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Just Hours from Debate Day, New Poll Shows Razor-Thin Race; Trump Vows to Pardon Political Prisoners, Threatens to Imprison Election Officials if Elected; Conservative Group Plans to Monitor Ballot Drop-Off Site in Arizona. Aired 10-10:30a ET

Aired September 09, 2024 - 10:00   ET

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

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[10:00:00]

JIM ACOSTA, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning. You are live in the CNN Newsroom. I'm Jim Acosta in Washington.

Today, Vice President Kamala Harris is preparing for the most significant moment of her political career. In less than 48 hours, she will face Donald Trump on the debate stage for the first and perhaps only time before Election Day. But now, after weeks, of Democratic momentum, a new poll is showing just how close this race is with no clear leader in the most recent matchup.

CNN's Harry Enten is here to break down the numbers. Harry, it's just one poll, but, I mean, it hit people over the head here in Washington like a two by four. What is this telling you about the momentum behind Harris' candidacy? What's happening?

ELIE HONIG, CNN SENIOR LEGAL ANALYST: You're telling me that a New York Times poll would have a boomerang effect in Washington, D.C., Jim Acosta? My goodness.

ACOSTA: Imagine that.

ENTEN: Who would have possibly guessed, right?

ACOSTA: That's never happened before.

ENTEN: Never ever, ever. Look, I think it's just so important to put this sort of into perspective, right? And give you an idea that this is actually Donald Trump's best national poll that we've seen in a while, but we've seen a bunch of polls come out over the last few weeks. And remember, Jim, there are margins of error.

So, you know, you mentioned that New York Times poll. When you look at the margin unrounded, what you see is Donald Trump up by two points, but, again, within the margin of error. But we had Quinnipiac just a little bit while ago, Harris was up one. The Wall Street Journal, Harris was up one. There was the ABC News poll among likely voters that had Harris up by six points.

So, the bottom line is, yes, this is a good poll for Donald Trump, but we shouldn't lose sight of the fact that there have been a bunch of other polls that show something a little bit different. And when you put the average of it all together, what you essentially get is Harris up by, let's say, about two points. But, again, Jim, that is way, way too close to call. A lot on the line tomorrow night in Philadelphia.

Yes, I mean, it feels like a jump all race right now, Harry. And what about the issues? How are voters comparing the candidates on the major issues?

ENTEN: Yes. You know, there's nothing more than I like than a timeline, right, to put something into chronological perspective. So, let's take a look here. All right, who do you trust more on your most important issue? And I want you to look back at 2024, where we are now, and then look back at 2020. If you go back to 2020, when you matched up the Democratic Party versus the Republican Party, Democrats held an eight point edge on the issue that voters or adults said that was most important to them.

Look at where we are today in that New York Times/Siena College poll. Look at this. When you match up Harrison Trump, who do voters trust more on the issue that's most important to them? They favor Trump by five points.

So, the bottom line is, yes, this is a close margin. This is within the margin. But it's just vastly different from where we were four years ago, when Democrats are overwhelmingly trusted. Now, the issues are on Donald Trump's side, not, in fact, the Democrats or Kamala Harris' side.

ACOSTA: Yes. And, Harry, we're also seeing some movement on how voters view the risk of a Trump presidency. What does that tell us?

ENTEN: Yes. This to me is so interesting, because Democrats will say that Donald Trump is this big risk, unlike anything we've ever seen before. Well, yes, voters think that Donald Trump is a risky choice to be president, but look at this again, this timeline from back in 2016 to where we are now. Look, the majority of voters say, yes, Donald Trump is risky today at 54 percent. But, you know, you go back to 2016, it was 67 percent back in September of 2016.

Look though at the Democratic nominee, right? Back in 2016, only 51 percent of voters said that Hillary Clinton was a risky choice to be president, much lower than the 67 percent who said that about Trump. But now look at Harris, 52 percent. That's basically the same as this 54 percent. But, of course, Jim, as we were talking earlier, that debate tomorrow night, how pivotal it is and how much things could potentially shift.

So, get this. All right, feel like you'll need to learn more about -- look, just 9 percent of likely voters feel like they need to learn more about Donald Trump. But this is going to be the big thing, that 28 percent of likely voters who say they feel like they need to learn more about Kamala Harris, those are the voters that Harris will be going after tomorrow night. We'll see if she's able to make some impact with them. We'll just have to wait and see, Jim. ACOSTA: And, Harry, I think that's a key number there, because, I mean, yes, there is a lot of Democratic enthusiasm. We saw that at the DNC. It's gone up since Joe Biden stepped out of the race, but at the same time, you have a large chunk of voters out there who are saying, I just need to know more about Kamala Harris and perhaps she'll take care of some of that tomorrow night.

Harry Enten, as always, thanks so much.

[10:05:01]

Let's discuss all of this with CNN Political Commentators Karen Finney and Shermichael Singleton, and the director of the Center for Politics at the University of Virginia, Larry Sabato.

Larry, you're the expert on this. Let me go to you first. With nearly a third of voters saying they need to know more about vice president Kamala Harris, what's your sense of that number and how can she accomplish that goal tomorrow night to try to add to, you know, some of what voters want to know more about her?

LARRY SABATO, DIRECTOR, CENTER FOR POLITICS, UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA: Well, it is a high number for somebody running for president. But, of course, she's only been running for less than two months. So, people don't follow vice presidents. I'm not that surprised. And, yes, she can fill in some of the blanks in a positive way, despite, no doubt, Trump's attacks that are forthcoming, but let's also remember, this is not a usual regular election. You've got the other candidate, Donald Trump, who is disliked intensely by a very large portion of the American electorate. I don't think they need a whole lot more information about Kamala Harris in order to vote for her to stop Donald Trump.

So, normally, it would be more important than I think it is right now. And just to add one thing, Jim, The New York Times polls, New York Times/Siena poll, as Harry Enten correctly said, and you said, is just one poll. Just because it's The New York Times, it has a great impact. This makes me deeply regret the loss of the Gallup poll, which was the gold standard. And, of course, they dropped out after they mispredicted the 2012 election.

ACOSTA: Interesting. And, Karen, let me ask you about this because, you know, it is just one poll as we've been saying, but at the same time, it emphasizes the fact that this is an extremely tight race. Maybe it's two points in one direction or the other, but I mean, this is a bit of a wakeup call, is it not, to Democrats?

KAREN FINNEY, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Oh, I think we've been wide awake for weeks. I mean, Jen O'Malley Dillon, the campaign chair, put out a memo this weekend and two weeks ago saying we're the underdogs. And, you know, people have sort of snickered when the vice president has said, we're the underdogs. That's because as this poll shows and frankly some of the internal data I'm looking at shows we do have a gap to make up, no question.

The difference, I'd rather be in our position than Trump's position because there are still voters out there who are interested in potentially voting for her, former Nikki Haley voters. We've still got more room with black voters and Latino voters. Donald Trump doesn't --

ACOSTA: Movable Republicans, after what Liz Cheney was saying over the weekend.

FINNEY: That's right. But Trump doesn't really have much room. And what we've seen time and time again is how people feel about him, what they know about him, is very baked in. And I do think tomorrow night at the debate, they're going to see more of the same, and that could give some people pause.

ACOSTA: Yes. And, Shermichael, I mean, as much as folks want to know more about Kamala Harris, I mean, Donald Trump is making it clear who he is. People don't need to know more about him. Over the weekend, he was refusing to accept the results of the last election. He's pledging to prosecute political enemies if he's reelected. He's now saying he's going to pardon those involved with January 6th. He's saying that again. Let's listen to that.

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DONALD TRUMP (R), FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT, 2024 PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: The moment we win, we will rapidly review the cases of every political prisoner unjustly victimized by the Harris regime, and I will sign their pardons on day one.

With your vote this election, their lying, cheating, thieving, hoaxing, and plotting will come to an end.

We got to stop the cheating. If we stop that cheating, if we don't let them cheat, I don't even have to campaign anymore. We're going to win by so much.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: Yes, there was no widespread voter fraud back in 2020. He didn't lose because of cheating and so he just lost. Anyway, we're going to talk about that in more. And he's admitted that in recent weeks too. But is this what you want as a Republican to hear Donald Trump saying going into a very important debate like this?

SHERMICHAEL SINGLETON, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Clearly, no campaign wants a candidate to be focused on the past, particularly the former president and this predicament, but yet, in many ways, as Dr. Sabato said, you know, people's opinions on Trump are pretty well known, pretty baked in. You sort of expect him to go on these riffs on the campaign trail, and yet this race is still marginally close.

I think there are, you know, some issues, whether it's social exclusion from half of the country, or economic anxiety from half of the country. Whatever the reasons are, A significant number of people still believe that the former president is a better solution or answer to some of those problems and the vice president is still struggling to figure out how she's going to message on that fact.

ACOSTA: Yes. All right, well, guys, stay with me we're going to have more to talk about in just a moment.

Coming up, Donald Trump is warning he will jail election officials he considers cheats. And he's complaining of voter fraud without evidence. We'll get reaction from Arizona Secretary of State Adrian Fontes, there he is. He's coming up.

Also, the search intensifies today to find the man accused of shooting at drivers along I-75 in Kentucky.

And if you haven't seen this, take a look at this.

[10:10:01]

Face down with a knee to his back. That is NFL star Tyreek Hill being detained by police in Miami. More on that.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It happened so fast that it caught me off guard. You feel me? Because I'm like, dang, they're really doing this.

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ACOSTA: Then and now, Donald Trump taking his election conspiracy playbook and adding a new page this weekend. He issued an ominous warning, accusing Democrats of cheating and skullduggery, as he calls it, in 2020, and then he pivoted to the upcoming presidential election just weeks away.

We put this up on screen. He said this, quote, when I win, those people that cheated will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.

[10:15:03]

He went on to say, please be aware that this legal exposure extends to lawyers, political operatives, donors, illegal voters, and corrupt election officials, end quote.

Joining us now is Adrian Fontes, Arizona Secretary of State. Mr. Secretary, you're in charge of elections in a crucial swing state. It was crucial last time around. And in 2020, you oversaw the counting of ballots in Maricopa County, which is a critical part of the state. And we saw at that time protesters, some of them armed, were gathered outside for days.

It's important to remind people this is what took place four years ago. When you see Donald Trump saying what he's saying over the weekend, how concerned are you about the safety of your election workers and the security of this upcoming election?

ADRIAN FONTES (D), SECRETARY OF STATE, ARIZONA: Well, first, thanks for having me, and this is concerning, particularly for all those folks out there whose integrity is being impugned. And they're not just Democrats, by the way, because it's Republicans and independents, libertarians, greens, there's a whole host of folks of all political stripes who run our elections at the local and state level across the entirety of this nation.

And let's be really clear, these comments are not political, they are tyrannical. They don't speak to the rule of law. What they speak to is one person's grievance, and it's unfortunate. You know, I was on that same ballot in 2020. I lost my election fair and square, just like Mr. Trump did. But nobody in my camp was crying about skullduggery. We lost fair and square and we won fair and square. And that's the way it works in America and that's what good sportsmanship is about.

ACOSTA: And by reading this correctly, at least one conservative group plans to monitor ballot drop off sites in Arizona. Are you concerned that some voters are going to feel intimidated about dropping off their ballots? If there are folks, you know, hanging out outside those drop off sites?

FONTES: What I'm concerned with is the folks who've been spreading these lies and nonsense for years are now pretending like they're the cavalry to come in and fix things, you know, like the arsonist calling 911 to put out the fire. It's a real problem when they're really shifting to pretend like they're on the inside, to pretend like they want to help folks.

Voters can be assured, however, and let me be very clear about this, elections officials across Arizona and across the United States of America have been working really hard for a long time to continue to provide solid elections, as we always have. And now with the added concerns of security because of the threats and the nonsense, we're working closely with law enforcement, the Department of Justice, the FBI, and et cetera.

We've seen some prosecutions throughout the country for folks who are trying to interfere with our elections. But the thing we're really concerned about and making sure that we're prepared for is the potential threats against voters and elections officials as we move into 2024.

We are ready. We are concerned, but we're going to be careful and we're going to have a good election in 2024.

ACOSTA: And, Mr. Secretary, I do want to ask you just to directly to respond to the former president, because, and we can put this Truth Social back on screen if we still have it, he is talking about imprisoning election officials like yourself if he says, you know, you cheated or some other election official cheated in another state. Obviously, where he's coming up with this? We have no idea. He's making these baseless claims, unfounded claims. What's your response to that?

FONTES: Well, if there is a, quote, unquote, prosecution to the fullest extent of the law then I say bring it because there's no evidence. There's never been any evidence. Now, if he's saying a prosecution outside of the law, if he's saying that he's going to weaponize law enforcement and federal prosecution against local election officials, then we've got a very, very dark future to look at if that's what ends up manifesting.

But the good news is this. Really solid Americans with integrity are running our elections at every level in every state. And the American public needs to know. Your vote is safe. Your vote is secure. It's going to get counted well. Because the same types of systems across the country have continued to be run. We know there's no widespread fraud. There's never been any evidence of any wrongdoing.

And so to folks who are out there making these claims, they need to look at the facts and not the fictions, and particularly not the grievances of one single person.

And you crafted an election -- your office crafted an election procedures manual that sets limits on what actions and behavior are acceptable both inside and outside a polling place. Last month, the Superior Court judge ruled that you overstepped and that your guidelines suppress free speech. Did you have any response to that?

FONTES: Well, my response has been consistent and clear. When the government tells you've got to stand in line at a certain time and a certain place to exert your rights to peaceably assemble and vote, the First Amendment rights of some wacko screaming at you or carrying a gun around, those First Amendment rights aren't as protected.

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I think good citizens, good orderly elections happening the way they do in the vast majority of America will continue to happen. But the extremists who have brought these lawsuits, like the Free Enterprise Club need to understand that what they're doing is not just bad for democracy, it's bad for business, which I think is the height of irony.

ACOSTA: All right. Adrian Fontes, Secretary of State of Arizona, you're going to be very busy in these coming weeks. We appreciate your time this morning. Thanks so much.

FONTES: Thank you.

ACOSTA: All right. I want to bring back our panel. Karen Finney your reaction to what the secretary just said about, you know, his state.

FINNEY: Yes. Look, it is -- there's a real intention around what they're saying, right? It is to try to scare people and intimidate people. In 2016, when I was traveling with Tim Kaine in some Northern Carolina, North Carolina spots, we saw people standing there holding swastikas to intimidate black voters.

So, look, the point that the secretary made, people are not going to be intimidated. We're going to make sure that they have the information that they need to know their rights and to protect their right to vote and to protect them from anyone who is trying to stop them from that constitutional right.

At the same time, this is another reason why we have to call out why Donald Trump is so dangerous. He's calling for that, in the same way he called for violence on January 6th in the same, it's the same reason that you've got. Mike Pence, John Bolton, people like that, Mark Milley saying you can't trust this guy. This is not somebody who should ever be commander-in-chief again.

So, again, I think we should take it as a sign of this is who Donald Trump is, and this is why he shouldn't be returned to the White House.

ACOSTA: Yes. I mean, Shermichael, and we could show the Truth Social again, I mean, you know, one of the things that you have to wonder is whether or not we're covering this enough. I mean, that was sort of the thing that, you know, When I saw him put out this truth social. But if Kamala Harris were threatening election officials with jail time, what would be the reaction?

SINGLETON: Well, Look, my reaction would be the same regardless of the political party is that we don't want to further heighten polarization that we're seeing in the country. You know, democracies across the globe were at an all-time low. We're seeing democracy struggled to maintain. We're seeing a heightened number of populist, nationalist movements across the Democratized world and globe.

And we certainly don't want to see the continuation of that, Jim, in the United States, particularly when the election is going to be so close and someone's going to win this thing and someone's going to lose. And, typically, when you lose, you congratulate the victor and we come together as a country and then we battle it out in Congress, right, and we wait the next four years.

And so, you know, my thoughts for the former president would be to just cut this out. Like you have some issues you can run on that are compelling to people.

ACOSTA: And this is not the media bringing this up. He's bringing it up. He's doing it.

FINNEY: He's not going to cut it out. You can say that all you want, but he's not going to -- this is what it's going to be.

SINGLETON: Karen, I understand that, but I should say he should cut it out, because this isn't acceptable. And I'm not going to sit here and pretend that it is acceptable. And so I think we do have an obligation to say, yes, campaigns are difficult. Yes, you're going to fight it out. You're not going to like the other side, that's okay. But that's where the line is drawn.

And so I would hope, Jim, that the campaign would try to reel this in a little bit and say, just stick to the issues.

ACOSTA: Yes. But, Larry, therein lies the problem. How do you reel in Donald Trump when he's doing this sort of thing? And, I mean, did you ever think we would have a day this close to an election where you would have a former president, somebody who was the president of the United States, somebody who put out these lies before the 2020 election, during the 2020 election, after the 2020 election. And we had what took place that January 6th at the Capitol. To see this happening again, it boggles the mind. It's hard to get your head around. What's your reaction, Larry?

SABATO: Let's call it what it is, Jim. Hitler-esque, that's what it is. And people need to start focusing on it, those who, for whatever reason, won't. And that includes some of your colleagues in the media who have undercovered does or not covered it at all. What he said was outrageous and far beyond Nixon's enemies list, which was one of the revelations, John Dean had a lot to do with it, the revelations that brought Nixon down.

This is something to take very seriously. He is talking about jailing elected officials who won't go along with his big lie, which he developed after the 2020 election to cover up the fact that he lost. He lost. He's never accepted it. And if the country goes along with him, they can expect some of this over the next four years.

ACOSTA: And, Larry, why aren't folks paying attention to it enough, do you think? Do people just want to stick their head in the sand?

[10:25:00]

Is it because people are numb to it, they've accepted it? There are folks who have called this sane washing. What is it?

SABATO: Well, I can think of several reasons, some I won't say on T.V., but one of the things that I think is really important here is that all of us who follow this hourly, not just daily, but hourly, have become hardened to the crazy things, the outrageous things that Donald Trump writes and says. And we don't put enough emphasis on it for that reason. And some others, some other media outlets have no intention of covering it because their agenda, frankly, is to get Trump reelected. So, they don't cover it, but I think some of them also say, well, we won't be bothered by this. It's just the ones who are causing Trump's problem. No, Trump will come for them last, but he'll come for them.

ACOSTA: All right, Karen, Shermichael, Larry Sabato, thank you very much, sobering discussion. I appreciate it very much.

And just to recap, this is not the first time Donald Trump has cried foul when it comes to election fraud. In 2016, he baselessly claimed that undocumented immigrants were voting illegally in California, boosting the popular vote for Hillary Clinton, but there was no evidence ever presented.

Four years later, Trump made more bogus claims in 2020 after he lost to Joe Biden, fueling the larger Stop the Steal movements that cascaded into the events on January 6th. Some officials in his own White House said Trump knew he had been defeated, but was lying about the results anyway. And now, once again, Trump is already planting the seeds to call into question the election results this time around, even before Americans even get a chance to vote.

For the last eight years, to repeat, over three presidential cycles, Trump has made these claims, and he has never backed them up.

Coming up, weighing legal action against the Miami Dade police. Does NFL star Tyreek Hill have a case? We will ask our legal experts next.

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