Return to Transcripts main page
Erin Burnett Outfront
Georgia Polls Close, Biden, Trump About To Clinch Nominations; Teamsters Union Exec: "Pretty Certain" Biden Gets Endorsement; Dems, Republicans Push Hur To Go Beyond Biden Report, Mostly Fail. Aired 7- 8p ET
Aired March 12, 2024 - 19:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[19:00:44]
ERIN BURNETT, CNN HOST: A special edition of OUTFRONT next:
The breaking news, President Biden about to officially clinch the nomination. That is expected this hour as polls closed in Georgia, the state that will put him over the top.
Plus, the showdown over the powerful union vote Biden meeting behind closed doors with the Teamsters today. And one of the executives in that room makes a bold prediction. He's our guest.
And RFK, Jr. narrowing down his list for VP, ones an NFL star and the other former professional wrestler, in an election where Kennedy could end up determining who wins the White House.
Let's go OUTFRONT. America votes.
And a good evening to all and welcome to this special edition of OUTFRONT tonight. I'm Erin Burnett.
And this evening, we begin with the breaking news because the first polls are closing right now on an historic day of primaries, we are standing by for the first results to come in from Georgia for the polls are closing, this will likely, most likely be the moment the Biden formally clinches the Democratic nomination, and the night that Trumps cements the Republican nomination, which will set up the first presidential take to rematch in nearly 70 years.
And Georgia, as crucial as it is with the polls closing this moment, is one of four states holding contests today. Both candidates have so much riding on this state because Trump, of course, lost Georgia infamously by only 11,779 votes in 2020. He claims if he wins at this time around, he will win it all. And the reality is that Georgia is seen as must-win in the general election. And tonight's results will tell us a whole lot about enthusiasm, the passion of the voters, what they care about.
And our team of reporters is standing by to kick us off as these polls closed in Georgia. Kristen Holmes covering the Trump campaign.
I want to begin, though, with MJ Lee, who is at the White House with President Biden. And, MJ, obviously, this could be the moment where he clinches the nomination of these Georgia results coming out momentarily. What are you hearing from the Biden team tonight about his next move?
MJ LEE, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yeah. Erin, when President Biden officially crosses that delegates threshold, of course, it is going to be a symbolically significant moment for the campaign. And the campaign is hoping that it will be one more thing that helps voters who so far have been tuned out of the election, see the 2024 is really going to be a race between President Biden and former President Donald Trump.
Of course, this evening comes just hours after that Robert Hur testimony. And despite her saying that he was not exonerating President Biden, you saw the White House all day today saying case close, basically that the president is innocent and you can definitely sense that there is a sense of relief both here at the White House and with the campaign, that this is now in the rearview mirror.
As one campaign official put it, they said this is definitely a turn the page moment between this evening and the testimony being over. They said the transcript is out. The hearing is over, and we can now move on.
We certainly expect that tonight whenever the president officially clinches the Democratic nominee -- nomination for president, we are going to hear from him in some fashion, Erin.
BURNETT: All right. Well, of course, we're going to await that wait here when we were able to make a call formally on the state of Georgia, where the polls have closed just three minutes ago.
MJ, thank you.
So lets go to Kristen Holmes talking to her sources inside the Trump campaign, and, Kristen, obviously, a crucial night for Trump as well, where he anticipates clinching the nomination formally on the Republican side, what's going behind the scenes.
KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, Erin, we all of this now is looking forward to the November general election. Yes. Tonight is a big night. Donald Trump expected to clinch the nomination, but he's not even doing anything to celebrate. He's at Mar-a-Lago. He's not having a pardon? They were not expected to hear from him and that's because they've really been acting as though he is the nominee for the last several weeks.
Now, what does this actually looked like in terms of moving forward. It is building out ground game, building out strategy, particularly in those key battleground states. I'm told there's about seven states they view as tier one battleground states, talking about Pennsylvania, Michigan, Georgia, Arizona, Nevada among some of them.
What does this look like? It looks like them trying to put their heads together, build this out, but it also looks like tapping into the RNC infrastructure that already exist. We saw essentially a Trump takeover of the RNC this week.
Ronna McDaniel who'd been at odds with Donald Trump, stepping down.
[19:05:01]
Instead, Michael Whatley, who was Trump's handpicked candidate, is elected chair and his daughter-in-law, Lara Trump, takes over as co- chair. This is a full-on Trump takeover. According to one source, there was a blood bath at the RNC as staff members were getting slashed. I've spoken to a number of people who worked over there, who are worried about their jobs. They don't know what's going to happen next.
There is a full loyalists infiltration at the RNC, which is common when you have a nominee actually win the nomination and they had declared him the presumptive nominee last week. Now, the other part of this, as you're talking to people freaking out, they have said they are hoping Michael Whatley, stands up to some of this Trump takeover suggested take over because it will be up to the new chairman to determine some of the stuff. However, again, remember this is a Trump hand-picked candidate who's in that position -- Erin.
BURNETT: All right. Kristen, thank you very much.
So let's go to David Chalian, our political director.
So, David, you know, it's a significant night, historic and setting up this rematch first in 70 years, Biden and Trump both poised to capture enough delegates in these next minutes and hours to secure their party's nomination.
So let's start with Biden as we await that the call in Georgia where the polls just closed, as I said, about five minutes ago that could officially put him over the top that he has a nomination. Where does he currently stand in the delegate count?
DAVID CHALIAN, CNN POLITICAL DIRECTOR: So if you look in the upper right-hand corner there, 1,968 delegates is what is needed to secure the Democratic nomination. Joe Biden has 1,868 delegates in his column to date. So he is 100 shy of where he needs to be, Erin, there are 108 delegates at stake on the Democratic side in Georgia. So as we await for that vote to come in from Georgia, we'll be able to see if he's able to put it away with that early state closing tonight and get over the hurdle there.
You see 20 delegates uncommitted has and that's largely due to that protest vote that we saw in Michigan and Minnesota and Hawaii. And then Joe Biden did lose American Samoa.
Take a look here. If you look at the delegates won to date by percentages, Erin, 98.8 percent of the delegates are Joe Biden's in this race. He just did not have much competition. Dean Phillips, Marianne Williamson, never really materialized. You see, he's dominant there. And if you look at what's needed to win, as I said, he's only 100 away, 4.9 percent of the remaining delegates is what he needs. And perhaps well get that out of Georgia tonight. BURNETT: Right, right. And obviously, Mr. Palmer, that you see there,
the international man of mystery, right? He's the only one that even got any delegates. It's not Williamson or Dean Phillips.
Okay. But what about Trump on the other side? Obviously, you don't have a number like 98.6 or whatever you just said for Biden. But where is he in terms of securing enough delegates on the Republican side tonight?
CHALIAN: He's close to, Erin, and as you said, he's likely to clinch it tonight, 1,215 is the magic number needed on the Republican side. You see Donald Trump is at 1,089 right now. Obviously dominant when you look at Haley only at 91, DeSantis and Ramaswamy picked up some delegates before they dropped out.
Look, the way it is by percentage, if you can see you can see that 91.4 percent of the delegates to date have gone to Donald Trump compared to only 7.6 percent for Nikki Haley. So what does Donald Trump need to get to 1,215? He needs 10.2 percent of the remaining delegates at stake.
And clearly with the delegates at stake tonight in Georgia, in Washington state, in Hawaii, you'll be able to see that Donald Trump is likely to get over that hurdle and secured the nomination tonight as well.
BURNETT: All right. David Chalian, we're going to be checking back in with you and we are able to make some of these first calls.
Significant to say, by the way, in a contested, heavily contested by Nikki Haley right, and all the way through, still, Trump has 91.4 percent of the delegates thus far. And we will see when we can make these first calls.
Let's go to John King at the magic wall.
John, you know, it's interesting, Trump has made it very clear if he wins Georgia, he thinks he wins the election, lies that he's made it that black and white in comments. But how closely is Biden's campaign watching Georgia tonight with that unforgettable 10,779-vote margin last time.
JOHN KING, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: I go back and show you that in a minute, but they're watching for this too, because of the point David just made. These are our first votes actually coming in, in the primary right now, because of what we expect to happen by the end of the night, a lot of people already talking about November, right? And we'll get there.
But the Biden campaign is firstly think at this and right now they're getting 95 percent of the vote, which means they're going to get the bulk of those delegates, which means if I just shift over here for a second, here's where the president is tonight. And as David just noted, by the end of the night, maybe even within an hour or two when we allocate the Georgia delegates, the president noted states is going to clinch the nomination. And that's a big deal, right? He didn't have serious primary
opposition. So how big of a deal we leave that to debate?
But it does allow you to focus your time, your energy, your resources on the general election.
[19:10:01]
Now, you mentioned what Trump said about this. Well, this is 2024. You come back to 2016, 2020 -- I'm sorry about that. I just cause a lot of bad flashbacks for Democrats there, didn't I?
Will come right here to Georgia 2020, 11,779 votes, right? So the president, the former president in states as if I can win this, that I win the election. Well, not so fast. If we come back and look at the race to 271, come back, let's look at where we ended the last campaign and come up here. This is where we ended the last campaign.
If you make the adjustments after the census for the Electoral College as you come back here, let's just say for the sake of argument, Trump took that away, right? No, it doesn't want to work for me here. Hang on. Let me do it here.
BURNETT: Someone hack into your wall.
KING: No, it's just having -- I guess having a little fun. Let's -- every now and then that has fun. So there you go.
Let's say Trump got that. Let's say Biden kept this and Biden kept this and Biden kept this, and Biden kept this and Biden kept --
BURNETT: John, hold on one second.
KING: That's not enough.
BURNETT: Hold on one second. I'm going to come right back to you, but I do just want everyone to know. We do now have a CNN projection.
And we can now project at CNN that President Biden has enough delegates to win the Democrats credit nomination for the 2024 presidential election.
And as we've been saying, this is a major and historic moment in the race. Biden now pushing ahead with his reelection bid and the state that got him over the edge of state that got him over the top. We'll see in hindsight how significant that is, is the state of Georgia where polls just closed at the top of the hour, took us just 11 minutes here to make this formal call. And we are now projecting Georgia is a win for Biden.
We'll get back to John King in a moment.
David Chalian, first though, can you tell us what this means for the delegate count?
CHALIAN: Yeah. Erin, as you can -- Erin, as you can see here, Joe Biden at 1,972 is clear above that benchmark of the 1,968 he needed to secure the nomination. Joe Biden, your presumptive Democratic nominee, it just awaits the formality of the delegates in Chicago this summer, the Democratic convention, to make it official.
But Joe Biden has secured enough delegates to seek reelection that he hopes will be successful come November. You see here we've been able to allocate 104 of the 108 delegates at stake in Georgia to Joe Biden with the vote that has already come in. He's winning 95 percent of the vote that's in so far.
He's -- we're able to put 104 of those 108 delegates, four delegates remain unallocated, as we will await more votes to come in. But that was clearly when he was only 100 away enough to get them over the hurdle. And as you noted, I have little doubt that his campaign will make faster business of touting that it is Georgia a major battleground state. They want to campaign in to do the job to get them over the hump.
BURNETT: Exactly the point. And obviously well see us as other four delegates are allocated. And as we get more information, as the numbers come in on, on turnout and enthusiasm, we can interpret from that with David, as this hour continues.
John King, though, they are going to make hay oh, it was Georgia. It was Georgia that put President Biden over the top for the nomination. But when you look at how crucial Georgia is, is it this must win for him
KING: Is it a must-win for either candidate? No, but it's a nice chunk, especially if we believe what happened in 2020 kind of continue, right?
What happened in 2020 -- let's come back to the map and look at the presidential race here and watch this play out. So what happened in 2020?
Number one, Biden reestablish the blue wall. Hillary Clinton lost Pennsylvania and Michigan, and Wisconsin. Joe Biden got them back, right? The blue collar campaign, Trump reelection campaign.
That's how Trump became president. He flipped the old blue wall. Those three Democratic states.
But then Biden added this and added this, which hadn't voted Democrat for president in quite some time. So these emerging the sun belt states, the population is growing, they're becoming more suburban in Georgia, you have a Democratic base, the African-American vote, a Joe Biden was able to put together the combination of the existing Democratic base with the shift of the suburbs toward the Democrats and put together what was a very impressive Electoral College win and a 7 million votes win in the popular vote right there.
Now most of those votes came from California. So if you're looking at the map this time, there's just a brand new CBS/YouGov poll out of Georgia tonight that essentially shows a dead heat. Donald Trumps slightly ahead, but no clear leader when you look at the margin of error.
And in that poll, Erin, and you see strengths and weaknesses for both candidates. A weakness for Biden is the same thing we saw in the national "New York Times"/Siena college poll last week, people doubting or his economic policies good for me, Trump scores a little bit better. People think if Trump were president, I do a little bit better economically.
But there's also a pretty sizable chunk of voters in that new poll its as if Donald Trump is convicted. He wouldn't be qualified to be president, which is why as we have these conversations about November in March, it's inevitable, both candidates are going to clinch most likely to clinch anyway, tonight, we start having these conversations.
Remember, we don't know who Trump's going to pick as his vice president. We don't know if there's going to be a trial before November. We don't know which third-party candidate is going to be on the ballot in which states. So, right now, you have a very competitive race, just like last time between these two candidates who both have considerable strength, both have considerable weaknesses and there are so many unknowns.
[19:15:03]
We can game it out. But as we do so, we better be very, very careful because there are so many variables and hypotheticals that we're not going to answer in some cases for weeks and months.
BURNETT: All right. John, thank you.
And as John concludes, we do have a CNN projection.
And we can now project that former President Donald Trump will win the Georgia Republican primary. That means he adds more delegates to his account as we do expect him to clinch the Republican nomination tonight. There are four states, of course, voting, but we now can project that Donald Trump has won the state of Georgia.
David Chalian, what can you tell us about what this means for his delegate math?
CHALIAN: Well, Donald Trump is inching closer to that magic number in the upper right-hand corner there, 1,215 is what he needs. We've been allocating some delegates from Georgia tonight him. He now has 1,144 delegates compared to Haley's 91. So if I do math in my head on live television, which has never really a good idea.
I would say that is, what, 71 delegates away from the -- did I do that math right, from the nomination? So, we've got more to do here
BURNETT: I got 71, too.
CHALIAN: Oh, good, thank you for confirming, Erin.
But we've got more to do here with more contests. Mississippi will close in the next hour. And Donald Trump will try to make ground all night long through these contests but clearly, he is knocking on the door of securing this Republican nomination. And as John was just saying, here we are in the second Tuesday of March and this November contest is solidifying to what we know it to be, this Trump-Biden rematch.
BURNETT: And, David, one follow here, obviously, this is -- this contest tonight and all of these states is something where people know the outcome in advance, in a sense. So, it's hard to read too much perhaps into turnout when it comes to enthusiasm or anything like that. But are you able to see anything early yet? Just to give us an indication on that front.
CHALIAN: You know, I don't know that were able to see yet, Erin, but I think its a good question to watch for -- you are right. Nikki Haley has dropped out of this race. We're not going to get a ton of valuable information about the way the vote comes in.
But what John was just describing about the coalition that Biden put together, the base Democrats along with those the merging trending suburbs and more Democratic favor in the Trump years, looking at how the suburbs vote, because remember, Nikki Haley's not actively campaigning, but her name is on the ballot. Do we see as the vote comes in and some of those critical areas, this remaining protest vote against Trump, or does that just completely drift away now that it's a one-man show on the Republican side?
BURNETT: all right. David Chalian, we'll be checking back in with you and everyone is here with me.
What do you think about the point, David, just made? That as we look at these results, obviously you've got Trump and Biden each winning in Georgia could be hugely symbolic in hindsight, we don't know, the state of Georgia putting Biden over the top.
The point about the suburbs and whether there is still please that protest vote, even though Nikki Haley, of course, is not in the race.
SCOTT JENNINGS, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Yeah, Georgia's got something for everybody here depending on what you're looking at, the suburbs have not been kind of Trump over the course of his time. And you see some former Republican voters flowing to the Democrats, but they're also a lot of African American voters in Georgia and some of the polling right now yes, that Trumps doing much better with African Americans, especially African American men, that could come to play in Georgia.
Also, a lot of rural areas in Georgia. And one of the ways Donald Trump won in 2016 is driving up the vote in the rural areas. So, Georgia, not only the fact that it was close, but for all these demographic reasons, and this is -- this is because, the state were going to be talking about, I assume every night out here.
BURNETT: I would imagine so.
BASIL SMIKLE, DEMOCRATIC STRATREGIST: Yeah. No, I do think the fact that we are really having this conversation about Georgia says a lot about the change of dynamic that you'd absolutely right. That states like New York have lost population largely to states like North Carolina, Texas, and Georgia.
So the reshaping of both the cities and those suburbs communities by a lot of African American voters and other households that have gone down, down to the South, are really reshaping the Democratic coalition. I think when you layer on top of that, some of the changes that have taken place with respect to the Dobbs decision. How does the Dobbs decision in a mobilization of so many women, particularly suburban women, suburban white women, how is that reshaping the act that Democratic coalition?
I don't agree that a lot of African Americans -- more African Americans will vote for Trump this time. I'm hopeful that a lot dealt for a lot of reasons. You could get into another time, but I do think that core Democratic coalition is being reshaped as we watch it unfold.
BURNETT: All right, everyone stay with me because our coverage is going to continue here. Former President Trump has won the Georgia primary and the Republican side on track to win the GOP nomination tonight.
Biden now has clinched the Democratic nomination because of the state of Georgia, as he fights Trump for the support of one of the most powerful unions in the world, now trying to go for the key endorsement of the Teamsters, had a meeting with them behind closed doors and an executive in that room is OUTFRONT, says he is sure he knows who's getting that coveted endorsement.
[19:20:13]
Plus, RFK Jr., Cornel West, and Jill Stein are all trying to run in major battleground states and may succeed. So will they be the ones determining who wins the White House?
And special counsel Robert Hur grilled on Capitol Hill today over his report on Biden's handling of classified documents and he managed to disappoint Democrats and Republicans.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. HANK JOHNSON (D-GA): You knew that that would play into the Republicans narrative that the president is unfit for office because he's senile.
ROBERT HUR, FORMER SPECIAL COUNSEL: Congressman, I reject the suggestion.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BURNETT: And the breaking news on this special edition of OUTFRONT. President Biden moments ago, officially clinching the Democratic nomination for president. He had, of course, that win in the Georgia primary where polls just closed moments ago, Georgia is crucial for both candidates in the general election and Trump, we also can report, won his Georgia primary just moments ago, which puts him solidly on track to win the GOP nomination tonight.
[19:25:07]
Now we are awaiting the results of three more states on this second of what would be the Super Tuesdays. And we're going to be updating you as soon as that information starts to come in.
John King joins me now.
And, John, what are you seeing coming in right now?
KING: So, Erin, as you watch the results come in, in one way, people home are probably saying no drama, right? Because we know Joe Biden has already clinched the Democratic nomination because we have projected he will win Georgia. And you see why he's getting more than 95 percent of the vote in early results that we expect by the end of the night, by the time Hawaii comes in any way that Donald Trump will clinch the Republican nomination.
So where's the drama? What do you looking for? Well, as you noted, this is a key battleground state. Joe Biden won it by 11,000 votes and some change four years ago. And so, if you're looking at this as a battleground, November, what do you look for on primary night?
Number one, this is a chance to test new technology or ways to contact voters. You're not going to have a huge high turnout primary because you know, Joe Biden is going to win, but you're in contact with somebody and then did they show up? Did you try some new technology and did they show up?
But I'll be watching. We don't have to vote yet, is this circle right around Atlanta, Fulton County and the suburban loop around it? That's what settled this election, if you go back to 2020 and the presidential election right here.
Atlanta in the suburbs, gave then candidate, now President Joe Biden that margin. So, you're looking for that. And if you're Donald Trump, you're looking to Republican primary, David Chalian, teed this up a bit earlier. So far, everything coming in is coming in with Trump winning.
But look, Nikki Haley at the moment is getting about 16 percent of the vote as we get again into Fulton County and the suburbs around it, Cobb, Gwinnett, DeKalb, and the others. You're trying to see what is Haley's number there? Because that's where the state will be decided.
Does Donald Trump continued to have trouble in the suburbs? This is where -- look, let's not overstate it. Donald Trump is overwhelmingly marching to the Republican nomination. But as he shows the strength in doing that, the resilience in doing that we are seeing weaknesses for Trump and they've tend to be in the suburbs. So as we check in later in the night, that's where we look in right there. Donald Trumps going to win. He can celebrate, but then both campaigns,
you'll learn the lessons. You have eight months, just try to solve your problems. And this will teach us some of them. He just said about some of them tonight.
BURNETT: All right, John King.
We'll be checking back in with John in just a moment, obviously doing that circle around Atlanta.
Olivia, what do you make? And we're waiting for that Fulton County, as we're getting more feeding in. But even with the numbers that are in, and as you could see from John's map, a lot of those are rural but even among what he's got so far, 16 percent of the votes are still for Haley.
Now, she's not on the ballot. I mean, she's not running. She has gotten out. Does that mean anything? Does that -- are those people end up getting in line if they bothered to vote in a Republican primary in Georgia?
OLIVIA TROYE, FORMER HOMELAND SECURITY & COUNTERTERRORISM ADVISER TO VP MIKE PENCE: Well, I think they well, I think well see them come out in November, hopefully, and hopefully there'll be on there right side of history and stand against Trump. I think that's a protest vote at this point, saying we're not going to support Trump. I think these are either never Trumpers or moderate center right Republicans who are really unhappy about what's happening to the Republican Party right now.
BURNETT: So, these are people who don't get in line. The nature of the fact that they're choosing to do this tonight.
TROYE: Right. They're going out of their way and say, no, I'm going to stay in this fight and I'm going to continue to stand against Trump.
BURNETT: You started your career as a reporter in Georgia and you see that sort of obvious. The state has changed so much over the years now.
MARK PRESTON, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: It's why I sit here, but that's okay.
BURNETT: Yeah. I'm not going to judge. It could be -- could be dye.
PRESTON: It could be dye.
BURNETT: But look at that circle that John King draws around Atlanta and Fulton County. What are you looking for?
PRESTON: So you know, if you just see him go back and I hate to say a 25-plus years, you add Newt Gingrich, who's speaker of the House. He was going to run for president. Georgia was ground zero really for the Republican Party, and it was really going to take over.
I mean, the South is still very much Republican. Like I don't want to give anyone any other assumption, but if you look, it's starting to break a little bit and that's because we're seeing trends. We're seeing, you know, different immigration trends that are happening, not only from folks coming in from other countries, but quite frankly people from the north moving down to the south. That's exactly what happened to Atlanta.
UPS was based in Connecticut. They move down their 25 years ago. The Olympic show up and now, you've got Georgia, which is not really you know, it's not this 1976 Smokey and the Bandit kind of state. It's just isn't.
BURNETT: Yeah.
PRESTON: It's a cosmopolitan state now with rural enclaves.
BURNETT: Go ahead.
SMIKLE: That's why I think your point about the Haley vote is so critical because what that suggests to me is, is something that I did. I have trouble wrestling with as a strategist. If you're Donald Trump, you've got to build your base. You don't shrink it.
And when I think about your comment about immigration, I listened to him, Donald Trump in Georgia over the weekend, make some really reckless and dangerous comments about immigrants.
And I understand a young woman was killed attended the University of Georgia allegedly by a migrant. But Donald Trump has made some really, really harsh and disturbing comments about immigrants. And I'm saying to myself, who are you, who are you trying to get on your side when you make those kinds of comments?
Maybe that works with your core, core base. But how are you actually expanding that? Because what Joe Biden is going to turn around and do is go after a lot of those Nikki Haley voters and others to say, look, there's opportunity for you on our side.
[19:30:02]
BURNETT: And just to make the point, and obviously, we don't know turnout, right? So I can't say definitively, mathematically, but I can say generally mathematically. He can't afford to lose 16 percent of the GOP primary vote in the general.
JENNINGS: Yes. However, I'll take the other side of this argument, which is that a lot of these people I think are lost to Donald Trump. I think they are protests voters. I don't think many voted for him in 2020 and maybe that Amy vote for him in 2016. What they are planning to do is to remake the Republican Party and say, okay, what's a better use of our time and money to spin our wheels on people who've never liked Donald Trump or go into Joe Biden's of voters, working class, multiracial work that's African American man of the points that you're --
Spanish this working class non-college educated multiracial coalition. So they're flowing in the suburban college educated, flowing out of the question is, which side does the algebra support? And that's why we're going to run the election.
But I think for Trump, it's a far more efficient use of his time to try to steal those working class people that we would have called Democrats for most of our career. But now, don't like what the Democrats are doing culturally. So they're coming towards the Republican Party. Then to try to go back and go on some reconciliation tour with Nikki Haley's voters, which is not going to work.
BURNETT: The governor of Georgia, Brian Kemp, reiterated his support for Trump today, which by the way is interesting because Trump back to primary challenger against Kemp. Kemp stood up for the accurate and many times counted vote in Georgia, going for Biden Trump despised him. And now suddenly it seems to be kumbaya.
Let me just play what Governor Kemp said today.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GOV. BRIAN KEMP (R), GEORGIA: I voted Friday in the Republican presidential primary. And I said for a long time now, I support the nominee.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: Now, he didn't directly say he voted for Trump, okay? And that may be -- that may be an admission of --
TROYE: So, read between the lines.
BURNETT: It's unclear, but he did say for a long time now, I'd support the nominee. What does that say to you? Now that's not a Nikki Haley protest votes sort of person. I understand that, but that is getting in line.
TROYE: It is. And it's incredibly frustrating to watch, especially coming from someone who was -- showed incredible integrity during the 2020 election. He didn't bend to Trump, entered tremendous pressure even though Trump pressured him. I think also, you know, just recently, I think earlier this year, he said no one should be above the law. Trump should not be above the law.
He said, no, Trump should not have presidential immunity. He's made all of these significant statements on the right side of history. But yet to turn around and endorse him just because he is a Republican nominee is certainly falling back in line with the party, but I would say to that, all you're doing is enabling the dangerous individual that you took stand against.
And so what does it is it a fleeting moment of integrity, of fleeting moment of doing the right thing? And my problem with that is that is how we got here as a Republican Party when you continue to give this man and pass. I want all of these people to stand up against Trump and change the direction of the Republican Party. And I know that that is actually unlikely to be the case now when you see people like that fall back in line. You saw it with Mitch McConnell recently turned around. I mean, you
see it now with all these people. So I think that that is what shows what the future is going to be for the --
BURNETT: All right. Well, we watch these results coming in. Nikki Haley right now is still 16.4 percent of the vote in Georgia. And obviously as you can see, a very small percentage of the vote is in. But we're watching those numbers very carefully over these next moments to see what we can read in the tea leaves.
And as Biden and Trump are locking up this crucial win in Georgia, looking ahead to other states, they are fighting over a major endorsement tonight here in the general election. Today, Biden met behind closed doors with Teamsters Union, which, of course, is one of the biggest unions and the country and our guest was in that meeting.
OUTFRONT now, John Palmer, he's the vice president at-large of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters.
And, John, thanks for being with us.
So based on what you heard in the meeting today, will Biden get the Teamsters endorsement?
JOHN PALMER, VICE PRESIDENT AT-LARGE OF THE INTERNATIONAL BROTHERHOOD OF TEAMSTERS: I feel pretty certainly well, based on the tone and tenure of everybody in the room. And I wasn't present for the last interview with the former president, but everyone sort of made a big difference between you know, a candidate of grievance and a candidate of action, and doing things for the labor movement and work in men and women across the country.
BURNETT: So you mentioned that you feel competent, that he may get this endorsement, but, you know when you look at 2020, your union, the Teamsters didn't give an endorsement until about 11 weeks before the election. And exit polling at the time shows, you know, nearly three- quarters of voters had made up their mind by that point. So do you feel the pressure to make this decision more quickly this time?
PALMER: I would certainly suggest that we do I mean, lets be honest, there's -- there's no choice here. There never was a choice and a waiting any longer only delays the obvious and the time we need to explain this. I mean, our members -- our members need to be when you confront or not confront, but educate our members as to why this is so critical to them.
[19:35:20]
They're -- you know, Social Security is one of the issues we discussed Joe Biden was key and saving the pensions, not just for our union, but many other unions that were troubled pensions. He -- he has been very, very positive and proactive in reforming the labor board, the Department of Labor, OSHA, all these different agencies that really, really affect the livelihoods and well-being of our members, and those folks that aren't members, workingmen and women. BURNETT: I know that the president of your union has met with Trump
more than once. We've got images of them together at Mar-a-Lago. So he has taken the time to do that.
I know you have chosen not to do that as you just mentioned yourself. Is that what your rank and file want? That they wanted to make sure that that he did meet with Trump as well. Do you think that was important?
PALMER: I think they argued that that was the reason they did it I would just say that the old story about a snake nursing it to health and then it bites you. You know, it was a snake when you handled it.
So Donald Trump is what he is. He's been anti-union for decades. And I think we're wasting our time. So I'm maybe -- you know, I'm probably the one -- obviously the one that didn't attend, that takes a very different opinion of dealing with people that that aren't -- aren't -- aren't going to help you.
BURNETT: And to that point, I want to ask you and NBC News poll came out, it showed Biden does have a nine-point lead among house -- union households over Trump.
But that was down from 16-point lead for years ago. So cut nearly in half, obviously, still a lead, but down dramatically and that may be part of the reason why you feel the need, as you say, to educate union members and to move more quickly here. But what do you think accounts for that drop?
PALMER: I think some of it is us not communicating with our membership enough and letting them understand lots of folks have boats and cars and, you know, huge pickups and beautiful homes. And I think the better we do in negotiating contracts, we tend to see a movement towards Republicanism, if you want to call it that.
And, you know, we need to understand that these gains are won primarily by Democrats that are willing to vote for us. I know we get accused of supporting only Democrats, but honestly, the reason is that Republicans haven't supported this. I mean, they're pushing right to work. Right to work doesn't benefit anybody. It benefits corporations.
BURNETT: All right. Well, John, I appreciate your time. Thank you very much.
PALMER: Thank you
BURNETT: OUTFRONT next, what do an NFL star and a former wrestler have in common? We'll tell you tonight, and we're going to get back to John King at the magic wall to see exactly what a third-party ticket might mean and what were looking for in these next hours as polls continue to close.
And tempers are flaring tonight as Robert Hur defends mentioning Biden's age and memory in his final report regarding the president's handling of classified documents.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. SCOTT FITZGERALD (R-WI): Did you find that the president was senile?
ROBERT HUR, FORMER SPECIAL COUNSEL: I did not. That conclusion does not appear in my report, Congressman.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[19:42:29]
BURNETT: Welcome back to our special America's Choice edition of OUTFRONT.
Just moments ago, President Biden officially clinching the Democratic nomination for president.
Thanks to the state of Georgia, Donald Trump will have his nomination locked up by the end of the night. He has also won the state of Georgia and it is now all about the general election ground game.
So Donald Trump going to Ohio this week, Biden going to Michigan and Wisconsin.
Jeff Zeleny is OUTFRONT tonight in the key battleground state of Wisconsin.
And, Jeff, when you look at the calendar, you look at where Biden's going, you look where Trump is going, tells you everything you need to know.
JEFF ZELENY, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Erin, it to does. It tells us about part of the story actually when President Biden will be coming here to Wisconsin tomorrow. There is no state that makes up a more crucial part of that blue wall that President Biden carried in 2020 than here in Wisconsin.
Think about these numbers. In 2016, Donald Trump won the state by 23,000 votes. Four years later, Joe Biden carried the state by about 21,000 votes. So this state, of course, so critical as it goes, Wisconsin, of course, Michigan and Pennsylvania. So President Biden coming here to Wisconsin to continue to make his case, reselling his infrastructure law. Of course, this is so one of his big achievements from his first the term, that he'll be specifically calling out what it's done and what he intends it to do.
Donald Trump for his part is actually going to Ohio on Saturday to campaign for one of his supporters who is running for the Republican Senate seat there. So, actually, what's pretty extraordinary when you look at the campaign schedules of both of these rivals now as we head toward a rematch is that Donald Trump is effectively off the campaign trail this week, at least the presidential campaign trail.
Of course, he's been out there tweeting with his own messages, but its been striking from here. President Biden goes on to Michigan. Again, that key sort of sector of this part of the country, the blue wall is important.
Erin, in just a few moments ago, we got the first words, the first statements from President Biden about clinching the nomination. Of course, he's taking credit for his agenda. He's urging his supporters to rally around him.
But take a listen to this sentence. He said amid this progress, talking about his economic progress, we face a sobering reality, freedom and democracy are at risk here at home in a way they've not been since the civil war.
So those are the stakes of the election here. President Biden framing it that way, his first-order of business is trying to shore up Democrats who have still been unsure of his candidacy. He begins that work tomorrow right here in Milwaukee -- Erin.
BURNETT: All right. Jeff Zeleny, thank you very much. In the civil war comments, obviously carry significant weight in any context, but also keep in mind he was well aware that he would win the nomination.
[19:45:04]
Those words were carefully thought planned, vetted, went through a lot of people and those are the words that they have chosen.
John King is back with us at the magic wall.
And, John, as we get more results in from Georgia. so we know now the winner, but now were learning the breakup all the crucial parts that tell us so much for the future. And I know that you are seeing some really interesting things right now on the Republican side.
KING: Right. And so what Jeff Zeleny just said is instructed. President Biden knows right now he's struggling in Wisconsin, struggling in Michigan. That's where he's going. That's where he's going to try to get people, hey, look, look what I've done, and let's look what were going to do going forward, right?
You address your weaknesses. At this point in the campaign, you're the nominee. They have eight months to November. You address your weaknesses and you try to build on your strengths.
So if you're Donald Trump, you're winning the primary in Georgia tonight, you look at that. It's easy in Trump campaign headquarters to say, wow, we're getting 83 percent of the vote right now. We're good, nothing to worry about right?
But she dropped out number one, and she's getting 15 percent. Former governor, former ambassador Nikki Haley.
So the question is where Erin, right? We went through this in the early primaries. I just want show you.
This is Charleston, South Carolina, right? Remember this is where Nikki Haley do well. This is her home state, South Carolina, where she did well, was along the coast.
Her best performance right now in Georgia is in Chatham County, along the coast, just south, right? If you're from the northeast and you're going to the Southeast, you have a debate. Do I go to Savannah or do I go to Charleston, right?
They're both amazing places to go at the same kind of voters, same kind of people. She's getting 35 percent in this county. This county voted Democratic in the last election in 2020. It's likely to vote Democratic. Savannah has an African American base, but the suburbs have tried to Democratic, which is what helped Joe Biden won this county by 19 points.
So if you're the Trump campaign, you have to look at that and say, what's our problem in the suburbs? Let's come over here as well. I'm over here.
That Muskogee County again, it's Columbus, Georgia, and the suburbs around it. This is a huge Democratic county. So you say so what? But Nikki Haley's getting close to 20 percent of the vote during the Trump campaign. Joe Biden's probably going to win this in November, but you want the margin in that place -- in the place the other guys winning. You want to shrink the margins.
That's how you win close elections in states that are decided by 10,000, 20,000, 25,000 votes. Not much in from Atlanta, yet, but let's just go up here, Clayton County again Trump's getting 80, easy to say, that's great. A candidate dropped out is getting 16 percent. This is part of the suburban loop around Atlanta, Clayton County. This is where we were counting from Tuesday on into Saturday, in the last presidential election, you know, because of the COVID voting, this is where the votes came in and turn the state, one of the places that turned it in favor of President Biden.
So, again, this is going to be Democrat, overwhelmingly Democrat. This is the Atlanta airport, huge Black base in this county. But again, suburban voters who can vote Republican, you see them voting there in the primary tonight.
So if you're Donald Trump, this is great, except you still have weaknesses in the suburbs.
BURNETT: Except, and I mean, when you look at that Chatham County and I understand all the context of the proximity to Charleston, Savannah the Charleston understand, but 35 percent for someone who has dropped out, it says something.
KING: But that is what your panel is talking about. That's a protest.
BURNETT: Yeah.
KING: That is a no, thank you. That's what we know Donald Trump is going to win, but no, thank you.
BURNETT: So much more politely than some of those voters maybe putting it but that would be the bottom line. All right. But here's the other thing in the context of all of this,
when you talk about shrinking the margin, where you're going to lose and running it up where you think you can win, okay, I understand that. Then you enter into this though, a state that's going to likely be razor thin as well as others of these battlegrounds and third-party candidates.
RFK Jr. consistently nationally polling at 20 percent. Jill Stein could be on the ballot and nearly the two dozen states. We'll see. You also -- you've got RFK Jr., by the way, coming out with his VP picks, Aaron Rodgers, the New York Jets, or Minnesota Governor Jesse Ventura, those are who he's putting out as possibilities.
Well, what -- what do you see in this?
KING: Do you want an Aaron Rodgers better chance to win with RFK Jr. than with the Jets conversation?
BURNETT: Maybe not --
KING: I will save that for another day, maybe. Sorry, that's the Patriots fan in me coming out. My Patriots are pretty terrible right now, too. So everybody watching knows that.
Look, we're making a joke about this and there's a long way to go. We'll see who Mr. Kennedy picks and we'll see how many state ballots he gets on. It's the latter park which states does he get on the ballot that matters.
Where was Jeff Zeleny right now? Jeff Zeleny was in Wisconsin, right, when you talk to him a moment ago, Donald Trump won by 22,000 votes, as he said, in 2016, Gary Johnson, libertarian, most natural libertarians and more Republican leaning, but he got 106,000 boats. Jill Stein got 31,000 votes is the Green Party candidate there.
Hillary Clinton remembers that. Trust to me, come over to Michigan in 2016. Jill Stein gets 51,000 votes, right? If you look at the margin in the state, it's 10,000 votes right there. Third party candidates matters.
So the question Erin, is, where do they get on the ballot, right? So if you look at the Green Party, the Green Party has ballot access because its been around a long time in 20 states and it could get higher, including Michigan, Wisconsin, in an Arizona. The Kennedy campaign says it's going to get on the ballot in those battlegrounds as well.
That's what we need to watch. It says it has the signatures. We have to wait for the certification. But the third party candidates, how many in which battleground states they got on the ballot. That'll be a conversation were having a lot in October.
BURNETT: I mean, absolutely incredible to imagine. Thank you so much, John King, and well be checking back in as these numbers continue to come in. We also today had the drama on Capitol Hill. A bipartisan attack, both
parties taking on Robert Hur, the special counsel, accusing him of playing politics after he decided not to charge Biden with a crime for mishandling classified documents.
[19:50:11]
The congressman who was in the room with Hur is next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BURNETT: And we're back with the breaking news. President Joe Biden officially clinching the 2024 Democratic nomination for president. The state of Georgia is what put him over the delegate threshold. It comes after a tense hearing on Capitol Hill today with testimony from the special counsel who investigated Biden over his handling of classified documents.
Robert Hur's shooting down attempts by lawmakers of both parties to score political points.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. PRAMILA JAPAYAL (D-WA): This lengthy, expensive, and independent investigation resulted in a complete exoneration of President Joe Biden.
HUR: Exoneration, that is not on a word that we used in the report. That's not part of my task as a prosecutor.
JAYAPAL: Mr. Hur, I'm going to continue with my question. I'm going to continue with my questions. I know that that the term -- I know that the term --
HUR: -- the judgment that I received, that I ultimately reached, (INAUDIBLE) whether sufficient evidence existed such as the likely outcome would be a conviction.
JAYAPAL: You didn't -- you exonerated him. I know that the term willful retention has --
HUR: I did not exonerate him. That word does appear in the report.
JAYAPAL: Mr. Hur, it's my time.
FITZGERALD: Webster's Dictionary defines senile as exhibiting a decline of cognitive ability, such as memory associated with old age. Mr. Hur, based on your report, did you find that the president was senile?
HUR: I did not. That conclusion does not appear in my report, Congressman.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: No one got what they wanted. Manu Raju is OUTFRONT live on Capitol Hill.
And, Manu, Robert Hur did not make any friends today, it didn't seem. It didn't seem like he wanted to.
What are you hearing?
MANU RAU, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yeah. I mean, Republicans and Democrats both believed they got essentially what they wanted out of this hearing. Democrats came out of their made including they made clear that this is a much different situation that befell Donald Trump and the charges that he faced and pointing out time and time again that Joe Biden cooperated with investigators here and that Donald Trump did not, that he obstructed the investigation.
Republicans on the other hand, tried to make the case over and over again that Joe Biden, in their view, should have been charged, that he willfully withheld this information and that the only reason why that he wasn't was because of the portrait that he painted as someone who is sympathetic elderly gentlemen, someone who does not have the best of memory and the like, something that was, of course, revealed in that report.
Now, in the aftermath of this, this is Democrats. I talk to tonight, including the Democratic leader of the House, Hakeem Jeffries, says that this was a non-event. They are ready to move on from this and focusing instead on the campaign trail and the contrast with Donald Trump, Republicans though, do not plan to let this go, Erin, in fact, they plan to go after the audio recordings from the witness interviews, that Robert Hur conducted over the course of the last several months, including with the president.
So that will be a big pressure point in a fight that will take shape in the weeks ahead.
BURNETT: Manu, thank you very much.
Now let's go to one of the Democrats in the room today, Congressman Eric Swalwell, also a former prosecutor.
[19:55:02]
And, of course, you just heard Congresswoman Jayapal's exchange for Robert Hur, you were in the room so you could hear them over talking each other there live and in-person. But, Hur made it clear he did not exonerate President Biden, and this happened on live TV. The words can replay and replay.
How disappointed are you that you didn't get an absolute on this issue?
REP. ERIC SWALWELL (D-CA): Well, the American people benefited from hearing Robert Hur say that he did not charge Joe Biden. That was the most important clarification. And this is an unusual case where you have to individuals who both had classified materials at their home and they handled it in a completely different manner. You know, it was a test of character essentially. Joe Biden says, I
don't know how these got here and what must have happened during a move. And he opened up his home and offices for a search. He sat down for two days for five hours with the special counsel to answer questions.
Donald Trump did the opposite. He directed people to lie to conceal, to move the documents, and still insists that he has a right to possess classified documents.
So I think the American people today saw a sharp contrast in character.
BURNETT: All right. So when the special counsel's report first came out, President Biden said Robert Hur was the one who raised the question of when Beau Biden died. Subsequently, President Biden said this at a press conference.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: How in the hell dare he raise that? Frankly, when I was asked the question, I thought to myself, wasn't any of their damn business.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: The transcript reveals though that it was President Biden, who actually first raised that question. And he said in part, I quote from the transcript of the interview, even though I'm at Penn, I hadn't walked away from the idea that I may run for office again, but if I ran again, I'd be running for president. And so what was happening though, what month did Beau die? Oh, God, May 30th. Two people say 2015, then they jump in.
Biden then asked, was it 2015 he had died? And unidentified male in the room says it was May of 2015, and Biden then says to Hur it was 2015.
Congressman, so Biden knew the month and the day, not immediately the year. Does that or the fact that Biden was so outraged that Hur raised the issue when it actually turned out that Hur didn't raise the issue trouble you at all?
SWALWELL: Well, what troubles me is that Hur in the exchange with the president on the first day tells the president that the president's memory is photographic. He uses the phrase, you have a photographic recall and then never uses the phrase photographic in his final report.
Look, it's not a surprise to me that, you know, President Biden, who's doing this interview the day after the attack in Israel is not able to recall fully some details. But when you read the transcript, you see that he very clearly was able to recall what was important. And that was that he did not intend to take these documents and cooperated as soon as he was asked about them.
BURNETT: All right. Congressman, I appreciate your time very much -- Congressman Eric Swalwell.
SWALWELL: My pleasure. Thanks, Erin.
BURNETT: All right. Thank you.
And everyone's back with me.
So, Olivia, what do you make -- I mean, look, you hear the sound bites. I mean, that was testy. From both sides like angry -- wouldn't call him senile, angry. He wouldn't exonerate. Nobody got what they wanted today. But did people get what they needed?
TROYE: Well, I think in some ways, I think -- you know, I think Robert Hur actually, I think he did a decent job of explaining how he approached the report, why he said the things that he did. I think that was important, especially as someone who served in public service.
I think, you know, we continue to claim the weaponization of the Department of Justice and we put people in these really, really difficult situations and political partisan hearings. And so I think from that perspective, if you take the politics out of it, I think he did a decent job of explaining the circumstances, what was and what wasn't.
He didn't exonerate Biden. I don't think he did that. I think it was very clear about that. I think what's unfortunate about this situation though, Erin, is the fact that were so focused on the political mudslinging really, what we should be talking about is let's not, let this happen again.
BURNETT: Yeah.
TROYE: Mike Pence ended up with documents, right? I mean, so let's control these documents and figure out what happened during these transitions.
BURNETT: Fair point and there's like hundreds of thousands of them floating around perspective.
TROYE: For the national security perspective, let's have that conversation.
BURNETT: I believe.
But, Basil, this is now -- Biden wants to say this is a general election. This is in the rearview mirror, but its not every one of these bites, every one of these things. This is going to continue this. He said, he said on classified documents.
SMIKLE: I think the damage that was done was done when the report actually came out and had that language, quite frankly, because I think I was --
BURNETT: That a jury might say he's elderly -- SMIKLE: Yeah, I think it was on your air when it came out and we were
talking about in my immediate objection was, why was that even in there? But I can understand -- but I can understand how it gets weaponized after the fact, but I side with Hakeem Jeffries on this.
It's over. It's done. Even Joe Biden has an ad out now, going after his age and actually meeting that issue head-on. So I think that there is a lot behind the administration at this point to say, let's turn this page, let's move on and frankly, I think that we won't -- we won't need to get back to it again.
JENNINGS: The waters are muddy on this now. Obviously, Trumps facing charges. Biden isn't. But that was the net win for the Republicans here is that muddy waters -- I mean I thought Hur was competent, straightforward, and not theatrical. So I'm not surprised --
BURNETT: An impressive guy.
JENNINGS: Yeah, I'm not surprised people on Capitol Hill didn't like him because, you know, that's not what they are.
(LAUGHTER)
JENNINGS: Not the place for you.
BURNETT: All right. All right. Thanks very much to all.
And thanks so much to all of you for joining us as President Biden has clinched that nomination, Trump has won the state of Georgia and America's choice 2024. Special coverage continues now with Anderson.
