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Trump Threatens to Prosecute Election Officials; More Republicans Switch Sides to Harris; Liz Cheney Slams Nikki Haley. Aired 6:30-7a ET

Aired September 09, 2024 - 06:30   ET

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

[06:30:00]

KASIE HUNT, CNN ANCHOR: All right. Welcome back. Donald Trump, not only continuing to make false claims about the 2020 election, he's now threatening to prosecute election officials if he wins in November. Trump posted this on social media over the weekend, quote, "The 2024 election, where voters have just -- votes have just started being cast, will be under the closest professional scrutiny, and when I win, those people that cheated will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law." Adding, those involved in unscrupulous behavior will be sought out, caught, and prosecuted at levels unfortunately never seen before in our country.

The former president has long sought to sow distrust in the electoral process.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT AND REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: It's a political attack against me by comrade Kamala Harris and Sleepy Joe and other radical left opponents for the purpose of election interferences.

I ran for president. I won, and I won a second time, did much better the second time.

This is a fraud on the American public. This is an embarrassment to our country. We were getting ready to win this election.

We won the election easily. There's no way Joe Biden got 80 million votes.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: It was, of course, this kind of messaging that ultimately led to the January 6th attack on the Capitol. The panel is back. And, Dana Bash, I mean, watching that, I have to say, I was thinking back to, as Donald Trump was out there in public saying these things after the 2020 election, the Republicans, who I was on the phone with, who were always arguing to me, just let him get it out of his system.

You know, fair enough, they had court challenges. You know, give him the time to do the court challenges. OK. But then the excuses kept coming, kept coming. It results in January 6th. And now, we are seeing him it -- there really was a shift after Biden dropped out of the race. You are now seeing more rhetoric like what we saw Trump post over the weekend. He seems to be laying the groundwork for this again.

DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT, CO-ANCHOR, CNN STATE OF THE UNION AND ANCHOR, CNN INSIDE POLITICS: In a big way. I was thinking that when he started talking about the attempted coup and things like that, which have no basis in fact, with regard to Joe Biden getting out of the race, that that was going to be kind of his avenue for rigged election. It doesn't -- it's not fair if Harris wins, that she came in late and they changed the system.

HUNT: You certainly (INAUDIBLE) that come back, but continue.

BASH: Yes. But there's no basis in any fact for that. First of all, there's -- you don't even -- they don't even mention parties in the constitution, like the parties can do whatever they want, really, legally. I mean, not whatever they want, but you get my drift.

This is dangerous. And he knows it's dangerous. He knows what he's doing. He has a complete understanding of the impact, even though he calls January 6th, the people who are in prison and convicted for part -- of being part of a violent insurrection to stop the peaceful and they did stop the peaceful transfer of power for a bit, you know, beautiful people and he wants to pardon them and all the things. There's no other way to say this that this is dangerous.

And the kind of thing that you would say to your Republican sources, and I know that you did in public back then, we need to be very, very clear about this, right now, that the kind of rhetoric that we are seeing come from Donald Trump is consequential and we should not have amnesia about that.

HUNT: Alex -- yes, go ahead.

ALEX THOMPSON, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST AND NATIONAL POLITICAL REPORTER, AXIOS: I was going to say, you know, it's -- Republicans out on the stump are often complaining about lawfare, is what they call, which they basically are saying that Biden has politicized the DOJ, but now, you have Trump going out there actually promising that's what he's going to do, that he's going to politicize the Justice Department.

I can tell you, you know, there are some people involved in the Harris campaign that actually, you know, there is an almost an existential element to their personal lives on the basis of this election because they feel like even if there isn't, you know, an indictment, there could be grand juries that like, in fact, being involved in this campaign could mean a year of legal fights for them on a personal level.

[06:35:00]

HUNT: Yes. I mean, Matt Gorman, this is something that his -- I will say his campaign advisers have mostly tried to get him to steer clear of, but for all the talk of his advisers, well, we have to deal with Trump himself, like this is how he is, we're just going to have to put up with the things that he says, this is clearly an obsession for him, it is something that he has used to convince millions of Americans to distrust the system.

And I mean, to Alex's point, I mean, how would you answer that? I mean, he is basically saying, OK, I'm going to politicize the system and use it to go after my political enemies.

MATT GORMAN, FORMER TIM SCOTT PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN SENIOR ADVISER: What I'm watching very closely is what -- if it comes up tomorrow night, I would hope it doesn't. I would recommend it doesn't --

HUNT: You mean from Trump?

GORMAN: From Trump, tomorrow night.

HUNT: As opposed to the moderators, I guess?

GORMAN: Yes. No, no. Yes. I mean, like, look, if they ask about it, we'll see. But, like, if he brings this up on his own, I think Republicans, whether it's Kevin McCarthy, have said that kind of put it pretty well. You're talking more about your own problems than the American people, that is a problem in and of itself.

I think -- I'd be very interested to see whether it comes up. I hope it doesn't. I recommend it doesn't from Trump proactively, and I think what -- this is one of the other interesting things, whether if this was Joe Biden on the other side of the stage tomorrow night, who felt a lot more comfortable going on the attack on this issue on democracy, so to speak, maybe it's a different paradigm. We haven't heard that as much from the Harris campaign, so maybe they're less likely to draw him out.

HUNT: I mean, Meghan, what is the sort of calculus there for the Harris team? I mean, obviously they have tried to embrace joy and turning the page, which would put all of this stuff in the rear-view mirror. But at the same time, this is something that Donald Trump is putting front and center. And actually, let's play a little bit of what Liz Cheney had to say over the weekend about Donald Trump, because this is all, of course, what has animated her so aggressively against Donald Trump. Watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

FMR. REP. LIZ CHENEY (R-WY): Well, I would say, you know, given the closeness of this election, particularly if you're going to find yourself voting in a swing state, you've got to take the extra step. If you really do recognize the threat that Donald Trump poses, then it's not enough to simply say, I'm not going to vote for him. I would also remind them, you know what, it's a secret ballot.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: Why are we seeing Harris lean less into this than we saw President Biden?

MEGHAN HAYS, FORMER WHITE HOUSE DIRECTOR OF MESSAGE PLANNING: I think because the polling numbers are saying that people don't know who she is, and she needs to talk about our policy. So, talking about someone else's grievances and talking about Donald Trump's playing the victim doesn't do her any favors. You're just adding -- you're bringing more attention to that.

So, she needs to focus on her policies and let surrogates be out here talking about Donald Trump and his grievances and let, you know, the Cheney's -- that's very telling that people like the Cheney's are now going to be voting for Kamala Harris. I mean, who would have thought that some of the most conservative people in our country would be voting for someone who Donald Trump is trying to promote as the most leftist person ever. So --

BASH: Not me. (INAUDIBLE) in the White House for many years, traveled the world with him, spent time with him. He is, as you said, one of the most conservative high-profile people in this country. And the fact that he is voting for a Democrat, I mean, you could push me over with a feather. I still cannot believe it.

Just one quick thing when you asked, about the fact that she's not leaning into sort of the democracy thing. She might not be, but she's coming at the same issue from a different angle, which is law and order. And I would not be surprised if she didn't talk about this, what you described and Donald Trump said over the weekend.

HUNT: Him threatening to jail election officials?

BASH: Yes. Through -- like through the prism of her experience and how people should really look at the laws and evidence based and not maybe do it as, we need to save our democracy.

HUNT: Yes. Do you -- is that your sense too, Alex?

THOMPSON: Yes. Well, I'd also say there is a bit of a fundamental disagreement between the Biden team and the Harris team on the salience of January 6th in particular. And focusing on that, I completely agree with Dana that she is going at it, but in a different way. And that's just because the Harris team doesn't believe that America -- Americans are going to be thinking, first and foremost, about January 6th come this November. The Biden team did.

HUNT: Matt, is that the sharp way to look at it in your view? It's --

GORMAN: Yes.

HUNT: OK.

GORMAN: Yes. No, I think that's a -- it's a -- I have always been dubious on the pure democracy argument. We see a pop in polls. I think it's more of an amalgam of a bunch of different things construed as democracy. I don't think people are wondering about, you know, a specific esoteric form of government. I think it's, I'm very concerned about abortion or this, and it kind of comes up and bubbles up in that way. But to put it succinctly, I think Alex is probably the best way to put it. Yes. HAYS: And people have short memories, right? So, it's -- they're not going to remember January 6th as much as they'll remember Donald Trump talking all this crazy talk about jailing people who are against him. So, I just think that focusing on January 6th, like the Biden team was doing, doesn't help Kamala Harris.

HUNT: Interesting. All right. As we have been discussing, tomorrow, Harris and Trump will share the debate stage. We've all been waiting for it. Follow CNN for complete coverage, exclusive analysis before and after the debate.

[06:40:00]

The ABC News Presidential Debate simulcast tomorrow night, 9:00 p.m. Eastern right here on CNN.

And coming up here on CNN This Morning, "America's Deadliest Election." That is the title of Dana Bash's new book. And of course, she is here. She could tell us all about it coming up next.

And more Republicans switching sides to Kamala Harris. Do their endorsements really matter?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, it was a remarkable time in politics. We have Dick Cheney endorsing a Democrat and you have a Kennedy endorsing a Republican. I think what it tells us is that there's a lot of ferment in American politics.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, U.S. PRESIDENT: Now, it's we who face unprecedented moment in the history of the union.

[06:45:00]

PETE BUTTIGIEG, U.S. TRANSPORTATION SECRETARY: We're in a moment, obviously an extraordinary moment unprecedented in my lifetime.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The time of great crisis across America, a time of unprecedented challenges.

MIKE PENCE, FORMER U.S. VICE PRESIDENT: We live in unprecedented times.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: It is, of course, a common refrain to describe our moment in time as unprecedented. And while, of course, the 2024 election has already bitterly divided many Americans, even turning violent this past summer, a look back at our own history reminds us that we have been in places like this before.

In a new book, CNN's own Dana Bash examines how the little-known Louisiana gubernatorial election of 1872 almost pushed American democracy to the breaking point. This is, of course, set in the Reconstruction Era. It's America's deadliest election. The cautionary tale of the most violent election in American history, and it tells a story of attempted coups, assassinations, and eerie parallels to today's political landscape, providing useful lessons for understanding this moment.

And Dana is, of course, back with us now. Dana, I have started reading the book. I have not finished it yet. But it's fascinating kind of what you dig into here, especially considering the conversation we were just having --

BASH: Yes.

HUNT: -- about our moment today.

BASH: Yes, it definitely animates me in a way. And I wish that I -- well, first of all, thank you so much for doing this. And I will say that when people look at the title, they say "America's Deadliest Election," oh, she's a political reporter. She's doing a book about 2020. And as you just said, it is not. It goes way, way back to reconstruction.

And as we were talking about what Donald Trump is saying again in a very robust way, I have such a different appreciation for that now and I wish that I knew these stories. And I'm embarrassed that -- I don't know about you guys, but I did not learn about this in school.

HUNT: I didn't.

BASH: I went to a great public school in New Jersey and I didn't learn really anything about it. I mean, we learned about reconstruction and then it was kind of a bridge to the rest of American history. And shame on us, because this period in time when the country was trying to heal itself after the Civil War, there was a moment, there was a moment where things could have gone radically differently in a good way for racial reconciliation when the slaves were freed, and it didn't happen.

And in part, it didn't happen because of this deadly election in 1872 in Louisiana, which was all about racism, all about then, remember, the parties were flipped, so there was the Southern Democrats who were segregationist racists who were trying to hold on to their way of life. And what happened was a real deadly election and real corruption.

I mean, there were massacres of black men who were just trying to vote. And the corruption that we saw in order for people to hold on to power, the language that -- you were just talking about that Donald Trump used, that has been used before in an aggressive and successful way that has created some strife that it was hard to get over and it wasn't just ultimately limited to Louisiana, it spread out all across the south and impacted America for forever. HUNT: How was the rhetoric that we saw in this moment? Are there echoes of it today?

BASH: Yes. Yes. I mean, there were -- OK. I'll give you one example. During one of the protests in the streets, it was like basically an insurrection. People were in the streets of New Orleans screaming for the government to be overturned and they were actually saying, hang him, hang him, about the governor. There was a -- I'll just go -- fast forward to 1876 in which the problems -- and I will say back in 1872, they were so bad that nobody could figure out who actually won.

There were two governors sworn in, two legislatures sworn in, and this chaos continued for a very long time. That spread to other states by the 1876 election, and multiple slates of electors were sent to Congress because they couldn't figure out who actually won. There was a debate during the certification process about how much power the vice president should have, whether it's ceremonial or whether he could pick one of the slates of electors. And they decided it was only ceremonial.

So, these are instances that we saw four years ago that did have precedent that change things and real violence that changed the course of America. This election, to make a very long story short, ushered in the Jim Crow laws of the South for a century because there was so much violence, it went to the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court said, it's up to the states to determine civil rights.

[06:50:00]

And they said -- and the Southern states said, terrific, we'll do that. Let me give you Jim Crow. And it took a hundred years to get rid of them.

HUNT: Yes. Alex Thompson, I mean, this -- the match that we came in with of all of these politicians saying, you know, we live in unprecedented times. This is -- you know, I will say every election I've covered, the candidates in question will say, this is the most important election of our lifetimes. The most is at stake.

I have to say when Mitt Romney was running against Barack Obama, I think, objectively, when you consider the stakes of that election compared to the stakes that we face now, there has been a dramatic shift in terms of the division in the country, the way -- frankly, the differences between the candidates and the way they view our systems, the way they talk about our systems. How do you see what Dana is writing about here in our current moment?

THOMPSON: Well, and I bought the book last week because --

BASH: No.

THOMPSON: No, no, no. I did. Because I was really --

BASH: You thought it was about 2020?

THOMPSON: No, no, no. Because as a history nerd I've been really interested in this period of history, you know, reconstruction, because when you start seeing all this rhetoric, which is some of it is true, but some of it, the fact that this idea is it's unprecedented.

No, America has been messy and America has been violent in its politics throughout history. Now, it ebbs and flows, but this era of history, I think, shows that America has been at similar points before and -- you know, and it could actually even sometimes get worse, but those actually sort of relieve my anxiety that we -- there are some parallels in the past.

BASH: And we live through it.

THOMPSON: Yes.

HUNT: Right. That's why it would be anxiety relieving.

BASH: One thing I will say, we all say it's the most unprecedented election of our lifetime. We were -- none of us was around in 1872, so that is true.

HUNT: That's fair. That is fair. All right. The new book is "America's Deadliest Election." It is available to purchase now. Highly recommended. Dana, thank you. Congratulations on the book.

BASH: With David Fisher, who's amazing.

HUNT: With David Fisher. Yes, of course. All right. 51 minutes past the hour. Let's do a quick morning roundup. A manhunt is underway for a suspect after five people were injured in a shooting near a Kentucky Interstate. Right now, all five victims are in stable condition. Police identifying 32-year-old Joseph Couch as a person of interest. They consider him armed and dangerous.

Intense pressure for Apple ahead of the unveiling of the new iPhone 16 today. It's set to include embedded artificial intelligence, Apple's promotional tease line, it's glowtime. No word yet on how much they are going to charge for it.

There was a different kind of love on the tennis courts at the U.S. Open this weekend. Travis Kelce and Taylor Swift were serving couple goals at the star-studded tournament. The pair are seen walking into the New York Stadium holding hands, rooting on the players with Kelce's teammate Patrick Mahomes and his wife, Brittany. You love to see it. We covered the breakup rumors last week on this show.

But Dana, can we talk about Travis' hat for a second? Look at -- and also mustaches are back.

BASH: Yes. I'm into mustache.

HUNT: I have to say, my dad -- so, my dad was wearing a mustache my entire life. It came out of the 1970s. I'm not sure I thought I was going to live to see it come back around.

BASH: It's back. HUNT: But here it is.

BASH: It's back. I like it. The bucket hat is a choice.

GORMAN: Not a good one.

BASH: Yes. I mean, I'm totally down for a bucket hat. I'm not sure -- that's like really -- you know, I'm wearing Gucci, which is probably why he's wearing it.

HUNT: It matches his shirt. That's what I'm reacting too also. Gucci on the hat, Gucci on the collar.

BASH: Can you imagine a more influential influencer than Travis Kelce right now?

HUNT: Right. I was going to say, I'm sure that product placement was worth --

BASH: Yes.

HUNT: -- was worth whatever.

BASH: What are we talking about right now?

HUNT: All right. Let's get back to politics now and turn to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHENEY: I've never voted for a Democrat.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Wow.

CHENEY: And it tells you, I think, the stakes in this election. You know, Donald Trump presents a challenge and a threat fundamentally to the Republic.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: Former Republican Congresswoman Liz Cheney warning and urging her fellow conservatives not to support Donald Trump this fall. Cheney taking issue, of course, with one Republican in particular, Former Presidential Candidate Nikki Haley, who endorsed Trump after dropping out of the GOP primary earlier this year.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHENEY: I can't understand her position on this in any kind of a principled way. I think that, you know, the things that she said, that she made clear when she was running in the primary, those things are true.

And again, you know, we are -- those of us who are conservative, those of us who believe in fidelity to the constitution have a responsibility and have a duty to recognize this is not about partisan politics and the country is going to need to rebuild conservative, true conservative movement when we're through this election cycle.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[06:55:00]

HUNT: Haley, defending her support of the former president this weekend.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NIKKI HALEY, FORMER REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I've always said, look, if I thought Biden or Trump were great candidates, I wouldn't have run for president. I ran because I thought I could do a better job.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You don't think he's a good candidate?

HALEY: I think he is the Republican nominee. The reality is, she has a record. The administration has a record. Trump has a record. And so, neither are perfect, neither are ideal.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: So, let's talk about the policies then.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: So, Dana we touched briefly on Dick Cheney, and I want to dig into that as well, because he -- in some ways, him saying he's going to vote for Kamala Harris. Certainly, we knew Liz Cheney was not going to vote for Donald Trump. But this back and forth between Haley and Cheney, I mean, Cheney obviously made a decision to make this something that was so central to her that she couldn't possibly remain part of the party, and she's looking at what Nikki Haley did, and Haley clearly has made a different calculation for her own political future.

BASH: Exactly. That's --

HUNT: How do you see this?

BASH: Exactly what you just said. Liz Cheney, there's -- I mean, you can tell me if I'm wrong, there's no future for Liz Cheney in this Republican Party anymore, which, again, is just stunning to me that I could say that about a Cheney covering politics in this town for as long as I have.

Nikki Haley is a young woman. She is somebody who does hope that there is a future for her. She did better than any other opponent of Donald Trump in the Republican primary this year. And she wants to keep her sort of toe in the Trump world to the point that -- well, toe in Trump role is probably the wrong way to say it.

She wants to keep her options open, and if she doesn't endorse Donald Trump, then the people who are completely blindly loyal to him, when he's gone and he's exited the stage, they might think twice about supporting her if she wants their vote again. That's not a -- that's not where Liz Cheney is right now. HUNT: Matt Gorman, how do you look at this?

GORMAN: I mean, a couple things. I kind of separate them, but I don't -- I just -- I don't think people are waiting the world over to see what finally Liz Cheney is going to say about this and have their vote kind of correspond to that, number one.

I think with Nikki Haley, it's always been a dance with her. It's always been very -- she's sometimes even played a little bit too cute. And I keep flashing back to this moment during the Republican Convention where she said, you know, President Trump asked me to speak tonight and then he leans over. And who knows what the real truth is, but he's like, she asked to speak.

And so, there's always been this little weird back and forth where she's tried to have it all too cute with Trump. And it's almost the point where if you love Trump, Nikki Haley will never be an option for you. But, you know, there might be a small slice that would still vote for a presidential primary.

THOMPSON: You know, what's was interesting, I -- if there could be anyone maybe swayed by Liz Cheney, maybe it'd be a few Nikki Haley voters. And the fact is that Nikki Haley has not been on the campaign trail. And she said in that interview, well, he hasn't asked me. And so, she's waiting for him to call to ask and it's like this game of like, well, are you going to call me first? Are you going to call me first?

And as a result, she's kept her completely off the trail. She wasn't really in the mix for VP, not because a lot of Republicans didn't see advantage there, but because Trump personally wanted, you know, her to sort of submit and, like, do this, like, loyalty test.

HAYS: But don't you think that's also saying Donald Trump is saying to her voters, like, you're not that important to me? I don't need to call you. So, these independent people that he actually needs to win, he is saying, you're not that important to me. I don't actually need to call you.

GORMAN: There is no Nikki Haley voters. That's the other thing. Like, they're not her voters. Like she was a vessel through which voters who were unhappy with the time of voting for Trump in a presidential primary. But the idea that they're like a Buchanan voters who will only come -- and no, I'm not -- this isn't a critique of you.

HAYS: No, no, no. I know.

GORMAN: But like I always like kind of left that notion. Like she was a vessel. She encapsulated them well, but they're -- she rented them. She doesn't own them.

THOMPSON: But do you think she -- like it would be helpful to have her on the trail?

GORMAN: I want to know is, who are the Nikki Haley voters that could be swing -- HUNT: I mean, center to Chester County, Pennsylvania

GORMAN: Again, but like, who are the people that will be swayed by Nikki Haley specifically going there, right? Like, I think that is like the thing. She didn't own those voters. She rented them.

HAYS: But there were the independent women who don't want -- didn't want to vote for Joe Biden and don't want to vote for Donald Trump. And so, they -- Nikki Haley gives them permission to -- just like in the way that Cheney's are giving Republicans permission to vote for Kamala Harris, she would give people be like, OK, we can vote for Donald Trump, like this person who we support also supports them.

GORMAN: I think the reason that also Nikki Haley isn't itching to go out there is because she knows that those people are now going to tar -- they don't want to vote for Trump anyway. And so, by her going out there and advocating to vote for Trump, she's hurting her own name for no actual political end.

HAYS: Well, then, she's miscalculating because he's going to hurt her in the process of not even having her out there. So, what was the point of endorsing then?

GORMAN: Well, don't we go round that way.

BASH: That wasn't for him, that was for her.

HUNT: But like -- what, I mean --

THOMPSON: Don't you think she would be a better messenger --

[07:00:00]