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Hurricane Francine Hits Gulf Coast; Interview With Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose; Honoring September 11 Victims; Interview With Rep. Byron Donalds (R-FL). Aired 11:30a-12p ET

Aired September 11, 2024 - 11:30   ET

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

[11:30:02]

REP. BYRON DONALDS (R-FL): That might work well in a televised debate, but you can't needle Vladimir Putin. You can't needle Xi Jinping. You got to have serious leadership and serious policy, and she did not provide that last night.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST: Should Trump debate Kamala Harris again, Congressman?

DONALDS: Well, look, it depends on how you're going to do it.

Obviously, Donald Trump went into the proverbial lion's den with ABC last night. They were very one-sided in their treatment of Donald Trump versus Kamala Harris. Everybody knows that. I think if there's going to be another debate, it should be a FOX News debate. We have done one with CNN. You know that, Wolf. ABC had their shot last night. It should be FOX News.

It should be, in my view, held in an HBCU in a FOX News debate. If that's the template of how this thing goes, I think that could work out. But we will see what the Harris campaign wants to do and where the Trump campaign wants to land on this.

At the end of the day, who has a message for the American people? Kamala Harris dodged the most important question last night. Are the American people better off today than they were four years ago? She didn't answer that question, Wolf. She dodged it, because she can't answer it, because it's an indictment of her failure as vice president and of Joe Biden's failure as president.

BLITZER: I don't know if you saw "The Wall Street Journal" editorial, but the editorial board today said this.

And let me put it up on the screen: "She won the debate because she came in with a strategy to taunt and goad Mr. Trump into diving down rabbit holes of personal grievance and vanity that left her policies and history largely untouched. He always takes debate and Ms. Harris set the trap, so he spent much of the debate talking about the past and about Joe Biden or about immigrants eating pets, but not how he'd improve the lives of Americans in the next four years."

I wonder -- I wanted to think of your response to that editorial in "The Wall Street Journal," which is usually very, very conservative.

DONALDS: Well, look, what they're talking about, I think, is in part true.

She spent her time trying to goad Donald Trump, trying to taunt Donald Trump. But what Kamala Harris didn't do was talk about policy to impact the lives of the American people. Through that debate last night, Donald Trump talked about the terrible job on inflation, the terrible job on the border.

I believe the most strongest points last night were his conversation, his points on foreign policy, which has been a disaster under Kamala Harris and Joe Biden, and that he wants to end the conflict in Ukraine, so millions of people stop dying, how he wants to make sure that Israel is around, can defend itself and actually has the tools and the abilities to do that.

Kamala Harris didn't really address that at all. She tried to turn back in terms of attacking Donald Trump. So if you take a step back and look at that debate, she attacked Donald Trump. Donald Trump was focused on what matters to the American people, which is securing our border, getting an economy thriving and rising again for all of the American people, and getting out of these conflicts that Joe Biden and Kamala Harris has gotten the United States into.

BLITZER: What did you think of the encouraging inflation numbers released by the government today?

DONALDS: Listen, inflation in terms of year over year has gotten better. But when you take the totality over the last four years, Wolf, and everybody knows this is how it truly works, prices are up well over 20 percent for every man, woman, and child in the United States of America.

Looking at the year-over-year changes one thing. And, by the way, prices are still slightly up over where they were a year ago, but making -- getting your car fixed, potentially going on vacation, buying food, renting a House, buying a house, that is massively up because of the inflationary policies of Kamala Harris.

She was the tiebreaking vote on the American Rescue Plan, on the Inflation Reduction Act, and that did not help the American people. It only left the American people falling further and further behind.

BLITZER: President Trump last night was asked whether he would sign a federal abortion ban. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES (R) AND CURRENT U.S. PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: As far as the abortion ban, no, I'm not in favor of abortion ban, but it doesn't matter, because this issue has now been taken over by the states.

LINSEY DAVIS, ABC NEWS LIVE "PRIME" ANCHOR: DAVIS: Would you veto a national abortion ban if you could? TRUMP: Well, I won't have to.

DAVIS: But if I could just get a yes or no, because your running mate, J.D. Vance, has said that you would veto if you did come to your desk.

TRUMP: Well, I didn't discuss it with J.D., in all fairness. J. D. -- and I don't mind if he has a certain view, but I think he'll speak for him, but I really didn't.

Look, we don't have to discuss it because she'd never be able to get it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: You know, Congressman, we're only just about 50 days or so from the election in November. How is it possible that he and his vice presidential running mate haven't discussed an issue as critical as abortion rights for women?

DONALDS: Well, look, I will tell you, I know Donald Trump and J.D. Vance have talked about a lot of issues.

Probably why this has never come up is because Donald Trump has been crystal clear about how he is not interested in signing any abortion ban at the federal level. He has been crystal clear on this point that abortion is now going to be decided state by state.

[11:35:06]

He even said last night that the states are going to be voting. Some states are going to make decisions that some people might think are more liberal or more conservative. Obviously, California is going to do what it wants to do, just like Florida is going to do what it wants to do.

But at the end of the day, as commander in chief, as president of the United States, Donald Trump is not going to sign an abortion ban. He's not going to do that. Kamala Harris and her campaign keep lying and gaslighting the American people, when he has been very clear on this issue. He believes it should be left to the states.

He wants the states and the people to make this decision in those individual states. There will be no national abortion ban under Donald Trump.

BLITZER: Republican Congressman Byron Donalds is of Florida, thanks, as usual, for joining us.

DONALDS: Thank you.

BLITZER: This morning, secretaries of state from around the country testified up on Capitol Hill over election security. I will speak with one of them and ask what they're doing to keep this election safe.

Stay with us. You're in the CNN NEWSROOM. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[11:40:41]

BLITZER: This morning, election security here in the United States is in focus up on Capitol Hill, as secretaries of state from around the country testified about confidence in the 2024 upcoming election results.

One of them is joining us right now, the Ohio secretary of state, Frank LaRose.

Secretary LaRose, thanks very much for joining us.

Before we get into today's hearing up on Capitol Hill, I want to play a moment from the presidential debate last night where former President Trump refused to concede his 2020 presidential loss. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DAVID MUIR, "WORLD NEWS TONIGHT" ANCHOR AND MANAGING EDITOR: Are you now acknowledging that you lost in 2020?

TRUMP: No, I don't acknowledge that at all.

MUIR: But you did say it.

TRUMP: I said that sarcastically. You know that. It was said, oh, we lost by a whisker. That was said sarcastically.

Look, there's so much proof. All you have to do is look at it. And they should have sent it back to the legislatures for approval.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: As a reminder to our viewers, Secretary, Trump and his allies lost over 60 legal cases calling into question the 2020 election results. He did, in fact, lose, as you know, to President Biden.

How harmful is it for Trump's rhetoric today, how harmful is it for voters' confidence going into the November election, given the repeated lies that Trump is saying, that he didn't lose the 2020 election?

FRANK LAROSE (R), OHIO SECRETARY OF STATE: Well, we should always hold our election officials accountable. That means questioning the work that they do.

In Ohio, we run our elections so well that the losers know they lost. That's what every state should do. Of course, there are legal mechanisms that candidates can use to file their appeals, and that's the process that can play out.

BLITZER: The safety of election workers is top of the mind after threat surged against them back in 2020 and since. It's something that was brought up during today's congressional hearing. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOCELYN BENSON (D), MICHIGAN SECRETARY OF STATE: The fact that now all of us, including election workers, who also sign up to do this work with pride for very little pay, are now, at the result of lies and misinformation on the other side of threats and rhetoric that make us afraid to go to work, afraid to go grocery shopping, afraid to take our kid to school, afraid to go into our backyard because we don't know what might be lurking in the bushes, that's real.

That's what we have experienced in not just this last week, but these last four years.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: That was Jocelyn Benson, Michigan's secretary of state, your colleague.

What more are you doing this election cycle, Mr. Secretary, than the last one to ensure election officials, their staffs, the poll workers feel like they can do their jobs safely?

LAROSE: Well, of course, threats of violence are never acceptable, but let's not sensationalize this either.

We have not seen any widespread or systematic threats against our elections officials. We work with local law enforcement, but we also train our elections officials to de-escalate situations, to bring the temperature down. If people come into their polling location and they're a little bit overexcited, we work to calm them down.

And, of course, if they show any signs of engaging in violent behavior, then we get law enforcement involved. We don't mess around with that.

BLITZER: On the same subject, over the weekend, former President Trump threatened, in his word, to imprison, imprison election officials all across the country that he considers cheats.

And he said this: "When I win" -- this is a direct quote -- "When I win, those people that cheated will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law." He went on to say -- and I'm quoting again -- "Please -- please beware that this legal exposure extends to lawyers, political operatives, donors, illegal voters, and corrupt election officials" -- end quote.

What's your response to that?

LAROSE: Well, there's nothing wrong with what he said.

Of course, with the responsibility to run elections also comes accountability. And if somebody is breaking the law, if they have violated their oath to conduct free and fair elections in their jurisdiction, then they should face consequences under the law. They get their day in court. That's nothing new. Public officials are always held accountable for what they do, and

they should be.

BLITZER: Just this week, your office sent more than 600 violations to Ohio attorney gel -- the Ohio attorney general's office. So, what are the primary irregularities in those violations, 600 violations, opposed to, what, millions of voters in Ohio?

[11:45:03]

LAROSE: Yes, we believe that if you mess around with election integrity, you should find out. And that means facing the legal consequences for committing a crime.

Unfortunately, a lot of our county prosecutors have not taken these cases up. So I have asked our attorney general to look into it. The kind of things that happen is everything from forging a signature on a petition to illegally registering to vote as a noncitizen. This is a felony.

And there should be consequences, because an election -- any law that's not enforced is not a law. It's a suggestion. We're going to make sure that the law is enforced in the Buckeye State.

BLITZER: Well, are you confident that the November election in the state of Ohio, your state, will be free and fair?

LAROSE: I am absolutely because of the tens of thousands of bipartisan dedicated elections officials that do this work. We stand with them, making sure that they're ready to go.

And when Ohioans go to bed on election night, they will know that unofficial result, and they will know that it was honest.

BLITZER: Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose, thanks so much for joining us.

LAROSE: Thank you, Wolf.

BLITZER: And now to Southern Louisiana, another important story we're following right now.

Hurricane Francine is strengthening there by the minute and bringing lots of rain to the Gulf Coast. The storm is expected to make landfall later today.

CNN's Ivan Rodriguez is joining us now live from Morgan City in Louisiana.

What's it like where you are there, Ivan?

IVAN RODRIGUEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, conditions here are deteriorating. This is the heaviest we have felt this rain so far. We have been out here in this lakeside park now for several hours.

Francine, we know, is going to remain a Category 1 hurricane. It's not going to convert into that Category 2 status, which we had initially thought, but that doesn't change the fact that the dangerous flooding, storm surge and wind damage is off the table. That still remains unchanged.

Behind me, you can see some of these waves here, a lot of whitecaps beginning moving in. Those strong winds are picking up a little bit more. Right now, Francine is about 150 miles away from where we are packing sustained winds around that eye of 90 miles per hour.

So that's a big concern coming in here, even though we're still talking about that Category 1 status. And, Wolf, behind me, there's a small marina, several boats right there over my right shoulder. We have seen people coming up, maybe getting supplies out of their boats. We spoke with one man who said that he lives full time on those boats right there.

He didn't seem too concerned about it, saying that a lot of the flood walls and levees here around Morgan City will do a lot of work to try and keep that damage sustained. But one thing that is concerning is the rain that's already fallen due to other storms last week, non- tropical storms.

So it's not going to take a lot for this area to begin to flood. And that's been a big concern here from officials as well. Now, there was a voluntary evacuation order took effect yesterday evening, a lot of people we saw going to gas stations, filling up their tanks and heading out either north or west out of the trajectory of this storm.

But for those who did decide to stay and ride it out, officials have been very clear they're not going to be able to get to them during the heat and high of this storm, mainly power outages. If the power goes out, they have been clear as well they won't be able to get to those power outages to work on them until the hurricane passes.

We also are watching very closely how this rain continues falling and the flooding increasing in this area. And to give you another sense of where we are in this lakeside park, we're sort of in a hole in a way. We're standing actually on the highest level, one of the highest levels of this park on this little hill, and it all sort of dips down here to my left.

And a lot of these underlying areas are things that we see throughout the city as well. So, Wolf, a lot of people who stayed are paying close attention to that as well. There is a lot of concern with flooding. A lot of sandbags have been placed in front of homes as well, but now we're minutes away as well from a curfew here in Morgan City.

That's going to last until 6:00 a.m. tomorrow morning. So the city is going to be very, very quiet now for the next several hours as this hurricane comes through.

BLITZER: Is this hurricane -- hurricane heading towards New Orleans?

RODRIGUEZ: It is heading in that direction, Wolf. We did see how it began to shift a little bit more eastward as well. Yesterday, we got that news of how it was breaking toward the east, so

New Orleans also on high alert as well. A lot of these areas, Wolf, along the Gulf Coast are under evacuation as well, many of them which have been hit hard in other hurricanes as well. So people here are taking it very seriously.

BLITZER: All right, Ivan Rodriguez, thanks very much. Stay safe over there.

We will be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[11:54:18]

BLITZER: Before we say goodbye, this morning, the nation is reflecting on a day that changed America and the world, for that matter, forever.

Today marks 23 years since the September 11 terrorist attacks, solemn ceremonies taking place in New York, at the Pentagon, and in Shanksville, Pennsylvania.

[11:55:04]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

(SINGING)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Patrick Michael Aranyos.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: David Gregory Arce.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Jean Arestegui.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Adam P. Arias.

LLOYD AUSTIN, U.S. SECRETARY OF DEFENSE: We have repaired the damage to this building, but we cannot repair the damage to your hearts. No words can take away your grief. No amount of time can make sense of the worst terrorist attack in American history.

(BELL RINGING)

(END VIDEO CLIP)