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Trump Says, Liz Cheney Should be Fired on With Guns Trained at Her Face; Trump Vows to Protect Women Whether They Like it or Not; Liz Cheney Slams Dictator Trump After He Calls for Her to be Shot. Aired 10-10:30a ET

Aired November 01, 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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JIM ACOSTA, CNN ANCHOR: You are live in the CNN Newsroom. I'm Jim Acosta in Washington.

We begin with a dangerous escalation and former President Donald Trump's violent and threatening language in the final days of the 2024 election. He is now saying former Republican Congresswoman Liz Cheney should be fired upon and have guns, quote, trained on her face with, quote, nine barrels shooting at her. This is what he said.

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DONALD TRUMP (R), FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT, 2024 PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: She's a radical war hawk. Let's put her with a rifle standing there with nine barrels shooting at her, okay? Let's see how she feels about it You know, when the guns are trained on her face.

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ACOSTA: Cheney has responded to the former president saying this, this is how dictators destroy free nations. They threaten those who speak against them with death. We cannot entrust our country and our freedom to a petty, vindictive, cruel, unstable man who wants to be a tyrant. And just moments ago, a Trump campaign spokeswoman said this in a statement, President Trump was clearly explaining that warmongers like Liz Cheney, these are her words are very quick to start wars and send other Americans to fight them rather than go into combat themselves.

My first guest to talk about this, this morning, is Republican Congressman Tim Burchett of Tennessee. Congressman, thanks so much for being with us. You and I've had many discussions about this campaign, so I appreciate coming on here right before Election Day.

I have to ask you about this violent language that Trump is using against Liz Cheney, talking about having guns trained on her face. Do you approve of that kind of rhetoric?

REP. TIM BURCHETT (R-TN): Well, clearly, President Trump was talking about how she's quick to get American troops into war and young people die, and yet she's not facing any of that. That's clearly what he was stating. And any other thoughts on that would be a misstatement, obviously. He was not calling for her assassination or anything like that. It was clearly saying if she wanted to go to war, then she ought to be out there on the lines.

And so she the Cheney family has profited greatly from American Wars. I'm sitting in front of a 48-star flag that was on my uncle's casket in the Second World War. My dad fought the Japanese. My mama lost her oldest brother fighting the Nazis. My mama flew an airplane during the Second World War.

ACOSTA: Yes. But, Congressman, when he says nine barrels -- when he says nine barrels shooting at her, that obviously evokes images of a firing squad. It evokes images of an execution, does it not? Why would he say nine barrels?

BURCHETT: I don't know why he would say that. I didn't know there were nine barrels in a firing squad, honestly. So, I'm a little loss at that. But he was clearly speaking of, if you're going to go into, send people into combat, you ought to be the first one to go. And she would obviously not be going or her family, but they've greatly profited off of wars in our past and their history is well known.

ACOSTA: Isn't it a bit much though for Donald Trump to -- if you want to use that generous interpretation, to criticize Liz Cheney and say, you know, she should be sent off into, into battle if she's going to start wars, when Donald Trump claimed he had bone spurs and didn't go to Vietnam?

BURCHETT: Well, I don't know about all that actually, Jim. He did apparently have that. And that is a reason to not go. Obviously, a lot of people didn't go. My father went, my mom's brother went, all my mom's brothers went. Her brother, Roy, never came home. So, I get it. Those kinds of statements are made. It's close to the end of the election. Liz Cheney has been on the attack of President Trump, and, frankly, a lot of Americans, since she was soundly beaten for Congress and kicked out of her leadership office when she became disloyal to the leadership.

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So, you know, she has a history of that. She's looking for a job.

ACOSTA: But you don't want -- yes. But you don't want Liz Cheney to be shot? I mean, he just -- he should not be saying that Liz Cheney should be sent off in a situation where she should be shot. I mean, that -- can't we just all agree that that's out of bounds?

BURCHETT: I hope nobody gets shot. But under this administration, unfortunately, we've been in a lot of wars and we weren't in very many under Trump, and I think so. That's clearly a deflection on their part. They're seizing upon everything. This is no issue that will decide anything. It just allows Liz Cheney to get up and sell more books and be more critical of the Trump administration. ACOSTA: Yes, but it's the former President Trump who's saying this. I mean, I just can't imagine what the outcry would be if the roles were reversed. I mean, just, to me, Congressman, and you and I had these discussions --

BURCHETT: It wouldn't anything. If -- well, Mark Cuban says --

ACOSTA: Why not say he shouldn't say these sorts of things?

BURCHETT: About Republican women being stupid, yet you have people like Tulsi Gabbard and Riley Gaines, people like that are strong, very intelligent women, that get out front, yet they're criticized. But I don't hear CNN criticizing him.

ACOSTA: Mark Cuban is not running. He's not running for president. This is Donald Trump saying that Liz Cheney should be fired upon, and it just seems to me -- you know, sitting in front of the American flag, Congressman, with all due respect, I mean, to me, at what point does a does a Republican member of Congress call out Trump for this kind of language? I just don't get it.

At some point, here we -- I mean, doesn't any of this matter? Isn't this important that a candidate for president is saying that Liz Cheney should be shot right before an election? I just don't -- I respect you, Congressman, you and I have had lots of conversations. I just don't get it. It's outrageous.

BURCHETT: Are you going to let me talk?

ACOSTA: Sure.

BURCHETT: Okay. He was not saying that. He was clearly saying if she's all for these wars, she ought to get out front and volunteer for service to our country and get out and on the frontlines, like in Ukraine, one of those wars that she's voted heavily to support into fund that Americans are doing without because we sent $200 billion overseas at the industrial war complex or the war pimps that profit. Her family has profited greatly from that. She's --

ACOSTA: Totally legitimate issue, yes.

BURCHETT: (INAUDIBLE).

ACOSTA: Totally legitimate issue to talk about getting the country out of wars. Let's say Donald Trump is elected -- I do want to ask you one policy question before I let you go. If Donald Trump does get into the Oval Office again, Mike Johnson remains speaker, are you going to repeal Obamacare? Will there be an effort to repeal Obamacare? Would you like to see that happen?

BURCHETT: I would like to see it modified. I hear a lot of Americans say they can't afford their health care there up now under Obamacare. I would like the free market to work at some point. I wish we could put our differences aside and work towards the American people and providing some quality health care. But by socializing medicine is not going to do that. People stand in line to get surgeries overseas in Canada and those places. Margaret Thatcher, she had her teeth fixed after she got out of office. You know where she got her teeth fixed? In the United States of America. So, I think we ought to start looking at maybe our health care system, our doctors and nurses --

ACOSTA: You're saying modified, not repeal. You're saying modified, not repeal?

BURCHETT: Yes, I'd say modified, because there's good portions of it. I sure as heck don't want poor people to go without health care. But when I see middle income people who can't afford it under Obamacare and could afford some sort of health care prior to that, I would like to see look at those things.

The problem we've got is too many middlemen and too many money changers in Washington that are profiting from this every which way. I would like to get the doctors at the table and the patients at the table and ask them what they need and cut everybody else out.

ACOSTA: All right. Congressman, thanks for your time. Good to talk to you. I appreciate it.

BURCHETT: Thank you, Jim, always a pleasure.

ACOSTA: Always a pleasure.

All right, Michigan Democratic Congresswoman Elissa Slotkin joins us now. She is running for a U.S. Senate seat. In a new CNN poll shows she currently leads Republican former Congressman Mike Rogers by six percentage points. That's outside the margin of error.

Congresswoman, obviously, you're not taking any votes for granted at this point, and I do want to talk about your race in just a moment, but your reaction to what Donald Trump said about Liz Cheney.

REP. ELISSA SLOTKIN (D-MI), SENATE CANDIDATE: Yes. Well, look, I mean, it was completely inappropriate, dangerous and unbecoming of a leader and someone who's running for president.

And I just have to say, in contrast to that last interview, leadership climate is set at the top. If the top guys are saying something that involves violence and threatening a person, whether you agree with them or not, you shouldn't be surprised when it creates violence from people who are unwell and unstable on the ground.

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So, it's dangerous. It's wrong. And the truth is you know, Mr. Trump was literally going after someone who doesn't agree with him. So, you shouldn't be a surprise when people come on T.V. and feel the need to agree with him and to dodge and to cover up for him.

We need to get back to a place where leaders understand they have an important role. They are messaging for the whole country. And the threat of violence is completely, completely out of bounds, completely out of bounds.

ACOSTA: And, Congresswoman, I do want to ask you, Congresswoman, what the Trump campaign said in a statement. They're saying that President Trump was clearly explaining that warmongers like Liz Cheney, this is their words, are very quick to start wars and send other Americans to fight them rather than go into combat themselves. I mean, that is how they're cleaning up what Trump said. What's your response to that?

SLOTKIN: Again, my response is like, you can disagree with Liz Cheney. She was just in campaigning for me. She and I don't agree on a lot of things, right? But that doesn't mean we threaten violence. And by using that kind of imagery, using that kind of language,

I'm not saying that Donald Trump is going to go after her personally with a gun. I'm saying that someone is listening to that, a lot of people, millions of people, people who are not well. And we know that when you use that rhetoric, it turns back around and you see violence.

So, no matter what party you're from, no matter whether you agree with someone or not, we know these are tense times, but leaders, especially people who want to be in the Oval Office, have a special responsibility to send a clear signal to the rest of the country that violence is never acceptable. And that's the opposite of what he did.

ACOSTA: And why is it -- I mean, I was obviously pulling teeth there with the congressman a few moments ago. What has been your observation up on Capitol Hill talking to your Republican colleagues? Do they privately express concern about Trump's rhetoric that he uses? Can you talk about that? I mean, does that go on? Because I have to think, and I know this firsthand from talking to some of them myself, that they do express these concerns privately, but they just won't do it publicly, no matter what -- almost no matter what he says.

SLOTKIN: Yes, absolutely. I think there are some in Congress, you know, who are true believers who really sort of subscribe to everything that Trump says. And they came in kind of in the recent era, and that's what they believe. But there's so many who privately, you know, roll their eyes or put their head in their hands or say, here we go again. But if they know it, but they won't call it out, what does that say about them? And what does that say about, you know, just kind of where we are as a country?

So, I think what you're hearing from all these people is they understand if they show publicly that they are disloyal to him, then he and his machine will turn against them. And they don't want to lose their races. They don't want to lose their finances, whatever it is. And it's just -- to me, it is completely counter to the system of government, literally, that our founding fathers started up, which says that there are three branches of government, and the responsibility of legislators on Capitol Hill is to be a check and balance on the executive branch and on the president, no matter who it is.

So, I just -- it's a loyalty test. They're scared to fail it. And what happened to Liz Cheney is a perfect example, that he is making an example of her to the rest of the Republicans, that if you go against me, even on grounds of merit, I will come for you and I will make your life literally less safe. And I just -- you know, I think the founding fathers are rolling over in their graves looking at how this rhetoric has gotten us to this point.

ACOSTA: I do want to ask you about Trump saying he will be a protector of women, whether they like it or not. What was your reaction to that? And what is your sense? What is your campaign's sense of how women are voting? We're seeing some, some data points that perhaps they're voting in at levels that were not anticipated or higher than what was anticipated.

SLOTKIN: Yes, we're definitely seeing really, really strong turnout in the state of Michigan. I mean, we're on track to have some of the highest voter turnout ever in an election right now, which is great, and women are a huge part of that.

And, look, there's something that I call the secret women's vote, which we just hear a mountain of stories every single day, you know, where women aren't necessarily telling their husbands how they're voting. They're not telling their friends how they're voting. But they're concerned about just the rollback of rights for women, for their daughters, for their granddaughters.

And here in the Midwest, you know, we live, you know, next to Indiana, which has a ban on abortion. So, literally, if you want to drive to a concert in Chicago, you have a certain set of rights in Michigan and a totally different set of rights across an invisible line in the sand when you cross into Indiana.

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And even though we've done our job here in Michigan and codified Roe and on our ballot -- or, sorry, on our Constitution via the ballot in '22 it's, it's a stand-in. The choice issue is a stand-in for a whole basket of issues of just women's rights and how you trust women or not.

ACOSTA: And, Congresswoman, I did want to ask you finally about your race in Michigan and perhaps one factor that, again, could be another X factor like women voters and so on, and that is Arab American voters and the concerns that have been expressed by Arab Americans in your state about the Biden administration and its handling of the situation in Israel and Gaza. Are you expecting that to have an impact? What's your sense of it right now?

SLOTKIN: Yes. I mean, it's hard to overstate how the war in the Middle East has roiled the state of Michigan. And it's emotional here. It's also very personal because we're very integrated here. We grow up together. We go to school together. There's been no shortages of outreach by the Harris campaign now, by the Trump campaign, going on in that community.

And I think you're going to see a real mix. You're going to see people who just feel like they're not going to vote at all, you know, apathy because they aren't, you know, happy with anyone. You're going to see people who feel like they don't want their children growing up under Donald Trump, another four years of Donald Trump, after the Muslim ban and so many other things. And you're going to feel people -- have people who say, you know, I'm going to try something different.

It's a mix right now. It's hard to know exactly where it's going to shake out. But it all comes from this route of people feeling really hurt and feeling pain because they have personal connections to the conflict.

ACOSTA: All right. Congresswoman Elissa Slotkin of Michigan, thanks so much for your time. I really appreciate it.

SLOTKIN: Thank you.

ACOSTA: All right. Coming up my political panel will react to the news from former President Donald Trump and this prediction from Senator J.D. Vance.

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SEN. J.D. VANCE (R-OH), VICE PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: I wouldn't be surprised if me and Trump won just the normal gay guy vote, because, again, they just wanted to be left the hell alone.

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ACOSTA: And later, they were behind attempts to undermine the 2020 election, what Stop the Steal MAGA activists have planned for 2024.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's all going to depend on what they end up doing. I have a plan and strategy for every single component of it. And then January 6th is going to be pretty fun.

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ACOSTA: All right. This morning, Liz Cheney issued a scathing takedown of former President Donald Trump calling him a dictator and petty and cruel, unstable man after Trump said she should be, quote, fired upon with guns, an escalation of his already violent rhetoric just four days before the election.

Joining me now to discuss CNN Political Commentator, former Senior Adviser for Hillary Clinton Karen Finney and Lance Trover, former spokesman for Republican Doug Burgum's 2024 presidential campaign.

Lance, let me go to you first. I mean, isn't this out of bounds?

LANCE TROVER, FORMER SPOKESMAN, GOV. BURGUM'S 2024 PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN: Yes, Jim, you know, I don't like these comments. This is the stuff that I personally can't stand and wish that he would stick to the issues. But let me just say, for better or worse, Donald Trump is an unscripted politician who says things that are on his mind and some people like it and some people don't.

And I don't like these types of comments, but I'm going to say something that's going to make a lot of people on Twitter angry at me and all the like, but here are the facts. What we know right now is we woke up this morning to a slew of battleground state polls that showed Donald Trump is still tied or leading in all of these battleground states. We are seeing record turnout by Republicans in --

ACOSTA: Well, there are new polls that show she's ahead at battleground states too. I just want to make sure we actually we have to be accurate, yes.

TROVER: Yes, sure, absolutely. But, by and large, he is tied or in some cases ahead, maybe down. But I think, by and large, (INAUDIBLE). But that that's the reality of the situation. And that's my extended way of saying that I believe voters are very -- they know who Donald Trump is. They know the rhetoric that comes with him. And, as I said, some people like it, some people do not.

But it's clear that even the people who do not like it are still voting for him, even after this raucous week that we have had of back and forth and rhetoric between the two campaigns. And that's just a fact --

ACOSTA: Well, we don't know what the impact will be of these latest comments, right?

I mean, Karen, that -- I mean you and I both know, and, Lance, you know, this too, I mean, things happen late in the -- I mean, I covered the 2004 presidential campaign. I covered John Kerry and there was an Osama bin Laden video that came out the weekend before the election And there was a lot of analysis that said that that move votes at the very end.

So, Donald Trump talking about executing Liz Cheney, and let's just be clear, when you talk about nine barrels, I'm sorry for all the folks out there who want to dance on the head of a pin, that is what he is talking about, an execution fantasy. But, Karen, your thoughts on how this could move the race.

KAREN FINNEY, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Yes. Look, a couple of things, Jim, that I think is important, just to this point about what we're seeing in terms of turnout. We don't know who those Republican voters are actually voting for. So, let's be clear, right? So, these voting trends and these polls, polls are all over the place, and there's a lot -- it's not able to measure like the 300,000 people who registered to vote after Taylor Swift endorsed.

More importantly, to this point, it's -- let's be clear. It's disgusting. It is absolutely beyond the pale. He knew exactly what he was doing. And if he shouldn't wish if he didn't know what he was saying, then we should question his mental fitness.

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Because here's the reality, he is a grown man who has been president before. He should know better than anyone that words matter. Words have consequences and his words specifically have consequences.

So, talking about that, making that kind of fantasy talk is completely beyond the pale. And more importantly, though, we need to remember this is who he is. This is how he's been talking, this kind of talk about, you know, the enemies list and all of that.

And I think what it does do, Jim, in these final days is remind people he's doing actually our -- Democrats' job for us. He's reminding people what it was like when he was president and you would turn on the television and he was saying something and you would cringe. And if you had small children, you would turn the volume down because you didn't want them hearing stuff like that. You would look at your phone and see the latest crazy tweet and think, oh gosh, what's this going to do?

So, I think it's reminding people that, you know, whatever lullaby they told themselves, if they kind of felt a little misty-eyed, they're remembering what it was like to be Trump as president and what it's like to have a president who's competent (ph).

ACOSTA: Yes. And, Lance, I do want to talk about -- I mean, the other X factor and all this, we just don't know what the Latino vote is doing in this final stretch after the Madison Square Garden rally last Sunday, Jennifer Lopez went out on the campaign trail on behalf of Kamala Harris. She was talking about it. Let's listen to this, talk about it on the other side.

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JENNIFER LOPEZ, ACTRESS AND SINGER: It wasn't just Puerto Ricans that were offended that day, okay? It was every Latino in this country. It was humanity.

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ACOSTA: And LeBron James put out a tweet last night endorsing Kamala Harris. Lance, your thought on, on whether, you know, things might be moving at the end here, it's not showing up in the polls, with these two very important constituencies, black men and Latinos.

TROVER: Yes. Look, I say always to my Democratic friends, you guys can always bring out the rock stars and the sports figures and all that stuff every time. Does it really play with voters? I mean, that's going to remain to be seen.

But in terms of the early vote, if you look at a state like Nevada, Republicans are crushing it in the rural areas. You see John Ralston, who is a very nonpartisan figure, talking about this in a state like Nevada, where they're just not seeing the turnout from the cities there, and we're seeing turnout there. That is a question about Latino voters.

But, by and large, Donald Trump has been doing much better with Latino voters, and that remains to be seen. Look, we're four days away from this election. We're going to find that out really soon.

ACOSTA: Quick thought from you, Karen, just rapidly, yes.

FINNEY: Yes. Look, it's very clear that those comments from Madison Square Garden, that was a real crack in the armor. Latino voters across the country, as Jennifer Lopez just said, as our own Maria Cardona has said, really, that sunk in in a way that other comments have not, because, you know, there was already a wound from how he handled the storms in Puerto Rico.

So, again, I think we're going to see big turnout, and I think that turnout is going to be in favor of Kamala Harris.

ACOSTA: All right, guys, thanks so much. I really appreciate it.

Coming up, some of the loudest voices in the MAGA movement are already making plans if Donald Trump does not win. Donie O'Sullivan takes a closer look at the conspiracies. Donie?

DONIE O'SULLIVAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Jim. Yes, some of the same extremists that's plotted or added to the planning for January 6, 2021 are now openly talking about online and at events across the country, what they are going to do if Harris wins. That's coming up next.

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