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Billionaire Leonard Leo Threatens to Withold Funds; House Republican's Bill Banning Noncitizen Voting; Jocelyn Benson Warns on Election Safety Warning; House Republicans to Ban Noncitizen Voting; Dangerous Wildfires in Carolina. Aired 10:30-11a ET

Aired September 12, 2024 - 10:30   ET

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

[10:30:00]

JIM ACOSTA, CNN ANCHOR: This morning, an ominous warning from one of the GOP's biggest donors, conservative activist Leonard Leo, threatening to withhold some of his $1 billion in funds unless the party can, quote, "weaponize the conservative vision."

In a letter obtained by CNN, Leo makes his message clear, take concrete steps to, quote, "crush liberal dominance or risk losing funding."

For more on this, Axios political reporter Hans Nichols joins me now. Hans, I know you broke this story and I do want to ask you what this letter says, but if you can put it into context for us and why it's significant that Leonard Leo is saying this.

HANS NICHOLS, AXIOS POLITICAL REPORTER: Well, Leonard Leo, as you mentioned, is conservative activist. He's sort of known for start -- not starting, but making the federal society such a powerful force in the federal judiciary reshaping laws. So, he's very important in the conservative world. And this is essentially putting all the groups that he funds on notice that they're going to have to justify how they're spending the money that he really controls.

And just to put a price tag on it, it's close to a billion dollars. How much? Remember he got this $1.6 billion grant a couple of years ago. So, he has a big piggy bank to spend. There are a lot of conservative groups that listen very closely to what Leonard Leo wants and what he's signaling. And he's clearly signaling a change. And he wants fewer seminars, more campaigns. He doesn't want this to be ivory tower. He wants this to be brass knuckled politics.

And I think that what you and I will both be focused on in the next couple of weeks is just what conservative groups get the message and which ones don't.

ACOSTA: And a lot of this, correct me if I'm wrong, Hans, has to do with reshaping the federal judiciary, which Leonard Leo has a pretty big stamp on already at this point.

NICHOLS: Oh, don't stop there. Leonard Leo is very ambitious. He wants to take over institutions in media and politics and entertainment. And I think the most interesting thing about the letter, and we linked to it in our story, I'm sure you guys have it well by now, is that there's admiration from Leonard Leo on what left- wing nonprofit groups has done.

He plainly admires, and he sees them having great success and taking over institutions. And he wants to replicate and recreate that success on the conservative movement. And that's his challenge. That's what he's telling the groups he wants to do. And he's got the money to back it up.

It's still going to be difficult. And I think they are -- they're clear eyed within the conservative movement about that. But that's the gauntlet, and that's what he wants to do.

ACOSTA: And I have to think, Leonard -- I mean, Hans, when Leonard Leo issues a warning like this, conservative groups, Republican politicians up on Capitol Hill, they're listening.

NICHOLS: Look, if you're doing finance for one of these groups and you were going about your Thursday morning in September, just everything was fine. And this landed like a rocket in your inbox. Because suddenly, one of your main donors, you know, probably -- maybe not the majority, but there are a lot of groups that receive money from Leonard Leo. And this morning, they had a wakeup call. And again, I think you sort of put it this way, when Leonard Leo speaks in the conservative movements, activists listen.

ACOSTA: All right. Hans Nichols, thanks very much for joining us. We appreciate it.

NICHOLS: You bet.

ACOSTA: All right. Coming up next, I'll be joined by Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson after her dire warning to Congress this week about the safety of election officials as we move closer to voting. Stay with us.

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[10:35:00]

ACOSTA: It's already illegal for noncitizens to vote, but that's not stopping House Republicans from forging ahead on a bill to prevent noncitizen voting. Yesterday, Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson delivered a stark warning to Congress saying that lies like those are leading to an unprecedented number of threats against election officials.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOCELYN BENSON (D), MICHIGAN SECRETARY OF STATE: We cannot have a secure democracy if we do not protect the security of the people who administer our elections. And right now, we are enduring unrelenting harassment and threats. So, I need you to be on notice that unsubstantiated allegations and rhetoric without evidence makes our elections less secure because they erode the public's confidence in our elections and harm those charged with protecting our election systems.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[10:40:00]

ACOSTA: And we're continuing to follow the latest developments in the conversation over election security. Today, Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson joins me. Thank you so much for being with us. We appreciate it.

BENSON: Thanks for having me.

ACOSTA: Let's get into this noncitizen voting issue. What do you know about the facts? What do you face in Michigan? Is it a significant problem? What can you tell us?

BENSON: Well, first, only U.S. citizens can vote in our elections. That's the law of the land. And in every state, we work to make sure that law is realized. We prosecute anyone we find breaking the law, not just in that, but in other ways. And we also track the data. You can't register to vote in Michigan or get a driver's license without showing some documentation, which reveals whether you're a citizen or not and protects us against, you know, unwittingly registering people who aren't citizens.

So, our processes are secure, and you'll find that across the country. The real impact of these allegations is to harm people's confidence in our election system and make them distrust the process. And that's the point I tried to make to Congress yesterday.

ACOSTA: Would you say it's an insignificant issue statistically?

BENSON: Statistically insignificant. And again, if we find a noncitizen registered or vote -- if we find anyone who is not a citizen who is inadvertently registered to vote, we remove them from the rolls. If in the very rare circumstance, that person stays on the rolls and they vote, then we will prosecute. And that's the same all across the country. We're very serious about doing that.

And so, the suggestion yesterday, or in many ways that we're not, is really, frankly offensive because our jobs every day are to show up and make sure the integrity of our elections is paramount.

ACOSTA: So, it's rare in Michigan?

BENSON: Yes, it's rare and it's rare across the country. And there have been plenty of studies, including from the Heritage Foundation, that reinforce that fact.

ACOSTA: But as you saw at the debate this week, Donald Trump falsely claimed that Democrats are trying to get undocumented immigrants to vote. Are you seeing that in your state in Michigan? Is that happening?

BENSON: Yes. I mean, there were a lot of claims made that weren't necessarily factual. We know that. And we're not -- and this is another one of them. I mean, we're not seeing noncitizens participating in our elections at any state at high rates. We -- when we see someone who's not eligible to vote for any reason, registered to vote, we remove them from the rolls and we work within the confines of the law to do that.

And again, I walked through -- I tried to walk through that yesterday before the hearing and also make the case that when these unsubstantiated claims of noncitizens voting proliferate, it harms not just the public's faith in our elections, but it translates into threats to election workers themselves and they need to know that.

ACOSTA: Yes, and before the segment, you and I were chatting about this, I mean, I'm old enough to know that there was a time when the secretary of state position in the state government was not a very -- forgive me for saying this, not a very sexy job. It was not a very high-profile job. These are the really dedicated citizens who go out there and make sure that our elections are safe and secure and so on.

Obviously, election workers like yourself, people like Brad Raffensperger down in Georgia, have been thrust into the political process. And a Michigan State lawmaker posted on social media this week that you will be prosecuted if Trump wins. Trump has said he'll prosecute election officials as well. We saw that over the weekend in this Truth Social post. He says that if they cheat in the 2020 -- that cheated in the 2020 election, and if they cheat in this election, they're going to be prosecuted.

What do you -- what's your reaction when you hear all of those things?

BENSON: I mean, it's designed to kind of make us afraid to do our jobs, make us afraid to stand up in response to these threats and speak the truth. It's intended to silence us. And that's not going to work with me, and many of us, we are committed to doing our jobs. And when we get threats like these, one, we know the integrity of our work, it's sound. We know the truth and the law is on our side.

And so, we're not going to back down. We're going to continue to refuse to be intimidated and double down on our efforts to make sure every citizen, no matter who they are or who they vote for, is able to vote and have confidence in our elections.

ACOSTA: And, Secretary Benson, I do want to have you relay to the viewers, if you can, some of what you've had to go through. Because I know you personally have had to deal with threats and intimidation.

BENSON: Yes, over the last several years. And it's not just threats over social media or voicemails or phone calls, it's people showing up at my home in the dark of night and, you know, issuing threats or being swatted twice in, you know, 48 hours. And that is unnerving. It is a reminder of what we're up against and how low people will be willing to go in response to some of the false rhetoric that they're hearing.

And again, I think everyone needs to realize those consequences of these words right now. There's a direct line from the hateful rhetoric to potential violent threats against not just me, but, you know, election workers, clerks who don't necessarily, you know, want to step into the fray, but will do so if it means protecting our elections. But they don't deserve to be harmed or threatened or for afraid for simply doing that very patriotic work.

ACOSTA: And what do you do on election night if there are people showing up at election counting centers, vote counting centers, at poll sites trying to intimidate people? What happens? Are you planning for that? Are you prepared for that?

[10:45:00]

BENSON: Yes. I mean, first, we are planning for that. I think that's what we're doing right now. We try to mitigate the harm. We try to deter. We've passed laws in Michigan to make it a crime to threaten an election official, for example, in their line of work.

So, we've put more protections in place, built partnerships with law enforcement and have actually done scenario planning with local law enforcement and first responders to be prepared for every contingency. So, we'll be ready. We're also trying to communicate to people, you know, don't try to disrupt our elections process. It's not going to work and there will be legal consequences.

ACOSTA: Well, thank you for the work that you do and the people in your office, dedicated citizens who are just trying to make sure our elections are safe and secure. Secretary Benson, thanks so much for your time.

BENSON: Thank you.

ACOSTA: We appreciate it. And we should note, House Republicans are so determined to ban noncitizen voting that they're toying with the prospect of a partial government shutdown. There's just one problem, as we've been discussing, noncitizen voting is already illegal in federal elections. It is in fact a crime.

And while Speaker Mike Johnson says he knows, quote, "intuitively" that undocumented immigrants are voting, the fact is this, noncitizen voting, as we were just discussing, is rarer than rare. In 2016, one study found only 30 suspected cases out of 23 and a half million. And of course, it should go without saying, there's no evidence of Democrats encouraging undocumented immigrants to vote.

Right now, in more than half the country, Republican state legislatures are shortening the window to vote by mail. Requiring new forms of I.D. and expanding voter purges. Election day is less than two months away. Make sure you get out there and vote. And we'll be right back.

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[10:50:00]

ACOSTA: This morning, Francine has weakened to a tropical depression after pummeling parts of Louisiana with heavy rain and wind. The storm originally made landfall as a Category 2 hurricane, with winds up to 100 miles per hour. Our own Derek Van Dam was on the beach of a lake in Louisiana yesterday, where he experienced some of the storm's strongest conditions.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DEREK VAN DAM, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Every time I get one of those strong bands, it feels like you're getting the backwash. I've said it before, the backwash of a jet engine. And it stings your face, those little tiny wind droplets.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: And this is new video from New Orleans showing a daring rescue of a man trapped inside a truck that was almost completely underwater. At least 26 people were rescued from floodwaters resulting from the storm.

All right. From a hurricane to wildfires. Check this out. Caught in the middle of flames in California, firefighters were able to rescue this woman. But she's just one of many people living in communities that are now seeking safety as dangerous wildfires are burning out of control.

CNN Stephanie Elam joins me now live from Wrightwood, California. Stephanie, I can see that smoke behind you. Obviously, you're very close to an area. You're in the middle of an area that had these wildfires sweep through. What's the situation there this morning? How are things going?

STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Jim, I talked to one fire official who told me that this was like an inferno when this was all ablaze. As you look out behind me, you can see that most of the vegetation here is now gone. You see that one hot spot out there as well. That's one of the concerns. And this is why you see firefighters roving around, because most the fire can get down into the roots of trees, of brush, of scrub brush here and just continue to burn. And so, they have to make sure they come back, watch them, and put those out because those can then turn into another big blaze.

We're talking about more than 100,000 acres that have burned in Southern California so far. This blaze, the Bridge Fire, where I'm standing, is close to 50,000 acres on its own. It's the largest active fire in California right now, and it is exploded in size from Sunday to Monday.

We some heat, we saw a lot of low humidity. That makes it very ripe along with the winds (INAUDIBLE) these fires to grow. What we're seeing now though is that it has started to cooldown here. And the humidity has come up. So, that's helping.

Still, when you look at this air quality, this is part of the issue that they're having from battling these fires from above because it is so smoky that it's hard to see where they need to drop it. On top of it, you have those other two large fires in Southern California that are requiring resources. So, they're having to share aircraft to drop fire retardant, to drop water. All of that making it very difficult as they're taxing the resources here to battle these three blazes.

One here -- this one is on the Los Angeles and San Bernardino County, then one in Riverside in Orange County and then another in Orange County, Jim. Just massive amount of acreage that has been up in flames with some houses lost, but luckily no lives.

ACOSTA: Yes. And that is a real backdrop behind you. Just intense, insane stuff. All right. Stephanie Elam, please stay safe. Thanks so much for that report. We really appreciate it.

And thank you for joining us this morning. I'm Jim Acosta. Our next hour of Newsroom with Wolf Blitzer starts after a short break. But first, here's this week's Chasing Life with Dr. Sanjay Gupta.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: I'm Dr. Sanjay Gupta, host of CNN's Chasing Life podcast. We've all seen the word organic stamped on fruits and vegetables, but you may be wondering, what does that mean exactly?

All right. Here we go, let me explain this. If produce is grown in soil that has not been sprayed with certain substances like fertilizers and pesticides for at least three years before harvest, the USDA considers it organic. Why is it important? Well, we do know that high pesticide levels in foods have been linked to increased cancer risk, diabetes, cardiovascular disease.

[10:55:00]

So, then the question is that organic label really worth it? And the answer is it might be. While the organic label doesn't guarantee you're going to be pesticide free, a Consumer Reports analysis did find most organic items were. Now, if you can't afford the organic price tag, you can still shop smart and healthy by looking for products grown in the United States instead of imported ones. What they found was that imported products accounted for 65 of the 100 highest pesticide risk items in the study. You can hear more about how to optimize your health and chase life wherever you get your podcasts.

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