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Liz Cheney: I Am 'Proudly' Voting for Kamala Harris; New Filing: Trump Ally Wanted to 'Make Them Riot' at Vote Count Center; Late Season Heat Wave Sweeps Western U.S. Aired 6-6:30a ET
Aired October 04, 2024 - 06:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KASIE HUNT, CNN ANCHOR: It's Friday, October 4. Right now on CNN THIS MORNING.
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DONALD TRUMP (R), FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT, 2024 PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: I love to be in Michigan.
KAMALA HARRIS, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES, 2024 PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: It is good to be back in Wisconsin.
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HUNT: All hands on deck. A little more than a month to go. Kamala Harris and Donald Trump getting high-profile help as they campaign in must-win states.
Plus --
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We were out of work for two months. Now we're out of work for a few more days. We're very excited to be back.
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HUNT: Back to work. The port strike ends for the moment as union members reach a tentative agreement.
And --
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We do not believe they should strike nuclear sites.
TRUMP: I mean, that's the craziest thing I've ever heard.
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HUNT: How to retaliate. The former president slammed the White House's call for restraint as Israel weighs their counter to Iran. Six a.m. here on the East Coast, a live look at Capitol Hill on this Friday morning. We made it to Friday. Good morning, everyone. I'm Kasie Hunt. It's wonderful to have you with us.
There are just 32 days until election day, but make no mistake. Voters are already voting. Mail or early voting is now underway in about half of the states. More than one million ballots have already been submitted across 30 states.
New this morning, CNN learning that next week Barack Obama will launch a battleground blitz in support of Kamala Harris and down-ballot Democrats. Aides say the former president is concerned by just how close the polls have been, and he views this election as a, quote, "all hands on deck" moment.
In CNN's latest poll of polls, this is borne out. Harris and Trump effectively tied at 49 and 48 percent nationally.
But this election, of course, it only matters in the swing states really. Today, Donald Trump headed to Georgia and North Carolina. Harris is going to Michigan after campaigning in Wisconsin yesterday, alongside a prominent Republican supporter.
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LIZ CHENEY (R), FORMER U.S. REPRESENTATIVE: I ask you to stand in truth to reject the depraved cruelty of Donald Trump.
I tell you I have never voted for a Democrat, but this year I am proudly casting my vote for Vice President Kamala Harris.
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HUNT: That of course, former House Republican conference chair Liz Cheney, daughter of former Republican Vice President Dick Cheney, who has also announced he will vote for Harris.
Donald Trump claiming those high-profile endorsements could actually hurt Harris.
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TRUMP: Well, Liz Cheney lost for Congress. She was terrible.
Liz Cheney is a stupid war hawk. All she wants to do is shoot missiles at people.
I really think it hurts. I think, frankly, if Kamala -- I think they hurt each other. I think they're so bad, both of them.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: All right. Our panel's here: Alex Thompson, CNN political analyst, national political reporter for Axios; Elliot Williams, CNN legal analyst, former federal prosecutor; Meghan Hays, former Biden White House director of message planning; and Matt Gorman, former senior adviser to Tim Scott's presidential campaign.
Welcome to all of you. Thank you for being here.
Alex Thompson, let me start with you on the Cheney endorsement. This, of course, we expected this to be coming after some remarks she had made, off-the-cuff remarks, if -- if it's to be -- if their campaign is to be believed or her staff is to be believed -- at Duke University.
But really coming out and doing this formally now in the birthplace of the Republican Party. How does it help or hurt Harris's efforts here?
ALEX THOMPSON, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, there are a few things. Obviously, Kamala Harris is trying to both pivot to the center, but also, you can see this in the paid advertising, too.
The Harris campaign has really shifted from a bio focus, you know, especially those first few weeks: This is -- this is who I am. This is what my priorities are. To really a contrast anti-Trump campaign. They want this race to be a referendum on Trump.
The ads have gone from biographical and positive to much more negative against Trump.
Now in terms of Liz Cheney, they're obviously hoping to tap into the Nikki Haley -- in their minds, the hypothetical Nikki Haley suburban woman vote. And it's unclear -- and it's still unclear if that will be -- if that will be successful.
You know, this is sort of an election of strange bedfellows. RFK Jr. RFK Jr. supporting Trump. Tulsi Gabbard supporting Trump. Dick and Liz Cheney supporting Kamala Harris. And both sides are hoping to bring in people that are not usually part of the coalition.
MATT GORMAN, FORMER SENIOR ADVISER TO TIM SCOTT PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN: Yes. I mean, stupid war hawks. I think that was my college mascot. No.
But no, look, Liz Cheney can vote for whoever she wants. I guess I'm not going to pretend that Liz Cheney's endorsement is going to have an effect on this race, except you know, make extremely online liberals feel good about a Republican for once.
But then, look, I also think that the Kamala Harris team is smart in this regard. They know that Republicans attacking other Republicans is going to be catnip for the mainstream media. So, setting it in Ripon, where the Republican Party was founded and doing something -- it's less about, I think, actually, the Liz Cheney thing, but correct -- trying to create a media moment that contrasts with Trump, I think to Alex's point.
MEGHAN HAYS, FORMER BIDEN WHITE HOUSE DIRECTOR OF MESSAGE PLANNING: But I also think it gives Republicans a permission structure to vote for a Democrat, and it gives independent women an ability to say, like, oh, well maybe she's not as liberal as they're painting her out to be. And this is -- this is an OK vote. And it makes it OK to vote for Kamala Harris in a world where maybe they wouldn't have otherwise. So, I do think that it's helpful to have her there.
ELLIOT WILLIAMS, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: There's nobody that votes against Kamala Harris, because Liz Cheney is supporting her.
HAYS: Correct.
WILLIAMS: But there might be people who could support her on account of Liz Cheney's support.
Now, look, it's probably one lady in Wisconsin. It's not a wide --
[06:05:02]
HAYS: This one lady might decide it.
WILLIAMS: Gladys in Kenosha is probably going to decide this entire election.
However, you know, to your point, it -- there's not going to be a major swing one way or another.
GORMAN: Yes, they're all equal, right? If Nikki Haley came out and supported Kamala Harris, which she didn't. But like if she did, that would be a little different thing.
If John McCain were still around, and he was out there campaigning for Kamala Harris in Arizona, I would take folks' point here. But I think not all Republicans are built alike, right? So, trotting out random former Trump staffers or Liz Cheney.
I think also, too, the -- really, I think, the power of endorsement also is when it's not as expected, right? Liz Cheney very clearly been a critic of Trump for many years now, whenever you think about it. And the issues that really propel her have, I think, in a lot -- large part been baked in. So, it's less of a surprise.
HAYS: But don't you think -- sorry, don't you think that some of these people are -- these voters are looking like why aren't these people who used to work for Trump or used to support Trump, why are they now supporting Kamala Harris?
Like, I think that just -- it just -- it's building the case, to your point, of a contrast and building a contrast of why they're not for Trump.
THOMPSON: I think there is a difference between Liz Cheney and then the people that worked for Trump.
HAYS: Yes.
THOMPSON: Right? And you can see that, if Kamala Harris's campaign does believe, at least in their internal polling, internal data, that the -- the fact that many people that worked for Trump are now no longer supporting him and think of him as dangerous. Just this week they put out an ad, and they're spending actually real
big money about, you know, people like John Kelly, now no longer supporting Trump.
HUNT: Our Jake Tapper reported yesterday that Cassidy Hutchinson, Sarah Matthews, Alyssa Farah Griffin, who's the only one of them that that hasn't explicitly endorsed Harris, although she has been a longtime Trump critic, they're going to go to Pennsylvania and hold events with women, you know, aimed clearly at suburban women in Philadelphia. Will that make the difference?
GORMAN: And clearly the media, right? It's a media moment. Again, I -- Gladys in Kenosha, no disrespect to, you know, Olivia Troye or Sarah Matthews. I don't think Gladys in Troy (ph) is looking at Sarah Matthews like, you know, now -- now, I'm a Kamala voter.
WILLIAMS: But actually, you should think about who the target audience is, right? And the target audience is not Matt Gorman. It's not -- I think they're not trying -- I'm not saying you're supporting the former president. We haven't talked about that, right? But it's not Trump supporters.
HUNT: No, it's the mothers of the kids that I went to high school with who voted Republican for many years.
WILLIAMS: It's literally the mothers of those kids, this squishy swing vote in the United States that could be swayed by things like, oh, wow, former Trump -- Trump staff -- appeal.
HAYS: It has to be geared towards media, because a lot of people who are taking their kids to school, who you went to high school with, and who are putting food on our tables are not able to go to events.
So, it has to end with the media and them seeing that. And it's in all the battlegrounds. It's not just Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.
GORMAN: There's a difference between going for the media and their attention, and actually penetrating with a message to the voters through the media.
HAYS: I just -- I don't think they're exclusive.
HUNT: Yes. I mean, I think -- my big-picture question here is do these reminders of what happened on January 6, the combination of the report, these people coming out at this moment here with 32 days to go, does that actually make a difference or not?
I think there's some evidence on both sides, but we're not going to figure it out this morning.
Still ahead here on CNN THIS MORNING, Israel's next move. The world waits to see how the country will respond to Iran's missile attacks.
And Iran's supreme leader makes a rare public appearance in Tehran.
Plus, 50,000 striking port workers are heading back to work, but a new deadline could result in another strike soon.
And Donald Trump's legal woes back in the spotlight, taking center stage on the campaign trail a month out, approximately, from the election.
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CHENEY: Donald Trump was willing to sacrifice our Capitol; to allow law enforcement officers to be beaten and brutalized. I don't care if you are a Democrat or Republican or an independent. That is depravity.
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RUDY GIULIANI, FORMER ATTORNEY FOR DONALD TRUMP: If we're wrong, we will be made fools of, but if we're right, a lot of them will go to jail. So, let's have trial by combat!
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HUNT: "Trial by combat." That was how Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani described his efforts to overturn the 2020 election results.
Special Counsel Jack Smith puts it in different terms while detailing new evidence, unsealed this week. In the 165-page legal filing, Smith says, "While the defendant, Trump, claimed fraud without proof, his private operatives sought to create chaos rather than seek clarity, at polling places where states were continuing to tabulate votes."
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Stop the count! Stop the count! Stop the count!
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Stop the count! Stop the count! Stop the count!
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Stop the count! Stop the count! Stop the count!
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HUNT: That was the scene at a vote-counting center in Detroit in 2020, with Trump supporters chanting, "Stop the count."
Special Counsel Smith alleges one Trump ally was told there would be unrest, and he replied, quote, "make them riot" and "do it."
As those efforts played out publicly, the special counsel alleges that behind the scenes, Trump allies were trying to get state lawmakers to go along with their plot.
The new filing includes a text message from Coconspirator 1, who CNN has identified as Rudy Giuliani. Giuliani attempting to send this text message to Michigan's Republican Senate majority leader, saying, quote, "So I need you to pass a joint resolution from the Michigan legislature that states that the election is in dispute. There's an ongoing investigation by the legislature."
Giuliani's efforts failed, in part, because he texted the wrong number.
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Elliot Williams, there's been some sad news, actually, about Rudy Giuliani: that his daughter has come out and -- and talked about how hard it's been for her to watch what's happened to her father in the course of this.
But what do you think that we learned here from this filing that we didn't know before? I mean, obviously there's some new granular details. The sort of broad strokes are very similar.
But the special counsel did have access to a whole bunch of things that the January 6th Committee didn't have access to.
WILLIAMS: And there may be more in the form of grand jury information that's not all public yet.
We didn't -- I'll be candid. We didn't learn a lot that wasn't already public. Now what that filing did was put some of the meat on the bones that -- that Jack Smith and prosecutors would have gotten or would go to trial with in the form of almost an opening statement. This is exactly what happened.
But the broad contours of what happened on January 6th were laid out both in the public record and through the January 6th Committee.
HUNT: So, I mean, we were talking about this. Is this, in many ways continuation of the conversation we were just having, from a campaign perspective.
Alex, I'm curious kind of, in your reporting, what both of the campaigns view -- and I suppose the Harris campaign, in particular. Do they think that January 6 is an effective message for them and talking about it is something they should be doing, or do they feel like it would be a waste of money to put that behind -- to put money behind campaigns -- ads around that?
THOMPSON: I mean, Democrats have been split on this question for the last two years. Now, if you were -- if Joe Biden was still the nominee, then you'd be seeing January 6 in almost every ad, because Joe Biden's main top political aide, Mike Donilon, basically
felt that January 6 would be the equivalent to what 9/11 was for the 2004 election. And they felt that it was the dominant image in voters' minds.
Now, Kamala Harris has not leaned in onto the January 6th and democracy stuff nearly as much as Joe Biden has. But at the same time, she does talk about it, but -- but it's usually just a fleeting thing. She is much more focused, and the ads are much more focused on, like,
the Affordable Care Act and pre-existing conditions and sort of just his conduct in general.
WILLIAMS: You know, getting back to what we were talking about in the last segment. Is there any voter in America who is -- who does not have a fully cooked opinion of January 6 at this point in either direction? There's very few people.
And again, we'll talk about Gladys in Kenosha at the moment.
GORMAN: We should get her on the show.
HAYS: Yes.
WILLIAMS: We need to -- but --
HUNT: Who named her Gladys?
WILLIAMS: Guilty. OK. Judy. Judy in Racine.
But the point being, people are aware of this. Supporters of Trump certainly aren't going to be persuaded by anything that Jack Smith puts on paper.
Now, there may be folks who are just tuning into American politics after four years. I don't know. But you know, it's just hard to see where things move right now. Nothing's all that new in that.
HAYS: I think this just goes to their strengthening of the contrast argument. And it's -- it's showing that -- that Trump created all this chaos regardless, if it's the -- you know, talking about the Affordable Care Act or January 6th. They are just trying to build a contrast of the leadership of what type of leader Kamala Harris will be, versus Donald Trump if he gets back in the White House.
So, I don't necessarily -- I agree with you that everyone's kind of baked in, but I do I think it strengthens their contrast argument.
GORMAN: Yes, much of this was already new, I think, to Elliot's point. And there's nothing that I sort of say, wow, that's a game changer.
And I think, look, there is a reasonable argument to be made that you do this 30 days before an election, like, what are - what's going on here? What are the real motives?
And like, even just like little, small details like, well, the fact that they played the Village People, "YMCA," not "Hail to the Chief" has presidential immunity connotations and consequences.
It makes it a little like -- it makes it kind of funny in my mind.
WILLIAMS: Can I just say -- you know, legally, it's important. This whole why are they doing this 30 days before? That is entirely a function of the Supreme Court's calendar. There was a direction from the judge to make this filing. It's not --
somehow the narrative has got out that the -- Jack Smith dropped some bombshell 30 days before election day. That's simply not accurate. This came from the court, and it's a filing that's required to lay out the facts of the case.
HUNT: All right. Still to come here after the break, while Israel considers how to respond to Iran, they continue to attack Lebanon from the skies.
Plus, elephants in Thailand forced to evacuate amid a flash flood. Oh, look at them. That's just one of five things you have to see this morning.
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[06:23:27]
HUNT: All right, welcome back.
A week after Hurricane Helene swept through parts of the Southeast United States, aerial footage showing the stark contrast -- the before and the after of the storm -- and revealing just how much damage was done in some communities. Really stunning.
On the other side of the country, out in the West, experiencing a late season heat wave.
Let's get to our meteorologist, the weatherman, Derek van Dam. Derek, where are these folks looking at?
DEREK VAN DAM, CNN METEOROLOGIST: All right. Happy Friday, Kasie.
So, we've got another scorcher today to talk about over the Western parts of the U.S., particularly the Southwest. There's quite a contrast between what's taking place across the Pacific Northwest and what's happening across Southern California, for instance.
Palm Springs all the way to Phoenix, Las Vegas, Fresno, all these locations will reach triple digits. Not only today, but right through the weekend, and it's going to last through next week, as well.
That's why the National Weather Service hoists all these weather alerts. These are heat alerts, including excessive heat warnings in -- for portions of Phoenix, just outside of Los Angeles. And it does include the greater San Francisco Bay region.
When we hone in on what's happening in Phoenix, it's just incredible to see the type of year they've had. They had their hottest September temperature ever recorded, 117; their hottest October temperature ever recorded, 113. And over the past ten days, every day has had a consecutive daily high temperature broken.
So yes, it's been hot. Don't know how many ways to splice that. It's just uncomfortable. And there's really no relief in sight. In fact, right through the weekend, this area is going to be impacted by the heat.
So, very different scenario taking shape across the East Coast. The good news is that Hurricane Helene relief efforts will stay unimpeded by rainfall. And the temperatures will -- overnight will be cool, so we want to have sweaters as we're working in that particular area.
[06:25:09]
And then there is no rain in that forecast. So that's the good news.
But it will get wet across Southern Florida this weekend and into next week. Heads up, Fort Myers, Naples to Miami. Maybe some localized flooding. So, we're keeping an eye on that.
HUNT: All right. For sure. All right, Derek van Dam. Derek, thank you very much. Have a great weekend.
VAN DAM: All right.
HUNT: All right, 24 minutes past the hour, five things you have to see this morning.
A former NASCAR drivers saves a man stranded by Hurricane Helene. Greg Biffle was flying in a helicopter to send supplies to residents when he saw the man trying to catch the pilot's attention, using a big mirror.
Wow. Good for him.
In Northern Thailand, about 100 elephants were evacuated after flash floods swept through a popular elephant sanctuary. They had to wade through belly-deep water to get to higher ground.
First responders in New Hampshire freeing a moose from a swimming pool. Oh, look at that.
The animal wandered into someone's backyard and got stuck under the pool cover. It walked off refreshed and unharmed.
Plus, this.
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HUNT: King Charles getting jiggy? He's traveling to Samoa later this month. And to prepare, he got an impromptu dance lesson from a former Samoan rugby star.
OK. God save the king.
Eminem set to become a grandfather. The 51-year-old rapper making the announcement in the music video for his new song, "Temporary." His 28-year-old daughter, Hailie, giving her stunned father a Lions
jersey with "Grandpa" written on the back and an image of her ultrasound.
Congrats to Hailie and to new grandpa Eminem.
All right. Straight ahead here on CNN THIS MORNING, Israel bombarding Beirut overnight. It comes as the world waits to see what that nation's next move will be against Iran.
Plus, storm politics. Donald Trump claiming, without evidence, that Hurricane Helene's victims in red states are not getting help from the Biden administration.
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TRUMP: They stole the FEMA money just like they stole it from a bank, so they could give it to their illegal immigrants that they want to have vote for them this season.
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