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Rep. Jeff Jackson (D-NC) is Interviewed about North Carolina Politics; GOP Candidate Stays in North Carolina Race; Oprah Hosts Event for Harris. Aired 6:30-7a ET

Aired September 20, 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, 29 minutes past the hour. Five things you have to see this morning.

Terrifying moments for a hiker in China as he falls down the side of a mountain. His GoPro camera was rolling when he skidded down the side. He eventually was stopped by a tree that likely saved his life.

A luxury yacht going up in flames after a fireworks malfunction. The 100-foot yacht was carrying about 1,000 pounds of fireworks when they ignited. Two people on board managed to get off safely before it sunk into the marina.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He is inside the support beam.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: Taking freeze to a whole new level. An alleged car thief gets stuck while running from police. Firefighters had to save the man from a bridge beam. Police say he tried to jump into the water, and he missed. Another man did jump into the water and died.

Terrifying moments in Thailand. A woman strangled by a python for more than two hours. The 64-year-old was doing dishes when she felt bites on her leg and then a squeeze. A neighbor heard her cries for help and called police.

Finally, take some chow chow pups, give them a paint job and you have a new attraction at a zoo in China. These dogs, disguised as pandas, have gone viral because, obviously, if anything goes viral, dogs painted as pandas is going to go viral. They're very cute. I bet they're cute without the paint.

All right, still ahead here on CNN THIS MORNING, Kamala Harris sits down with Oprah. A star-studded event aimed at bolstering support the audience they were trying to reach.

Plus, Democratic Congressman Jeff Jackson of North Carolina joins me live. He's not mincing words about the disturbing comments tied to the Republican nominee for governor of his state. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:36:28]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT (November 3, 2008): Tomorrow, at this defining moment in history, you can give this country the change that we need. You can do this right here in North Carolina.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: Not since 2008 with Barack Obama, who you saw there late in that campaign season, has a Democratic candidate won North Carolina in a presidential race. But this year amid scandal surrounding the Republican gubernatorial candidate and with Kamala Harris at the top of the ticket, Democrats are feeling hopeful about the tar heel state.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. ROY COOPER (D-NC): This was Biden-Harris' closest loss in 2020, only 1.3 percent. So, the fact that Kamala Harris, as vice president of the United States, has been to North Carolina 17 times shows that she cares about our state. She knows that we are in play. And she knows that if she wins North Carolina, she is the next president of the United States because Trump has no other pathway

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: All right, joining us now is North Carolina Democratic Congressman Jeff Jackson. He is also running to be the state's attorney general.

Congressman, thank you so much for being here this morning. I really appreciate it.

REP. JEFF JACKSON (D-NC): Thank you.

HUNT: So, you are sharing a ballot with Mark Robinson, who we just learned all of this information about. We've been talking about it throughout the hour. What impact is - are these comments going to have, especially in a time when I think there are a lot of people out there who wonder if anything matters anymore.

JACKSON: Normally someone running for governor, even if they turned out to underperform, wouldn't be someone who would impact the rest of the ticket, but this isn't normal. We're seeing an implosion by this candidate, the likes of which we've never seen in North Carolina, frankly.

And given that most of the statewide races are basically 50/50 races, my race is a 50/50 race, we have a dozen statewide races in North Carolina. If he affects it by half a percent, which he certainly could, he could swing a whole bunch of elections, including the presidential election.

HUNT: Do you think that Kamala Harris is doing what she needs to do to potentially win North Carolina? And how realistic is that possibility?

JACKSON: She has 28 field offices open all across the state. That is way more than Trump. She is investing a ton of TV time, which you know matters a lot. And she's paying personal attention. She's visiting. She is sending her surrogates. She's pulling every single lever that you can pull to win this state.

HUNT: Do you think that Mark Robinson should drop out of this race? And is it even possible for him to be removed from the ballot at this point?

JACKSON: I immediately called for him to drop out. Of course, for the good of the state, he has absolutely no business serving in public office. However, as of 12:01 last night, he had not dropped out. That was the deadline in North Carolina for people to drop out. He's going to be on the ballot.

HUNT: It - it seems like Democrats would probably prefer he remain on the ballot, at least privately.

JACKSON: I mean, this Democrat would not. The worst thing is the rest of the country is just now discovering who this guy is. And some people are going to think this is who North Carolina is and what we're about. We're not. We're a conservative state, but we're good people. We are not Mark Robinson.

HUNT: Do you think that North Carolina voters are going to distinguish between Mark Robinson and Donald Trump? Trump has, obviously, endorsed Robinson a number of times. We've played the positive comments that he has said about Robinson.

JACKSON: Yes.

HUNT: But, at the same time, people do see - a lot of voters seem willing to forgive Trump for things that they may not forgive other candidates for.

JACKSON: I think that's the key question, does this recent behavior, or recent revelation, get normalized? I don't think it does. I think it's too much stuff hitting all at once, too close to the election, for it to get the Trump treatment, which is, it gets digested, it gets - become part of the partisan skew and it gets normalized.

[06:40:09]

I don't think that's going to happen here. I think moderate Republicans are going to say, I don't want to be associated with this.

HUNT: Yes. Your opponent in - in your race is Congressman Dan Bishop, also running to be attorney general. He did back Robinson in the race. What does that mean for him?

JACKSON: I think you're going to see a bunch of Republicans who strongly endorsed Robinson start to walk it back. Robinson was the person you wanted at your fundraiser if you were a Republican in North Carolina. For the last several years, they all have photos with him. They all heaped praise as soon as he started running. I think they're going to have to start walking that back.

HUNT: Do you think that Robinson would have ended up as the Republican nominee for governor in North Carolina if not for Donald Trump?

JACKSON: No, I don't. I think Donald Trump's endorsement was key. He was already a popular person, but Trump put him over the top.

HUNT: Yes.

All right, Congressman Jeff Jackson, so grateful to have you on the show this morning.

JACKSON: Thank you.

HUNT: Thank you very much for being here. We'll be watching your race closely.

All right, still ahead here on CNN THIS MORNING, a judge killed in his chambers, and the local sheriff is the one under arrest. We're going to have that coming up in our morning round-up.

Plus, Kamala Harris teaming up with Oprah Winfrey for a star-studded and emotional campaign event.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I want y'all to know Amber was not a statistic. She was loved by a family. A strong family.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:40:49]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

STEPHEN COLBERT, HOST, "THE LATE SHOW WITH STEPHEN COLBERT": Did Robinson discuss sex at all in these pornography forums? Thank you for asking. Yes, he did. He graphically described his own sexual arousal as an adult from the memory of secretly peeping on women. That is going to be a tough one for the GOP to defend. Um, when he said he was peeping on women, he just meant tossing bright yellow marshmallow chicks on the ladies. Happy Easter.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: The fallout from CNN's reporting on North Carolina gubernatorial candidate Mark Robinson was quite swift, leading election forecaster Larry Sabato and team to make what they called their fastest rating change ever, quickly moving the North Carolina governor's race from lean Democrat to likely Democrat.

But could Robinson's campaign also impact the presidential race in this crucial battleground state? CNN's Stephen Collinson, friend of the show, writes this, this morning, quote, "it would be an ironic historical coda if Trump becomes collateral damage to a Republican who would have been anathema to the old GOP but who thrived in the smash mouth political era the ex-president nurtured. If North Carolina finally goes blue again this year, it may show that Republicans are finally tiring of the pandemonium and MAGA fellow travelers that Trump has enabled."

Joining us now to discuss, CNN political commentator Michael Smerconish. Also, the host of CNN's "SMERCONISH."

Michael, happy Friday. Always a happy Friday because we get to have you here on the show.

Let's talk about what this means, big picture, because Harris really did put North Carolina in play in a way that Biden had not. It is going to be a very close race there. Is this potentially going to put it on the map for her?

MICHAEL SMERCONISH, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Can I say that if I were voting in North Carolina, I would not vote against someone based on kink or fetish if I thought they were competent. I would vote against someone based on hypocrisy, stupidity and judgment. How in the world could he believe he could ever get away with this. That's really the - you know, I was going to say the rub of the matter. I'm not going to say that. I think that's - that's the crux of the issue as I see it.

Now, as to your question, does it impact Trump? Everything could impact Trump because its such a game of inches. I'd be most fearful if I were a down-ballot Republican. Like, my gut tells me that people are coming out to vote about Trump and Harris based on Trump and Harris. But when they get to the rest of the ballot, this could really be problematic.

HUNT: I mean, Michael, what we have ever seen - I mean, if - if you believe the polling, the gap between Robinson and the Democrat is so vast, have we ever seen a situation where there's that kind of a vast gap in that kind of a race and there isn't one at the presidential level that's at least - I mean they only need like half a point.

SMERCONISH: Right. I just think that the motivation is such - you're - you're absolutely right. I mean, and that's why I say a game of inches. Anything could impact it. I just think that there's such heavy motivation to vote at the top of the ticket in the presidential race in this case. If it were a different cycle and you had at the top of the ticket the gubernatorial election, I would say Republicans could stand the chance of getting wiped out.

Look, if I were Trump, I'd be concerned about this. I would be very concerned about how this plays, in particular, with suburban women with whom I'm already doing extremely poor. What will he say today? And what does he say if the lieutenant governor continues to deny, deny, deny, and everybody who looks - takes the time to read the K- file investigation and look at some of the - the imagery and the handles and so forth. I mean it - it seems like a no brainer. Either that or - you know, there's one other thing I want to say. He's trying to blame artificial intelligence, even though this precedes artificial intelligence. There's something called the liars dividend, which means that in a world where you can put out bogus information, it creates a situation where people who really did do things that are exhibiting poor judgment, they get to say, well, that's not me, that's not mine. In this case I don't think it's convincing. But there is a long-term lesson in how AI could cause doubt in the future.

[06:50:05]

HUNT: Yes, it's -- it's a - interesting, somewhat disturbing.

Michael, while I have you, I want to ask you about something that we've seen elsewhere in the campaign, which is this group, White Dudes for Harris, that has been organizing. Obviously, we've talked a lot about the gender gap that has emerged pretty significantly. It's - it's been building, but it's very significant in this particular election cycle.

Let's watch their most recent ad, and then I want to ask you about it on the other side. Watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hey, white dudes. So, I think we're all pretty sick of hearing how much we suck. Every time you go online, it's the same story, we're the problem. And, yes, some white dudes are. Trump and all his MAGA buddies are out there making it worse. So, I've been doing my own research and decided to check out Kamala Harris and Tim Walz. And before you jump down my throat, they're actually talking to guys like us. No lectures. No BS. Just real solutions that protect our freedoms and help us take care of the people who matter. End of the day, you're your own man. It's your call.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: What do you make of that, the way they're approaching this, Michael?

SMERCONISH: So, there's a huge gender gap in the election generally, but particularly its most pronounced among gen z-ers where you've got younger women largely supporting Kamala Harris and younger men largely supporting Donald Trump. A "Times"/Sienna poll of six battleground states found a few months ago that the gender gap is 51 points between young men and young women in this election.

And the approaches are significantly different in terms of reaching young man, right? You've got this machismo masculinity pitch that gets made by former President Trump, personified by the Paul brothers, or Ultimate Fighting Championships, or Joe Rogan, even if Rogan is not formally on board. And then, from the Harris-Walz campaign, you've got - you've got, you know, Governor Walz coming out on that stage at the convention, followed by a number of - of his football players. It's a more service-oriented pitch to masculinity.

What no one can deny is that younger women are thriving in comparison to young men. Whether the metric is education, employment, mental health. You know, young men in particular seem to be lagging behind. And how they can be reached is the issue that this - that this brings up.

HUNT: It's an interesting way to think about it. I do think a lot of teen girls in particular are facing significant mental health challenges.

SMERCONISH: For sure.

HUNT: But on those other metrics, I - I absolutely do - do take your point and its - it's definitely become a central piece of - of how we're fighting this election.

Michael Smerconish, always grateful to have you on the show.

SMERCONISH: Thanks, Kasie.

HUNT: Thank you so much.

SMERCONISH: Thank you.

HUNT: And, of course, don't forget, tune in to "SMERCONISH" tomorrow morning, 9:00 a.m. Eastern, right here on CNN.

All right, 52 minutes past the hour. Here's your morning roundup.

A district court judge in Kentucky is dead after being shot in his chambers. The suspect is the local county sheriff. Police say the sheriff and the judge had gotten into an argument when the sheriff allegedly opened fire.

In just a few hours, the House plans a vote on a bill that would give both candidates the same level of Secret Service protection as the sitting president. House Majority Leader Steve Scalise said he expects the vote to be unanimous. The legislation comes after Donald Trump faced two apparent assassination attempts in just two months.

For the second time in four years, Pete Buttigieg playing the GOP vice presidential candidate in debate prep. Sources tell CNN the transportation secretary is standing in as J.D. Vance to help Tim Walz rehearse. Buttigieg also played Mike Pence in debate sessions with Kamala Harris during the 2020 election cycle.

All right, now this. Kamala Harris' campaign getting another boost from some of the biggest names in Hollywood.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OPRAH WINFREY: Please welcome Kamala Harris.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: Oprah Winfrey hosting the vice president for a town hall, live- streamed event last - in Michigan last night. A gallery of Hollywood stars joined remotely. They included Meryl Streep, Chris Rock, Jennifer Lopez. Harris was on stage for over an hour, and she spoke about the moment it became clear she was taking over the ticket.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OPRAH WINFREY: It felt like a veil dropped and you sort of stepped through that veil. Did - did that actually - did you feel like that?

KAMALA HARRIS, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE U.S. (D) AND U.S. PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I felt a sense of responsibility, to be honest with you. And with that comes a sense of purpose.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: The vice president and Oprah touched on a range of issues, and it included that moment in the debate when Harris said that she owns a gun.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WINFREY: At the debate when you -

HARRIS: I'm - I'm a gun owner. Tim Walz is a gun -

WINFREY: I did not know that. And I thought that was -

HARRIS: If somebody breaks in my house, they're getting shot. I'm sorry.

WINFREY: Yes. Yes. I - I - I hear that. I hear that.

HARRIS: I probably should not have said that.

WINFREY: But I -

HARRIS: My staff will deal with that later.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: Her staff will deal with that later.

The panel is back.

Maya Wiley, what did you make of that moment there?

MAYA WILEY, AUTHOR, "REMEMBER, YOU ARE A WILEY": Well, I - one, just the power of just Kamala Harris being Kamala Harris in and of itself is something that has been powerful in her campaign I think for a lot of voters.

[06:55:10]

And in that moment, that was one of those moments where you really felt, after Oprah was asking, has the veil dropped, and then we saw the veil dropped. But it was also shocking, right? I mean this was - in the sense that this is not something that Kamala Harris has pulled forward to use as a tool and a tactic in her campaign. And I - it's - it's a very interesting thing to hear that she both is and that she has not used it. We can think of many reasons why. It's a complicated issue for a lot of people.

But I also think it, in a way, it - it'll be interesting to see what comes of it, but I don't think it's going to hurt her with her base because of the other issues. People aren't single issue voters.

ELLIOT WILLIAMS, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: I wonder if having a handgun will make Kamala Harris - Scott Jennings a white dude for Harris. But -

SCOTT JENNINGS, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: No.

WILLIAMS: No. No, I wasn't going to hold my breath.

JENNINGS: No.

WILLIAM: But - no, but -

JENNINGS: But I like what she said about this far more than anything that buffoon Walz has ever said, I can tell you that.

WILLIAMS: No - no question.

So, you know - you know, it's interesting, we - were talking - you were talking with Michael about this idea of a gender divide and men, but also there's a gender divide and doubling down on attracting women. It could actually help the Harris campaign. And when you see Oprah onstage in a - in a sort of a kathyclash (ph) format, talking about some of the things they were talking about there, that is explicitly doubling down on the fact that they are doing well with women and need to run up the score with women in places like Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin and so on.

SARAH LONGWELL, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, REPUBLICAN VOTERS AGAINST TRUMP: She needs to do more of this type of thing. She has not been nearly accessible enough in this kind of way. Donald Trump is going on every kind of weird dude bro podcast to try to run up the score with men. And I think that she you should do also more podcasts, more things where she can be relaxed and in an environment where people can get to know her, because that's sort of the last bit of this race, especially for swing voters and for the undecided voters who are trying to decide, not between the two, but whether or not to go out and vote at all.

HUNT: You know, it's interesting how comfortable she seemed in this Oprah interview.

LONGWELL: Yes.

HUNT: Because it was - it was - it came across differently than the interview she did with Dana Bash, than the interview she did with the black - National Association of Black Journalists. It - it - it just - it felt different.

I mean, Scott, you've worked with candidates. I mean you can tell when a candidate is relaxed and kind of open to what's happening. Obviously, it's a safe environment for her, right?

JENNINGS: Yes.

HUNT: It's not like one where she's taking tough questions from a journalist. But, I mean, do you think Sarah's right? I mean if - if Harris wants to win this campaign, is - is stuff like this what's going to help her do it?

JENNINGS: I think that specific clip we played, it's the only clip I've seen of Harris in this entire election that made me think, oh, this is going to help her candidacy. I watched a good chunk of this thing last night. I mean it was mostly a solid hour of the same sort of vacuous word salad tossing that we've come to expect out of the vice president. But that little clip, actually, I think it sells. I think that was a helpful moment for her. But the rest of it was really, really inane banter. And if you read the transcript of it you would say, what? I mean it -

HUNT: Well, you know, it was interesting to me that - that what she said after she made that remark was, that's going to - that's going to cause problems for me.

JENNINGS: Yes, of course.

HUNT: And that was telling for me because part of what I think we've seen Harris do, as she has, you know, emerged on the national stage is be very careful - like, try to - to say - I mean, and it's - every politician does this, right, the poll tested thing that you're supposed to say. You're supposed to not make a mistake.

But the fact that we got a moment from her that was so deeply authentic. And she immediately thought, well, oh, shoot, I made a mistake.

JENNINGS: Yes, it's the - it's the politics of the Democratic Party.

WILEY: No.

JENNINGS: I mean, you're - you're - you're constantly, you know, worried about stepping on (INAUDIBLE) with her coalition.

LONGWELL: She didn't really think that was a problem for her. That was her being like, oh, I'm going to get in trouble for this.

JENNINGS: Oh, no.

LONGWELL: But she doesn't really think that. She knows - there's a reason that they - her going out there saying, I'm a gun owner, right?

WILLIAMS: Odds are - odds are a party -

HUNT: I'm not sure the gun owner thing was an issue. I think it was, if someone breaks into my house they're getting shot.

JENNINGS: I'm going to shoot you.

WILLLIAMS: Yes. Yes, I mean -

LONGWELL: Yes, and that is just - was -

WILLIAMS: Right.

WILEY: That - that - that part. That part.

HUNT: Yes.

JENNINGS: Yes.

WILEY: And especially as someone who's been very vocal about gun violence. And so, I think that really - I agree with - with Elliot, that's what she meant. But I also just want to say, you know, and as someone who's been a black woman who's run for office in an office no black woman has ever run, I just want to say, the pressure to not make a mistake is high because there are certain kinds of attention that are often double standards and that you have to navigate as a candidate. And so, I think this notion of her being relaxed and comfortable - first of all, you know, I've seen her relaxed and comfortable in a lot of settings. It's not the first time. And I think that's part of what -

HUNT: No, she's done it. She's done it quite a bit across - I mean this is one of the things that she - she kind of rolled out when she took over the ticket. But they've clearly struggled in kind of these interview situations, right?

Elliot, you were going to say something.

WILLIAMS: Absolutely. Well - but to be clear, it's not just the interview situation. She's - she's speaking to a supporter here. And it's hard to equate an interview with sort of a more hostile or not even hostile but critical member of the press, with somebody who was -

JENNINGS: When would that be?

[07:00:01]

WILLIAMS: You know what the hell I mean, Scott. I'm saying -

JENNINGS: I'm just asking, when has she - when has she sat down with any hostile media?

WILLIAMS: Scott. Scott, my point -

JENNINGS: Ever.

HUNT: Well, hold on. Hold on. She sat down with our Dana Bash -

WILLIAMS: Any - any interview with a reporter is inherently adversarial in a way that someone who has endorsed your campaign is not. It's a good thing.

Like I said, Oprah is popular with women and the goal here is to run up the score with women. I - and it's successful in that sense. But we shouldn't call it a media interview, because it wasn't.

HUNT: No. Well, right, this was a - this was a sit down with Oprah.

WILLIAMS: Right.

JENNINGS: It's not a press conference the way Trump does.

WILLIAMS: Right.

HUNT: It was not a press conference.

LONGWELL: Yes, speaking of word salads.

HUNT: OK.

Thank you, guys, for joining us. Happy Friday. Thanks to all of you for being with us as well. I'm Kasie Hunt. Don't go anywhere. "CNN NEWS CENTRAL" starts right now.