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Biden, Trump Both Share Thanksgiving Messages; Trump Repeats Baseless Election Fraud Claims; Health Experts Warn of Post- Thanksgiving Surge; Supreme Court Blocks New York COVID Limits on Religious Groups. Aired 12-1a ET
Aired November 27, 2020 - 00:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Hello, and welcome to our viewers here in the United States, and indeed, all across the globe. I'm Michael Holmes, coming to you live from CNN's world headquarters in Atlanta. It is midnight on the U.S. East Coast, 9 p.m. in the west.
[00:00:36]
Thanksgiving has come to a close here in the eastern U.S., and we want to take a moment to think of the people directly affected by the coronavirus pandemic.
Almost 1,200 Americans died from COVID-19 on Thursday. More than 90,000 others spent the holiday away from their families in the hospital. It is the 17th straight day of record hospitalizations.
Data from Johns Hopkins University shows cases still on the rise in 23 U.S. states. Only seven states trending in a positive direction.
Now, President-elect Joe Biden spent the day making video calls to frontline workers, including nurses and firefighters, who he praised as the heroes of this crisis. And he posted this message on social media.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT-ELECT OF THE UNITED STATES: I know this isn't the way many of us hoped we'd spend our holiday. We know that a small act of staying home is a gift to our fellow Americans.
Yes, it's a personal sacrifice that each of our families can make, and should make, to save somebody else's life. It is also a shared sacrifice for the whole country, a statement of common purpose that says we care about one another, and we're all in this together.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: Now, President Trump held a video conference with members of the U.S. military, thanking them for their service, and sacrifice. And he couldn't help but include some praise for himself and a shot at the media.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Once again, I wish you a very happy Thanksgiving. You're doing an incredible job, and your country is doing well. We just set a record in the stock market. Over 30,000 in the Dow Jones Industrial Average. Over 30,000, think of that. Nobody ever thought we were going to hit that during a pandemic.
The whole world is suffering in this tremendous pandemic. Not just us, the world. And it doesn't -- you wouldn't know that to listen to the news reports, but the whole world is suffering, and we're -- we are rounding the curve.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: Well, as the numbers we mentioned earlier show, the U.S. is not rounding the curve.
But the president's deception didn't stop there. He continued to make baseless claims about election fraud and Joe Biden's victory.
CNN's Kaitlan Collins reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: The president has not taken a question in over three weeks, since the day of the election. And he broke that streak on Thanksgiving, finally taking questions from reporters, after he held a call with members of the military.
And as he spoke to us, he repeated his accusations of widespread fraud in the elections, something his attorneys have been saying, without evidence, for weeks now.
And the president really hammered it home, repeating it, talking about the secretaries of state in Georgia, criticizing those officials there and in other states. And also saying that, if the Electoral College certifies Joe Biden's win in a matter of weeks, as they are scheduled to do, he says that would be making a mistake.
He also criticized that Biden is moving ahead with transitioning to the presidency by picking people who are going to be in his cabinet. And he wouldn't say whether or not he's going to attend Biden's inauguration, as, of course, is the precedent for past presidents, in January.
He talked about whether or not he would concede once his win is certified. He would not say that. Despite being asked, multiple times, would he concede once the win has been certified, the president would not say yes, that he would.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: It's going to be a very hard thing to concede, because we know there was massive fraud. So as to whether or not I can get this apparatus moving this quickly, because time isn't on our side. Everything else is on our side. Facts are on our side. This was a massive fraud. This should never take place in this country. We're like a third-world country.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COLLINS: One thing he did say is that he would leave the White House. He said, "Of course, I would." Of course, should January come, and push come to shove, as there have been these theories about whether or not he'd actually leave the White House.
One thing he did say is he is going to be leaving the White House on Saturday, he says, to go campaign in Georgia ahead of that runoff that, of course, is going to determine which party controls the Senate.
And it's just really notable. I can't stress enough. The president has had such a quiet period in his presidency where he has not taken questions. And of course, now, after three weeks, he broke that streak, and we'll see if that continues with -- with these baseless allegations about fraud.
[00:05:09]
Kaitlan Collins, CNN, the White House.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: And Jessica Levinson is a professor of law at Loyola School -- Law School, and the host of "Passing Judgment" podcast. Joins me now from Los Angeles.
Good to see you again, Professor. I guess let's start with this. Despite the president's lies about the election results, the transition is underway.
But there are a lot of people increasingly concerned about what the president might do in his remaining time in power, whether it's foreign policy or domestic. Do you share those concerns?
JESSICA LEVINSON, PROFESSOR OF LAW, LOYOLA LAW SCHOOL: I do. And there's nothing to indicate that the president is just going to say, You know what? I lost. Country before party. Country before person. And I just want to make sure that I lay the groundwork well for President-elect Biden.
So, you know, what are we worried about on the domestic level? Obviously, we're worried about reducing protections for civil servants. We're worried about actions that he might take in terms of installing people who would be difficult to fire.
On the foreign front, what are we are worried about? I mean, the worst possible case scenario would be starting an act of violence, something that amounts to an act of war.
I hope that none of these worries come to fruition, but there's nothing that President Trump has done so far, other than nothing, other than the fact that he spent the time golfing, which has calmed me. And that has, frankly, calmed me. HOLMES: Yes, yes. A lot of people worried about these purges that
we've seen at the top, and borrowing of staff and so on.
More and more and more Republicans, of course, have perhaps belatedly, in many cases, joined those who are saying, Enough, Biden won. But you know, some still haven't, and it took a long time for those who have spoken out to do so.
I'm curious for your thoughts on how much the party of Trump has enabled him in what we've seen play out since election day. The party, how has it enabled him?
LEVINSON: Well, I think an enormous amount. So some of the things President Trump could do on his own, right? He could file these lawsuits without the support of the Republican Party. He could go out there, propagate these lies and peddle these falsehoods, and he doesn't need the support of the Republican Party.
But that guardrail in American politics, the idea that a party would say to a leader like President Trump, you've gone too far, that guardrail has failed. And the key worry that you use, Michael, you asked me that question, was Republicans have belatedly started to acknowledge the reality.
So how much have they bolstered President Trump's claims? I think a lot. Because in their silence, they're accepting the rise. They're accepting the falsehoods. And it still -- they've essentially, I think, thrown up their hands and said, Let the toddler have a tantrum. It will be over soon. We know it's going to happen January 20.
HOLMES: Let's turn quickly to Joe Biden. He said in his NBC interview, quote, "I have a very ambitious, very progressive, agenda."
Would progressives agree with that when it comes to likely policy on Medicare for all, immigration, climate? I mean, how progressive will a Biden agenda be in the real world? There's going to be a lot of pressure on him from the left.
LEVINSON: A lot of pressure from the left. So I think we're going to know more, and I hate to give this answer, but after the Georgia runoffs.
So if the Senate is controlled by Republicans, then you'll have a less progressive agenda. And the progressive wing of the Democratic Party is, frankly, I think, going to live with some disappointments in that case. Because President Biden's going to say, I can only go so far when we have the Senate controlled by Republicans.
If Democrats manage to flip the Senate, I think you're going to see a lot more pressure on President Biden: Green New Deal, Medicare for all, free college tuition, forgiving loans. You're going to see him pushed, frankly, I think, further to the left than he wants to be.
HOLMES: I suspect you're right. Professor Jessica Levinson, always a pleasure. Good to see you. Thanks. LEVINSON: Thank you. Happy Thanksgiving.
HOLMES: And to you.
And do make sure you stay with us. A little later this hour, we're going to bring you Donald Trump's entire question and answer session with reporters, his first since the election. That's at the bottom of the hour, about 20 minutes or so from now. It's worth watching.
Millions of Americans ignored warnings not to travel over Thanksgiving, while coronavirus cases, hospitalizations, and deaths have all been soaring. And now, health experts are worried about what comes next.
CNN's Alexandra Field reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Let's have a parade!
ALEXANDRA FIELD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A Thanksgiving like no other. The annual Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade, made for TV only on a closed set. Families across the country are being encouraged to get together on screen only.
[00:10:06]
DR. CHRIS PERNELL, FATHER DIED OF COVID-19: I did my phone calls last night to friends who I heard were going to travel, and I pleaded with them: please, stay home. Be safe so that you can enjoy your loved ones in the future.
I don't want anyone to experience what my family has gone through, and what my sister is still going through, in her fight to recover.
FIELD: Last week, the CDC advised people not to travel for the holiday. Since then, 5.9 million people boarded a plane. The CDC now projects that by November 19, America will have suffered between 294,000 to 321,000 deaths.
DR. PETER HOTEZ, DEAN, NATIONAL SCHOOL FOR TROPICAL MEDICINE, BAYLOR COLLEGE OF MEDICINE: What we see is the entire midsection of the country screaming high levels, and, unfortunately, now, 2,000 deaths per day is going to be the new normal. We'll probably head to 3,000 deaths per day.
FIELD: Deaths are now at levels unseen since May. Hospitalizations smashing records, every day.
In red-hot Texas, there's a rash of new restrictions in places like El Paso and San Antonio, along with the deployment of the National Guard and 1,500 medical professionals.
California is coming closer and closer to the full-blown stay-at-home orders of last March. Pennsylvania banned bars from serving alcohol on one of the biggest
party nights of the year, the night before Thanksgiving, despite some pushback.
ROBERT PANICO, RESTAURANT OWNER: So there's a lot of oppression on one industry and one industry alone, and it seems to be the bar and restaurant industry.
FIELD: So for those who are going to gather today, this advice.
DR. ESTHER CHOO, EMERGENCY PHYSICIAN, OREGON HEALTH & SCIENCE UNIVERSITY: Try to layer on everything you can to keep your family members and all of their friends and family safe. So lots of mask wearing, keeping gatherings short, keeping ventilation good with windows open.
FIELD: This year, there may be fewer turkeys on tables across the country.
KYLE WAIDE, PRESIDENT, ATLANTA COMMUNITY FOOD BANK: The pandemic has led to, what we think is the greatest domestic hunger crisis in our country in nearly a century.
FIELD: And this year, there are too many families in mourning. Too many clinging desperately to hope and some celebrating answered prayers.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: To be home is amazing, of course, especially on the day to give thanks.
FIELD: Another precious life saved by healthcare heroes. Once wildly cheered for their bravery and their sacrifice, heroes who we can still do more for this Thanksgiving day.
DR. CARLOS DEL RIO, EXECUTIVE ASSOCIATED DEAN, EMORY UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF MEDICINE: If you want to cheer your healthcare worker, put on a mask and stay home.
FIELD: In New York, Alexandra Field, CNN.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: And joining me now is epidemiologist and CNN medical analyst Dr. Larry Brilliant.
Good to see you, Doctor.
Let's talk about Thanksgiving. I mean, how concerned are you about post-Thanksgiving surges adding to what is already a surge in hospitalizations and deaths?
DR. LARRY BRILLIANT, CNN MEDICAL ANALYST: Hello, Michael and happy Thanksgiving to you, too.
I'm very concerned. And it's not just post-Thanksgiving. It's Black Friday and then the run up to Christmas, and then New Year's. This is our holiday season. And every day, from now on can add to the toll.
What I'm most worried about now is the virus is now seeded in every county in the United States, every city in the United States. Our hospitals are almost full to capacity. In some communities, they are full to capacity. There's no more rooms in the ICU.
The people who will be sick from heart attacks, need cancer treatment, an emergency pregnancies, they're going to have difficulty getting into a crowded hospital. So I'm worried about the excess deaths. I'm worried about the knock-on effects of these increasing waves that will come from Black Friday, and Christmas, and New Year's.
And they don't end on January 20. This is something that will go on until, perhaps, the end of January, as the vaccines come on. So Michael, I think it's a tale of two cities, the best of times and the worst of times.
It's the worst of times because of this acceleration. It's the best of times because, later on in the spring, when the vaccines come in full force, we'll be able to get on top of this terrible disease.
HOLMES: I mean, it really strikes home when you talk about, you know, the filling hospitals and so on. And when it comes to those increasing cases, and hospitalizations. A lot of doctors have been saying, you know, you can have regular beds, perhaps, but you cannot manufacture ICU nurses, or doctors, or respiratory therapists, and so on.
How worried are you about, not so much beds, but qualified staff?
BRILLIANT: Yes. It's always all about people. It's always about your team. It's always about your staff.
It's not just their ability to show up for work. It's they get sick, too, from COVID. And they get sick in their hearts when they watch so many patients that they lose.
I have a friend in Los Angeles who works in a wonderful hospital. He's seen 250 COVID cases and has lost more than half of them.
HOLMES: Wow.
[00:15:06]
BRILLIANT: What does that do to a doctor, or a nurse, who comes to work every day and has to see this?
And if you remember, in the spring, in Detroit and in Manhattan, when we saw these mobile refrigerator vans, mobile hearses, to take bodies away. For a doctor, that's a failure.
What does that do to the morale in the hospital? So I'm very worried about that. It's not just the beds; it's the people.
HOLMES: Morale -- morale -- and it's a very important point. I mean, the toll on -- on the healthcare workers, mentally, and physically, it has been an incessant for months. I mean, there are breaking points, one imagines.
BRILLIANT: And it's the discontinuity that they feel. From what they -- their real lived experience, going into hospitals, seeing patients get sick, putting them on respirators, seeing, perhaps, them die. Seeing how much their families mourn them and how hard it is.
And then to come back and be told, Oh, well, we're rounding the corner. This is a fraud. It's a hoax. It's that lack of support.
So I was really encouraged to hear President-elect Biden's lauding them as heroes. They need our support, our love, much more so than ever before now.
I wish we had more time. We don't, unfortunately. Dr. Larry Brilliant, always a pleasure. Important messages there, in your words. Thank you.
BRILLIANT: Michael, nice to see you again.
HOLMES: Good to see you.
Well, the U.S. Supreme Court has issued its latest ruling, and we're getting a first glimpse at how President Trump's newly-appointed justice is impacting its decision. We'll discuss, after the break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[00:20:37]
HOLMES: The U.S. Supreme Court is blocking New York's coronavirus restrictions that limit attendants that religious gatherings, among other things.
In a 5-4 ruling, President Donald Trump's newly-appointed justice, Amy Coney Barrett, cast the deciding vote. In an unsigned opinion, the conservative majority said the restrictions violated the First Amendment protection of the free exercise of religion.
Now, this is a controversial reversal of the court's previous decisions on similar decisions earlier in the year, when Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg was on the bench.
Harry Litman is a former U.S. attorney. He's now the host of the "Talking Feds" podcast and joins me now, this hour, from La Jolla in California.
Good to see you, sir. We saw in this case the new makeup of the court, in terms of Trump-appointed justices having an effect. Is this a side of the future, perhaps, in the wake of Ruth Bader Ginsburg's death and her replacement by Amy Coney Barrett?
HARRY LITMAN, FORMER U.S. ATTORNEY: It certainly looks like it. So this is the first instance where the new 5 really asserted their power. Chief Justice Roberts, who had always been at the center of the court in the last few terms, was dissenting, along with the three more liberal justices. And it was a kind of ruling that it's clear the court wouldn't have
done before and involves a special kind of embrace of free exercise rights, and a sort of elevation of them above other rights that -- that really did seem to announce the new five are here, and they're strong. And they're going to be issuing a number of opinions that are different from how it would have been before and will really change society.
HOLMES: Yes. How does a ruling like this impact the abilities of the states to -- to set their own coronavirus mitigation rules? I mean, does it have an impact further than the immediate church ruling? And what signal does it send on future so-called religious liberty cases?
LITMAN: Yes. So on your -- the first part of your question, it does send a signal that states can't just do what they want.
And understand what New York did here. It did not, in any way, single out religion or religious services. It rather had expert testimony saying religious services, spectator sports, movies, and the like, are gatherings where people tend to stay awhile, and talk, and mingle, as opposed to other kinds of gatherings, say, liquor stores, and casinos.
And the court, instead of deferring to that judgment, took it upon themselves to say, Well, you're treating them different from other things, and why would you do that?
So it definitely weakens the ability of state actors to decide these regulations. And yes, it certainly augurs a strong solicitude for, in particular, free exercise rights going forward.
Because there are constitutional rights on all sides of these regulations. They restrict certain First Amendment activity, certain rights of association. But the court really plucked out the free exercise issue and decided to really give it its own sort of factual spin, and strike it down on that basis. After, as you say, twice having declined to do so under Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
HOLMES: Yes. It's such an important point. The regulations were not singling out the churches. This judgment does.
It's interesting, because Justice Sonia Sotomayor, she dissented. And -- and it was interesting. I'll just read part of her dissent. She said, "Justices of this Court play a deadly game in second-guessing the expert judgment of health officials about the environments in which a contagious virus, now infecting a million Americans each week, spreads most easily."
I mean, she also went on to say she fears that granting the application would, quote, "exacerbate the nation's suffering."
I mean, something like this, this sort of, quote unquote, "protecting" churches on gatherings, it could end up being a situation where a judicial ruling leads to people getting sick or dying.
[00:25:00] LITMAN: I mean, it's quite true. It sounds alarmist, but we know of a few instances in which large congregations became super-spreader events.
And really, who are these five new justices to take it on themselves to say what's sorts of gatherings will impose these dangers? They, for their own reasons, said not religion. That's more like a liquor store, when New York had said, No, I'm sorry, that's more like spectator sports.
It has always been a matter of deference to those authorities, and for good reason.
Justice Gorsuch, Justice Barrett, they have no especial expertise about what spreads and what doesn't. And if they're wrong, you're right, people could die.
HOLMES: And just quickly, before we run out of time.
LITMAN: Yes.
HOLMES: When it comes to the chief justice, he's always been concerned about the court being viewed as, you know, political or partisan. It worries him. How might we see his role going forward in that context?
LITMAN: Yes, it's difficult. What he said here was we didn't have to do it, because New York has changed its rules. And that's true. It was technically something they could do, but they didn't have to.
I think we will see him, sometimes, going with the five, so it seems as the court is not simply 5 to 4. Sometimes, going with the liberals. But last term, every single 5-4 decision, he was the fifth. That's not the case anymore. He's now -- there's now a new five in town, and they control the agenda.
HOLMES: Great analysis, as always. Harry Litman, really appreciate it. Thanks so much.
LITMAN: Thank you.
HOLMES: We're going to take a quick break. When we come back here on CNN NEWSROOM, Donald Trump answers reporters' questions for the first time since the election. But he's still rejecting a simple reality. He lost.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[00:30:15]
HOLMES: And welcome back to our viewers here in the United States and all around the world. I'm Michael Holmes. Appreciate your company.
Now, we told you earlier about President Donald Trump's impromptu news conference at the White House. He made outlandish and incorrect claims about election fraud, already rejected by the courts, because they're just not supported by any evidence. His answers to reporters' questions were so far removed from reality
and truth that we thought it important to let you hear the whole thing yourselves, unedited, and in full.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Mister President, do you have any big plans for your last Thanksgiving in the White House?
TRUMP: Well, we don't know what is last, if you look at what's going on. You have to really take a look at what's going on. They're finding tremendous discrepancies in the votes, and nobody believes those numbers. Those numbers are incorrect numbers. A lot of numbers have already been reported that's incorrect. You're going to see things happening over the next week or two that are going to be shocking to people; if you look at the numbers in Michigan, if you look at the numbers in Pennsylvania, if you look at fraudulent voting and fraudulent votes.
So I can't say what's first, and what's last, in terms of is this the last one, or is this the first one of a second term. We'll see what happens.
Nobody wants to see the kind of fraud that this election has really come to represent. We are looking at things that are so bad in Georgia. They don't want to show us signatures. The reason they don't want to show us signatures is very simple. Because we will find thousands and thousands -- it's a very close race. It's hair-thin. But we'll find thousands and thousands of discrepancies, fraud. Why they aren't wanting to show those signatures is amazing.
They're doing recounts, and even in the recount, they found thousands of votes that were off. But now, we want to look at the signatures. And you will find tens of thousands of false ballots, fraud, forged ballots. You'll see it all over. You're going to see a lot of it.
And, you go to Pennsylvania, you saw the meeting we had yesterday with Pennsylvania. You saw people come up. Had they want to vote, and they said no, you can't vote. Somebody else already sent in a ballot. And a woman -- But this is already happening tens of thousands of times. I think it was 600 and some odd thousand, 687,000 fraudulent votes cast in Pennsylvania.
And I will tell you, the -- if you look at the state house now, the Republican state house, they're starting to see what's going on there. But they've really know it for a long time.
Then you go to Michigan, and you look at what happened in Wayne County in Detroit. I went through a list. I won almost every county. And you can see, almost every, by 78 percent, 72 percent, 68 percent, going through the list. Then you get to Wayne, and something happened, tremendous numbers. You saw the canvassers, they refused to sign their -- their document, because they said, We can't sign a fraudulent document. Horrible things went on. That's in Wayne County, Detroit.
But you look at the votes that were just tabulated, and they were left today, look at all the counties, I won almost all of them, except Detroit was so egregious. It was phony.
Look at what's going on in Wisconsin. Wisconsin, they're finding tremendous discrepancy. You just take a look at that. Tremendous discrepancy. And elsewhere.
So we're going to see what happens. But you can't have somebody assume office, and, already, they want to get rid of "America first." I mean, they want to get rid of "America first." They don't want America first. You know why? Because China doesn't want it.
China expressed their wish: Please get rid of "America first." And the Biden administration said, Oh, that's OK. We'll get rid of "America first."
No, we don't want to get rid of "America first." We want to put America first. And other countries should put themselves first, too. And I tell them that all the time. But we don't want to get rid of it.
So, I don't know what is going to happen. I know one thing: Joe Biden did not get 80 million votes. And I got 74 million, but there were many ballots thrown away, so I got much more than that. But I got 74 million.
Seventy-four million is 11 million more than I got last time. It's millions more than Ronald Reagan got when he won all -- he won 49 states, I guess. He won 49 states, yes. And it's millions more. Millions more than Hillary Clinton got.
Joe Biden did not get -- and by the way, Joe Biden did not beat Barack Obama with the black vote. Didn't beat him, OK? But they have him as beating him.
[00:35:02]
And if you look at the numbers, the numbers are false. The numbers are corrupt. It was a rigged election, 100 percent. People know it. That's why you have people marching all over the United States right now. They know it was a rigged election.
And look at what's happening in Georgia. A lot of things are being found in Georgia. And they are absolutely against showing -- I mean, it's a sad thing. They don't want to show signatures.
It can be solved if you show signatures. But you're going to find out the people that signed aren't the people that are supposed to be signing. You're going to find that the people that signed those envelopes, they didn't do the ballots. Envelopes. And then somebody said, maybe the envelopes were thrown out.
There's tremendous fraud here. If you look at -- wait just one second -- if you look at 10 o'clock in the evening, you saw what happened. Then you had these massive dumps. Nobody's ever seen anything like it.
You have Dominion, which is very, very suspect to start off with. Nobody knows the ownership. People say the votes are counted in foreign countries. And much worse than that, by the way, with Dominion.
So, you know, Dominion is also partially based in Canada, but it's based in other countries, too. And nobody knows where it was. But, you know, Canada refuses to use Dominion. Canada uses paper ballots. So think about it. They're based in Canada, and Canada refuses to use them. They're smart. They use paper ballots, because paper ballots are the only thing, frankly, the only thing that, really, you're going to get an accurate tab on. Because those machines are fixed. They're rigged. You can press Trump, and the vote goes to Biden. All you have to do is play with a chip, and it's down. It's shown all the time. All you have to do is play with a chip. And they played with a chip, especially in Wayne County and Detroit, you take a look. In Philadelphia, you take a look.
We've had excellent meetings with senators from Pennsylvania, Republican senators and others. And they're saying thing -- they know it was dishonest, but they didn't know it was this dishonest.
And you'll see it all. You'll see it all. So we'll see.
Speaking of Georgia, I'll be going there.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: When?
TRUMP: I spoke with the two great senators -- they're great senators, Kelly and David. I'll probably be going on Saturday. We're looking for a site. We're going to have a tremendous turnout, because we seem to always have a good turnout.
The people are very disappointed that we were robbed. We were robbed. I won that by hundreds of thousands of votes. Everybody knows it. You go down the streets there, there are Trump/Pence signs all over the place. And we won that by hundreds of thousands, Georgia. So they're disappointed.
I don't want them to be disappointed. That will solve itself. We're finding the votes. Once we get to the signatures, we'll take over, 100 percent. Once we get the signatures, 100 percent, we will take over Georgia, and we will get Georgia. But they have to show us the signatures.
Stacey Abrams pulled the wool over the secretary of state. I don't know who he is. But the secretary of state.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He said he (UNINTELLIGIBLE) with you.
TRUMP: It doesn't matter. I mean, you know, he says that, too, but I don't know him. I never met him. I have no idea who he is. All I know is that's the ultimate. You know, he -- I donated to Trump. I respect Trump, I love Trump. I think Trump is great. By the way, we're giving nothing.
This guy got played like I've never seen anybody played. Tell him, if he donated to Trump, if he likes Trump, let us see the signatures. Why is he not letting us see?
There's only one thing you can't see the signatures. That's because there is fraud all over the place.
And even without looking at signatures, as you know, we found thousands of wrong votes. And by the way, always against me. It was not like 50/50. It was always against me.
The other thing, take a look at Michigan. Take a look at what they did with respect to counties. Every county, 78 percent, 72 percent, 76 percent, 59 percent, the whole thing, one after another, after another. And then you get to Detroit, and it's like, more votes than people? Dead people voting all over the place?
But anyway, going back to Georgia, just for a second, so I'll be there on Saturday night. Maybe I'll got twice. It's very important that we win those races. These are two great people. I know them both very well. They're both great people, and I think the two people -- you know, I beat -- The one gentleman, he ran against a congressional candidate who was an excellent person, frankly. And he didn't even live in the right community, and that's how we won. So now, I have to beat him again. He lost as a congressman. He was going for Congress, as you remember, and now against Karen. And now -- and now, he's running against David. He doesn't deserve to be there. He's a lightweight.
And the other one is either a communist or a socialist. I can't figure that one out yet. But he's either a communist or a socialist, probably a communist. This is not for Georgia.
And I just want to tell my people, don't be disappointed yet. Because this race is far from over.
[00:40:07]
But I'm going on Saturday night. I'll be in Georgia. We're going to have a tremendous crowd. They're looking for the right site. Probably, we'd love to take one of the big stadiums, but you can't, because of the COVID. So we'll have an outdoor forum of probably an airport, most likely it's an airport. They're looking for the biggest base.
Then we'll have, you know, tens of thousands of people show up. But I think it's very important. And then I may go a second time, depending on how they're doing. I may go a second time.
But there're two -- they're two really good people.
Yes. Yes, please, go ahead.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mister President, if the Electoral College votes for Joe Biden on December 14, will you concede the election?
TRUMP: It -- I -- it's going to be a very hard thing to concede, because we know there was massive fraud.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: But will you --
TRUMP: So, as to whether or not I can get this apparatus moving this quickly, because time isn't on our side. Everything else is on our side. Facts are on our side. This was a massive fraud. This should never take place in this country. We're like a third-world country. We have machines that nobody knows what the hell they're looking at. I mean, you take a look at all the mistakes they made -- look at even Georgia. Look at all the mistakes they made on that. All that was was a simple you press a button. Look at -- look at Georgia, all the -- all the votes they found, just by going -- and I said, they shouldn't even do it, because it doesn't mean anything.
They're doing a recount right now in Georgia that is meaningless. The only recount that matters in Georgia is to look at the signatures on the envelope. And you will find that those signatures do not match the people that were -- many of them. Hundreds of thousands of them. Hundreds of thousands. And I only lost by 12,000 votes. I didn't lose, I don't like to say I lose. I only -- I guess, we're 11 or 12,000 votes short. That's out of millions and millions of votes. They just got it over the line.
And one of the things that happened, I did so well, I was told this in two other states, that they didn't know what to do. They panicked. Take a look at their drops, at 3 o'clock, and 3:42 in the morning in certain states. They did drops where you're going along like this, and then you have a spike that goes up to the ceiling again. It's disgraceful.
We can't let that happen. And I will tell you, in Philadelphia, the Republicans, the state house Republicans, are very, very upset. And it's sort of appropriate, because Philadelphia has become very activist, if you look at what's going on. They don't want that to happen to Pennsylvania, to the state of Pennsylvania. And it was -- I don't even like to use the word -- it was a rigged election.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: But sir, just to be clear, if the Electoral College votes for Joe Biden, will you concede?
TRUMP: Well, if they do, they made a mistake. Because this election --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: But will you --
TRUMP: -- was a fraud. Just so you understand, this electoral was a fraud. They have Biden beating Obama, on Obama's vote, in areas that mattered in terms of the election, in swing states. And yet, he's losing to Obama over the place. But he's beating Obama in swing states, which are the states that mattered, for purposes of the election.
So, no, I can't say that at all. I think it's a possibility they're trying to -- look, between you people --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (UNINTELLIGIBLE)
TRUMP: Don't answer -- don't talk to me that way. Let me just -- you're just a lightweight. Don't talk to me that -- don't talk -- I'm the president of the United States. Don't ever talk to the president that way.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I was just asking -- TRUMP: OK, I'm going to go with another question. Go ahead.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: So if the Electoral College does elect President- elect Joe Biden, are you not going to leave this building?
TRUMP: Just so you -- Certainly I will. Certainly I will, and you know that. But I think that there will be a lot of things happening between now and the 20th of January. A lot of things.
Massive fraud has been found. We're like a third-world country. We're using computer equipment they can be hacked. They talk about glitches. How many glitches did they find? So a glitch. Oh, gee, we had a glitch, 5,000 votes. In all cases, right? -- in all cases, the votes went from Trump to Biden. They didn't go from Biden -- the glitches were never from Biden to Trump.
So they had many glitches. And they said, Oh, we had a glitch. A glitch is, like, the equipment is a little broken. We'll fix it. But no. A glitch is, in this case, we caught them cheating. We caught them stealing. We caught a fraudulent effort to get votes.
And they said, Oh, yes, it's true, and there was. But -- and there were many of them. But here's the problem. There were probably 10, 20, 30 times it didn't get caught. We just got lucky and caught numerous of them.
But what that is is very simple. If you look at the glitch, the glitch means, right -- it means, Oh, we got caught. We got caught with the votes. And now, let's just call it a glitch. It wasn't the machinery.
And by the way, the machinery, if you look -- just take a look anywhere on the Internet, you'll see many, many people where they're experimenting with this stupid machinery where, if he set it a certain way, the votes go from Trump to Biden.
[00:45:08]
If you look at these counties, if you look at Arizona, where I was going to win, very easily. I've had the biggest politicians in Arizona say there was no way you lost Arizona. There's no way I lost Pennsylvania with his anti-fuel and with his anti-fracking and all of the things that they stand against. There was no way.
Now, Texas, you all said that I was going to lose Texas by a lot, four points, I won Texas by 8 or 9 points. Right? I won it very easily.
In Wisconsin, you all said I was going to lose, or the polls said, certain polls, "Washington Post," ABC, said I was going to lose by 17 points. Think of how dishonest. I thought I was going to win it. And essentially, I did win it. It's very, very close. It's very, very close. We're going to win, because they found -- by the way, in Wisconsin, they have found massive discrepancy. Just so you understand. Massive discrepancy.
But they said I was going to lose by 17 points, and I won the state. OK? But it's very close. It shows very close, whether you say win or loose, it shows very close.
But when you look at the massive discrepancy that we'll be revealing, that's already been revealed. Everyone knows it. They just don't want to play.
Between big tech and the fake news media, you just put out, like, this little railroad train. No, I think it's not right that he's trying to pick a cabinet.
But I can't imagine whether it's courts or legislatures. If you're going to catch hundreds of thousands of false ballots -- and I'm talking in each state. And just so you understand, many, many more votes that we're talking about that we need. You understand. I'm not saying we caught 23 dead people, but we were short 20,000 votes -- no, no. We have tens of thousands votes more than may need in all cases. OK? In all cases.
So, I think you're going to see something, and I think it's going to be a very big story.
Yes, please.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mister -- Mister President --
TRUMP: It's going to be not only a big story. It's the most important story of our time. Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mister President, if Joe Biden takes over the White House on January 21, will you announce a candidacy for 2024?
TRUMP: Well, no, I don't want to talk about 2024 yet.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Will you announce --
TRUMP: This is far from being over. Look, look, look.
(CROSSTALK)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: -- in 2024?
TRUMP: I, and the people that work in this, and they're very professional, and all of this stuff is coming. There's a lot of it came out if you look at the Philadelphia meeting. If you look at the Pennsylvania meeting yesterday. A lot of it came out.
This has a long way to go. This has a long way to go. You're going to find tremendous fraud. You're going to find fraud of hundreds of thousands of votes, per state. You're going to find fraud of many, many times the votes that I need. Again, we're not talking about less votes. We're -- you know, 20 votes, but it doesn't turn the election. No, we're talking about thousands and thousands of votes, beyond what we need to turn a state.
When you see that, I think it's very hard, even for the media, to say that, you know, Biden should win the state.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (UNINTELLIGIBLE)
TRUMP: And there's no way that Biden got 80 million votes. By the way, the only way he got 80 million votes is through a massive fraud. There's no way that he got 80 million votes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Can you give us a timeline on when you're going to present this evidence of voter fraud you talked about?
TRUMP: Well, it's happening now. We're -- we're in courts. We're in courts. But we're also in front of legislatures, and we're doing very well in front of the states.
(CROSSTALK)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mister President, if you don't think that the presidential election was legitimate, if you think that it was stolen, what confidence do you expect voters in Georgia to have when they go to the polls to vote for, say, Loeffler or Perdue?
TRUMP: Well, I told them, today, I think you're dealing in a very fraudulent system. I think -- I'm very worried about that. They are tremendous people. Kelly Loeffler, David Perdue are tremendous people. They should be in the United States Senate. They desperately need it.
But I told them today, I said, Listen, you have a fraudulent system. You have a system where with the flick of a switch, or the putting in of a new chip, can change the course of history. And you have to be very careful.
I read this morning where Stacey Abrams has 850,000 ballots accumulated. Now, that's called harvesting. You're not allowed to harvest. But I understand the secretary of state, who is really -- he's an enemy of the people, the secretary of state. And whether he's Republican or not. This man, what he's done, supposedly, he made a deal -- and you have to check this -- where she's allowed to harvest. But in other areas, they're not allowed. We kind of a deal is that? They're not allowed to harvest during the presidential.
But how can she say she has 850,000 ballots? That would mean that she's got 850,000 ballots for her. That's not supposed to be happening. That's not an election.
[00:50:03]
You know, an election should be a one-day deal. You walk in, and you vote. And if you can't do it, if for some reason you're not feeling well, or there's a problem -- but what they did is they used COVID in order to defraud the people of this country.
And the whole world is watching, and the whole world is laughing at our electoral process. The whole world is watching, and it's a very sad thing. Very sad thing.
And you know what? I've done a lot of things, and you just saw Space Force, and you've seen the tax cuts, and their -- the regulation cuts, and the way we've taken care of the vets, and what we've done with ANWR in Alaska, and all the different things we've done, more than just about anybody has done, even though it's four years.
There are those who say what I'm doing right now is the single most important thing I've ever done. And I think it may be true. It may be true.
The vaccines -- and by the way, don't let Joe Biden take credit for the vaccines. If Joe Biden -- Joe Biden failed with the swine flu, H1N1, totally failed with swine flu. Don't let him take credit for the vaccines. Because the vaccines were me, and I pushed people harder than they've ever been pushed before. And we got that approved and through. And nobody has ever seen anything like it.
And you've got a big resistance in the FDA, from years and years of people working there, for years and years, different administrations.
But the vaccines -- there are those that say it's one of the greatest things. It's a medical miracle. Don't let anyone try and take credit for it.
But with all of the things I've done, this could be the most important. Because there's been voter fraud going on, but never at this scale. Tens of millions of ballots have been sent out to people that didn't even want them. Many people -- and I know you've heard -- many people have received two, three, and four ballots. And many people have taken those two, three, and four ballots, and they voted on them.
This election was a fraud. This -- it was a rigged election. I mean, I hate to say it, but this was a rigged -- At the highest level, it was a rigged election. So we have to figure it out.
And yes, I think it's very dangerous for the two people that are running against two totally unqualified people. And I think it's very dangerous for our nation.
And I'll go a step further. I said today. Other than the fact that you have all of the eyes and ears -- but the media doesn't cover it properly, because the media would -- if they saw something wrong, I'm convinced, the media would not report it. Because you know, you have many things that you know are wrong, and you don't report.
But if the media was honest in this country, which, you know, for the most part, they're not, this would never have happened. This has taken place -- this fraud has taken place. If the media were honest, this would never, ever have happened.
But you have a big election coming up. You have a woman, or somebody, announced 850,000 absentee ballots have already been collected, 850. And I told David Perdue today, and I told Kelly yesterday, I said, they're talking about having collected already 800,000 ballots against you. You can't do that. You can't do that. What kind of a race is that? You can't allow that to happen.
And I'm serious, if the media were honest, and if big tech were honest, which it's totally not, it's -- it's a terrible thing. That whole Section 230 is a disgrace that they even have it. But big tech is totally dishonest.
If the media were honest and big tech was fair, this wouldn't even be a contest, and I would have won by a tremendous amount. A tremendous amount. And I did win by a tremendous amount, but it hasn't been reported yet. But people understand what's happened. They know what happened. Yes.
COLLINS: You know, of course, it is tradition --
TRUMP: Say what?
COLLINS: You know that it's tradition for previous presidents to go to the next president's inauguration. So will you attend Joe --
TRUMP: I don't want to say that yet. I mean, I know the answer. I'll be honest, I know the answer. But I just don't want to say it yet.
Look, a thing like this, possibly, has never happened before. But maybe people just didn't catch it. But we've caught it.
COLLINS: But what's your --
(CROSSTALK)
TRUMP: We've caught hundreds of thousands of votes.
COLLINS: If I may, sir --
TRUMP: Listen, excuse me -- excuse me. When they don't allow a poll watcher, which is a sacred person in our country -- people don't know what a poll watcher is. A poll watcher -- it's considered sacred in our country. When they throw them out of rooms --
COLLINS: But that's not true. They don't do that.
TRUMP: Sure it is. And when they put them in pens.
COLLINS: Your attorneys admitted --
(CROSSTALK)
TRUMP: Excuse me. No, they didn't. My attorneys did not admit anything. And it's all different places.
But when they throw them out of counting rooms, when they put them in what's called pens, and they're 20, 30, 40 feet away, and in some cases, 200 feet away.
When things like that happen, when a woman walks in, on November 3 to vote, a proud woman -- and this is by the thousands, tens of thousands. And she said, I'm here to vote.
[00:55:03]
And they said, You've already voted, ma'am. I'm sorry.
No, I didn't vote. I wanted to vote on November 3. I want to cast my vote in person.
I'm sorry, ma'am, you've already voted. You voted by ballot.
And then, they leave. This is a horrible thing. And we have tens of thousands of that happening. This is a horrible thing.
They gave Biden a lot of votes that he would never have gotten. This is not a candidate that could get 80 million votes. This is just not a candidate.
This is not a candidate that beat Barack Hussein Obama with the black voter. OK? This is not a candidate that beat Obama with the black voter. This is not a candidate that beat Hillary Clinton to a pulp. It just doesn't work that way.
But when you look at the number, when you look at the data, and when you look at the things we have. We have affidavits from hundreds and hundreds of people. This election was a rigged election.
Thank you very much, everybody. Thank you.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: Now, once again, none of what the president said about widespread election fraud or being cheated out of the presidency is true. None of it. What you just heard was almost all untrue, or exaggerated, or distorted, or lies. We thought it important, though, that you hear the whole thing.
Joe Biden did win the election. He will be the next president of the United States, inaugurated January 20, 2021.
I'm Michael Holmes. I'll be back with another hour of live news, right after this.
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