boys, John. I mean we can accept defeat.
You're right. It has been -
KING: Is the president of the United States - forgive me for interrupting you, sir. Is the president of the United States behaving like a big boy right now, tweeting this morning, "We will win!" He could tweet I'm still waiting. I want some things counted. My lawyers will be actually presenting documents with facts on them, but they haven't done any of that, Senator. I'm sorry.
CHAMBLISS: Well, John, I'm not going to inject myself into what the president ought to be saying in his tweets. I've agreed with some of his tweets through the years and disagreed with some of them through the years. So, this is an individual who is apparently confident that there is a lot of irregularity and still has a chance to win.
I appreciate the fact that he's positive about that. If he is negative about it, then you know, his challenge to the election is going nowhere. So, I think he has a right to do what's legally called for and required to ensure that every vote was counted, that widespread fraud did not take place. And we'll know that. As you said, whenever vote is counted, if Biden has won Georgia then Biden is going to be declared the victor. We'll accept that. I have no issue with that.
KING: I know you have no issue with that, sir. I hope the president comes around your way of thinking. Count them. Look at the math. Double check it if you want. But in the end, math is math.
Senator Saxby Chambliss, grateful for your time, sir. It's good to see you.
CHAMBLISS: Thanks, John. You too.
KING: You take care.
Still ahead for us, the coronavirus is spreading across the United States at disturbing record levels.
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